Chapter 1278 — Screwed Over but Good - "Damn!" Only Then Did An Jianwen Realize That the Crystal Sculpture Was Coated All Over in Lubricant, and His Hand Was Still Covered in That Slippery, Sticky Stuff! An Jianwen Was About to Explode with Rage. What Kind of Game Was This?

"Sorry about that. A bottle of lubricant spilled on it a moment ago, so it's a bit slippery. But you were the one who dropped it, so it's nothing to do with me!" Feng Xiaoxiao smirked, neatly washing her hands of the whole affair.

"I—" An Jianwen's eyes bulged as he clutched at his chest. He was nearly apoplectic. Lubricant? How could there possibly be lubricant on a crystal sculpture? It had to be this Feng Xiaoxiao, right here in front of him, who had smeared it on deliberately!

Damn it! This girl was every bit as wicked as Shen Yushu! She had led him straight into the pit! Only a moment ago An Jianwen had still been consoling himself: a million for a crystal sculpture, fine, so be it. Cheap glass though it was, at least it bore Gu Mengyao's lip print. He couldn't do anything with it, but taking it home to daydream over wasn't the worst thing in the world.

And now? Now it was smashed to pieces, not even a keepsake left to him — nothing but a heap of broken glass.

"Wow, An Jianwen, how gallant of you! A million yuan just to hear a crash!" Shen Yushu said, gazing at him with feigned adoration.

"I..." An Jianwen wanted to say *fuck*, but he knew he was up onstage, and that Gu Mengyao was watching. If he made a petty scene now, she would only like him even less. So there was nothing for it; he forced a smile through his tears. "It's fine, haha..."

With that, An Jianwen had no face left to stand there on the stage. He hurried off and made his way back to his seat with his head down.

The audience, however, knew nothing about the lubricant. They assumed An Jianwen was furious at having bought a worthless piece of glass for a million yuan, and had smashed it in a fit of rage — too embarrassed to do it outright, and so pretending to drop it by accident, shattering it before everyone's eyes.

Gu Mengyao breathed a sigh of relief, and even she felt a flicker of pity for An Jianwen. The poor wretch - to run afoul of Shen Yushu and Feng Xiaoxiao was his misfortune. Those two girls were truly ruthless: not content with fleecing him of a million, they had hounded him to the very end and smashed the crystal sculpture to bits.

Naturally Gu Mengyao did not believe the lubricant had been spilled there by accident. It was almost certainly Feng Xiaoxiao who had smeared it on deliberately - otherwise why hadn't she warned An Jianwen beforehand? A single word of warning would have prevented the whole thing. So it seemed she had meant for him to drop it.

Still, this was for the best. Now Gu Mengyao no longer had to worry about what unhealthy things An Jianwen might get up to with that crystal sculpture, and that put her heart considerably more at ease.

Feng Xiaoxiao and Shen Yushu exchanged a glance, each reading in the other's eyes the wicked grin of a scheme brought to fruition.

Watching An Jianwen's dejected look, Wei Zhao was left momentarily speechless. Still, those two girls, Shen Yushu and Feng Xiaoxiao, really were something else. Now An Jianwen had no outlet for his bitterness; he could only swallow his broken teeth down into his belly.

And so the fundraising gala came to a close, after An Jianwen had paid a small fortune to hear a single crash.

The total raised came to barely two million yuan - a drop in the bucket for the orphanage. But it was all that could be done; at least it would ease some of the pressure weighing on the place.

Wei Zhao could have spoken to Qiu Lingshan and asked her not to crack down so harshly on theft and crime, but he did not. Qiu Lingshan had her own principles, and Wei Zhao had no wish to change her.

After all, everything Yu Xiaoke did was against the law; she could only go on surviving in the darkness, and it was all up to her own efforts now.

Even so, two million had Yu Xiaoke overjoyed! At least, if she kept living as frugally as she always had, that two million would carry her for quite a while.

After Wei Zhao kicked him, Xie Yufeng stormed off in a fury to the apartment he kept in Songshan City and got his father, Yu Shuixing, on the phone. He could bear it no longer - Wei Zhao had to be taught a lesson!

"Xiaofeng? Why are you calling me at this hour? Aren't you supposed to be at school?" Yu Shuixing asked, picking up in some confusion.

"Dad, Wei Zhao kicked me today. I can't take it anymore - I want to kill him!" Xie Yufeng shouted himself hoarse the moment the line connected.

"Oh?" Yu Shuixing was slightly taken aback. "Wei Zhao kicked you? What happened?"

"It's like this..." Xie Yufeng recounted the day's events to his father. "I only cursed his girlfriend under my breath, and he charged up onto the stage and kicked me off. Tell me, isn't that going too far?"

"Given how fiercely protective Wei Zhao is, it's not so surprising. But it's been so long, and you still haven't learned a thing about his background, nor do you know what level his strength has reached. To lash out so rashly, I fear something will go wrong." Yu Shuixing was a steady man who looked at matters from every angle. "Yufeng, the Great Clan Assembly is nearly upon us. Now of all times is no time to invite trouble! The Zhao family is formidable; the Xiao family has obtained the backing of the Hidden Pi family - and yet neither of them has moved against Wei Zhao. Why? There must be something in all this that we don't know."

"But... I can't swallow this! I lost every shred of face today. If I don't win it back, I'll never be able to show my face at school again!" Xie Yufeng said, unwilling to yield.

"That's just how it has to be. One who would accomplish great things must learn to endure in silence," Yu Shuixing said with a sigh. "The Yu family was once the strongest of all the worldly clans. But now the Xiao family, with the Pi family behind them, is not much weaker than we are, and the hidden might of the Zhao family surpasses ours outright. They all hold their hands, so why should we be the ones to stick our necks out? One wrong move - if Wei Zhao truly has some untouchable master behind him - and it could mean the annihilation of our entire Yu family."

"Annihilation of our whole family? Surely it isn't that serious? Don't we have the Hidden Yu family backing us?" Startled, Xie Yufeng cooled down considerably.

"It is that serious! The Hidden Yu family's ties to us are nothing but a matter of mutual interest. If we fall, they can simply cultivate another clan in our place - just as the Pi family did with the Xiao family. Your uncle hasn't even secured his footing over there yet; he's in no position to have a say in anything." Yu Shuixing went on: "And in this world, the hidden clans are not the pinnacle either. Above them stand the ancient sects, and above the ancient sects, there are yet higher existences. It's just that these old things generally keep to themselves and stir up no trouble - but if you truly cross their bottom line, they will show you no mercy, whoever you are."

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