Xiao Mandong was jolted awake by Diandian's sudden barking, her heart clenching into a knot. She threw herself off the bed and, by the moonlight, gazed out the window. Under the moonlight, Diandian was arching its back, barking ferociously toward the eastern wall of the courtyard.
"Sis," Xiao Manxue also woke with a start, her voice still laced with panic. "Is someone there?"
"Shh," Xiao Mandong pressed a finger to her lips, gesturing for silence. She went to the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and stood guard by the door. Xiao Manxue quickly got up too, picked up the poker by the stove, and stood on the other side of the door.
Just then, a muffled "thud" came from the base of the wall, as if something heavy had landed. Moments later, urgent knocking sounded at the door.
"Xiao Mandong, are you two alright?"
It was Zhou Qichuan. Xiao Mandong's tense heart finally settled. She rushed out to open the courtyard gate, and the moment the door swung open, she asked urgently, "Was there someone?"
"It was a man. I hit his leg with a stone, but unfortunately he got away. Good thing you're both safe."
"He was about one meter seventy-five tall, pretty agile. When he fled and jumped off the wall, his movements didn't seem like a local — more like someone who'd been specially trained."
He'd heard Diandian's barking and come out to check, only to spot a man crouching on the eastern wall of Xiao Mandong's yard, about to climb over into the courtyard. He picked up a stone from the ground at random and hurled it, striking the man's leg. Injured, the guy immediately jumped off the wall and bolted away.
Who would've thought that on Diandian's very first day, it had saved the two sisters.
It was only now that Xiao Mandong truly recognized the danger. She'd already guessed who it was — it seemed she was under suspicion. What was she supposed to do? If it hadn't been for Diandian's warning tonight and Zhou Qichuan's help, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
She was genuinely frightened. She had her space — she could completely avoid the risk — but Xiao Manxue couldn't. She'd never imagined that the spies would be this alert. Now she was utterly regretful for having provoked these people. After wrestling with it, she felt Zhou Qichuan was trustworthy. There was no other way now; she had to deal with Sun Wenbin, that big headache.
Finally, Xiao Mandong let out a deep breath, her mind made up. "Zhou Qichuan, I know who this man is."
Xiao Mandong rewarded Diandian with a boiled egg, let Xiao Manxue feed it to the dog, then led Zhou Qichuan into another room.
She told him the whole story of how she'd provoked Sun Wenbin: "This morning, when I went to the black market, I accidentally saw Sun Wenbin meeting with a man named Old Kai. Old Kai had Sun Wenbin get in touch with Jian Qiuyue and even gave Sun Wenbin all of Jian Qiuyue's files..."
Xiao Mandong recounted every detail of the incident to Zhou Qichuan, but she didn't mention the treasure. With things already this dangerous, revealing the treasure would only make things worse — losing both the bait and the catch.
A light suddenly sparked in Zhou Qichuan's eyes. The reason he'd returned to the village this time was that his superiors had discovered spies stirring up trouble in this area, so they'd sent him back to cooperate with the public security organs in making arrests.
The last explosion had occurred when they were trying to capture Old Kai. He'd deliberately caused that incident to cover his escape. They'd suffered heavy losses that time. That old fox was really hard to catch — not only had Old Kai slipped away, but they hadn't even been able to identify his contacts.
He'd never expected Xiao Mandong to stumble by accident onto this crucial lead. As long as they followed the thread from Sun Wenbin, finding Old Kai would be much easier. So for now, they couldn't tip their hand — they couldn't touch Sun Wenbin yet.
But the immediate priority was ensuring the safety of the two Xiao sisters.
Zhou Qichuan was torn — how could he both protect Xiao Mandong and Xiao Manxue while also keeping the Sun Wenbin lead viable?
Tonight, Sun Wenbin definitely wouldn't be coming back. He told the sisters to get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, he would discuss the next steps with his superiors — this kind of decision was above his pay grade.
At the hospital, after Wang Yuanyuan had her wounds treated, she was brought back to Wang Meixia's ward. A new mother had just been admitted there earlier that day, but with coordination from the public security, she'd been moved to another room.
The moment Wang Yuanyuan saw Wang Meixia, it was like grabbing hold of a lifeline. She threw herself at the bedside, nearly landing right on Wang Meixia's surgical wound.
"Little Aunt," Wang Yuanyuan cried, tears gushing out instantly.
"Little Aunt, what am I supposed to do? It was Xiao Mandong — that bitch Xiao Mandong who did this to me! She ruined me. You can't just stand by and do nothing!"
Wang Yuanyuan sobbed so hard she nearly fainted. Old Lady Wang pounded her own chest, banged her head against the wall, and wailed:
"Meixia, Yuanyuan is the only girl of the Wang family, and she's been ruined like this. What's the Wang family supposed to do now?"
"You have to make Xiao Mandong hand over the money she got from selling her job to compensate Yuanyuan. Otherwise, I'll report her. I'll make her rot in prison!"
Wang Meixia frowned. She wasn't particularly fond of these two daughters-in-law's children, but these kids had grown up by her side. She didn't believe Xiao Mandong could do such a thing.
Seeing that Wang Meixia wasn't responding, Wang Yuanyuan wailed even louder: "In your heart, I must mean less than your own daughter. You only care about protecting her. You don't trust me at all. The truth is, that man had his eye on Xiao Manxue, but Xiao Mandong gave him money to drag me away instead. Sob... I've been destroyed just like that. What am I supposed to do with my life? I really can't go on."
Wang Meixia genuinely didn't believe Wang Yuanyuan's story.
"How did you even know that man, and why were you with them?"
Wang Yuanyuan felt a pang of guilt at the question. She scrambled up and lunged toward the wall, but Old Lady Wang grabbed her.
"Wang Meixia, your own niece is in this state, and you still dare to question her?! It's your precious daughter who took out her hatred of you on Yuanyuan! Your brother and sister-in-law don't know about any of this yet. I'd like to see how you explain it to them!"
"Xiao Mandong is stubborn, sure, but how could she possibly do something like this? Absolutely not."
"How could she not? She had painkillers for you but wouldn't use them. You were in agony — did she show you any sign of caring? No money, no medicine. Is that what a daughter does?"
"Even now, you're still defending her! If you actually care about her, you'd better make sure she pays proper compensation. Otherwise, I won't show any mercy."
When Wang Meixia heard what her mother said, she remembered how cold Xiao Mandong had been toward her, and the trust she had in her daughter began to waver.
Wang Meixia looked at Wang Yuanyuan — that pale, swollen, tear-streaked face, the bruises at her eye corners, the purple marks on her body, the bite marks on her neck, the torn clothing — and her anger swelled in her chest.
At that moment, Wang Meixia too felt that her mother was right. Xiao Mandong was different from before. If she could be so ruthless to her own mother, what was she capable of?
But a mother and daughter bond was still a bond, and she didn't want to see Xiao Mandong end up in jail.
"Yuanyuan, don't worry. If it really was Xiao Mandong's fault, I'll make sure you get justice."
