Chapter 44
"Wait a moment, don't get so worked up!" Seeing that the other party was getting more and more agitated, Zhong Ning interrupted her gently. "I'm not here to hold you accountable."
Liu Rushi was stunned. "What?"
She quickly said, "Look, if Miaomiao is my daughter, I will take responsibility, on my own free will... It might sound ridiculous, but I really hope that everyone who committed a crime will face the punishment they deserve, including myself."
"I'm not saying this to seek sympathy..."
"Aiya!" Zhong Ning grew anxious. "You're really overthinking it!"
"I don't mean to blame you at all!"
Liu Rushi was completely confused.
Zhong Ning spoke clearly. "I'm here to help you seek justice. Well, also to help myself seek justice. We're both victims here. It's all Zhang Min's fault. If she hadn't orchestrated everything, none of this would have happened!"
"She's the real villain who should be punished and brought to justice!"
Liu Rushi looked up in some astonishment, as if she had just heard something in an alien language, completely unable to grasp what Zhong Ning meant.
"What are you thinking?" Zhong Ning asked.
"What?" Liu Rushi looked at her in a daze. "You... you're just going to forgive me like this? Why..."
Zhong Ning looked even more puzzled than she did. "Why what? Aren't you a victim too?"
Liu Rushi furrowed her brows tightly. "But these past few days, I kept pestering you, claiming you were Miaomiao's mother, and did those things that nearly ruined your engagement. Don't you blame me?"
"Well, I was indeed scared to death..." At this, Zhong Ning felt as if she had survived a great disaster. "But this whole thing wasn't entirely a bad thing, and besides, you didn't ruin my engagement."
On the contrary, she felt her relationship with Shiqing had grown even stronger. She hadn't expected Shiqing to help her uncover the truth and clear her name. How could that not be considered a blessing in disguise?
Moreover, she had come to understand one thing: she couldn't place too much trust in the character settings described in the book.
Did a cannon fodder character necessarily have to be an utterly evil villain? When she herself had doubted the original body's innocence, it was Fu Nanshuang and her friends who unwaveringly believed in her.
Zhong Ning had learned her lesson as well. This was a real world, where every person was alive, complex, full of flesh and blood, not a one-dimensional symbol or label that could be summed up with just two words—cannon fodder.
She had been too narrow-minded.
Liu Rushi stood with her mouth open, in disbelief. She had sincerely wanted to make amends and was willing to accept punishment, but she never expected that there would be someone as magnanimous as Zhong Ning in this world.
She simply couldn’t understand it.
But Zhong Ning didn’t care about any of that, nor about what others thought. For someone who had never experienced setbacks or hardships, encountering one now felt like stumbling upon a hidden bonus, a secret chapter—a rare occurrence.
Besides, hadn’t the matter been perfectly resolved? It suited her usual good luck so well—frightening at first but ending with great gains.
From this perspective, it had even turned into a good thing.
Xie Shiqing chuckled softly and lazily said, "There’s no special reason. Don’t overthink it. Ning Ning is just kindhearted."
"Zhang Min, the real culprit, I will deal with her. She will pay enough money to cover your daughter’s medical expenses."
Hearing this, Fu Nanshuang quickly chimed in, "That’s right, we can’t let that trash get away with it! Daring to frame Little Ning—she deserves to die!"
Zhong Ning added, "Don’t worry, this won’t implicate Miaomiao at all."
"By the way, since Zhang Min was able to enter her room, doesn’t that mean there were issues on the hotel’s side as well? Apart from those who tampered with the surveillance, there must be other problems. Nanshuang also said that the security at Lingyun Hotel is supposed to be very good. How could someone break into a room without waking anyone inside? Maybe Zhang Min colluded with the hotel staff and got a room card, which allowed her to come and go freely."
"And those police officers... they knew the phone number wasn’t mine and still helped to cover it up. They are accomplices! Knowing the law and breaking it—that’s an even greater crime!"
Zhong Ning tilted her head like a sunflower, looked at Xie Shiqing, and tugged on her hand. The latter smiled faintly and replied lightly, "I’ll take care of everything."
She gestured, and the assistant behind her handed a business card to Liu Rushi.
"Miss Liu, just wait for news."
Liu Rushi was at a loss for words. Her deep despair had suddenly turned to overwhelming joy. It felt as if her throat were blocked with stones—she couldn’t utter a full sentence. She can only force out a few hoarsed words.
She bowed repeatedly, murmuring, "Thank you... thank you..."
A few round drops of water stained the floor.
Seeing her like this, Zhong Ning also felt a bit upset. She still remembered that Liu Rushi had only encountered all of this because she had won a scholarship trip from Fengcheng University.
Had this ordeal not happened, with her grades, she would have had a good future ahead of her—not ended up like this, pitiful and tragic, her spirit completely withered.
"As for the medical expenses, don’t worry about it. Use this money for now—I’m not in a hurry. You can pay me back after you get Zhang Min’s compensation."
She spoke sincerely. "Miaomiao’s treatment is more important."
Fu Nanshuang’s mood hadn’t shifted as quickly as Zhong Ning’s—especially after exhausting herself gathering evidence. But she had always had double standards. Since Zhong Ning had generously forgiven Liu Rushi, she wouldn’t make trouble for her either and simply redirected all her anger onto Zhang Min.
She said fiercely, "I really didn’t expect that rat to suddenly grow such guts, lying so brazenly and causing such a mess for us to clean up. Outrageous!"
"But she couldn’t have done it alone. That bitch behind her must’ve been pulling the strings again!"
Fu Nanshuang slapped the table. "I must get some dirt on her!"
Zhong Ning only understood the first half of that. The second half—what was that about? Which bitch? Who?
But Zheng Xuan and the others didn’t name names either. They just nodded in agreement and said, "It must be. That disgusting kind of trick is her signature move."