No reconciliation, no forgiveness! Mr. Pei leaves with nothing.

Xu Zhoulan scoffed and said, "She's just a greenhorn girl. I only played around with her back then."

"I'm more serious about you than she is!"

...

However, at this moment, cars stopped outside the yard, and a series of hurried and orderly footsteps broke this 'peace' that shouldn't have been there.

Huo Beishen stood tall and straight, his steps steady and powerful. He wore a well-tailored black suit, and his sharp, hawk-like gaze fell on Xu Zhoulan. His men followed closely behind him, creating a powerful aura.

"Daddy Bei Shen." Huo Bei Shen arrived uninvited. Gou Dan fussed and got off Xu Zhou Lan's lap and ran to his side, crying and complaining with grievance and fear, "Daddy Bei Shen, please save Mommy, bad people have come to the house."

“He stole my dad’s photo and he’s going to steal my mom too.”

"He still wants to be my father, but I don't want that kind of father."

“Bei Shen’s father, please get rid of him quickly.”

Xu Zhoulan didn't seem to take Huo Beishen seriously. He looked at Jiang Hua with a smile and said, "I was wondering why you weren't afraid of me. It turns out you already guessed that someone would come."

"As a branch of the Huo family, instead of doing your own job, you dare to interfere in the affairs of the main family."

"Does no one in the Huo family's collateral branches respect the rules that have been set?"

Jiang Hua stood up and splashed the water glass in her hand directly onto Xu Zhoulan's face. "Dirty things should be washed with water."

"Please, get rid of it. Including this table, throw it all away..." After saying that, she changed her mind again, "No, keep this table and wash it ten times, then disinfect it."

This table was chosen by Pei Zhan, so if it's to be thrown away, he should be the one to be thrown out.

"You just accepted being my woman, and when I called you 'wife,' you didn't refuse. Now that outsiders are here, you're turning your back on me?"

"The Huo family ancestral home doesn't belong to you alone. I'm also a member of the Huo family. Now that I'm home, I hope my sister-in-law won't kick me out. The Huo family home is so big, isn't my sister-in-law lonely living alone?"

Does he want to stay?

Jiang Hua: "Xu Zhoulan, I'm already being generous by asking you to leave."

"The Huo family? Someone surnamed Xu dares to call himself a member of the Huo family?"

Xu Zhoulan raised his hand and moved his fingers. Kridan, who was standing behind him, explained, "Young Master is Madam Qianxue's only son. He was forced to change his name back then in order to investigate the cause of Madam Qianxue's death. Young Master's real name is Huo Zhoulan, and he is originally from the main family. Therefore, Young Master also has the right to live in the Huo family's main residence."

“Even the matriarch has no right to expel anyone from the main branch of the Huo family.”

"This is also what the master wanted."

"Just now, it was just a joke between the young master and his wife."

Jiang Hua said sarcastically, "If Huo Tingshan truly loved Huo Qianxue, how come he wasn't even her first wife? Xu Zhoulan, if your mother knew you were like this, I think she would die with her eyes wide open in disbelief."

A chilling smile suddenly flashed deep in Xu Zhoulan's eyes.

He slowly pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, then casually crossed his long legs and lit the cigarette with his elegant metal lighter.

He took a deep drag, and smoke instantly filled his mouth. Then, he slowly exhaled, the hazy smoke like a thin veil gently obscuring his cold, narrow, almond-shaped eyes.

"Yes," he said in a low voice with a hint of sarcasm, "otherwise, how could Xia He have become the matriarch?"

He paused, seemingly observing Jiang Hua's reaction, before continuing, "Jiang Hua, don't you want to know why the Wang family tried to exterminate your mother back then?"

Jiang Hua's body trembled slightly, her gaze fixed on Xu Zhoulan, as if trying to see through the smoke to understand his true thoughts.

Upon seeing this, Xu Zhoulan's lips curled up slightly, revealing a half-smile: "My mother, Jiang Qingcheng, and even your father..."

He deliberately dragged out his words, causing Jiang Hua's heart to beat faster involuntarily.

Don't you want to know what happened back then?

His last words, like a sharp sword, pierced straight into Jiang Hua's heart.

"This time, Pei Zhan died, and next... I guarantee it will be Xia He!"

