Chapter 60

Ruan Ming was startled and furiously shouted at Ruan Tang: "Ruan Tang, what are you doing? Have you gone mad? How could you hit your Aunt Xia?"

"Ruan Tang, you dare hit my mom!" Ruan Zhuoxu rushed forward to rescue Xia Ruzhi, but before he could get close to Ruan Tang, he was kicked away by the guards beside Ruan Tang.

Xia Ruzhi kept screaming miserably: "Help, help..."

But Ruan Tang completely ignored them, only venting on Xia Ruzhi the humiliation and hatred he had suffered over the years because of her and her son.

His ferocity was shocking. He beat the once elegant and dignified Xia Ruzhi until her clothes were torn, her hair disheveled, her face swollen and bruised, her entire body like a puffy steamed bun, unrecognizable.

Having vented enough and exhausted himself, Ruan Tang threw the defenseless Xia Ruzhi to the ground like trash.

Xia Ruzhi was badly beaten by Ruan Tang, her face swollen and bruised, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. She couldn't get up for a long time, and reached out a hand toward Ruan Zhuoxu for help: "Xu'er..."

Ruan Zhuoxu immediately stepped forward to help Xia Ruzhi up, but was blocked by Auston's loyal personal guards.

They gave no one the chance to approach Xia Ruzhi, leaving this woman to endure her humiliation in public, utterly disgraced...

"Ruan Tang, what else do you want?" Ruan Zhuoxu had never been so humiliated, and he raged helplessly.

Seeing that Ruan Tang was still relentless even at this point, some people around, led by a distant uncle of Auston, another high-ranking imperial duke, spoke up, looking at Ruan Tang with displeasure and trying to stop this: "Duchess of Auston, regardless of anything, Ms. Xia is your stepmother. I don't know what grievances you have between you, but as your elder brother said, she did raise you after all..."

"Even if you don't want to see her as a mother, why would you beat her like this in public, to such an extent?" He had lived most of his life and had never seen such an unreasonable person, except for his mad nephew.

This couple really were two of a kind, birds of a feather.

With him leading, a few noble ladies who were usually on good terms with Xia Ruzhi chimed in: "Exactly. For the Duchess to be the chair of the Omega Protection Association, and yet to so brazenly beat the stepmother who raised her, not even understanding basic filial piety, how can she properly lead the empire's Omega ideological education and support work?"

Ruan Tang immediately recognized this noble lady as one who had often helped Xia Ruzhi and her son slander his reputation and speak ill of him in social circles. He stepped forward at once.

"What are you doing? Are you going to hit me too?" That noble lady had just witnessed Ruan Tang's brutal beating of Xia Ruzhi, so when she saw Ruan Tang approaching, she was startled and kept backing away.

She retreated all the way behind Duke Philip, and only after seeing the large crowd behind her did she feel safe enough to shout at Ruan Tang.

"Duke Philip, Lady Sharman, regarding what you just said, there are some things I must refute." Ruan Tang didn't even glance at Lady Sharman, walking straight up to Duke Philip.

This old duke, though high-ranking and powerful, was low-key and had considerable prestige among the Ausfia nobility. He was someone Ruan Tang didn't want to offend or leave a bad impression on.

Although he was now letting himself go, he hadn't gone mad.

Duke Philip was advanced in years, with old-fashioned and conservative thinking. He valued filial piety and rules above all. Seeing Ruan Tang beat his stepmother right before his eyes, he had an extremely poor impression of Ruan Tang. He didn't want to listen to him, but considering Ruan Tang's identity and status, he still frowned silently at Ruan Tang.

He adopted an expression of "I'm willing to hear what you have to say."

"You just said that Ms. Xia, regardless, has the merit of raising me, and that no matter what grievances I have, I shouldn't treat her like this. Then let me ask: if someone is indifferent to you, even constantly giving you trouble, and though she reluctantly helped your father raise you, she is the enemy who harmed your entire family and stole everything that should have belonged to your mother and your family?" Ruan Tang smiled slightly, having vented and calmed down.

He looked at the old duke very calmly: "In such a situation, which is greater: the kindness or the enmity?"

Ruan Tang's implication directly suggested that his mother's misfortune was caused by Xia Ruzhi. Connecting this with the Ruan Family's many scandals over the years, the suspicious sequence of events when Ruan Tang's mother, elder brother, and elder sister met with misfortune, and how Xia Ruzhi, as a mistress, soon became the legitimate Mrs. Ruan, everyone who had momentarily sympathized with Xia Ruzhi felt their faces sting.

