He Er’s trembling voice came from the darkness. “Boss, it’s not that I don’t want to come out—I don’t have any clothes! Get me something to wear!”
“Where are your clothes?”
“How should I know?!”
He Er was furious. He had just been enjoying himself when something suddenly bit him on the backside.
He figured that after sleeping with a woman, pulling up his pants would be no big deal. Who would have thought his clothes would disappear without a trace?
He had groped around in the dark for ages but couldn’t find them.
He Er shouted to Liu Dazhu, “Go find me some clothes!”
“Damn it, He Er, you’re an embarrassment.”
Liu Dazhu quickly returned with a set of clothes. Following close behind him was Jiang Wanyue.
Meeting the crowd that had come to “catch the adulterers,” Jiang Wanyue smiled faintly.
“I merely went for a walk over there. Why did I hear people calling my name from so far away?”
The moment Liu Shuying saw Jiang Wanyue standing there, a bad feeling shot through her heart.
She raised her voice. “How are you here? Shouldn’t you be the one down there?”
“Why should I be down there?”
“You…”
At that moment, He Er had finished getting dressed. Although he had been caught in the act, he didn’t feel the slightest bit embarrassed.
He had already slept with the woman. What could they possibly do to him?
A woman who threw herself at him would be a fool to refuse.
But when he met Jiang Wanyue’s gaze, he gritted his teeth.
“Why are you here?”
Under the moonlight, the woman’s skin had felt as smooth as silk.
Touching her had been incredibly satisfying.
But… it wasn’t Jiang Wanyue?
Then who was the woman down there?
Jiang Wanyue feigned ignorance.
“Officer, I don’t understand what you mean.”
Though He Er was thick-skinned, with so many people watching, this wasn’t the time to grab hold of Jiang Wanyue’s supposed wrongdoing.
The spectators’ curiosity only grew stronger.
“If it isn’t Jiang Wanyue, then who is down there?”
“I heard Old Madam Lin say it was Jiang Wanyue earlier. I believed it right away.”
“Seducing a man in the middle of the night—how shameless.”
Everyone loved gossip.
Jiang Wanyue turned to Liu Shuying from the second branch of the family.
“Second Aunt, how come I haven’t seen your daughter, Lin Shutong?”
At the question, Liu Shuying’s legs gave out, and she nearly collapsed.
No!
Impossible!
That absolutely could not be her daughter!
She glared at Jiang Wanyue.
“You little slut! Don’t you dare slander my daughter! She’s the model of a proper young lady in the capital. She would never do such a disgraceful thing!”
“But just now I heard the officer shouting that something had bitten him. There hasn’t been any movement for so long… Could the person down there be dead?”
The moment she heard the word “dead,” Liu Shuying couldn’t care about anything else. She scrambled toward the hillside.
As soon as she reached it, her anguished cries rang out.
“Waaah… Tong’er! My Tong’er! What’s happened to you? Don’t scare Mother! How am I supposed to live without you?”
She climbed back up the slope and dropped to her knees before Li Dashan with a loud thud.
“Officer, please! Please save my daughter! Has she been poisoned? She’s unconscious!”
Hearing that the bite might be venomous, He Er, clutching his backside, immediately panicked.
The bite on his butt was throbbing with pain.
Compared to Lin Shutong’s condition, He Er was far more worried about his own life.
His voice shook as he spoke.
“Boss… am I going to die too? Back then… when I reached out, I felt something long… it seemed like… a snake! Could it have been a venomous snake?”
Li Dashan shot He Er a cold glance.
This fool was destined to die because of women sooner or later.
He Er was frantic.
“Boss, why don’t we hurry into the city and find a doctor?”
Li Dashan pointed at the pitch-black night.
“Look at the weather. With this many people, how are we supposed to travel? Besides, at this hour, the city gates are closed.”
“Boss, then what do we do? I don’t want to die! Please save me!”
“I’m not a physician. How am I supposed to save you?”
