C9 Chapter 9

The reporters who’d been waiting for half an hour were getting bored, fiddling with their cameras and long lenses. Even the old man’s legal wife had yelled herself hoarse, her voice losing steam.

But the moment Hee Yu opened the door, every camera snapped up in near-perfect unison, aiming straight at her face. Compared to the still-dazed older woman, their professionalism was obvious.

Pushing through the crowd of reporters blocking her way, the older woman planted herself in front of Hee Yu. She barely came up to Hee Yu’s nose.

But the second she thought about how this woman—someone from the Hee Family—had tried to seduce her husband, failed, and then sent him to the hospital, her blood boiled.

“You nasty little tramp, you finally decided to show your face!” the older woman snarled, jabbing a finger at Hee Yu’s nose.

If she didn’t have connections at the station, she never would’ve known this woman had walked out of there without a scratch.

Hee Yu raised an eyebrow and, without the slightest courtesy, knocked the finger away. “Who are you calling a tramp?”

“You, obviously!” the older woman shot back.

Hee Yu looked almost innocent in front of the cameras. “Then why are you calling me one?”

“You…” The older woman couldn’t keep up. By the time she realized what she’d just said, she was already tongue-tied.

A reporter the older woman had brought along quickly lifted his microphone and jumped in. “Miss Hee, the victim is still lying in a hospital bed. As the person responsible, you got out of the station without receiving any forgiveness from the victim—by pulling strings and using improper channels. Do you have anything to say about that?”

People said petty troublemakers were the worst. A bootlicking reporter was even harder to deal with.

But Hee Yu didn’t give them an inch. Her face went cold. “What, so defending myself from an old man who tried to rape me is a problem now?”

The reporters exchanged looks. They’d come expecting a juicy headline—sex, scandal, and dirty law enforcement. But what Hee Yu said didn’t match the story they’d been fed at all.

The older woman didn’t snap out of it until then, and she swung a slap straight at Hee Yu’s face.

As if Hee Yu would let it land. She shot out a hand, clamped down on the woman’s wrist, and held her fast.

“You’re lying! It was you who played dirty. You’re the Hee Family’s illegitimate daughter—just like your mother, no shame at all—actually trying to seduce my husband. My husband tried to talk sense into you, and you turned vicious. Now you’ve hurt someone and you still dare to run your mouth!”

The older woman was seething. Maybe she wouldn’t have believed that a young, delicate, pretty little thing would go after her own husband, a balding old man. But when Mrs. Hee came to her house to apologize, she’d all but confirmed what people had been whispering—that this girl really was an illegitimate child.

Like mother, like daughter. If her mother was the kind of woman who’d sleep with anyone, how decent could the daughter be?

And her old man, for all his faults, still had money. If Hee Yu was illegitimate, there was no way Mrs. Hee would ever let her touch the family fortune. So going after money on the side? That would be the obvious move.

The older woman should never, ever have brought up Hee Yu’s mother.

Hee Yu’s mother was Hee Zheng’s lawful wife. Hee Yu was his rightful eldest daughter. But the truth had been twisted until black looked white, and Hee Yu had been branded an illegitimate child—how could she not hate it?

Hee Yu let out a cold laugh. “Why don’t you pull the security footage from the private room? Was it your husband trying to get handsy with me, or was I seducing some old man? Doesn’t everything come down to proof? Watch it and you’ll know.”

Seeing the unconcerned look on Hee Yu’s face, the older woman’s heart sank.

Could it be she’d really been played—by her own husband and Mrs. Hee working together?

For a moment, her eyes darted, and her voice lost its edge. “Y-you just wait. I’m going to the hotel right now to get the footage. Then we’ll see what you have to say.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the older woman seemed embarrassed. She covered half her face with both hands and hurried away from the scene.

The reporters had gone to all this trouble to get here—there was no way they were leaving empty-handed.

Cameras and microphones shoved right up in front of Hee Yu. “Miss Hee, why don’t you say a little more?”

The more you say, the more you can be twisted. Who knew how these reporters would cherry-pick her words?

Hee Yu’s expression didn’t change. She stepped back and tried to use the door to shut out the people who were all too good at ruining reputations with a few strokes of a pen.

“Miss Hee, are you really the Hee Family’s illegitimate daughter?”

“Miss Hee, how did you end up having dinner with the victim?”

“If Miss Hee doesn’t want to talk, then why was the victim found in your room?”

“Before Miss Hee hurt him, had you already been assaulted?”

“Miss Hee, can you walk me through exactly what happened?”

“From what I understand, when Miss Hee left the police station, the case wasn’t closed, and you weren’t held for a full twenty-four hours—so how did you get out of the station?”

It had to be said: the reporters’ questions hit dead center.