Old Master Huo’s heart jolted, a sharp gleam flashing in his clouded, aged eyes.
“The incense has a problem?”
Qin Yao’s cool gaze swept across the room, finally settling on the incense burner where the ashes had burned out, her tone resolute.
“Yes, something was added to that incense. It can make people drowsy, even…”
Qin Yao didn’t finish the sentence, but everyone present understood.
It was a potent aphrodisiac capable of clouding one’s mind!
Old Master Huo gasped in fury, his dragon-head walking stick striking the ground with a heavy thud!
“Well! What a fine job by the Qin family’s second branch!”
“This is no longer just a simple bride-swapping—this is premeditated harm!”
Huo’s mother, Yang Sujuan, was so enraged her face turned pale, leaning on her husband’s arm to keep from collapsing.
The Huo family was a military lineage, with a strict and upright family tradition!
To think such despicable tricks had been played in the bridal chamber—if word got out, how could the Huo family ever hold their heads high again!
Upon hearing his daughter’s words, Qin Guoqiang’s eyes nearly burst with rage.
The overwhelming fury he had just suppressed erupted once more from his chest!
“Beasts! Absolute beasts!”
He spun around abruptly, the thick carrying pole in his hand creaking under his grip.
“Let’s go! I’m going to smash their house right now!”
“Dad!”
Qin Yao stepped forward, firmly grasping her father’s enraged wrist.
Qin Guoqiang turned back, meeting his daughter’s clear and calm eyes. Strangely, the frenzy in his heart eased slightly.
“Yao Yao…”
“Dad, don’t act rashly.”
Qin Yao’s voice remained soft, yet it carried a soothing power.
“Fighting won’t solve the root of the problem, and it’ll only turn us from being in the right to being in the wrong.”
She paused, lifting her gaze toward the courtyard gate, her eyes cold as ice.
“We’re going over now not to fight, but to reclaim justice.”
“To catch the thief with the stolen goods. The real show is yet to come.”
Qin Guoqiang stared at his daughter’s composed demeanor, stunned for a moment before finally nodding with a grim expression.
He threw the carrying pole to the ground and growled at his equally furious sons behind him.
“Let’s go!”
The group stormed toward the Qin family’s second branch with fierce determination.
Huo Yuxuan followed behind in the black sedan, its wheels churning up clouds of dust along the way.
The entire village was startled by the commotion, with heads peeking out from every household, pointing and whispering with curious eyes.
Qin Guoqiang and his group soon arrived at the courtyard of the Qin family’s second branch.
The gate was half-open, still decorated with lanterns and streamers, though the festive atmosphere had been replaced by an eerie silence.
The pork ribs in the large iron pot had long been left unattended, bubbling away as steam rose. The aroma of meat mingled with the scent of gunpowder and a faint, putrid odor, saturating the air and making it cloying.
“Qin Li! Lin Fen!”
Qin Guoqiang roared, kicking open the loosely shut courtyard gate!
“Get out here, you bastards!”
The shout shook the entire courtyard.
The Qin family’s second branch couple, Qin Li and Lin Fen, who had been whispering inside, shot out of the house like cats with their tails stepped on.
The moment Lin Fen saw Qin Guoqiang and Wang Xiulan, her eyes immediately darted away.
“Oh my, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, what’s all this about? Why so fierce?”
She spoke, forcing a stiff smile onto her face.
But when she saw Qin Yao following behind, that smile instantly froze on her face, her eyes revealing clear panic and a trace of shame-turned-anger.
“You… what are you doing here?”
Qin Yao coldly stared at this second aunt who had once greeted her with smiles, not uttering a single word.
Seeing Lin Fen’s shameless, unrepentant face, how could Wang Xiulan hold back any longer!
She let go of Qin Yao’s hand, rushed forward in a single stride, and began pointing at Lin Fen’s nose as she cursed.
“You shameless wretch! Tricking my Yao Yao into taking the fall for your barren daughter, and you dare ask me what I’m doing here?”
“Let me tell you, if we don’t get an explanation for what happened to my Yao Yao today, I, Wang Xiulan, will never let this go!”
Lin Fen’s face flushed red then pale as she was cursed. She turned to look at her husband Qin Li beside her, giving him a meaningful glance.
Qin Li, receiving the signal, immediately straightened his back, putting on the posture of a victim.
“Sister-in-law, how can you speak like that!”
“Our Hongmei has been close to Yao Yao since childhood, treating her like a real sister.”
