“How can a niece and her uncle… ugh, disgusting! Shameless!”
“Xiaohong, how could you be so confused?”
“No, I didn’t, I didn’t!” Tao Xiaohong clutched the blanket tightly around herself and cried out in collapse.
This time, she truly broke down in tears, looking helplessly at her father.
“Dad…”
Tao Dazhuang was also flustered, not knowing what to do.
Li Juhua rushed home in a panic, stumbling and crawling. Seeing so many people crowding into her daughter’s room, she thought things had succeeded and felt a surge of joy. Covered in filth, she didn’t even bother to clean herself and squeezed her way inside.
“Xiaohong, my Xiaohong…”
Li Juhua began acting.
“Ugh, what’s that smell? It’s so foul!”
The onlookers were driven back by the stench, clearing a path.
Li Juhua easily rushed to the bedside.
“Xiaohong, did Qin Yanzhou bully you—” Her voice suddenly stopped.
Seeing that the person in bed wasn’t Qin Yanzhou but… her eyes widened in shock.
“W-what’s going on?”
Someone watching sneered, “Li Juhua, your daughter is lying in bed with your younger brother.”
“In the countryside, this would get them drowned in a pig cage.”
Li Juhua quickly denied it. “No, impossible! My son and Xiaohong would never do something so disgraceful. There’s a misunderstanding!”
Tao Dazhuang quickly chimed in, “Yes, a misunderstanding!”
Li Juhua stepped forward to explain, but waves of foul odor hit again, forcing people to retreat.
Old Wang’s wife looked at the unknown substance on Li Juhua and covered her nose in disgust. “Li Juhua, is that… feces on you? Did you fall into a latrine?”
“It really is poop!”
“Ugh…” Someone gagged from the smell.
The crowd retreated in disgust.
“Hey, don’t leave, listen to me…” Li Juhua tried to stop them. She had to explain, or her daughter and younger brother’s reputations would be ruined.
But everyone avoided her like the plague, afraid of being touched, and in no time, they all fled.
Li Juhua’s face twisted in anger as she cursed the person who had thrown firecrackers into the latrine.
Once she found them, she would skin them alive!
“Waaah…” Tao Xiaohong cried loudly. “How will I face anyone in the future?”
Where did things go wrong?
Why did it end up like this?
Where was Qin Yanzhou?
…
Qin Yanzhou carried Mianbao back home. Seeing him holding her so roughly again, Xie Yulan slapped him immediately.
“You brat! Do you think Mianbao is a puppy?!”
Qin Yanzhou rubbed the back of his head and put Mianbao down on a stool.
“She might as well be—always following me around like she’s wagging a tail.”
The clever little Mianbao jumped off the stool, ran to Xie Yulan, and hugged her leg, rubbing against it.
“Grandma, Mianbao was wrong.”
Xie Yulan looked confused. “What? What did you do?”
Mianbao lifted her head, eyes red, voice soft.
“I didn’t go play with Brother Xiaohu. I secretly went to Sister Xiaohong’s house.”
Qin Yanzhou snorted and tried to scare her. “Don’t think admitting your mistake will save you. Kids who lie grow long noses.”
Mianbao quickly covered her nose in fear.
“I don’t want a long nose! Mianbao was wrong, really wrong!”
Xie Yulan slapped Qin Yanzhou again.
“You brat! If you scare her again, I’ll make you sleep on the street!”
Qin Yanzhou pouted. His mother’s doting on this little girl had already surpassed how she treated him when he was young.
Xie Yulan picked up Mianbao and patted her head.
“Don’t be afraid. Brave children who admit their mistakes won’t grow long noses.”
Mianbao blinked her big watery eyes. “Really?”
“Grandma wouldn’t lie to you.”
“Mhm!” Mianbao leaned on Xie Yulan’s shoulder. When she saw Qin Yanzhou, she secretly let out a sigh of relief, even feeling a little pleased.
She had helped Uncle avoid being framed by bad people!
That evening, when Qin Shanhai returned from work and entered the workers’ compound, Aunt Pang, who was picking vegetables at the gate, said to him:
“Director Qin, you’re back. Something happened again at the Tao family.”
Qin Shanhai stopped, frowning slightly. “What happened?”
“I heard they went to the hospital…”
Aunt Pang wanted to gossip more, but Qin Shanhai left as soon as she finished speaking.
“Hey, Director Qin…”
Qin Shanhai hurried home. Xie Yulan had already heard about it and was preparing to go to the hospital.
“I’ll go with you,” Qin Shanhai said.
On the way, Xie Yulan was very worried.
“Let’s hope Xiaohong didn’t do something foolish again.”
The last time Tao Xiaohong attempted suicide had frightened them enough.
Qin Yanzhou walked quickly, his brows tightly furrowed.
It was getting dark, and Xie Yulan didn’t feel comfortable leaving Mianbao alone at home, so she carried her along to the hospital.
After asking a nurse, the Qin family arrived at the ward.
The door was open. As they approached, they heard Li Juhua’s anxious voice from inside.
“Doctor, you must save my brother. He’s my only brother!”
“He just accidentally drank some sugar water and fainted.”
Qin Yanzhou, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped. The image of the sugar water Tao Xiaohong had prepared for him earlier flashed in his mind.
Xie Yulan looked at him in confusion and was about to speak, but Qin Shanhai pulled her slightly, and she fell silent.
The Tao family inside didn’t notice the Qin family standing outside.
The doctor frowned. “Are you sure he only drank sugar water?”
Tao Dazhuang’s eyes flickered.
Li Juhua didn’t care about anything else now. She just wanted to save her brother.
“Doctor… there was a little medicine mixed into the sugar water.”
“What medicine?”
Tao Dazhuang said, “The kind used for livestock in the countryside.”
The doctor snapped, “Nonsense! How can you give that to a person?!”
Livestock would collapse within seconds after taking it—let alone a human. No wonder he still hadn’t woken up.
The doctor continued, “How much did he take?”
Tao Dazhuang and Li Juhua both looked at Tao Xiaohong, who had been silent.
Tao Xiaohong’s swollen eyes were filled with resentment and hatred. Just thinking about lying in the same bed as Li Mushuan made her feel disgusted.
“Three spoonfuls.”
The doctor’s expression grew serious.
“He must have his stomach pumped immediately.”
Li Juhua’s legs went weak, and she staggered.
At that moment, Qin Yanzhou stepped forward and walked in.
The moment Tao Xiaohong saw him, overwhelming grievance surged up, mixed with a trace of resentment.
“Brother Yanzhou, where did you go?”
Qin Yanzhou looked at her deeply but said nothing.
That look made Tao Xiaohong feel uneasy, especially his silence—it unsettled her completely.
Could Qin Yanzhou have discovered something?
Xie Yulan glanced at Li Mushuan on the hospital bed.
“What happened here?”
The Tao family felt guilty and didn’t dare meet the Qin family’s eyes.
Just then, the doctor finished writing the bill and handed it to Li Juhua.
“Go pay the fees.”