If he was looking for a fight, she was more than happy to oblige.
The Cheng Family owed her so much, so she would just collect a little interest first. She wanted to see if Cheng Fangnan really dared to burn down this Taoist temple.
The calmer Yuyin was, the more rattled Cheng Fangnan became. He put on a bold front and turned to Song Lian for help. Over the years, he and Song Lian had been on very good terms, and Song Lian had helped him hatch many ideas.
"Song Lian, this woman is so vicious. She just cursed my unborn child to die. How do you think I should deal with her?" As Cheng Fangnan drew close to Song Lian, he caught a whiff of cigarette smoke on him and quickly pulled Chen Shujing aside to dodge away.
Ever since Chen Shujing became pregnant, he had gradually quit smoking and couldn't stand anyone smoking near him, though his nicotine cravings were always simmering just beneath the surface.
"Just now at the foot of the mountain, I saw a woman whose suitcase caught fire, so I helped her put it out." Song Lian walked over, stood upwind, and took off his jacket.
"And then what? Did she offer herself to you in gratitude? I told you to drive my car. Women love rich young playboys. Flash a luxury car and a mansion, and you can have a different girl in your bed every single night..."
Song Lian remained silent, a trace of imperceptible annoyance flickering between his brows.
"The person you met must be my Senior Sister. You're going to have your hands full from now on." Yuyin frowned, never expecting that her Senior Sister would have a benefactor come to her rescue.
Her Master's Taoist robe was no ordinary item, and a standard fire extinguisher was completely useless. She was very curious about what kind of person Song Lian, who had managed to put out the fire, actually was.
Song Lian didn't understand what Yuyin meant, but from her words, it seemed he had saved the wrong person. "Your Senior Sister said someone deliberately tried to harm her."
"You reap what you sow, and the road is rough through no fault of mine." Yuyin dropped the words lightly, completely forgetting that she was the one who had deliberately led Song Lian down that dead end.
Song Lian stared at Yuyin with a half-smile. This woman was washing her hands of the matter a bit too cleanly, but this grudge was definitely forged.
Seeing both men staring at Yuyin, Chen Shujing feigned a stomachache to vie for attention. "Fangnan, my stomach hurts so much. It's all this charlatan's fault. We absolutely cannot let her off."
Cheng Fangnan's expression shifted drastically as he anxiously grabbed Chen Shujing's arm. "Don't worry, I won't let you suffer any injustice. Whoever dares to curse our son will pay with their life."
Song Lian had a lifelong awe of deities, and he strongly disagreed with Cheng Fangnan destroying everything here. "Fangnan, your dad is arriving tonight, and he was never in favor of calling off the engagement anyway. You should keep a low profile."
The moment Cheng Fangnan heard this, his anger flared. He kicked the ginkgo tree in the courtyard. "That bastard Xu Wang refused to listen when I told him to keep quiet about this. He insisted on reporting it to my dad. Fortunately, I was smart enough to throw his phone in the lake and demand the house back to teach him a lesson."
Yuyin sighed inwardly. She had warned her uncle, but she was still a step too late.
The Cheng Family really had taken back the house.
Chen Shujing was an internet celebrity who had also acted in a couple of short web dramas. At that moment, nestled in Cheng Fangnan's arms, she put on quite an Oscar-worthy performance. Lathing with hatred for Yuyin, Cheng Fangnan pulled out his phone and called the bodyguards waiting at the temple gates.
A few minutes later, a dozen people rushed in from outside, blocking the entrance tightly.
"Babe, I'm going to vent your anger for you right now." Cheng Fangnan wrapped an arm around Chen Shujing's waist and stood under the ginkgo tree outside to watch the show.
"Fangnan, if you smash things, you'll have to pay for them." Song Lian couldn't bear to watch, feeling it was a pity to destroy those things. He could see that Yuyin was deliberately provoking Cheng Fangnan.
"Get out of my way, it's not like I'm asking you to pay." Cheng Fangnan pushed Song Lian aside, finding him a nuisance standing there. His family was rolling in cash; he could afford to smash the entire Taoist temple to pieces.
Although Song Lian's words carried a hint of deterrence, he stood there with an air of breezy detachment, as if everything had nothing to do with him.
Outwardly trying to stop it, but actually pouring fuel on the fire—Song Lian's tactic was truly brilliant.
The bodyguards started smashing things the moment they stepped inside, shoving Yuyin aside and even ripping down the wooden doors and windows to toss them onto the bluestone pavement outside.
