Qin’s Father entered the room with an unreadable expression, his gaze shifting from Qin Qing to Su Meng sitting on the bed.
“Qingqing, it seems you’ve been quite attentive to Mengmeng,” Qin’s Father began, his tone deceptively gentle yet carrying a thoughtful chill in his eyes.
“I just want to do what I can. The Qin Family took me in, and I have little to repay except through small gestures,” Qin Qing replied hastily, failing to notice the unusual undertone in his demeanor as she maintained her usual humble tone.
Hearing this response, Qin’s Father’s expression darkened instantly. His brows furrowed tightly as he let out a cold snort.
“Furry dolls can trigger Mengmeng’s asthma. Deep-fried foods high in sodium place heavy burden on the heart, especially for heart patients. And the medicine – Congenital heart disease requires specific medications that can’t be taken randomly. Moreover, she’s been on medication since childhood in preparation for heart surgery,” Qin’s Father’s voice turned icy.
“And this is how you repay our family’s kindness through your so-called good deeds?” he questioned.
“I…” Qin Qing’s heart sank upon hearing this. No, she hadn’t done this – how could she possibly do such things?
Biting her lip, she looked toward Su Meng.
“Sister, did I… say something wrong?” Su Meng spoke up, adopting the appearance of an innocent, clueless white lotus, timidly pretending not to understand the situation.
“I never did this, I didn’t send these things. I only knew she had health issues, but not the specifics…” Qin Qing had never faced such circumstances before. Biting her lip, she felt overwhelming injustice.
She only knew Su Meng had health problems but wasn’t aware of the details. She only remembered someone once mentioning Su Meng’s illness, saying she wouldn’t live long, and that very day Su Meng had manipulated the person into resigning and leaving the Qin Family. Since then, Su Meng’s condition had become a taboo subject.
Besides, she had never given these items in the first place.
The surrounding servants’ looks toward Qin Qing changed, their hushed whispers filling the air.
“Miss Qin Qing is actually this kind of person? She always seemed so nice and kind, always helping us. Who would have thought…” one maid commented.
“Exactly. This proves you can’t judge a book by its cover. The Qin Family has been so good to her – how could she do this? And the young mistress was just expressing gratitude and speaking up for her,” another added, frowning as she turned to look at Su Meng with pity and sympathy.
“I don’t know why she’s still denying it. We all heard her admit she sent those things ourselves.”
In an instant, Su Meng became the pitiful victim while Qin Qing transformed into the scheming perpetrator.
Hearing these comments, Qin’s Father’s eyes grew increasingly somber. Although he hadn’t paid much attention to his daughter in recent years, she was still his biological child. If Qin Qing truly committed such acts, who knew what else she might have done behind their backs?
With such impure intentions, hadn’t he and his son been completely fooled by this young girl?
They had become laughingstocks.
“I…” Qin Qing found herself speechless, experiencing for the first time the suffocating feeling of being wrongly accused. Her vision blurred, especially when seeing Su Meng’s innocent expression and tone, nearly fainting from anger as tears of grievance streamed down her face.”Dad! Why are you scaring Sister Qingqing like that! What if there’s a misunderstanding here? Not everyone knows she has these illnesses—I didn’t know either.” Qin Ye, standing nearby, raised his voice to defend Qin Qing, though he felt somewhat uneasy about the situation himself.
Before he could react, a sharp slap landed squarely on his back.
“Idiot! Come with me to the study.” Qin’s Father grabbed Qin Ye’s ear with considerable force, dragging him away.
[Host, shouldn’t you show some concern for this younger brother now and plead for leniency? According to my data, the original host has always been kind and attentive to him. Perhaps doing so could improve your relationship and make your task of raising him proceed more smoothly?] 666 popped up to remind her.
[Unnecessary.] Su Meng replied.
Qin Ye was stunned by the blow. He instinctively glanced toward Su Meng—usually when he made mistakes and angered his father, she would always intercede on his behalf.
But he waited and waited, until he was already being dragged out of the room, without once seeing Su Meng’s gaze fall upon him or hearing her speak a single word in his defense.
Somehow, Qin Ye felt an inexplicable sense of loss and discomfort, as if he had lost something important.
He couldn’t understand why.
[Why?] 666 expressed confusion.
[People always despise and overlook kindness that comes too easily—it’s in their nature to take things for granted.] Su Meng stated plainly.
Ji Weichen had been quietly observing the commotion when he suddenly felt a gentle scratch in his palm.
“Do you understand what just happened?” Su Meng asked.
“You… were bullied.” Ji Weichen replied.
Hearing his answer, Su Meng curved her lips into a soft smile, her voice sweet and harmless as before.
“No, I was the one who lied. She never gave me these things.” Su Meng paused briefly before continuing.
“This is called feigning weakness and acting innocent. It makes people lower their guard, then you frame and shift blame, stabbing them in the back. Did you learn that?”
The first step in raising a child was, of course, teaching them how to protect themselves and retaliate against those who bully them.
Hearing this, Ji Weichen’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. He pressed his lips together and carefully committed Su Meng’s words to memory.
Feigning weakness and acting innocent, huh…