By now, Hu Yinglian, who had just finished vomiting, was completely enraged.
She wildly shook her head, flinging the filth clinging to her hair onto the people around her as she screamed hysterically,
“Qin Yuan, I’ll kill you! I already told you I only drank sugar water, yet you deliberately forced me to drink that filthy manure water! You did it on purpose! You wanted to hurt me! I’ll fight you to the death!”
With her head covered in disgusting filth, she charged at Qin Yuan like a madwoman.
Qin Yuan gripped the manure ladle tightly in her hand, completely unflustered. She immediately held it out horizontally to keep Hu Yinglian at bay, her voice filled with shock and anger.
“What? Hu Yinglian, you really didn’t drink pesticide? Then how could you deceive the old clan chief? How could you deceive everyone? Just look at what everyone has been put through because of you!”
Her voice suddenly rose, every word ringing loud and clear.
“If you’re this good at lying, then perhaps the story about your son saving me is also fake! Xia Junsheng never saved me at all. You made the whole thing up just to extort our family, didn’t you? You lied and made everyone suffer through this mess. Just what are you trying to do?”
Hu Yinglian stiffened at those words, freezing on the spot.
The people around her also stopped wiping the filth from their bodies and turned to glare at her in unison, their eyes filled with resentment.
There were already few people in this world willing to share both fortune and hardship with others.
As for those willing to share both hardship and stench?
There were even fewer.
After enduring such a disgusting farce, the women were already furious and frustrated. Now, after hearing Qin Yuan’s words and remembering that Hu Yinglian herself had admitted she had only pretended to drink pesticide, their anger instantly erupted.
How could Hu Yinglian do this to them?
They were perfectly willing to help her curse and condemn Qin Yuan.
But being used as pawns and ending up covered in filth because of it?
Wasn’t that deliberately dragging them into trouble?
Even Xia Kunshan’s face turned livid with anger. He pointed at Hu Yinglian and sternly rebuked her.
“Wife of the Xia family’s third son, you’ve gone too far! You pulled this deceptive stunt and made everyone suffer because of it. After this, I won’t be able to speak up for you anymore!”
Qin Yuan immediately seized the opportunity and raised her voice.
“Grandpa Clan Chief, I told you from the beginning that they were plotting against me…”
In truth, she didn’t have solid evidence.
But everything about this incident, from beginning to end, felt suspicious.
In her previous life, the moment she married into the Xia family, Hu Yinglian had forced her to give up her university admission opportunity to Xia Min.
That alone was enough for Qin Yuan to believe that this entire affair had been carefully planned from the very beginning.
If the outcome of something was malicious, then its beginning could hardly have been innocent.
That was why she boldly suspected there had to be more to the story of Xia Junsheng saving her.
As long as she could get the old clan chief to stand on her side, the entire situation could be reversed.
Then she would finally have the chance to investigate the truth and find the person who had truly saved her.
But no one expected that at that very moment, Qin Wang’s breathless shout would suddenly come from outside the courtyard.
“Sis! Sis! Xia Junsheng has been found! Brother Junsheng has been found! Mom, our family doesn’t have to repay anyone with a life anymore!”
Everyone inside instantly turned toward the door.
Hu Yinglian, who had been about to throw herself at Qin Yuan and fight her, abruptly froze.
She quickly exchanged a glance with her daughter, Xia Min, then rushed outside like a madwoman.
“Where is he? Where is my Junsheng?”
Qin Wang had just rushed back from the production brigade headquarters. The moment he entered the courtyard, he saw a foul-smelling, filth-covered figure charging toward him.
Startled, he instinctively backed away several steps.
“W-Who are you? What… what happened here?”
Qin Yuan followed them outside and casually tossed the manure ladle aside.
She looked at Qin Wang and asked solemnly,
“What exactly happened? Where is Xia Junsheng? Explain everything clearly.”
Behind her, the clan chief, the production team leader, and a large group of people filed out of the house.
Qin Wang tightly pinched his nose as he stared at the miserable, filthy crowd behind his sister, confusion written all over his face.
Seeing him standing there dumbfounded, Qin Yuan grew anxious. She stepped around Hu Yinglian and gently pushed her brother.
