Jiang Yuying was so furious that she gritted her teeth.
“You’re just making things up! Do you really think the factory director’s son would take a liking to your daughter?”
Hu Meixiu, who had been watching the drama unfold from the side, deliberately fanned the flames.
“That may not necessarily be true. Mengxue is quite pretty. You can’t just deny everything because you don’t want to take responsibility for what happened.”
“Jiang Yuying, are you feeling guilty?”
Jiang Yuying’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
“Hu Meixiu, you’re my sister-in-law from my maiden family! Fine, you don’t have to help me, but how can you stand there making sarcastic remarks? Do you even have any humanity?”
Hu Meixiu merely curled her lips, looking completely unconcerned.
Several relatives who loved nothing more than watching a good show also took Hu Meixiu’s side.
Outside the window, Liu the eldest sister-in-law and Aunt Zhang watched the women tear into each other and enjoyed themselves immensely.
“Isn’t this much more entertaining than listening to the radio?”
Liu the eldest sister-in-law didn’t know where she had produced a handful of sunflower seeds from. She passed them around to the neighbors one by one.
Everyone cracked sunflower seeds while watching the spectacle unfold with great interest.
Seeing the situation becoming more and more chaotic, Qin Mengxue had no idea when they would finally argue their way to a conclusion.
She was getting increasingly anxious and wanted to drag Jiang Yuying’s attention back to the real issue.
Her eyes darted around before landing on Qin Mingzhi.
The next second, Qin Mengxue rushed toward Qin Mingzhi, sobbing pitifully. She cautiously wrapped her arms around Mingzhi’s arm, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Big Sister, I never thought Brother-in-law would do something like this to me. What do you think I should do…?”
Qin Mingzhi expressionlessly pulled her arm straight out of Qin Mengxue’s embrace, making her stumble.
Mengxue cautiously looked up.
“Big Sister…”
Just hearing those two words made Qin Mingzhi feel sick.
As it happened, she wanted to sever ties with Xiao Xingjie as quickly as possible.
This was the perfect opportunity.
Without even looking at Qin Mengxue, Qin Mingzhi spoke coldly.
“Isn’t marrying Xiao Xingjie openly and legitimately exactly what you want?”
Qin Mengxue held her breath and nodded.
Qin Mingzhi tugged mockingly at the corner of her lips.
“I can get a divorce certificate with Xiao Xingjie right now.”
The moment she said those words, the entire surroundings fell silent.
Everyone stared at Qin Mingzhi in astonishment, clearly never expecting her to be so decisive.
Qin Mingzhi’s gaze swept across the crowd. She smiled indifferently.
“After all, the two of us never actually had a marital relationship. Now that everyone knows about Qin Mengxue and Xiao Xingjie, I’ll only feel disgusted if we continue maintaining this marriage.”
Xiao Xingjie suddenly raised his head, his expression complicated as he looked at Qin Mingzhi.
Actually, he hadn’t been willing to marry her in the first place.
After all, his heart already belonged to someone else.
But Qin Mingzhi had always liked him, and with the marriage arrangement between their two families, he had no choice but to go through with it.
Originally, he had planned to leave immediately after their wedding night and simply stay at his military unit without coming home. That way, he wouldn’t have to see Qin Mingzhi and feel annoyed by her.
But now…
From Qin Mingzhi’s indifferent eyes, Xiao Xingjie saw apathy, disdain, and mockery.
There was even a hint of eagerness.
She was eager to cut all ties with him.
At that moment, Xiao Xingjie suddenly felt a little uncomfortable inside.
Even he couldn’t quite explain why.
The feeling was somewhat like having complete possession of something, only for that thing to suddenly develop a will of its own and voluntarily walk away, leaving him with no control over it at all.
Xiao Xingjie felt strangely empty.
Unlike Xiao Xingjie, Qin Mingzhi was completely determined.
From the moment she opened her eyes that morning and pieced together everything that had happened, she had already weighed the pros and cons and settled on her goal.
In this lifetime, she absolutely could not get entangled with Xiao Xingjie again.
Getting close to this man would only bring her misfortune.
