Chen Wanyue was also furious. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out how things had gotten to this point.

In her last life, he was clearly a childless merchant. After two drunkards from Sang Village saved him, he’d taken them to the Prefecture, bought them a residence to settle their families, and even chosen one of them to inherit all his wealth.

’How is it that in this life, he’s not a merchant, but a human trafficker instead?’

In truth, it wasn’t that Chen Wanyue couldn’t figure out the reason; she simply didn’t want to.

Thinking back carefully, it seemed that in her past life, neither of the two families who moved away had ever returned to their hometown.

Occasionally, when fellow villagers couldn’t survive and went to seek their help, they too seemed to quickly disappear without a trace.

’If there was no news, it must mean they died on the road.’

Traveling long distances back then was a gamble with one’s life. Unless it was a doted-upon, precious child, families wouldn’t even bother to search for the missing person.

Perhaps because of this, the merchant’s evil deeds were never exposed.

At least, before she died, no such news had ever spread.

So, the change must have been because of her.

She had meddled. Then, her mother had overheard her conversation with her grandmother and gotten other ideas. This led to the merchant being rescued by her mother and two maternal uncles, while her grandparents were injured in the process.

Their injuries alerted her eldest uncle, who worked as a county magistrate at the county government. Her uncle hauled her father to the government office for interrogation and sent men to search the scene for useful information. And so, the merchant’s true colors were revealed.

In fact, when she first heard this news from her mother, Chen Wanyue didn’t believe it either.

But she had to believe it. Her mother wouldn’t lie to her, and the fact that those two villains were taken to the county government wasn’t a fabrication. She had no choice but to accept it.

Once she accepted it, looking back at the events of her past life revealed all sorts of inconsistencies.

’Those two drunkards and their families must have been sold by the merchant in the end. Even the villagers who went looking for them later must have met with misfortune.’

Otherwise, there was no explaining why they all vanished without a trace, like meat buns thrown at a dog.

Setting aside those distant matters, just the fact that she had given wrong information had caused her grandmother to deeply distrust her.

If she hadn’t repeatedly stressed that Li Cun would become a Scholar and that she would be a Scholar’s wife by the next year...

...and that once she was well-off, she could help elevate Li’an and Shou’an, her grandmother, in her fury, would have probably started working her like a donkey long ago.

On one side was her grandmother’s passive-aggressive attitude; on the other, her mother’s soft-spoken words—her mother was trying to brainwash her, hoping to get Wanyue on her side for the future.

Chen Wanyue could see it too. After this incident, her mother’s ambitions had been completely awakened.

She no longer planned to endure this stifling life with her father; she wanted to take Wanyue and leave. But this was not easy. The Chen family would never allow it, and she hadn’t found a new place to settle yet. So for the time being, she was only trying to brainwash her daughter without taking any further action.

These burdensome family affairs frustrated Chen Wanyue so much she wanted to scream at the sky. Seeing her cousin, who, after getting married, had not grown haggard but instead had a complexion like a peach blossom, rosier and fuller than ever, Chen Wanyue felt a surge of irritation.

She ignored her grandmother calling from behind her, saying only, "I’ll go see my cousin out," and followed Chen Wanqing outside.

"You must be living a comfortable life, Cousin. It makes sense. Zhao Jing likes you, Mrs. Zhao likes you, and the Zhao Family doesn’t have all that messy drama. Your days must be very pleasant."

Chen Wanqing didn’t stop, but walked briskly outward. "I have you to thank for that."

Chen Wanyue choked on her words, her face turning pale with anger.

But she wasn’t one to back down. She said, "Although Jing and I broke off our engagement, my connection with the Zhao Family is still there. Since it’s the New Year, I should go pay my respects to Mrs. Zhao."

Chen Wanyue looked provocatively at her cousin, refusing to believe she couldn’t hear the unspoken threat in her words.

’She was going to stir up trouble. She refused to believe that Mrs. Zhao, after being angered by her, wouldn’t take it out on her cousin later. If her cousin dared to resist, Mrs. Zhao would have a fit—maybe even die of anger on the spot. Then she’d see if Zhao Jing would still treat his wife the way he’d treated her in their past life.’

Chen Wanyue was being passive-aggressive, her words practically dripping with venom.

Only then did Chen Wanqing stop walking.

Seeing this, Chen Wanyue assumed she was scared and grew even more smug.

She was about to say something else to provoke her cousin, but Chen Wanqing spoke first.

"Are you planning to pay respects to Mother today? I’m afraid that won’t work. A granddaughter in her brother’s family is making her first visit home after getting married, so Mother was invited over to help entertain. If you want to wish her a happy new year, you’ll likely have to wait until late afternoon or after dark. Jing and I will be back by then. We can all talk with you together."