“Don’t just stand there! Hurry up and tell us. Where did they find Xia Junsheng?”
Qin Wang lowered his voice and leaned close to Qin Yuan’s ear.
“Sis, can I tell them about reporting it to the police?”
“Tell them. We haven’t done anything wrong, so reporting it to the police only gives us even less reason to be afraid,” Qin Yuan replied firmly.
Only then did Qin Wang relax.
He quickly explained, “I begged the brigade leader to connect me to the county public security bureau. I didn’t dare make the situation sound too serious. I only told them that Xia Junsheng from our village fell through a hole in the ice and disappeared.”
Hu Yinglian anxiously moved closer, her voice trembling.
“And then? Where exactly is our Junsheng? Hurry up and tell me!”
Her face was covered in so much filth that no one could make out her expression, but her voice now sounded far more genuine and anxious than when she had been wailing and making a scene earlier.
Qin Yuan’s heart instantly leaped into her throat.
Could it be…
Had Xia Junsheng really saved her?
Could Xia Junsheng have gone into hiding without Hu Yinglian knowing anything about it?
Could it be that this entire incident wasn’t a meticulously planned scheme after all?
Qin Yuan no longer cared about the horrible stench coming from Hu Yinglian. She urged Qin Wang,
“Hurry up. What did the police say afterward? How did they find him?”
Still pinching his nose, Qin Wang could only speak a few sentences at a time before releasing his nose to take a few breaths.
“At first, the police took it pretty seriously and asked me several questions. I didn’t dare lie, so I told them that you fell through a hole in the ice and someone rescued you, but the person who saved you disappeared instead. The only things left behind were a padded cotton jacket and cotton trousers.
“Then, at the very end, I mentioned that we suspected someone had deliberately cut that hole in the ice. Since the person who saved you had disappeared, wouldn’t that make it a case involving someone’s life? So I asked whether the police could come here and investigate.”
Hu Yinglian stretched out a filthy hand, trying to grab Qin Wang.
“Investigate what?! Stop talking about all that useless nonsense! Just tell me where my Junsheng is!”
Qin Wang had only just managed to catch his breath when the stench stirred up by Hu Yinglian’s movements forced him to retreat all the way outside the doorway.
“I’m telling you! I’m telling you! Just don’t come any closer!
“At first, the police refused. They said the county town was too far away from our village and they wouldn’t make it here in time. They also said that even if someone’s life was at stake, we had waited an entire night before reporting it, so it was already too late for them to carry out an immediate rescue. They said coming here would only waste time, and then they hung up…”
The moment Hu Yinglian heard this, she collapsed onto the ground.
Pounding the earth with her fists, she burst into loud sobs.
“That damned Qin family! Everyone, look at them! My Junsheng lost his life saving their daughter, yet the Qin family actually went to the police because they wanted to escape responsibility! Qin Yuan, you wretched girl! Why weren’t you the one who died? How do you still have the nerve to live? I’ll strangle you to death!”
Qin Wang anxiously stomped his foot and hurried to explain.
“No! I haven’t finished talking yet!
“Not long afterward, the police called back. They said another commune had reported that near Baomen Forest Farm, a night patrol had found a man by the river in the early hours of the morning. He wasn’t wearing a padded cotton jacket or cotton trousers.
“The police remembered the report I’d made, so they called us back to confirm the information about the person who fell into the water. See? Reporting it to the police was useful after all! Why do you always start cursing people before they’ve even finished talking?”
After grumbling a few words, Qin Wang immediately sped up his explanation, afraid someone would interrupt him again.
“I told the police that Brother Junsheng is twenty-five years old and taller than most commune members, around 1.8 meters tall. Most importantly, he wasn’t wearing his padded cotton jacket or trousers.
“The police said all the important details matched!”
Seeing everyone staring at him in confusion, Qin Wang hurriedly added,
“Hey, don’t you understand yet? The river here either flows toward Meilin Commune or in the direction of Baomen Forest Farm! Someone who fell through the ice could’ve been swept downstream all the way to Baomen Forest Farm.
“So the man rescued near Baomen Forest Farm must be Brother Junsheng!”
A question for everyone: Did Xia Junsheng really survive?