"If you ever dare curse my unborn son again, I'll finish you!" Cheng Fangnan glared fiercely at Yuyin, and seeing her frown brought him immense satisfaction.
Yuyin didn't try to stop the thugs. The more they smashed, the easier it would be for her to demand compensation, and perhaps this time she could even scrape together enough money for her grandmother's medical bills.
A chaotic cacophony of crashing sounds filled the room, interspersed with Cheng Fangnan's haughty scolding and Chen Shujing's giggles.
Yuyin let out a cough.
She raised a finger to point at the ceiling, where a 360-degree dead-angle-free security camera was suspended. She had already saved everything that had just happened here onto her phone.
"So what if there's a camera? I can afford to pay for it." Cheng Fangnan cast a disdainful glance at the debris on the ground. Forget smashing one Taoist temple; he could afford to pay for ten.
Yuyin shook her head, thinking how terrifying ignorance truly was—having such good resources yet failing to invest in a brain.
Fearing he might drop dead without even knowing what hit him, Yuyin couldn't help but remind him, "Lianxi Taoist Temple has a history of over six hundred years, and just last month it was designated as a provincial-level key cultural relic. Are you sure you can bear the crime of destroying cultural relics?"
Cheng Fangnan's complexion instantly shifted. After all, he had been to college; he knew a thing or two about the penalties for destroying cultural relics. Compensation was a minor issue, but he might actually end up serving prison time.
The thugs freezing in the middle of their smashing also exchanged blank stares before looking uniformly at Cheng Fangnan.
In a panic, Cheng Fangnan grabbed Song Lian, shifting the blame entirely onto him. "Song Lian, why didn't you stop me just now?"
Song Lian narrowed his eyes and glanced over at Yuyin. "I tried to stop you. You wouldn't listen."
Terrified, Cheng Fangnan clutched his face and grabbed Chen Shujing's arm to run outside, terrified of being captured on camera.
If his old man ever saw this footage, he would surely break his legs.
"If you dare leave this place, I'll go straight to the police station with this footage," Yuyin called out with a smile from behind him. Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried immense deterrence.
Cheng Fangnan scurried back crestfallen, looking as helpless as a plucked rooster. "As long as you don't leak this, I'll do whatever you want."
"I want you to personally put all these things back in their original places. Pay for what needs to be paid, and put back what needs to be put back. And from now on, you'd better not show your face anywhere I am, or else who knows how many people this video might be sent to."
Chen Shujing stormed back inside angrily, shouting with an arrogant flourish, "Fangnan, they're just a few cultural relics. It's not like we can't afford to pay..."
"Shut up! What do you know?" In his panic, Cheng Fangnan snapped at Chen Shujing.
Stomping her foot in fury after being yelled at, Chen Shujing glared at Yuyin and cursed her as a seducing vixen who didn't walk the righteous path.
After tidying everything up, Cheng Fangnan sheepishly dragged Chen Shujing away, leaving Song Lian behind to handle the aftermath.
With only Yuyin and Song Lian left in the room, he finally took a careful look at her.
The room she lived in had very new renovations, and it was obvious at a glance that it was different from the rest of the rooms. The items that had been smashed were of modern design, not cultural relics at all.
"Payment received. I can let this matter go for now." Yuyin looked at the transfer notification on her phone, the corners of her mouth curling up uncontrollably.
She needed to go down the mountain to collect her debts. Every extra day the Cheng Family spent living in bliss was a day of agony for her.
Song Lian blocked Yuyin's path, baring his forearm for her to see. "If you hadn't deliberately pointed me down the wrong road, I wouldn't have run into your Senior Sister Xu Meirong. After helping her put out the fire, something extra appeared on my arm. Shouldn't you take responsibility for this?"
Yuyin looked over and saw a purplish-blue mark on Song Lian's arm. "You brought this on yourself."
This was the result of a backlash from malevolent Qi. Coming into contact with this sort of thing wasn't fatal, but it would bring him bad luck for at least half a month.
With his brows tightly knitted, Song Lian grabbed Yuyin and pulled her close. "I don't care what kind of feud you have between you. We crossed paths purely by chance—why try to harm me?"
Up close, Yuyin scrutinized Song Lian carefully and decided his physiognomy wasn't bad at all.
It was just a pity her cultivation was still too shallow to see through a man's destiny pattern. Her Master had once said that she was fated to suffer a severe illness and would need to marry a man with a tough destiny pattern—most ideally, one blessed with the Heavenly Doctor's Mandate.
If he possessed that kind of destiny pattern, Yuyin would save him without a second thought.