Justice prevails everywhere, but ultimately this saying is just a wishful thinking.
Because the wicked never reason.
To reason with them is to insult "reason" itself, and it's a sacrilege against the good.
This is a lesson Xiao Ming's master taught him in prison in his previous life.
Whether Zhou Aifeng really drugged someone is not the point.
The mere fact that she made Jiang Xue cry so heartbreakingly is enough.
"You... you bastard... How dare you hit me? Son of a bitch, I fuck your..."
Zhou Aifeng was in good shape; even after being kicked away, she sat up quickly, her curses full of vigor.
As a son-in-law, Xiao Ming certainly had to serve her well.
He walked straight over, swung his arm, and slapped a hand across Zhou Aifeng's face, sending her hair into disarray and her teeth loosening.
"Your mom..."
Slap!
Xiao Ming backhanded her with another slap.
"Murder..."
Slap!
"Help..."
Slap!
"Yonghan..."
Slap!
...
Every time Zhou Aifeng opened her mouth, Xiao Ming slapped her, left and right without restraint.
In no time at all, her face swelled up like a pig's head, blood hanging from the corner of her mouth, she lay on the couch like a dying dog, tears and snot flowing together.
"Keep cursing! Shout for help, or call the police. Do you want me to help you call?"
Xiao Ming said with a smile, taking out his phone to dial a number.
"Qiang, contact that Ma Biao, capture Jiang Lei, and chop off two of his fingers first."
"Don't!"
These two words were shouted by three people at once. Both Jiang Yonghan and Jiang Xue were appalled, and Zhou Aifeng showed an expression of extreme fear.
"Husband," Jiang Xue started hesitantly, "It's enough, I'm not angry anymore."
Jiang Yonghan also said, "Xiao... Xiao Ming, your mother was wrong today, but no matter what, she is your elder, Xue's mother indeed!
And... what does Lei have to do with this?
Xiao Ming turned around and asked calmly, "An old beast wants to kill my child, so I maim her son, an eye for an eye, what's wrong with that?"
"But your child is fine!"
"That's because he has great luck!"
Xiao Ming suddenly yelled, his roar shaking Jiang Yonghan's eardrums to the point of buzzing.
"If that old beast hadn't hired Zhou Ruifeng to buy the drug; if Zhou Ruifeng hadn't happened to know my friend's mother; if Jiang Xue hadn't had a check-up at my friend's hospital, left her name behind. By now, my child would have..."
Xiao Ming paused, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then said gravely, "You should feel fortunate.
If it weren't for all these coincidences coming together, I would drag Jiang Lei in front of you, and let you watch your own son being slowly cut to pieces, butchered to death!"
The murderous words, as though emanating from the deepest abyss of hell, turned the entire room into an icy cave in an instant, chilling Jiang Yonghan, Zhou Aifeng, and Jiang Xue to the bone, their souls stiffening uncontrollably.
Is this... is this the always obedient and polite good-for-nothing son-in-law we knew before?
Both Jiang Yonghan and Zhou Aifeng thought this in their hearts.
They didn't want to believe it, but they had to accept the truth—Xiao Ming was not a pushover anyone could bully; he had just never been pushed to his limits before.
Meanwhile, Jiang Xue realized that she perhaps did not know her husband, at least not the changed man he had become.
Could it be that in the past two years, he wasn't just recklessly giving up like a broken jar, and that something else had happened?
The three of them had different thoughts, but time allowed for no further contemplation.
"You bitch! Look at what you've done! Apologize already! Do you only feel content when our son is dead?" Jiang Yonghan suddenly cursed.
Zhou Aifeng shuddered violently and, though reluctant in her heart, had no other choice. After hesitating for a moment, she bowed her head and said, "Xue... Little Xue..."
"Kneel down!"
Xiao Ming commanded coldly.
Zhou Aifeng's head snapped up, her eyes filled with shock and resentment.
"I am her..."
Slap!
Another heavy slap cut off her words and sent them back down her throat.
"You don't deserve to!"
Xiao Ming narrowed his eyes. "From now on, until you die, if I hear you claim to be Xue'er's mother just one more time, the punishment will fall on Jiang Lei's head.
One finger for each time, including the toes, you still can say it eighteen more times."
"You... If you dare hurt my son, I'll call the police on you right away!"
"Ha! Arrest me for what? I'm right here, and Jiang Lei is kilometers away. What harm comes to him isn't my damn business,"
Xiao Ming laughed and added, "Oh, right, I did just hit you, that would indeed lead to an arrest.
But do you still remember the promise I made at the beginning of the month?"
He logged into his bank account and showed the balance to Zhou Aifeng.
Zhou Aifeng's eyeballs instantly bulged out; she leaned closer to the screen, her gaze filled with shock and greed.
"Guess, if I'm willing to spend money, how long do you think I'll end up in jail?"
In his previous life in prison, Xiao Ming had seen too many people like Zhou Aifeng.
They claimed they committed crimes for their families, for their wives and children, even for friends, but these were all self-deceiving excuses. The selfishness ingrained in their marrow meant they would only act for themselves.
The incentive for Zhou Aifeng's poor treatment of Jiang Xue might have been the preference for sons over daughters, but by this point, it really had nothing to do with Jiang Lei anymore.
She was simply angry. Angry that Jiang Xue was growing up day by day, becoming more independent, no longer submissive to her.
She felt her authority was being challenged; she wanted to punish Jiang Xue.
To teach this "disobedient" daughter a lesson that her mother owned everything about her, possessed the power of life and death over her.
Therefore, while Xiao Ming's threat over Jiang Lei would still leave her hesitant and rebellious, in the face of money counted in billions, she was willing to let go of everything, including her pride.
In a way, that too was a kind of purity.
Pure selfishness! Pure evil!𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
"I'm sorry!"
Zhou Aifeng deliberately got off the sofa, knelt down at Xiao Ming's feet, and started to kowtow.
"I'm sorry! I'm not a human being! I'm worse than an animal! I was out of my mind! I don't deserve to be Little Xue's mother..."
As she continued to insult herself, she also slapped her own face, her display of culpability so sincere, her apology so genuine, that even Jiang Xue began to look pitying.
But Xiao Ming's gaze only became darker and colder.
This old beast was beyond redemption.
A phrase his master once said suddenly echoed in his ears: Humans cannot play God, but occasionally playing the devil does no significant harm.
After a brief contemplation, he said, "All right, seeing as you do have remorse, let's make a deal."
Zhou Aifeng looked up. "What deal?"
Xiao Ming's lips curled up coldly. "Today, you almost killed my child, and I am very angry, so it's only fitting to chop off at least one of Jiang Lei's fingers..."
"Husband..."
Jiang Xue was about to intervene when she saw Xiao Ming turn and wink at her.
Years of marriage told her that her husband had another plan in mind, so she closed her mouth and even held back her father, who was about to step forward.
"However," Xiao Ming continued to Zhou Aifeng, "taking into account your attitude, Jiang Lei's finger won't be chopped off for nothing. I'll pay you one million as compensation.
Do you agree?"