The Female Lead of the Abusive Novel Can Hear My Heart's Voice - Chapter 24

The prime time drama had already ended by the time Xia Chi got off work. It was nine o’clock when she finally arrived home.

She didn’t have a personal driver or even her own car. Ever since coming to the Xia family, she hadn’t owned anything. Tonight, Mo Qi had driven her back.

Standing outside the brightly lit entrance, she watched Mo Qi’s car drive away. If anyone knew that a dignified vice president of Shangsi Corporation didn’t even own a car, they would laugh their heads off.

Once Mo Qi’s car was out of sight, Xia Chi turned to unlock the villa’s gate with her key.

As she pushed open the door, warm yellow light filled the living room. Directly across from the entrance, she saw the couple sitting on the sofa.

“What is this about?” Xia Chi muttered to herself. Even changing shoes felt uncomfortable under their gaze, like they were scheming something behind her back.

She neatly placed her black leather shoes on the shoe rack, leaving no room for criticism, and changed into her house slippers.

To outsiders, she looked like someone walking on eggshells cautious, like she wasn’t in her own home, but someone else’s, just a guest under their roof.

Before she could take a deep breath and politely greet them with a “Mom, Dad,” the couple on the sofa called out to her first.

“Xiao Chi,” they said.

Her mother’s gentle voice and father’s deep tone sent chills down her spine, making her feel incredibly uneasy.

“What’s going on?” Xia Chi didn’t waste time and asked directly.

Her mother, who had always taken great care of her appearance, now had streaks of tears running down her face, washing away her makeup. She stubbornly insisted, “Nothing.”

“Xiao Chi, you’re back. Did you eat? Are you tired?” she asked kindly.

What’s with this sudden kindness?

Her mother clung to her arm in an unusually affectionate way. But Xia Chi’s instincts told her something was off.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Such warmth was always reserved for Xia Mucai. When something feels this out of place, there’s always a reason.

“Mom, let go of my arm. Where’s Cai Cai?” she asked.

In an instant, the woman could no longer keep up the act. At the mention of “Cai Cai,” she let go of Xia Chi’s arm, cupped her face, and began sobbing uncontrollably, her whole body shaking.

There was no doubt in Xia Chi’s mind this had everything to do with Xia Mucai.

And sure enough, while Xia Chi was still putting the pieces together in her head, her father who had been silent until now suddenly lashed out.

His tone had changed. No longer calm it was like he was speaking to an enemy.

“Did you say something to our Cai Cai? She came home saying she didn’t take good care of you. We should have strangled you the moment you were born. You’re nothing but a curse so cunning, so manipulative.”

The room fell into a long silence, thick with tension.

Xia Chi’s eye twitched slightly, a hint of moisture flickering in her gaze. She slowly lifted her head, her jawline graceful and sharp from a distance, she looked like a grayscale magazine photo from the last century.

To hear those words “we should have strangled you the moment you were born” come from her own father’s mouth…

It hurt more than being stabbed in the heart.

It confirmed that they had never accepted her as their daughter.

Thank goodness for Xia Mucai. She was the only person in the world who genuinely cared about her.

It was obvious what had happened: Xia Mucai must have stood up for her, and the parents assumed she’d been manipulated by Xia Chi.

The shouting downstairs brought someone out from upstairs. Xia Mucai’s door slammed open like a gong ringing through the villa.

She stood on the second-floor corridor, looking down at the chaos below. Her gaze silenced the noise as soon as it appeared.

Her calm, unreadable eyes settled on Xia Chi. She said softly, “Xia Chi, come upstairs and rest.”

The two adults, now clearly guilty, didn’t dare meet Xia Mucai’s eyes and let Xia Chi go.

As usual, the next morning, Mother Xia went to wake Xia Mucai for breakfast.

She knocked a few times. From inside came a voice: “Coming, coming.”

Hearing that, she left.

Last night’s events now felt like a dream. The best way to deal with it was to treat it as such. No matter what Xia Mucai said, Father and Mother Xia would just keep doing what they always did.

