Free Web NovelChapter 15: Chapter 15: A Tooth for a Tooth
"Tie Niu, what nonsense are you spouting! Who told you that?!" Qin Shanshan’s face twisted as she shrieked, looking utterly terrifying, but Tie Niu was too frantic to notice.
"Everyone’s saying it! Shanshan, just tell me who it was. I’ll go kill them and get revenge for you!" Tie Niu was a sturdy, simple, and impulsive young man. Like many of the other young men in the village, he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but he had a devoted heart and was burning with rage, desperate to avenge the girl he loved.
A fit of rage overcame Qin Shanshan. Her face went livid as she grabbed Tie Niu’s arm, her nails digging deep into his flesh. "What do you mean ’everyone’s saying it’? Don’t tell me the entire village is talking about it! What did they say?"
Tie Niu’s arm hurt, but his heart ached even more. His eyes red, he replied, "The whole village is talking. They’re saying you were... defiled... and that you got rid of a child. I heard it and just ran over here in a rage. On the way, I heard someone else say you’re having an affair with a married man..."
He couldn’t go on. Trembling, he asked Qin Shanshan, "Shanshan, is what they’re saying true? Did you..."
A piercing shriek from Qin Shanshan cut him off.
"Shut up! Just shut up!" Qin Shanshan screamed in fury. "Who’s spreading these lies?! I’ll kill them!"
"Shanshan, calm down, please calm down..." Tie Niu’s heart ached for her. He gently patted her arm, completely oblivious to the fact that her nails had broken his skin and drawn blood.
"How can I calm down? Did you hear what they said? Who is trying to frame me, to slander me like this? I’m going to kill them!" Qin Shanshan growled.
Hearing this, Tie Niu’s expression brightened. He quickly sought confirmation. "Shanshan, does that mean it’s all just rumors? You weren’t defiled, you’re not having an affair with a married man, and you never got rid of a child?"
"Of course not! Where on earth did you hear that?" Qin Shanshan suddenly paused, her eyes widening. "Wait. It must be them. It has to be Su Li! Su Li is trying to destroy me!"
Qin Shanshan spat the words out through gritted teeth. Her eyes instantly reddened, her face contorting as if she wanted to devour Su Li’s flesh. "Su Li! Su Li!"
Her conversation with Su Li at the Tang Family’s home yesterday replayed in her mind. She recalled Su Li’s words, remembered those illiterate wives who had been with them, and it all clicked into place. ’They must have set me up! They must have gossiped until the entire village found out!’
’Su Li is trying to kill me!’ Qin Shanshan’s face filled with murderous intent as she looked at Tie Niu. "Tell me exactly what they’ve been saying about me."
With her face twisted in that ugly, terrifying way, Qin Shanshan looked like a complete stranger to Tie Niu. He furrowed his brow and repeated the rumors he’d heard, then hesitated before speaking again. "The ones saying all this are the village gossips, not Su Li. You..."
Tie Niu was very hesitant, clearly unwilling to let her pin the blame on Su Li.
The memory of that night when he wrongly accused Su Li of selling Tang Mo—the look on her face, the questions she had hurled at him—was still crystal clear in his mind. He even dreamed about it, waking up each time drenched in a cold sweat.
Tie Niu’s feelings about Su Li were too complicated; he didn’t want to see her be misunderstood.
"What do you know? It was her! She’s the one who did this to me!" Qin Shanshan couldn’t stand that Tie Niu was actually defending Su Li, and she cut him off with a shriek.
"Shanshan, weren’t you and Su Li good friends before? Like sisters? What happened..." Tie Niu was getting anxious, too. He just couldn’t wrap his head around it.
Qin Shanshan’s face froze for a moment, then twisted again. "I wanted to be good sisters with her, but look at what she’s doing to me now! She wants me dead! Saying I was defiled, that I’m sleeping with a married man, that I had an abortion..."
"How can I possibly go on living with a reputation like that? She’s trying to drive me to my death! I’m going to kill her!" Her voice grew louder and louder until the last sentence was a piercing shriek. She was incandescent with rage, completely forgetting how she had treated Su Li just the day before.
Tie Niu was frantic. He urged her to be quieter, but she wouldn’t listen. Finally, having no other choice, he clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Don’t shout! Shanshan, don’t! Right now, people are just talking in private. If you shout like this and draw a crowd, it’ll only make things worse."
