95: Two hundred thousand? A gambling dad? No, he's not even a human being!

Chen Mengyao's lips trembled slightly, her face deathly pale. Her delicate, rosy lips parted, then closed again, opening and closing several times, unsure of what to say.

"Mengyao, speak. Can't you even recognize my voice?"

The voice on the other end of the phone continued, as if squeezed through clenched teeth, filled with indignant rage. One could tell it was a roar born from exasperation.

It was hoarse and unpleasant, like an old bellows struggling to pull air, every word seemingly laden with grit, coming through in fits and starts.

Chen Mengyao took a deep breath and asked in a low voice, "What are you doing here?"

The voice on the other end of the phone snorted coldly. "What? I'm your father. Can't I come to see you?"

After speaking, his voice snorted coldly again, filled with intense anger.

"If I hadn't come, I wouldn't have known you'd struck it rich, staying in such a good hospital. You really kept it from me, didn't you? You got rich and didn't even tell me. Do you even still consider me your father?!"

Chen Mengyao gritted her teeth and said angrily, "We never had a father like you. You'd best never come looking for us again!"

The voice on the other end suddenly sneered, "So what? I still found you!"

Chen Mengyao fell silent immediately.

Her eyes instantly became incredibly complex. Her once bright eyes seemed to be covered by a layer of gray gauze, instantly dimming, giving her a feeling of utter despair.

She stood there quietly, her body swaying slightly, as if all her strength had been drained. The rag in her hand slipped silently, falling to the floor unnoticed.

Her gaze was empty, staring at a point ahead. Only her lips trembled slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but was choked by endless despair.

Then, hearing Chen Mengyao's silence, the voice on the other end of the phone sneered triumphantly again and continued to speak:

"I heard your mother say you hooked up with a rich man, Mr. Lu, right? You little slut, back home I told you to follow Mr. Niu and his group, but you refused to your dying breath. I thought you were so pure."

"But you came to Yanjing and hooked up with a rich man in just a few days. You really are a slut. You make money but don't even give it to your father. You're not just a slut, you're a money-waster!"

The voice on the other end of the phone cursed repeatedly, growing more and more furious with each curse.

Even from a distance, Chen Mengyao could already imagine his repulsive appearance.

He must have been red-faced, veins bulging on his forehead, spittle flying with his vicious words, his eyes wide as copper bells, as if he wanted to devour her through the receiver.

The light in Chen Mengyao's eyes completely vanished.

She didn't want to refute a single word of what the voice on the other end said, nor did she want to reply.

The so-called Mr. Niu mentioned by the other party were loan sharks from her hometown county. He clearly wanted to use her to pay off his debts.

How could such a person be a father? No, such a person was no longer even worthy of being human!

At this moment, Chen Mengyao's figure appeared even more slender. Dressed in a simple maid's uniform, her apron still had some water stains, and a few strands of hair hung messily by her cheeks.

She was like a small injured animal hiding in a dark corner, filled with sorrow yet helpless.

Her eyes were downcast, and crystal tears hung on her long eyelashes. The tears were about to fall, reflecting the despair in her eyes.

For some reason, at this moment, she suddenly thought of Lu Chen.

Chen Mengyao even felt that if she had really hooked up with Lu Chen, it would have been good. That way, she could have asked Lu Chen for his help.

But unfortunately, she hadn't hooked up with him. She was just an ordinary maid at Lu Family Manor. Everyone else there spent more time with Lu Chen than she did.

Chen Mengyao even felt that Lu Chen had forgotten her, only remembering her at mealtimes.

Thinking of this, Chen Mengyao's eyes grew even dimmer.

The voice on the other end of the phone was still speaking: "I order you to come over right now, immediately, and bring me one hundred thousand yuan. No, bring me two hundred thousand. Remember, not a single cent less than two hundred thousand yuan. If you're short even one cent, I'll make sure you never see your sister and your mother again! Do you hear me?!"

The voice was as hard as an ice shard in the dead of winter, mercilessly piercing Chen Mengyao, and like the cry of a night owl, carrying a chilling wickedness.

Upon hearing these words, Chen Mengyao's eyes instantly reddened, and crystal tears welled up in her eyes. The tears accumulated, like a lake before a dam breaks, surging in her eye sockets.