“Asking her to marry in Hongmei’s place was just finding her a good future. What kind of family is the Huo family? City military officers, a lifetime of comfort!”
“Your Yao Yao marrying into that family is practically climbing the social ladder. You should be thanking us!”
His voice grew louder as he spoke, full of self-righteousness, as if he were the one who had been wronged.
These words made the surrounding villagers unable to listen any longer, whispering among themselves.
“The Qin family’s second branch really has no shame left!”
“That’s right, harming a girl like that and still calling it a comfortable life!”
“Whose idea of comfort involves drugging someone to take another’s place in marriage? Their hearts must be black!”
Wang Xiulan trembled with rage, her pointing hand shaking.
“You son of a bitch, still talking about comfort? You drugged my Yao Yao and handed her over to some shady character—that’s what you call comfort?”
“My Yao Yao’s innocence, my Yao Yao’s reputation, all ruined by you, and you still have the nerve to stand here making sarcastic remarks!”
As she spoke, she could no longer contain herself, taking off the cloth shoe on her foot, poised to slap Lin Fen across the face.
“Today, I’m going to tear that filthy mouth of yours apart!”
Qin Guoqiang was also so angry he saw black. He grabbed a carrying pole from the ground and began swinging it wildly at Qin Li.
“I’ll teach you to talk nonsense! I’ll teach you to spout lies!”
“See if I don’t beat you to death, you scoundrel!”
Qin Li, terrified, covered his head and scurried around, dodging left and right in the courtyard.
Lin Fen let out a shriek and hid behind Qin Li.
“Murder! Murder! The Qin family’s eldest branch is trying to kill someone!”
The courtyard instantly descended into chaos.
Several of Qin Yao’s brothers also joined the fray, cursing furiously at Qin Li and Lin Fen, wishing they could tear them apart.
Just as Wang Xiulan’s cloth shoe was about to land on Lin Fen’s face, Qin Yao stepped forward and firmly grasped her mother’s wrist.
Her strength wasn’t great, but that resolute force made Wang Xiulan’s movement abruptly halt.
“Mom, don’t dirty your hands.”
Qin Yao’s voice was as cold as a demon crawling out from hell, sending chills down the spines of everyone present.
She looked at Lin Fen and Qin Li before her, her eyes devoid of even a trace of warmth.
“People like them aren’t worth you lifting a finger.”
Lin Fen was thoroughly unnerved by Qin Yao’s gaze, shivering as she stubbornly retorted, “What… what do you mean? Are you trying to do something to me?”
A cold, almost cruel smile curled at the corner of Qin Yao’s lips, devoid of any warmth and tinged with a bloodthirsty chill.
“You’ve schemed quite cleverly, haven’t you? Drugging me, sending me off in a bridal sedan, then pinning the blame on Huo Jingshen, so you two can fly off together and live like an immortal couple from now on, is that it?”
“What a pity—man proposes, but heaven disposes.”
She raised a finger and lightly traced a circle in the air.
“You thought it would be that simple, that I’d swallow the injustice and suffer in silence, didn’t you?”
Qin Li and Lin Fen were terrified by Qin Yao’s words, their hearts pounding. They never imagined she would know everything so clearly.
Qin Li forced himself to speak up, “What nonsense are you spouting! What drugging? Don’t you dare slander us!”
“That’s right, Yao Yao, are you out of your mind? Stop making wild accusations!” Lin Fen quickly chimed in.
Ignoring their excuses, Qin Yao swept her gaze over the surrounding villagers before returning it to Qin Li and Lin Fen.
Her voice, though not loud, carried an undeniable authority.
“You want to know why I’m here?”
“I’m here to make you taste the consequences of your own actions.”
“As for evidence…”
Qin Yao let out a light laugh, though her eyes remained cold.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make you ‘confess’ everything—clearly and in detail.”
“Retribution may be delayed, but it never fails!”
At her words, Qin Li and Lin Fen instantly turned deathly pale.
Qin Guoqiang and Wang Xiulan were also stunned by Qin Yao’s declaration, staring at their daughter with shock and concern.
They had never seen such a fierce Qin Yao—this was nothing like their soft, obedient little girl.
Just as Qin Li and Lin Fen, trembling with fear, were about to offer more excuses—
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
A series of urgent knocks suddenly echoed from outside the courtyard.
Immediately after, came the sound of chaotic footsteps and angry shouts, mixed with furious roars.
“Qin Hongmei! You shameless wretch! Get out here!”