"You have to speak with evidence. Third Wu is lying in bed unable to move, while Comrade Meng is perfectly fine outside. If she really infected Third Wu, her condition would definitely be more severe than his," Wu Zhenggui scolded Wu's mother.
"Maybe this illness just hits my son harder?" Wu's mother was convinced that Meng Yingying had harmed her son.
"Then we'll find someone to examine Comrade Meng's body." Wu Zhenggui knew this woman was troublesome; if things weren't cleared up, she would stir up the whole village.
"Examine her, right now!" Wu's mother said through gritted teeth.
Wu Zhenggui called for his wife, his daughter-in-law, and also Song Nianchu, along with Wu's mother herself. They took Meng Yingying to the next room and conducted a thorough examination of her body.
Meng Yingying didn't resist, complying utterly as she took off her clothes. But once her clothes were off, everyone gasped in shock.
Especially Hua, who raised her hand in surprise to cover her mouth.
It wasn't because Meng Yingying had some hidden ailment unknown to outsiders, but because her body was covered in bruises, a shocking sight.
Wu's mother's eyes flickered slightly. She knew her son liked to hit Meng Yingying, but she never imagined he had beaten her to this state.
"See clearly now? Apart from these beating marks, Comrade Meng's body has no other issues," Song Nianchu stared straight at Wu's mother.
"Well... just because it's not showing on the outside doesn't mean it's not inside her body." Although Wu's mother was still stubborn, her confidence had clearly waned.
"You'd be better off spending your time figuring out how to treat your son instead of causing trouble here," Song Nianchu snorted coldly.
At the mention of Third Wu, Wu's mother's eyes reddened again.
And just then, a cry of alarm sounded from outside.
"He's coughing up blood! Third Wu is coughing up blood!"
Hearing this, Wu's mother had no mind left for Meng Yingying. She shoved her aside and rushed towards the door.
"Aunt Wu, Sister Hua, could I trouble you to find some ointment? I'd like to treat Comrade Meng's wounds." After Wu's mother left, Song Nianchu turned to Aunt Wu and Hua.
"I have some medicine at home. I'll go get it now." As a fellow woman, Hua felt her heart ache tightly seeing those wounds on Meng Yingying's body.
She turned and left the room. Aunt Wu looked at Meng Yingying, shaking her head and sighing, then followed her out.
After they left, Song Nianchu directly locked the door from the inside.
Meng Yingying was putting her clothes back on when a deliberately lowered voice sounded by her ear.
"Did you dispose of that medicine?"
Hearing this, Meng Yingying jerked her head up. The Song Nianchu before her had a deep, heavy gaze, her eyes seeming to see right through her.
"Wh... what medicine?" Meng Yingying's voice trembled.
"You might fool others, but do you really think you can fool me? Third Wu's condition isn't some filthy disease at all. He's been poisoned," Song Nianchu said, word by word.
Meng Yingying's breath hitched, and she even stopped dressing.
"How could you be so foolish? Don't you know murder demands a life in return?" Song Nianchu's brows were tightly knit.
"I..." Meng Yingying wanted to deny it, but under Song Nianchu's cold, heavy stare, all her excuses died in her throat. Her eyes were filled with a hatred so thick it seemed to congeal.
"He deserves to die! Since none of you could help me, I helped myself!" Meng Yingying spoke through clenched teeth.
"So you poisoned him?" Song Nianchu kept her voice low.
"I didn't poison him directly. Pesticide has such a strong smell, even a drop would be tasted,"
"Then how did you do it?"
"I soaked his underpants in paraquat. Wearing those toxin-soaked pants every day, of course his lower body would rot." A cold smile touched the corner of Meng Yingying's mouth.
"So it really is paraquat." Song Nianchu stared at Meng Yingying.
That stuff is highly toxic. There's a saying: when you drink paraquat, it gives you time to regret, but no chance to change your mind.
It slowly eats away at your body, and the process is excruciating. You end up dying in despair and agonizing pain.
"That time I ran into you returning from outside the village, was that when you went to buy the paraquat?" Song Nianchu asked.
"Yes."
"Where did you buy it?" In this era, not just anyone could buy pesticide; you needed proof.
"The black market." Meng Yingying answered every question.
"You even know about the black market?" Song Nianchu now felt she truly didn't understand Meng Yingying at all.
Quiet and unassuming, yet pulling off such major acts.
"Third Wu likes to steal and pilfer. He'd take stolen village goods to the black market to sell. I learned about it from him."
Song Nianchu studied Meng Yingying for a long moment.
"Knowing to go to the black market to buy it, you're not completely foolish. But did you dispose of the pesticide bottle?"
Hearing this, Meng Yingying's body stiffened.
"You haven't disposed of it yet?" Song Nianchu's tone grew urgent.
"I originally wanted Third Wu to suffer a while longer. But today his mother suddenly barged into our room and discovered his condition." Meng Yingying's eyes darted.
"Where is the pesticide?" Song Nianchu asked.
"Still in my room."
Hearing this, Song Nianchu's brows furrowed so tightly they almost knotted.
"How could you leave it in your own room? If someone finds it, do you know the consequences?"
"I'm willing to bear any consequence. I just want Third Wu dead!" Meng Yingying lifted her gaze, staring straight into Song Nianchu's eyes. Each word seemed squeezed from her throat, laden with overwhelming hatred.
Song Nianchu: "..."
"He's already ruined me, but he still threatens my parents and my little brother. He constantly extorts money from me, forces me to write letters demanding money from my parents. If he doesn't get the money, he says he'll go find my parents, get them all fired from their jobs."
"A beast like him deserves to die in agony, then descend to the eighteenth level of hell, never to be reincarnated!" Meng Yingying would never allow Third Wu to go after her parents again.
"You called him a beast yourself. Is it worth trading your own life for a beast?" Song Nianchu stared at her unblinkingly.
Only then did Meng Yingying realize that Song Nianchu didn't seem to be here to expose her.
"You... you're not going to turn me in?" Meng Yingying asked hesitantly.
"If I wanted to turn you in, I would have told everyone outside just now that Third Wu isn't sick, but poisoned," Song Nianchu said, giving her a look.
