The sky was neither fully dark nor light, as the evening glow cast an exceptional shade of red across the horizon. Occasional spring insects, unafraid of the cold, made a racket in the grass, stirring a sense of irritability in one’s heart.
The atmosphere in front of the moon gate was particularly tense.
Except for Mrs. Chen, everyone else gasped. The timid Huo Dong directly covered his eyes with both hands, not daring to look at the sight of Seventh Sister-in-law being beaten into a pig’s head.
Facing the sudden, forceful palm strike, Yin Weiyue had no choice but to respond quickly. Leaning her upper body back slightly, her shoulders quickly dodged to the side to avoid it; then, gathering strength in her right arm, she raised it abruptly and slammed it hard against the forearm of Huo Kai’s striking palm.
At the same time, she used her inner elbow to lock Huo Kai’s wrist firmly, landed a heavy punch on his abdomen with her left hand, and executed a final leg sweep. Thus, in the blink of an eye, Huo Kai along with Mrs. Chen on his back were both thrown to the ground.
“Ah…” Mrs. Chen screamed as her buttocks suffered another critical blow.
Is that it?
Yin Weiyue touched her nose. In the book, Huo Kai was both literary and martial; who would have thought that even a wild boar in the deep mountains was stronger than him? Of course, a large part of the reason was that he was carrying Mrs. Chen on his back with only one usable arm, plus he underestimated his opponent, which led to his defeat.
At this moment, apart from Mrs. Chen screaming randomly, everyone held their breath, unable to believe what they had just seen. Yin Weiyue actually knew martial arts, and she was not even weaker than Fifth Brother.
Huo Dong took his hands off his face, blinking as he looked forward. He never expected Seventh Sister-in-law to knock Fifth Brother down—she was truly incredible.
Today, Zhang Yulin, who was transmigrated as an infant, had her eyes opened wide. Huo Kai tried to hit Yin Weiyue, only to be beaten up by her instead—this plot development was awesome!
Seeing that the woman was fine, Huo Jun’s suspended heart settled down. Only then did he climb up from the ground sluggishly. But thinking back to how he had rendered her speechless for two years, he couldn’t help but feel a lingering sense of fear.
It turned out that besides loving to cuckold him, this woman was actually rather gentlemanly—at least she only used her mouth and not her hands. Otherwise, if a punch like the one just now landed on him, how could he survive?
Meanwhile, Huo Kai was in a state of utter shock from the beatdown. Clutching his abdomen, he glared at Yin Weiyue in disbelief. In all his life, he had never been so humiliated—losing within a single move, and to his brother’s wife, no less.
Was this still the world he used to live in?
By contrast, Yin Weiyue remained relatively calm. Her brain quickly recovered, and she sneered lightly at Huo Kai: “Why don’t you go outside and ask around? There’s no one in my Yin family who doesn’t know that this miss could hit people before she could even speak. Back in the day, I didn’t even care about the imperial palace guards—you’re still a bit too green. If you’re not satisfied, let’s have another fight.”
Using exaggerated rhetorical devices, Yin Weiyue made the matter of her knowing martial arts sound utterly ordinary, leading everyone present to believe she had practiced martial arts before getting married, and that the Yin family had simply kept it hidden from the outside world.
She wasn’t afraid of being exposed in the future anyway. Ten days from now, all three generations of the Yin family, regardless of age or gender, would be publicly executed—there would be no living witnesses to investigate a matter with no proof.
The Yin family failed in harming others and ultimately reaped their own bad karma. According to the plot, they would be thrown into the grand prison three days later and executed seven days after that; the speed was extremely fast with no room for reversal.
Added to that, Yin Weiyue had just transmigrated into the book an hour ago and had no time to figure out the Yin family’s affairs. But even if she wracked her brains, there was likely no hope of saving them.
There were three reasons.
First: She couldn’t leave the manor gates, and her influence was too small.
Second: The Yin family’s crisis erupted too quickly, leaving no operable time.
Third: Yin Jianzhang had indeed committed countless atrocities with conclusive evidence. Moreover, the execution of the three generations of the Yin family was an act by the Fourth Prince to cut off his own tail for self-preservation.
Ten days later, either the Yin family would bear all the guilt and be wiped out, or the Fourth Prince would fall. But Yin Jianzhang had long joined the Fourth Prince; once the Fourth Prince fell, all three generations of the Yin family would still have to die.
Therefore, saving the Yin family was as difficult as reaching the heavens.
