After saying that, Gu Qingtang hurriedly put on her clothes. She lowered her head, covered her face, turned around, and rushed outside, intending to end her life.
A voice suddenly rang out, stopping her in her tracks.
“Why aren’t you going after her? What if she really jumps into the river and drowns?”
The dark blue cloth curtain was lifted, and Zhong Yi bent slightly as she leisurely stepped out of the small room.
Her fair, delicate face wore a faint smile that was neither quite a smile nor quite a smirk.
Her eyes were filled with mockery.
She glanced at Gu Qingtang first before turning her gaze to Zhou Shu. Then she raised her eyebrows, looking completely at ease, as though she were simply enjoying a show.
Seeing her expression, the corner of Zhou Shu’s mouth twitched. A sudden suspicion arose in his heart. It was almost as if she already knew something.
But he immediately dismissed the thought. There was no way she could know!
Gu Qingtang, who had already rushed to the doorway, stared at the woman who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere inside the room. She was completely dumbfounded!
After entering, all her attention had been focused on the bed. She had not even noticed the cloth curtain. Or perhaps she had seen it, but it had never occurred to her that someone could be hiding behind it.
And this young woman was very likely the person who had spent the night with Zhou Shu.
Thinking back to what she had just said to him, Gu Qingtang realized that her lies had been mercilessly exposed right in front of her!
Could there possibly be a more embarrassing situation than this?
She had originally intended to pretend to take her own life to threaten Zhou Shu, but now Gu Qingtang genuinely wanted to die.
“Brother Zhou Shu, I…”
Her face turned deathly pale, and tears streamed down her cheeks.
“There’s no need to say anything else. I’ll ask you just one question. Were you the one who drugged my liquor?” Zhou Shu asked.
At this point, how could Gu Qingtang possibly dare to make up another lie?
With tears in her eyes, she shook her head. “No, it wasn’t me! I only noticed that you hadn’t returned all night, so I came out to look for you. As for what happened afterward… I was just momentarily blinded by temptation.”
As she spoke, Zhou Shu fixed her with a sharp, piercing gaze. His expression was cold and intimidating.
Even a seemingly delicate young woman would struggle to withstand such a gaze, let alone an ordinary person. Even hardened criminals would find it difficult to endure his imposing scrutiny.
Gu Qingtang trembled like a leaf in the wind.
“It wasn’t me! I swear it wasn’t me!”
Unable to bear being stared at by the man she loved as though she were a criminal under interrogation, her psychological defenses completely collapsed. She covered her face and ran away.
Zhong Yi had watched the entire scene unfold. She felt not the slightest bit of sympathy. If anything, she found it thoroughly satisfying.
After all, the original owner of this body had met such a tragic end in the novel. Although her own fear had contributed to her decision to leave, every one of these people had played a part in her downfall!
Now that Zhong Yi was here, she certainly wasn’t going to put up with such injustice!
“It really doesn’t look like she was the one who did it,” Zhong Yi remarked calmly.
“Indeed, it doesn’t,” Zhou Shu agreed.
Zhong Yi had been waiting for him to say exactly that.
“Speaking of which, while I was hiding behind the curtain just now, I remembered something. Last night, I went to visit my good friend, Tian Yunzhi. On my way home, I ran into Auntie Liang. She brought me to this little house by the river, then said she’d forgotten something and needed to go back for it. She told me to wait here for her.”
Zhou Shu naturally understood what she was implying. This Auntie Liang might be the key to the whole incident.
“I don’t live in the countryside, and I don’t know most of the people in this village. Who is Auntie Liang?”
“Auntie Liang is Liang Feng’s mother. And Liang Feng is my fiancé.”
“You have a fiancé?!”
Although Zhou Shu had experienced enough outrageous things that day to leave most people completely bewildered, he had managed to remain relatively calm.
In fact, within the short time available, he had already considered what he should do. If this incident truly had nothing to do with the young woman, then, out of a sense of responsibility, he could marry her. He would have to get married sooner or later anyway.
But this woman had a fiancé?
Then what did that make him?!
Even Zhou Shu, who was usually as steady as a mountain in the face of disaster, now found himself in a difficult predicament. He couldn’t help pressing his fingers against his temples.
“What? Are you afraid I’ll make you take responsibility?”
Zhong Yi had meant it as a teasing remark. In truth, she hadn’t yet decided what to do next.
But when Zhou Shu looked at her, his eyes happened to meet her misty, expressive ones. Her lips were also swollen and red.
