Volume One, Chapter 13: Xixi Is My Daughter—If There’s a Next Time…

Fu Yihuan was stunned.

Since childhood, she had been showered with love and had rarely been spoken to harshly, let alone slapped.

“Su Tingwan, how dare you hit me!”

Fuming, Fu Yihuan raised her hand to strike back.

But just as her hand went up, Su Tingwan grabbed it.

Looking at Fu Yihuan with fierce eyes, as if ready to kill, she snarled, “Fu Yihuan, if I ever hear you insult Xixi again, I will tear your mouth apart!”

Fu Yihuan was chilled by the intimidating cold aura radiating from Su Tingwan.

Frightened, she instinctively took a step back.

Su Tingwan didn’t want to stay a second longer.

Fu Yihuan’s insults toward Xixi and Fu Xicheng’s indifferent neglect left Su Tingwan deeply heartbroken.

“Brother…”

As soon as Su Tingwan left, Fu Yihuan immediately went to Fu Xicheng, crying and complaining.

“Smack!”

Fu Xicheng raised his hand and slapped Fu Yihuan hard.

The slap was fierce.

Fu Yihuan staggered several steps back, unable to keep her balance, and fell to the ground.

She looked at Fu Xicheng in disbelief. “Brother, you hit me?”

She had come to the Fu family with her mother at the age of four. The Fu family had no daughters, and her uncle had always treated her like his own.

Throughout the entire Fu family, she had been regarded as the eldest lady of the household and cherished.

Although her cousin Fu Xicheng was not as doting as the others, he had never laid a finger on her.

“Xicheng,”

Cheng Muyan exclaimed in shock.

She hurriedly got up from the hospital bed, quickly went over to Fu Yihuan, helped her up, and stood protectively in front of her.

Fu Xicheng looked coldly at Fu Yihuan. “Xixi is my daughter. If there’s a next time…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, but it was enough to send a chill down Fu Yihuan’s spine.

Fu Xicheng left.

Fu Yihuan stood there, tears brimming in her eyes, completely stunned.

Wasn’t her brother supposed to despise Su Tingwan and that little bastard she had?

Why was he so angry?

“Yihuan, no matter what, Xixi is still Xicheng’s daughter. When you insult Xixi, aren’t you insulting Xicheng?”

Cheng Muyan helped Fu Yihuan sit down to the side, her tone full of helplessness.

That made sense.

She thought to herself, if her brother hated Su Tingwan so much, how could he possibly care about her and that little bastard she bore?

…

Su Tingwan left the hospital. Her phone showed several missed calls from Ji Jingzhi, along with concerned messages on WeChat.

She returned a call to Ji Jingzhi.

She spoke evasively for a moment to reassure him, then ended the call.

---

The hospital was about an hour’s drive from Maple Grove Residence.

By the time she arrived, it was nearly ten o’clock.

Su Tingwan exited the subway station, sent Ji Jingzhi a WeChat message to let him know she was safe, then put her phone away and headed home.

As she passed an alley, a large hand suddenly reached out, covering her mouth, dragging her deeper inside.

Her face changed instantly. “Mmmph…”

She struggled desperately, but the man was too strong; she couldn’t break free.

Quickly, Su Tingwan calmed herself and remembered the anti-assault spray she had recently bought for Fu Xicheng.

She reached for it and, taking advantage of the man’s inattentiveness, sprayed it into his eyes.

“Ah!”

The man howled in agony.

His grip loosened.

Seizing the chance, Su Tingwan broke free and sprinted toward the exit.

“Help!”

She shouted at the top of her lungs as she ran.

But this was an old neighborhood, sparsely populated.

No one heard her cries for help.

She ran with all her strength, nearing the alley’s mouth, but in her panic, she twisted her ankle and stumbled to the ground.

Pain surged through her.

Her leg was cut by something sharp.

Ignoring the pain, she tried to get up and keep running.

“Trying to run?”

Suddenly, someone grabbed her hair, yanking her back. A sinister voice whispered near her head.

The man dragged her back inside the alley.

In pain, Su Tingwan instinctively scratched at his hand.

Several deep cuts appeared on his hand immediately.

Enraged, the man hurled Su Tingwan backward and slapped her hard across the face. “Bitch, you won’t drink the wine, so you have to drink the punishment!”

Stars exploded behind her eyes; she was stunned for a long moment.

By the faint light of a streetlamp, the man looked at Su Tingwan’s breathtakingly beautiful face and rubbed his hands together with a wicked smile. “Be a good girl, suffer less.”

With that, he lunged at her.

“Let me go, I can give you money.”

Though terrified and panicked inside, Su Tingwan kept her composure and tried to negotiate.

“Money? Money can’t compare to a beauty like you.”

The man sneered, undeterred, and eagerly leaned in to kiss her.

Su Tingwan hastily dodged.

His mouth landed on her cheek, and a foul stench filled her nose, turning her stomach.

Her voice was hoarse from shouting, but she refused to give in.

She fought back desperately, kicking and scratching.

---

But the man spread her legs and pressed his body over hers.

She was immobilized.

His eyes burned with lust; he was impatient.

“Rip—”

He tore open the clothes beneath her coat with rough, frantic hands.

“Get away! Don’t touch me!”

Su Tingwan screamed fiercely.

But no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t stop him.

His coarse hands clung to her like poisonous snakes, sending chills down her spine.

“No!”

Despair filled her face…

Just as the pervert was about to succeed, Su Tingwan suddenly felt the pressure lift from her body.

The man crushing her was kicked away by Fu Xicheng.

With a loud crash, he slammed into the wall.

He groaned in pain, falling heavily to the ground and coughing up blood.

One kick had rendered him powerless.

Fu Xicheng exuded a terrifying aura as he strode toward the man.

He grabbed the man up like a chick and pummeled him with relentless punches.

The man was beaten to a near-death state and tossed onto the ground like a dead dog.

Su Tingwan gazed at Fu Xicheng’s tall, imposing figure, her mind drifting.

This scene reminded her of when she was fourteen.

At eight, she had come to the Fu family with her foster mother, and Fu Grandma had treated her with great kindness.

Though her foster mother was a servant, Fu Grandma loved Su Tingwan as if she were her own granddaughter.

She was even better treated than Fu Yihuan, the biological granddaughter.

Once a frail child from the welfare institute, she had been well nurtured in just a few years.

One day, she was targeted by local thugs and dragged into a dark alley.

Just as she was about to be harmed, Fu Xicheng appeared.

At that time, he single-handedly beat those thugs until they were barely breathing.

Then he helped her up, who was trembling and crying in fear, and said, “Come on.”

Still paralyzed with terror, she stiffly looked at him, confused.

Fu Xicheng coldly uttered a single word with his thin lips: “Fight!”

Hearing that, she instinctively shrank back.

She was afraid.

Fu Xicheng frowned, lifted her with ease behind him, and pushed her forward, speaking sternly: “What are you afraid of? Su Tingwan, from now on, if anyone dares to bully you, beat them to death or maim them. I’ve got your back.”