Song Yining dodged swiftly, then kicked hard at the side cabinet, her voice sharp and furious as she shouted at Song Boyuan:
"Dad! Everyone online is saying Auntie Jiang is deliberately setting me up for a fall! Is that true or not??"
The whole Song household fell silent at once.
Song Boyuan roared:
"Watch your mouth! Go and apologize to your Auntie Jiang right now!"
With tears in her eyes, Song Yining ran toward Jiang Yuan and threw herself into her arms:
"Auntie Jiang, say something! Tell me you care about me!"
Jiang Yuan hadn't expected Yining to rush at her so affectionately. She nodded, hugged the girl back, and said gently:
"I treat you like my own daughter. Of course, I'm sincere."
Hearing that, Yining finally smiled through her tears, wiped them away, and then turned to her father:
"Dad! I want to join the company. Everyone calls me useless! Give me a position as a director."
Song Boyuan's face darkened with anger. His voice turned cold:
"Don't you know your worth? Do you want to enter the company? The company is for your brother. How could you compare to him?"
Yining stamped her foot angrily and rushed back to Jiang Yuan:
"Auntie Jiang, look at my dad! I just want to join the company! Why is everything always for Song Yijing?"
Jiang Yuan stood still, watching the quarrel between father and daughter. After a pause, she said to Song Boyuan:
"Old Song, the child is grown now. Why not hand Xinyi Jewelry to Yining? After all, it was originally founded by her mother."
Song Boyuan's eyes lit up at her words. Xinyi Jewelry had been declining for years and was close to bankruptcy. If this useless daughter wanted to play at being CEO, why not let her take it?
"Fine. Since your Auntie Jiang is pleading for you, you'll take over Xinyi Jewelry," Song Boyuan said sternly.
Yining frowned:
"Dad, isn't Xinyi Jewelry about to go under? I don't want it. I want to go to the main company!"
"Keep making a fuss, and you'll get nothing!" her father barked.
"Fine, I'll take Xinyi Jewelry—but you have to compensate me!" Yining threw a tantrum:
"Dad, transfer the Linjiang Villa to me!"
"I want those people online to see clearly! My dad and Auntie Jiang aren't the scumbag and homewrecker they call you!"
Song Boyuan frowned:
"Change to another house. The Linjiang Villa is for your brother to open a studio after graduation."
"Auntie Jiang, you see this?!" Yining clung to Jiang Yuan:
"Wasn't that villa also my mother's? Why should it go to Song Yijing for a studio? If people hear of this, how am I supposed to hold my head high?"
As she spoke, she grabbed her handbag and swept it across the table, smashing several valuable vases onto the ground.
In an instant, the Song family's grand hall was a complete mess.
"I just want a place to hide from reporters! Why?! Why?!"
Five minutes of hysterics later, Song Boyuan gave in and agreed to immediately transfer the property.
Leaving the Song home, Yining curled her lips into a smile and got into her car with a flourish.
As the car started, a tall young man walked past. Seeing her, he smirked and raised a provocative middle finger.
Yining narrowed her eyes. It was her half-brother, Song Yijing, who was about to graduate.
"Song Yining, you slut, so the Xu family did dump you." He sneered, his youthful face twisted with contempt.
Yining gunned the engine; the roar was violent.
"What? Planning to hit me?" Yijing taunted.
"Do it! If you don't, you're nothing!"
Yining chuckled, and the next second floored the accelerator.
The color drained from Yijing's face.
Moments later, Yining lazily pulled out her phone and snapped a photo of him.
Glancing at the yellow puddle at his feet, she sneered:
"Song Yijing, is that all the courage you have?"
"Trash. Next time you see your sister, walk the other way—or face the consequences."
Yijing looked down blankly. The car had stopped just a hair's breadth from his legs.
Even after it roared past, he still didn't understand how Yining had controlled it so precisely.
Driving away, Yining barely gave him a thought. From her inherited memories, she knew Yijing was a hypocrite—outwardly a promising university student, inwardly rotten. He'd never amount to much.
But her womanizing older brother… it was about time she met him.
Lost in thought, Yining drove toward the Linjiang Villa. She hadn't expected that just outside the gated community, a slender young woman would block her car.
"Miss Song, this is your brother's child, even if he won't admit it!" Bai Lili burst into tears.
"It's so hard raising him alone. I heard you got a big divorce settlement. As his aunt, shouldn't you take responsibility?"
Yining didn't listen to her words. Her gaze fell instead on the little boy clinging to Bai Lili's hand.
Thin and frail, with a large head, clearly neglected. And yet, even as his mother raged, the boy just stood there silently, his small body trembling.
"Fine. Wait in the café across the street. I'll come to you." Yining said coldly, eyes lingering on the boy.
"How do I know you're not lying? No, you must—"
Before she could finish, Yining cut her off:
"And what right do you have to bargain with me? If you don't even have the patience to wait, how dare you come begging for money?"
Her icy gaze made Bai Lili flinch and retreat a step.
Half an hour later, at the café—
Bai Lili followed timidly behind Yining. Once seated, her earlier arrogance had vanished.
"Miss Song, please, I beg you. This child is your brother's! I can't raise him anymore; he's ruined my life." Her delicate face was full of grievance, though her eyes toward the boy were full of resentment.
Yining leaned back in the booth, eyeing her with puzzlement.
"I don't get you. Any man in the Song family would've been a better choice than my brother. Why him?"
She toyed with her glass, smiling faintly:
"My father may be old, but the wealth in his hands is something my brother could never match. After all, my stepmother started as the mistress."
As Yining spoke casually, Bai Lili's eyes flickered strangely.
"I can't give you money. I need mine to cover my brother's debts. But I can take the child." Yining's gaze locked on hers.
The two women stared each other down until Bai Lili finally gave in with a nod.
"Fine. As long as you promise this child will never bother me again, I'll disappear from his life forever."
Yining raised a brow and beckoned the nervous little boy over.
"Aren't you going to ask his name?" Bai Lili asked hesitantly.
"Whatever his name was, it no longer concerns you. The worst mistake a person can make is meddling in what's no longer theirs."
The moment she said this, two young men sitting not far away exchanged a glance.
"Xu Jichen… is that your stupid wife?"