While Zhu was wading through the treacherous forest in search of another safe zone with her new companions, the Wangs were going through trials of their own.
The sound of shattering glass echoed through the now sparsely furnished house. The Wangs gathered in the living room — the last room that still had furniture intact.
"That damn bitch!"
Mr. Wang cursed furiously. "How could she do this to us after we raised her with so much effort?!"
Mrs. Wang scoffed. "Trash will always be trash."
They were furious over Zhu's death. When they heard what had happened — and that Chairman Lee had been hospitalized — they were utterly distressed. But not because Mr. Lee was hurt or because the gutter rat was dead. No, what truly terrified them was what it all meant for them.
When the news first broke, Mrs. Wang had collapsed onto the floor, wailing for days that they were finished.
Desperate to salvage the situation, they tried to meet with Chairman Lee to rectify the matter. They flew to the hospital with fruit baskets in hand, fully prepared to kneel and prostrate themselves before him in hopes of earning leniency and appeasing his rage.
After all, how could they possibly be blamed for that bastard girl's actions?
Chairman Lee wanted nothing to do with them. He refused to meet them and promptly reneged on their agreement, even filing a lawsuit against them for breach of contract.
The legal battle alone cost the Wangs millions in attorney fees.
Of course, the case was won by Chairman Lee, which resulted in the Wangs having to sell off most of their properties to cover the damages caused by their defective product.
But that was not the end of it.
When they signed the deal with Chairman Lee, they had also taken out massive loans in anticipation of future profits. The debt collectors came knocking on their door the very moment the trial concluded.
To repay those loans, no possession was spared. Every valuable item in the house was seized — even the silver spoons from their dining room.
It had been a hellish week for the Wangs, and they had the dreadful feeling that this nightmare was far from over.
Crying could suddenly be heard from one of the rooms.
"Mommy, what are we going to do now?"
It was the Wangs' daughter, Jewel Wang — a fair, plump, and thoroughly spoiled little princess.
"I have to attend the Greys' party tomorrow, and I need a new dress!" she wailed. "If I don't get one, my friends will laugh at me! I can't go wearing something I've already worn before. I need to shop for something new!"
She burst into loud sobs as though the world itself were ending.
"Hush up, you fool!" Mr. Wang snapped harshly.
He was already highly frustrated by the situation. Chairman Lee had been absolutely vicious in his revenge, leaving them with nothing but the shell of their once luxurious home and turning them into the laughingstock of the entire town.
"Husband!" Mrs. Wang shouted.
She had always spoiled Jewel, their only child. Her husband, however, had never really cared much for girls and usually ignored their daughter on a normal day.
"Husband!" Mrs. Wang scolded reproachfully. "Why are you yelling at her? She's already upset!"
"Upset?" Mr. Wang barked out a bitter laugh. "We've lost almost everything we own, debt collectors are circling us like vultures, and all she can think about is some damned party?!"
Jewel burst into louder tears. "Because my social life matters! You don't understand anything! Everyone's already gossiping about us. If I show up looking poor, they'll mock me!"
Mr. Wang's expression darkened.
"Then don't go."
The room fell silent.
Jewel stared at him in disbelief. "What?"
"I said don't go!" he roared. "Do you think we still have the money for your useless dresses and jewelry? Open your eyes! We are ruined!"
"You're lying!" Jewel screamed hysterically. "We're the Wang family! We're rich! We can't be poor!"
Mrs. Wang hurried over and wrapped an arm around her daughter. "There, there, darling. Don't listen to your father."
That sentence only poured oil onto the fire.
"Don't listen to me?" Mr. Wang thundered. "You are the reason she turned out like this! Spoiled! Wasteful! Brain-dead!"
Mrs. Wang's face twisted with anger. "Me?! You dare blame me? Who was the one obsessed with showing off our wealth? Who insisted we maintain appearances no matter the cost?"
"At least I was trying to build this family up!" he shouted back.
"And look where that got us!"
Jewel stomped her foot violently. "I don't care whose fault it is! I still need money for tomorrow! I already told my friends I'd arrive in a custom dress. If I don't show up properly, I'll die from embarrassment!"
"Then die!" Mr. Wang snapped.
Jewel gasped dramatically. "Mommy! Daddy hates me!"
"You bastard!" Mrs. Wang shrieked. "How could you say that to your own daughter?"
Mr. Wang's breathing grew ragged as weeks of stress, humiliation, and fear finally boiled over.
