Xu Runli's fingernails dug deep into the cracks of the blue bricks, and the coal dust seeping between her fingers was like an indelible stain.

She stared intently at the chipped porcelain statue of the Kitchen God beside the stove. The statue's lips curled into a blurry smile, as if mocking her current disheveled state.

Jiang Jianhua was stunned by what he saw.

Although she didn't know what old grudges existed between the two, just hearing the words "IOU" made her imagine something...

"I'll talk!" she suddenly shouted, her voice hoarse like a piece of iron that had been sanded down: "I, Xu Runli, slipped a complaint letter into the army's suggestion box in the middle of the night, trying to ruin Yun Tangyin's reputation, and even instigated Jiang Jianhua to steal the account book, trying to make the Fu family's life miserable!"

The moment the first sentence was uttered, Jiang Jianhua turned his face away, unable to bear listening. These words were like a red-hot iron, burning his ears.

The steam hadn't dissipated yet, making Xu Runli's voice sound heavy, each word landing on the ground and scattering fine dust.

Yun Tangyin leaned against the stove, twirling the iron spatula in her hand. The cold glint of the spatula's edge reflected in her eyes: "Continue. Explain clearly why you did this. Is it really for Jiang Jianhua, or for your own ulterior motives?"

Xu Runli's shoulders trembled violently, her forehead pressed against the cold blue bricks, humiliation seeping into her bones from her knees: "I'm jealous of you! I'm jealous that you're Yun Zhixiong's daughter, jealous that you can marry into the Fu family, jealous that even if you're not the eldest daughter, you live a more respectable life than me!"

She suddenly raised her head, tears mingling with coal dust and streaming down her face, leaving black streaks: "I've watched you wear new clothes and eat white steamed buns since I was little, while I can only pick up what you leave behind! Why can you still stand up while I have to kneel?"

“I’m not like you, living like a rat in a gutter.” Yun Tangyin slammed the spatula down on the stove, making a harsh clanging sound. “I married into the Fu family because Fu Yucheng was willing to marry me. If you really had any backbone, you should have earned your own dignity, instead of kneeling on the ground and listing other people’s faults like this.”

Jiang Jianhua finally couldn't help but speak up: "Yin, Yinyin, that's enough... She's already like this."

She didn't even call Yun Tangyin "sister-in-law," but simply "Yinyin."

"Almost?" Yun Tangyin glanced at her. "When she encouraged you to secretly alter the accounts last time, why didn't you say almost? When she was putting a letter in the suggestion box last night, why didn't you say almost?"

Jiang Jianhua's face turned red and white as he was being talked about. He squatted down, clutching the hem of his clothes, and his eyes even reddened: "I just feel... we're all relatives, there's no need to make a scene like this."

"Relatives?" Xu Runli suddenly scoffed. "She, Jiang Jianhua, considers me a relative? You're all the same! You're all the same kind of people!"

“You’ve put yourself in a lower position.” Yun Tangyin bent down, picked up the coarse cloth from the ground, and threw it in front of Xu Runli. “Get up. You didn’t kowtow, but you’ve made your point. Since you’re relatively honest, I can hold off on showing you the IOU for now.”

Xu Runli stared at the handkerchief stained with coal dust, then suddenly sprang to her feet like a lit firecracker, lunging at Yun Tangyin: "I'll teach you to be a hypocrite! I'll teach you to pretend to be magnanimous!"

Her fingernails aimed straight at Yun Tangyin's face, but Yun Tangyin grabbed her wrist with her other hand.

Yun Tangyin tightened her knuckles, causing Xu Runli to scream in pain, and her wrist quickly turned red.

"Still want to fight?" Yun Tangyin pushed her towards the door. "Looks like I wasted my breath. You're the kind of person who, even when I give you a way out, you insist on crawling into the mud."

Xu Runli was pushed and slammed into the door frame, her lower back hitting the door latch, making her wince in pain.