He had spent years surrounded by men, most of them tough, iron-willed soldiers. He had hardly ever encountered a situation like this.
And when he remembered that he himself was the culprit responsible for everything that had happened, vivid, embarrassingly intimate images immediately flooded his mind.
Zhou Shu hurriedly stepped backward, putting some distance between them.
But Zhong Yi clearly noticed that the tips of his ears had turned red.
Who would have thought that this towering, muscular man, nearly 1.9 meters tall, could be so innocent and easily flustered?
“What do we do now?”
Remembering that the person who had truly harmed her had yet to be dealt with, Zhong Yi quickly put away her teasing smile.
Turning to the serious matter, Zhou Shu’s expression returned to its usual composure.
“Are you suspecting that your future mother-in-law deliberately set us up? What’s her motive?”
He had hardly returned to the village in years. He couldn’t even remember having any conflicts with the Liang family.
Zhong Yi really couldn’t explain the reason. She couldn’t exactly tell him that he had simply been unlucky enough to become a target!
“I don’t know. I’m only telling you what I know. But since they went to so much trouble to set this trap, they’ll definitely come back to check the results. That girl just now wasn’t the one who drugged you, so let’s keep waiting. There’s a chance the real culprit will come straight to us.”
She paused.
Then she looked Zhou Shu up and down with a playful expression.
Not again!
That same unnerving feeling had returned, making the hair on the back of Zhou Shu’s neck stand on end.
He had a bad feeling about this.
The corners of Zhong Yi’s lips curled upward.
“Then it all depends on whether you’re willing to cooperate and put on a little drama—a grand performance of getting caught in bed with another woman!”
Zhou Shu was speechless.
…
At the same time, a group of people was hurrying toward the little house by the river.
Leading them was Liang Feng.
Liang Feng had fair, clean-cut features and stood about 1.75 meters tall. He was slim and wore glasses, a white shirt, black trousers, and leather shoes, giving him the appearance of a refined, respectable young man.
“Auntie Zhong, please don’t worry just yet. Xiaoyi isn’t the kind of person who would behave recklessly. Perhaps something came up and delayed her.”
As he walked, he comforted Zhong Huilan, who was beside him.
Zhong Huilan was Zhong Yi’s mother.
Of course, the Zhong family knew that Zhong Yi hadn’t returned home the previous night, but they hadn’t thought much of it.
The previous evening, Zhong Yi had said she was going to visit her good friend, Tian Yunzhi. The two girls were close and often stayed overnight at each other’s homes, so both families trusted them completely.
It wasn’t until early that morning that Liang Feng suddenly showed up looking for Zhong Yi.
Since Liang Feng worked at the county hospital and could go a whole month without returning to the village, Zhong Huilan was delighted to see her prospective son-in-law at the door. She immediately asked her son, Zhong Shu, to go to the Tian family and bring his sister home.
That was when they learned that Zhong Yi had left the Tian household at around seven the previous evening. The Tian family had even accompanied her as far as the entrance to the village before turning back.
Yet Zhong Yi had never returned home.
Something was clearly wrong.
Liang Feng immediately made an issue of it, criticizing Zhong Huilan for failing to care properly for her own daughter. He then took the initiative to gather several villagers, claiming that they were going out to look for Zhong Yi.
Zhong Huilan had short, practical hair. Worried about her daughter’s whereabouts, she kept her brows tightly furrowed. However, when she heard her future son-in-law’s reassuring words, she felt pleased with him.
“This really is our fault for being careless. You’ve barely had time to come home, yet now you’re having to help us look for her. I’m sorry to trouble you.”
Liang Feng quickly replied that it was no trouble at all.
“This is what I should do. Your family has done so much for me.”
As soon as he said this, the several middle-aged women accompanying them to search for Zhong Yi looked envious.
Everyone knew that Liang Feng was one of the most capable young men in the village. Now that he had become a doctor, his future looked exceptionally bright.
It was all thanks to Zhong Huilan’s good judgment that she had chosen Liang Feng as her son-in-law so early. Otherwise, who knew how many other families would be fighting to get such an excellent young man?
Some even remarked that the Zhong family must have accumulated good fortune over several lifetimes to be blessed with a son-in-law as wonderful as Liang Feng.
Hearing their praise, Liang Feng pushed up his glasses and adopted an even more modest attitude.
“You flatter me, uncles and aunties. You’re giving me far too much credit.”
His humble response earned him yet another chorus of praise.