Outside the courtyard gate.

Song Rumeng pounded on the door until her hands were red and sore. Just as she was about to shout without caring about her reputation, the courtyard gate opened.

Seeing Song Yueying come out, Song Rumeng immediately questioned, "Cousin, why did it take you so long to open the door for me? Didn't you hear me knocking?"

"I heard you, but I just don't want to open the door for you." Song Yueying only opened one door; the other remained closed.

Only Song Yueying came out. Song's mother followed her out of the main room and was then instructed by Song Yueying to go to the kitchen to check if the fire in the stove had gone out.

Song Rumeng choked, staring wide-eyed at Song Yueying in disbelief. What... what had she just said? She heard it, but she just didn't want to open the door for her.

I didn't want to open the door for her. When did this little slut start talking so directly and infuriatingly?

"Cousin, what did you just say?" Song Rumeng thought she must have misheard because she was too angry.

Song Yueying was still the same fool who would obey her every word and let her do whatever she wanted. Those direct and infuriating words just now weren't spoken by Song Yueying.

Yes, it definitely wasn't Song Yueying who said it.

Song Yueying said, "I said I don't want to see you, especially around mealtime."

Song Rumeng seemed to be hypnotizing herself, constantly giving herself psychological suggestions. Just when she was about to succeed, Song Yueying's words shattered all her suggestions.

Bring her back to reality.

She hadn't misheard; Song Yueying was indeed unwilling to open the door for her, and she even said she didn't want to see her.

How dare she? How dare Song Yueying say such things to her? A sinister glint flashed in Song Rumeng's eyes as she stared at Song Yueying, but she quickly concealed it.

“Cousin, I have something very important to discuss with you. Let’s go inside and talk.” With that, Song Rumeng took two steps toward Song Yueying, assuming Song Yueying would let her in…

As a result, Song Yueying stood there without moving an inch.

"Cousin?" Song Rumeng looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"You can say what you have to say here. There's no need to come into my yard." Song Yueying looked at Song Rumeng with an indifferent expression, her expression perfectly controlled.

No wonder they could always easily deceive the original owner.

The original owner of this body had a harsh way of speaking and would scold anyone she met, but in reality, she was a naive and innocent girl. Anyone could easily fool her by simply pretending to be pitiful in front of her.

It could be said that the original owner used up all her intelligence in her entire life to cling to Qi Yanjue.

“Cousin…” Song Rumeng looked at her hesitantly, her eyes seeming to hold a thousand words.

"Fine, don't tell us then. We need to eat lunch in the middle of the day, so please don't keep knocking on our gate and disturbing us." With that, Song Yueying turned to go inside.

"Cousin, cousin, wait a minute!" Song Rumeng hurriedly reached out and grabbed Song Yueying's wrist.

"What are you doing?" Song Yueying withdrew her hand, her brows furrowed, her eyes filled with undisguised disgust.

She turned around, but it was just for show; she didn't really intend to turn back. Suddenly, her wrist was grabbed, and without thinking, she quickly pulled her hand away.

"Ah!" Song Rumeng screamed and fell backward, crashing heavily to the ground.

Song Yueying blinked. She hadn't used much force, so how did she fall so badly?

"Song Yueying, are you bullying my Mengmeng again?" Not far away, Wang Muxiang saw her daughter being pushed to the ground, her eyes red with anger, and she roared as she rushed over.

He stopped in front of Song Rumeng and carefully helped her up. His eyes, like an X-ray machine, scrutinized her entire body again and again.

At the same time, the crowd following behind Wang Muxiang also began to discuss the matter.

"How could Doctor Song bully his cousin like this?"

"Yes, yes! Mengmeng is still her cousin, no matter what! How could you just push her to the ground like that?"

"What if they get hurt?"

"What if we get hurt? When have you ever seen her care whether someone gets hurt or not? Even if we all stay away from her, she still bullies us."

"Exactly, exactly. I've never seen anyone more outrageous than her. She's really gone too far."

"Yes! Yes! What sins did our brigade commit, and what sins did the Song family commit, to produce such a daughter?"

"Who says otherwise!"

“Mengmeng must have been bullied again. Look at her, she was pushed to the ground and didn’t dare to say a word. It’s pitiful.”

"That Song Yueying is really awful. I don't know what she's thinking. She always picks on Mengmeng to bully."

"Yes! Mengmeng is still her cousin, and she doesn't hold back at all when bullying Mengmeng. Do you think she might end up like her crazy mother?"