For now, she wasn’t even asking for revenge. She simply wanted to sever their legal marital relationship as quickly as possible before considering anything else.
As for Qin Mengxue, who had deliberately plotted against her…
Marrying Xiao Xingjie would be the best punishment she could possibly receive.
Besides, she had accidentally slept with Xiao Wangnian last night, and the people who had set her up were her stepmother and stepsister.
Legally speaking, they were genuine family members.
Once family was involved, it would be considered a domestic matter.
Even if she reported them to the authorities, Zhu Caiyan and her daughter probably wouldn’t receive much punishment. At most, they might be detained.
Even if she pursued the matter to the very end, she wouldn’t get the outcome she wanted.
She could only swallow this bitter pill.
And if she didn’t cut ties with Xiao Xingjie quickly, then if word got out that she had slept with Xiao Wangnian last night…
A married woman having an affair with her husband’s uncle would not only be a scandal—it could also result in her being charged with hooliganism.
Xiao Wangnian would be implicated as well.
She didn’t need Xiao Wangnian to take responsibility for anything, but she didn’t want to drag him into trouble either.
No matter how she looked at it, the most advantageous option was to divorce Xiao Xingjie as soon as possible.
And this was the perfect opportunity.
Once this moment passed and Xiao Xingjie fully sobered up and started weighing the pros and cons, he would probably still try to persuade her to stay.
Because in Xiao Xingjie’s eyes, she was prettier than Qin Mengxue, had always loved him, could help him save face, and was easy to control.
Even if he neglected her, she would stay at home and dutifully serve his parents because of her love for him.
That was exactly how Xiao Xingjie had used, deceived, and manipulated her in her previous life.
So while Xiao Xingjie was still too caught up in the moment to think clearly, forcing him to agree to the divorce was the best option.
Qin Mingzhi had said everything she needed to say. She simply stood there, quietly watching Xiao Xingjie and Qin Mengxue’s reactions.
Qin Mengxue looked at Qin Mingzhi in disbelief and asked for confirmation.
“Big Sister, are you really willing to sacrifice your marriage to protect my reputation?”
The corner of Qin Mingzhi’s mouth twitched. She couldn’t be bothered to play along with her act and said nothing.
Qin Mengxue, however, didn’t feel embarrassed in the slightest. Instead, she put on an expression of overwhelming gratitude.
“Big Sister… I really don’t know how I could ever thank you enough.”
“I’m sorry. I’m the one who wronged you. This time, I can only let you suffer this injustice, Big Sister~”
Qin Mingzhi’s ears nearly burned from Qin Mengxue’s increasingly affected, sugary voice. She lifted her eyelids and glanced at her.
Qin Mengxue was desperately suppressing the corners of her mouth. If she said one more word, she would probably burst out laughing.
The smugness of someone who had gotten exactly what she wanted was written all over her face.
Qin Mingzhi could see it, and naturally, Xiao Xingjie could too.
His face turned as black as the bottom of a cooking pot.
Qin Mengxue was utterly incomparable to Qin Mingzhi.
Whether it was her appearance or her character, Qin Mingzhi was far superior to this woman who did nothing but deceive and manipulate others while putting on an exaggerated performance.
Qin Mengxue claimed to love him, but in reality, her mind was filled with schemes.
Maybe she had deliberately sneaked into his room last night and created this whole misunderstanding. He had simply been too drunk yesterday to remember everything clearly.
Wait.
A few scattered fragments suddenly flashed through Xiao Xingjie’s mind.
He remembered.
“Last night, you deliberately went into the wrong room! After you rushed in, you even tried to undo my belt, threw yourself into my arms, and tried to make me do that kind of thing with you…”
Qin Mengxue’s heart lurched.
She quickly exchanged a glance with her mother before burying her head in her mother’s arms and bursting into tears again.
“Wah… Brother-in-law, even if you don’t want to take responsibility after what you did, you don’t have to make up such lies to ruin my reputation! I’m clearly the victim. I only went into the wrong room by accident.”
“I never thought that the moment I reached the door, you would… you would drag me straight inside!”