Chapter 401: It Wasn’t Me (Part 2)
Remembering the despair of last night, Tang Yuanxiao’s already bloodshot eyes turned completely red.
He didn’t even know how he had made it through.
Back in his hometown of Xinghua Village, Tang Yuanxiao was the kind of guy who’d get a nosebleed just from seeing Su Li in a short-sleeved shirt. How could he possibly withstand the two-pronged assault of the previous night?
The drug Mrs. Tang had bought was acquired in secret. It was potent and vicious. Not only was Tang Yuanxiao’s entire body burning up, but beside him was Qin Shanshan, who had also been drugged.
By the time Tang Yuanxiao realized his feverish state wasn’t without cause, it was already too late.
He was filled with grief, indignation, and despair, but waves of desire threatened to overwhelm him.
Tang Yuanxiao had nearly succumbed.
In the end, he had to resort to self-harm to stay lucid.
At the critical moment, he used the last of his remaining sanity to bite down hard on his own arm.
He bit with all his might until fresh blood was streaming from the wound.
The pain shocked him back to his senses. He forcefully shoved away Qin Shanshan, who was clinging to him for dear life, and stumbled toward the door to open it.
But the door wouldn’t open.
With no other choice, Tang Yuanxiao used the pain to stay conscious, pried open the window, and escaped.
Once outside, his condition grew even more severe. There was no time to get to a hospital, nor could he risk going to one.
He ended up running to the edge of town and jumping into the river to cool his body down.
The cool river water finally allowed him to regain a sliver of clarity.
But... it was no use.
Even submerged in the river, the burning heat in his body wouldn’t subside.
Tang Yuanxiao had to resort to desperate measures, repeatedly hurting himself, using pain and self-harm to maintain his lucidity.
In the dead of night, his body was shivering with cold, but a fire still raged within him.
It was a torment of ice and fire.
Tang Yuanxiao spent the entire night soaking in the river, enduring the ordeal until dawn, when the effects finally began to fade.
But by then, Tang Yuanxiao was practically a wreck.
He used the last of his strength to crawl onto the bank, where he immediately collapsed.
A kind passerby eventually found him and took him to the hospital.
Tang Yuanxiao didn’t regain consciousness until noon.
His wounds were infected, and with the severe blood loss, he was weak and running a high fever.
The potent drug was inherently damaging to one’s body and vitality. It would have been better if he’d found a normal release, but instead, Tang Yuanxiao had forced his way through it with such an unnatural method.
His body was severely damaged. After just one night, his eyes were sunken, and his physical condition was worse than it had ever been.
He couldn’t bear the doctor’s disappointed gaze, so after waking up, he dragged his weakened body home.
Perhaps because his despair had reached its absolute peak, Tang Yuanxiao wasn’t even surprised to find Mrs. Tang and Qin Shanshan at home, discussing wedding plans.
He hadn’t touched Qin Shanshan at all. He was even less surprised that she was now going to pin the blame on him.
But their perfect little plan was doomed to fail.
He would never admit to something he hadn’t done.
Tang Yuanxiao looked at his mother, who seemed so old and haggard she was almost unrecognizable. The word "stranger" was no longer enough to describe her.
His heart was filled with an icy despair.
"Mom, if you really can’t stand the sight of me, if you really want me dead, why don’t you just take a knife and end it all for me?"
Tang Yuanxiao stared directly at Mrs. Tang with his blood-red eyes and spoke calmly.
’She gave me this life. The debt I owe her for giving birth to me and raising me is impossible to repay.’
’So, I can at least give my life back to her, can’t I?’
"If you were going to drug me, you should have just used poison."
Mrs. Tang looked at Tang Yuanxiao’s crimson eyes, feeling a mix of shock, fear, resentment, and anger. She had expected him to be displeased, but she never imagined he would be *this* furious.
"I was only doing it for your own good! What will people say, with you putting off marriage for so long? The Tang family line can’t end with you."
Mrs. Tang reached for his hand. "Tangyuan, I know I was wrong, that I went too far. But please, try to understand where I’m coming from."
"Shanshan is such a good girl. If I don’t give you a push, when will you two ever get together? Tangyuan, listen to me. Just listen to me one last time and hurry up and marry Shanshan."
Tang Yuanxiao closed his eyes. "The person with her last night wasn’t me."
Qin Shanshan, who had just walked over in tears, heard his words and immediately burst into loud sobs.
"Auntie, I can’t go on! I don’t want to live anymore..."
Mrs. Tang rushed to grab Qin Shanshan and console her. "Don’t be afraid, Shanshan, don’t be afraid. I’m here for you."
She shot a hateful glare at Tang Yuanxiao. "Who else could it have been, if not you?"
’I set it all up myself! I locked the door myself! Who else could it have been besides Tang Yuanxiao?!’
"I’m telling you, Tangyuan, I’ve accepted Shanshan as my daughter-in-law! She might even be carrying the Tang family’s first grandson right now! You’ll marry her whether you want to or not!"
Tang Yuanxiao looked at his mother and gave a cold laugh.
"Mom, listen to me and listen carefully. If you force me to marry her, then any future grandson you have won’t be a true child of the Tang family, because I never touched her!"
Tang Yuanxiao turned and walked away, leaving behind Qin Shanshan’s heart-rending sobs and his mother’s curses.
Although Tang Yuanxiao’s words made her heart skip a beat, the thought of the stained bedsheet reassured her.
「For the next three days」
Mrs. Tang and Qin Shanshan tried everything they could think of to force the marriage.
They cried, they threw tantrums, they even threatened suicide. But no matter how much they pressured him, Tang Yuanxiao refused to give in.
Qin Shanshan was furious, but she still had her reputation to consider. She had her own reservations, so no matter how big a scene she made, she kept it private.
She was adamant that Mrs. Tang not let the matter become public.
But when she went so far as to attempt suicide by hanging and saw that Tang Yuanxiao *still* wouldn’t admit to anything or take responsibility, she finally realized how serious the situation was.
’I gave my innocent body to Tang Yuanxiao; he can’t just refuse to acknowledge it!’
The day after she was saved from her suicide attempt, Qin Shanshan, with the marks still on her neck, gritted her teeth and went to see Tang Yuanxiao’s supervisor.
She wanted to see if Tang Yuanxiao could still deny it once his superiors got involved.
In that era, a girl’s innocence was sometimes considered more important than her life. Panicked and filled with resentment, all Qin Shanshan wanted was for Tang Yuanxiao to marry her as soon as possible.
Qin Shanshan went straight to the supervisor. After hearing her story, the supervisor’s expression changed completely.
He didn’t doubt her story.
After all, a young woman had put her own innocence on the line; it was unlikely to be a complete fabrication.
"Supervisor, you have to get justice for me..."
Qin Shanshan cried until she could barely breathe. This time, there was no acting involved.
She was genuinely desperate. The shame, the despair, the anger—all of it was real.
"Alright, calm down. I will definitely see that justice is done for you."
Qin Shanshan mentioned Mrs. Tang, so the supervisor spoke with her to get the full story. Afterward, he finally summoned Tang Yuanxiao.
This matter... was huge.
The moment Tang Yuanxiao entered the office and saw his supervisor’s ashen face, he had a bad feeling.
His health had been poor for the past few days. After what had happened, he was being hounded daily by Mrs. Tang and Qin Shanshan to get married. He hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in four or five days.
He had lost a lot of weight, and the hollows under his eyes had only deepened.
The supervisor had noticed that something was off with Tang Yuanxiao before, but he hadn’t had a chance to talk to him yet. Now, this whole mess had landed on his desk.
"Tell me, did you do it?"