“Uncle, Aunt, Brother Yanzhou, I’m sorry!”
Tao Xiaohong’s tears fell silently, making her look even more pitiful than if she had cried loudly.
This action made it impossible for Xie Yulan to vent her anger.
Tao Xiaohong said, “We didn’t mean to hide it from you, it’s just that…”
Li Juhua wiped her tears beside her, while Tao Dazhuang let out a heavy sigh.
Crying, Li Juhua slapped her thigh. “What a sin! My Xiaohong was a pure young girl, with a proper job and good looks. She could have had a good marriage, but all of it was ruined by that damned Li Minghui!”
Xie Yulan asked, “What do you mean?”
Qin Yanzhou reacted. “The child’s father is Li Minghui?”
Tao Xiaohong nodded, her tears falling even harder.
“I refused him, but he… he forced himself on me.”
After saying this, her whole body trembled as she cried even more.
Qin Yanzhou clenched his fists tightly, veins bulging from the force, anger surging to his head.
“I’ll go kill that bastard!”
Xie Yulan quickly grabbed him.
“Get back here!”
She was also furious, but she couldn’t let her son act recklessly.
Based on her understanding of him, he would risk his life for Tao Xiaojun’s family.
“Mom, let go of me.”
Qin Yanzhou tried to shake her off. In his rage, thinking of the brother who died for him, he couldn’t care about anything else.
Xie Yulan was no match for his strength. During the struggle, she was almost flung aside.
Seeing this, none of the Tao family stepped forward to stop him. Instead, a trace of excitement appeared in their eyes. This meant the Qin family still valued the life-saving favor—making their next steps more certain.
Qin Shanhai had gone to the factory early and wasn’t home. Mianbao, who had been hiding in the room, rushed out and hugged Qin Yanzhou’s long leg.
“Grandma, I’m helping you hold Uncle!”
Afraid that her son might accidentally fling Mianbao away in his anger, Xie Yulan quickly let go and instead grabbed Qin Yanzhou’s ear.
“Killing Li Minghui is the police’s job! If you kill him, you’ll be executed! Do you want Mianbao to grow up without a father?”
“Ah—ow, ow…” Qin Yanzhou’s ear felt like it was about to be torn off.
“I won’t go, I won’t go, alright?” he begged.
Only then did Xie Yulan release him. One hand on her waist, she poked his head in frustration.
“Don’t forget last time you fought Li Minghui—you almost got your eyes stabbed out. If not for Mianbao, you’d be blind now.”
Qin Yanzhou rubbed his ear, baring his teeth. “Got it, got it.”
He lifted the “leg accessory”—Mianbao—and placed her into Xie Yulan’s arms.
A flash of disappointment crossed Tao Xiaohong’s face. If Qin Yanzhou had gone to fight Li Minghui, it would have benefited her greatly.
Now, she could only proceed to the next step.
She urgently dropped to her knees and shuffled forward to Qin Yanzhou, clutching the corner of his clothes and looking up at him, pitiful and deeply concerned.
“Brother Yanzhou, don’t go looking for Li Minghui because of me. If anything happens to you, I’ll never feel at peace for the rest of my life.”
Qin Yanzhou clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking.
“It’s my fault. I failed Xiaojun—I didn’t protect you.”
He was filled with self-blame and guilt; even his breathing became heavy.
For a woman, losing her chastity was devastating. No wonder Tao Xiaohong had tried to kill herself. No wonder the Tao family wanted to hide it.
The bit of anger and dissatisfaction he had felt yesterday after realizing he was being schemed against vanished at this moment.
Qin Yanzhou only hated himself for not knowing earlier to prevent all of this.
Tao Xiaohong shook her head, tears falling like rain. “Brother Yanzhou, it’s not your fault. It’s me… I shouldn’t be alive in this world. I… I’ll take this sinful child in my belly and jump into the river right now.”
As she spoke, she scrambled up and rushed toward the door.
“Xiaohong!” Li Juhua dashed forward and grabbed her.
Tao Dazhuang also stepped in to pull her back.
“Xiaohong, you’re our only child left. If you’re gone, how can we live?”
“Your father just recovered from paralysis, and life is finally about to improve. You can’t let anything happen again!”
Li Juhua cried hysterically. At an angle unseen by Xie Yulan and Qin Yanzhou, she exchanged a glance with Tao Dazhuang. The next moment, she released Tao Xiaohong and turned to kneel before Qin Yanzhou.
“Yanzhou, Aunt begs you—marry Xiaohong. I can’t lose her!”
Qin Yanzhou hurried to help her up, but Li Juhua seized his hands emotionally and turned to shout, “Dazhuang, Dazhuang, come kneel to Yanzhou too!”
Qin Yanzhou’s expression changed slightly.
“Uncle, Aunt, don’t do this.”
Xie Yulan placed Mianbao somewhere safe and came over to help Li Juhua up.
“Sister-in-law, what are you doing? Li Minghui committed a crime and bullied Xiaohong. Let’s report it to the police together. If the evidence is solid, he’ll be executed.”
“We can’t report it!” Li Juhua shook her head. “Absolutely not! If we report it, everyone will know my Xiaohong was violated. She’ll be criticized for the rest of her life—how can she hold her head up again?”
Xie Yulan frowned. That was true. Forget whether Tao Xiaohong could marry in the future—even gossip alone could become a knife that kills.
“Get up first. Let’s sit and talk.”
Li Juhua shook her head. “Yanzhou, if you don’t agree to marry Xiaohong, I’ll keep kneeling here.”
Xie Yulan frowned deeply.
At this moment, Qin Shanhai returned, braving the cold wind. As soon as he entered, he saw Li Juhua kneeling.
“What’s going on?”
Xie Yulan, as if seeing a savior, quickly explained everything.
Qin Shanhai frowned tightly and looked at Tao Xiaohong.
“When did this happen?”
Tao Xiaohong wiped her tears, sobbing. “Tw-two months ago… on my way home from the night shift, Li Minghui stopped me and dragged me into an alley…”
Mianbao clenched her little fists.
Lies, lies—she’s lying!
It was this bad woman who had dragged that man into a dark alley herself. She wanted to marry him, but his mother opposed it.
After Tao Xiaohong finished speaking, Qin Shanhai pondered for a moment.
“This matter cannot be let go. Li Minghui must be reported to the police. But don’t worry, I’ll explain everything clearly and ask them to keep it confidential. The police will understand.”
As soon as he said this, the Tao family’s expressions changed.
Even after kneeling and begging like this, the Qin family still refused to let Qin Yanzhou marry Tao Xiaohong!
“Uncle, I…”
Qin Shanhai interrupted her. “Don’t worry. As long as I, Qin Shanhai, am here, no one will dare gossip about you.”
At this point, no matter how thick-skinned the Tao family was, they couldn’t continue forcing Qin Yanzhou to marry her.
“Factory Director Qin…” Li Juhua was unwilling to give up.
Qin Shanhai interrupted again, “After Li Mushuan had his stomach pumped, is he better? How did he suddenly take that kind of medicine?”