“Shi Ning!” Shi Qingyin shrieked, her voice laced with fury, as she hurled the fake cockroach at Shi Ning.
Just then, Qin Heye, having finished washing his hands, strode into the dining room. Witnessing the projectile, he swiftly intercepted the simulated insect before it reached Shi Ning. He fixed Shi Qingyin with an icy stare. “Bullying my wife?”
Shi Guoqiang’s face darkened. “Shi Qingyin, what are you doing? Throwing a cockroach at Ningning—what do you mean by that?” The pleasant dinner had now devolved into chaos. Shi Guoqiang’s previous favorable impression of Shi Qingyin as a sweet girl was completely evaporated.
Shi Guogang, flustered, reprimanded his daughter. “Nonsense! Apologize to your sister!”
Shi Qingyin, having endured a childhood in a squalid home where she was frequently bitten by cockroaches and even had one crawl into her ear, harbored an extreme phobia. The mere mention of the creature filled her with revulsion. Now, she was a trembling mess of indignation and fury, tears welling in her eyes as she pointed an accusing finger at Shi Ning. “I won’t apologize! It was Shi Ning who put that fake cockroach on me! Shi Ning bullied me!” The “electronic toy” Pei Qian had delivered wasn’t the intimate item she’d imagined; it was a simulated cockroach, a cruel prank orchestrated by Shi Ning! Cockroaches! What girl wouldn’t scream, tremble, and cry in disgust at the sight of them?
Shi Qingyin shed two lines of tears, appealing to Qin Heye and Shi Guoqiang. “Master Qin, Uncle, sister bullied me! Woo woo!” She was convinced that this time, they wouldn’t side with Shi Ning.
Tao Bichun clutched Shi Qingyin, her own face etched with distress, and cast a reproachful look at Shi Ning. “Xiao Ning, you’re not satisfied with our family, so we’ve decided to move out. Why do you still bully Yinyin like this?”
Shi Guogang, red-faced with embarrassment, scolded both Tao Bichun and Shi Qingyin. “Stop talking. We have lived in my eldest brother’s house for over ten years. He has been nothing but good to us. We should be content and grateful. Xiao Ning will be happier if she does this. Yinyin shouldn’t take it too seriously. It’s nothing.”
Tao Bichun scoffed. “If you hadn’t dropped out of school to support your eldest brother’s college education and given him his first bit of capital, would we have to live under someone else’s roof?”
Shi Guogang’s face grew dark, and he roared at Tao Bichun, “Shut up!”
Tao Bichun, frustrated and defeated, fell silent, embracing a pale Shi Qingyin. Mother and daughter wept quietly together.
Shen Xizhou, observing Shi Qingyin’s tears and the fake cockroach, his expression suddenly darkening, turned his cold gaze to Shi Ning. “Shi Ning, what are you doing? Don’t you know why Yinyin and I are engaged? As for being jealous of Yinyin and bullying their family like this? It’s actually you who should be grateful and repay the favor!”
Shi Guoqiang was caught off guard, suddenly entangled in a moral dilemma. His younger brother had indeed been incredibly supportive in his strugling years , and a wave of guilt washed over him. But he couldn’t bring himself to scold his precious daughter, who had finally brought her son-in-law home. Shi Guoqiang opened his mouth to speak.
Butler Zhao, always attuned to Shi Guoqiang’s thoughts, quickly whispered, “Mr. Shi, your daughter doesn’t want you.”
Shi Guoqiang’s resolve instantly hardened. He turned to Shen Xizhou, his face cold. “Xizhou, you and Yinyin are not married yet. You are an outsider; don’t interfere in our family affairs.” Then, he addressed Tao Bichun. “Second Brother’s wife should not be so arbitrary. It may be a toy belonging to some servant’s child. How can you be so sure it belongs to my Ningning?” Shi Guoqiang then looked sternly at Shi Qingyin. “And Yinyin, you have a history of provoking Ningning and Huaijing. What Ningning says to you is often distorted when you relay it to me. You have no trust in me. Who knows if this is another one of your self-inflicted tricks?”
Uncle didn’t believe her and chose Shi Ning! Shi Qingyin felt a fresh wave of injustice. This time, she truly hadn’t provoked anyone, and it wasn’t a trick! Shi Ning had genuinely scared her with a fake cockroach! Shi Qingyin was so wronged she burst into renewed tears. “No! It was Shi Ning who asked Assistant Pei to buy the cockroaches! It was my sister who bullied me and scared me!” She sobbed. “Uncle, Master Qin, just believe me, it was really my sister!”
