This inverted, black-and-white accusation was extremely inflammatory. The guests already held Lin Feng, this suddenly emerged "country bumpkin," in utter contempt, and hearing Cao Quan put it this way, they all wore expressions of sudden realization and anger.
"So that's how it is! No wonder they started making trouble the moment they arrived!"
"How vicious! Since they couldn't get it themselves, they wanted to ruin everyone else's chances!"
"Why would the Qiao family let such people in? Where are the security guards?"
Just as the crowd was burning with righteous indignation and preparing to drive Lin Feng and Qin Ruyan out together, a spiteful voice came from the back of the crowd.
"Qin Ruyan! You bitch, how do you still have the face to come here?!"
The crowd parted to reveal Qin Kun, who, surrounded by a group of sycophantic friends, strode forward.
His calf, which should have been snapped in two by Lin Feng's kick, was now completely intact, though his walk still carried an imperceptible stiffness.
As soon as he appeared, he pointed the spearhead straight at his cousin, his face full of hatred: "You cheap slut, finding some lunatic for a man, and offending Young Master Qiao San wasn't enough? Now you want to drag our entire Qin family down to be buried with you?"
"Do you think we haven't suffered enough because of you?!"
Internal family conflicts are always more eye-catching than external attacks.
The guests' gazes flickered back and forth between Qin Ruyan and Qin Kun, filled with the amused anticipation of watching a good show.
Qin Ruyan's face was pale, her whole body trembling with rage. She never imagined that her own flesh and blood would use such vicious words to attack her on an occasion like this!
Before she could retort, an even more majestic and icy voice, like the evening drum and morning bell, rang out through the hall.
"Wretch! Is making a fool of yourself still not enough?!" Head of the Qin family, Qin Kuang, leaning on a dragon-headed cane and accompanied by several core family members, walked over with a face as dark as iron.
Wherever he passed, the guests respectfully cleared a path.
Without even glancing at Cao Quan on the ground or Song Zizhou to the side, his hawk-like, piercing gaze nailed itself firmly onto Qin Ruyan, and the cane in his hand heavily thumped the ground, emitting a muffled thud.
"Qin Ruyan! I'll give you one last chance!"
Qin Kuang's voice carried not a shred of emotion, freezing cold like millennial glacier ice: "Now, immediately, right this instant! Take this reckless thing beside you and get the hell out of Qiao Family Manor!"
"Otherwise, from this moment on, you are no longer a member of the Qin family! And our Qin family will never acknowledge a shameless descendant like you who drags the family down!"
Expulsion from the family! These four words weighed down on Qin Ruyan like four massive mountains.
Her delicate frame trembled, and she could barely stand steady. She looked at the grandfather who had cherished her most since childhood, who now looked at her as if she were garbage, and a boundless sense of desolation and grievance surged in her heart.
Yet, when her gaze brushed against the calm and deep profile of the man beside her, an inexplicable courage rose from the bottom of her heart.
She could not retreat! If she retreated, she would truly have nothing left!
Qin Ruyan took a deep breath, straightened her back, and met Qin Kuang's majestic gaze. Though her voice trembled slightly, it was exceptionally firm:
"Grandfather! Isn't it a bit too early to jump to conclusions? The banquet isn't over yet, and Miss Qiao Yuejian hasn't made her final choice! What gives you the right to determine that we will definitely fail? What if we succeed?"
"Succeed? Hahahaha!" Qin Kun laughed wildly, clutching his stomach as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, tears nearly spilling from his eyes.
"Qin Ruyan, did you sleep your brain away? What kind of pipe dreams are you still dreaming?"
He abruptly choked off his laughter, a cruel and smug expression crossing his face as he threw out a heaven-shaking bombshell to all the guests present!
"I'm afraid you all don't know yet? Just yesterday afternoon, at our Qin Family Old Residence! This person right in front of you, Qin Ruyan's 'good husband'!" He articulated each word clearly, raising his voice to its highest pitch.
"He almost choked Qiao family's third young master, Qiao Yu, to death right in front of all of us!"
Boom!
This news was more explosive than everything that came before it! The entire banquet hall instantly plunged into a dead silence!
Everyone was shocked numb by this news! Almost choked Qiao Yu to death? On the Qiao family's own turf, he almost choked the master of the Qiao family to death?
What kind of madness was this? How utterly suicidal! This was no longer a simple offense; this was an irreconcilable, mortal feud!
It was over! The Qin family was completely finished! And Qin Ruyan was utterly ruined as well!
The gazes that all the guests cast at Lin Feng and Qin Ruyan were no longer filled with contempt and mockery, but pity—looking at them as if they were two corpses about to be ground to dust.
Qin Kuang was shaking with rage, his complexion turning from iron-blue to dark purple. He pointed at Qin Ruyan, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.
Amidst everyone's shocked, pitiful, and gloating gazes, Lin Feng, who had remained silent all this time, finally moved.
He slowly turned around, casting his gaze toward the wildly arrogant Qin Kun, the corners of his mouth curving into an icy arc.
"Your leg," Lin Feng's voice was very soft, yet it clearly traveled across the entire venue.
"Seems to be itching again."
Qin Kun's laughter cut off abruptly, as if his throat had been gripped by an invisible hand. He took an involuntary step back, as though he could feel the excruciating pain of broken bones all over again, a trace of fear flashing in his eyes.
Lin Feng ignored him further, sweeping his gaze across the members of the Qin family before finally letting it land on Qin Kuang, who was so angry he was nearly fainting. With a calm tone, he said, "Remember what you all said today, and remember your faces right now."
"In a moment, once Ruyan and Miss Qiao successfully secure their partnership, you'd better not shamelessly crawl over and beg her."
After a brief, dead silence, the entire hall erupted into boisterous laughter!
"Hahahaha! Did I hear that right? He's actually still thinking about a partnership?"
"Is this guy out of his mind?! He offends the Qiao family to death, and still wants to partner with them?"
"His brain was kicked by a donkey! Absolutely!"
Cao Quan also scrambled up from the ground, clutching his face swollen into a pig's head, and pointed at Lin Feng, laughing breathlessly:
"Lin Feng, oh Lin Feng, how come I never realized you were so good at bragging before? Who do you think you are? The King of Heaven? You're going to make the Qin family beg you? Do you even deserve it?"
Lin Feng's gaze slowly shifted to him, his eyes instantly turning deep and unfathomable: "Cao Quan, I've always been curious about one thing."
"What thing?" Cao Quan asked reflexively.
"We haven't had any contact since college graduation. Why have you harbored such deep hostility toward me the moment we met?" Lin Feng's voice was calm, yet it acted like a surgeon's scalpel, precisely dissecting the darkest corner of Cao Quan's heart.
"That car accident three years ago—do you happen to know something?"
The smile on Cao Quan's face instantly froze! His pupils shrank violently, and the depths of his eyes flashed with an unmaskables panic and guilty conscience!