“Evil woman, you dare to show your face?” Old Master Liu’s thick eyebrows stood on end as he shouted sternly.

“I’m not like you, who can even harm your own flesh and blood. What’s there to be afraid of showing my face?” Qi Yue laughed, standing on the threshold looking down at him.

This statement made the surroundings even more lively, causing a buzz of discussion.

“Evil woman, stop talking nonsense!” Old Master Liu knew how sharp-tongued this woman was, shameless and full of schemes, so he hurriedly retorted loudly. “Your own household is unclean – don’t go talking about others.”

“So why are you talking about me?” Qi Yue nodded.

“The world is declining – naturally I must speak,” Old Master Liu snorted. “Marquis Dingxi is immoral, defying and resisting imperial orders. I have already submitted a letter to the authorities…”

Before he could finish, Qi Yue interrupted with hearty laughter.

“Hey, old master, are you saying Marquis Dingxi shouldn’t have divorced me, or that I deserved to be divorced?” she laughed. “Are you speaking for me or for the Marquis’s mansion? Think it through before speaking – at least let one of us owe you a favor. Don’t end up like Pig Bajie looking in a mirror – not being human inside or out.”

The crowd burst into laughter. Though they didn’t know what “Pig Bajie looking in a mirror” meant, it sounded very amusing. Laughter erupted everywhere, drowning out Old Master Liu’s remaining words.

When the laughter finally died down, Old Master Liu had to shout at the top of his voice.

“Should have been divorced long ago – never should have married in the first place!”

“Alright, old master, I’m very busy here. If you have nothing else, please go home and stop making trouble,” Qi Yue said, shaking her head with some impatience and waving her hand dismissively.

This childish dismissal finally made Old Master Liu lose control of his temper.

“How can such an inauspicious evil woman treat illness and save people? Beware that Heaven will not tolerate it,” he shouted tremblingly, pointing at the sky.

Qi Yue took a deep breath and stepped forward.

“Old Master Liu, can you please stop putting ‘inauspicious’ and ‘ominous’ on your lips all the time?” she said sternly. “There are no inauspicious or ominous things – only inauspicious and ominous human hearts! What kind of person sees what kind of things!”

At this point, she turned and called out for Yan’er.

Yan’er, who had been standing behind people by the door, immediately ran out.

“Yan’er, do you mind if everyone knows about your situation?” Qi Yue bent down and asked quietly.

Yan’er shook her head. Never mind telling about her situation – even if asked to die, this child wouldn’t hesitate.

Seeing Yan’er come out, Old Master Liu, who was about to say something, froze. If not for the name, he would hardly recognize her.

After all, he had never really seen what his granddaughter looked like, let alone now that she had changed appearance.

Changed appearance…

Old Master Liu looked at this little girl with some disbelief.

Large eyes, small nose, pointed cheeks, wearing the small nurse uniform that Qi Yue had specially made for her – she looked quite adorable, though the scar beside her mouth was somewhat regrettable.

Adorable…

Old Master Liu had never thought he would use this word for this child.

“This child originally had a cleft lip, what you commonly call a ‘rabbit mouth,'” Qi Yue said to the crowd, holding Yan’er’s hand.

At these words, the people on the street immediately turned pale with shock. Some wanted to avoid her while others crowded forward to look.

“Just because of this, when she was born, she was to be drowned by her own grandfather. Only through her mother’s desperate pleading was her life barely spared. Growing up under cold stares until now, she was again forced by her grandfather to be driven from home to a temple to die,” Qi Yue said.

Facing the surging crowd, Yan’er showed no retreat or fear. Instead, she stepped forward, straightening her back to let everyone see more clearly.

Look! She was no longer an ugly duckling – she was already a swan, though not yet beautiful enough, she would definitely become more beautiful.

“Inauspicious? Bad luck?” Qi Yue continued. “No, not at all. This is just a disease.”

Hearing this, the onlookers’ faces showed less fear and more curiosity, so even more people crowded forward, pushing Old Master Liu until he could barely stand.

“Since it’s a disease, it can be treated, so I treated her. Though she can’t be completely like a normal person, she’s no longer so frightening,” Qi Yue continued.

The onlookers looked at Yan’er seriously, pointing and exclaiming in amazement.

“You think sewing it up means she’s no longer rabbit-lipped?” Old Master Liu snorted. “No one can change the fact that she’s rabbit-lipped! Can’t change the fact that she’s inauspicious! Can’t change the fact that you’re both ominous!”

“Yes, that’s right, it can’t be changed – but it’s not us, it’s you!” Qi Yue raised her eyebrows and shouted. “Liu, this disease is hereditary. Marquis Dingxi’s mansion has never had this kind, so it must be from your family. I dare bet your family definitely has other rabbit-lipped children! If I lose this bet, I’ll kneel to you in the street!”

This Lady Qi loved betting with people most. Unfortunately, last time Wang Qingchun acted like a coward and ran away, so everyone didn’t get to see the kneeling spectacle. This time they should be able to see it, right?

For a moment, everyone’s attention shifted from Yan’er to Old Master Liu.

Earlier, as the focus of everyone’s attention, Old Master Liu had been pleased, but now he felt like he was on a grilling pan, uncomfortable all over.

“Liu, do you dare swear before your sage teacher whether I’ve lost or not! If you dare say it, I dare kneel!” Qi Yue stepped forward again, looking at Old Master Liu and shouting sternly.

Old Master Liu’s face turned pale, sweat beading on his forehead, his facial muscles twitching. Whether from sweat or the earlier crowding, his beard and clothes were somewhat disheveled – where was his earlier imposing manner?