"You mean she's gone mad too?"

"I didn't say that, don't talk nonsense!"

Listening to the surrounding people's discussions, almost every sentence was accusing Song Yueying, and later they even suspected that Song Yueying had gone mad. Song Rumeng slowly curled the corners of her mouth.

This was exactly the effect she wanted; it made the fall worthwhile.

Seeing Wang Muxiang rush over like a madwoman, hearing the whispers of the people, and seeing Song Rumeng's upturned lips, Song Yueying understood everything.

I was just wondering why I had only gently pulled my hand back without using much force.

It turned out that this was all planned by Song Rumeng. No matter how much force she used, Song Rumeng would pretend to be pitiful when she was pushed down.

"Who said my little shadow is crazy? I think you're the crazy ones, your whole family is crazy!" Song's mother's loud voice rang out, and another courtyard gate was opened.

She stormed out, her gaze fixed on Song Yueying. "Little Shadow, are you alright? Has anyone bullied you?"

"Mom, I'm fine, and no one bullied me." Song Yueying smiled at her. "Didn't I tell you to go to the kitchen to watch the fire? Why did you come out?"

"I've already turned off the fire." Seeing that her daughter was alright, Song's mother pulled her behind her. She looked coldly at Song Rumeng and Wang Muxiang, "Wang Muxiang, look at whose door this is!"

"This is the entrance to my yard."

"As soon as you came back, you said that my little shadow bullied your Song Rumeng."

"Why is it at the gate of my yard? And not at your house? If your Song Rumeng doesn't come to my yard to cause trouble, how can my Little Shadow bully her?"

Seeing Song's mother shielding Song Yueying behind her, everyone's lips twitched. Well, this mother dotes on her daughter even more.

Song's mother's words were so blunt, it was almost as if she was saying, "It's your Song Rumeng who came to my yard on her own, so she deserves to be bullied."

Wang Muxiang was already furious that her daughter had been pushed to the ground by Song Yueying. When Song's mother came out and started scolding her daughter, she couldn't tolerate it.

Wang Muxiang pointed at Song's mother and cursed, "You... Zhao Dongxue, you crazy woman, you've turned right and wrong upside down. Luckily I came back, otherwise..."

"I don't even know how badly my Mengmeng will be bullied by you and your daughter."

“If she doesn’t come to my yard to cause trouble, who would want to bully her?” Song’s mother snorted.

"You...you...you madman, you crazy woman, how dare you say such things? I'll tear your mouth apart!" With that, Wang Muxiang lunged at Song's mother.

Song Yueying was already wary of Wang Muxiang, and when she saw her rushing over, she pulled her mother aside to let her pass.

Wang Muxiang missed her target and stumbled against the door before coming to a stop. She turned around and glared fiercely at Song Yueying and her mother, "You dare to run away?"

"Aren't you going to dodge and let me bully you?" Song Yueying looked at Wang Muxiang with a leisurely expression. "Or are you also trying to use injury as an excuse to avoid being robbed?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Wang Muxiang looked at Song Yueying in shock. Could it be... could she have figured something out? No, impossible, Song Yueying couldn't possibly have figured it out.

Yes, Song Yueying would never see it, so she mustn't lose her composure.

"Mom, are you alright?" Song Rumeng quickly came to Wang Muxiang's side. She was also afraid that her mother would pretend to be injured to avoid being shot, just like Song Yueying had said.

Everyone is busy. It's normal for one person in a family to get injured. If two people are injured, it will raise suspicion. If three people are injured, then it's definitely intentional.

Her hands were scraped raw on the ground and it hurt a lot. After Song Yueying said those words, she didn't dare to show them to everyone anymore.

"I..." Wang Muxiang wanted to say that she had bumped into the door quite hard, but remembering what Song Yueying had just said, she didn't dare to say it and could only grit her teeth.

"Mom is fine, don't worry."

"But Mengmeng, are you alright? You were pushed down by Song Yueying just now, are you hurt anywhere?"

Song Rumeng shook her head and said, forcing a smile, "No, I'm not injured."

"That's good, that's good." Wang Muxiang nodded repeatedly with relief, without any suspicion.

At this moment, Song Yueying casually spoke up, "Since you all say you're fine and not injured, don't come back later saying you're injured. I won't accept that."

With just one sentence, Wang Muxiang and Song Rumeng's escape routes were completely blocked.