Qin Shanshan was about to explode with anger. There was no way she could calm down. She struggled against him, panting heavily with red-rimmed eyes, muffled sobs escaping from behind his hand. freēwēbnovel.com
In that moment, she bore a striking resemblance to the Su Li of her past life—filled with a rage she couldn’t vent, a truth no one would believe.
The hatred, the resentment, the fury that Su Li had felt in that past life—Qin Shanshan was finally getting a taste of it.
Qin Shanshan’s first instinct was that Su Li was out to get her. In that, she wasn’t wrong.
This was, of course, Su Li’s doing. She had orchestrated the whole affair.
While Qin Shanshan was fanning the flames and trying to frame her in the village, Su Li hadn’t been idle. She had been quietly plotting her counterattack.
Whatever Qin Shanshan tried to do to her, she would return in kind. A taste of her own medicine.
While the rumors about Su Li lying to save face were spreading openly, the stories about Qin Shanshan being defiled were circulating even faster in private.
Qin Shanshan had been guiding people, both openly and covertly, to speak ill of Su Li. She was smugly convinced she was in control of the situation, completely unaware that she herself had become the biggest joke in the village.
She hadn’t noticed the furtive glances, nor did she know that overnight, even more outrageous and sordid versions of the rumors had already spread throughout the entire village.
The subject of a rumor is always the last to find out, and this time was no different for Qin Shanshan.
Su Li’s counterattack was a resounding slap in the face. But this... this was only the beginning.
In their past life, Qin Shanshan had ruined Su Li’s entire life with nothing but words, branding her with the crimes of selling her child and adultery, and damning her to an eternal hell. In this life, Su Li was simply letting Qin Shanshan have a little taste of that same medicine.
It was not a pleasant taste. Qin Shanshan struggled desperately, tears of pure hatred streaming down her face.
Tie Niu was in a panic. He could only hold her tighter and press his hand more firmly over her mouth. In doing so, it was inevitable that hands and bodies would touch in ways they shouldn’t.
No matter how slow on the uptake Tie Niu was, he was still a man, and a virile young one at that. At some point, the atmosphere began to shift. fгeewebnovёl.com
By the time Qin Shanshan realized what was happening, she was pinned tightly in Tie Niu’s arms, her mouth covered, her body pressed against his hot, hard frame.
Tie Niu’s ragged breaths were right beside her ear. The smell of his sweat filled her nostrils, and she froze, starting to tremble.
She was afraid.
’There’s no one else home. I’m all alone. If Tie Niu loses control, what will I do?’
She tried to tell Tie Niu to let her go, but only muffled sounds came out. Tie Niu was breathing raggedly, his face bright red. His senses had completely taken over, and he was on the verge of losing control.
"Shanshan, I’m crazy about you. Marry me..." he said, his eyes now bloodshot, and bit down on her fair, tender neck.
A jolt went through Qin Shanshan, and she bit down hard on the hand covering her mouth.
Tie Niu cried out, his senses returning for a split second. But before he could react, he heard footsteps outside the door.
Both of them jolted and sprang apart, but it was too late.
A person passing by the Qin Family’s doorway had already caught a fleeting glimpse of them.
Neither Qin Shanshan nor Tie Niu got a clear look at who it was. They only saw a figure flash past the doorway, and then the footsteps paused for a moment.
Qin Shanshan and Tie Niu held their breath, only daring to breathe again once the footsteps faded into the distance.
"Get out. Get the hell out of here! If a word of this gets out, you can just go drop dead!" Qin Shanshan’s gaze was pure poison as she glared at Tie Niu.
Tie Niu was stunned. He stammered, "Shanshan, if any rumors do get out, I’ll take responsibility. I’m willing to marry you..."
"Get out! GET OUT!"
A low growl from Qin Shanshan cut him off. Tie Niu’s face was rigid as he fled.
’Su Li, you bitch! How dare you do this to me! I want you dead! Dead!’ Listening to the lively laughter coming from next door, Qin Shanshan dug her nails deep into her palms, swearing through gritted teeth.
But no matter how much hatred consumed her, the Tang Family next door remained completely unaffected. Li Hongqin’s loud, cheerful laughter continued to ring out.
