Free Web NovelChapter 374: Are you surprised?
Hua Ling’s lips curved into a chilling smile as she tilted her head slightly, studying the shock that flickered across Hua Jing’s face.
"Surprised?" she asked softly.
Hua Jing swallowed, forcing herself to steady her breathing even though her heart was pounding violently against her ribs. "I should have known," she said slowly. She had considered countless possibilities on the drive here in her mind—business rivals, political enemies, disgruntled investors—but never this. Never Hua Ling. She had never believed Hua Ling would dare to go this far.
Hua Ling’s expression twisted almost instantly, the fragile smile collapsing into something feral.
"This is what you deserve," she spat. "For everything you did to me. For everything you took."
Hua Jing frowned, confusion and anger warring inside her. "What did I take from you?"
"You sent my mother to prison!" Hua Ling screamed, her voice cracking as it tore through the clearing. "You destroyed my family! You stole everything from me—my position, my reputation, my future! Hua Jing, I will never forgive you. Never!"
Hua Jing’s eyes hardened despite the ropes biting into her wrists. "Your mother is in prison because she killed someone," she said, her voice steady despite the tension coiling in her chest. "And that person just happens to be my mother."
"Shut up!" Hua Ling shrieked.
The dagger trembled violently in her hand as she stepped forward.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" she screamed again, as if the words themselves burned her ears.
"Don’t you dare say that," Hua Ling hissed, her breathing uneven. "You don’t know anything. You don’t know what happened back then."
"I know enough," Hua Jing replied quietly. "I know my mother is dead. I know the evidence proved your mother did it. And I know that justice was served."
"Justice?" Hua Ling let out a hollow, almost hysterical laugh. "You call that justice? You dug up the past. You reopened old wounds. You made sure the police looked deeper. If you had just stayed quiet—if you had just minded your own business—none of this would have happened!"
"My mother deserved the truth," Hua Jing shot back, her voice finally rising. "She deserved justice. I deserved to know why she was taken from me."
"And I deserved to keep mine!" Hua Ling roared.
The forest seemed to recoil at the rawness in her voice.
She began pacing in front of Hua Jing, boots sinking slightly into the wet soil. The dagger glinted as she swung her arm wildly, her composure unraveling with every step.
"You think you’re righteous," she continued bitterly. "You think because you have Fu Jing Rong, because you have power and money, you can decide what justice looks like. But do you know what it felt like to watch my mother being dragged away in handcuffs? To see reporters crowding our house? To have everyone whispering that we were murderers?"
Hua Jing’s throat tightened, but she did not look away. "And do you know what it felt like to grow up without a mother? To attend her funeral? To spend years not knowing why she was taken from me?"
For a brief second, something flickered in Hua Ling’s eyes—pain, perhaps—but it was quickly swallowed by hatred.
"You took her from me," Hua Ling said again, her voice now eerily calm. "So I’ll take something from you." ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
She stopped pacing and pointed toward the freshly dug patch of earth.
Hua Jing followed her gaze, and her stomach dropped.
The soil was piled unevenly to one side. The hole was deep enough—too deep.
A grave. freeweɓnøvel.com
Hua Ling’s laughter rang out suddenly, sharp and unstable.
"Burying you is the only way this can stop," she said, tilting her head as if admiring her own plan. "No body. No evidence. Silian Forest is vast. Animals roam freely. The earth shifts. Even if someone suspects something, they will never find you."
Hua Jing’s breath quickened as cold realization seeped into her bones.
"You’re insane," she whispered.
"Maybe," Hua Ling replied with a shrug, twirling the dagger lightly. "Or maybe I’m just tired of losing."
She crouched down so that their faces were inches apart. Her eyes were bloodshot, veins visible against the whites.
"I want to see how powerful Fu Jing Rong really is," she murmured. "Let’s see if he can dig you out of the earth. Let’s see if he can find you in the middle of nowhere."
She straightened and motioned to the men behind her.
"Get ready," she ordered coldly.
Hua Jing watched in horrified silence as the men moved with chilling efficiency.
At a signal from Hua Ling, two of them strode toward the sedan parked at the edge of the clearing. The trunk was opened, and in a matter of seconds, they pulled something out.
A coffin.
It was simple, unadorned wood—no carvings, no polish, no decoration. Plain and practical. The kind that was chosen not for mourning, but for convenience. As they carried it closer and set it down beside the freshly dug grave, a cold realization settled over Hua Jing.
It had been prepared with her in mind.
For the first time since this ordeal began, a suffocating wave of inevitability crashed into her chest. This was not a threat spoken in anger. It was premeditated. Calculated.
There was no intention of letting her leave alive.
Something inside her shifted.
If this was truly the end, then she would not go quietly.
Hua Jing slowly lifted her head and looked directly at Hua Ling. A faint, almost mocking smile curved her lips despite the tears gathering in her eyes.
"Seems like you’re taking the murderer’s path," she said hoarsely. "Just like your mother. I suppose it runs in the family. Both of you deserve to rot in prison."
The words hit their mark.
Hua Ling’s eyes flared with uncontrollable rage. In two quick strides she closed the distance between them and delivered a vicious slap across Hua Jing’s face. The crack echoed through the clearing. Hua Jing’s head snapped to the side, the metallic taste of blood instantly filling her mouth.
"If your mother died, then that’s what she deserved!" Hua Ling screamed, her composure completely shattered. "She came in and destroyed my family. She interfered where she didn’t belong. If it were me, I would have killed her a thousand times over—just so she would know not to step into places that weren’t hers!"
