It's All About the Money! Severed Fingers, Severed Tongues!

Ma Xianglian heard Ye Wudao's words and felt the restraint on her body, her voice trembling as she asked, "You... what do you want to talk about?"

Ye Wudao let out a low bark, "Talk about what? Don't you know in your heart?"

Ma Xianglian shook her head hurriedly, while Wang Cuihua spoke softly from the side, "Wudao, is there some kind of misunderstanding here?"

Ye Wudao turned his head, his eyes narrowing slightly as he sneered, "Hmph! Wang Cuihua, you must have known about me being framed and sent to prison!"

"No wonder you told me back then that if I really committed a crime, I should just admit it openly and strive for leniency."

"I actually thought you were encouraging me!"

"I didn't expect that you were just planting psychological suggestions!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Cuihua's expression shifted, and she shook her head, "What framing? I don't know anything about that!"

The corners of Ye Wudao's mouth curled up into a cold smile, "It's fine if you don't know; I'll make sure you know in a moment."

He glanced at the wall clock and said, "I only have two hours. If I don't hear what I want to hear after two hours, then don't blame me for what happens!"

As soon as these words left his mouth, Wang Cuihua stood up, intending to run.

However, the moment she rose, an invisible force pressed down upon her.

Ye Wudao cracked his neck and said in a deep voice, "I didn't want to use force against you, but if you won't cooperate, then don't blame me!"

At that moment, Wang Cuihua panicked completely; she could not fathom why Ye Wudao possessed such power.

Yet, she felt a murderous aura radiating from him.

This was the killing intent Ye Wudao had accumulated after slaughtering hundreds of thousands of demonic beasts in the Rift World.

Wang Cuihua shook her head frantically, screaming, "I don't know! I don't know!"

"Help! Someone help!"

Ye Wudao frowned slightly, his mental energy slamming down onto Wang Cuihua.

In the next second, Wang Cuihua's body was pressed flat against the ground, making it impossible for her to even draw a breath.

Before long, her face began to turn blue and purple, and her breathing grew faint.

"I'll talk... I'll talk..."

Wang Cuihua was truly terrified now, and she used every ounce of her strength to choke out those four words.

Ye Wudao released the mental pressure, watching as Wang Cuihua greedily gulped down mouthfuls of air.

He stared at her expressionlessly and barked, "Speak!"

Wang Cuihua glanced at Ye Wudao, then at Ma Xianglian, who was sprawled on the floor, and said with tears in her eyes, "It was all Xianglian's idea."

"She said people from the Ye Family found her and promised that as long as I let you take the fall for Ye Mingyuan, they would give us a large sum of money and help us secure investments to build a new orphanage."

Hearing this, Ma Xianglian roared, "Wang Cuihua, you are truly shameless."

"It was clearly you who came to me and asked me to commit perjury, and now you're trying to pin it all on me?"

"The Ye Family gave ten million; you took three million, and I only took two million."

"The money from the orphanage demolition was also split by you lot, and I didn't see a single cent."

"You're the one acting as the director while I'm stuck doing all the menial labor!"

"And now you want me to take the fall for this?"

As Ye Wudao listened to the two of them bickering, he caught a hint of something unusual in Ma Xianglian's words.

According to her, it seemed there was a third person involved in the plot to frame him!

He looked at Ma Xianglian and asked, "You said the money was split among 'you lot'—who is 'you'?"

"The Ye Family gave you two ten million to frame me; Wang Cuihua took three million, you took two million, so where did the other five million go?"

At this, Ma Xianglian froze, realizing she had slipped up.

She stammered, "It... it's nothing!"

Ye Wudao raised an eyebrow, his tone icy, "It seems you want to taste the feeling of suffocation as well!"

Recalling Wang Cuihua's miserable state earlier, Ma Xianglian hurriedly blurted out, "It was Wang Fu! It was Wang Fu who brought the people from the Ye Family to the orphanage."

"He overheard the Ye Family members talking to Wang Cuihua and pressured us relentlessly to frame you."

"He said that way, we wouldn't just get a huge sum of money, but the children in the orphanage would also have a better life."

Ma Xianglian, no longer caring about the consequences, spilled everything in one go.

Wang Cuihua, seeing this, quickly added, "I didn't get the demolition money either; Wang Fu took all of it."

"He got hold of our secrets and claimed that since he was getting old, he needed more money for his retirement."

"Otherwise, he threatened to turn himself in to the Public Security Bureau and drag all three of us down with him."

"He stayed at the old orphanage just to watch it get demolished so he could collect the remaining balance immediately."

Hearing this, Ye Wudao was left stunned.

He had never expected that Wang Fu was also one of the masterminds.

