Song Xinya had put every ounce of strength into that slap.
The moment her palm came whistling across Zhao Yinian’s face, Zhao Yinian’s head snapped to the side, and she stumbled back several steps.
The pain in her face erupted like fire. Her cheeks burned, her teeth throbbed, and a sharp agony shot from her cheekbone to her temple.
Zhao Yinian turned back, her eyes bloodshot as she glared at Song Xinya. “What gives you the right to hit me?”
She glowered at Song Xinya. “Bitch!”
She raised her hand and swung it toward Song Xinya’s face.
Song Xinya grabbed her wrist, lifted her other arm, and slapped her hard across the face again.
Smack!
She made sure to be fair, striking both sides of Zhao Yinian’s face until they were bright red.
Along with the pain, Zhao Yinian was utterly stunned. She couldn’t believe that in less than a minute, Song Xinya had slapped her twice.
Being slapped in the face represented more than pain. It represented humiliation.
She was a woman nearly thirty years old, and she had never suffered such an insult in her life.
She raised her arm once more and swung it toward Song Xinya.
At that moment, the heavy, steady footsteps of a man came from around the corner, mixed with the shuffling steps of an elderly woman.
Before Zhao Yinian’s hand could reach Song Xinya’s face, Song Xinya let out a delicate, panicked scream.
“Ah!”
Then she covered her face and fell to the ground.
Zhao Yinian stared blankly.
Behind her came Old Madam Qin’s furious voice. “Zhao Yinian, stop this at once!”
Zhao Yinian turned around and saw Qin Yuhe rushing toward Song Xinya.
Old Madam Qin was glaring at her with undisguised fury.
“Grandma, listen to me,” Zhao Yinian said hurriedly. “Let me explain.”
Old Madam Qin was beside herself with rage. “Explain what? I saw you slap Yaya with my own eyes!”
“That’s not what happened, Grandma. It isn’t what you think!”
Qin Yuhe helped Song Xinya up from the floor, his eyes filled with heartache and anger. “Stop making excuses. The fact that you hit Yaya is undeniable!”
“I didn’t hit her! I never hit her! She’s pretending!”
“Lying through your teeth—and even smearing Yaya’s name!” Old Madam Qin snapped.
“It was Song Xinya who hit me! Really! Look at my face—it’s red from her slaps!”
“That’s just your natural rosy complexion,” Qin Yuhe said coldly. “It wasn’t Yaya who hit you.”
Sheltered behind Qin Yuhe, Song Xinya smiled brightly.
Enemy bullets were flying at her in a dense barrage, but he was shielding her so securely that, with the faint scent of him filling her senses, she couldn’t hear a single shot.
Qin Yuhe turned to look at her. The triumphant smile in Song Xinya’s eyes instantly transformed into an expression of pain and helplessness.
She let out a delicate whimper. “Ah, my face hurts.”
Naturally, Qin Yuhe chose to believe her.
His brows drew tightly together as he looked at her with pity. “Why didn’t you pull me along when you ran out just now?”
If she had dragged him along, how could she have slapped Zhao Yinian, framed her, and made her taste the humiliation, injustice, and helplessness of being wronged and plotted against?
Watching Zhao Yinian struggle to defend herself, flustered and helpless, her face full of grievance and indignation, Song Xinya felt thoroughly satisfied.
If she was going to do something, she might as well do it properly. If she had started acting like a sweet, innocent girl, she had to see the performance through.
Zhao Yinian was the tough-girl type who liked to put on a sweet act. Song Xinya would play the little green tea and use tea to defeat tea—giving that Zhao bitch a taste of her own medicine.
Song Xinya covered one side of her face with her hand. With the other, she pinched her thigh.
Instantly, her eyes grew moist with tears. She looked so delicate and pitiful that anyone would have felt sorry for her.
“When I ran out just now, I only wanted to ask Zhao Yinian why she was slandering me. I never expected her to suddenly raise her hand and slap me. It doesn’t matter if she hits me, as long as she doesn’t hit Brother He. No one else worries about Brother He, so I have to worry about him.”
A wife who was so considerate of her husband only made Qin Yuhe feel even more protective of her.
Then he looked at Zhao Yinian. She was so furious at Song Xinya’s delicate expression and syrupy, tea-laced words that the corners of her mouth seemed to twist.
Zhao Yinian felt so wronged she could have died.
She demanded, “Qin Yuhe, why do you believe Song Xinya instead of me?”
Qin Yuhe replied, “What kind of question is that? When I have to choose between my wife and another woman, of course I’ll believe my wife.”
Another blade plunged into Zhao Yinian’s heart.
