"Bai Jiawei, how could you say that?! You killed He Yuxin!!"

He Xinyan felt as her body froze and her eyes widened in surprise, wondering if her ears had heard something wrong. Did Li Huiran just say that. . . Bai Jiawei killed her mom?

He Xinyan didn't dare move at all as she stood there like a statue.

Inside the room, Bai Jiawei's eyebrows furrowed together when he heard Li Huiran, and he nervously looked towards the door.

Li Huiran was crying by now, and Bai Jiawei glared at her angrily.

"Shut up! That is not true, you were involved too!" Bai Jiawei didn't dare look into Li Huiran's eyes from guilt as he tried to convince himself that he did nothing wrong.

Li Huiran laughed, "Bai Jiawei, stop lying to yourself! We both know what happened. Hahaha. . . He Yuxin could have not died. You killed her!"

He Xinyan felt her heartbeat speed up as she slowly moved closer to the door to hear better. Suddenly, a loud slap came from inside the room and Li Huiran screamed. He Xinyan sucked a breath in and used one hand to cover her mouth.

Bai Jiawei had just slapped Li Huiran!

"Li Huiran, I'm warning you! You have no right to point a finger at me! Don't think I don't know what you are thinking. You also agreed to go to the hospital with me that night, because you also wanted He Yuxin dead! So stop acting all innocent now!"

Li Huiran held the side of the cheek Bai Jiawei had slapped with a shaking hand as she glared at Bai Jiawei, "You! I shouldn't have - I. . ." Li Huiran dropped her voice a little, "Bai Jiawei, I know perfectly well why you brought me over to the hospital that night to provoke He Yuxin!"

Li Huiran laughed, "You're selfish! I feel so bad for He Yuxin, that dumb woman right now. She gave everything to you, yet you were greedy for more and killed her! I'm not dumb, Bai Jiawei! I know why you killed her! You wanted more, you -"

After hearing what Li Huiran said, He Xinyan's mind had gone blank as she unconsciously took a step back, which created a louder sound than she had expected.

Li Huiran immediately stopped speaking and Bai Jiawei also looked over at the slightly ajar door. The three people all froze for a few seconds, until Bai Jiawei slowly began to make his way over to the door.

Li Huiran also followed behind him nervously as they slowly approached the door. Bai Jiawei furrowed his eyebrows together when he suddenly remembered that Li Yuyan had gone out today. So. . . was it He Xinyan? Or was it a worker?

If it really was He Xinyan, then he would be screwed. Bai Jiawei began walking quicker and he broke into a run when he was a few steps away from the door. Aggressively, he pulled on the door handle and swung the door open.

Bai Jiawei stepped out into the hallway and looked left and right. His face turned even angrier when he saw that the hallway was empty. No one was there.

Li Huiran also stepped out into the hallway and she walked around to make sure that no one was hiding behind a wall. Still, there was nobody.

Li Huiran looked at Bai Jiawei, who looked back at her. Was it just an illusion? Bai Jiawei took one last glance down the hallway before he began walking back into the room.

However, he stopped when he felt his slipper step on something pointy. Slowly, he lifted his foot up and bent down to see what it was. With two fingers, he carefully picked up a small metal object.

Bai Jiawei turned the object around in his hand and carefully observed it before his eyebrows knit together unhappily. Noticing his displeasure, Li Huiran walked over to see what Bai Jiawei was holding, and her mouth slightly opened as she immediately recognized the tiny, little object.

It was the back of an earring. . .

---

He Xinyan gently closed the door to her bedroom and locked it. Her heartbeat was racing and her breathing heavy as she slowly walked over to her bed.

This must be a nightmare. . . This can't be true.

Her mom's death wasn't because of her bad health, it was because she was murdered. And the killer was the person she loved and trusted the most. . .

He Xinyan couldn't believe this. Her father loved her mother. . . Since she was born, she had witnessed this with her own eyes. There was no way. . . Why?

He Xinyan slowly took another step as her eyebrows furrowed together. Li Huiran had said that Bai Jiawei was greedy and wanted more. . . More of what? He Xinyan froze as she stared blankly at the wall in front of her.

Money? Although He Yuxin gave half of her stocks to Bai Jiawei, she still owned half of it. Was Bai Jiawei really cruel enough to kill his own wife just to get full control of the He Corporation? Just thinking about it made He Xinyan tremble with fear.

Was love really this weak? So weak that money could break it. He Xinyan shook her head to get rid of this scary thought.

No.

Love wasn't weak; it was Bai Jiawei's love that was weak. He Xinyan didn't want to admit that her father was a greedy and cold-hearted person, but it was the truth. She turned around and her eyes landed on the picture on the nightstand.

Her mother. . . So beautiful and pure. She stood amongst a large field of colorful flowers in a yellow dress. This was before she had given birth to He Xinyan.

At once, He Xinyan collapsed as tears began to stream down her face. She fell down onto the floor and crawled over to the picture, holding it to her chest as she took quick breaths, trying to not make any sound as she cried.

Why? Why was it like this? He Xinyan stared at her mother, who had given her all for one man. . . The man that killed her. Why?!

For several minutes, He Xinyan cried and cried, until she had no more tears left. Her eyes were swollen from crying and her muscles sore from shaking so much. She couldn't breath through her nose, which was blocked, so she took quick and shallow breaths with her mouth.

Her grip on the picture frame tightened as the words Bai Jiawei and Li Huiran had said replayed inside her mind. She wasn't going to let them go this easily! They were murderers! Since the law wasn't going to punish them, she would!

Li. . . Hui. . . Ran! She killed He Xinyan's mother. . . He Xinyan laughed. Li Huiran tried so hard to replace He Yuxin and become a phoenix, but a sparrow will stay a sparrow forever. No matter how many fake feathers it attached to itself, it will forever be a lowly sparrow, and never a true phoenix.*

She tried so hard to climb up here, but the higher you climb, the harder you fall. And He Xinyan vowed to make this fall extremely painful for Li Huiran.

Bai. . . Jia. . . Wei! He Xinyan clenched her teeth together. He was no longer her dad. . . He didn't deserve to be her father!

How could he? If it weren't for He Yuxin, Bai Jiawei would still be a low-class worker making small money each day. He Yuxin was the one that brought him up to the position he is in now, yet he doesn't know to be grateful, and instead returns the He family's kindness with ingratitude.

The heavens had eyes and gave her a second chance. In her first life, she didn't know about any of this, and she had died underneath a pile of secrets and lies. But now, things were going to change. She wasn't going to let them off the hook anymore.

Bai Jiawei. . . Li Huiran. . . Li Yuyan! A vicious flame flashed through He Xinyan's eyes as she slowly stood up from the ground.

It's time you three get punished for everything you did!