Chapter 81 You are too young to fight me
The room was filled with stale air, reeking of fear and confusion.
Xu Yao's breath got stuck in her throat and her stomach felt cold.
This was not the horrible premonition of her own death that she had prepared herself for.
This...is different.
Maybe worse.
What was in that small wooden box was not an omen of death, but whispers of betrayal.
Not her own death, but the death of trust, the slow, painful demise of a love she had thought was indestructible.
Scattered across the velvet lining of the box were photographs, not one but several, like cruel little pieces of paper cutting into her soul.
The photos show Xue Han, "her" Xue Han, and "her" nemesis, the sharp-tongued Lin Wan, in various intimate states.
Stealing a kiss under a blossoming cherry tree.
Embracing each other affectionately by the moonlit lake.
Hands intertwined, eyes meeting, conveying thousands of words.
It’s a carefully chosen series of moments, painstakingly arranged to inflict maximum damage.
Each photo was like a little bomb that exploded in her chest, leaving a trail of disbelief and burning pain.
Xu Yao picked up a photo with trembling fingers.
The paper was hard and cold against her skin.
However, her mind was full of questions like a whirlwind.
"When?" "How could this happen?" "Why?" Is she a fool, blinded by love and unaware of the deception happening right under her nose?
No.
She refused to believe it.
This feels... wrong.
It's like a poorly written play, all over-the-top villains and far-fetched plot twists.
She took a deep breath, her body shaking, and forced herself to think rationally.
Panic was a luxury she couldn't afford right now.
Not now.
Never.
Meanwhile, news of the mysterious package and its scandalous contents spread like wildfire through the bustling bazaar.
Lin Wan, the instigator of this carefully planned conspiracy, is fanning the flames and stirring up rumors with vicious whispers.
She brandished the photos like trophies, her smug smirk a testament to her malicious intent.
"See for yourselves," she said delicately, her voice full of fake concern.
"Xue Han is not the person you think he is. He is a two-timing liar. While playing with Xu Yao's feelings, he also rekindled his old relationship with me."
The crowd was a mix of curious onlookers and gossipers interested in scandal, and they were buzzing with excitement.
Whispers of suspicion and condemnation spread through the bazaar, filling the air with suspicion.
Xu Yao arrived at the market, her heart beating like a trapped bird between her ribs.
She saw a group of people gathered around Lin Wan, their faces flickering with morbid curiosity.
She heard the whispers, the snickers, the outright accusations.
It was like a public execution, and she was the lamb to be slaughtered.
But Xu Yao is not the kind of person who would give in without resistance.
She squeezed through the crowd and locked her eyes on Lin Wan, who was standing in the middle, enjoying the attention brought by the farce she had created.
She snatched a photo from a stunned onlooker, her eyes scanning the image with laser-like precision.
Something is wrong.
The lighting on Xue Han's face doesn't quite match the background.
The angle of the shadow looks...unnatural.
Then she discovered the problem.
There’s an almost imperceptible blur where the edges of two different images are awkwardly joined.
It was a crude, amateur attempt at photo-faking, but good enough to fool the untrained eye.
A smile slowly emerged on Xu Yao's face. This smile had nothing to do with happiness. It was a completely cold and determined satisfaction.
"This," she announced loudly, her voice clear and powerful, drowning out the hustle and bustle of the market, "is fake." The crowd quieted down, and their attention shifted from Lin Wan to Xu Yao.
"Look closely," she continued, pointing to the obvious blur.
"This photo, and all the others, are nothing more than cheap forgeries. Someone took great pains to create these... masterpieces of deception. I think we all know who that person is." Her eyes met Lin Wan's, and the unspoken accusation hung heavily in the air.
One by one, people began to examine the photos more closely, and their initial excitement gave way to suspicion and finally to anger.
The tables have turned.
Now those whispers were pointing at Lin Wan, and her carefully planned conspiracy was falling apart before her eyes.
Her face, which had been flushed with triumph, was now completely bloodless.
She stammered, trying to defend herself, but the words got stuck in her throat.
The evidence is clear.
She was caught red-handed.
She gave Xu Yao one last vicious glare, then turned and ran away, disappearing into the bustling crowd, leaving behind a series of accusatory whispers and contemptuous laughter.
The crowd began to disperse, still discussing the aftermath of the farce.
Xu Yao stood there, all alone in the receding crowd, a strange calmness enveloped her.