“Fight then! Who’s afraid of whom!” At this moment, Huo Kai’s angry roar interrupted Yin Weiyue’s thoughts. She saw him rub his belly and stand up; although a chuunibyou aura exhaled as soon as he spoke, his eyes held a firm look determined to wipe away his previous humiliation.
“Absurd! Foolishness!” Having lived to this age, the Old Lady’s worldview was completely rewritten today. “Fifth, how could you raise a hand against your brother’s wife?”
Crucially, he lost so miserably too.
Huo Kai suppressed his anger and said: “Grandmother, it was my fault just now, but Lady Yin is far too aggressive. Mother’s injuries cannot be delayed. I beg you to let me take her back to apply medicine first; I will naturally come to plead guilty later. Even if I have to pay with my life to Seventh Brother, it doesn’t matter!”
Huo Jun, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up upon hearing this.
“Fifth Brother, I don’t even want Third Aunt’s life—what would I do with yours? Third Aunt wanted to kill me for official status, yet I cannot ignore our brotherly affection. Since she was punished today, this matter is written off. However, some words must be spoken clearly face-to-face today; otherwise, whenever Third Aunt has free time, she’ll run over to anger grandmother. When will there be an end to this? So it will be hard on Third Aunt to wait a moment before applying medicine.”
Huo Kai: “Seventh Brother, what matter cannot wait until Mother gets her medicine applied? Are even you going to stop me?”
Huo Jun looked directly into Huo Kai’s eyes, his voice resonant: “The more pain Third Aunt feels right now, the more apprehension she will hold in her heart, and the more she will take these words to heart. Otherwise, before long she will relapse into her old ways, believing that everything today was caused by the First Branch.”
Yin Weiyue nodded. Although Huo Jun was physically frail, fortunately he wasn’t brain-dead. So she looked at Huo Kai again: “Before things are spoken clearly, no one leaves. If you’re not satisfied, let’s fight.”
“You!” Huo Kai was also angered. “Fight then! Don’t cry when you actually get hurt later!”
“Me? Cry?” Yin Weiyue snorted, rolling up her sleeves without another word.
Just like that, the atmosphere instantly became chuunibyou amid the tension once more.
Childish!
Zhang Yulin, who was standing to the side, couldn’t bear to watch any longer. At this moment, she didn’t know that Yin Jianzhang was about to fall, so she was very wary of the Yin family’s influence.
Although she really didn’t want to wade into these muddy waters over two sixteen- or seventeen-year-old kids fighting, if she didn’t mediate a little today, it would be bad if it alerted the guards outside.
Yin Weiyue naturally had the Yin family backing her, while the Third Branch would be miserable. If the Third Branch was miserable, she would be miserable. This wasn’t modern times—what was most popular here was guilt by association.
Her short-sighted mother-in-law had underestimated Yin Weiyue’s status in her maiden home, but she was no fool. Just from the fact that the Yin family could request a divorce from the Emperor on Yin Weiyue’s behalf, one could tell that Yin Jianzhang doted on this legitimate daughter extremely, so she must never be offended.
Zhang Yulin first walked over to Huo Kai’s side, tugged at his sleeve, shook her head, and said: “Husband, do not be impulsive. As a son, there is nothing wrong with you feeling distressed for mother-in-law. But for Eldest Aunt, as a mother, she naturally feels distressed for her own son as well.
Three years ago, Eldest Aunt and Eldest Uncle were just like you are now, worrying for Seventh Brother for three whole days and nights. Although three years have passed, wrong is wrong for mother-in-law—she cannot be exempt from punishment just because a long time has passed.
The First Branch let grandmother handle it out of regard for familial love. If this matter had erupted three years ago and the First Branch handed mother-in-law over to the authorities, could mother-in-law’s crime be settled with just a hundred cane strikes? Mother-in-law is merely suffering physical pain right now; no matter how much it hurts your heart, you must endure it. This is what we owe the First Branch—how can you turn around to make false accusations and raise a hand against Seventh Sister-in-law? Not only does it lack grace, but it is also unreasonable.”
Zhang Yulin’s voice was soft, but every word carried immense persuasion.
Huo Kai was awakened by these words. He had acted foolishly just now; luckily that palm strike didn’t land on Yin Weiyue, otherwise, setting aside whether the First Branch would hold a grudge, Yin Jianzhang alone wouldn’t let it rest.