He thought of Wang Fu, who had been chatting with him about mundane matters just moments ago. That old bastard was a truly gifted actor.

When he had appeared before Wang Fu, the man hadn't shown the slightest hint of abnormality, instead putting on a performance as if he knew nothing about his affairs.

It could only be said that Wang Fu, that old fox, possessed an incredibly strong psychological constitution.

He looked at Ma Xianglian and asked, "So, the framing that sent me to prison—was it orchestrated by the three of you?"

Ma Xianglian kept her mouth shut, so Ye Wudao turned his gaze toward Wang Cuihua and said in a deep voice, "Director Wang, since she won't speak, you tell me!"

Having just experienced the sensation of dying from suffocation, Wang Cuihua said cautiously, "Ye... yes!"

She then hurriedly explained, "But we did all of this for the sake of the children."

"Ye Zhenshan promised us ten million, offered to build us a new orphanage, and helped us secure investments to improve the children's living conditions."

"I... I was just confused for a moment, which is why I gave false testimony."

Ye Zhenshan looked at the righteous-faced Wang Cuihua and sneered, "Good! A truly wonderful 'for the sake of the children'!"

"For the sake of the children, you could frame me, betray me, and send me to prison."

"If I hadn't been lucky enough to get out early, what do you think I would have been like after fifteen years?"

She looked at Ye Wudao and sobbed softly, "Ye Zhenshan promised us he would pull some strings to try and get your sentence reduced."

"I never expected you would be sentenced to fifteen years!"

Ye Wudao looked at Wang Cuihua, recalling how she had cared for him over the past thirteen years.

To be honest, for those thirteen years, Wang Cuihua had indeed treated him well, and she had treated all the children well.

However, once a person is tempted by money, they lose their humanity entirely.

In the old orphanage, although there were no investments and they had to rely on government subsidies to get by, Wang Cuihua had meticulously cared for every single child.

Now, in the new orphanage, there were investments and more children, but Wang Cuihua no longer had the heart to look after them.

Walking here just now, all he had seen were the childcare workers tending to the children.

In fact, when Wang Cuihua walked past the children, not a single one called out to her.

In the old orphanage, whenever Wang Cuihua passed by, the children would always call her "Mom."

It was enough to show how much Wang Cuihua had changed after coming into money.

He looked at Wang Cuihua and said softly, "You keep saying it was for the children!"

"I called you Mom for thirteen years in this orphanage; am I not a child of this orphanage?"

"In consideration of the thirteen years you raised me, I will not take your life today, but I will sever one of your fingers."

"I am cutting off this finger so you will remember never to do things you shouldn't just for the sake of money."

"You must realize that these children were either abandoned by their parents or their parents met with misfortune; the orphanage is their only reliance."

"I hope you will not treat these children as tools for your own profit in the future."

"As for the money, you don't need to worry. I will have someone deposit a sum into the regulatory account later for the children's education and living expenses."

As his voice fell, a wisp of white mist transformed into a blade and sliced off the little finger of Wang Cuihua's left hand.

"Plop..."

The little finger fell to the ground.

The intense pain caused Wang Cuihua's entire body to tremble.

However, she did not cry out; she merely gripped the site of the severed finger tightly with her right hand.

She gritted her teeth, enduring the excruciating pain, as two lines of tears streamed from the corners of her eyes.

It was impossible to tell if she was crying from the pain or out of regret.

After dealing with Wang Cuihua, Ye Wudao looked at Ma Xianglian, who was sprawled on the floor, and said, "Although you weren't the mastermind, it was your false testimony that sent me to prison."

"I won't kill you either, but I will cut out your tongue so you can never speak nonsense again in this life."

"I want you to remember for the rest of your life what the consequences of framing others are!"

Upon hearing this, Ma Xianglian shook her head frantically. "No! No! Wudao, I was wrong! Please spare me this once!"

Ye Wudao did not listen to her pleas for mercy. He used his mental energy to pry open Ma Xianglian's mouth and then used a blade of true energy to sever her tongue.

"Ah..."

A painful scream echoed throughout the entire office.

Ma Xianglian lay on the floor, clutching her mouth and rolling back and forth, trying to alleviate the agony.

But how could the pain of a severed tongue be relieved by such means?

Having finished all this, Ye Wudao stood up, took one last look at Wang Cuihua, then stepped over Ma Xianglian's body, opened the door, and walked straight toward the orphanage gate.

On the way, he saw the children, dialed Li Huai's number, and instructed him to deposit a sum of money for the orphanage while simultaneously investigating Wang Fu's whereabouts.

He knew that old fox Wang Fu certainly wouldn't be waiting for him at the old orphanage.