When Qin Shanshan pulled out the banner, she immediately caught everyone’s attention.
Qin Shanshan watched as everyone gathered around, her gaze finally landing on the supervisor’s front door not far away.
’I, Qin Shanshan, have come to demand justice for myself!’
"What’s going on, Shanshan?"
The crowd could already make out the words on it and hurriedly asked what was happening.
"Captain Tang, you’d better come out and see what’s going on!"
In less than two minutes, everyone—whether they were brushing their teeth, washing their faces, or still in bed—had heard about it. A dense crowd quickly formed around Qin Shanshan, surrounding her three-deep.
The supervisor heard the huge commotion as well and let out a deep sigh.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Tang Yuanxiao walked out of his house step by step, looking down at Qin Shanshan.
Qin Shanshan met his cold, loathing gaze and raised her voice.
"Tang Yuanxiao, you’re not even human!"
Tears streamed down Qin Shanshan’s face like pearls from a broken string.
She squeezed her eyes shut and choked out a shout.
"Seven days ago, Tang Yuanxiao conspired with his mother, plotted to take my body and steal my innocence, and now he’s abandoning me and refusing to take responsibility! I’m begging everyone here to get justice for me! I’m begging the leaders to get justice for me!"
Qin Shanshan’s voice was hoarse, and every word was filled with anguish.
She truly couldn’t take it anymore. She had suffered enough!
An uproar swept through the crowd.
In this day and age, something like this was rarely seen even out in the world, let alone in the family compound.
This was completely unprecedented.
The waves of chatter grew louder and louder.
"Qin Shanshan, are you telling the truth?"
"Tang Yuanxiao, is what Qin Shanshan saying true?"
"My god, how could something like this happen!"
"I knew something like this would happen. That Qin Shanshan is from their village. She followed them here. Tang Yuanxiao’s mother even said she was the wife she’d picked out for him."
"I heard that too. They said they were engaged, but things only quieted down after Tang Yuanxiao refused to acknowledge it."
"They said she was hired as a caregiver, but I heard she was never paid a wage. She was taking care of things as a future daughter-in-law."
"Qin Shanshan has been living with the Tang Family for a while now. It was bound to happen sooner or later!"
"I’ve been wanting to say something for a long time. Their living situation was a bad influence. And look, now something’s finally happened!"
The group of wives and older mothers, who spent their days gossiping about nothing, could turn even the most trivial matter into a major scandal. Now that something like this had actually happened, they were all buzzing with manic energy.
The men mixed in among them, however, looked skeptical.
"This can’t be possible. Tang Yuanxiao isn’t that kind of person. There must be more to the story."
"Someone should get the supervisor and Aunt Chang. This whole thing... SIGH..."
"Tang Yuanxiao, what’s wrong with you? Is what Qin Shanshan said true or not?"
Listening to the barrage of questions from all sides, seeing the way everyone was looking at him, and then looking at Qin Shanshan holding the banner and staring at him with pure hatred, Tang Yuanxiao’s face turned purple with rage as a vein throbbed on his forehead.
His heart sank to the pit of his stomach, yet he also felt a sense of, ’It’s finally happening.’
It was mixed with a hint of reckless abandon, as if he was already prepared for the worst.
This time, Qin Shanshan had made her decision. She was willing to sacrifice her own innocence and her future happiness to take Tang Yuanxiao down with her.
Tang Yuanxiao saw the supervisor and Aunt Chang approaching and finally spoke in a low voice.
"I’ll say it again, Qin Caihua. The person who took your innocence was not me. If it were me, I would absolutely take responsibility. But it wasn’t."
"If it wasn’t you, then who was it? Your own mother can testify that it was you! Who else could it have been?!"
With her face streaked with tears and her eyes bloodshot, all the love she had held for Tang Yuanxiao for years had turned into pure hatred.
’So this is the man I’ve loved for years, the man I risked everything for!’
