Qin i saw Jie Anqi’s bleeding finger. The normal reaction to an injury like that would be to clutch the wounded finger and try to stop the bleeding. Jie Anqi, however, did nothing. She let her finger bleed without treating it. Qin i found this strange. It was just a cut on her finger. It wouldn’t bleed much, and her body’s natural clotting would stop it.
Since Jie Anqi wasn’t treating it herself, Qin i certainly wasn’t going to get involved.
"Jie Anqi, this isn’t the first ti you’ve washed dishes," Jie Jingchen’s harsh voice reached Jie Anqi’s ears.
Jie Anqi’s expression froze as anger flared within her. She shot him a furious glare, but it faltered when she t Jie Jingchen’s cold, sharp eyes. In an instant, she reined in her arrogance. Staring at her injured finger, she asked resentfully, "Jingchen, what do you an by that?"
"You know exactly what I an," Jie Jingchen said, his sharp gaze glinting with coldness, and a frigid sneer playing on his lips.
"Jingchen, you’re going too far! How could you suspect I did it on purpose?" Jie Anqi’s eyes reddened, and she looked utterly wronged.
"Do you dare say you didn’t do it on purpose?" Jie Jingchen demanded coldly, his gaze so sharp that Jie Anqi had nowhere to hide.
Jie Anqi gritted her teeth, stood up, and stared at Jie Jingchen with her head held high. "I dare. I didn’t do it on purpose."
"Swear it." Jie Jingchen had no intention of letting her off the hook. As she stared in stunned disbelief, he pressed her further. "If you’re lying, you will never get married."
Qin i stared at Jie Jingchen in astonishnt. This scene felt familiar; she had forced Granny Guo to swear an oath with the sa aggressive, overwhelming presence.
’Granny Guo was just a neighbor, but Jie Anqi was his cousin. Forcing his own cousin to make such a terrible vow... Jie Jingchen is taking this way too seriously,’ Qin i thought. ’Whether she did it on purpose or not, does it really matter?’
What Qin i truly disapproved of was using self-harm to achieve a goal. ’That’s not love, it’s coercion. Even if she gets what she wants, a marriage and love obtained through such ans would be suffocating.’
Pushed into a corner, Jie Anqi flew into a frenzy. She rushed up to Jie Jingchen and shrieked, "Yes! I did do it on purpose! I deliberately hurt myself because I want his pity! Jingchen, you forced into this! I begged you for help, but not only did you refuse, you belittled ! He’s nice to Jing Qi and distant with . I had no other way! This was the only thing I could do!"
’Jie Anqi is so extre.’ Qin i was dumbfounded. She instantly understood why Jie Jingchen had said Jie Anqi wasn’t good enough for Qin Xiang. She personally disliked Jie Anqi, but it was a simple dislike—a feeling that she wasn’t right for her younger brother.
She didn’t truly know either Jie Anqi or Qin Xiang.
Jie Jingchen, however, was different. He knew Jie Anqi, and he knew Qin Xiang.
’Soone who can be that cruel to themselves is truly terrifying.’ Qin i felt a wave of relief that Qin Xiang wasn’t interested in Jie Anqi. If he had fallen for her and they had married hastily, their inability to get along would have dood the marriage. It wouldn’t have been happy; it would have just been a complete ss.
Jie Jingchen’s eyes were deep and frigid. He said coldly, "Jie Anqi, you shouldn’t have cut your finger. You should have slit your wrist."
Qin i’s lip twitched. ’Cutting a finger and slitting a wrist have completely different outcos. One won’t kill you, the other will. Is Jie Jingchen actually telling her to go die?’
Provoked by Jie Jingchen, Jie Anqi couldn’t contain her rage. Whether out of spite or sothing else, she glared at him viciously. "Slit my wrist? Fine, I’ll slit my wrist."
Jie Anqi spun around, ran a few steps, and bent down to pick up a shard of broken ceramic from the floor. Without hesitation, she moved to bring it to her wrist.
Qin i’s pupils contracted. Seeing that Jie Anqi wasn’t bluffing, she lunged forward, her movents swift as she grabbed the hand holding the shard.
’They’re insane. They’re all insane. Jie Jingchen is a lunatic, and so is Jie Anqi.’
"Let go, Sister-in-law," Jie Anqi snarled, her eyes bloodshot and filled with a cruel resolve.
