Chapter 73: Pleading
Xu Rong’s face was bare, without her usual elaborate makeup. Her plain face, coupled with her pitiful pleas, made her look more innocent than her usual glamorous appearance.
Her mother, who had come with her to beg for forgiveness, was also sobbing softly. The mother and daughter looked pitifully vulnerable.
Jiang Yanya and her mother, compared to when Gu Wanrong first met them, looked much more impoverished today. Their clothes were worn and faded, their hair was dry and messy, and they incessantly apologized and begged Gu Wanrong to forgive them.
However, they were being calculating; they didn’t enter the conference room but made their pathetic pleas in full view of everyone.
Gu Wanrong didn’t even glance at them, proceeding directly into the conference room. Since they didn’t want to come in, so be it; she hadn’t expected them to genuinely repent anyway.
Xu Rong and her mother, along with several teachers from the disciplinary office, hurriedly followed into the conference room.
Tong Shenba merely glanced at Jiang Yanya and her mother, who were still weeping at the door, before closing the conference room door without hesitation.
“We, we haven’t gone in yet.”
A fawning smile immediately spread across Jiang Yanya’s mother’s face. She hastily reached out to stop the closing door and pushed it open, shoving Jiang Yanya into the room. She then quickly slipped inside herself.
Tong Shenba understood that Gu Wanrong didn’t care whether this mother and daughter entered or not, so he tacitly allowed them in.
Inside the conference room.
Gu Wanrong sat calmly in her chair, her tone flat. “You forced the teachers to summon me. If you’re hoping I’ll drop the charges, let me be clear—absolutely not.”
Upon hearing this, Xu Rong, her eyes red, quickly walked to Gu Wanrong, her voice choked with sobs, “I’ll give you money, just don’t sue me, okay?”
Then, Xu Rong hastily pulled her mother, who was quietly sobbing, to Gu Wanrong, firmly assuring her, “I’m my mother’s only daughter. She has a lot of dowry money. Mom, say it!”
Seeing Xu Rong eyeing her mother’s private assets, Gu Wanrong laughed sarcastically.
“Haven’t you figured it out yet? I have more money than I know what to do with; it’s insignificant to me.”
Gu Wanrong found Xu Rong’s actions laughable. When she was smearing and slandering her, did she really not know how rich she was?
It was one thing to be unconcerned when she thought Zhang Shi would be her support, but now she still didn’t understand.
“Gu donated 1 billion and a teaching building to our school a few days ago,” a disciplinary office teacher said, immediately confirming Gu Wanrong’s immense wealth.
Xu Rong took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She had to get Gu Wanrong to drop the charges. “I’ll apologize publicly online and tell the truth, will that work?”
Jiang Yanya, after being pushed by her mother, stepped forward, her head bowed, her expression unclear, her voice trembling, “I apologize too, publicly online, please forgive me.”
“Miss Gu, I’m so sorry! We’re poor; we can’t afford to pay. My daughter sincerely apologizes; please forgive her. She’ll be your servant from now on.” Jiang Yanya’s mother glared at her daughter, who was feebly apologizing, and quickly interjected.
Gu Wanrong slightly raised her eyes. Although the others were standing and she was sitting, she held an undeniable air of authority.
Gu Wanrong asked softly, “Why do you think I would accept your so-called apology?”
Jiang Yanya’s mother, as if a floodgate had opened, began to speak rapidly.
“In our village, everyone is poor. My family finally managed to send a daughter to university. Everyone told me it’s useless for girls to get educated, but we gritted our teeth and supported her.
Because of this incident, her father is still working on a construction site and can’t take time off.
Miss Gu, if you send her to jail, the school will expel her. How will she make a living afterwards?
My husband and I struggled to raise her. We have a younger son to support, and then we’ll have to continue supporting her. The promise she made to buy her brother a house after graduation will be broken.
Her brother is only a year younger than her; next year he’ll also be going to college, then getting married.
I checked, if she goes to jail, her brother will have trouble passing various political reviews. Instead of benefiting from having a college-educated sister, he’ll be implicated!
My husband, my daughter, and my son are so unfortunate… Wuwuwu…”
Overwhelmed with grief, Jiang Yanya’s mother wept, recounting her family’s misfortunes and hardships.
Gu Wanrong felt a buzzing in her head; Jiang Yanya’s mother’s cries were like a cacophony. She seemed to love her daughter, but the daughter was merely a blood bag to her son.
Even though Gu Wanrong understood this, she wouldn’t let Jiang Yanya off easily out of pity.
Only Jiang Yanya’s mother’s cries echoed in the conference room; everyone else remained silent.
Gradually, seeing Gu Wanrong calmly playing with her phone, showing no sympathy, Jiang Yanya’s mother realized her performance was futile and stopped crying.
“Now that the performance is over, I’m leaving.” Gu Wanrong stood up to leave.
“You can’t go!”
“Are you playing with us?”
Jiang Yanya and Xu Rong simultaneously stopped her, their voices filled with exasperation.
“I said from the beginning that I wouldn’t forgive you.” Gu Wanrong lightly scanned their faces, seeing their exasperation and helplessness, and said calmly.
Gu Wanrong finished speaking unhurriedly and continued towards the conference room door.
If they couldn’t get Gu Wanrong’s forgiveness, they would go to jail, and the school would expel them, ruining their futures.
Gu Wanrong was their only lifeline.
In despair, Xu Rong and Jiang Yanya, ignoring their pride, knelt down without hesitation.
“Please, I can’t go to jail.”
“Please forgive me. Zhang Shi has abandoned me, and I can’t be abandoned by my father.”
Xu Rong’s pleas were filled with terror and despair.
“If I go to jail, I’ll lose the college I worked so hard to get into.”
“I can’t be taken back by my parents to be married off. I’ll be your servant, your maid, just don’t sue me.”
Jiang Yanya wept uncontrollably. She had no family support. If she lost her chance at university, what would she do?
Gu Wanrong, as if she hadn’t heard, walked out of the conference room, which Tong Shenba had opened, without looking back.
Xu Rong and Jiang Yanya, like desperate beasts, rushed to Gu Wanrong, kowtowing repeatedly, continuing their pleas and cries.
Their faces were streaked with tears, their appearance disheveled, a far cry from their previous selves.
Gu Wanrong wasn’t moved by their pitiful state but stopped, saying mercilessly, “This is your deserved punishment.
You’re not the first people to be maliciously slandered and insulted by you. Those before you were driven to depression or forced to leave.
Only because you provoked me, someone you can’t afford to offend, did you face the consequences and suffer.
Forgiveness? You don’t deserve it!”
_________________________