But seeing Ruan Tang like this, they only felt that the Ruan Family had more drama to feast on, and this drama was no small matter—

Duke Philip calmed down and pondered Ruan Tang's words. Looking at Ruan Tang, who gazed back peacefully, he felt he might have been too impulsive. There might be more to the matter between Ruan Tang and Xia Ruzhi, and perhaps he shouldn't have interfered. He felt a bit embarrassed.

"If someone harms your whole family, seizes the resources your family should have had, and then raises you... then the resources used to raise you should have been yours; they were stolen from you. That person is a despicable thief. Such 'kindness' cannot be considered kindness at all; of course, the enmity is greater than the kindness..." Duke Philip had a strong sense of justice and fairness, which was why he had such good reputation and prestige in the circle. Even though he was embarrassed by Ruan Tang's question, he still answered honestly and fairly according to what he believed.

If Xia Ruzhi had harmed Tang Yun to gain her position, then even if she and Ruan Ming raised Ruan Tang after becoming Mrs. Ruan, she had no kindness toward Ruan Tang at all; instead, their enmity was as deep as the sea.

"Thank you for your answer." Ruan Tang smiled. "The relationship between Ms. Xia Ruzhi and me is exactly that. Although she helped my father raise me with the joint property of my parents after marrying him, she is also the culprit who harmed my mother."

Ruan Tang looked at everyone present and said word by word: "My mother was poisoned by her and remains mentally incapacitated to this day. There is no kindness between us, only deep enmity... I have just uncovered this matter. My mother is now unable to exercise civil rights. As her son, I must seek justice for her."

Even before coming here, he had no intention of settling this amicably.

As soon as Ruan Tang spoke these certain words, everyone present was shocked.

Although they had already vaguely suspected it earlier, Ruan Tang, as the son of the first wife, directly confirming it still carried considerable impact...

Immediately, many who had strained relationships with Xia Ruzhi began whispering among themselves.

"Truly unexpected. So there was such inside story behind Mrs. Ruan, no, Ms. Tang's misfortune back then?"

"I thought it was suspicious back then. Ms. Tang was a perfectly fine woman, in the prime of her life. Even if her son's accident was a big blow, Marshal Ruan Ming wasn't dead, so how could she go mad all of a sudden? Poor thing. She was also a kind person, just without much cunning or family background, and she fell victim to a mistress who was determined to climb up the social ladder..."

"I always knew that Xia Ruzhi was no good. Just look at how she raised that son of hers, Ruan Xi—mother and son, both with the same mistress-like mannerisms..."

Xia Ruzhi's ears were ringing from Ruan Tang's beating, but she still heard every word of these whispers. Her face turned pale as paper.

She hadn't expected that after so many years, the truth would still be uncovered...

Of course, of course Ruan Tang was here to take revenge for that woman.

"Ruan... Ruan Tang, what are you saying? What happened? Your mother... your mother, she was?" But it wasn't just the outsiders who were shocked. Hearing Ruan Tang say these words with such certainty, Ruan Ming also changed color dramatically and looked at Ruan Tang in disbelief.

Although he was a philanderer who didn't take Omegas seriously, he still had some affection and respect for Tang Yun, his first wife who had helped him start from nothing and married him when he had nothing. Otherwise, when Ruan Tang married, he wouldn't have agreed to let Ruan Tang take so many things, nor would he have tolerated Ruan Tang's repeated defiance...

He had always thought that Tang Yun's misfortune was because she was traumatized by the eldest son's accident. He never expected that Ruan Tang would tell him today that Tang Yun had been harmed right under his nose...

And the person who harmed her was his current wife, whom he had thought was gentle and timid.

Seeing him so shocked, as if he was deeply affectionate toward his mother, Ruan Tang found it utterly nauseating. He let out a cold laugh.

"Don't believe him, Father, don't believe him. Mother is so gentle and kind. How could she have harmed the First Lady? The First Lady clearly went mad because she was overly traumatized by the successive misfortunes of the eldest sister and eldest brother... He's just being unreasonable!" Sensing the pointing fingers around them, Ruan Zhuoxu clenched his fists and tried to defend his mother.

