As the sharp‑faced woman spoke, she looked Xie Mingzhu up and down again and continued her sneering remarks. “In looks, in figure, in temperament—there is not a single thing about you that can compare to our Xiaoqing. If you hadn’t been useful to them, who would ever have agreed to marry you?”
The burly man beside her rumbled in a deep, gruff voice, “If you go right now and speak nicely to the Public Security officers, tell them Haoyu isn’t any kind of criminal, we’ll put in a good word for you. You can still stay with him and be his wife.”
Xie Mingzhu rolled her eyes hard. Before she could fire back with a retort, Zhang Zenglan’s shrill voice cut in again: “Don’t you dare even think about it! After everything she’s done, she’ll never set foot inside the Qin family door again!”
“Are you people incapable of understanding plain words?” Xie Mingzhu said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
In all her life, she had never met anyone so utterly shameless!
“Get out of here right now!” she shouted. “If you don’t leave, don’t blame me for being rough!”
Clenching his fists, the bull‑eyed man turned to Zhang Zenglan. “Sister, no use wasting breath on this hussy. Women like her only understand force—beat her until she learns her lesson! That’s the only way she’ll listen!”
Back when his own wife had first married into the family, she had also been stubborn and dared to talk back to his mother. He had beaten her into submission then—once wasn’t enough, so he did it again, and again, until she finally fell in line.
“A woman needs a firm hand; once you’ve beaten her, she’ll know her place,” he declared.
His wife, standing beside him, actually nodded in full agreement, looking completely subservient.
Xie Mingzhu knew these people were ignorant, but she had never imagined they could be this backward and cruel. They had lost all ability to think for themselves, reduced to nothing more than shadows following their men.
A wave of irritation washed over her. “Are you going to leave or not?” she snapped impatiently. “If you stay any longer, I won’t hold back!”
Truth be told, she was at a severe disadvantage. She was still injured, and every slight movement sent a sharp jolt of pain through her back. All she had was a small fruit knife, and her slender frame was no match for any of these burly men—any one of them could throw her aside like a rag doll.
Still, her expression remained calm as she quietly sized up the situation around her.
“Stop wasting words!” another big man growled. “Tie her up right now and give her a good thrashing. We’ll see if her mouth stays so sharp after that!”
He took a heavy step forward, his thick arms and broad, calloused hands making it clear he could knock her unconscious with a single slap. Xie Mingzhu was just an ordinary young woman; fighting head‑on against someone like him would be like an egg smashing against a stone.
Just as he reached out to grab her, she swiftly dodged to the side, darted past him, and seized Zhang Zenglan, who was still wailing on the ground. She pulled her upright, whipped the fruit knife from her pocket, and pressed it hard against the older woman’s throat.
“Don’t move!”
Her grip was firm; the tip of the blade pierced the skin, and a thin line of blood trickled down.
Zhang Zenglan, who had been screaming nonstop, fell silent, frozen in shock and fear.
“What do you think you’re doing? Stop this madness!” the bull‑eyed man roared, stepping forward to yank Zhang Zenglan free.
Xie Mingzhu pulled her hostage back and pressed the knife deeper. “Stay back! Come any closer and I’ll kill her!”
Her threat was so fierce that the man immediately froze.
“Let her go this instant!” he bellowed. “If you hurt her, I’ll tear you apart!”
Xie Mingzhu let out a cold laugh. “You think I’m afraid? Worst case, we all die together!”
In her past life, she had stabbed and killed three of them; she had no doubt she could do the same now.
Feeling the warm blood seeping under the blade, Zhang Zenglan finally realized how real the danger was. Panic surged through her, and she cried out, “Stop! Let’s talk calmly! Don’t do anything rash!”
“Mingzhu, let’s discuss this properly—no need for violence,” someone else pleaded.
Xie Mingzhu sneered. So now they were afraid?
“I’m all alone here, and if you push me too far, there is no telling what I’ll do,” she warned in a low, steady voice. “Try me if you don’t believe it!”
With that, she drove the knife a fraction deeper into Zhang Zenglan’s neck.
“All right, all right! We’ll talk! We didn’t come here looking for trouble, truly!” Zhang Zenglan shrieked.
Xie Mingzhu let out a sharp huff. “You bring this whole crowd to my door and say you aren’t looking for trouble? Do you even believe that yourself?”
“I swear it’s true! I’ll tell them to leave right now!” Zhang Zenglan said frantically, gesturing for her relatives to withdraw.
The group exchanged uneasy glances but began to back away.
Xie Mingzhu’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Don’t rush off just yet—watch closely what I do next.”
She pulled the knife out slightly, raised it high, and then drove it swiftly toward Zhang Zenglan’s neck!
If this blow landed, the woman would either be maimed or left severely injured.
No one expected her to strike so suddenly, and screams erupted as hearts leaped into throats. Zhang Zenglan, too terrified to think clearly, instinctively jerked her head away. Though she moved fast, the blade still grazed her cheek, slicing open a shallow but bleeding gash.
Before she could even catch her breath, Xie Mingzhu raised the knife again and brought it down once more!
Zhang Zenglan screamed and begged, “I give up! I won’t come back! I swear I’ll never bother you again!”
But Xie Mingzhu did not lower her weapon. She slashed again, leaving a second bleeding mark across the woman’s other cheek.
“I am not afraid to die,” Xie Mingzhu said, lightly wiping the blood from the blade with her thumb and gazing at them all with a cold, unsettling glint in her eyes. “But I wonder—are any of you as fearless as I am?”