She faced down a venomous snake and emerged victorious.
But the victory felt hollow, tainted by the lingering unease of questions that remain unanswered.
Why?
Why did Lin Wan go to such great lengths to destroy her relationship with Xue Han?
What does she really want?
As the last of the onlookers drifted away, a shadow fell over her.
A familiar hand gently rested on her shoulder.
"Yaoyao..." A deep voice sounded...
The autumn wind blew, blowing up a few fallen leaves, which, like naughty children, gently scratched Xu Yao's face.
She was holding a brown paper package in her hand, her brows furrowed.
The package appeared at her doorstep at some point in time. There was no sender listed on it, only "Xu Yao" written hastily.
An ominous premonition crept into her heart, gnawing at her peace like an ant.
She carefully opened the package, revealing a stack of yellowed photos. The person in the photos was Xue Han!
However, Xue Han in this photo is completely different from the one he is now.
In the photo, he has long hair, wears a floral shirt, and hugs a heavily made-up woman. He behaves frivolously and smiles frivolously. He is completely different from his current image of a cold and taciturn tough guy!
Xu Yao's heart tightened, and a chill ran from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.
She tried to calm herself down and looked at the photo carefully.
Something is wrong, this photo is too deliberate, like... a staged photo?
At this moment, Lin Wan's sharp voice sounded not far away: "Hey, everyone, come and see! Xue Han's true face has been exposed! I didn't expect him to be such a person before! You can't judge a person by his appearance!"
Lin Wan, like a vulture that smelled blood, appeared at the market at some point, holding a photo that looked exactly like Xu Yao's, and "exposed" Xue Han's "scandal" to the people around her, adding fuel to the fire.
The crowd suddenly exploded with discussions.
“I didn’t expect Xue Han to be such a person!”
"You really can't judge a person by his appearance!"
"Xu Yao is so pitiful. She didn't even know she was cheated!"
Lin Wan watched all this with complacency, a sinister arc appearing at the corner of her mouth.
Xu Yao, I wonder if you can still turn things around this time!
Xu Yao took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his heart, walked to the center of the crowd, scanned the crowd with a sharp gaze, and said in a deep voice: "Fellow villagers, please listen to me!"
Her voice was clear and powerful, instantly drowning out the noise around her.
"These photos are indeed of Xue Han, but it was not his intention! I can tell you responsibly that these photos are fake!" Xu Yao pointed at the photo of Xue Han hugging a woman's hand, "Look carefully, the angle of this photo is weird. There is an obvious gap between Xue Han's hand and the woman's shoulder, which means that their limbs are not actually touching, and it was modified later!"
She picked up another photo. "In this photo, Xue Han is wearing a floral shirt, but his expression is very stiff. It's obviously not his natural expression! Also, there is a small wrinkle on the collar of his shirt. This wrinkle is exactly the same in every photo! This shows that these photos were probably taken with the same clothes, at the same time, and in the same place, and then different backgrounds and characters were added later!"
Xu Yao's analysis is incisive, logically clear and convincing.
Some people in the crowd began to question: "Lin Wan, did you make a mistake?"
"Yeah, these photos do look a bit questionable."
"Lin Wan, you didn't deliberately frame Xue Han, did you?"
Lin Wan's face turned pale, as if she had been slapped hard in the face.
She didn't expect that Xu Yao would see through her conspiracy so quickly!
Damn it!
How can she be so smart!
"I... I didn't! These photos are real! Someone sent them to me!" Lin Wan argued.
Xu Yao sneered: "Oh? Then may I ask, who is the sender? Where is the address? Just tell me!"
Lin Wan was speechless and stammered, unable to utter a word.
Xu Yao pressed on: "You can't tell, right? Because there is no sender! These photos were forged by you!"
Her eyes were like knives, piercing Lin Wan's heart. "Lin Wan, you really did everything you could to break up Xue Han and I! You framed me again and again, do you think I don't know? I tell you, I won't let you manipulate me anymore! You'd better put away your little tricks, otherwise, I will make you pay the price!"
There were bursts of shouting and cursing from the crowd:
"Lin Wan, you are so vicious!"
"You are such a bad woman!"
"Get out of our village!"
Lin Wan was so ashamed that she wished she could find a hole to crawl into. She covered her face and fled.
Looking at Lin Wan's embarrassed escape, Xu Yao curled up the corner of his mouth into a sneer.
You want to fight me?
You are still young!
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