“No! I don’t want to die!”
A vicious glint flashed across He Er’s eyes.
He yanked the whip from his waist, grabbed Old Madam Lin, who had been watching the commotion, and shoved her to the ground.
“You old hag! It’s all your fault! You were the one who told me to go! Now I’ve been bitten by a snake. Even if I’m going to die, I’m dragging someone down with me!”
“I knew nothing good would come of this! If I die, don’t think you’ll survive either!”
“It’s all your fault! If it weren’t for you, I never would’ve been bitten!”
“And you clearly told me it was Jiang Wanyue! Why did it turn out to be someone else? Were you playing me for a fool?”
Old Madam Lin was caught completely off guard. After being struck by the whip, she immediately let out miserable screams.
Although she was old, she had lived a life of luxury since childhood. Back in the marquis’s household, even a scraped knee would warrant summoning an imperial physician, and she constantly flaunted her noble status.
This was the first time she had ever been whipped.
She cried out over and over.
“Ouch! Ouch! Officer, please stop hitting me! I know I was wrong!”
“I don’t know how this happened either! I don’t know how the person got switched!”
“Stop hitting me! These old bones of mine are about to fall apart!”
“It’s all that little bitch Jiang Wanyue’s fault!”
Compared to Old Madam Lin being beaten, the onlookers were enjoying the spectacle even more.
Several families who had also been exiled had long since grown sick of Old Madam Lin.
One of them sneered,
“Lin Shutong is her own legitimate granddaughter, yet she’s actually this vicious…”
“Didn’t you figure it out? That wicked old woman originally intended to set up Jiang Wanyue. Who would’ve thought Jiang Wanyue never went, and Lin Shutong ended up there instead? It’s the first time I’ve seen someone practically throw herself at a man. What kind of upbringing does the Lin family have?”
“Didn’t Liu Shuying brag that Lin Shutong was the model of a noble young lady in the capital? How shameless! Doesn’t she blush saying something like that?”
The members of the first branch also heard the crowd’s discussion.
They stared at Old Madam Lin, who was rolling on the ground under the lash, their faces filled with shock.
They weren’t fools.
It was obvious that Jiang Wanyue had been the intended victim, but somehow Lin Shutong had taken her place.
Lin Jingyuan had always respected his mother the most. Although Old Madam Lin had always favored the second and third branches, he believed that, as the eldest brother, it was his responsibility to look after his younger brothers.
This was the first time he did not rush forward without hesitation.
Disappointment filled his face.
“Mother, how could you do something like this? Yueyue just came home. She’s your own legitimate granddaughter.”
Unable to endure the whipping any longer, Old Madam Lin looked toward Lin Jingyuan.
“Eldest, save your mother! I really didn’t mean it. Besides, isn’t she perfectly fine?”
Lin Jingyuan raised his voice.
“So you’re saying that only if something had actually happened to her would it prove you did it on purpose?”
“Eldest! You’re an unfilial son! You’re just going to stand there and watch your own mother get beaten?”
Never before had Lin Jingyuan felt so utterly disappointed.
In the past, Old Madam Lin had always used filial piety to pressure him, but at least she had genuinely doted on Lin Yurou.
Because of that, the entire first branch—especially Shen Qingru—had suffered greatly under Old Madam Lin.
Lin Yurou’s presence had at least maintained a fragile balance.
Now that the person had changed, he never expected Old Madam Lin’s attitude to undergo such a complete reversal.
Seeing that pleading with Lin Jingyuan was useless, Old Madam Lin turned her gaze toward her favorite sons from the second and third branches, Lin Jingxing and Lin Jingzhou.
“Xing’er, Zhou’er, save your mother.”
Watching the officer crack his whip, Lin Jingxing and Lin Jingzhou had long since been scared out of their wits. Neither of them dared utter a word.
Lin Jingzhou, the most timid of the two, shrank back and muttered softly,
“Mother… this was all your own idea. It has nothing to do with your son.”