Xu Wangshi, who hadn't gone far, felt increasingly suspicious the more she thought about it. She kept feeling like the people from the Second Branch had changed, wondering if their whole family had been possessed by an evil spirit.
The thought made her quicken her pace as she rushed back toward her own home.
As soon as she entered the door, Xu Wangshi saw her own daughter leisurely cracking melon seeds.
Seeing her enter, Xu Lanhua complained somewhat dissatisfiedly, "Mother, where did you go so early in the morning? I’m starving to death. Father couldn't wait and went to the fields very early."
"Eat, eat, eat, all you know is eating. Why don't you ever use your brain! What are people saying outside, don't you have any idea? I really believe in evil spirits; that wretched girl has indeed become difficult to deal with."
"Didn't she die! Mother, did you go look for them? Then what about my Pearl Hairpin? Did you bring it back?"
"It makes me angry just thinking about it. What was Father thinking, giving my jewelry to her? I haven't even worn it a few times. I don't care; Mother, you have to find a way to help me get it back. If you can't get it back, we can just buy another one another day."
Xu Wangshi was getting agitated. She walked over quickly and directly twisted Xu Lanhua's ear, "You lazy good-for-nothing! You're already this old, and all you do is eat. What else can you do? Hurry up and go prepare the food in the Kitchen."
"I was going to discuss it with your Father, but forget it. I'll find a way myself."
With those words, Xu Wangshi hurriedly left again, leaving Xu Lanhua stomping her feet nearby.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. If it weren't for that jinx Xu Jianing, why would she have been beaten and scolded by her own Mother so early in the morning? She really couldn't swallow this insult.
After some thought, she decided to go find some payback from Xu Jianing’s side.
This wasn't the first time she had done something like this.
Before leaving, she deliberately washed the powder off her face, and to make herself look more haggard, she changed into old clothes she hadn't worn in a long time. Looking at herself in the bronze mirror, she nodded with satisfaction, closed the door, and left.
When she was halfway there, she happened to run into the Second Branch father and daughter who were preparing to go to the Mountains to hunt.
She walked over quickly and started crying loudly to Xu Dongyang, "Second Uncle, it's so good to see you! I don't want to live anymore, *sob sob sob*... Yesterday, I had a dispute with Ning'er younger sister and accidentally pushed her and hurt her. I don't know who is so vicious to ruin our sisterly relationship, saying I was crazy and did it on purpose. Second Uncle, I didn't! I have been wronged."
Xu Lanhua was really going all out to achieve the desired effect. With snot and tears streaming down her face, she looked exactly like a victim. If Xu Jianing hadn't been the person involved, she really might have been fooled.
But who was Xu Jianing? How could she let her have her way? A contest of acting skills, huh? Fine, who was afraid of whom?
After gathering her emotions, Xu Jianing's eyes instantly turned red. She spoke with a hint of being wronged, "Second Cousin, but that's not what you said yesterday. You called me a seductive fox, said I deliberately seduced your Fiancé, and said I was just like my Mother."
"Second Cousin, I just politely greeted Brother Dazhuang and left; I didn't have any other intentions. How could you curse me and my Mother?"
As expected, upon hearing this, her Father Xu Dongyang's expression immediately turned ugly.
Before, he thought it was just a small spat between young girls, but he didn't expect Xu Lanhua, at such a young age, to even insult his own sister-in-law.
He truly didn't believe it had nothing to do with his tactless Sister-in-law. He hadn't expected that their repeated forbearance would result in this outcome.
At this moment, he felt extremely sorry for his wife and child. They had suffered being wronged because of him.
Thinking of this, he scolded her irritably, "Enough! I know better than anyone what kind of person our Jianing is."
"Remember this, it's the last time. If I find out you bully those mother and daughter again, I won't let it go so easily. You can go now; if you want to cry, go back home and cry!"
Suddenly, Xu Jianing stepped forward and whispered to her in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Don't force yourself to cry next time if you can't."
"Look at you, you reek of strong garlic, it's suffocating. I didn't expect Second Cousin to have such a heavy appetite so early in the morning!"
Xu Lanhua's eyes widened in horror, and for a moment, she forgot how to cry.
How could this be? How did Xu Jianing know? She thought she had been subtle enough; very few people knew she was allergic to garlic. The smell of garlic would make her tear up.
Just now, before leaving the house, to make her act more convincing, she had secretly brought a few cloves of garlic and crushed a few while walking. She never expected that even from this far away, that wretched girl could smell it—was she a dog?
Also, based on past situations, shouldn't her Second Uncle comfort her and then apologize to her? That way, she could take the opportunity to demand the Pearl Hairpin back.
But the current situation was completely different from what she had imagined. Where exactly did the problem lie?
By the time she snapped back to reality, she realized the other two had already walked far away.
She angrily wiped away her tears. What a waste; she had been hard on herself so she could cry at any moment, and now she was genuinely uncomfortable. She needed to hurry back to wash up and change her clothes.
However, what she didn't know was that Xu Jianing, walking ahead, kept turning back to secretly check if Xu Lanhua had left.
Only after confirming she was gone did Xu Jianing breathe a sigh of relief.
Everything that just happened was a gamble on her part.
Just last night, she had flipped through a few books, one of which was about psychology. She didn't actually know much about her Father or her cousin.
But she could tell that her Father cared a lot about her and her Mother.
She guessed that no normal man would want to hear someone call his wife and daughter seductive foxes. Especially when this person was his own niece, and a little girl was acting so arrogantly in front of him—who could stand that?
However, she didn't have the energy to think about those things right now. It was hard enough to get her Father to bring her to the Mountains. She wanted to try and see if she could find any treasures.
But after looking around, she didn't find anything special. She couldn't help but silently chant, "Treasure Appraisal Little Cute Beast, quickly tell me, where are the treasures in these Mountains?"
"Master, you have to rely on yourself for this. You can ask me if it's a treasure after you find it. I am responsible for appraisal; I can't help with treasure hunting."
Xu Jianing was speechless. She was now completely certain this thing was invented by her Grandfather. This style was exactly like the old man's. It seemed that the matter of entering the Mountains to search for treasure would have to be done through her own efforts.