The situation made Mrs. He uneasy, so she hurriedly chased after her.
Su Miao ran extremely fast, screaming curses recklessly as she went.
“Su Ying! You wretched woman, come out here! You black-hearted villain, how could you harm me like this? You deliberately gave me clothes soaked with poisonous juice. How could there be such a malicious person like you in this world? Drop dead, just drop dead!”
Her sharp, piercing voice was impossible for the villagers to ignore. Everyone frowned and craned their necks to look outside.
Why is it the Su family again? What’s wrong with them this time?
After the incident this morning, everyone had learned that the Su family were not good people. With Su Miao running out and shouting like this, could it be that she was dissatisfied with her family’s grievances and wanted to confront Su Ying to beat and scold her?
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Who would have thought? The Su family’s hearts are as black as they come. They seized others’ property and now dare to brazenly bully the siblings. To stoop to such levels—truly unmatched.
Of course, this was merely everyone’s speculation. Soon, they noticed something was wrong.
Su Miao’s face was covered in dense red bumps, looking quite frightening. Moreover, she was clutching a piece of clothing, claiming outright that Su Ying had smeared it with poisonous juice.
Upon hearing this, the villagers couldn’t help but gasp in shock.
Could someone really be so vicious as to give poisoned clothes deliberately to ruin another’s face?
This was a serious matter. Everyone swarmed forward to see what was really going on.
If it truly was Su Ying’s doing, then she and her siblings didn’t deserve their sympathy. On the contrary, they’d think the Su family were all birds of a feather and should discuss with the village head about expelling them from Xiaoke Village as soon as possible.
The crowd followed Su Miao back to the old Su residence. Hearing the commotion outside, Su Ying couldn’t contain her excitement again.
It seemed the poisonous juice she had applied to the clothes had taken effect. If Su Miao had followed her advice and rubbed that inferior ointment on her face, it would have been even better.
But even without that, Su Miao coming to find her was moving enough.
She made as if to go out, but Su Juan stopped her, asking what she planned to do this time and what help she needed.
Su Ying smiled and told her just to speak the truth!
Su Juan raised her eyebrows, then confidently followed Su Ying outside.
“You wretched woman, I’ll kill you!”
The moment she saw Su Ying, Su Miao lunged at her like a ferocious ghost, her hands clawing viciously, intent on tearing Su Ying’s face. Fortunately, Su Juan was quick-eyed and swift-handed, kicking her away before she could reach Su Ying.
Su Miao stumbled and fell to the ground, foul language pouring uncontrollably from her mouth.
“You two troublemakers, it’s because of you that we’re cursed! That’s why I’m so unlucky. I’m going to the county magistrate to accuse you of using poisonous juice to ruin my face! My face was perfectly fine until I wore the clothes you gave me. These clothes have poisonous juice—this is the evidence!”
Su Ying raised an eyebrow, surprised that Su Miao had figured out about the poisonous juice on the clothes. But even if she had, so what?
She deliberately took two steps back, pouting as if deeply wronged, and explained,
“Cousin, what do you mean by this? Didn’t you snatch these clothes from me? How can you say I ruined your face? Are you sure you didn’t eat something bad or come into contact with something harmful?”
“What do you mean I snatched it from you? It was clearly you who gave it to me willingly with ulterior motives! You even claimed you bought it for me from Butterfly Clothing Shop!”
Su Miao knew she couldn’t admit in front of so many people that she had taken the dress by force, so she stubbornly insisted it had been a gift.
Su Ying curled her lips sadly, “Cousin, one must have a conscience. This dress is made of such expensive fabric—how could I possibly afford it? Even if I could, why would I give it away? You live in a grand house with everything you could ever want, while we three siblings have to count every coin just to put food on the table. Why would I give you such a valuable dress?”
“Even if we assume this precious dress wasn’t something you forcibly took from me because you fancied it, and even if I did give it to you, how could you have the heart to accept and wear it?”
Her words hit the mark. The crowd turned their eyes to Su Miao, finding it highly likely that she was lying.
What they usually witnessed was Mrs. He bringing supplies to assist the three siblings. Moreover, over the years, the three siblings had cultivated a reputation for being selfish, ill-mannered, and lacking proper upbringing—hardly the type to voluntarily give anything to the Su family.
Cornered, Su Miao’s eloquence erupted. She declared with conviction, “Hah! Stop playing the victim here. How could you not afford this dress? Our family has given you no less than several hundred taels, if not a thousand! It’s just a dress—why make yourselves out to be so pitiful?”
“Clearly, your face is ruined, and you can’t stand to see me doing well, so you deliberately bought this dress to give to me!”
Mrs. He, who had followed from a distance intending to pull Su Miao back, paused upon hearing this.
Her Miao’er was right. With these words, the crowd would surely think the Su family had treated the three siblings quite generously. Their reputation could still be salvaged, and they might even turn the tables to suppress Su Ying.
Su Ying collected herself and scoffed lightly, “No less than several hundred? Don’t talk nonsense. If you’re going to say that, please provide evidence!”
“Or why don’t you lead everyone to search our house? See if there’s anything valuable or any silver there. I dare declare today: if anyone can find silver in our home, they can keep it all!”
“Su Miao, since you think your family gave us so much silver, why don’t you take the lead and search? If you can find any, I’ll willingly confess my crimes at the county magistrate’s office. Come on!”
Su Miao hesitated, evasive. The story about her family giving them silver was entirely fabricated—there certainly wasn’t that much silver in their house, and a search would yield nothing.
Gritting her teeth, she glared fiercely at Su Ying. “I know you must have prepared in advance. The silver was surely moved elsewhere. We’d find nothing if we searched now. I just don’t understand—why are you trying to harm me? What grudge do you hold against me that you’d ruin my face?”
Su Juan could no longer stand by and stepped forward. “Su Miao, stop spouting nonsense. If you claim we moved the silver, then first show proof that you gave us any.”
“You say my second sister’s dress caused your face to be ruined? Hah! If you hadn’t insisted on snatching that dress from her that day, how could your face have been damaged? How dare you say such things after what happened?”
“Hmph! So you finally admit it was you who tampered with the clothes! Good, I’m going to report this to the authorities and sue you for harming me!”
Su Miao suppressed the urge to tear them apart, her eyes blazing with intense hatred.
Su Juan looked at her uncomprehendingly. “When did we ever admit to tampering with the clothes?”
“What? Didn’t you just say that if I hadn’t stolen your clothes, I wouldn’t have gotten disfigured? So you must have calculated that I would steal your clothes and tampered with them beforehand. How could clothes sold in a shop possibly be coated with poisonous juice!”
Su Miao had thrown caution to the wind. So what if she admitted to stealing? Their underhanded act of tampering with the clothes was far more despicable!
As long as she exposed their wicked deeds, it remained to be seen who would end up being shunned.
At that moment, Bai Lan stepped forward from the crowd.