“How else are we to show their sincere apologies? And how else are we to teach them a lesson they’ll never forget? Or do you, Mr. Ming, really hope they’ll go and poke another huge hole in your or Huiqing’s finances next time?”

Ming Yue clapped her hands and jabbed Ming Shuo right in the heart with the lightest of words—yet it landed with crushing force.

Ming Shuo’s tightly furrowed brow instantly knotted even tighter.

Ming Yue took note, her lips curling into a sly smile. “I know—you’re naturally loath to part with them. Well, that works out perfectly. After all, I’m itching to make a splash right now, and I’ve already lost whatever reputation I had anyway, so I’m not afraid of getting even more infamous.”

She paused briefly, glancing at the two tightly shut doors, then smiled meaningfully.

“As for them… Heh, if you’re not afraid of becoming a pariah like me, go ahead and fight me—I welcome it with open arms. Just bear the consequences yourself!”

Now that’s what you call someone who’s got nothing to lose.

Let’s see who can stand their ground!

Ming Shuo was in excruciating pain, and even the wound she’d smashed against his head earlier was throbbing again.

Looking at this fiery, overbearing, utterly unreasonable Ming Yue before him, he simply couldn’t reconcile her with the sweet, sensible, and understanding daughter he’d once known.

It all felt like a dream.

But he knew full well: if the current Ming Yue could say such things, she’d certainly follow through—just like that cup she’d hurled at his head that night, showing no mercy whatsoever.

After pondering for a moment, Ming Shuo finally made up his mind. He pinched his nose and leapt headfirst into the deep pit Ming Yue had dug, bellowing at the two locked doors:

“Get out here! Stop hiding in your rooms! You two idiots—get out and apologize if you need to apologize, and get out and pay if you need to pay. I’m counting to three. If you don’t come out, and she beats you to death with that stick later on, don’t come crying to me in your dreams—go straight to King Yama and weep there instead!”

With that, Ming Shuo began counting.

“Three!”

Both rooms stirred at once.

“Two!”

Footsteps echoed from both rooms.

“One!”

The two doors creaked open simultaneously, revealing three anxious faces—and one skull as black as ink.

Ming Yue remained as calm as ever. She didn’t even glance at the pitch-black face; instead, she zeroed in on the other three trembling heads.

The three dared not meet her gaze, but she suddenly slammed the stick in her hand hard against the floor, shaking the solid wood to its very core.

“Well, well—finally willing to come out, huh? Then let’s do as Mr. Ming says! Otherwise, you’ll be paying with your lives tonight!”

Ming Xia and Liu Jia both flinched.

Liu Lai darted straight into her father Ming Shuo’s arms, still too afraid to look Ming Yue in the eye.

Ma Fengying had never seen such reckless behavior in her family, nor had she ever encountered a girl so brazen and lawless. Her heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys were all aching from sheer frustration.

Finally unable to hold back any longer, she shot her son a sharp look—as if to say: “You’re the head of the household, the biological father of this jinxed kid—so you just let her run wild like this?”

Of course Ming Shuo understood his mother’s look—but he ignored it. Instead, he tugged his son backward by the collar, letting Ming Yue pressure the two of them into apologizing and paying compensation.

Just as Ming Yue had said.

How could these two fools, driven by a momentary clash of egos, disregard the safety of the family and the future of the company? They absolutely needed to be taught a harsh lesson!

If they kept acting so foolishly, next time they might jeopardize the entire future of the Ming Family.

And that was something Ming Shuo would never, ever allow!

Ma Fengying received no response from her son, and she wasn’t about to argue with a madwoman wielding a long stick, ready to strike at any moment. All she could do was grit her teeth and try to hide her own pitch-black face, as dark as ink.

Ming Xia and Liu Jia exchanged a glance—there was no way they’d dare say “no” now.

End of Chapter 47: A Staggering Compensation