Chapter 5
The nurse’s face showed a complicated expression as she said, “You need to be more careful about judging people in the future. That girl clearly wasn’t bitten by a snake, but she insisted on lying about being poisoned. If we hadn’t emphasized to her that injecting antivenom without being poisoned would damage her nervous system, she never would have told the truth.”
Even a nurse I’d barely known could see through Sarah’s malicious intentions, yet all seven men I’d been supporting chose to turn a blind eye.
Later, Anthony texted me: “Ariana, since you’re injured, you should rest well. We’re going to continue the graduation trip
with Sarah.”
That very night, I checked myself out of the hospital and went home to start packing.
Weston rushed home in a hurry. Seeing me packing alone, he was so heartbroken he couldn’t speak several times.
He said angrily, “They’ve gone too far! Starting today, I’m cutting off all support to them.”
Early the next morning, Anthony texted me: “Ariana, don’t think that cutting off our money behind our backs will ruin our graduation trip. We can manage just fine without the Hall family.”
I let out a cold laugh, deleted his message, and blocked him. The next day, after entrusting the house to real estate agent Logan
Anthony and the other six men accompanied Sarah from south to north, then from west to east, traveling for nearly a month.
Only when school was about to start did they reluctantly return home.
However, no matter how they tried, they couldn’t open the door. Just then, they happened to run into Logan bringing people to view the house.
Logan told them, “You must be Mr. Williams and the other six men, right? Mr. Weston Hall has stored your personal belongings at our real estate company. As for this house, he’s decided to sell it.”
They were both shocked and angry.
During that month, they had spent almost all the pocket money they’d carefully saved over the years. Now they couldn’t even scrape together tuition for school.
Someone stubbornly said, “What are we afraid of? Ariana must be jealous! Once we get to school, we’ll teach her a proper lesson.”
Another chimed in, “Exactly! Anthony will be the head of the Hall family in the future. Then we’ll be the ones calling the shots.”
Excitedly, they borrowed money from classmates to buy
plane tickets and rushed to the registration office at National Vocational College.
2/5
12:36
The registration teacher looked through the new student list three times from front to back and even called the admissions office. Finally, she looked helplessly at the eight people before
her.
She said, “We don’t have any new student named Ariana this year. Are you sure you have the right information?”
Anthony and the other six men stood frozen in place. After a long while, they finally pulled out their phones and searched for a long time before finding my number.
During that month, they had been so caught up in their fun that they never contacted me once.
Anthony felt a bit panicked and closed his eyes as he dialed my
number.
But all he heard was the cold automated voice: “The number you have dialed is currently turned off.”
The six men beside him also tried contacting me, only to discover they’d all been blocked.
Someone said, “Ariana blocked me.”
Another person added, “Me too. I can’t reach her either.”
Only then did deep fear begin to well up in their hearts.
Over the years, the Hall family had completely satisfied their every demand. They’d grown accustomed to comfortable living and had long forgotten what it felt like to be poor.
12:36
I had always been very tolerant of them before. Now, unable to contact me, they thought something terrible must have happened to me.
They suspected I might not have survived after being bitten by the venomous snake last time, but they didn’t dare think further.
Anthony suppressed his panic and pretended to remain calm ast he instructed the other six to split up and search for me.
He wanted to go home himself to look for me personally and explain everything properly.
At that moment, Sarah grabbed Anthony’s hand and said, “Anthony, are you going to abandon me? I’m so scared being alone in this strange place.”
Anthony, who had always been obedient to Sarah before, impatiently shook off her hand.
He said, “You’re an adult now. You need to learn to handle things yourself. We don’t have much money left. If you come running around with me, we won’t even have enough for plane
tickets.”
Anthony stayed up all night to get home, but a stranger answered the door.
The stranger asked, “Who are you? How dare you break into my house? Do you want me to call the police?”
Anthony rushed into the house regardless, shouting as he ran, 4ñana, you win! Come out!”
12:36
In the end, he was taken to the police station by the stranger. In his desperation, he had no choice but to call Logan for help.
He asked, “Do you know where Mr. Weston Hall went?”
Logan said, “I don’t know. Mr. Weston Hall said he was taking his daughter to develop opportunities elsewhere and has moved and disposed of all his local business interests.”
Anthony asked urgently, “Didn’t they mention us before they left? How could they just abandon us?”
Logan snorted coldly and said, “Everyone in this town knows about you seven. We all know how Mr. Weston Hall has treated you over the years. They have no blood relation to you, so they never had any obligation to keep helping you.”
