“This morning, Lin Ni suddenly came to my dormitory to find me. She told me there was work to be done at Lin Zhaoyang’s new house and that they needed a strong man to help. She personally told me that Lin Zhaoyang wanted her cousin-in-law—that is, me—to come help.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Lin Zhaoyang shouted, trying to keep her voice down. “What kind of relationship do I have with Lin Ni? If I needed help, I’d sooner ask a stray dog than either of you!”
“She had the key to your house.” Zou Zhengting frowned at Lin Zhaoyang. “So I assumed your family had made peace with their side of the family for the sake of your upcoming marriage.”
It was precisely because Lin Ni could produce the key to Lin Zhaoyang’s new house that Zou Zhengting had followed her there.
It was true that he had wanted to see Lin Zhaoyang every day and every night over the past two years.
But he also knew they had no future together. He knew she was engaged and about to get married.
How could he possibly do something that would ruin her reputation or disrupt her life?
Yet when he saw the key in Lin Ni’s hand, he genuinely believed Lin Zhaoyang needed help.
Still, Zou Zhengting didn’t blame Lin Zhaoyang for yelling at him.
He admitted that today, he had selfishly taken the opportunity to see her.
“Lin Ni had the key to Lin Zhaoyang’s house, so I believed her and came with her.”
The moment Aunt Chen heard that, she slapped her thigh.
“There! I knew it! That girl Lin Ni lies through her teeth and tricks everyone she meets. I’ve been saying since she was little that she was like this, but nobody in the alley believed me!”
“No one asked you to speak,” Lin Rende snapped at Aunt Chen.
Naturally, Aunt Chen refused to back down and was about to continue, but Zou Zhengting spoke first.
“When we arrived, Lin Zhaoyang wasn’t here. But there were two cups of tea on the table.”
“Lin Ni told me that Lin Zhaoyang had poured them to welcome us. She picked up one cup herself and drank it, leaving the other for me.”
Lin Xinhua exploded.
“My sister served you tea? More like she’d serve you herbicide!”
Zou Zhengting glanced at Lin Zhaoyang.
If she had personally handed it to him, he’d drink poison as if it were sweet syrup.
“Not long after I finished the tea, I started feeling unwell.”
“I felt unbearably hot… restless… and my head became a little foggy.”
He looked around at everyone.
“Everyone here is an adult. Lin Xinhua is the only younger guy, but he’s old enough to understand, so I’ll be blunt.”
“The way I felt after drinking that tea…”
“…was overwhelming sexual desire.”
He glanced at Lin Ni.
“She said I was probably suffering from heatstroke and told me to lie down in the guest room.”
“She sent me to the guest room, then said Lin Zhaoyang had probably gone out shopping and might need help carrying things.”
“So she said she’d go find Lin Zhaoyang and left.”
Zou Zhengting walked into the living room, picked up the teapot, and shook it.
“There’s still a tiny bit of tea left.”
“Probably enough for two or three drops.”
“If anything was mixed into this tea, I’ll have a friend test it.”
“So if you drank the tea, why weren’t either you or Lin Zhaoyang here?” Aunt Chen asked, convinced there had to be more to the story.
“When Lin Ni and I arrived, Lin Zhaoyang was already gone.”
“After Lin Ni left, I felt worse and worse.”
“I figured I couldn’t help much by staying here, so I decided to go to the hospital to buy some medicine and left as well.”
The truth, of course, was that he couldn’t bear to waste this rare chance to see Lin Zhaoyang.
He hadn’t left.
He had gone into the guest room instead.
Seeing everyone turn toward Lin Zhaoyang, Zou Zhengting continued,
“She also felt unwell and thought she’d gotten sick, so she called her parents.”
Lin Daheng and Wang Fenglan exchanged a glance and immediately nodded.
“That’s right. We got her phone call at the factory and rushed over after taking leave.”
Zou Zhengting smiled.
That neatly completed the story.
“So, Lin Ni.”
He deliberately enunciated her name before letting out a mocking laugh.
“You slept with Lin Zhaoyang’s fiancé behind her back.”
“You stole the key to her new house.”
“You drugged the tea in her home.”
“Then you tricked me into coming over and specifically arranged for me to rest in the guest room.”
“When you told me to lie down there, you must have believed Lin Zhaoyang had already drunk the tea and fallen asleep inside.”