Hearing this, Xia Ruzhi quickly came to her senses and defended herself repeatedly: "Husband, you must believe me, believe me. I really did nothing, and I certainly didn't lay a hand on the First Lady."

But Ruan Ming seemed unable to hear anything they said, staring fixedly at Ruan Tang, waiting for him to give him an answer.

Ruan Tang had already anticipated the shamelessness of these people and came prepared. Without another word, he opened his light brain and projected before everyone a series of evidence of Xia Ruzhi harming his mother and sister: "Since I dare to say this, naturally I have evidence."

Although the evidence he had was incomplete, Ruan Tang had been prepared. He had restored and forged some 'evidence chains' from the traces that had been destroyed, mixing truth with falsehood so that any discerning person could see what Xia Ruzhi had done.

The authenticity of the evidence didn't matter. He was the one in power now. As long as he could produce evidence, and Xia Ruzhi had indeed done these things,

What he said was true, was true.

The light brain projection displayed in detail how Xia Ruzhi had first poisoned Tang Yun, and how she had colluded with others to provoke Ruan Yue, whose mental state was already fragile due to the loss of her child... The evidence chain was complete and detailed, and the level of viciousness was appalling.

As for the part about Ruan Yang, Ruan Tang hadn't fully investigated it yet, and also he wanted to use this opportunity to wipe out the entire Xia Family in one fell swoop. He didn't want to alert the enemy, so he held back.

Everyone who saw the evidence released by Ruan Tang was stunned, amazed at Xia Ruzhi's viciousness.

In the rivalry between romantic rivals, harming the first wife was one thing, but even harming a daughter who was already suffering from emotional wounds was simply too vicious.

Xia Ruzhi hadn't expected Ruan Tang to be able to produce evidence. Hadn't she destroyed it long ago? Seeing her clear criminal evidence reappear before everyone, she didn't even think of verifying its authenticity. She jumped up from the ground hysterically and screamed at the direction of Ruan Tang's light brain projection: "It's not true, this isn't true... No!"

Guilty as charged, she even went mad and tried to destroy Ruan Tang's light brain, but was pulled back by Ruan Zhuoxu, who warned: "Mom, calm down..."

But her reaction, so obviously guilty, only served as further proof to everyone that Ruan Tang was telling the truth—Ruan Ming's first wife Tang Yun was indeed harmed by this mistress.

With this realization, everyone present felt a chill toward Xia Ruzhi, and they also began to feel endless doubt and contempt for Ruan Zhuoxu, who had just vehemently defended her.

If Tang Yun was indeed harmed by Xia Ruzhi the mistress, then how could Ruan Zhuoxu, the son of that mistress, have the nerve to sanctimoniously tell Ruan Tang that Xia Ruzhi had the merit of raising him?

She had harmed his mother to this state and stolen everything that should have been his. And her son had repeatedly seduced his fiancé and slandered his reputation.

If they were in Ruan Tang's shoes, knowing all this, beating Xia Ruzhi would be lenient; not having chopped her up was already merciful.

And Ruan Zhuoxu still had the nerve to act sanctimoniously toward him—utterly disgusting to the extreme...

"It's not true, Husband, you have to believe me, it's not true..." With her criminal evidence exposed in front of everyone, how could Xia Ruzhi stay calm? She ignored Ruan Zhuoxu's advice and ran to Ruan Ming, continuously defending herself.

She had been a clinging vine all her life; when trouble came, her first instinct was to run to Ruan Ming for protection.

Ruan Ming was furious. He grabbed Xia Ruzhi, who was clinging to his hand, and slapped her hard across the face: "Bitch!"

She dared to harm Tang Yun, and she even didn't spare his eldest daughter.

A sharp "Smack!" rang out.

Xia Ruzhi was already bruised and swollen from Ruan Tang's beating; this slap from Ruan Ming left her dizzy, and she collapsed to the ground.

But Ruan Ming didn't even look at her. He looked at Ruan Tang with deep remorse, unable to describe his feelings: "Xiao Tang, I... I really didn't know..."

He truly hadn't known that this woman Xia Ruzhi dared to harm Tang Yun.

"Whether you really didn't know, or you had suspicions early on and chose to turn a blind eye after weighing the benefits, you know in your heart." Ruan Tang heard his excuse and sneered, not even taking up his topic.

He knew his father too well; he didn't hesitate to assume the worst of human nature in him...