"Shut up! Both of you shut up!"
But Jewel, having never once been disciplined in her life, pointed a trembling finger at him.
"This is all your fault anyway! If you weren't so useless, Chairman Lee wouldn't have destroyed us! Everyone says you're incompetent!"
SLAP!
The sound rang sharply through the room.
Jewel froze.
A bright red handprint bloomed across her cheek as tears welled in her eyes. For a moment, the entire house went deathly quiet.
Then—
"You hit her?!" Mrs. Wang screamed.
Like a madwoman, she lunged at her husband, clawing at his face. Mr. Wang staggered backward in shock before shoving her away.
"You crazy woman!"
"You animal!"
Furniture crashed as the two began grappling violently in the middle of the living room. Mrs. Wang threw a vase at his head while Mr. Wang overturned a chair in rage. Jewel stood in the corner sobbing hysterically, shrieking about her ruined face and how she could never attend the party now.
Outside the once prestigious Wang residence, several neighbors had already gathered after hearing the commotion.
"What a disgrace…"
"I heard Chairman Lee completely crushed them in court."
"They say debt collectors stripped the house bare."
"Tch. After all the ways they looked down on others, this is karma."
"And to think they used to act so high and mighty."
The neighbors whispered among themselves while the sounds of screaming and shattering objects echoed from inside the crumbling mansion.
The glorious Wang family had finally become the town's favorite joke.
***
Chairman Lee sat in the dimly lit hospital suite, the city lights reflecting coldly against the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him. The room smelled faintly of antiseptic and expensive liquor.
A nurse had tried to stop him from drinking earlier.
She had been fired within the hour.
The atmosphere in the room was suffocating. Several assistants and bodyguards stood silently along the walls, not daring to breathe too loudly. Everyone in Chairman Lee's inner circle knew one thing very clearly:
Their boss had completely lost his mind.
The memory replayed endlessly in his head.
Zhu's eyes.
Her resistance.
The humiliation.
And worst of all—
The injury.
His hand trembled violently as he gripped the whiskey glass. Veins bulged along his forehead before he suddenly hurled the glass across the room.
CRASH!
The assistants flinched.
"That filthy gutter rat…" he hissed through clenched teeth. "She dared… she dared to touch me…"
His breathing became uneven, almost manic.
Chairman Lee had spent his entire life above others. Wealth, power, women, influence—everything had always been his for the taking. People bowed to him. Feared him.
And yet a girl the Wangs had handed over like a disposable object had wounded him in a way he could never hide.
Not physically.
Pridefully.
Ego.
Vanity.
Manhood.
The injury had become the subject of whispers despite every effort to suppress it. Staff avoided his gaze. Rivals laughed behind closed doors. Even pity from others felt like mockery.
Unforgivable.
His expression twisted into something ugly and unhinged.
"The Wangs think bankruptcy is enough?" he said softly.
No one answered.
Chairman Lee slowly leaned back in his chair, eyes dark with malice.
"I want Mr. Wang ruined completely," he murmured. "Break him until he can never stand proudly again. I want him crawling for the rest of his life."
One of the bodyguards lowered his head. "Understood, Chairman Lee."
"And Mrs. Wang…" he continued with a chilling calm. "She spent years flaunting status and wealth while selling that girl to me like merchandise. Strip away her dignity. Let her experience what it feels like to be treated as worthless."
The room grew colder.
"And the daughter?" another subordinate asked cautiously.
A disturbing smile spread across Chairman Lee's face.
"Jewel Wang grew up spoiled by luxury. Prideful. Arrogant. Let her live as decoration for powerful men instead. Let her spend the rest of her life dependent on the very people she once looked down on."
His voice lowered to a near whisper.
"The Wang family handed me a sacrifice to preserve their wealth… and in the end, they still lost everything."
Silence consumed the room.
No one dared question him.
No one dared remind him that Zhu had been the true victim in all of this.
Because Chairman Lee no longer cared about morality, decency, or even reason itself. His humiliation had hollowed him out, leaving behind only rage and obsession.
He did not want justice.
He wanted suffering.
Enough suffering to silence the shame clawing at his mind.
Chairman Lee slowly began to laugh.
At first it was quiet.
Then louder.
Then completely unhinged.
The sound echoed through the hospital suite while the people around him kept their heads lowered in fear, realizing that the man before them was no longer merely cruel—
He was becoming monstrous.