“You probably got Yang Wen’s key early, came here ahead of time, and hid somewhere.”
“You watched Lin Zhaoyang drink the tea.”
“You probably even watched her enter the guest room.”
“When you left, she was still in there, so you assumed she’d remain there.”
“You deliberately left me alone in the room.”
“Then you pretended to go look for Lin Zhaoyang while secretly gathering all the neighbors and the Lin family relatives.”
“Lin Ni…”
“You’ve got quite a scheme.”
“What?”
“Were you planning to bring everyone here to catch us in bed?”
Aunt Chen clapped her hands.
“Exactly!”
“She brought us here to catch them!”
“After leading us inside, she ran straight toward that guest room while shouting both of their names!”
Normally, Lin Zhaoyang found Aunt Chen’s gossiping incredibly annoying.
But at this moment…
She found it rather lovable.
Pretending she had only just realized the truth, Lin Zhaoyang rushed toward Lin Ni and slapped her several more times.
She wasn’t all that heartbroken.
There was no point grieving over a man who wasn’t worth it.
But she was furious.
More than anything, she wanted to make up for the slaps she’d owed Lin Ni since last time.
“Lin Ni, you’re a beast!”
“You slept with Yang Wen and stole my fiancé!”
“And that still wasn’t enough—you wanted to frame me and Zou Zhengting too!”
“How can someone have such a vicious heart?”
“You wanted to ruin me!”
“You wanted to drive me to my death!”
Lin Zhaoyang cried so bitterly it sounded as though her heart were breaking.
“What did I ever do to you?”
“Why do you keep coming after me like this?”
“You steal my fiancé…”
“And now you even want my life!”
Holding her daughter, Wang Fenglan cried along with her.
“Mother…”
“My dear mother-in-law…”
“Can you really rest in peace?”
“Look at how Lin Ni is bullying your own granddaughter!”
“My dear mother-in-law…”
“Why did you have to leave us so soon?”
“If anything happens to your granddaughter, our whole family of four will come down and join you.”
“We’ll all be reunited underground.”
Although Wang Fenglan was calling out to her late mother-in-law, the words were clearly aimed at Lin Rende, who stood silently nearby.
“Grandpa Lin.”
Zou Zhengting’s face darkened.
“How are you going to explain this one?”
“Lin Ni had an affair with Yang Wen.”
“Then she tried to ruin my reputation as well.”
“Does your Lin family really think I’m someone you can bully again and again?”
Curled up in Yang Wen’s arms, Lin Ni didn’t dare say a word.
She had no defense.
She had stolen Yang Wen’s key.
She had summoned all the relatives and neighbors.
That alone matched Zou Zhengting’s version of events perfectly.
“I’m not as evil as you’re making me out to be,” Lin Ni cried.
“I just wanted to give Zou Zhengting back to Zhaoyang.”
“I didn’t study much.”
“I’m not very smart.”
“This was the only way I could think of to make all four of us happy.”
She tearfully questioned Zou Zhengting.
“Can you honestly say you’ve stopped loving Lin Zhaoyang these past two years?”
“Can you honestly say you haven’t still been thinking about her?”
“What the hell does that have to do with you?” Zou Zhengting raised an eyebrow.
“I keep the woman I love in my heart.”
“I’m not like you.”
“You coveted your own cousin’s fiancé so much that you ended up in bed with him.”
“Waaah…”
“I only thought you still loved Zhaoyang, so I wanted to help you.”
“The people I invited were all family relatives and neighbors we’ve known for years.”
“Even if something had happened today, nobody would have spread it around.”
“I never wanted to drive anyone to death.”
“I just wanted all four of us to be happy.”
She shook Yang Wen’s arm.
“Brother Wen…”
“Believe me, okay?”
“I’m just stupid.”
“I couldn’t even do one good thing properly.”
“I only wanted all four of us to end up happy.”
Aunt Chen pulled a face of exaggerated disgust.
“Yang Wen, don’t tell me you actually believe her just because she’s crying?”
“Everyone in our alley knows my mouth is louder than a loudspeaker.”
“If there’s gossip, I’ll spread it across ten streets.”
“I’m retired now with nothing to do.”
“My favorite pastime is chatting with people.”
“And today?”
“Lin Ni came to me first.”
She glared at Lin Ni.
“You’re rotten to the core!”
“You wanted to force Lin Zhaoyang to her death!”