"You think you have the right to talk to me about conscience? My mother treated you as her best friend, yet you killed her out of jealousy. Where was your conscience then?"

Wen Zhi asked coldly. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"You’re misunderstanding me, I didn’t harm your mother," Chong Wanyin kept defending herself: "And your Aunt Qin is innocent, please take me back to find her."

After Chong Wanyin finished speaking, Wen Zhi slowly said, "No need to look for her. It’s only because I remember Aunt Qin’s bit of kindness towards me that I left her halfway; otherwise, she would’ve ended up just like you, dead."

When Wen Zhi said the word ’dead’, a clear flash of killing intent passed through her eyes.

Chong Wanyin still wore an innocent expression: "Wen Zhi, what exactly do you want to do?"

"What do I want to do?" Wen Zhi had already torn off the mask of pretense from her face: "Didn’t Madam understand my earlier words? Of course, I want your life."

Chong Wanyin narrowed her eyes, but her expression did not reveal an iota of fear or panic.

She seemed as calm as an outsider, even though her life was now in Wen Zhi’s hands; she was not the least bit worried.

She even asked with a smile, "You want to kill me, huh? Do you dare, Wen Zhi?"

Wen Zhi: "Are you provoking me?"

Chong Wanyin strained to raise her chin, a light laugh spilling from the corner of her lips: "Provoke you? What makes you think you’re worthy?"

In the instant those words fell—

Wen Zhi’s hand, gripping Chong Wanyin’s collar, suddenly jerked upwards, then clutched around Chong Wanyin’s neck.

"Ah..."

A pained voice came from Chong Wanyin’s throat; her face turned red instantly, not just because she was utterly defenseless, but also because Wen Zhi was squeezing her neck with all her might!

"How exactly did my mother die?" Wen Zhi demanded, tightening her grip around Chong Wanyin’s neck and finally asking that question.

When Chong Wanyin heard this question, her reaction was as if she had expected it. She was having difficulty breathing but made no attempt to struggle, perhaps because she was too weak, or perhaps because she was certain Wen Zhi wouldn’t strangle her to death!

As it turned out, Chong Wanyin had guessed right.

At the critical moment, Wen Zhi still let go.

"Why not continue? Are you scared?" Chong Wanyin, looking disheveled, was full of provocation in her eyes and eyebrows.

Wen Zhi’s hands moved slowly upwards, pressing against Chong Wanyin’s head, and she said word by word: "You should know that by bringing you here today, I never intended to let you leave alive."

Chong Wanyin’s face shifted slightly, but she quickly regained her composure and said leisurely: "Zhizhi, wasn’t your mother’s death an accident? Isn’t that common knowledge?"

Wen Zhi said, "Whether my mother’s death was accidental or not, you know best!"

"Zhizhi, have you been listening to someone’s mad gibberish?" Chong Wanyin’s tone suddenly turned gentle, as she persuaded, "You shouldn’t believe what they say. They want you to live in hatred, to let hatred corrode you bit by bit; don’t fall for their tricks..."

While speaking, Chong Wanyin struggled to lift her hand, attempting to grasp Wen Zhi’s hand.

Wen Zhi didn’t let Chong Wanyin touch her hand: "When I learned my mother didn’t die by accident, I was ready to rot away at any moment."

Chong Wanyin tried to touch Wen Zhi again, but was again avoided: "My mother was tortured to death, and you had a hand in it."

Chong Wanyin shook her head: "Zhizhi, I’m also heartbroken about your mother’s death, but how can you blame me for your mother’s death?"

"Stop pretending!"

Wen Zhi’s emotions teetered on the brink of losing control, her eyes reddened: "I knew it all along, just lacked the evidence to confirm it."

Chong Wanyin shook her head: "Zhizhi, you’ve misunderstood me—your mother’s death has nothing to do with me."

Wen Zhi completely lost control: "It was you who hired someone to lure my mother out that day, and after she left, she never came back. When I saw her again, it was just her cold, lifeless body... Chong Wanyin, don’t think that just because you’ve erased the traces, you’re completely detached from it! You’re worthless even if you died ten thousand times over!"

Now that it had come to this, Chong Wanyin simply watched Wen Zhi lose control, offhandedly adding a comment that made Wen Zhi even more distraught, "You couldn’t find the evidence before, and now, or in the future, you’ll still fail to find any. Give up on any hope."

"You being the evidence of my mother’s murderer is no longer important now," Wen Zhi said, collecting her runaway emotions, "Why do you think I came to the Shang family in the first place? Do you think I really had nowhere else to go? But you knew all along. From the day I agreed to come with you to the Shang family, you were aware of my intentions. Weren’t you just ’welcoming a wolf into the den’? Even now, I reckon you must have calculated this, haven’t you?"

Chong Wanyin hissed, "You’re so clever it’s admirable—far smarter than your foolish mother ever was."

Wen Zhi shouted fiercely, "Shut up, you can’t talk about my mother!"

Chong Wanyin just laughed.

"Now, as you wished, I’ve stepped into the traps you’ve laid out step by step, exposing my purpose," Wen Zhi said, now utterly calm. "But you couldn’t wait, so you meticulously planned the incident at the Horse Farm, just to have me die in an ’accident’."

Chong Wanyin glanced at Wen Zhi, "Pity you didn’t die."

Then it was Wen Zhi’s turn to smile, "I’m lucky, aren’t I? I didn’t die. Are you especially disappointed, madam?"

Chong Wanyin closed her eyes, "A bit disappointed. I even had the Horse Farm’s rescue team in my pocket—I didn’t want you to survive. Pity your life’s just too stubborn."

The rescue team at Cocoon Lake and the Horse Farm were shared.

That day when Wen Zhi fell into the lake, the rescue team could have reached her immediately, even faster than Shang Hexing’s people, to save her.

But, Chong Wanyin had bribed them ahead of time, and the rescue team didn’t show up.

That day, if not for Shang Hexing, Wen Zhi would have indeed been in mortal peril.

After the incident, Chong Wanyin started visiting temples frequently; she wanted everyone to know she prayed for Wen Zhi’s well-being.

In doing so, she could distance herself from any connection to Wen Zhi’s potential death.

Chong Wanyin had a strategy for everything, with every detail planned out.

Yet she didn’t account for Shang Hexing being there that day!

At this moment, Wen Zhi suddenly took a half-step back.

She braced her hand on the car door’s seam, toying with the gemstone ring on her index finger: "Madam, venturing here alone and keeping so composed—is it because you have one last card to play?"

Chong Wanyin opened her eyes, her gaze falling on Wen Zhi’s hand.

Wen Zhi said, "Your last card is this ring you gave me—it has a tracking device inside it."

Chong Wanyin concealed the change in her expression, "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

Wen Zhi hit the mark, "I’ve gone to great lengths to deceive you to Lin City, to kill you and avenge my mother. And the reason you came with me is that I fit into your plans since you also wanted to seize this chance to kill me."

At this point, Chong Wanyin proposed, "Wen Zhi, we could actually talk this through."

Wen Zhi immediately asked, "Talk about what? About you letting me off or about you admitting in your own words that you were the true killer of my mother?"