I looked serious, staring behind Qiu Zhuqing. Qiu Zhuqing immediately shivered. Her exquisitely made - up face couldn't help but want to turn backward, but she forced herself to hold back and said, "Stop playing tricks. How did you know my husband's name?!"
"Oh!! Oh..."
I ignored Qiu Zhuqing. Instead, I nodded seriously at the air behind her. Before long, a look of pity appeared on my face. "He was scalded to death by boiling water. How pitiful!"
"Du Xinghe!!"
After hearing my last words, Qiu Zhuqing could no longer suppress her fear. She stepped back repeatedly, screaming and pointing at me. "If you keep playing these tricks, I'll kill you!!"
"A clear conscience fears no accusation."
I withdrew my gaze and looked at her with a smile. "Mrs. Li, I was just daydreaming and talking to the air. Why are you so scared? Could it be that what I said casually is actually true?"
"It's fake! Are you crazy!"
Qiu Zhuqing had retreated to the wall. Her curvy body was tightly pressed against it. "Mingyue, hurry up! Call someone! Du Xinghe is going to kill your mother!"
Saying this, like a real crazy person, she tore open her collar. Somehow, she had grabbed the fruit - cutting knife that was originally on the tea table and gently drew it across her neck.
"Hey!! Don't be stupid!!"
A chill ran down my back because I saw the skinny old man behind Qiu Zhuqing grinning wickedly as he placed his bony, chicken - claw - like fingers on Qiu Zhuqing's fingers painted with red nail polish.
"You're the stupid one!!"
Qiu Zhuqing gave me a smug smile and then shrieked sharply, "Help!! Du Xinghe is trying to kill someone!!"
I never expected that she and her daughter would use such a cheap ruse of self - inflicted harm. Were they trying to frame me?
Li Mingyue also started screaming loudly. "Help! Help... Du Xinghe has gone crazy! She's trying to kill my mother!!"
As she shouted, she rushed forward and pushed me on the back, shoving me in front of Qiu Zhuqing.
Qiu Zhuqing's knife - holding hand swiped at my face. I quickly tried to dodge backward, but my back was blocked by Li Mingyue. I had to lean back desperately to barely avoid the knife on my face. However, the blade cut across my chest. The pearl pendant was cut off, and the front of my evening dress was slit open with a long gash. In an instant, my ugly, dark - colored scars on my chest were revealed in front of Qiu Zhuqing. The woman stared blankly for a moment and then burst out laughing.
"What... What are these on you?"
She pointed at those ugly marks and said to Li Mingyue, "Is this the secret that stupid girl Si Xirui said she had?"
"Yes! Xirui said Du Xinghe had a venereal disease. I thought..."
What Li Mingyue thought was a venereal disease was an infectious disease contracted through sexual intercourse. She didn't expect it to be a skin disorder.
"What did you think? Such disgusting things. If your Brother Achen saw them, he'd be so disgusted. He has a cleanliness fetish, right!"
Qiu Zhuqing finally stopped laughing. She tried to put the knife away. "Si Xirui is so stupid. If she had said it earlier, would we have had to act out this play? We could have just stripped her naked and thrown her in front of the guests, so everyone could see, and so your Brother Achen could see what's on Du Xinghe, who is about to become the mistress of the Si family!"
"Great! Mom, I didn't expect your plans to be more and more perfect!"
Li Mingyue sincerely admired her mother. The mistress of a family should have such means!
"Humph, learn well in the future. Don't let the other women in the Si family ride roughshod over us."
Qiu Zhuqing wanted to throw the silver dinner knife back on the table, but unexpectedly, her fingers seemed to be out of control. She held the handle of the knife in a twisted posture and slowly placed it back on her neck.
"Ah!!"
Qiu Zhuqing wanted to scream, but it was as if something was blocking her mouth.
She tried to struggle to let her daughter notice her strange posture, but Li Mingyue was overjoyed. She reached out to tear my clothes. "Du Xinghe, your dirty and cheap body, Brother Achen must have never seen it. I'll expose it for him! He'll surely be grateful to me! He won't want a dirty woman!"
She seemed to be talking to herself and showing off to me.
I endured the urge not to tell her that Si Jiangchen already knew about these things on my body, and he was even trying to get rid of them!
There was already a "bang - bang" sound of someone pounding on the door outside. Li Mingyue turned around and ran to open the door.
She didn't notice at all that her mother had turned the knife around and was pointing it straight at her own throat.
She shook her head desperately. Her other hand grabbed the knife - holding hand tightly, trying to stop the knife from stabbing into her throat.
She couldn't make a sound at all because the old man who claimed to be "Li Jiuming" was floating behind her with red - eyed fury. One hand covered her mouth, and the other grabbed her wrist. Qiu Zhuqing watched helplessly as the blade slowly sank into the flesh of her throat.
Qiu Zhuqing looked at me in horror, trying to plead for help, but I covered the cut part of my evening dress on my chest and took a step back, slowly shaking my head.
Watching the old man gradually fulfill his wish, I couldn't help but sigh inwardly. How much unwillingness must there be to create such a strong resentment that even an intangible soul could control a living person!
"Help!"
Li Mingyue had opened the door. Several soldiers from Si Jiangchen's army rushed in. They were originally natives of Jinling. After they came back, besides training, they served as guards in the Si family. When they heard the cry for help, they naturally rushed over like the wind.
At the same time, the old man had already controlled Qiu Zhuqing's hand and inserted the knife bit by bit into her throat. The intense pain and fear made Qiu Zhuqing let out a howl at the last moment.
"Ah... Uh!!"
The scream was like that of a chicken with its neck wrung. It stopped abruptly after only half a cry!
The moment Li Mingyue turned around happily, she happened to see a jet of blood spurt from her mother's neck.
"Mom!!"
Li Mingyue was stunned. There was no such a tragic and serious injury in the play they had rehearsed.
She suddenly screamed and pointed at me standing far away. "Someone! Catch her! She killed my mother!!"
The people who rushed in only saw a spurt of fresh blood from Qiu Zhuqing, and then her body twisted and slumped against the wall.
They all recognized this gentle and elegant woman as the aunt of Commander Si.
Now that she had died a tragic death in the private room, there were only three people in this small space.
One had fallen in a pool of blood, one was her daughter, and the other was me, who had nothing to do with them!
... Then, I was undoubtedly the prime suspect!