Seeing the way Qin Mengxue looked as though she had just gotten the biggest bargain in the world, Qin Mingzhi found it downright amusing.
She gave her a faint, mocking smile.
“You’d better hope you actually get the chance to make me happy for you.”
Qin Mengxue’s expression immediately changed.
“What do you mean by that? Do you think we won’t be able to live happily in the future? You’re obviously just jealous! You turned down Brother Xingjie, and now you must be regretting it terribly, right?”
Qin Mingzhi gave her a look as if she were an idiot. She couldn’t be bothered to argue with her and simply turned around, walking straight toward her room.
Qin Mengxue’s words had fallen on deaf ears. She was left with a stomach full of anger and nowhere to vent it. In a fit of temper, she blurted out—
“A worn-out woman like you, who’s already been used by men, will never find another man willing to marry you!”
“Who knows what happened to you during that year you were stuck in the countryside? I want to see where you’ll find another man as good as Brother Xingjie. Just wait and suffer for the rest of your life!”
“When the time comes, I’ll make you so jealous of my happy life that you’ll be sick with envy, and there’ll be nothing you can do but watch me live happily!”
Qin Mengxue spoke too quickly. By the time Zhu Caiyan tried to stop her, it was already too late.
Qin Mingzhi’s footsteps suddenly stopped.
Zhu Caiyan frowned and shot Qin Mengxue an angry look.
“What are you saying?!”
How could she say something like that? Did she want to get herself killed?
When Qin Mengxue met the panic in Zhu Caiyan’s eyes, she finally realized that she had said something she shouldn’t have in the heat of the moment.
She immediately shut her mouth.
But it was already too late.
Qin Mingzhi abruptly turned around, instantly sensing that something was wrong.
Qin Mengxue’s words didn’t sound like something she had simply blurted out in anger. It sounded as though she knew something that Qin Mingzhi herself didn’t.
And why did those words sound so familiar?
Qin Mingzhi frowned and carefully searched her memories.
Suddenly, she remembered hearing something similar in her previous life.
At that time, Qin Mengxue had married Xu Yanlin and was beaten by him every day. Her mental state had deteriorated badly, and she had nearly become hysterical.
By coincidence, she had run into Qin Mingzhi on the street.
Seeing Qin Mingzhi dressed neatly and living what appeared to be a decent life, Qin Mengxue couldn’t stand it. She had rushed over, grabbed her, and spewed out a string of jealous and resentful accusations.
She had demanded to know why Qin Mingzhi deserved to live such a good life and insisted that a “worn-out woman” like her, who had spent a year in the countryside, had no right to enjoy such a comfortable life.
Someone as pure and innocent as Qin Mengxue, she claimed, was the one who deserved to live the good life Qin Mingzhi had.
Back then, because Qin Mengxue’s life had been so miserable, Qin Mingzhi had simply assumed that she had been driven half-mad by the abuse and was no longer in her right mind. That was why she had lashed out and said such irrational things.
But thinking about it now, perhaps that wasn’t the case at all.
The term “worn-out woman,” as well as the reference to spending a year in the countryside, had been mentioned by Qin Mengxue in both her previous life and this one.
Those words couldn’t have come out of nowhere.
Otherwise, how could Qin Mengxue have brought them up in both lifetimes?
And this time, Qin Mengxue wasn’t on the verge of a mental breakdown. Quite the opposite.
She was currently feeling triumphant. She had only lost her temper because Qin Mingzhi had provoked her, causing her to speak without thinking.
Sometimes, the things people blurted out when they lost their temper were actually the truth.
Qin Mingzhi’s expression gradually turned serious. Her eyes sharpened as she stepped forward.
Qin Mengxue had already come to her senses. She swallowed nervously and instinctively took a step backward, secretly tugging at Zhu Caiyan’s sleeve.
Qin Mingzhi was just about to press her for answers when Zhu Caiyan suddenly stepped forward, took Qin Mingzhi by the arm, and gently patted her back as though soothing her.
“Mingzhi, your sister has always had a terrible mouth. How many times have I scolded her and tried to teach her since she was little? She just refuses to change this habit of hurting people with her words.”
“When she gets emotional, she says whatever comes to mind. She’s always making things up. Don’t take what she says to heart.”
“She was already jealous that you married such a good husband. Then this whole mess happened, and last night you were forced into something you didn’t want. Of course she’s upset.”
“When you and Xingjie were talking about this in the room earlier, she kept pulling me aside, saying she didn’t know how to face you. She didn’t want people to call her the mistress who came between her sister and brother-in-law.”
“But then, unexpectedly, you decided to divorce, and the Xiao family agreed to marry Mengxue into their family. Her emotions have been all over the place with everything happening so quickly, which is why she got so worked up.”
“Deep down, she still respects you as her older sister. She just isn’t very good at expressing herself.”
As Zhu Caiyan spoke, she thoughtfully moved around to stand in front of Qin Mingzhi and fastened the buttons at the front of her clothes for her. Then she gave Qin Mingzhi a gentle smile.
“Your father has washed his hands of everything, so now there are only you and your sister in this family. You’re each other’s only family. No matter what happens, you two should live in harmony.”
“If outsiders see the daughters of a martyr fighting like this at home, even your father’s reputation will be dragged into it.”
Zhu Caiyan deliberately brought up Qin Mingzhi’s father, watching her reaction from the corner of her eye as she spoke.
Her father had always been Qin Mingzhi’s weak spot. Zhu Caiyan didn’t believe she could remain unmoved.
Sure enough, Qin Mingzhi remained silent for a moment.
Zhu Caiyan smiled and continued.
“That’s right. What is there for sisters to fight over? Whether either of you marries a good husband, it’s still a good thing. It benefits the whole family.”
“There’s really nothing wrong with letting your sister have this marriage, Mingzhi. You have such good qualities yourself. Who knows? You might find someone even better later on—someone even richer.”
Qin Mengxue had originally just been standing behind them, curling her lips disdainfully. But when she heard this, she immediately laughed, as though she were certain Qin Mingzhi could never find anyone better.
Qin Mingzhi watched Qin Mengxue’s smug little smile and narrowed her eyes.
She had a strange feeling that something was wrong…
It was as if there was something she had forgotten.
But what?
Qin Mingzhi desperately chased after that feeling, searching deeper and deeper into the depths of her memories.
Suddenly, a flash of white light burst through her mind.
A fragmented image flickered before her eyes.
In the image, she seemed to be locked inside a woodshed.
Everything around her was filthy. There was nothing but straw and piles of haphazardly stacked firewood.
There was only one window, and one corner of its glass was broken. Cold wind howled through the gap, making her shiver uncontrollably.
She sat curled up on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees, gazing despairingly at the patch of sky above, compressed into a tiny square by the high window.
Then, in the blink of an eye, she looked down and saw that both of her hands were covered in blood.
A frantic voice beside her urged her on.
“Hurry up and give birth to the baby! The wealthy businessman from the city only wants a child. Once you give birth, we can sell the baby for a huge amount of money…”
“If you refuse to give birth, don’t blame us for what we do to you…”
The voices and images instantly became tangled together, growing louder and more chaotic.
The next second—
Screeeech—!
A sharp, piercing ringing suddenly exploded beside her ears, drowning out all the voices from her memories.