That’s right—Grandma. She still had Grandma. Old Madam Qin had always treated her like her own granddaughter.
As long as she begged Old Madam Qin for help and acted pitiful, Old Madam Qin would surely speak up for her.
Clinging to her last lifeline, Zhao Yinian asked Old Madam Qin, “Grandma, didn’t you used to love me most? You said you would always treat me like your own granddaughter.”
“That was before I saw your true colors,” Old Madam Qin said. “I was deceived by the obedient and sensible image you pretended to have. Little He has already told me everything that happened. From now on, I will never treat you as my granddaughter again!”
Boom!
Zhao Yinian felt as if the sky had collapsed.
Old Madam Qin looked at Song Xinya with deep concern, then turned to Zhao Yinian with disappointment and resolve.
“Yaya is the Qin family’s legitimate granddaughter-in-law. Now that she has married into the Qin family, she is one of us. In my heart, she holds the same status as Little He. She is just as important as my own grandson, Little He. She is family, and no one is allowed to bully her.”
She waved Zhao Yinian away. “Leave. Don’t come to the Qin residence again, and don’t come looking for me anymore. I don’t want to see you again.”
Zhao Yinian had lost her greatest supporter.
The two servants once again grabbed Zhao Yinian by the arms and dragged her out.
Qin Yuhe and Old Madam Qin gathered around Song Xinya, fussing over her and asking if she was all right.
“Yaya, does your face hurt?” Old Madam Qin asked. “My sweetheart, my darling, my precious girl—you’ve suffered so much.”
People really did become more tenderhearted with age. Old Madam Qin kept calling her sweetheart, darling, and precious girl, soothing Song Xinya as though she were a child.
Song Xinya was twenty-five years old, and she blushed awkwardly at the overly affectionate names.
She lowered the hand that had been covering her face.
Qin Yuhe stared at her cheek. “It must hurt. Grandma, look—Yaya’s face is still so red from Zhao Yinian’s slap.”
Old Madam Qin looked at Song Xinya’s rosy little face and wiped away her tears in distress. “My precious baby, you’ve suffered so much.”
Song Xinya’s face grew even redder.
Old Madam Qin began crying even harder.
Worried that the old lady’s emotions might become too intense and that something might happen to her, Song Xinya hurried to comfort her. “Grandma, it doesn’t hurt. Not at all. Please don’t cry.”
Old Madam Qin sobbed. “What a good child. You really are such a good child. Your face has been beaten red, yet you insist that you’re fine so no one else will worry. How can you be so sweet?”
Song Xinya: “……”
Oh no. She had acted too convincingly and made Grandma cry.
Song Xinya spent half an hour trying to comfort Old Madam Qin, but she still couldn’t get the old lady to stop crying.
Qin Yuhe took out his phone. “Grandma, I’ll order you a KFC family bucket.”
Old Madam Qin’s sobs stopped in an instant. “Wonderful! Order two buckets. One won’t be enough.”
Song Xinya: “Grandma, I didn’t know you liked this sort of thing.”
Old Madam Qin: “KFC isn’t healthy for children, but it’s just right for us old folks.”
She reminded Qin Yuhe, “Order it on the sly. Don’t let your grandfather see. That old man keeps a very close eye on me—he only lets me have one burger and one piece of chicken at a time.”
Two buckets of KFC soon cheered Old Madam Qin up.
Qin Yuhe took the biggest fried chicken leg from the bucket and handed it to Song Xinya.
Song Xinya devoured the chicken, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
Looking at her little mouth stuffed full, Qin Yuhe asked with amusement, “With your face beaten so badly, shouldn’t it be difficult for you to eat?”
Song Xinya stopped chewing.
Oh no! She’d been too busy eating and had completely forgotten about her “injuries.” Was it too late to pretend now?
She hurriedly covered her face with one hand and cried out, “Ah—”
Qin Yuhe’s voice was filled with laughter. “Stop pretending. I knew from the start that you weren’t beaten.”
Song Xinya: “Then why did you look so worried just now?”
Qin Yuhe: “I was playing along with my wife, punishing the bad guys and helping her vent her anger.”
In a wonderful mood, Song Xinya opened her mouth and took a big bite of the chicken leg. “Should I kiss you to show my gratitude?”
Qin Yuhe eyed her greasy lips. “Wipe your little oily mouth clean before you kiss me.”
Song Xinya puckered her little oily lips and leaned over to kiss his face. “I’m going to kiss you with my little oily mouth. I’m going to kiss you with my little oily mouth!”
Qin Yuhe dodged to the side. “Somebody save me!”