She watched Yun Tangyin straighten her rumpled clothes, and saw Jiang Jianhua standing there helplessly. Suddenly, she felt dizzy; she had lost completely.

"Yun Tangyin," she said, steadying herself against the doorframe, her voice filled with a desperate resolve, "You think this will make me submit? Let me tell you, I know a secret about you, a secret that will make Fu Yucheng divorce you immediately!"

Yun Tangyin paused for a moment, then sneered, "Oh? Then tell me."

Xu Runli's face froze instantly. Wasn't she scared at all?

Xu Runli's fingers, gripping the door frame, turned white. The pain in her lower back hadn't subsided when Yun Tangyin's smug and fearless demeanor made her feel choked up.

She thought that revealing the "secret" would make the other party panic, but she didn't expect that Yun Tangyin's eyes were completely unmoved, like a cat looking at a mouse jumping under its paws, with eyes full of "Let's see what other tricks you can come up with."

"Stop pretending!" Xu Runli raised her voice, trying to cover up her guilt with volume. "Do you think Fu Yucheng really doesn't know about your past? When you were in the Yun family, you...you..."

After you've been talking for a while, Xu Runli still hasn't given you any further information.

It's not that she's afraid to speak, but if such a nuclear weapon-level secret were easily revealed now, wouldn't that just give Yun Tangyin time to come up with a solution?

Xu Runli bit her lip.

Finally, he forced out a curse through gritted teeth: "Yun Tangyin! You fucking deserve to die a horrible death!"

Yun Tangyin seemed to be burned by those words, her brows furrowed sharply, and the shovel in her hand slammed onto the stove with a "clang," sparks flying to Xu Runli's feet.

"Watch your mouth." She took two steps forward, casting a shadow over Xu Runli's face. "You think keeping that stale stuff to yourself will be your lifeline? Let me tell you, even if you run to the regimental headquarters and shout yourself hoarse, Fu Yucheng will still believe me, unlike some people who have to make up lies to coax their own men."

Xu Runli was intimidated by the coldness in her eyes and subconsciously shrank back, her lower back hitting the door latch, causing her to gasp in pain: "Don't try to intimidate me with Fu Yucheng! He believes you now because he hasn't seen your true colors! Once I present the evidence, he'll skin you alive!"

"Evidence?" Yun Tangyin laughed, her laughter laced with icy coldness. "Xu Runli, your little tricks are nothing more than child's play in my eyes."

She suddenly raised her voice, deliberately making sure that the military wives passing by outside the courtyard could hear her: "If you really have the guts, go to Fu Yucheng's unit right now and tell them that I, Yun Tangyin, am hiding a shameful secret! Let the whole regiment see that you, Xu Runli, dare to defile even Fu Yucheng's men!"

Jiang Jianhua was so frightened that he quickly pulled Yun Tangyin away: "Are you crazy! How can you say such things out loud?"

"Why can't I say?" Yun Tangyin pried her hands away, her eyes flashing with a frightening light. "I've done nothing wrong, and even if she makes up a story, Fu Yucheng knows who I am. But you, Jiang Jianhua, do you still consider her a relative? When she cursed me to die a horrible death, did you treat me like a relative?"

Xu Runli's face turned pale and then flushed.

She heard the voices of military wives greeting her from outside the courtyard, and knew that if she continued to make a scene, she would only embarrass herself.

Those so-called "evidence" are nothing but baseless rumors. If they were brought out into the open, she would definitely be the first to be scolded as a "troublemaker."

"I'm not going to argue with you." Xu Runli clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms. "We'll see. The day you're kicked out of the Fu family, I'll be burning paper money for you at your doorstep!"

She turned and ran after she finished speaking, but after only two steps, she was hit in the back by a spatula thrown by Yun Tangyin.

It's a good thing she didn't touch the cleaver right now, otherwise a gleaming cleaver would have been flying over and splitting Xu Runli's head open.