The Recording Device Proves Innocence

"Ye Shengge, kneel down and apologize to Shanshan!" A cold and harsh voice echoed in the spacious living room.

Ye Shengge stood in the center of the room, her long eyelashes slightly lowered as she discreetly gripped the recording device hidden in her pocket. She looked at the man giving orders from the sofa. He was her elder brother, Ye Huaijin.

Seated beside Ye Huaijin was Ye Shanshan, the non-biological daughter of the Ye family.

And now, her own brother was demanding that she kneel and apologize to Ye Shanshan.

"Ye Shengge! How could you be so malicious and push Shanshan down the stairs on purpose? You're worse than an animal!"

"I, Ye Huaijin, don't have a sister like you!"

Worse than an animal? Ye Shengge's eyelashes trembled, and she suppressed the suffocating pain in her heart. "I didn't…"

However, before she could utter another word, Ye Huaijin grabbed a nearby glass and viciously hurled it towards her.

"Don’t you try to deny it!"

Crash! The glass shattered upon Ye Shengge's foot and it instantly turned red and swollen. Glass shards pierced her skin, leaving crimson streaks on her fair and delicate leg. It was painful and unsettling, yet Ye Shengge stood still as if she felt no pain at all.

This wasn't the first time her elder brother had treated her this way.

"Third Brother, please don't hurt my sister!" Ye Shanshan quickly interjected, "It wasn't her fault that I fell down the stairs. It had nothing to do with her; it was my own clumsiness."

Ye Huaijin's heart ached. "Shanshan, why are you still defending her? My dear little sister, have you thought about how terrible it would be for a girl like you to have scars from the fall?"

"But Brother…"

"Enough, Shanshan. Don't speak up for her anymore. Let me check if you're injured."

"I'm fine, Third Brother. Don't worry."

Watching this tender scene before her, Ye Shengge suddenly felt exhausted.

Ye Huaijin cared for Shanshan and didn't want her to have scars, but what about her, Ye Shengge? He hadn't hesitated to grab a glass and throw it at her. Her leg was bleeding from multiple cuts. Wouldn't she be left with scars too? She was also a girl, and moreover, she was his own sister.

She had grown up in an orphanage and was later adopted by her grandparents, who had pampered her. She had never been treated like this before.

After taking care of Ye Shanshan, Ye Huaijin turned his gaze and saw a faint hint of mockery on Ye Shengge's exquisite face. He became displeased. "What's that expression for?"

"Ye Shengge, when we brought you back to the Ye family two years ago, we made it clear that even though Shanshan has no blood relation to you, you should treat her as your own sister."

"As her elder sister, you should pamper her, protect her, and dote on her!"

"But what have you done in these two years?"

Hearing this, a bitter smile tugged at Ye Shengge’s cherry lips.

Two years ago, when her family found her, her grandparents had already passed away. She thought she had finally found a family and wouldn't have to live alone anymore. So she had declined the invitation from her grandfather's good friend, Fu Hexuan, and came to the Ye family.

In the past two years, she had been careful and accommodating, always giving the best to Ye Shanshan and picking up things that Ye Shanshan didn't want. She thought that by doing this, she could gradually become a part of the family and make her parents and five brothers accept her as a true family member.

But in the end, they only favored Ye Shanshan and endlessly blamed and insulted her.

Ye Shengge had once overheard them maliciously and disdainfully talking behind her back: "If Ye Shengge had died outside, our family would have been complete and stay the same."

When she heard those words, a sharp pain twisted in her chest, and her heart felt as if it were being squeezed by a giant hand, making it hard to breathe.

She couldn't understand what she had done wrong.

Why did her own family despise her so much? They even wished she had died outside!

If that were the case, why did they bring her back to the Ye family two years ago?

Ye Shengge closed her eyes and suddenly felt a profound calmness she had never experienced before.

Enough.

That was it.

She didn't want this family anymore.

She didn't want anyone from this family anymore.

Ye Shengge was relieved, as if she had emerged from a cocoon like a butterfly gaining a new life.

Seeing her calmness, Ye Huaijin felt an unexplained panic.

He reached for a ruler nearby and was about to strike Ye Shengge, "If you don't kneel and apologize to Shanshan right now, I'll discipline you properly."

But the next moment, a slender hand firmly caught his wrist.

It was Ye Shengge!

She actually... stopped him!

"Ye Shengge, what are you doing?"

Ye Huaijin was instantly irritated. In these two years, Ye Shengge had always been submissive and obedient, enduring all the scolding and beating. Now, she dared to resist?

Seeing Ye Huaijin's stunned expression, Ye Shengge couldn't help but sneer, her beauty still radiating.

"I said, I didn't push Ye Shanshan."

Ye Huaijin simply couldn't believe it. "Even now, you dare to speak nonsense? I think you deserve a beating!"

"Ye Huaijin," Ye Shengge's eyes were cold and devoid of emotion, "if I have evidence to prove that I didn't push anyone, then—"

"What did you say?!"

Ye Huaijin thought he had misheard and was both angry and anxious. "You actually want me to make you kneel down? You... you scoundrel!"

He would never admit that such a despicable person was his sister!

Sitting on the sofa and enjoying the spectacle, Ye Shanshan had been anticipating Ye Shengge getting beaten. But when she heard Ye Shengge's words, a hint of confusion flashed in her eyes.

Evidence? What kind of evidence could she possibly have?

With a cold sneer, Ye Shanshan stood up and pretended to be conciliatory. "Third Brother, forget it. Don't be angry with your sister."

"Shanshan, don't speak up for her!" Ye Huaijin shouted in frustration. His forehead veins were bulging. "I want to see what evidence she has!"

Ye Shengge, with an indifferent expression, reached into her pocket and pulled out something.

Ye Shanshan looked down and turned pale as soon as she recognized what was in her hand.

A recording... device?!

How could this be?

Why did Ye Shengge have a recording device?

Ye Shengge took out the recorder and pressed the play button expressionlessly.

After a series of crackling electrical noises, a voice that feigned weakness came through the recorder, "Sister, how does this spot look to you?"

Ye Huaijin immediately recognized Ye Shanshan's voice.

Then, a voice as melodious as a spring breeze resounded, "Ye Shanshan, why are you standing at the stairway?"

Ye Huaijin recognized it as well. It was Ye Shengge's voice!

The next moment, Ye Huaijin heard Ye Shanshan, in her deceptively gentle voice, uttering incredibly malicious words, "Sister, if I were to say that you pushed me down the stairs, how would Third Brother punish you?"