011 The Scandal of Self-Destruction

Liu Jianhua immediately seized the opportunity, raising her voice, “Everyone heard that, right? Xu Xinyou herself admitted that she hurt me.”

The crowd was stunned.

Qu Zhanyi gently patted her twice and spoke calmly, “Auntie, don’t get upset first. Although it was wrong of me to hit you, what reason would I have to do so?”

Liu Jianhua was crude, fond of gossip, and couldn’t stand seeing others better off than herself.

This was a common flaw in many, but Liu Jianhua’s was especially pronounced.

Yet she was not foolish. On the surface, Xu Xinyou seemed to admit to striking her, but the question she posed was clearly bait, trying to get Liu Jianhua to reveal the truth.

But she refused.

With thirty thousand yuan at stake, Liu Jianhua’s mind was sharper than ever.

Having learned from Huang Jincai’s past mistakes, she spoke this time with more caution, silently rehearsing several times before slowly beginning.

“Today, passing by Xu Xinyou’s house, I smelled a strong aroma of meat through the door and thought I might take advantage of her…”

She stopped abruptly, suddenly covering her mouth in horror.

Inwardly, she frantically denied it: No, no, no, that’s not what I wanted to say!

What I wanted to say was that Xu Xinyou insulted me without cause and beat me severely.

Suppressing her fear, Liu Jianhua ignored the many puzzled eyes around her and reorganized her words.

“I was actually pretending to care about Xu Xinyou, but she didn’t fall for it.”

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“I heard Zhang Wanqing is beyond help, so I came to see his downfall. I happened to meet Zhang Cuilan and her group and deliberately smeared Xu Xinyou’s name in front of them.”

Liu Jianhua’s legs grew weaker as she spoke, nearly collapsing to the ground.

She dared not say more; her instincts warned that if she continued, she would lose the last shred of respect from the villagers.

From then on, she would be nothing but a stinking rat in the village gutter.

Thinking this, a chill ran down her spine, and she quickly shut her mouth.

Qu Zhanyi tilted her head, seemingly puzzled, and motioned invitingly, “Please continue, Auntie.”

Liu Jianhua shook her head in terror, but an invisible force seemed to control her, making her lips move uncontrollably.

“After Xu Xinyou slapped me twice and kicked me, I pretended to be seriously injured to extort thirty thousand yuan from her.”

“Xu Xinyou has no parents and is easy to bully, so I harbored evil intentions.”

By the time she said this, Liu Jianhua could no longer bear the abyss of fear and pressure inside her, collapsing onto the ground in a wailing heap.

“Waaah… my own mother, why am I saying these things…”

Qu Zhanyi curled her lips, thinking to herself that the game of truth or dare was indeed much less effort than her fists.

The system felt a small surge of pride.

[Mission target’s moral value has not increased; hazard index decreased by 15. Host, please continue your efforts to reduce the mission target’s hazard index.]

Liu Jianhua cried until her heart felt torn apart.

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The crowd began to gradually distance themselves from her.

No one had expected that after Liu Jianhua’s initial villainous accusation, she would end up exposing her own disgrace.

Some boldly speculated, “Liu Jianhua must have lost her mind; otherwise, how could her behavior be so inconsistent?”

“I don’t think it’s madness; it’s more like she’s been haunted. Don’t forget, the poor Shoushan is full of restless spirits without graves.”

The midday sun blazed fiercely.

Its rays scorched the body and seared the heart.

Even if there were ghosts, they wouldn’t dare show themselves at this time.

So the villagers were more inclined to believe Liu Jianhua had lost her mind.

When they looked at her again, their expressions mixed with contempt, disgust, sympathy, and schadenfreude…

Every kind of emotion was reflected in their eyes.