A flash of fear crossed Qin i’s eyes. She warned, "Jie Anqi, this isn’t a ga. People die from this."
"Neither you nor Jingchen will help . I might as well be dead." A sinister aura enveloped Jie Anqi, and a hint of sorrow seeped through her furious gaze.
’She’s threatening suicide.’ Qin i froze for a mont, then glanced at Jie Jingchen’s indifferent face. He wasn’t the least bit surprised, which ant he was used to this. In that instant, Qin i understood. Granny favored boys over girls, yet she doted on this particular granddaughter. To win Granny’s favor, re sches weren’t enough. One had to be ruthless—not just toward others, but even more so toward oneself.
It was a ruthlessness that forced people to favor her. If she didn’t get that favoritism, there was no telling what kind of earth-shattering drama she might create. And that ruthlessness was directed inward, with a cruelty that no one else would dare to imitate.
The word ’psycho’ surfaced in her mind. Qin i abruptly let go of Jie Anqi’s hand, raising her own hands as she took two steps back.
Because Qin i had let go so suddenly while Jie Anqi was pulling against her, the shard nearly sliced into her wrist for real.
"You..." Jie Anqi stared at Qin i in a daze. ’Why did she suddenly let go?’
"Go on, do it," Qin i said, her voice clear and filled with a chilling coldness. ’If I give in once, I’ll have to give in every single ti. With soone as extre as her, I can’t let her think she can manipulate . I can’t let her get her hooks into .’
"Sister-in-law, what do you an?" Jie Anqi asked, confused.
"Between you and my brother, I choose my brother," Qin i stated unequivocally.
Jie Anqi stared at Qin i in disbelief, then glanced at the impassive Jie Jingchen. With a surge of desperation, she gritted her teeth, and the sharp shard sliced open her wrist. Bright red blood flowed out instantly.
Qin i’s heart leaped. ’She actually did it?’ The scent of blood made her frown. When she saw that Jie Jingchen still wasn’t making a move to stop it, she didn’t soften either. Any thought of a healer’s compassion was thrown to the wind.
Just monts before, Qin i had noticed several scars on both of Jie Anqi’s wrists. This wasn’t the first ti she had used such thods to achieve her goals.
Qin i glanced at Jie Jingchen. His face was like ice, his amber eyes filled with a sinister gloom.
Seeing the husband and wife watching her coldly, Jie Anqi grew frantic. The color drained from her face, leaving it deathly pale, and a resentful, teary glint appeared in her eyes. "I want to see Qin Xiang."
Seeing that Jie Anqi was still hopelessly obsessed, Jie Jingchen’s gaze grew even more sinister, like two sharp daggers aid right at her. His voice was ice. "If you’re going to die, do it sowhere else. Don’t dirty my kitchen."
Tears stread down Jie Anqi’s pale cheeks, her expression twisting into a ferocious grimace. She tightened her grip on the shard and carved another gash into her wrist. "I want to see Qin Xiang."
Qin i’s delicate brows knitted together slightly. With her almond-shaped eyes narrowed, she said calmly, "Qin Xiang isn’t ho."
At these words, Jie Anqi’s expression froze. Her sharp gaze shot to Qin i. "Impossible. You’re lying."
Qin i raised a hand and pinched the bridge of her nose. The corner of her mouth lifted in a slight, detached smile as she replied in the sa placid tone, "I’m not lying. My brother went out with Jing Qi."
Jie Anqi shook her head, still refusing to believe it. "You’re lying to ! You’re all horrible people! Qin Xiang, co out! If you don’t co out right now, I’ll die right here for you to see!"
"You want to die? Simple enough." Jie Jingchen’s roar made Qin i jump. She watched as he strode over to the knife block, grabbed a cleaver, walked back to Jie Anqi, and rcilessly offered it to her. "Here. Go for the neck."
Jie Anqi froze, staring timidly at the cleaver, which glinted with a silver light. A single glance was enough to tell the blade was razor-sharp.
’This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.’ When she threatened to kill herself, they were supposed to stop her. The more they tried to stop her, the more intensely she could threaten them until she got what she wanted. But not only did Jingchen not stop her, he handed her a weapon and told her to get on with it.
And her sister-in-law had tried to talk her down, only to give up halfway through. The whole situation had completely thrown her off; she didn’t know what to do anymore.
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