Chapter 240 Seeing Through

“Yesterday I saw him and Fang Wanyu talking furtively in a corner of the teahouse. Zhang Jianshe even handed her an envelope. Only then did I realize that the reason you desperately stopped me from marrying him was not out of jealousy or obstruction, but to save me.”

She raised her head, her eyes still wet with tears, yet filled with coldness and resolve. Her voice was clear and icy: "I'm here today to expose their charade. To expose this deception that uses love as a guise to manipulate people."

The ward suddenly became eerily quiet.

Even breathing sounds seemed to be suppressed, the air so heavy it was suffocating.

Everyone held their breath, their eyes scanning back and forth between the group.

Song Yazhi narrowed her eyes, her gaze sharp as a knife, staring intently at Fang Wanyu. Her voice was low and oppressive: "Wanyu, what exactly happened? You had better give me an explanation. My Fu family has treated you well. If you dare to betray us, I will not let you off easily."

Fang Wanyu's hands trembled, her face was as pale as paper, and she waved her hands repeatedly, her voice shaking: "Auntie, don't believe her! She's just jealous of me and made up stories to frame me! I've barely met Zhang Jianshe, let alone conspired with him! She's talking nonsense!"

"nonsense?"

Qiu Zishu sneered, a mocking smile curving her lips. "Do you think I'm a fool? Should I call the teahouse owner right now and have him come over in person? Have him show everyone the CCTV footage and recount the details of your secret meeting? Do you still dare to deny it then?"

Fu Li'an remained silent, as still as an iceberg.

At this moment, he slowly raised his head, his gaze sweeping across Fang Wanyu's face, then landing on Zhang Jianshe, and finally settling on his mother Song Yazhi's face.

His voice was deep and clear: "Mom, do you understand now? She's not doing this for my own good; she wants to destroy this family."

Song Yazhi's face flushed red and then turned pale, her breathing became rapid, and her chest heaved violently.

She gripped the bedsheets tightly with both hands, her knuckles turning white.

She disliked Qiao Wanyin and always disapproved of her background and origins.

But she wasn't stupid. Having lived most of her life, she had seen too much of the coldness and warmth of human relationships and the scheming and plotting of power.

Fang Wanyu secretly met with Zhang Jianshe, but today, her son's emotions fluctuated drastically, and he suffered a sudden acute heart palpitation and was sent to the hospital.

How could these two things happening together be a coincidence?

This is not a coincidence, it's a conspiracy.

It was a carefully orchestrated scheme by someone to sow discord and use another person to do their dirty work.

If her son's emotions are further aggravated and his condition worsens, what will she, as a mother, do to cope?

How will this family end up?

The thought sent a chill down her spine, and cold sweat trickled down her back.

"Wanyu!"

Song Yazhi's voice was extremely low, yet it was as cold as ice, carrying an undeniable anger and pressure, "Tell me the truth! Did this really happen? Don't force me to personally kick you out of the Fu family!"

Seeing that she could no longer hide it, Fang Wanyu's face completely collapsed. Suddenly, she screamed and tears streamed down her face: "Yes! I was the one who found him! So what? I did all this for Li An! Does Qiao Wanyin deserve Li An? What is she anyway!"

She pointed her finger directly at Qiao Wanyin's face, her eyes wild and red-rimmed, her voice trembling and hysterical: "A country bumpkin who doesn't even know the rules of the city dares to aspire to marry into our family? Does she deserve it? I am the most suitable person for him! From childhood to adulthood, only I have understood him and cared for him!"

The air felt frozen.

The temperature in the ward seemed to drop ten degrees, and everyone's heart sank.

Fu Li'an slowly stood up, his face ashen, his eyes filled with disgust and disappointment. Every word he uttered was like a knife cutting through him: "Fang Wanyu, leave now. I never want to see you again in my life. You keep saying you're doing this for my own good, but what you've done is more ruthless than any enemy."

"Brother Li An!"

Fang Wanyu's voice trembled as she staggered forward, reaching out to pull him up. "I'm really doing this for your own good! I can't watch you be deceived by her, I can't watch the Fu family be ruined by an outsider!"

"For my own good?"

Fu Li'an gritted his teeth, a cold smile appearing on his lips, his eyes blazing with anger. "You win over outsiders, plot conspiracies, sow discord among family members, and tear down the walls of my home. Is this what you call doing it for me? I can't accept your 'goodness'."

Qiao Wanyin slowly walked up to Fang Wanyu, her footsteps so light they were almost inaudible.

Her fingertips gently caressed the jade bracelet on her wrist, a faint smile playing on her lips, but her eyes were as cold as the moonlight on a winter night.

She stared at Fang Wanyu and said, word by word, "Fang Wanyu, just because you've been neighbors with Li An since childhood, you think you can interfere in our family affairs at will. Do you think no one can see your little tricks? You deliberately sow discord between me and my mother-in-law, pretending to care about me, but behind my back you're talking badly about me to my mother-in-law, making them hate me from the bottom of their hearts—you're quite good at this trick, aren't you?"

“You have indeed succeeded during this time. It’s true that my mother doesn’t like me. Every time I go to her house, she has a cold face and won’t even pour me a glass of water. At mealtimes, my bowl always has one less piece of food than others. I’ve put up with all of this because I don’t want to put Li An in a difficult position.”

"But that jade ruyi—that old object passed down for three generations—was secretly taken by you. Then, when I wasn't looking, you quietly slipped it under the closet in my room, and then 'accidentally' let my mother-in-law find it. You want everyone to believe that I stole her most prized possession out of greed, right? You figured out that she already had a grudge against me, and that a small spark could ignite a huge fire. I should have seen through your intentions long ago."

After she finished speaking, she slowly turned around and her gaze fell on Song Yazhi, who was sitting on the sofa.

Her voice remained calm, without shouting or excitement, yet it was like a knife slowly piercing, precise and sharp: "Mom, whether you like me or not doesn't really affect how Li An and I live. After all, I'm going to spend my life with him, not with you. I married him, not you. He's the one I'm going to weather the storms with for the rest of my life."

“But you have tried to harm the child in my womb time and time again—I can’t tolerate this. You had someone add medicine to my food, saying it was to ‘protect the fetus’; you burned incense in my room, saying it was to ward off evil spirits, and as a result, I had frequent fetal movements and couldn’t sleep all night. The day before yesterday, I went to the hospital for a checkup, and the doctor said I had mild signs of poisoning. Do you know how cold I felt at that moment? That was my child, who was eight months pregnant, and you wished he wouldn’t be born!”

“I tried to change you and get you to accept me. I tried my best to learn how to cook your favorite dishes, and I sewed new clothes for you by hand for every holiday. I even stayed up all night to mend your old shoes when they were worn out. I sincerely wanted to be a good daughter-in-law and hoped that we could get along like a family.”

“But in the past few months, I’ve come to a complete understanding—no one can change you. Your prejudice is like a bottomless ditch, and no matter how I try to fill it, it will never be flat. In your eyes, there is only Fang Wanyu, only the ‘ideal daughter-in-law’ that you have in mind. And I will always be an outsider, an intruder who has entered your world.”