"Wang Meifang stripped me of my dignity as a human being, and your whole family turned me into a dog, beating, shaming, trampling, and abusing me at will... And now, your daughter has returned, and you actually have the gall to stand there with the air of benefactors, high and mighty, ordering me to hand over the job I worked so hard to earn to your 'precious daughter'!"
Qiao Qingqing rose abruptly, brandishing the kitchen knife. Shi Jingye’s pupils constricted!
He instinctively retreated several steps, his voice trembling. "You—what do you think you’re doing?"
Qiao Qingqing held the knife aloft, closing in on him step by step.
"What am I doing? You guess. Right now, I’m just a ball being kicked back and forth between the Shi family and the Qiao family. Your family of three is heartless and ungrateful; you don't value all the years I’ve sacrificed for you. Just for Shi Lanlan, someone you’ve never even raised, you beat and insulted me in public. And as for the Qiao family, they only have eyes for the Shi Lanlan they’ve been raising for eighteen years..."
Hiding in the room, Shi Lanlan felt a chill run down her spine. She immediately locked the bedroom door and shoved a table against it.
Shi Wang had hidden inside with her. The boy was frightened out of his wits, his lips quivering as he spoke, his voice sounding like he was on the verge of tears: "Sister Lanlan, is Qiao Qingqing... is she crazy? Is she going to kill our whole family?"
Shi Lanlan thought to herself that if she were in Qiao Qingqing's shoes, she would have gone crazy too.
She didn't think Qiao Qingqing was wrong to hate the Shi family. In her previous life, she had secretly laughed at Qiao Qingqing for being a fool, letting herself be treated like a dog or a beast of burden by the Shi family, all while accepting it willingly. Back then, she couldn't understand why such a person existed. But since Qiao Qingqing’s sycophancy benefited her, she naturally didn't intervene, offering no more than an occasional word of caution. It was just that Qiao Qingqing never listened! So she had let it go.
In the living room, Shi Jingye was being backed into a corner near Wang Meifang.
Qiao Qingqing’s mouth continued its relentless assault: "Since nobody wants me, what’s the point of me living? How about we all just die together? I’ll kill you first, then go kill Shi Wang. If you can't bear to part with Shi Lanlan, I can send her down to join you, too..."
Qiao Qingqing spoke these horrifying words as if they were casual remarks!
Shi Jingye and Wang Meifang were stunned. Soon, fear began to creep into their hearts. There were two types of people in this world you should never provoke: the foolish and the insane. Because when they talked about murder, they meant it. They had no reservations whatsoever!
"Wait, wait!"
Shi Jingye spoke up quickly, trying to steady her. "You’ve misunderstood, Qingqing. How could Mom and Dad not want you? You’ve done so much for this family; we’ve seen it all. Without you, how would we have hot meals the moment we walked through the door? How could Shi Wang have grown up so healthy?"
Seeing Wang Meifang still standing there in a daze, he gave her a secret kick. Wang Meifang scrambled to chime in, listing the many things Qiao Qingqing had done for them—like fetching foot-washing water and massaging Shi Jingye when he came home tired, or brewing ginger tea for her when she was suffering from cramps, even remembering to add brown sugar to mask the ginger taste she disliked...
The couple recounted Qiao Qingqing’s virtues, but as they spoke, they found they couldn't continue.
There was no other reason. Only when they truly reflected did they realize that for these eighteen years, Qiao Qingqing had been the kind of devoted daughter others would kill for! And when they looked at how they had treated her?
Even Shi Lanlan in the bedroom asked Shi Wang with an indescribable expression: "She was so good to you all, how could you have the heart to abuse her?" In her previous life, she only knew her birth parents weren't good to Qiao Qingqing, but it turned out it wasn't just 'not good'—it was malicious to the extreme!
She felt a wave of relief that she had been the one taken in by the Qiao family. Although the Qiao family's circumstances weren't as wealthy as the Shi family's, they were a loving, harmonious, and hardworking household. Now that Qiao Weiguo had become the Brigade Leader, they were considered one of the finest families in the village. As the only daughter of the Qiao family, she had been showered with love since childhood. Seeing her love for learning, her parents hadn't begrudged the expense, supporting her through nine years of schooling until she graduated high school.
She had assumed that since the Shi family had also put Qiao Qingqing through high school, they couldn't have been all that bad to her. But now, Shi Lanlan seriously doubted that the money for Qiao Qingqing’s tuition had come from the Shi couple at all.
Perhaps out of a sudden prick of conscience, or perhaps intimidated by the kitchen knife, Shi Jingye realized that given what they had done to Qiao Qingqing, the girl killing their whole family wouldn't be an overreaction. This realization made Shi Jingye break out in a cold sweat. He swallowed hard and asked, "Qingqing, we owe you... Tell me, what will it take for you to let this go?"
Qiao Qingqing had wasted all that breath just to wait for this line. After all, given that the Shi family had cruelly murdered her in her past life, there was a deep, unresolvable hatred between them. It couldn't be wiped away by a few words or a few tears. However, constrained by the strict laws of the era and the political chaos of the time, she couldn't act rashly. If she wanted revenge, she had to suppress her temper and wait for the right moment. The most urgent task now was to squeeze more money and vouchers out of the Shi family to make her life easier after she was sent to the countryside.
"What could you possibly pay me back with that would clear your debt, other than your lives?" Qiao Qingqing was clever. If she asked for money and vouchers directly, Shi Jingye and Wang Meifang would likely haggle or feel they were being cheated. But if she refused money and demanded their lives instead? Then, using money and vouchers to buy back the lives of their whole family would seem like a bargain to them.
"Director Shi, you’ve already broken the law anyway. Once everything is exposed, your fate won't be much better than death. You might as well just meet your end now."
As Qiao Qingqing stared at him with a chilling gaze, Shi Jingye shuddered violently!
Instantly, he stopped caring about the money. "Qingqing! I’ll give you money! I’ll give you lots and lots of money! And vouchers too! As long as you have money and vouchers, your future can still be bright. It’s really not worth throwing your own life away for the sake of us."
As he spoke, Shi Jingye started walking toward the study, but Qiao Qingqing’s knife tip followed him.
"You’re trying to trick me so you can run away, aren't you?"
Qiao Qingqing tilted her head like a seasoned murderer, using the calmest tone to say the most bone-chilling words: "It won't work. Everyone believes I’m a good girl. Even if you escape today, I’ll find a way to ambush you. And when I do, I won't be so merciful. I’ll torture you to death, slowly."
Wang Meifang shuddered!
Shi Jingye’s scalp went numb, his facial muscles twitching uncontrollably as he forced a smile that looked worse than crying: "No, Qingqing, Dad is just going to get the money and vouchers for you—you know, as a factory director, I’ve taken many bribes, so I have plenty of money and vouchers. I’ll give them all to you today as compensation, alright?"