"Song Yueying, what kind of bullshit are you spouting?" Wang Muxiang was so angry that she wanted to pounce on Song Yueying again, but Song Rumeng stopped her.

Turning to look at Song Yueying, Song Rumeng's expression hadn't quite settled when she heard Song Yueying say, "Cousin Song Rumeng, why don't you tell everyone what you've got to say?"

"With the harvest season so busy, why are you coming back from the fields and not going home to cook lunch for yourself, but instead banging on my door?"

Everyone then realized, "Oh yeah! Wasn't Song Rumeng supposed to be making lunch when she came back? What's she doing at her cousin's house next door?"

“I’m here to see you…” Song Rumeng was about to repeat the excuse she had given Aunt Xu when Song Yueying interrupted her, “You’re here to see me? What are you doing here at this hour?”

"Oh, my family is having pheasant today. You didn't come here to steal my pheasant soup because you smelled it."

"I didn't," Song Rumeng retorted instinctively.

"That's good." Song Yueying looked relieved. "It seems I misunderstood you, but you can't blame me for misunderstanding. After all, it's not the first or second time you've come to steal my meat."

"You really can't blame me for misunderstanding you."

Song Rumeng trembled with anger at these words, yet she couldn't refute them. Because what Song Yueying said was the truth; many people in the village had seen her coming to Song Yueying's house to take food.

"Cousin, how could you say that to me?" Song Rumeng's eyes instantly reddened, mainly from anger, and she pretended to wipe her eyes.

"Before... it was always... you insisted on giving it to me, and when I refused, you got angry with me. I had no choice but to accept it. Why are you doing this now..."

Song Rumeng couldn't continue speaking, turned around and threw herself into Wang Muxiang's arms, sobbing. She looked as if she had been wronged and was too ashamed to face anyone.

"Cousin Song Rumeng, you can't just tell me half of what I'm saying. Was it something I insisted on giving you, or something I lent you?" Song Yueying added after she finished speaking.

"I don't consider myself a fool. Why would I give you something good instead of keeping it for myself?"

"You're not just trying to fool me, are you?!"

“I didn’t,” Song Rumeng retorted. “I have never lied to you.”

Even if she had deceived Song Yueying, she couldn't admit it in front of so many people. If she did, she would lose all face and reputation.

"You say you didn't trick me into giving you the things, which means I'm a fool." Song Yueying said with feigned dejection, "I lent you the things, but you treat me like a fool."

Her words were meant to be a reminder to everyone: if you lend something to Song Rumeng and she treats you like a fool, it's better not to lend it at all.

"I don't think you're stupid." Song Rumeng was eager to clear her name, unaware that she was being led by the nose by Song Yueying. "Besides, I've returned everything I borrowed from you."

“Yes, I remember now, you did pay it back.” Song Yueying followed up on Song Rumeng’s words. Song Rumeng had just breathed a sigh of relief when she heard her say, “But you didn’t finish paying it back.”

Thinking that Song Yueying was being led by the nose, Song Rumeng was so angry that she wanted to pounce on Song Yueying and tear her mouth apart.

“Yes, the watch that Xiaoying’s father left to her as a keepsake after he died. You borrowed it for a few days and haven’t returned it yet,” Song’s mother chimed in.

“You still have money. Every time you come to Xiaoyingzi to borrow money, you say you want to buy this or that, and you don’t have enough money, so you ask Xiaoyingzi to lend you some.”

“You always promised to pay her back soon, but you never did.”

“From a few dollars to ten dollars, and then from a dozen dollars to twenty dollars, you borrowed from Little Shadow every time. Like ants carrying grains of rice, but I never saw you return it.”

Song's mother's words revealed a message: Song Rumeng borrowed money and didn't repay it.

"Zhao Dongxue, you're talking nonsense! You crazy woman, spouting rubbish!" With that, Wang Muxiang lunged forward to hit her again...

This time, Song Yueying didn't tolerate her and kicked her aside. She controlled her strength, only kicking Wang Muxiang away without actually hurting her.

"Whether my mother is talking nonsense or not is not up to you to decide." With an indifferent yet imposing voice, Song Yueying slowly pulled a worn notebook from her pocket.

Upon seeing the notebook, Song Rumeng's face changed drastically, a bad premonition enveloping her. She decided to strike first, screaming, "Cousin, how could you kick my mother?"

"My mother is your aunt, she's your elder, how could you kick an elder?"

"Cousin, what's wrong? You've never been like this before, even though you're not the kind of person you'd talk to!"