HBWMA -Chapter 168 Long-Brewing Old Grudges

Before this moment, Jiang Huashan had never imagined she would ever end up confronting Xiao Lanlan.

Xiao Lanlan was two years older than her, and precisely because of that two-year gap, before the age of eighteen, Jiang Huashan had always lived in her shadow.

In Fang Mei’s worldview, beauty was the ultimate ticket into the highest circles of power. But the world of fame and wealth was never short of beauties—especially not when there was someone like Xiao Lanlan, that thorny rose.

Fang Mei had neither patience nor ability; she only wanted to maximize profit through Jiang Huashan’s beauty. So she guided her to imitate Xiao Lanlan.

From age twelve to eighteen, every year of a girl’s life carries its own meaning, but Jiang Huashan never once lived the meaning that belonged to her own age.

At fourteen, she imitated sixteen-year-old Xiao Lanlan. At sixteen, she imitated eighteen-year-old Xiao Lanlan. That two-year age gap became an insurmountable chasm.

Whenever she and Xiao Lanlan appeared together, everyone’s attention would inevitably fall on Xiao Lanlan. She was like a high-quality imitation—mocked in secret as the “budget substitute” for the Xiao family’s young lady.

Xiao Lanlan rather enjoyed this comparison. She would often coldly reject admirers, then casually offer them advice afterward.

“Go find that little beggar from the Jiang family. She’s cheaper.”

Xiao Lanlan never knew that because of that single word—“cheap”—Jiang Huashan was branded as someone who could be bought and sold. During that time, she frequently received strange harassment messages. Some even openly asked her: How much to start the bidding?

Later, rumors spread wildly at school. To satisfy the rotten vanity of those malicious people, they fabricated lies in group chats, twisting facts and reducing Jiang Huashan to nothing.

Around that time, Zhao Tang’s parents came to the school to cause trouble, and Jiang Huashan took the blame for Fu Xiaoxiao’s bullying incident. As a result, her classmates concluded she was a morally corrupt and vicious girl, and they readily believed the rumors.

Once a girl was stained with such “labels,” she was considered completely “dirty.”

That period could be called Jiang Huashan’s darkest time. She no longer dared to imitate Xiao Lanlan in any way. Because whenever she wore similar clothes or even a matching hairpin, the next day her clothes would be torn to pieces—or she herself would be locked in a bathroom.

This treatment only eased slightly after Zhou Yanheng appeared. Only slightly. Her true salvation came at her eighteenth birthday banquet.

That day, she invited many people: Fu Xiaoxiao, Xiao Lanlan, and all the boys from the bidding group chat.

The banquet had no music, no dancing, and no laughter.

She ordered the bodyguards to tie Xiao Lanlan to a chair, then had people pour water over her again and again. Xiao Lanlan screamed in terror, not even noticing her fake fox-fur eyelashes sticking to her face.

Once Xiao Lanlan’s makeup was completely washed off, she had them pour water over herself as well.

At first, Xiao Lanlan was still shouting insults, but the moment she saw this, she froze completely.

Cold water slapped against her face, stinging painfully, but Jiang Huashan felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction—almost a sick, ecstatic frenzy flashing in her eyes.

She grabbed Xiao Lanlan by the hair and pulled her face close.

“Let them all see,” she said. “Which one of us is the fake? And which one is the original?”

The classmates present were terrified by her crazed expression, but none of them could deny it: even in her madness, Jiang Huashan—when fully unveiled in her beauty—was breathtaking.

After getting her answer, Jiang Huashan slapped Xiao Lanlan to the ground, then turned toward the boys who had spread the obscene rumors.

“Since everyone’s here today,” she said lightly, “tell everyone how much you bid for me. And what you did after you ‘won’ the auction. Describe it in detail. If even one detail doesn’t match, you can go die.”

The boys’ expressions changed slightly. Frightened, they lowered their heads and stayed silent.

Jiang Huashan walked past them one by one, her tone light and almost cheerful.

“Trash should be cleaned up.”

The bodyguards immediately stepped forward and dragged the eleven boys involved in the rumors toward the door. Moments later, the outside was filled with one after another of piercing screams.

The guests present were all stunned, except for Jiang Huashan, who stood there spinning happily in place with her hair still dripping wet.

“Thank you all for coming to my birthday party~ I’m really happy today!”

Back then, Jiang Huashan thought: so be it—even if I become “evil,” as long as I don’t get bullied again.

What was interesting was that after she accepted being “evil” so naturally, she actually gained more.

The girls said they hated her, but secretly imitated her; whatever she used or wore would inevitably sell out the next day.

As for the men, they were even more hypocritical. Clearly captivated by her beauty, they insisted—just to appear different—that what they liked was her “personality.”

Jiang Huashan wasn’t very smart, but she did have self-awareness. Apart from that face, she really had nothing else going for her.

However, this way of “repaying grievance with retaliation” did bring her some satisfaction. Even now, she still felt that occasionally being “evil” wasn’t such a bad thing.

Just like now—she wanted to use that “evil” side to deal with Xiao Lanlan.

The autumn wind was bleak, and the closer one got to the pond, the more bone-chilling the cold became. She stood alone, surrounded helplessly, with the lotus pond right behind her.

Xiao Lanlan raised her chin arrogantly. “You’re pretty pleased with yourself tonight, huh? Seems I’ll have to teach you the rules of the Shen family. Take off your clothes and jump in yourself.”

Jiang Huashan raised an eyebrow expressionlessly. Xiao Lanlan really was rotten to the core.

“What? Not moving? Are you waiting for us to do it for you?” Xiao Lanlan sneered. “Listen, if you strip yourself, at least you’ll keep a bit of dignity. If we do it, you won’t even have a shred of modesty left.”

Jiang Huashan said flatly, “We’re both being humiliated anyway—does it really matter whether there’s a last piece of cloth left?”

Xiao Lanlan frowned slightly. She had expected Jiang Huashan to be so frightened she’d collapse and beg for mercy—but instead, she not only didn’t, she even looked at her with disdain.

The surrounding girls also hadn’t encountered this kind of situation before. They exchanged glances and whispered, “Lanlan, maybe we should drop it today. If something happens in the Shen family, it’ll be hard to handle…”

“Yeah, let’s just warn her today. Next time we can change—”

“Change what?” Xiao Lanlan exploded. “This is my grandfather’s house! She’s just an adopted daughter—do I need to pick a date to teach her a lesson?”

“Go! Hold her down and strip her, then throw her into the water!”

“And you! Record it! If she dares to say anything, we’ll expose the photos and make her a disgraceful little slut everyone despises!”

The three girls still hesitated.

Xiao Lanlan’s face darkened as she shoved one of them forward. “Go! Or you’ll go into the water in her place!”

“No, Lanlan, I’ll go!” the girl said anxiously, immediately yielding as she stepped toward Jiang Huashan.

Xiao Lanlan crossed her arms and signaled to the girl in red. The girl stepped back, pulled a small camera from her bag, and operated it skillfully—clearly a repeat offender.

Jiang Huashan subtly adjusted her stance. The moment one of them rushed at her, she twisted aside and kicked the person straight into the lotus pond.

Before the others could react, Jiang Huashan suddenly turned and slammed into Xiao Lanlan.

The moment she hit her chest, she grabbed her waist, bit down on the fabric at her side, and yanked viciously.

Riiip—

“Aaah!!” Xiao Lanlan let out a piercing scream. “Quick! Hold her down! Hold her down!”

Jiang Huashan clung tightly to her waist, tearing at her clothes piece by piece.

Didn’t she enjoy humiliating others?

Then today, she would let her taste what it felt like to be stripped and disgraced in public.