After Jiang Yuying finished writing, Qin Mengxue took the paper back and read it. Her eyes widened.
“What? You still want me to bring a three-piece set of major household appliances, a jewelry set, and one thousand yuan as my dowry? And after I get married, I have to hand all of these things over to you for safekeeping? If I can’t give birth to a son, you won’t return any of it to me?”
Jiang Yuying crossed her legs smugly.
“That’s right. Who told you to scheme so carefully to marry my son? Unless you leave something valuable in our hands, how can we feel safe letting you marry into our family?”
“What if you steal something from our family one day and run away? Wouldn’t we be the ones suffering the loss?”
Qin Mengxue thought it over again and again. In the end, she gritted her teeth and signed the agreement.
After leaving the east-wing courtyard, the more Qin Mengxue thought about it, the angrier she became. She stomped her feet and burst into tears.
“Mom, they’re bullying me too much! Why did they give Qin Mingzhi so many good things when she married into the family, without imposing all these harsh conditions on her? But when it comes to me, I don’t get anything at all!”
“Am I really that much worse than Qin Mingzhi? Do I actually have to pay to marry my own husband?!”
Even though she knew how many advantages Xiao Xingjie had, she still felt terribly aggrieved.
Ever since they were children, far too many people had told her that she was inferior to Qin Mingzhi.
She simply couldn’t swallow this humiliation.
Zhu Caiyan sighed and gently stroked her daughter’s back.
“Stop being angry. There’s nothing we can do about it.”
“Their conditions may be harsh, but you said it yourself—the two of you will definitely have better and better lives in the future. Once you give birth to a son, sooner or later, you’ll be the one running this household.”
“Besides, whether it’s his looks, prospects, or character, Xiao Xingjie is much more reliable than the men around our neighborhood.”
“If you really marry him, those girls from the neighborhood who used to go against you will be green with envy.”
“Once you become an officer’s wife, they’ll be the ones scrambling to curry favor with you. No one will dare look down on us anymore. Our family will finally be able to hold our heads high.”
“Didn’t you always want to crush Qin Mingzhi beneath your feet? Once that happens, even if you made her kneel down and lick your shoes, I doubt she’d dare resist!”
Qin Mengxue was quickly soothed by her mother’s words.
Especially when she imagined Qin Mingzhi becoming a pitiful woman whom she could bully at will, Qin Mengxue felt incredibly pleased with herself.
For the sake of becoming an officer’s wife, she was willing to endure all these grievances!
Qin Mengxue wiped away her tears.
“Fine. We’ll put up with it for now. Once I marry into their family, can they really keep staring over our shoulders and interfering with how the two of us live?”
“Whatever they make me pay now, I’ll get it all back from Xiao Xingjie’s military allowance later. I’ll make Jiang Yuying and her husband pay for every bit of humiliation they’ve given me today!”
Zhu Caiyan finally breathed a sigh of relief and patted Qin Mengxue with a smile.
“That’s my girl. You’ve got spirit!”
“Anyway, you’re finally going to marry Xiao Xingjie. Unlike that Qin Mingzhi—she’s only been married for one day and is already demanding a divorce. She’s probably already run home and is hiding under the covers crying her eyes out!”
Meanwhile, Qin Mingzhi was walking along the road when she suddenly sneezed twice.
She rubbed her nose but certainly wasn’t hiding under a blanket crying. Instead, she continued walking straight ahead, making her way directly to the local police station.
“Comrade Officer, I want to report a crime. Last night, someone paid a group of hooligans to try to assault me on my wedding night…”
She had only promised Xiao Xingjie that after their divorce, she wouldn’t write to his military unit and interfere with his career.
She had never said she wouldn’t report what happened to the police.
The officer who received her was a woman. She froze for a moment before immediately taking the matter seriously and carefully beginning to record her statement.
Qin Mingzhi recounted everything that had happened the previous night, emphasizing how she had become dizzy and disoriented before being dragged away.
“Did you drink or eat anything at the time that seemed unusual to you?” Officer Lin Qingming asked.
“Actually, there was something unusual!”
Qin Mingzhi suddenly remembered.
“Someone forced me to drink a cup of water that tasted strange. After that, my body became extremely weak, and my consciousness gradually became blurred.”
“Oh, and I think I also heard a man’s voice at the time. He was saying some very disgusting things, talking about defiling me…”
Qin Mingzhi carefully described everything she could remember.
The more Officer Lin Gong’an listened, the more deeply she frowned.
She meticulously recorded every detail and asked Qin Mingzhi numerous questions about what had happened.
Once she had finished taking the basic statement, she immediately stood up.
“Come with me. I’ll take you to the hospital for an examination right now.”
Qin Mingzhi froze and quickly waved her hands.
“No need. They didn’t actually succeed. I was… rescued.”
She couldn’t bring herself to mention what had happened between her and Xiao Wangnian the previous night, and an odd flush crept across her face.
Thinking Qin Mingzhi was simply embarrassed, Officer Lin stepped forward and gently patted her shoulder.
“Don’t feel ashamed about something like this. We need to collect evidence as soon as possible, and if you’ve been injured, you need treatment immediately. Your body belongs to you. Your health comes first. Don’t worry about gossip or other people’s opinions.”
Qin Mingzhi felt a warm sensation in her heart at the woman’s kindness.
She smiled gently at Officer Lin.
“You misunderstood, Officer Lin. I really wasn’t harmed. Someone came to my rescue.”
Officer Lin visibly relaxed.
“That’s good. But you still need to come with me to the hospital and have a blood sample taken for testing. It hasn’t been very long since you were drugged. If we collect evidence now, there may still be traces of the drug in your blood. That could be used as evidence later.”
Qin Mingzhi hadn’t thought of that at all. She quickly nodded and followed Officer Lin to the hospital.
When Qin Mingzhi returned home, Qin Mengxue and Zhu Caiyan were sitting in the courtyard.
Zhu Caiyan showed no obvious emotion as she sat sideways, pouring tea. Qin Mengxue, on the other hand, had already been beaming with delight. The moment she saw Qin Mingzhi return, she deliberately widened her smile even further, clearly trying to show off.
“Big sister, you’re back?”
She looked Qin Mingzhi up and down, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Oh my, sister, what happened to you? Why do you look so disheveled? You look like a defeated rooster.”
“You disappeared for so long after running out of the Xiao family’s house this morning. Don’t tell me you went somewhere to secretly cry?”
“But if I tell you that Brother Xingjie has already agreed to marry me, wouldn’t that make you even more heartbroken?”
Qin Mengxue pretended to sound concerned, but she was practically walking on air, completely adopting the attitude of a triumphant victor.
“But then again, I suppose it makes sense. Losing such a good man as Brother Xingjie must be incredibly painful.”
“But don’t worry. At least the good stuff stays in the family, right? A man as wonderful as him didn’t end up in someone else’s hands after all.”
“Once my life is comfortable and happy, I’m sure you’ll be happy for me too, won’t you, Sister?”