Anger flashed through her. Jealousy turned her expression feral. “Why is she here, Senior?”
“Xiao Yue brought her here,” Huo Xiaoran said.
Only then did the anger in Lu Mo’s heart ease slightly.
She braced herself and walked up to Qiao An. Although she openly pleaded on Li Changhai’s behalf, she spoke with a superior tone. With an oppressive edge, she said, “Qiao An, my Uncle Li did do something wrong to you. However, he didn’t cause you any substantial harm. Now that he’s been sentenced to ten years, frankly, this punishment is too heavy.”
Qiao An looked up at her calmly.
“So, do you want me to plead on his behalf?”
Lu Mo said, “Yes.”
“Impossible,” Qiao An refused firmly.
She placed the teacup in her hand elegantly on the coffee table, then stood up and stood in front of Lu Mo.
She looked at Lu Mo with disdain. “Lu Mo, three years ago, I fell off the cliff. You and Brother Xiaoran risked your life to save me. I’ve always remembered this favor. Therefore, no matter what you do to me, no matter how much I hate you, I’m unwilling to hurt you at all.”
At this point, the polite smile on Qiao An’s face suddenly disappeared, and then she questioned angrily, “But Lu Mo, by begging for mercy for Li Changhai today, you’ve let me see your greedy desire. Do you think that I, Qiao An, have no bottom line for my tolerance, so you’re unrestrainedly squandering what little tolerance I have for you?”
This was the first time Qiao An had reprimanded Lu Mo in public so angrily. This made Lu Mo’s expression extremely ugly. It was as if Qiao An had slapped her a few times and she had lost her face.
She roared in anger. “Qiao An, why are you pretending to be a saint? What are you talking about? You said you’re grateful to me and have been tolerant of me. Hehe, what a joke. You’re deliberately putting yourself on the moral high ground. In fact, your way of thanking me is to snatch my fiancé, hurt my family, and shamelessly monitor my whereabouts?”
Qiao An looked at Lu Mo silently.
Her silence made everyone present feel that she was guilty. After all, Lu Mo’s accusation was so powerful. Qiao An said that she was grateful for Lu Mo’s help in the past, but she was secretly doing something to hurt Lu Mo. From this alone, Qiao An seemed very hypocritical.
At this point, if Qiao An didn’t defend herself, her image might collapse.
Qiao An took her time to refute Lu Mo. “Lu Mo, let me give you a piece of advice. The heavens are watching. It’s not that I don’t want revenge, but the time hasn’t come.”
“Qiao An, you can’t slander my innocence, so you borrowed an old saying?” Lu Mo mocked.
Qiao An sneered. “Your innocence? Why should I slander you? Lu Mo, you know very well why I separated from Brother Xiaoran three years ago!”
Panic flashed across Lu Mo’s eyes.
Three years ago, after Qiao An and Li Zecheng divorced, she wanted to reconcile with Huo Xiaoran. She was the one who used tricks to make Qiao An misunderstand that Huo Xiaoran looked down on her.
Huo Xiaoran’s pupils constricted. Qiao An and Lu Mo’s dialogue made him smell something unusual.
Qiao An continued, “And don’t play the blame game. Your family hurt me first, and I was forced to defend myself.”
Lu Mo continued to slander her. “Qiao An, you despise the poor and love the rich. Now that you see that Senior has become rich, you’ve taken the trouble to woo him. You know that I’m infatuated with Senior. Ignoring the fact that I’m seriously ill, you’ve repeatedly approached Senior to provoke me. My Uncle Li hurt you just to enforce justice on behalf of the heavens…”
Lu Mo and Qiao An spoke one after another. They both seemed to be reasonable.
Huo Zhou and the others just looked at them quietly and listened to their debate. It was obvious that they could not seek the truth from their argument.
Lu Mo was secretly pleased. Seeing how Qiao An was helpless in front of her, she probably didn’t have much evidence against her.
Unexpectedly, Qiao An seemed to have seen through her wishful thinking. Her next sentence almost sent Lu Mo straight to hell.
“Lu Mo, no matter what you have said, it’s not as realistic as solid evidence.”
“If you have evidence, show it to me,” Lu Mo said indignantly.
Qiao An’s eyes crinkled with contempt. “You want proof? For which crime?”
Lu Mo looked at Qiao An’s teasing expression and felt inexplicably attacked by panic. Her face instantly turned as pale as paper, and her body trembled like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.
She was sure that Qiao An knew everything. Including the matter of her sowing discord between Qiao An and Huo Xiaoran? The matter of her pretending to be sick, and even her background?
As expected, Qiao An went straight to the point. “Why don’t we talk about your background?”
Lu Mo was like a rattlesnake whose tail had been stepped on. “Qiao An, my background is clean. What problem can there be? Besides, even if there’s a problem with my background, that’s something I can’t decide. Why did you use my background to attack me?” Lu Mo finally avoided the main point, but she also hit the nail on the head. Coupled with her superb acting skills, her trembling hands, the tears in her eyes, and her rapid breathing made people pity her.
Huo Xiaoran looked at Lu Mo’s pale expression. He was a doctor after all. Taking into account her condition, he reminded Qiao An tactfully, “Qiao An, Lu Mo is right. Her background is not up to her to decide. You shouldn’t use her background to attack her.”
Because of Huo Xiaoran’s favoritism towards Lu Mo, Qiao An looked at him in a daze for a long time and did not say a word. Her gaze was filled with complicated emotions. It was as if she was complaining and sighing.
Finally, Qiao An said listlessly, “I’m tired. I’ll go back first. You guys have fun.”
Only then did Huo Xiaoran wake up. He seemed to have made Qiao An misunderstand him again.
“Qiao An.” He wanted to chase after Qiao An, but Lu Mo stopped him. “Senior, I want to talk to you alone.”
Huo Xiaoran looked at Lu Mo helplessly. “Tell me.”
“My Uncle Li is a pitiful man. He originally had a mental illness. It was wrong of him to hurt Qiao An, but fortunately, he didn’t cause Qiao An much harm. I beg you, please forgive him. Can you help me pull some strings so that our Lu family can reduce his sentence to the greatest extent?”
Huo Xiaoran’s eyes were cold. “Momo, I can share some of your troubles, but forgive me for not forgiving Li Changhai.”
Lu Mo was about to cry. “He’s in the wrong, but his crime doesn’t deserve ten years in prison.”
Huo Xiaoran’s eyes shot out anger as he said fiercely, “He tried to harm Qiao An twice. In my opinion, his death is not worth pitying. A mere ten years in prison is simply letting him off easy.”