"You're talking nonsense! My dad isn't dead! You bastard, Mom said Dad definitely won't die, my dad won't die!" Gou Dan wailed and rushed forward, and Huo Beishen couldn't stop him. Gou Dan pressed his hand directly onto Xu Zhoulan's hand.

He winced in pain, and with a wave of his hand, the child almost fell. Jiang Hua hurriedly caught the child, "Kagher, take the young master back to his room."

Kagel: "Yes."

"Waaaaah... My dad isn't dead! That bastard, I'm going to kill him!"

"I'm going to beat him to death." Dog Egg was picked up by Kagel, his chubby body almost falling off his feet. Tears and snot streamed down his face, and his sharp, piercing voice echoed throughout the hall.

So... what exactly happened back then?

Xu Zhoulan: "Aren't you curious? A country woman, a woman with no status or background, how did she manage to sit in this position among so many women in Huo Tingshan? Do you really think she didn't have any tricks up her sleeve?"

"Back then, she manipulated all the powerful families, and she was the only woman Father ever brought back from outside. You may not have known much about her when she was young, but if I say her methods were the same as Song Qingran's, do you understand now?"

"Huo Tingshan is obsessed with Jiang Qingcheng, promising her the position of the Huo family's matriarch. Xia He has been by Huo Tingshan's side for so many years, and she hasn't fought for it? When Jiang Qingcheng was pregnant, if Jiang Qingcheng hadn't run away from the wedding back then, Xia He would have already succeeded. Do you really think she was depressed because she lost her child and was bedridden?"

"All of this is just a facade to hide myself."

"When Jiang Qingcheng returned pregnant, she had already joined forces with the Wang family and made a deal to eliminate Jiang Qingcheng."

"No, it's not like that..." Jiang Hua couldn't accept that this was the truth. Pei Zhan's mother was the murderer who killed her mother. She thought that Xia He hated her only because she didn't like her personality and thought she had no manners, which was why they always had fierce arguments.

"Don't believe me? Jiang Hua... you really have become insane and beyond redemption because of Pei Zhan. That's why you still don't know who your enemy is."

“Not only your mother, but my mother was also ruined by her using the same methods! The two most important women in Huo Tingshan’s life were both destroyed by her! Because only by getting rid of them could she secure her position as the matriarch of the Huo family.”

"Nothing can threaten her anymore."

"To get rid of these grains of sand in her eyes, she had no choice but to eliminate the problem completely!"

"Do you really think that it was just the old grudges between Wang Mei and Jiang Huai that led to the tragedy?"

"You really are... too naive!"

Jiang Hua stood frozen in place, unable to accept that Pei Zhan's mother was the mastermind behind the murder of her mother and the tragedy that befell the Jiang family. "You're lying! Huo Tingshan has so many women around him, why are they all unharmed, while only two people died?"

If that's really the case, then all the five years she's waited have become a joke!

"You are lying!"

“My mother and Huo Tingshan grew up together as childhood sweethearts and had a deep bond. Your mother, on the other hand, was the woman Huo Tingshan fell in love with at first sight and has never forgotten to this day. Even when you killed the Huo family’s only heir, Huo Tingshan didn’t touch you. Based on all that, what can Xia He, a country bumpkin, compare to?”

"As for the other women? They are all just playthings around Huo Tingshan and pose no threat to her whatsoever. Xia He is smart in this respect; she is pragmatic and knows that no matter how much Huo Tingshan misbehaves outside, no one can shake her position, which is why she turns a blind eye."

Xu Zhoulan stood behind Jiang Hua, one hand on her waist, the other holding her wrist, gently lifting it, and a warm kiss landed on her fingertips.

Jiang Hua did not resist his actions, which emboldened Xu Zhoulan even more. "We have no grudges or hatred, otherwise why would I want to do everything I can to destroy everything Pei Zhan has?"

Why involve the Zhou family, including your two children?

"I want him to experience the pain of losing his loved ones. I want him to be separated from his wife and children, to live forever in pain, to love but not be loved."

Her scent was intoxicating, lingering in his nostrils, as if it infected his very soul. It was so vibrant and alluring that any man would find it irresistible.

You should thank me!

"Thank me for indirectly letting you personally eliminate your enemy's son."

"Next! Our goals are aligned..."

Xia He!

“Even if Pei Zhan dies, I will make Xia He wish she were dead. I will take back the same things she did to my mother back then, tenfold…”

"Why do you know these things?"

