Ming Yue murmured to herself.

Every heartwarming scene downstairs was the very thing that pierced her heart.

Every harmonious moment down there existed only because it had been built upon the flesh and blood of her family.

As she watched Liu Jia and Liu Qinxin, mother and daughter, smiling as they accompanied Ming Shuo on their celebratory outing, the pain in her heart grew even more intense.

She let out a cold snort. “Your own happiness should never be built on the suffering of others. Mr. Ming, Miss Liu—whether you’ve been cheating or just casually sleeping together, I can still somehow accept it. But what you absolutely should not have done…what you absolutely should not have done…”

Tears blurred her vision.

She couldn’t say another word.

Staring at the departing figures of the whole family, she merely continued to sneer—sneering right down to her bones.

Her fingers lightly tapped the armrest as she quietly muttered, “Just you wait—this is only the beginning!”

Sure enough, when they returned that evening, both Liu Qinxin and Liu Jia looked increasingly grim.

Of course, the worst of all was the man standing before them.

As soon as he stepped inside, his handsome face, though not entirely faded, looked even grimmer than soot at the bottom of a pot; he said nothing the entire time, walking into the house with a dark, sullen expression.

Ming Yue lay in bed, quietly watching everything downstairs on the screen, a satisfied smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “See? In this household, anything you do has to be approved by me! One after another, you’ve all forgotten about me—so who’s to blame?”

Just as she was muttering to herself, she saw on the computer screen that Ming Shuo downstairs, suppressing his anger, barked at the little boy playing by his mother’s side, Liu Lai: “Lai Lai, come over here!”

“What’s wrong? Why are you so fierce? Don’t scare the child!” Seeing her son’s troubled expression, Ma Fengying immediately shielded Liu Lai with her arms.

Liu Qinxin breathed a sigh of relief as a result.

Liu Lai, confused and frightened, hid in his grandmother’s embrace, reluctant to come out, and timidly asked, “Dad… d-did you call me for something?”

“What ‘something’? Don’t you know?”

Ming Shuo’s face turned purplish-blue. Ignoring his mother, who defended her son without any limits, he slammed the briefcase in his hand hard onto the living room table.

Liu Lai trembled all over, shrinking even tighter into his grandmother’s arms, refusing to come out no matter what.

Liu Jia also began to shake slightly, standing obediently to one side, too afraid to look up at the man or utter a single word, only casting an aggrieved glance at her younger brother, Liu Lai.

It’s all his fault!

If it weren’t for him, why would Dad be so angry with me?

What a useless, incompetent fool!

In the kitchen, Nanny Zhao, busy tidying up, heard the loud noise and, sensing trouble, quickly slipped away, determined not to show herself to anyone.

Liu Lai, his little face pale, thought for a moment and shook his head, saying he didn’t know.

He really didn’t think he’d done anything today to make Dad upset—could it be that Dad had found out about that thing?

No way!

That crazy woman said not to mention it.

How could Dad possibly know?

Could it be that Ming Yue, that crazy woman, broke her promise and secretly told Dad?

Damn her!

Truly damned!

Someday, I’ll definitely kill her!

Liu Lai cursed Ming Yue countless times in his heart, racking his brains for how to defend himself, when suddenly he caught a strange smell.

A faint, unpleasant odor.

And something else…

Liu Lai couldn’t quite put it into words, but it smelled terribly bad.

Just as he was wondering what the smell could be, he heard Ming Shuo lashing out at him: “You don’t know? How could you not know what you’ve done yourself?”

“I…”

Liu Lai turned his pleading gaze toward his mother, Liu Qinxin, behind his father, hoping she’d speak up for him—but her expression only made him even more confused.

It was as if…as if she were holding something back.

“What ‘I’? Let me ask you—your sister says the water she used to make breakfast this morning came from you. Do you admit it or not?”

Ming Shuo’s anger boiled over.

Hearing this, Liu Lai instantly relaxed, letting go of the little hand clutching his grandmother’s clothes, and calmly replied, “Yes, that’s right—so what?”

“So what? You’re so bold admitting it! What do you mean, ‘so what’? You rotten piece of trash—what did you add in there?” Ming Shuo’s face was as black as ink, looking utterly disgusting.

But Liu Lai quickly shook his head. “I didn’t add anything! I poured the bottled water for my sister myself—it’s perfectly clean! It’s not from the water dispenser…”

Realizing he’d let something slip, Liu Lai hurriedly clamped his mouth shut.

Yet Ming Shuo wouldn’t let it go. He strode forward in a few quick steps, yanked Liu Lai out of his mother Ma Fengying’s arms, and twisted his ear as he pressed him for answers: “What did you put in the water dispenser?”

End of Chapter 31: Public Humiliation