’For him, I threw away my dignity, my self-respect, I threw away everything! And yet he treats me with such heartless cruelty!’
’Tang Yuanxiao, Tang Yuanxiao, Tang Yuanxiao!’
’You just wait!’
Qin Shanshan’s heart, once full of love, was now consumed by hatred. She despised Tang Yuanxiao, wishing she could drink his blood and devour his flesh.
The supervisor looked at the dense crowd, his expression turning ugly to the extreme.
Things had ultimately escalated to this point.
The worst possible outcome. It went without saying how damaging the repercussions would be; everyone understood that.
Tang Yuanxiao’s life was effectively ruined.
"The supervisor’s here." The crowd immediately parted to let him through.
As soon as the supervisor stepped inside the circle, Qin Shanshan immediately dropped to her knees before him.
She held up the banner and kowtowed, her forehead striking the ground with a THUD. "I beg you, Supervisor, get justice for me."
"Help her up, quickly."
The supervisor had barely spoken before Aunt Chang stepped forward to help her up.
"Whatever it is, you can say it properly."
Qin Shanshan immediately dropped to her knees again. "I want to formally accuse Tang Yuanxiao of the crime of rape! Please, Supervisor, get justice for me!"
The supervisor took a deep breath. "I will investigate this matter thoroughly and ensure justice is done. Please, get up."
He snapped his head toward Tang Yuanxiao. "Tang Yuanxiao, do you have anything to say?"
What could Tang Yuanxiao say? Only three words: "It wasn’t me."
His fists CRACKED. "It wasn’t me. I’ve been framed."
His voice and his denial were immediately drowned out by Qin Shanshan’s loud sobs and the crowd’s curses.
"’Framed,’ he says! Easy for you to say! You did it and now you won’t admit it!"
"If you didn’t want to take responsibility, you shouldn’t have led the girl on! You let her into your home, created this ambiguous situation, and now you disown it all? How can you be so shameless?"
"Exactly! You can’t just do something like that!"
It was true that Qin Shanshan’s behavior since her arrival hadn’t been entirely acceptable to everyone.
But people naturally sympathize with the underdog. Seeing that Qin Shanshan was a young woman who had lost her innocence, and that Tang Yuanxiao was denying it, they naturally sided with her.
The main thing was, this accusation didn’t come out of nowhere. Mrs. Tang had previously declared that Qin Shanshan was her chosen daughter-in-law, and their situation had always been ambiguous.
In an instant, Tang Yuanxiao became public enemy number one.
Yang Xiangyun stood a short distance away, listening to the clamor, unable to process what was happening for a long moment.
When she finally did, she nearly lost her footing.
Miao Zhi was home for summer vacation and had come to hang out with Yang Xiangyun. Seeing her friend’s state, she was both heartbroken and furious.
"I can’t believe Tang Yuanxiao is that kind of person! He’s a total scumbag!"
Qin Shanshan’s cries were utterly miserable. After the ordeal of the past few days, she was a complete wreck—it was a truly pitiful sight.
If this continued, the situation would spin out of control.
The supervisor raised his voice. "Alright! I will investigate this matter thoroughly. Starting now, he, Tang Yuanxiao—"
The supervisor had a commanding presence, so the crowd quieted down as he spoke. But just as he got to this point, a shout interrupted him.
"Supervisor, there’s a man outside looking for Qin Shanshan! He says he’s her fiancé."
Like everyone else, the supervisor couldn’t quite process it for a moment.
"What? A fiancé?"
For a moment, the supervisor couldn’t quite identify what he was feeling.
’Is this fiancé here to humiliate Tang Yuanxiao even further, to settle a score with him? Or is this person...?’
The supervisor was the first to react.
"Go bring him in!"
"Yes, sir." The guard at the rear gate of the family compound immediately acknowledged the order and ran off.
He left behind a bewildered and clamoring crowd.
As for the person at the center of it all, Qin Shanshan, when she heard the word "fiancé," she forgot to cry. She was more shocked than anyone.