The silver needles needed to remain in Liu Yufang’s body for about half an hour. Taking advantage of that time, Yu Qiaoqiao glanced at the women who had been gossiping nonstop from the start—several of them were people who had clashed with the original host before.
Among them was Li Li’s mother, who had a particularly close relationship with Yu Shanshan. Back then, Li Li had often teamed up with Yu Shanshan to slander the original Yu Qiaoqiao behind her back.
Now that she was married, they still found ways to come out and humiliate her.
Yu Qiaoqiao strode straight up to Li Li’s mother. Although the woman was large and sturdy, dressed in shabby clothes, in an era where many couldn’t even get enough to eat, someone like her standing there only suggested she was lazy and fond of gossip.
“Aunt Li, right?” Yu Qiaoqiao said with a faint smile. “How exactly do you know which man I’ve been messing around with?”
Li Li’s mother glanced at her and sneered. “Look at you—so shameless. You used to chase after that educated youth Zhao so desperately. Now that he doesn’t want you anymore, you’ve even latched onto a cripple, throwing yourself at his bed. And you still dare say you didn’t do anything? Who would believe that?”
She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, full of disgust and contempt.
Yu Qiaoqiao smiled. “So you can tell I’m promiscuous just like that? From personal experience?”
The surrounding villagers covered their mouths and snickered.
Only then did Li Li’s mother realize she had been insulted. Her eyes widened. “You’re talking nonsense! I’m a proper woman—I’ve never done anything like that!”
Yu Qiaoqiao stepped closer and stared at her. Though her figure was slender, her gaze was sharp and unsettling.
“Then Aunt Li, do you know what illness Sister-in-law Gao has?”
Li Li’s mother froze. “How would I know? I’m not a doctor!”
“Exactly,” Yu Qiaoqiao said lightly. “If you’re not familiar with something, you shouldn’t speak so confidently.”
Her tone carried a faint meaning—so clear that the villagers around them quickly caught on. Their expressions toward Li Li’s mother changed subtly.
In the crowd, Zhao Lijie also looked at Yu Qiaoqiao differently. In his memory, she had always been a simple-minded fool who could only resort to fighting when she couldn’t argue, and usually ended up beaten.
But ever since that fall into the water, she had changed. Today, she had effortlessly shut Li Li’s mother down with just a few words—while making it impossible for her to refute, since the words had come from her own mouth.
Yu Shanshan glanced at Zhao Lijie. He was staring at Yu Qiaoqiao thoughtfully, as if evaluating something. Yu Shanshan’s eyes darkened with jealousy.
Meanwhile, the silver needles had been in place for quite some time. The crowd, as if suddenly very idle that day, refused to leave and continued murmuring.
“It’s been so long and there’s still no movement. She’s definitely gone.”
“Let’s see how she cleans this up later. If she kills someone, both the Yu family and the Qin family are finished.”
“Young people shouldn’t be so eager to show off.”
Hearing this, Li Li’s mother squeezed to the front, practically hoping Liu Yufang would be dead so she could watch Yu Qiaoqiao make a fool of herself. If she ended up killing someone, that would be a death penalty-worthy crime.
But before her smug expression could even settle, Liu Yufang suddenly coughed.
The supposedly hopeless patient actually moved.
The villagers were shocked—some even nearly screamed “she’s risen from the dead.”
Only Gao Chengbin’s eyes turned red. He rushed forward, grabbing his wife’s hand. “Yufang! Yufang, how are you?”
Yu Qiaoqiao couldn’t help but smile. Who said there was no love in this era? Even a simple, honest rural man would hold his wife’s hand with trembling relief when she was pulled back from the brink of death.
Liu Yufang slowly opened her eyes, still confused. “Chengbin… what happened to me?”
“You scared me to death,” Gao Chengbin said hoarsely. “You just suddenly fainted. I couldn’t wake you no matter how I called.”
Only then did Liu Yufang notice the crowd filling the room, all staring at her like she was some kind of spectacle.
Gao Chengbin wiped his eyes. Liu Yufang quickly understood she had just walked out of the gates of hell and forced a weak smile. “I’m fine now… don’t scare me like that.”
“It was all thanks to Qiaoqiao,” Gao Chengbin said. “She used acupuncture to save you.”
At that, everyone turned to look at Yu Qiaoqiao in unison, stunned that she actually had such skill.
A person who had clearly been on the verge of death had spoken again.
What difference was there between this and bringing someone back to life?
Some elderly villagers stared at Yu Qiaoqiao with suspicion, as if she might turn into some kind of monster and fly away at any moment.
Children ran off excitedly to exaggerate what they had seen, eager to tell others they had witnessed something like a “living miracle.”
As for Zhao Lijie and Yu Shanshan, their reactions were completely different—one showing admiration, the other deepening resentment.
The only reason for this shift was simple: Yu Qiaoqiao actually possessed real skill.
Li Li’s mother, who had been the loudest earlier, had already slipped away the moment Liu Yufang spoke. She muttered to herself bitterly—she had just been unlucky this time.
Yu Qiaoqiao didn’t care about the crowd’s reactions. She walked over to Liu Yufang. “Sister-in-law, are you still dizzy?”
“A little,” Liu Yufang replied politely.
Yu Qiaoqiao nodded and looked at Gao Chengbin. “Brother Gao, come back to my house with me. I’ll prescribe some herbal medicine. After a few days of treatment, she’ll recover.”
Since she had already been saved, Gao Chengbin had no reason not to trust her. After settling his wife, he followed Yu Qiaoqiao back toward the Qin house.
Yu Shanshan linked arms with Zhao Lijie and stared at their retreating figures, her expression darkening as she clenched her fists.
Something was very wrong with Yu Qiaoqiao.
She had once chased Zhao Lijie desperately, yet now she treated him like air. And she rarely left home—so where did she learn such medical skills?
Was it all just luck?
She tugged at Zhao Lijie’s arm. He didn’t respond. Looking up, she saw him still staring blankly in the direction Yu Qiaoqiao had left.
Suppressing her irritation, she said, “Lijie.”
Only then did Zhao Lijie come back to his senses. “What is it?”