To Xia Mucai, this was just the power of the narrative too strong to resist or change.

She had thought those words might finally wake them up.

Sigh.

Xia Mucai got dressed, yawning as she shuffled out in her slippers, looking like a walking corpse. Her eyes were dark with fatigue, and her body was dragging.

“Almost messed things up last night nearly got the heroine hated by her own parents. Good intentions almost backfired.”

Just then, the law office called. They said everything was ready they could proceed with the lawsuit against Tang Mingming’s parents.

The fog in Xia Mucai’s mind cleared slightly. She went downstairs to tell Xia Chi, who was preparing food in the kitchen.

Xia Chi’s eyes lit up with joy. She put down the spoon stirring the porridge and grabbed Xia Mucai’s hand excitedly.

“Let’s go now!”

Xia Mucai managed a tired smile. She was so sleepy that her facial muscles barely moved.

“Let’s eat breakfast first.”

In the solemn courtroom, the judge, dressed in uniform, sat high above.

The police brought in two disheveled, filthy individuals the accused couple. Though only in their forties, they looked like they were in their sixties hunched backs, wrinkled faces, and hair streaked with gray.

The plaintiff was Tang Mingming sitting upright, fierce eyed, with her lawyer beside her and Xia Mucai and Xia Chi behind her.

The courtroom was full. Before the trial began, a low buzz of conversation filled the room.

A scholarly looking male student whispered to the girl beside him, “Look at that couple dressed so plainly. Then look at their daughter, all polished and stylish. How could she sue the parents who raised her?”

The girl nodded. “Exactly. They probably gave everything they had to raise her. She sees what others have, wants more, and sues them when they can’t provide.”

Most people seemed to agree. The visual difference in their appearances made it hard not to feel sympathy for the shabby looking couple.

Their whispers reached the ears of the wicked woman on trial. Her eyes sparkled with malice.

She nudged the simple-looking man beside her and whispered in his ear, “Hear that? A lot of people are on our side. That brat dared to hire a lawyer against us. Once this is over, we’re locking her in a pig cage and selling her to that bachelor Wang in town.”

The man, simple-faced but equally evil, smirked, “As long as we act pitiful and win sympathy, we control the narrative.”

They both gave sinister grins.

Bang! The judge struck the gavel. The buzzing stopped immediately. Everyone held their breath.

“The plaintiff has accused the defendants of abandonment. Defendants, what do you have to say?”

“Abandonment? That’s impossible,” the student with glasses whispered, stunned. The girl beside him tugged his sleeve.

The ignorant couple immediately lied.

The woman, speaking with a heavy accent, said, “We never abandoned her. We worked hard to raise her. But she saw the outside world and started looking down on us. She said we couldn’t give her the life she wanted.”

She bowed her head, fiddling nervously with her fingers, stealing glances at her daughter — playing the role of a timid, truthful mother scared of being punished.

The entire courtroom was filled with suppressed rage. All eyes turned to the calm, composed Tang Mingming in the plaintiff’s seat.

A monster, they thought. How could she do this to her own parents?

The woman, sensing her words had stirred emotions, smirked triumphantly.

She gave her daughter a challenging look as if to say, “Give up. You think you can beat your mother? You’re worth 150,000 yuan in bride price.”

But the judge wasn’t interested in her side of the story alone. He turned to the plaintiff.

“Plaintiff, what do you want to say?”

Tang Mingming’s lawyer stood and pulled out a stack of documents all evidence gathered in recent days proving the abandonment.

Then, Tang Mingming spoke up. She told her story.

“From the moment I was born, I was abandoned by my parents. Someone from the orphanage found me. I always thought I had no parents, no home.”

“But when I grew up, the people who lived near the orphanage realized I could be ‘useful’ and came to claim me. That day, they knocked me out, chained me like a dog, and planned to sell me to a bachelor in town to get money for my brother’s house.”

