如日本成片区i

Sister-in-law?

Mrs. Zhang glanced back at her after giving him a peace of mind. The other elderly woman beside her was silent.

She gently smiled. "Ruiling dear. You don\'t have to be afraid. I understand Xue brought you…" she cleared her throat, "in a very suspicious manner. We don\'t blame you for misunderstanding him. You don\'t trust him. But you trust me, right?"

Jiang Ruiling wasn\'t really in a state to respond. But seeing Mrs. Zhang, who always took care of Lihua like a good neighbor, did calm her heart.

She hated Xian Xue. She didn\'t know who the other woman was. But she knew Mrs. Zhang was a good woman. She dazedly nodded.

"Good," she smiled but it turned into a sad one soon enough. "I know everything must be really confusing to you. Xue brought you here, then told you about Shen Yang, and you don\'t know where you are right now. So, instead of us telling you and confusing you more, it\'s better if you ask us what you want to know first."

Jiang Ruiling was grim. "There are too many questions in my mind right now."

"It\'s natural."

"Okay then…" She took a deep breath. Which question to ask first?

"What is this place?"

"This is the Cheng residence."

She blinked. "Cheng residence? Which Cheng family?"

Xian Xue sneered. "How many Cheng families do you know who are a part of the Underworld?"

She blankly stared at him. "THAT Cheng family!?"

One of the four influential families in the Mafia - The Jiangs, Yangs, Lus and the Chengs.

Of course, she had heard of the Cheng family from her father. They were masters in spying and information gathering.

"But didn\'t the Cheng family vanish years ago?"

"Vanished. Not dead."

She glared at him. "I am not talking to you!"

"You better talk to me because Aunt Zhang has a habit of making conversations go for too long."

Mrs. Zhang said indignantly. "So you don\'t like me talking."

"I prefer having short, intelligent conversations, not a chit chat."

Mrs. Zhang felt extremely aggrieved. "You will only understand my value if I die one day! I bet you will rejoice that my irritating voice will be gone forever," she sniffled.

The woman beside her narrowed her eyes. "Xue."

Xian Xue gave a wry smile.

Why do women get so emotional?

"Of course not, Aunt. You will live a hundred years long. Just don\'t live with me."

She puked blood and so did Jiang Ruiling.

The woman calmly said, "Kneel on the durian later."

"Whatever," he shrugged.

Mrs. Zhang coughed. "We are getting strayed away from the conversation."

Xian Xue cleared his throat. "Exactly what I meant."

She scowled at him.

Mrs. Zhang focused on Jiang Ruiling again. "Yes, dear. Due to some circumstances in the past, the Cheng family had gone into hiding. But the family wasn\'t dead."

Jiang Ruiling stared at her. "I see...T-Then how are you connected to the Cheng family? Aren\'t you…"

Isn\'t she just Lihua\'s neighbor?

She smiled. "Well, I am one of the spies of this family."

She widened her eyes. "What!? Spy? You are a spy?"

"Yes."

"Spy for what?"

"Actually, it\'s not really spying. It\'s more of looking after and taking care of Lihua."

Which made her think back to when Mrs. Zhang said about Xian Xue and Lihua\'s relationship.

"Why would you do that?"

There was a beat of silence.

"Earlier, you said Xian Xue to be like his sister…"

"Yes. It\'s true. Being Lihua\'s neighbor was just a facade. I was there to look after the daughter of the Cheng family."

Her jaw dropped in shock.

"Cheng family? Sister-in-law? It\'s impossible! Her last surname is Song…"

Which again made her recall another important fact.

She gasped. "Wait. Wasn\'t the Cheng family behind the murder of Lihua\'s parents?"

Mrs. Zhang said, "That\'s...a long story. The Cheng family never killed the Song parents. We were framed."

"Framed? If not you, then who killed them?"

"Jiang Wei."

"..."

Out of all the names, she least expected to hear his. "Cousin Wei? With due respect, you cannot be serious. He was eleven or twelve, I think?"

Xian Xue raised his brow. "So? Is it so impossible for a twelve year old boy, especially one who grew up in a Mafia family, to kill someone?"

She was silent.

"But he had no reason to kill them."

"He did," Mrs. Zhang said, "He had a very strong reason. But we don\'t have to delve into that for now. Like I said before, I lived as Lihua\'s neighbor because the Cheng family wanted to know that she was safe."

"S-So, sister-in-law really is the Cheng family\'s daughter?"

"Yes. This man is not Xian Xue. He is Cheng Xinyue. Xue is what we call him like a nickname from his childhood. He is Lihua\'s elder brother. The woman beside me is Cheng Mei. She is Lihua\'s biological mother."

Jiang Ruiling stared at her in shock.

Mrs. Zhang\'s expression was grim. "Because of Jiang Shan\'s threat, we had to give up on Lihua to save her life. Do you know the circumstances under which we had to disappear?"

Jiang Ruiling said, "I…don\'t know much. But what I heard was that they had revolted against someone and that someone destroyed their family."

"That someone was Jiang Zemin. He got the wind of our plan to usurp him from his position. He burned down the Lu clan. The Cheng family went into hiding soon after that. That was long ago. But then we were shocked to know that Jiang Shan was still alive. By that point, Jiang Zemin was already dead. Jiang Shan somehow sent his man to contact us to join hands with him against Jiang Weizhe. But the Cheng family refused. He was just as bad, even worse than Jiang Zemin.. And because we refused, he wanted to kill the Cheng family."