Her eyes were full of terror and helplessness. She bit her lower lip tightly with her pearly teeth, leaving a pale mark, trying hard not to cry out.

Lu Chen hadn't paid her yet. She only had a small amount of savings from her previous part-time jobs, only two or three thousand yuan. Where was she going to get two hundred thousand?

Chen Mengyao's voice choked, trembling as she said, "I don't have that much money, and I can't get that much money. Please leave, don't stay at the hospital, or I'll call the police."

The voice on the other end of the phone snorted coldly and said disdainfully:

"The rich man you hooked up with is so powerful that he arranged such a high-class ward for your mother at Central Hospital. I heard that ward costs tens of thousands a day. Can't he come up with two hundred thousand?"

"I'm telling you, two hundred thousand is even too little. This isn't over. I'll ask for more later!"

"You still dare to call the police? Go ahead and call, I'd like to see. Do you believe I'll beat you to death?!"

Hearing this, Mengyao became even more desperate. She even felt a sense of hopelessness in life.

Just thinking about having to endure this man's harassment in the coming days made her feel like she was at a dead end.

But she could do nothing but urge him repeatedly, her voice trembling incessantly: "Chen Yingcai, please leave. I really will call the police."

Chen Yingcai was slightly stunned, and finally his tone became even angrier: "Oh, so you're not even calling me 'father' anymore, huh? I'm telling you, if I don't see two hundred thousand today, I'm not leaving. Not only will I not leave, I'll keep bothering you all!"

His voice paused slightly, then he roared at someone nearby, "Xuening, come here!"

Immediately after, a faint pitter-patter of small footsteps slowly approached.

The footsteps were dragging and timid, each step seemingly carrying endless worry and fear, like a startled little rabbit cautiously moving forward, making one feel pity.

Faint sobs accompanied the footsteps, appearing and disappearing, as if suppressed sorrow was quietly spreading.

Then Chen Yingcai continued to say angrily and fiercely, "Tell your sister to come back. If your sister doesn't come back, I'll beat you to death!"

Chen Xuening immediately burst into tears with a "Waa!" crying heartbrokenly and agonizingly.

Chen Mengyao's heart instantly tightened, and she quickly shouted, "Don't touch her!"

Then a woman's voice came from the other end of the phone, faintly saying, "Chen Yingcai, you're an animal!"

Then came the sound of things crashing and breaking, faintly mixed with the man's angry curses, Chen Xuening's crying, and the woman's screams, all together like a cacophonous symphony of a nightmare.

All these sounds intertwined, collided, and became a mess, making one's heart clench. It was imaginable that the room on the other end of the phone must have been a disaster.

Shattered vase fragments were scattered all over the floor, tables and chairs were askew, the woman huddled in a corner protecting the child, while the man, like a madbeast, rampaged through the room.

Listening to these sounds, Chen Mengyao's heart was filled with extreme tension, and tears streamed down her face like broken pearls.

She stood in the center of the clean kitchen, everything around her now seeming so cold.

The warm light from above shone on her tear-streaked face, making her appear even more pitiful.

Chen Mengyao's shoulders trembled slightly, her hands helplessly clutching her apron, the hem of her clothes swaying gently. She repeatedly and feebly said, "Don't touch them, please let them go, I beg you..."

After a while, the voice on the other end of the phone finally quieted down a bit.

Then Chen Yingcai's voice came through again: "You money-waster, I'm telling you one last time, you must bring me two hundred thousand today, or you'll never see your mother and your sister again."

"If you don't believe me, just try it. Calling the police is useless; at most, I'll be in for two days. When I get out, I'll show you what true despair is!"

The voice was filled with anger and exasperation. After speaking, he hung up the phone.

Chen Mengyao listened to the dial tone on the other end, tears silently falling down her cheeks, feeling only despair in her heart.

She really didn't know how to get two hundred thousand. Where could she get two hundred thousand?

Tears rolled down her pale cheeks, dripping onto the floor, dampening a small patch.

She stared blankly out the window. The garden outside was lush and green, but in her eyes, there was only darkness.

Her entire being felt as if her Soul had been drained, leaving only this trembling shell, standing alone in the empty kitchen, completely submerged by a tide of despair.

At this moment,

A sound of footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.