Free Web NovelChapter 68: Chapter 68: Conviction and Settling Accounts
The people of Xinghua Village, who’d never understood the concept of propriety, had long since crowded the doorway. They weren’t scholars and none of them were nearsighted, so everyone saw everything clearly in an instant.
On Qin Shanshan’s bed, those spatters of blood weren’t just simple blood. Anyone with a bit of life experience knew what they were.
With a collective gasp, the villagers of Xinghua Village erupted into an uproar once again.
The petrified Qin Shanshan finally snapped out of it and let out a scream.
"No... It’s not... It’s not like that! My room wasn’t like this! It wasn’t like this when I left! It’s not... AHH!"
She stared at the bloodstains on the bed, her shrieks turning shrill as waves of darkness washed over her vision.
She wasn’t some naive little girl who understood nothing. On the contrary, she knew exactly what this meant. The sight of that "maiden’s blood" brought her to the brink of collapse.
Her scream finally jolted the stunned Tie Niu back to his senses. He slowly turned to Qin Shanshan, his gaze a look that could drive her mad. After a moment, he slowly let go of the hand supporting her and took a step back, then another.
"Tie Niu..." Qin Shanshan called out in a panic, turning back to the crowd to offer a frantic explanation.
"It’s not what it looks like! It’s really not! Please, don’t misunderstand! Su Li framed me! It was all Su Li who framed me!"
She shouted as she tried to move forward, but the villagers only retreated step by step, their eyes filled with shock and contempt.
"PTOOEY!" The widow who had previously kicked Su Li while she was down spat directly at Qin Shanshan.
A thick gob of saliva landed right on Qin Shanshan’s face.
"PTOOEY!"
One after another, the villagers spat. "And she calls herself a scholar! All that education went to the dogs!"
"Ptooey! I always said she was no good."
"So the rumors were true after all! Ptooey!"
"Seducing a married man... people like her should get the Chen Tang."
Qin Shanshan’s trembling hand touched the spittle. Staring at the thick, yellow phlegm on her fingers, she screamed, her taut nerves finally snapping.
"I told you I was framed! Why don’t you believe me?! That’s not mine! It’s not! I’m still a virgin! If you don’t believe me, come and check! Verify it right here, right now!"
With a crazed look on her face, Qin Shanshan shrieked, suddenly starting to tear at her own clothes before grabbing the village chief.
"Village Chief, you check! Come and check!"
The village chief’s face flushed crimson. Unable to bear it any longer, he raised his hand and slapped Qin Shanshan across the face. "Get lost!"
The slap sent Qin Shanshan sprawling to the ground, a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth. She lay there, looking up at Su Li, who stood off to the side, gazing down at her. "It was you. Su Li, you framed me!"
Then she turned to the villagers, pointing a finger at them. "And you! You all refuse to believe me! I... I’ll show you by dying! I’ll prove my innocence with my death, that should be enough!"
"You’re the ones driving me to my death! I won’t let you off! Even as a vengeful ghost, I’ll come back and get my revenge on you all!"
Screaming, Qin Shanshan scrambled to her feet and charged straight for a nearby pillar.
"Ah!" Amid a chorus of surprised shouts, a late-arriving Aunt Li rushed over with a speed she’d never shown before in her life.
"Don’t!" In the nick of time, Aunt Li threw herself in front of Qin Shanshan. "Caihua, if you die, what will your mother do?!"
She hugged Qin Shanshan, wailing, then dropped to her knees and began kowtowing to the crowd.
"I’m begging you, please spare Caihua! She’s a good kid! Village Chief, please, leave my Caihua a path to live!"
"Hmph." The village chief snorted, his face livid. "Qin Caihua is an unmarried girl. What happens to her is none of my business. If you’re going to beg, go beg the fool’s wife."
With that, the village chief turned and walked away.
The villagers pointed at Aunt Li and Qin Shanshan, cursing and spitting as they made their way toward the gate.
Before they could get out, the fool’s wife burst in like a gust of wind, shouting, "Who stole my fool... I’ll beat her to death!"
At the gathering just now, everyone else had left. The fool’s wife, having already eaten once, was so happy she had another serving.
She was so focused on eating that she didn’t go to watch the commotion. It was only when someone couldn’t stand it anymore that they went and told her.
Once she was full, the fool’s wife heard what was happening and, seeing red, charged right over.
She lunged at Qin Shanshan and started beating her, tearing at her clothes until the pale, tender skin underneath was exposed. Aunt Li tried to stop her, but she was no match.
The villagers who looked back at this scene said nothing, just watched with cold eyes.
The men’s gazes changed in an instant, staring at Qin Shanshan’s exposed skin with a mix of greed and contempt, before they were pulled away by their own wives.
The wails from the Qin Family’s courtyard didn’t fade for a long time. The incident with Qin Shanshan this time had blown up so spectacularly and so ugly. The blood on the clothes was irrefutable proof.
From that day on, Qin Shanshan’s reputation in Xinghua Village was utterly destroyed.
In her past life, Su Li had been the one to cry out to a deaf heaven and an unhearing earth. That despair, that hatred... Qin Shanshan had now experienced a taste of it...
Su Li’s eyes were cold and profound. She slipped out of the Qin Family’s gate with the crowd. Beside her, Tang Yuanxiao watched her the entire time, his gaze deep and lingering.
Once outside the Qin Family home, the villagers all stopped as if on cue. One by one, they turned to Su Li, their eyes filled with guilt.
The group stood on the road. No one spoke. They all looked toward the village chief. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
The village chief looked at Su Li, then at Tang Yuanxiao beside her, and forced a strained smile.
"Yuanxiao, Su Li, there was a misunderstanding before... Now that the truth is out, we..."
Su Li cut off the village chief’s attempt to smooth things over with a cold laugh.
"A misunderstanding? The truth is out? Village Chief, are you planning to get away with it by just tossing out the word ’misunderstanding’ like you did last time?"
Hearing this, Tang Yuanxiao’s brow furrowed. ’Like last time? Don’t tell me something like this has happened before.’
He whipped his head around to look at Mrs. Tang.
Since Su Li’s appearance, Mrs. Tang had gone back to cowering like a quail, not making a sound. When she saw Tang Yuanxiao look over, she flinched, her eyes darting away.
Of course, she had never told Tang Yuanxiao about the last "misunderstanding"—the time Su Li was accused of selling Little Tang Mo.
Since she hadn’t said anything, the other villagers certainly weren’t going to bring it up with Tang Yuanxiao for no reason. Thus, until this very moment, Tang Yuanxiao knew nothing about the previous incident.
Tang Yuanxiao stared into Mrs. Tang’s eyes, and his heart sank. He opened his mouth and asked, "What does she mean by ’last time’?"
He looked at Su Li, who shot him a mocking glance.
"The last incident? Has no one told you? You can ask the village chief. Ask Tie Niu. Ask everyone."
Su Li’s mocking gaze landed on the village chief. As luck would have it, Tie Niu was standing right next to him, and next to Tie Niu were several familiar-looking villagers.
These were the same few who had caused a scene at the Tang Family home last time, the ones who had falsely accused Su Li of selling Little Tang Mo.
Su Li looked at them one by one, her sneer deepening. "Good. Just wonderful. Xinghua Village... you’re all just wonderful."
"The blood and tears from last time have barely dried, and the promises you made are still ringing in my ears. But what about now? Look at what you’ve done!"
"I really thought that you all would stop being so prejudiced against me, that at the very least you wouldn’t just blindly follow the crowd. I never thought... Hah..."