Xu Zhoulan: "When my mother was being tortured to her last breath, I heard... her voice, her provocation in front of my mother. I will never forget that moment."

"So I won't let her die so easily..."

...

A few days later.

Jiang Hua still allowed Xu Zhoulan to stay at the Huo family's old house, in the room next to hers, just a step away.

Xu Zhoulan's words were all about the grudges of the previous generation. Decades had passed, and Jiang Hua didn't know whether what he said was true or false. She would rather it all be false than true.

But... Xu Zhoulan's hatred for Xia He and Pei Zhan doesn't seem fake.

He had been by Pei Zhan's side for so many years without realizing that Xu Zhoulan had hidden his identity. After all these years, he ended up getting involved with the Zhou family and becoming a tool in Pei Zhan's hands to take revenge on him.

The sun was shining brightly today, and Jiang Hua was basking in the sun in the courtyard by the pavilion. Xu Zhoulan completely regarded this place as his own home and himself as the male head of the household. He peeled oranges for Jiang Hua and fed them to her, but Jiang Hua did not say anything.

"What, you still don't believe me?"

"Are you being so wary of me? You're my woman now, and you still lock the door in the middle of the night?"

Jiang Hua: "I only believe in evidence, witness testimony, and physical evidence!"

Xu Zhoulan: "That's me!"

"Xia He wanted to eliminate all traces of the family. If I hadn't been lucky, I might not have been able to return to the Huo family!"

She and Pei Zhan had already been sown apart once, and she didn't want the same thing to happen a second time.

Jiang Hua was too lazy to say anything more to him, so she stood up and left.

Just then, a car stopped outside the yard; it was Kagel returning after picking up his child.

Jiang Hua stood outside the door and saw Gou Dan throwing a tantrum in the hall. He took off his schoolbag and threw it on the ground. "This ugly monster, this brat, why hasn't this annoying person left my house yet?"

Kagel: "Young master, you shouldn't use such vulgar language that is beneath your dignity."

"Hmph! When my dad gets back, I'm going to make him beat him to death!"

"Dog Egg! Pick up your schoolbag. Books... you can't just leave them lying around."

Gou Dan is always a good boy in front of Jiang Hua. He rarely throws a tantrum or even cries. But with Xu Zhoulan at home these days, Gou Dan's temper has become increasingly volatile. He's even started throwing his schoolbag now.

Feeling a little guilty, Gou Dan ran up to Jiang Hua, hugged her leg, and slowly knelt down. "Mom, I didn't mean to lose my temper. I just don't like this uncle."

"Can you please let him leave?"

"My baby is unhappy today. They laughed at me for being a pig."

Xu Zhoulan smiled and narrowed his eyes, but did not expose her true intentions.

Jiang Hua didn't blame the child. Even if he made a huge mistake, how could she bear to scold him? He was her only child, and Jiang Hua loved him so much that she wanted to give him all the best things in the world.

"What's going on! Kagel, didn't I have those people fired? Why are people still saying these things?"

Kagel: "Madam..."

"Mom, they're just talking behind my back. It's okay, I'll eat less in the future and won't let myself get so fat again."

Feeling uncomfortable, Jiang Hua picked up the child and said, "Tell them that if they can't discipline their own children, there are plenty of other people who can."

“If a teacher can’t discipline students properly, she doesn’t need to be a teacher anymore.”

Kagel lowered his head: "Yes, madam."

"Mommy, I didn't take a nap today. Can you sleep with me? I want to sleep with you tonight."

“Okay… which night didn’t you sleep with Mommy?” Jiang Hua pressed her face against his chubby little face. Actually, his chubby appearance was extremely cute and irresistible.

Xu Zhoulan watched the two figures walk upstairs. Gou Dan, who was perched on Jiang Hua's shoulder, gave him the middle finger and made a few funny faces. Xu Zhoulan smiled and said, "He doesn't look like his older brother at all."

"Really, it's my elder brother's child?"

"Ha, saying one thing to your face and another behind your back, who taught you that?"

Kagel: "Young Master Zhou Lan, the young master is indeed Young Master Huo Jue's child, there is no doubt about that."

"The young master is just a bit spoiled, but he is not a bad person at heart. He restrains himself in front of the madam because he is mindful of her feelings."