Gu Suying was knocked sprawling to the floor by the shove. Despite being the vicious perpetrator, she looked every bit the wrongfully accused, delicate victim.

Though she had been sobbing before, now she broke into full-blown wailing. “Waaah… I don’t dare say it… waaah… my brother-in-law will kill me, I don’t dare say it!”

The family head frowned, while Gu Meiting lunged straight at her, grabbing a fistful of her hair. “You shameless little wretch! You! You! Did you do something disgraceful with your brother-in-law! Answer me! Confess it clearly right now!”

How could Gu Meiting not think the worst? She knew her own husband’s character all too well.

Gu Suying’s scalp stung from the pulling, but she didn’t dare break free, only crying louder. “Sister, don’t—it hurts—stop it! Let go!”

“You shameless wench, if you don’t explain yourself clearly today, I’ll pull out every hair on your head and send you off to a nunnery, you disgraceful thing!”

Gu Meiting cursed furiously. Gu Suying finally began to struggle—her internal cultivation was ten times better than Gu Meiting’s, who rarely bothered to train, and yet somehow she still couldn’t break free, the two of them tangled together in a scuffle.

“It was my brother-in-law who wronged me, that dead brother-in-law wronged me, he wouldn’t let me say anything… waaah… sister, go find your husband, I don’t dare say anything, don’t hit me!”

“You slut, your brother-in-law must have been the one seduced by you! If you don’t explain yourself clearly today, I won’t let you off! I have no sister like you—don’t you dare call me sister! You disgust me!”

…

The family head watched coldly all this while, his bloodshot, clouded eyes hiding thoughts no one could guess. Jun Beiyue, however, remained perfectly composed, sipping from his teacup, his attention nowhere near the two sisters. His deep, sea-dark eyes were slightly narrowed—no one could read his thoughts.

Ziqing, meanwhile, watched the two sisters coldly, an inward sneer forming. As the saying went, every villain meets a worse villain. One domineering, one deeply scheming—this confrontation was bound to be quite the show!

After a fierce struggle, Gu Suying was finally pinned down with her hair yanked hard, her face pressed to the floor. “You shameless wench, are you going to talk or not!”

The family head, still furious, breathing hard, watched coldly throughout—beyond his anger lay something more like grief and disappointment.

Just then, Madam Gu suddenly appeared in the doorway, supported by a maid. Her already pale face nearly turned livid with rage at the sight before her. “You… let go of each other, all of you! You two!”

She clutched her chest with one hand while pointing at her two daughters with the other, swaying dizzily.

The family head hurried forward to support her, saying coldly, “Someone, take Madam back! Can’t you see she’s ill?”

“I won’t go!” Madam Gu said angrily.

“Master, Madam took her medicine, but she insisted on coming—this humble one couldn’t stop her!” Physician Hua said helplessly.

Ziqing watched coldly, the corners of her lips curling with a hint of chill. It seemed this drama was only going to get more interesting.

“Beiyue, your mother has come. Seeing you awake will surely make her happy—she took such good care of you while you were unconscious,” Ziqing said flatly, with pride in her tone.

But Jun Beiyue had already drifted off in thought, paying no attention to her at all, unconsciously mulling something over.

Madam Gu grew stubborn, and the family head could do nothing to stop her, only helping her toward the main seat. She had no attention to spare for Jun Beiyue at all—didn’t even glance his way once.

Glaring furiously at Gu Meiting and Gu Suying, who had by now let go of each other, her chest heaving violently, it took her a good while to catch her breath before she demanded angrily, “What exactly is going on here!”

“Mother, she’s shameless—she seduced Jiang Chen, she and Jiang Chen did something disgraceful together!” Gu Meiting immediately accused her sister furiously.

Hearing this, Madam Gu, though seated, nearly slid off her chair in shock, mouth agape. How could this be… how could this happen!

The family head couldn’t determine whether Gu Meiting had been involved in covering this up, nor whether Gu Suying had truly done something with Jiang Chen.