“Say it quickly – what’s there to be afraid of?” the idle onlookers jeered.

At this moment, Qi Yue was actually no better off than Old Master Liu. Her palms were also sweating nervously – this was really a gamble…

“Yan’er,” came an old woman’s voice.

A short, fat old woman pushed through the crowd, looking at Yan’er with astonishment.

Yan’er also saw her, her expression hesitant, neither moving nor speaking.

“Are you Yan’er?” The old woman pushed away the person supporting her and rushed over in a few steps, looking at Yan’er with disbelief, grabbing her face and staring at her mouth and nose. “Your… your… how is it healed?”

“Grandmother,” Yan’er finally spoke.

At this, the old woman was even more surprised.

“You… your speech is also better?” she asked stammering again, her expression extremely shocked.

This past month, Yan’er had strictly followed Qi Yue’s requirements for voice and speech practice. Though delayed, children progress rapidly, and aside from individual pronunciations, her daily conversation had been corrected quite well.

“It was aunt who cured me,” Yan’er nodded and said loudly.

The old woman tremblingly rubbed her face.

“Cured? Cured?” she repeated. “It can be cured?”

“Of course it can be cured,” Qi Yue said. “And the earlier the treatment, the better. Yan’er’s was already late – if it had been done when she was a few months old, her recovery would be much better now.”

As she spoke, she reached out to pat Yan’er’s head.

“It can be cured…” the old woman murmured, her body suddenly going soft and nearly collapsing.

Qi Yue quickly reached out to support her.

“What are you doing here? Who let you leave the house!” Old Master Liu shouted from the side.

As soon as his words fell, the old woman pushed Qi Yue away and rushed toward Old Master Liu.

“Is that your grandmother?” Qi Yue asked Yan’er quietly.

Yan’er nodded, but before she could speak, they heard a commotion from over there, accompanied by the old woman’s crying and shouting.

“Give me back my daughter!”

Qi Yue and Yan’er looked over in astonishment to see the old woman had actually grabbed Old Master Liu’s beard with one hand while wildly beating him with the other.

The old woman’s actions were unexpected to everyone, even Old Master Liu hadn’t anticipated it, and he was immediately in a sorry state.

“What are you doing? How dare you!” he shouted angrily.

But it was useless. The old woman seemed to use all her life’s strength, clutching the old master’s beard tightly and beating him fiercely.

“Give me back my daughter! You said she was a demon! You said rabbit lip was inauspicious, you said she couldn’t live! You made me drown her with my own hands!” the old woman screamed, her voice hoarse. “My daughter! She was just so tiny! My daughter! I drowned her!”

By the end she was hysterical, unable to stand, and collapsed softly, her hand still tightly clutching Old Master Liu’s beard, actually tearing out a tuft.

The people on the street were in uproar.

Qi Yue was also stunned. Indeed… she had guessed right…

Last time at Marquis Dingxi’s mansion, when she mentioned heredity, she had noticed Old Master Liu’s expression was wrong. Such a sharp-tongued old man had surprisingly not refuted at that moment, and when his son refuted, he didn’t support him either. If not guilty conscience, what was it? There must have been such patients among their ancestors.

So she had gambled, also invoking scholars’ reverence for sages. What if the old Liu head betrayed the sages for the sake of face and refused to admit it? Would she kneel?

Just kidding – was she, Qi Yue, that kind of person? She hadn’t said whether the Liu family’s other cleft lip children were in the past or future. If not in the past, who could guarantee there wouldn’t be any in the future?

When it was confirmed there really were none in the future, it wouldn’t be too late to kneel. As for when that would be, who knows…

Now it was good – even if Old Master Liu didn’t admit it, someone else would testify for him.

Old Master Liu’s face was deathly pale, his soul lost.

“…My daughter…” the old woman sat collapsed on the ground, tears streaming down her face, gesturing and swaying in front of her, “…she was just so tiny… you said my mother had ill intentions feeding me rabbit meat… I cut off relations with my family… you said I gave birth to a rabbit-lipped child because I was inauspicious, and I couldn’t hold my head up in your house for decades… but it turns out…”

She couldn’t continue, looking down at her empty hands.

For decades, whenever she woke in the middle of the night, she could still see that baby.

She never gave birth to another daughter in her lifetime – this was Heaven’s punishment for her…

When Yan’er was born, she fainted from shock.

That was her daughter coming back for revenge…

The commotion on the street stopped. Looking at this old woman sitting on the ground, lost and dispirited, everyone around couldn’t help but redden their eyes.

Killing one’s own child with one’s own hands – for a mother, was there anything more painful and worse than death than this?

Qi Yue quickly pulled Yan’er over.

This old person was advanced in years, and her emotions were too agitated – she mustn’t have an incident.

“Grandmother, don’t cry,” Yan’er said, taking the old woman’s hand.

Previously she had hardly interacted with this grandmother, but seeing the old woman cry like this, the little girl’s nature couldn’t help but offer comfort.

Old Lady Liu looked at Yan’er, her eyes blank and lifeless for a moment.

“…Chenghui…” she murmured, grabbing Yan’er’s hand. “Chenghui… my daughter!”

She finally burst into loud sobs, hugging Yan’er tightly.

Yan’er was frightened and tried to struggle, but Qi Yue quickly shook her head.

“Let your grandmother cry it out. She’ll be better after crying,” she said.

Yan’er naturally obeyed Qi Yue’s words, so she let the old woman hold her, even reaching out her little hand to pat the old woman’s back in imitation, making soothing sounds like her mother used to comfort her.

Old Lady Liu wailed loudly.