Shi Ning regarded Shi Qingyin with a calm smile. “Cousin, are you so sure it was me?” She raised an eyebrow. “I think this cockroach toy seems to have a video recording function. Why don’t we open it and see what the situation is?”
Shi Qingyin, mid-sobbing lament, froze. She stared at Shi Ning in shock. “It has a video recording function?”
Shi Ning’s smile widened. “Yes.”
It has a video recording! What if it recorded her under the table, wiggling her foot, trying to seduce Qin Heye? Uncle was already partial to Shi Ning. If he found out she was trying to flirt with Qin Heye, he would despise her even more . Shi Qingyin’s guilt overwhelmed her, forcing her to backtrack, her voice filled with frustration. “Since there’s a video recording function and my sister is willing to watch the video, it must not be my sister. I misunderstood my sister.”
Shi Ning raised an eyebrow. “You scolded me so many times and accused my father of mistreating you. And now you’re just going to dismiss it as a ‘misunderstanding’?”
Shi Guogang immediately scolded Shi Qingyin. “Hurry up and apologize to Xiao Ning!”
Shi Qingyin, brimming with unvoiced grievances, could only bow her head. “Sister, I’m sorry.” She then turned and bowed to Shi Guoqiang. “I’m sorry, Uncle, I misunderstood my sister.”
Shi Ning tilted her head, her gaze shifting to Tao Bichun. “Where is the second aunt?”
Tao Bichun, equally depressed and aggrieved, offered an awkward apology. “I’m sorry, I didn’t expect Yinyin to misunderstand you.”
Shi Ning offered no words of forgiveness. She looked up at Shi Guoqiang, feigning hurt. “Dad, you see, Second Aunt and Cousin have a huge prejudice against me. It’s obviously not my fault, but you blame me first and let them teach me a lesson. Over the years, our father-daughter relationship has become worse and worse. Is this the reason?”
Shi Guoqiang’s mind raced, recalling every quarrel he’d had with Shi Ning over the years. They were all connected to Shi Qingyin and her family. They had been deliberately provoking the father-daughter relationship, hadn’t they? Shi Guoqiang felt a strong urge to banish them, to not even let them finish dinner.
Shi Guogang, sensing Shi Guoqiang’s darkening mood, quickly apologized humbly. “Brother, Xiaoning, it’s Yinyin’s fault this time. I, as a father, didn’t educate her well. I will educate her properly later. Now that something like this has happened, we’re too embarrassed to continue eating. We’ll leave first; you guys eat slowly.”
Shi Guoqiang felt a pang of guilt, but when he looked at Shi Ning, he ruthlessly suppressed it. He didn’t try to keep them, merely offered a polite, “Well, come visit more often in the future.” A visit, not a return home.
Shi Guogang hummed in acknowledgement, nudging Shi Qingyin and Tao Bichun, signaling them to leave quickly. He didn’t want to completely undo the small amount of goodwill he’d salvaged.
Shi Qingyin, her plan unfulfilled, seethed with frustration. “There are still some things in my room that haven’t been cleaned up. I’ll go and clean them up.” She turned and headed for the stairs.
At that moment, Qin Heye’s cold voice cut through the air. “Wait a minute.”
Shi Qingyin turned back, a flicker of hope in her eyes. “Mr. Qin, is there anything else?” Could he be backing her up?
Qin Heye walked towards Shi Qingyin. “Stretch out your hand. I have a gift for you.”
“Gift?” Shi Qingyin’s heart fluttered, even more flattered.
“Yeah,” Qin Heye responded coolly, then asked, his voice laced with an edge, “You shouldn’t dislike the gift I gave you and throw it away, right?”
Shi Qingyin, blushing, couldn’t resist a triumphant glance at Shi Ning. “Of course not.” As she spoke, she extended her hand towards Qin Heye.
Qin Heye, too, extended his hand, holding a piece of paper. He unfolded it and placed the “gift” into Shi Qingyin’s palm. Shi Qingyin’s eyes widened with anticipation.
But as she looked down, she saw a real, living cockroach, twitching and jumping in her palm.
“Ahhhh!!!”