“You’re lying!” the couple shouted, pointing and cursing at her. “We paid for your schooling. You’re just jealous of your classmates. When we couldn’t give you what you wanted, you sued us.”

But Tang Mingming was calmer than they expected. She pointed out coldly, “I’m just stating facts. Why are you panicking? Can you tell the court which schools I attended? Can you list them all?”

In an instant, the rabid couple shut up their faces turning red, green, and white.

The courtroom erupted.

Some still sided with the couple, thinking they were just scared, and began encouraging them.

“Uncle, Auntie, don’t be afraid. Think hard. What school did she attend? How much money did you spend on her?”

“You can find her teachers to testify. Don’t let this ungrateful child win.”

The glasses-wearing boy added, “The girl’s calm. She’s just asking for the name of her school and tuition records. Why are they so scared?”

The girl beside him said, “Let’s wait and see. Nothing’s final yet.”

Bang! The gavel struck again. The discussions ceased.

It was a sure victory. The evidence the lawyer provided matched Tang Mingming’s testimony perfectly. Everyone gasped in disbelief.

Her injuries hadn’t even healed when she rolled up her sleeve, the bruises were still there.

Everyone glared hatefully at the evil couple. Even those who had defended them now wished they could tear them apart.

When the judge announced the verdict, the fury turned into justice.

“Zhang family couple, for the crime of abandonment, sentenced to up to five years in prison.”

Tang Mingming let out a breath she had been holding for years. The invisible hand that had gripped her throat was finally gone. From now on, she had no connection to them.

The disheveled middle-aged man panicked and tried to shift the blame.

“Your Honor, it wasn’t my fault. She’s the one who planned it all. She said the orphanage director liked raising kids, so she dumped the baby nearby. If someone took her in, fine. If she died, so be it. Then we’d sell her once she grew up.”

“It wasn’t me! I didn’t do anything! It was all her!”

The woman, crying, wasn’t about to be thrown under the bus. “I said we should sell the brat, and you said we could use the money to buy our son a house in town. You’re the head of the house! I wouldn’t have dared do anything without your say-so!”

Hearing it from the girl was one thing. Hearing it from their own mouths made the crowd’s rage skyrocket.

Throwing rotten food wasn’t enough even the glasses-wearing student posted the story online. Cyberbullying isn’t good but for people like this, it sure felt satisfying.

Outside the courtroom, the air was fresh. Tang Mingming bowed deeply to Xia Mucai and Xia Chi.

“Sister Xia, Sister Chi I’ll repay you one day.”

“Repay? What are you talking about? Just get into Jiangcheng University next year, and we’ll see you again,” Xia Mucai said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

She whispered in her ear, “Stay in touch. Your Sister Chi is very busy. Call me if anything happens.”

Tang Mingming nodded quickly. “You got it! You’re my real sister!”

“Sweet talker.” Xia Mucai let go of her shoulder. A car waited nearby to take her back to the orphanage. She said, “Take care. Message me when you get there.”

The girl showed her lively side, skipping toward the car.

As she opened the car door, she turned back. “Sister Xia, Sister Chi! I’ll visit you next year after the college entrance exams!”

Xia Chi waved, her face full of fondness and pride. Watching her leave, she looked like a proud parent.

But beneath the calm surface, dark tides were rising. As Tang Mingming drove away, Xia Mucai felt increasingly uneasy.

The plotline where the male lead steals the heroine’s kidney was approaching. Teng Jingsi would set fire to the orphanage and threaten Xia Chi. She’d be forced into despair and lose a kidney.

Just imagining Xia Chi on her knees in that moment nearly crushed Xia Mucai.

Her heart clenched, tears filling her eyes from the fear.

Xia Chi noticed and panicked. “What’s wrong?!”

Xia Mucai just shook her head, body trembling, unable to speak.

“I’m taking you to the hospital,” Xia Chi said anxiously.

Xia Mucai wanted to refuse, but her lips were numb as if they’d been filled with peppercorns.

She couldn’t say a word.