It happened so suddenly that Jiang Ling couldn’t stop it in time and could only hurriedly shout out a single sentence: “Watch out!”
The man ignored her. His palm lunged toward Mo Ran’s throat with force. The ferocity and hatred on his face couldn’t be hidden even by his mask.
Mo Ran, hearing Jiang Ling’s voice, instinctively sensed something was wrong. She subconsciously tilted her body to the side, causing the man’s movement to completely miss.
Seeing he had been discovered, he stopped pretending and continued to lunge forward with flailing limbs. “You little brat — “
However, before he could take two steps, security personnel arrived and pinned him down. He could no longer move, but he flopped around like a dying fish, a continuous stream of insults spewing from his mouth. “How dare you not send me money? You even blocked me? Do you have a death wish or something?”
Mo Ran stood up and stared at the man for a while, letting out a nearly imperceptible sigh. “I didn’t think you would be able to find this place.”
“I have plenty of ways to find you!”
The man struggled violently, his mouth filled with nothing but filth. “You’re getting bolder now, aren’t you? What kind of crappy girl group is this? Who are you shaking your ass for? I’m telling you… Ah!”
Before he could finish his sentence, he was struck across the face.
“Shut up!”
Fang Wannian couldn’t hold back and slapped him. As Mo Ran saw people gathering around, she quickly grabbed Fang Wannian’s arm and whispered, “Nan Nan, don’t be impulsive. There are people everywhere. Let me handle this.”
Hearing this, Fang Wannian frowned.
No matter how one looked at it, this was Mo Ran’s family matter. She couldn’t interfere too much, but she truly couldn’t stand this scumbag speaking so maliciously to her friend.
Father Mo was clearly dazed after being slapped. He remained silent for a long time. Looking at Mo Ran’s indifferent expression, he gritted his teeth and let out a cold laugh. He then forcefully broke free from the people holding him, slumped onto the ground, and began to wail.
“Someone, come look! Mo Ran doesn’t care about her own father anymore!”
His voice was very loud, drawing almost everyone at the filming site. The Director looked at the sudden farce with displeasure and asked Bai Xue, “What is going on here?”
Bai Xue glanced at the situation. She noticed that Jiang Ling had tightened her grip on Mo Ran’s hand at some point, her expression tense yet determined. Only then did she feel relieved. She turned her head and put on a gentle, professional smile. “I’m sorry, Director. We’ve made a scene.”
She spoke calmly, “I hope today’s events won’t be leaked by anyone.”
Mo Ran looked at Father Mo, who was slumped on the ground wailing incessantly. A flicker of complexity crossed her eyes. She truly hadn’t expected him to be thick-skinned enough to do something like this.
“Hey, what’s happening?”
“I don’t know. It sounds like that girl named Mo Ran isn’t fulfilling her duties to her father?”
“Look at him crying.”
Because Father Mo started wailing immediately, putting on the act of a victim, the onlookers who didn’t know the truth naturally assumed it was Mo Ran’s fault. The looks they gave her began to feel off.
This made the already fuming Fang Wannian even angrier. She looked up and glared, preparing to speak, but was stopped by Lin Xiaoyu beside her.
Fang Wannian understood her meaning. She remained irritably silent for a moment before taking out her mobile phone and forcefully sending a text message to someone.
Meanwhile, Jiang Ling stood by Mo Ran’s side, holding her hand tightly.
It was strange. Seeing a man so much stronger than herself twisting the truth and deliberately accusing Mo Ran, Jiang Ling’s first reaction wasn’t to shrink back. Instead, she stood by Mo Ran’s side without hesitation.
She knew that Mo Ran’s indifference toward the future largely stemmed from this scumbag of a man.
To untie a bell, one must seek the person who tied it.
Although Jiang Ling had promised to bring Mo Ran a brand-new relationship to maintain her mental health, severing an existing one was not a simple matter.
Especially since NOVA was about to make their official debut. At this critical juncture, handling this matter seemed even more complicated.
Mo Ran had clearly thought of this as well.
Feeling the needle-like gazes from the crowd, she squeezed Jiang Ling’s warm fingers and spoke slowly. “From the day my mother left because she couldn’t take your domestic violence until the day I was able to work, I haven’t spent a single penny from your pocket. Every bit of money you spent on eating, drinking, and gambling was saved by me.”
As soon as Mo Ran’s voice rang out, the surrounding noise fell silent. They looked at the young girl, who had been full of energy during the filming earlier, with shock.
Father Mo’s face turned ugly after being publicly exposed, but he still pushed on. “I gave birth to you and raised you. It’s only natural for you to support me!”
He used his status as a father to do whatever he wanted. In fact, this was one of the reasons Mo Ran had always been unable to do anything about him.
“If the grace of birth and upbringing you speak of consists of constant beatings since I was born, not allowing me to go to school, and forcing me to marry an old man… heh…”
Mo Ran let out a mocking laugh. “Then you truly are the father who knows how to raise a child best in this world.”
Seeing that Mo Ran wasn’t following his script at all, Father Mo stopped pretending. He scrambled up, his face looking extremely arrogant. “I’m your father! I can do whatever I want, and no one can control me!”
As he spoke, he took a sudden step toward Mo Ran. “I heard you’re about to debut? Heh, if you don’t give me money, I’ll post this online. I’ll go to your apartment every day and use a megaphone!”
This rogue-like behavior made many people frown in disgust. Jiang Ling opened her mouth but ultimately said nothing, her hand tightening inside her pocket.
“If it were before, I might have been exhausted by this behavior of yours. Since I was all alone, I would have just endured it until it passed.”
Mo Ran stared at Father Mo’s arrogant and frantic expression, her tone indifferent. “But now it’s different. I have feelings I’ve never had before. I have a brand-new relationship that doesn’t require you to maintain it.”
“So no matter what you say, I won’t give you another penny. Even if you want to sue me, I’ll see it through to the end.”
Her tone was light, as if she were stating a common triviality, but it fell on everyone’s ears with the weight of 1,000 pounds.
“How is that possible? How could you refuse me?!”
Father Mo’s voice was so sharp it almost changed pitch. He couldn’t believe that the daughter who had always been submissive would suddenly become this unfamiliar person.
He looked around with a dazed expression until his eyes locked onto Jiang Ling standing beside Mo Ran and their tightly intertwined fingers. Sudden realization dawned on him.
“It’s you who instigated my daughter to treat me like this, isn’t it?”
Father Mo’s eyes were bloodshot, looking terrifying and hideous. He chuckled coldly, his eyes looking like they had caught prey, making a chill run down Jiang Ling’s spine.
When Mo Ran saw the look in Father Mo’s eyes, her previously calm expression shifted. She immediately took half a step forward to shield Jiang Ling.
Her gaze was sharp and icy, looking as if she would pierce Father Mo with her eyes in the next second.
“If you want to do something to me, maybe I’ll play along when I’m in a good mood.”
“But her — “
“If you try to target her, I can’t guarantee what a person with poor mental health like me might do to you.”