Chapter 177 - Wrath

Without caring to knock, Mo Zheng Yuan march inside. Shi Lian gasps seeing her father approaching her with a gloomy face. 

"Fa-father? What are you doing here?" she asks. She pretends that she has no idea why he is here but she cannot help sweating. She knows her father is angry and now looking at him, he appears furious. 

He glares at her with his mouth formed in a hard line. His hooded eyes are looking more intimidating than they usually look. 

"Come home with me" he ordered, clenching his teeth hard. 

She gulps, fear getting the best of her. "But what happened? She instantly regrets asking that. She should keep her mouth shut. 

Her father is trying not to yell at her, knowing very well where they are. Shi Lian nods. "Let's go," she says meekly. 

Turning on his boots, Zheng Yuan march to the door, angrier than he came. Shi Lian feels that it is something related to her. She never saw such rage in his eyes. Taking her handbag, she quickly leaves the office and follows her father. 

Fang Xiao, worried, asks her, stopping Shi Lian in her way. "Miss Shi Lian is everything okay?"

She shakes her head, not knowing the situation as well. "See you tomorrow."

Her father is sitting inside the car when she reaches. "Get inside" he grits. He is radiating fumes around him. Oh God, she is scared to even go snd sit beside him. 

Bracing herself, she gets inside the car and shut the door, sitting by the window and her handgrip on the handle. 

Her father is not even saying anything. She has no clue what the situation is. Her attention then turns down to her hands. Shit. They are still bandaged. She meekly takes a glance at her father who is sitting beside her and quickly looks away. 

Has he seen them? He must not have yet. Shi Lian cannot even throw the bandage now. 

She decides to leave it as it is. She will, no matter, have to face the hurricane. 

**

Her father's boots make a loud thumping sound as he walks. Shi Lian walks behind him and when they reach inside, everyone is standing, looking in their way. What is happening? She scans around the room, finding everyone in here, let it be the maids, cooks, gardeners. 

Her mother emerges from the other side, her face twisted with fear. Nanny Zhang holds her by her hand, keeping her steady. 

Having enough silence and guessing, Shi Lian asks her father. "What is happening? Can anyone tell me?" 

Her father turns around, giving her the same glare. "You don't know?" 

Her stomach churns her hands begin to sweat. "No," she says, her voice low. She looks at her mother again who is now weeping in silence. Why is she crying? 

Shi Lian cannot hold herself back and goes to where her mother stands but her father grabs her by her elbow and turns her back. 

His eyes moved down to her hands. His eyes are narrow as he looks at them. "Where did the bandages came from?"

"Got scratches working" she lies. The grip on her arm becomes tight and she lets out a hiss. "Father, you are hurting me."

Her father lets her go with force. He then looks at Sha Sha, his expression nowhere calming. "See! She has no shame! She is lying to my face!" he yells.

Shi Lian's eyes widen in horror. How does her father know that she is lying? 

"Wh-hat are you saying?"

"Stop acting Shi Lian!" his voice thunders inside the room, making everyone startle. How long do you want to keep on lying?"

She blinks, unable to comprehend anything. When she does not speaks, her father continues, "You have disobeyed me! Lied to me! And you still are shamelessly lying to me? You have disappointed me so much!"

His nostrils are flaring with rage. Shi Lian assumes he knows about what she was doing for the past months and if she says that she has no idea what he is talking about, he might slap her across the face. 

"When I said stay away from Zichen, you didn't do! When I said don't put yourself in unnecessary trouble, you didn't do! When I said you shouldn't put yourself in danger, you didn't listen to me! You recklessly did what you wanted!" every word is like knife-making cuts in her, so cold and sharp. 

Her eyes fill with tears and she quickly wipes them away. Her father knows about everything. Every single thing now. She cannot go on lying to him now. Humiliation and shame get the best of her snd she wants to bury herself somewhere. 

"You are still not saying anything? How much more are you going to disappoint me, Shi Lian?" he bellows, his tone icy. Her head remains down and her mouth feels as if someone has out rock inside it, making her unable to speak. 

"What did you do with the ring?" he demands, his voice not even a single percent melting. 

Shit. He also knows about the ring. But how? Did her mother tell him? No, she promised she will not say anything to him. 

"How do you know all these?" she asks looking at him with her tear-filled eyes. 

He lets out an aggravatingly annoying sound, rubbing the side of his forehead. "You are asking me this?" he barks, "How much more do you want to disappoint me?"

She looks in her mother's direction who is still weeping. "Mother" she calls, her voice unstable. "Have you told him? " she asks. 

A slap comes across her left cheek, making her unable to hear for a moment. Her head is turned to the side as she registers her father has just slapped him. The sharp shooting pain makes her come to reality. 

She slowly turns her head to look at him. His face holds mixed expression. He is furious but also he now regrets that he slapped his daughter. He never played his hands on her and Shi Lian has never thought she will get a slap from her father ever. 

"Yuan! What did you do?" Sha Sha yells at him, hurrying to Shi Lian's side. She checks her cheek, crying over and over. Shi Lian stands like she has been hit by a truck. 

Shi Lian grits her teeth. "Yes, I disobeyed you! I still see him because he isn't wrong for me. He has done nothing to me! You don't know him the way I know him" she argues, her voice loud. "I agree it was very wrong to lie to you but I didn't have any choice! I did what I thought was right!"

Zheng Yuan's nostrils flare and he is back to being furious now. "You didn't have a choice? You could have asked me!"

"Asked about what father? You weren't in a good state nor were you here all the time. You told me to fight my own battles, so I did. I was following your orders" she fires back. Sha Sha squeezes her arm, trying to tell her to stop but Shi Lian is not going to stop now. 

"So why get in those things then?"

"I didn't! I never purposely attracted problems!" she fumes, her chest rising and falling. 

"You weren't supposed to know anything about the ring! Why did you even do that?" he implores. 

She bites her lips, pausing for a moment to control her raging emotions and deciding to tell him about the creepy man. "I deserve to know! Do you even have any idea how many enemies are there? How many are eyeing over us?"

He purses his lips together and looks at her with utter disappointment. 

She checks her jacket pocket and finds what she needs. It's better to show him the truth than to explain. She was eventually going to show this to them but after she has confirmed it wasn't fake but now the situation is demanding answers from her. Taking out the pen drive, she shows it to him. 

Narrowing his eyes, he snaps, "What is this?"

"The truth. The thing which I risked my life for."

They cannot understand what she is saying and how can they? They don't know anything. 

"I made a fake ring, Imitating it like the original ring which is kept in the house safely to get this," she tells. 

"Just for this? You dare do something this immature?" he bellows, his voice nowhere near calm. 

"Shi, what is the meaning of this? Stop and just apologize to him" her mother begs her. Shi Lian will apologize but only after she makes them see what is inside the pen drive. 

She turns her eyes back to her father, a challenging look on her face. 

"See this before you make a judgment," she says and goes for bringing her laptop from her room.

All the eyes on her as she goes, some with worry, some with curiosity, and one with rage.