184 The Pieces 7 (1/2)

Xiu Ling and Sylvia's combined effort was slowly getting to Joann. They broke down the preconception that Qing Qing had built in her mind little by little until Joann could see the young woman for who she was. It was a long and arduous process mainly due to Joann's reluctance to accept the fact that she had been tricked. She had slipped up for once. For some, admitting that was harder than asking them to reach up into the sky. Oftentimes, the ego stood in the way.

However, after that had been resolved, the rest would come easy. The frown between Joann's brows relaxed, her lips stretched to a thin line, she shook her head from left to right imperceptibly and she gave out a long sigh. Things were how they were and she had come to terms with them.

Then again, with the mountain of incontestable evidence piled up before her, what else could she do about it? Refuse to accept the truth even though she was practically slapped in the face by it?

Joann was headstrong but not dumb. Even she knew when to throw in the towel.

”So Qing Qing is this sort of girl. Honestly, I still have a hard time believing it. She always looks so friendly and innocent. I suppose this is why they say looks can be deceiving.” After Joann came to terms with this reality, things started to fall into place. Details that she did not notice before due to her implicit trust in the young woman started to surface. 'So that was why she did all those things...'

In retrospect, Joann could not believe how blind she was. There were so many telltale signs but she had subconsciously or consciously overlooked them. Now that the spotlight had been shined on them, they became surprisingly hard to miss.

Xiu Ling and Sylvia had such a hard time trying to convince Joann earlier because they were trying to initiate a drastic shift in her perspective. The woman that she perceived as an angel was actually a demon in disguise, that would understandably need some getting used to. After all, it would not have been easy to change a belief that one had held for years.

However, after that shift had been done, the gathering of supporting evidence around said new perspective would have been easy. For example, after Joann was convinced of Qing Qing's true character, she could easily reach back through her memory to find evidence to complement her new understanding of Qing Qing. This was because Qing Qing was not as careful as she thought and Joann was a clever woman. After all, she had managed to build herself to her current status. If she did not have a certain level of intelligence, how would she had done that?

One could say that before this Joann was being willfully blind but now that the blinders had been taken off, things could not have been clearer.

As Joann adapted to the news, the expression on her face changed from the initial denial to disbelief and shock, and then submission and acceptance before finally reaching indignation and anger, the appropriate response to finding out what Qing Qing had done to Lee Mu and Zao Ming.

”Mom, are you okay?” Sylvia asked with concern when she saw the range of expressions that crossed her mother's face. She was worried that this was too big of a news for her mother to absorb.