RYEY -Chapter 539 Cheng Qiao Arrives

Yuan Guangming felt as though he had reached Fengdu City. Just as he was about to speak to someone, Cheng Qiao pulled him back. Relieved, yet sorrow welled up inside him.

“Mengzhi… do you really hate me that much?”

After fainting from fright and then waking from pain, Yuan Mengzhi saw her elder brother standing before her, safe and sound. Her eyes reddened with rage. What sin had she committed that Heaven kept working against her like this?

“No. I don’t hate you—I hate your entire family. Why was I born into a family like this? You gave birth to me and then ignored me—those who could escape did, those who could run ran away, leaving only me to suffer.”

Yuan Guangming closed his eyes. On this point, his parents and younger siblings truly had been at fault. But he had also learned that none of them had met good ends.

“If you had just lived properly with Zhu Qingde, your life wouldn’t be worse than before. But what did you do? You even got divorced. Can you really blame me for that?”

Mengzhi said nothing, but deep inside she regretted listening too much to that man. If only she had put poison into Yuan Guangming’s rice bowl back then—then the world would have been fair.

It turned out that Yuan Mengzhi had poisoned Cheng Liguo’s food. Cheng Liguo had never been on guard against her. After finishing the meal, the poison took effect, black blood spraying from his nose and the corners of his mouth.

Faced with Yuan Guangming’s questioning, Yuan Mengzhi burst into laughter.

“Only one of you can live. If you want Cheng Liguo to live, then you must die.”

Yuan Guangming nodded, but he didn’t trust this two-faced sister of his. Instead, he first made a phone call to Cheng Qiao—if he really died, Cheng Qiao might still be able to save him.

Yuan Mengzhi didn’t stop him. That man had said he wanted her to lure Cheng Qiao over as well. Yuan Guangming making the call was exactly what she wanted.

She watched the two of them with a sinister smile and took out a small box. Cheng Liguo froze when he saw it—it was the medicine box Cheng Qiao had given him. How had it ended up in Yuan Mengzhi’s hands?

“You… how did you get that…”

Cheng Liguo knew that once someone was poisoned by Cheng Qiao’s poison, only the antidote she developed could cure it—otherwise, even the King of Heaven himself would be useless.

“Of course someone gave it to me. As long as this person dies, and as long as your precious daughter Cheng Qiao arrives, I’ll give you the antidote pill. I’m being quite considerate, aren’t I?”

“You actually colluded with enemy agents, attempting to harm your own biological elder brother and to kill my daughter. You’re utterly insane.”

“Haha, when I was suffering and working myself to the bone, I never saw any of you lend a hand. Now you say things like this—how unfair is that? But I’m generous. Curse me all you want. After all, trading two lives for one isn’t a loss.”

Cheng Liguo never expected that the poison Cheng Qiao had given him for self-defense would not protect him at all, but instead end up harming him. It was all his fault for being too careless.

“Mengzhi, big brother begs you—give the antidote to Cheng Liguo. I’ll go die immediately.”

Yuan Guangming had originally planned to knock Yuan Mengzhi unconscious and take the medicine box, but he discovered a man hiding outside the window, weapon in hand, aimed directly at Cheng Liguo’s head.

Yuan Guangming knew this man must be the enemy agent Cheng Liguo had mentioned. He couldn’t act rashly—otherwise, all three of them would die.

“Beg me. When I was about to go to prison and begged you, what did you say? I’ll tell you—there’s an antidote in here. Yuan Guangming, if you want your good brother to live, then you go die.”

“I’ll die. How do you want me to die?”

“I’ve already prepared everything. Come with me.”

Yuan Mengzhi led Cheng Liguo and Yuan Guangming to the edge of the desert. Looking at the endless expanse of yellow sand before them, Yuan Guangming immediately saw that there was a trap ahead.

“Big brother, my dear big brother—see that pile of branches up ahead? As long as you stand on them, I’ll detoxify Cheng Liguo.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Yuan Guangming walked toward the pile of branches. Cheng Liguo couldn’t stop him in time. As soon as his foot stepped onto the dry branches, his whole body dropped down—it was a man-made sand pit.

Perhaps the trap had been dug rather crudely. When Yuan Guangming fell in, his feet managed to find some footing.

But sand can’t bear any weight. Relying on his understanding of sand, Yuan Guangming struggled to stabilize himself, holding on until the sea eagle came to rescue him—though he was indeed badly drained of vitality.

“Uncle Yuan, how did you end up with her?”

Cheng Qiao was confused. Hadn’t this Yuan Mengzhi gone to prison? How had she ended up with Yuan Guangming—and how had her father fallen into her trap?

Yuan Guangming shook his head in self-reproach. After Yuan Mengzhi finished serving her sentence, he personally went to pick her up, determined to fulfill his old promise: As long as you serve your time properly, once you’re out, big brother will take care of you.

Yuan Mengzhi hid the hatred in her eyes. She had been a pampered young lady. Though she suffered some hardship with Zhu Qingde in Xiangyang Village, she was at least well fed and clothed.

But once she entered prison, what awaited her was bullying. It wasn’t entirely others’ fault—her spoiled temper and inexplicable sense of superiority constantly offended people.

In a place like that, offending others meant endless abuse. After enduring so much suffering, Yuan Mengzhi cursed Yuan Guangming in her heart every day, swearing that once she got through this ordeal, she would send him to his death.

And indeed, Yuan Guangming foolishly came to pick up his only sister, never realizing that she already hated him to the bone.

After returning to the cave dwelling with Yuan Guangming, Yuan Mengzhi took a long, harsh bath, ate a full meal, and slept for two straight days before finally feeling alive again.

Every day she thought about how to kill Yuan Guangming, but every plan failed—he simply knew too many people, and the small shop was crowded with customers daily.

Finally, an opportunity came. A strange man handed Yuan Mengzhi a small box and told her the plan: as long as she put this pill into Cheng Liguo’s food, she could have her revenge.

Yuan Mengzhi didn’t understand why the pill wasn’t put into both of their meals—it would make revenge faster. But the man told her his goal was to lure Cheng Qiao out.

Yuan Mengzhi was displeased. She wanted a swift resolution, not some elaborate chain of schemes. But the man’s gaze made her heart tremble, so she could only comply.

After hearing Yuan Guangming’s explanation, Cheng Qiao was speechless at his kindness—but she understood. Blood ties rooted deep in one’s veins can’t be severed, especially for kind people.

Cheng Qiao looked coldly at the medicine box in Yuan Mengzhi’s hand.

“Yuan Mengzhi, how did you get this little box?”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Because if you tell me, I’ll give you the antidote.”

“You wish—… It was a man who gave it to me, and he’s the one who told me to do this.”

A smile suddenly bloomed on Yuan Mengzhi’s face. She saw the man arrive, dagger in hand, stabbing straight toward the center of Cheng Qiao’s back.