The moment Qin Lin turned his head, Su Manman flipped her palm.
Qin Xingyun looked again—and there was no colorful spider at all. It had turned into a children’s sandbag toy.
“Ah! A monster!” he screamed and jumped back in fright.
Qin Lin: “……”
He was speechless.
He turned to Su Manman, his expression softening. “He’s a bit slow in the head. Don’t take it to heart.”
Su Manman smiled sweetly. “Mm!”
Qin Lin pulled the curtains shut. “Now it’s completely sealed off.”
Su Manman walked outside and indeed couldn’t see inside anymore.
Qin Xingyun rushed back to his room, peeking through the window toward the opposite side. Qin Xingjian glanced at him. “What exactly are you doing? At dinner you targeted her, then you ran into her room, screaming like a ghost, and now you’re hiding here spying. If you liked her so much, just say so. I wouldn’t have fought you for her. Look at what you’ve done—your wife became your uncle’s wife, and you’ve offended both eldest brother and third brother. You lost the wife and made enemies everywhere.”
Qin Xingyun’s heart still raced from earlier. “They’re the ones who don’t know what’s good for them! They should be thanking me for stopping them from coming back! That woman is a demon—she uses sorcery! Just wait, Uncle will regret it sooner or later!”
He then told everything that had happened.
Qin Xingjian laughed.
A helpless laugh.
Grinding his teeth, he said, “I really want to open your head and see what’s inside! Grandpa said her grandmother is seriously ill and she has no one to take care of her, so she came to stay with us. If she’s a demon, would she not save her own grandmother? I don’t know if Uncle will regret it—but I know we’re the ones regretting listening to you.”
When she walked past earlier, the air had smelled faintly sweet.
Not perfume.
A natural scent—like a young girl’s body fragrance.
She must be very clean, very well cared for.
Such a stunning beauty could have been his wife—but now she became his uncle’s wife.
And that wasn’t even the most frustrating part.
The real frustration was that Grandpa and Grandma said Qin Lin sacrificed his own marriage to clean up their mess, and they should respect and honor him more in the future.
They even acted like they were doing him a favor.
Qin Xingyun muttered, “But I clearly saw it—she had a colorful spider in her hand one second, and it turned into a sandbag the next.”
Qin Xingjian shot him a look. “Last year during New Year we saw a magic trick on the street. A man got into a locked box and turned into a pile of cloth when it opened. Was that sorcery too?”
Qin Xingyun still wasn’t convinced. “But—”
Knock, knock, knock.
“Xingyun.”
Both brothers turned at once.
A stunning young girl stood by the window, smiling brightly.
Qin Xingyun stiffened. “W-what are you doing here?”
Su Manman raised a hand. “I found this pen in your room. It’s yours, right?”
Only then did Qin Xingyun realize he had dropped it.
Qin Xingjian opened the door. He had already regained his composure. “Little Aunt, please come in.”
“I won’t,” Su Manman said. She placed the pen on the table by the wall. Her eyes swept over Qin Xingyun, who looked pale and trembling.
Coward.
She smiled faintly, a hint of amusement in her eyes. “Don’t worry, I didn’t plan to keep it this time.”
Qin Xingyun: “……”
Qin Xingjian couldn’t hold back and asked, “Little Aunt, Xingyun said you raise colorful spiders—what’s going on?”
Su Manman blinked, pretending confusion. “Colorful spiders? What spiders?”
She pulled out a colorful hair tie from her pocket. “I only have this.”
Qin Xingyun rubbed his eyes.
He clearly saw a spider.
Now it became a hair tie?
He looked again—she still looked innocent and harmless.
Damn it.
Demon woman!
Not only strange, but also a master actress.
His anger overwhelmed his reason. He suddenly lunged at her. “I’m going to fight you today!”
Su Manman dodged lightly.
Qin Xingyun crashed into the wooden door, nose bleeding. “Ow! My nose! Brother, is my nose crooked?”
Qin Xingjian checked. “It’s fine. What’s wrong with you? Little Aunt, he’s just under stress today. Don’t mind him. By the way, you know martial arts?”
That movement earlier wasn’t normal.
She had reacted instantly and avoided him without hesitation.
Su Manman nodded casually. “You noticed? As expected of a criminal investigation officer.”
“My village had a monk who returned to secular life. My grandmother begged him to take me as a disciple. I’m not amazing, but handling three or five thugs is no problem. Otherwise, how would I dare travel alone to the capital?”
Qin Xingjian: “……”
“You also do magic tricks?”
“Mm! The man next door’s family used to be performers. He liked me, so he taught me their family tricks.”
She flipped her hand again—the colorful hair tie instantly turned into a sandbag.
Then she demonstrated it.
Qin Xingjian: “……”
He was speechless.
First time hearing someone learn skills from a suitor.
……
After leaving Qin Xingyun’s room, Su Manman asked Aunt Zhao to boil bath water.
Aunt Zhao said impatiently, “Everyone’s busy today. I have to wake up early tomorrow to make steamed buns. I’m kneading dough and preparing fillings. No time. Go to the public bathhouse yourself or boil it.”
Su Manman frowned. “Isn’t your job to work? If you don’t have time, you should make time.”
Aunt Zhao snapped, “Am I your servant?”
She was hired to work—but she wasn’t a mule.
Thankfully, it was a new society now.
If this were decades ago, this girl would be worse than a landlord’s wife.
Su Manman paused. “…That makes sense.”
She had no comeback.
She turned and left.
She grabbed her toiletries and headed to the bathhouse.
Halfway there, her aunt stopped her. “Girl, going out with a bag to bathe?”
Su Manman responded indifferently, “Mm.”
“Take your two little nieces with you—Si Di and Pan Di. Hurry, your aunt-in-law is taking you all to bathe.”
Su Manman immediately refused.
Who wanted to take them?
Who was paying for their bath tickets?
The two girls came out empty-handed.
Her aunt said, “You can use your aunt-in-law’s soap and shampoo. And let them borrow your underwear to change into. You can get it back later.”
Su Manman refused coldly. “No. My soap and shampoo are made from medicinal herbs I gathered myself. I don’t even use them much. They can use grandma’s instead.”
“As for underwear—absolutely not. My grandmother sewed them stitch by stitch.”
Even her undergarments were made from expensive silk cocoon fabric specially bought by her grandmother.
They reduced friction and helped relieve her skin condition.
Until her body improved, those clothes were as precious as her life.
How could she lend them?
Her aunt sighed. “You’re so stingy.”
Su Manman shot back, “You’re generous—why are you touching my things?”
She walked off.
Her aunt cursed behind her. “That damn girl!”
She stormed off to complain to Old Madam Qin.
“Go ahead if you dare,” Su Manman said proudly.
She thought she could be suppressed just by mentioning her mother-in-law?