"Brother Zhou... what... what did you just mean?"
Su Haiting's voice trembled slightly as she asked the question, her eyes darting between Zhou Jiuzhen and Ling Huanwu. She had already guessed most of the reason for Zhou Jiuzhen's unpredictable behavior.
"So, you two were acting? You deliberately staged a miscarriage to fool me?"
She pointed at the guilty-looking army doctor and the brothers and comrades in the tent who were defending her, her voice almost wailing.
The few people who had been acting with the others in the tent last night turned their faces away guiltily.
Zhou Jiuzhen ignored her and sat down next to Ling Huanwu with red eyes, holding her hand without saying a word.
Su Haiting was pulling her hair, almost going crazy.
Seeing that no one responded to her, she rushed over like a madwoman, trying to pull Ling Huanwu off the bed. Before she could even touch her, she was grabbed by the soldiers.
"Tell me! Zhou Jiuzhen! What exactly happened? You just said you'd take care of me for my brother, and this is how you take care of me? You lied to me for no reason, letting the woman who stabbed me get away with it..."
Before she could finish speaking, a slap landed on Su Haiting's face, interrupting her hysterical accusation.
"Su Haiting, I never hit women, except for you!"
"Since you want to know the truth, then I'll tell you!"
“Last time we found a body disguised as Qin Jinshen on the mudflats, we guessed that Qin Jinshen must have been hiding among us.”
"To lure him out, we planned to set a trap so that Qin Jinshen would believe that Huanwu and I had broken up, thus exposing him. And you, just happen to be the catalyst to destroy my relationship with Huanwu..."
Zhou Jiuzhen didn't continue; the truth was already obvious.
As Su Haiting listened to the truth he told her, she felt completely shaky.
"So...so you knew I would trip her up, so you deliberately made it look like she had a miscarriage, just to see how viciously I would hide it from you, and then make that Qin Jinshen feel sorry for her?"
"So...so that stab I was...you..."
Su Haiting clutched her abdomen, writhing in excruciating pain. Suddenly, she felt like a clown, her blurry, tearful eyes looking at Zhou Jiuzhen, hoping he would offer a different answer.
But his next words, like a hammer blow, shattered all her expectations completely.
Zhou Jiuzhen's eyes were completely devoid of any tenderness for her. He spoke clearly, word by word, "Yes, from beginning to end, our people were hiding in the shadows and saw everything clearly. It was you who grabbed Huanwu's hand and stabbed yourself!"
"And you repeatedly prevented Dr. Guan from revealing Huanwu's condition. We've seen all your shameful behavior!"
"ah……"
Su Haiting covered her head and screamed in despair.
She looked around at the people who had treated her like a little sister back then, and couldn't imagine that they had all witnessed her framing others and knew her vicious nature.
This moment was even more humiliating and unbearable than when she was stripped naked by those five men.
It was like being publicly executed by slow slicing!
Seeing her granddaughter like this, Grandma Su was so anxious that she burst into tears. She rushed over and slapped Zhou Jiuzhen across the face in front of everyone.
"Zhou Jiuzhen, are you even human?!"
She glanced around at her silent juniors, pointing at each of them—her former close brothers who had once been her grandsons—her chest heaving with rage. "And you all! How did Hai Di treat you? You actually conspired to deceive us, grandfather and grandson! If you don't lock this woman up today, I'll…"
"So what? You're telling everyone that you and your granddaughter tried to frame someone, but we caught you, and in your anger, you reported us instead of continuing your charade?"
The military doctor, who had been listening for a long time, angrily interrupted the old lady Su's shameless and scoundrel-like attempt to shift the blame.
"At the time, we agreed to act in the play for Comrade Ling, only to lure out Qin Jinshen. We thought that you, Haiting, would leave Jiuzhen behind and make Comrade Ling sad. We never expected that you would do something like this, turning the tables and framing Comrade Ling!"
“Yes, Haiting, Jiuzhen originally got Ling’s recording, which clearly showed you ordering those five people to humiliate her. We didn’t believe it at the time and begged Jiuzhen to let you off the hook for your brother’s sake. Now it seems you really are beyond redemption…”
Those comrades who usually took good care of Su Haiting no longer showed her any of the affection they had before; their eyes were filled with disappointment.
Hearing these accusations and seeing Zhou Jiuzhen's cold gaze, Su Haiting covered her head and screamed silently.
She felt as if her face had been branded with a hot iron, all the blood rushed to her head, and her ears were ringing.
The constant pointing and whispering felt like needles piercing my heart; I couldn't even lift my head.
Su Haiting's hands trembled as she gripped Zhou Jiuzhen's sleeve, her voice almost breaking with sobs, "Brother Zhou, I... I made a mistake for a moment, please forgive me?"
Zhou Jiuzhen ignored her and simply turned away.
His silence was more suffocating than any harsh word he uttered.
Su Haiting could no longer bear the piercing gazes from inside the tent, and rushed into the endless rain outside.
Just then, Political Commissar Hao got up early in the morning and, upon hearing about what happened last night, rushed over without stopping.
As soon as I entered the tent, I was hit by Su Haiting who rushed out and spun around 360 degrees, disoriented.
He had just stood still when he was bumped by Grandma Su, who rushed out to look for someone, and he almost fell on his backside.
"What's wrong with Comrade Su? Why does he look so agitated?"
Political Commissar Hao, confused, quickly ordered men to give chase. "What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and chase after them! If something happens to them, how are we going to complete our mission?"
Only after he spoke did everyone belatedly realize they had to chase after him.
Political Commissar Hao walked up to Zhou Jiuzhen, glanced at Ling Huanwu, who was lying on the bed with a pale face, and then looked at Zhou Jiuzhen with eyes full of guilt.
“Jiuzhen, I just interrogated Qin Jinshen. I wanted him to tell me the whereabouts of Xiao Wang, Tiedan, and Gangpao, but he refused. He even threatened you to divorce Comrade Ling before he would reveal their whereabouts. You... why don't you deliberately compromise and deceive him first?”
Commissar Hao's voice choked with emotion.
They all felt it wouldn't be an exaggeration for Qin Jinshen to be torn to pieces for what he had done.
But he deliberately kept them in suspense and refused to reveal the whereabouts of Xiao Wang and the others.
They all held a sliver of hope that Xiao Wang would survive.
Therefore, everyone wanted to get the whereabouts of Xiao Wang from Qin Jinshen as soon as possible.
Unexpectedly, Qin Jinshen made such an outrageous and excessive request.
Zhou Jiuzhen gently held Ling Huanwu's hand, but the veins on his arm bulged out.
At this moment, he wished he could tear Qin Jinshen to pieces on the spot.
"Political Commissar, Qin Jinshen killed Huanwu's brother whom she had longed to grow up with since childhood. Do you think he still has any humanity left? Who should he spare?"
Zhou Jiuzhen's voice wasn't loud, but his eyes were incredibly desolate.
In that instant, even the usually most rational Political Commissar Hao suddenly had tears in his eyes.
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