Li Fangqi never expected Chu Nian to act so quickly. By the time she noticed someone reaching into her pocket, Chu Nian had already unscrewed the bottle cap and brought the bottle to her nose to smell it.

Chu Nian could smell the medicinal odor in the liquid, and there was also some undissolved white powder at the bottom of the bottle.

In this era, sleeping pills weren't restricted, but they were mostly in tablet form. Given the scarcity of pharmacies, it was unlikely Li Fangqi had obtained any sleeping pills. Considering the original owner's previous symptoms, Chu Nian guessed that the liquid might be a sleeping pill solution in which Li Fangqi had dissolved tablets beforehand for easier use.

"Give it back to me!" Li Fangqi finally reacted and lunged forward to snatch the bottle from Chu Nian's hand. Even if she couldn't take it, breaking it would be fine! Sigh, what a waste of these medicines, they're not easy to get!

She had planned it all out perfectly—what evidence would she have if it was smashed? But how could Chu Nian let her have her way? With a swift movement, she dodged and appeared in front of Liu Quan, raising her hand to pour the medicine into his mouth. By the time Liu Quan reacted, Chu Nian had already struck him in the back with a palm strike, instinctively tilting his head back to swallow the medicine.

"What...what did you give me to drink?" Liu Quan was terrified. "You young girl, how can you be so heartless? You wanted to eat my flesh just now, and now you've forced me to drink medicine. You're so cruel!"

Chu Nian smiled faintly and said, "I'm not as ruthless as you! You flatter me!"

Liu Quan was terrified, fearing he had drunk poison, and screamed loudly.

Everyone present looked at Chu Nian with great confusion: Why does this girl seem a bit off?

"Niannian, stop fooling around," Da Huan advised, then turned to Li Fangqi and asked, "Siya, what's in that bottle?"

Li Fangqi's eyes darted around and she said, "Oh, I heard that soaking orange peel in dew can reduce internal heat. I've been feeling a bit hot these past few days, so I went to collect some dew this morning."

Da Huan was relieved upon hearing this and said, "It's just dew. Liu Quan, stop howling, the dew isn't poisonous."

Liu Quan stopped crying and asked with some concern, "Is it really dew?"

Chu Nian asked with a smile, "Did it taste like dew when you drank it? As far as I know, dew is sweet. What did it taste like to you?"

"It's bitter!" Liu Quan exclaimed anxiously, "My mouth still tastes bitter!"

Li Fangqi asked, "Niannian, that's strange. How did you know the dew was sweet? Have you drunk it?"

Chu Nian: "Of course I've drunk it. When I was a child, I would go up the mountain to chop firewood and if there was no water, I would first look for some dew to quench my thirst."

Liu Quan became even more anxious: "What you fed me wasn't dew, it must have been poison... I blah blah blah (a bunch of indescribable words)..."

But he gradually lost his energy, and soon his head lolled to the side and he fell asleep.

The fact that the person could fall asleep under these circumstances indicates that the drug concentration in the bottle was very high.

Da Huan immediately understood and exclaimed in surprise, "It's a sedative-sedative drug; it will make you fall asleep after taking it." She then looked at Li Fangqi with some disbelief.

Li Fangqi had no choice but to say, "Okay, I admit it. I was under a lot of academic pressure and had trouble sleeping, so I took some sleeping pills to try and help myself sleep..."

Ling's father roared, "Then why are you feeding my daughter?"

Li Fangqi said, "I didn't give it to her; I planned to take the medicine myself."

Da Huan: "Yes, as far as I know, sleeping pills are all in tablet form."

Chu Nian said, "Aunt Da Huan, you should know that these tablets don't dissolve easily in porridge, but if you dissolve them in water first and then pour them into the porridge, no one will be able to tell."

Li Fangqi had no way to argue anymore, so she could only say with a dark face, "Anyway, I've never done anything wrong, so think whatever you want."

Ling's father said, "I need to find the village chief to settle this matter properly. You're such a young girl, but you're incredibly wicked."

Chu Nian: "Dad, if we go to the village chief, this matter is likely to cause a big fuss."

Ling's father: "Let them make a fuss, what are we afraid of?" He never thought that his daughter's reputation would be ruined because of this. This father is really carefree.

Chu Nian looked at Li Fangqi and said, "Siya, what do you suggest we do about this?"

Li Fangqi sneered, "Ling Nian, what exactly do you want to achieve by causing all this trouble?"

Chu Nian: "One thousand yuan, I guarantee that our Ling family won't utter a single word about this. As for Aunt Da Huan and Liu Quan, you'll have to ask them." One thousand yuan is quite a lot of money these days, enough for both Ling Da and Ling Er Ge to get married.

Li Fangqi suddenly realized: "So, all this fuss was just an attempt to extort money from me?!"

Chu Nian: "Before you harm others, you should have thought that being immoral will come at a price."

Li Fangqi: "What did you lose in this incident?"

Chu Nian: "I hit Liu Quan, and he said he'd get his uncle to harm my whole family! Isn't my whole family worth a thousand yuan? Come to think of it, I think I underestimated it, maybe two thousand..."

"One thousand it is!" Seeing that Chu Nian was about to raise the price, Li Fangqi quickly interrupted her, "But how can you guarantee that your Ling family won't tell anyone about this?"

Chu Nian: "We said we wouldn't tell, so naturally we won't!"

"You..." Li Fangqi was speechless at this answer.

Chu Nian: "Hurry up and pay."

Li Fangqi: "Where would I get that much money?"

Chu Nian: "Then where is your money?"

Li Fangqi: "Why should I tell you?"

Chu Nian: "Fine, if you won't give it to me, I'll have to go next door and ask Uncle Li and Aunt Li for it."

Li Fangqi hurriedly said, "I said I'd give it to you, so what's the rush? A thousand yuan is no small amount, you have to give me some time!"

Chu Nian: "Time? Okay, you tell me, how long?"

Li Fangqi thought for a moment and said, "One week."

Chu Nian: "You must give us the money before you go to town."

What does this mean? You don't even want to give her a minute? Li Fangqi's lips twitched with anger, but after thinking for a while, she still said, "Okay, wait for me for a few minutes."

She went back to her house next door, and soon returned, giving Chu Nian a wad of cash, exactly one thousand yuan.

Others might assume she took the money from her family, but Chu Nian knew very well that Li Fangqi had hidden away an unknown amount of money, easily tens of thousands.

These days, it's extremely rare to find someone with ten thousand yuan, so no one can imagine how much money Li Fangqi actually has.

Honestly, a thousand yuan is a sum that neither the Ling family father and son nor Da Huan have ever seen in their decades of life!

So when Li Fangqi threw such a large wad of money onto the kang (a heated brick bed), everyone stared in disbelief.

Li Fangqi rolled her eyes at them with disdain.

Chu Nian had already pocketed the money.

Li Fangqi said coldly, "I'm not really afraid you'll make a scene, I just don't want any trouble. If anyone dares to say these words today, I'll make you pay back the money you took in."