However, these words held a completely different flavor in Mrs. Chen’s ears: “Hmph! Those not born from one’s own womb truly aren’t close! It shows that your usual kindness to me was all an act—you unfilial creature!”
Zhang Yulin did not reply. If she didn’t offend Mrs. Chen today, she would offend the Yin family. Mrs. Chen would at most make things difficult for her, but if the Yin family moved a single finger, their entire Third Branch would be unable to carry the consequences.
Everyone in the Huo family in the book only learned about the execution of the three generations of the Yin family six months later during their exile. Therefore, at this time, except for Yin Weiyue, none of them knew that the Yin family had harmed the Huo family and was about to be finished.
At this moment, Zhang Yulin walked over to the Old Lady again, performed a salutation, and spoke: “Making grandmother upset today is entirely the fault of our Third Branch. If anything happens to your health, we of the younger generation could not atone for it even with ten thousand deaths.”
A smile finally appeared on the Old Lady’s face: “Your grandmother and I were childhood friends, and she saved my life back then. When you and Fifth were still in the womb, I arranged your betrothal. I originally wanted the friendship between the Huo and Zhang families to endure for a long time, but who would have thought it ended up trapping you?
I know you are a good child, and marrying you is Fifth’s good fortune. It’s only a pity for you that shortly after marrying into the family, your dowry and status were confiscated together, and you’ve been locked in this manor for two years. Our Huo family has wronged you.”
“Grandmother speaks too heavily. This granddaughter-in-law has long sworn to live and die together with my husband and the Huo family!” Not living and dying together wasn’t an option either—she didn’t have Yin Weiyue’s good fortune to obtain a divorce.
“Good, good, good—a good child.” The Old Lady’s eyes turned red with emotion.
Next, Zhang Yulin walked up to Mrs. Feng and performed a salutation: “The pain of losing a son is so cruel; Eldest Aunt almost had to suffer the elderly burying the young. I apologize to you on behalf of the Third Branch.”
Mrs. Feng had always been reasonable; it was never Zhang Yulin’s fault to begin with, so why make the younger generation caught in the middle? Thus, taking her hand, she said: “Good child, I know your intentions. Since Mrs. Chen has been punished and Seventh is safe and sound, our First Branch will turn the page on this matter and never bring it up again.”
“Thank you, Eldest Aunt.” Then she came up to Huo Jun, bowing slightly: “Seventh Brother, at this moment it is useless even if our Third Branch says ten thousand apologies. You missed the court examination and almost lost your life—no one can replace the pain of that time. Although mother-in-law has been punished, we still must say the words ‘I’m sorry,’ even if these three words are ethereal and useless.”
Huo Jun bowed in return: “Fifth Sister-in-law speaks too heavily. Since Third Aunt has been punished, let past matters remain in the past.”
Finally, Zhang Yulin came before Yin Weiyue: “Seventh Sister-in-law, your Fifth Brother was rash today; fortunately he didn’t hurt you. He and my mother-in-law were confused by the immediate situation and lost their composure for a moment—please don’t mind it. Now, I shall take the liberty to represent the Third Branch once: whatever you want to say today, feel free to say it, and we will surely listen carefully.”
It truly felt comfortable talking to the female lead; her big-picture perspective was far superior to Huo Kai’s, worthy of being the main female lead in the book.
Of course, it was also possible that Mrs. Chen wasn’t Zhang Yulin’s biological mother, which allowed her to handle matters calmly. If she had watched her own mother beaten until her buttocks bloomed with blood, perhaps not everyone present could have done better than Huo Kai.
However, this was unavoidable; one’s stance determined everything.
“Fifth Sister-in-law’s broad-mindedness is admirable, so I’ll speak directly then.” Zhang Yulin was the book’s female lead after all, so she had to give her this face. Yin Weiyue had already offended the Son of Destiny, and she didn’t want to offend the Daughter of Destiny as well.
“Since my mother-in-law and Seventh Young Master said the matter of Third Aunt’s poisoning is written off, our First Branch will no longer pursue it. It’s just that Third Aunt frequently uses the words ‘Fifth Brother became the top scholar at fourteen, only to be overshadowed by the First Branch’ to pierce my mother-in-law’s heart. Today, I shall ask right in front of Fifth Brother: if you and my Seventh Young Master had taken the examination at the same time, could that top scholar still have been yours?”
These words were poisonous, causing both Mrs. Chen and Huo Kai’s hearts to choke simultaneously.