Mrs. Zhao was dumbfounded.
How could an expensive necklace rust?
She instinctively looked at An Rou.
An Rou was equally shocked!
This necklace was a gift personally given to her by Shen Qingshan, a treasure passed down through generations of the Shen family. How could it possibly be a counterfeit?
Could it be… that Shen Qingshan had deceived her?
“Let me see.” In the crowd, Mrs. Wei became interested.
She examined the necklace closely and immediately laughed.
“Colombian oil-free emerald?”
“Top-grade Burmese ruby?”
“South African raw diamond?”
“None of those. This is just a bunch of colored glass. No wonder the chain rusted—the gold must be fake too.”
An Rou’s serene expression cracked. “Impossible!”
Shen Qingshan had waited eighteen years for her, only planning to marry her after his original wife passed away from illness.
He wouldn’t give her fake jewelry!
Mrs. Zhao chimed in from the side, “Mrs. Wei must be mistaken. Colombian gemstones are rare in the country; it’s understandable to misjudge.”
“Believe what you want.” Mrs. Wei raised an eyebrow, unconcerned.
Qin Yiyang raised her hand. “I have a way to prove whether it’s real or fake.”
Everyone turned to look.
They saw her holding a safety hammer from who-knows-where, swinging it with full force, about to smash the necklace.
This terrified An Rou!
The necklace was still in her hand!
She quickly let go, and the necklace fell to the ground with a clatter.
Immediately after, a crisp cracking sound rang out.
The Colombian emerald, Burmese ruby, and South African diamond had all shattered!
Good heavens!
It’s true that emeralds and rubies are fragile, but whose diamond would shatter from a fall?
“So it really is glass?!”
“The Shen family is really unethical, giving a counterfeit to thank their lifesaver.”
“The Shen family is the wealthiest in Haicheng; they wouldn’t care about such a small sum. Someone must be deliberately showing off a fake to cling to the Shen family!”
“Exactly. Even if the Qin family’s business has been struggling lately, they wouldn’t stoop to stealing. Someone must be staging this to make themselves look good!”
Instantly, An Rou became the target of criticism.
Only Mrs. Zhao remained steadfast on her path of fawning!
“Qin Fengyi, you must have secretly swapped the jewelry! Hand over the real necklace now, or we’ll call the police!”
“An Rou is kind; she’ll surely forgive you.”
Qin’s Mom laughed in anger. “Don’t just call the police; call an ambulance too. Have the doctors run a paternity test for your husband and your son. Once the results come out, your husband, being kind, will forgive you too.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the room fell into an eerie silence.
Was it what they thought it meant?
Mrs. Zhao’s eyes widened in shock. “Qin Fengyi, what nonsense are you spouting!”
“Is it nonsense?” Qin’s Mom remained calm, recalling what the System had said.
“I also know the child’s biological father is—”
The fear in Mrs. Zhao’s eyes turned palpable. Just as Qin’s Mom was about to reveal the truth, she lunged forward frantically. “Shut up! Don’t say another word!”
The conflict erupted in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, those fighting, those trying to mediate, and those watching the commotion were all caught up in it.
Soon, everyone was tangled together like a twisted knot.
Qin Yiyang, who was trying to protect her mother, was also squeezed into the middle, her cheeks squished out of shape.
The System suddenly chimed in with a sigh.
[Actually, Mrs. Zhao isn’t having it easy either. She fawns over An Rou just to gain some benefits for her husband’s family.]
[What a pity, her wealthy husband is currently upstairs in room 2204, tangled up with the magician, completely oblivious to the world!]
[In short, her husband is fooling around with her child’s biological father!]
The onlookers: “…”
What was that sound?
No, no, that’s not the point!
The point is, they seem to have just learned something earth-shattering!
Qin Yiyang was also stunned.
She didn’t know that whenever someone made physical contact with her, they could hear her conversation with the System, so she had no idea that Mrs. Zhao’s secret was now public knowledge.
In an instant, everyone’s eyes turned toward Mrs. Zhao.
Mrs. Zhao’s right eye twitched violently. Forgetting about the fight, she immediately asked the front desk for a key card and headed straight to room 2204.
The crowd, never one to miss out on drama, followed closely behind.
When they reached the 22nd floor, the door to the room swung open.
What greeted them was a scene unfit for children.
Qin Yiyang clicked her tongue inwardly.
[The last time I saw something like this was when Consort Sun’s crimson mandarin duck bellyband was hanging from the ruffian’s belt.]
Mrs. Zhao screamed and charged forward, “What are you two doing?!”
Zhao Dade, caught in the heat of the moment, turned around and froze for a few seconds upon seeing his wife and the dense crowd of over a dozen people at the door.
Then, he hurriedly wrapped himself in the bedsheet.
“Honey, you’ve got it all wrong! We were just performing a magic trick!”
“The magician accidentally made my clothes disappear—you have to believe me!”
The crowd: “…”
The last time they heard such an absurd excuse was… well, the last time.
Qin Yiyang muttered under her breath, “I’d sooner believe I’m Qin Shi Huang than believe you! What have you been adding to your wife’s milk every day? You know exactly what it is!”
Mr. Zhao’s face instantly paled. “What nonsense are you talking about?”
Father Qin, who had been quiet and almost like part of the background, stepped in front of Qin Yiyang.
Adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses, he pointed to a small blue bottle on the nightstand filled with German text. “L-carnitine—a drug used in clinical medicine to treat oligospermia.”
Oli… oligospermia?
Mr. Zhao choked, as if his Achilles’ heel had been exposed.
Mother Qin understood. “Zhao Dade, you knew all along that you couldn’t have children. So, you and your lover orchestrated this whole scheme, taking advantage of your wife’s vanity to have her carry your lover’s child before marrying her. After the wedding, you started poisoning her slowly, planning to eliminate the mother and keep the father.”
The onlookers gasped in shock!
They’d only heard of “eliminating the mother to keep the child,” but “eliminating the mother to keep the father”? That was a new one!
By now, Mrs. Zhao understood everything perfectly!
These two men had been planning to use her to have a child from the very beginning, only to kick her to the curb once the child grew up?!
“Zhao Dade, after all these years of marriage, you actually wanted to poison me to death?”
Mrs. Zhao cried, slapping her husband across the face.
The magician, heartbroken for his lover, slapped Mrs. Zhao back.
Seeing his wife struck, Mr. Zhao then slapped the magician.
The three of them tumbled into a messy brawl.
Qin Yiyang offered a sharp critique: [What a fiery winter.]
Before long, the sound of police sirens echoed from downstairs.
Someone asked in surprise, “Who called the police?”