He could only let Gu Meiting press for the truth herself.

But to his surprise, the moment Gu Meiting spoke plainly, Gu Suying immediately retorted, “I didn’t! Sister is insulting me! Mother, sister can’t slander me like this, you have to stand up for me!”

“You didn’t! Hmph, then why all the hemming and hawing? You don’t dare say anything—well say it, say it right now, I’m here, what can he possibly do to you! Speak right now!”

Once Gu Meiting had decided to be unreasonable, there was no stopping her—let alone when she thought she was in the right.

How could she have imagined it was about poisoning? Her first reaction had been that the two of them had committed adultery!

Pressed like this, even Madam Gu couldn’t help herself, shouting, “Suying, speak!”

Gu Suying pulled herself upright, tears streaming endlessly. She kept wiping at them, but couldn’t help burying her face and sobbing loudly, looking utterly pitiful—enough to make even the furious Madam Gu and the family head feel a pang of anger mixed with reluctant sympathy.

Gu Meiting jumped to her feet in fury, and seeing her sister’s act, kicked out at her directly. “Playing pitiful again? Keep it up! What are you crying for? I know your temper well enough—if you have something to say, say it, stop pretending to be pathetic!”

Gu Suying was knocked flat by the kick. Gu Meiting moved to strike again, but Madam Gu suddenly barked sharply, “Meiting, enough! Sit down!”

“Let her talk—if she doesn’t explain herself today, I won’t let her off!” Gu Meiting roared, too furious to care about anything else, kicking at Gu Suying again. Fortunately the family head grabbed her in time, flinging her roughly aside. “Enough! Don’t push this too far—if whatever crime Jiang Chen committed has you tangled up in it too, I won’t spare you either!”

At these words, both Gu Meiting and Madam Gu were startled. Besides adultery, could there really be something else going on?

Gu Meiting finally quieted down and sat back. Madam Gu wanted to help Gu Suying up, but the family head quickly told her to stay seated, and with his resolve softening, personally lifted Gu Suying up himself. A flash of satisfaction crossed Gu Suying’s eyes—this was exactly what she wanted, for Father to help her up personally!

Finally seated upright, she sniffled several times before saying tearfully, “Father, Mother, Sister, I swear to heaven, I have absolutely never done anything improper with my brother-in-law. I am innocent—if I speak a single lie, may I never marry for the rest of my life!”

“Then! Then tell us what exactly you did with him, why won’t you dare say it!” Gu Meiting shouted.

Gu Suying spoke on, glancing timidly toward Jun Beiyue and his wife, before finally continuing, “He… my brother-in-law… my brother-in-law was afraid that if Beiyue woke up, it would threaten his position in the Gu family, so he instigated me to… to poison Beiyue!”

At this, both Gu Meiting and Madam Gu were shocked. How could this be… how could the two of them…

The family head kept taking deep breaths. By now, given everything that had happened since Qinse Valley, if he still couldn’t guess what was going on between Jun Beiyue and Han Ziqing, he would truly be a fool.

But Gu Suying wasn’t finished yet. “My brother-in-law only told me that the poison wouldn’t be fatal, that it would just delay Beiyue’s waking. Later… later Han Ziqing arrived, and so much unpleasantness happened, and I… I believed even more that what my brother-in-law said was true. Not until… not until Yuan’er fell ill, and he was gone so long searching for medicine and couldn’t find any, that I went after him and found out… found out…”

Gu Suying spoke on, sobbing continuously, glancing timidly at Gu Meiting, not daring to continue.

“Found out what!” Gu Meiting exploded.

“I found out… found out that my brother-in-law was… was committing adultery with the Bai family’s… with Bai Feiyao. The poison was given by Bai Feiyao, and the red antidote pills were all hoarded away by the Bai family!” Gu Suying said timidly, a flicker of malice in her eyes gone in an instant.