Ruan Tang didn't believe that Ruan Ming, as Xia Ruzhi's bedmate, was truly unaware of what she had done. He had simply weighed the interests: Tang Yun was already mad, and her children were either mad or comatose, no longer of value to him; while Xia Ruzhi was already Mrs. Ruan and had several healthy sons... There was no need to seek justice for Tang Yun, the first wife, so he didn't pursue it further.

And now he was pretending to be a good person in front of him?

Ruan Ming hadn't expected Ruan Tang to treat him like this. He was put on the spot, but he had no standing to blame Ruan Tang, so he could only say pale-faced: "Xiao Tang..."

He wanted to use this matter to reconnect with his son.

Ruan Tang watched the couple turn on each other, and then saw Ruan Ming's behavior, and felt utterly disgusted. It was all so pointless.

"I'm tired. Let's go." Ruan Tang snapped his fingers.

Auston's personal guards responded: "Yes, Madam."

They immediately hauled the dazed and beaten Xia Ruzhi up from the ground and prepared to follow Ruan Tang.

Ruan Zhuoxu hadn't expected that after making such a scene, Ruan Tang would not only leave but also take Xia Ruzhi with him. Panicked, he asked urgently: "Ruan Tang, what are you doing?"

"Xia Ruzhi harmed my mother like this, and now we have evidence. As the son of the victim, of course I'm going to take her to the police station, file charges, and use the law to protect myself." Ruan Tang said indifferently, as if it were only natural. "Third Young Master Ruan, can't you see?"

He hadn't come here today in such a grand manner just to humiliate Xia Ruzhi for fun. Xia Ruzhi had to pay for what she had done.

Ruan Zhuoxu hadn't expected that he wasn't just here to make trouble but also to take his mother away and send her to the police station and court. He went mad and said to Ruan Tang: "Ruan Tang, you are also a member of the Ruan Family. How could you do this? How could you take my mother to court? Do you know what impact this will have on the reputation of the Ruan Family?"

"Father, you can't let him do this. You can't let him take my mother away!" With that, he quickly grabbed Ruan Ming's hand, hoping Ruan Ming would use his position as father to stop Ruan Tang from taking Xia Ruzhi.

Ruan Ming had many children and didn't care, but Ruan Zhuoxu only had one mother. If Xia Ruzhi was convicted and imprisoned, Ruan Ming would certainly divorce her, and then his position as heir of the Ruan Family would be in jeopardy.

Ruan Zhuoxu didn't want to sit by and let this happen.

Ruan Ming gave Ruan Tang a deep look but said nothing. He could tell from Ruan Tang's expression that there was nothing he could say today to stop this son.

So he simply chose to say nothing.

"The Ruan Family isn't mine. If what I do affects the Ruan Family's reputation, what does that have to do with me?" Ruan Tang saw that Ruan Ming was being prudent and Ruan Zhuoxu was ragefully helpless, and he laughed out loud: "After all, the Ruan Family only grew by relying on your maternal grandfather's Xia Family, who sold their daughter to be a mistress to a married Alpha. What good reputation could it possibly have?"

His words were all aimed at taunting Ruan Zhuoxu for his earlier boast that the Ruan Family's current status was inseparable from Xia Ruzhi's social diplomacy and the support of his maternal family—a self-aggrandizing statement.

The Xia Family back then was so destitute that they had to sell their daughter to be Ruan Ming's mistress. How could they have been of help to the Ruan Family?

Among the onlookers, someone realized this and burst into laughter.

Ruan Zhuoxu felt a lump in his throat, almost fainting from anger.

After his speech, Ruan Tang paid no more attention to the reactions of the family. He led his entourage, dragging the half-dead Xia Ruzhi like a sack, and left.

Apart from the initial frenzy of beating Xia Ruzhi, his reaction was extremely calm throughout. But for some reason, compared to Xia Ruzhi and her son's appeal for pity, and thinking of the Ruan Family's series of messy affairs, people couldn't help but feel sympathy and compassion for him.

What kind of people and situations had this Omega encountered to be pushed this far by life? It was really too difficult.

The entire Ruan Family had undoubtedly become a joke on the Imperial Star once again. Watching Ruan Tang drag his mother away into the distance, Ruan Zhuoxu broke out in a cold sweat. He looked nervously at Ruan Ming and called timidly: "Father..."

But Ruan Ming didn't even glance at him. Looking as if he had aged several years, he pushed him away wearily.