The originally departed Zhou Mei just stumbled back in gloriously.
Fell flat on her face.
"Un... Uncle..." Zhou Mei said awkwardly, "I... I’m just worried something might happen to you. You... Uncle, what’s that you’re holding?"
Zhou Mei’s gaze was immediately drawn to the box in Mr. Zhou’s hand.
"Yunhai, get her out of here for me," Mr. Zhou said angrily.
Old Zhou’s face flushed with embarrassment because of Zhou Mei’s actions, disgracing the Zhou Family because of this niece.
"Uncle, how can you treat me like this?" Zhou Mei angrily cried while sitting on the ground, "I am your niece, and I hurried over as soon as I heard you were back."
"But you either speak coldly to me or want to drive me away." Zhou Mei said sadly, "I know what I did before was wrong, but I was forced into it."
"You were forced? Who held a knife to your throat and made you write that denunciation letter?" Gu Lingling said coldly, "Or who forced you to humiliate Grandma Zhou?"
No, no one.
But Zhou Mei was doing all this to earn merit, to climb higher by stepping on her own relatives’ blood.
"Can your excuse of being ’forced into it’ bring Grandma Zhou back to life? Can your ’ignorance’ make Grandpa Zhou healthy again? Can it erase the hurt he suffered all these years?"
The injuries Mr. Zhou suffered were far more than physical.
Being denounced by his own niece whom he personally raised, which caused his wife her life, and if it weren’t for Yao Ruanqian’s help back then, it would have been a miracle if Mr. Zhou survived.
Besides, during those years, he was often dragged out, and his body was tormented badly.
If not for the ginseng she used to nurse him back to health, how else could he have gone with the expedition team for archaeology?
Even today, he wouldn’t be able to stand here steadily because of the anger from Zhou Mei.
"Who... who are you? This is a Zhou Family matter; it has nothing to do with you," Zhou Mei awkwardly got up from the ground and dusted herself off.
"I have always regretted what happened back then." Zhou Mei looked pitifully at Mr. Zhou, knowing that every time she acted pitiful, Mr. Zhou would soften.
"I didn’t know they would treat Auntie like that," Zhou Mei cried, covering her mouth, "I wish I could take the punishment for you."
"Enough." Mr. Zhou looked at her with some disgust and said, "Stop pretending here; I’m tired of seeing your pathetic act. Leave."
"But you can’t give things to a stranger," Zhou Mei raised her voice, "They must have seen your stuff, which is why they’re so good to you."
"Uncle, don’t be deceived by them."
"The only time in my life I was deceived," Mr. Zhou looked icily at Zhou Mei, "was by you, a beast in human skin."
Zhou Mei, "..."
This might be the harshest thing Mr. Zhou’s ever said to her.
Looking at the disgust on Mr. Zhou’s face, Zhou Mei realized she was too confident, thinking she was too important.
Furthermore, Zhou Mei glanced at Gu Lingling.
The reason Mr. Zhou dared to treat her this way must be because of this little bitch.
Who knows what promises she made to him, making Mr. Zhou so heartlessly determined to break with her.