Chapter 40

Everyone in the courtyard was stunned, their gazes all turning toward Ye Yao.

What was wrong with this child?

Had Wang Guihua’s words driven her to madness?

Even Wang Guihua furrowed her brows, glaring at Ye Yao.

That little wretch—if she thought she could get away with this by pretending to be crazy, she was absolutely mistaken!

“Wang Guihua, who gave you the audacity to come to my house and make a scene? Who gave you the right to lay a hand on my mother? You claim that I framed Zhao Qingqing last night—where’s your proof?”

Ye Yao’s voice was eerily calm in the next moment. No one even noticed that the veins on the back of her hand, gripping a wooden stick, were faintly bulging.

Wang Guihua hadn’t expected Ye Yao to come back at her so aggressively after laughing. She was momentarily caught off guard.

“Qingqing told me herself! She doesn’t even know that damn man!”

“Murderers also claim they didn’t kill anyone! Everything needs evidence. She was caught fooling around with that man in the grove—everyone saw it with their own eyes.

You say I framed her—did I force her head down to kiss that man?”

Ye Yao raised her voice arrogantly. Even if it came to blows, she was determined to be on the right side of reason!

Wang Guihua was so furious that her nostrils flared, breathing heavily.

What a sharp-tongued little brat!

She had truly underestimated her before!

“And you—saying I was raised on your family’s food and that I’m worse than a dog? At least dogs know how to be loyal, but only because they have a master. And who do you think you are?

Wang Guihua, just because my mother and I endured things before doesn’t mean we’ll tolerate it forever!

Since all the neighbors are here, let’s clear this up once and for all!”

Ye Yao’s expression turned ice-cold.

Wang Guihua straightened her back, her eyes mocking.

That wretched girl actually dared to bring this up herself? Everyone in the courtyard knew that the Zhao family had supported her and her mother for years.

She wanted to see just how this little brat planned to twist the truth!

“You all heard that, didn’t you? This ungrateful girl is the one bringing up past debts. So don’t blame me for putting an orphan and a widow in their place today!”

Ye Yao let out a cold laugh. Clearly, Wang Guihua was convinced that they owed the Zhao family.

“Wang Guihua, do you really have the face to say that? Over the past ten years, haven’t you bullied us enough?

Every time Uncle Zhao gave us a few pounds of coarse grain, you’d show up the next day demanding my mother wash your clothes and weed your yard. And it was never just for a few days—it was always at least half a month!

Could you ever bear to let my mother off?”

Wang Guihua sneered. “Wasn’t that only fair? No one gets free food in this world! Besides, I only made her do small chores—it wasn’t excessive!”

“Not excessive? You forced my mother to wash your blood-stained sanitary cloths. And not just once.”

—-

The gathered neighbors, who had been listening intently, all had ugly expressions upon hearing this.

If what Ye Yao said before was still debatable, this was pure humiliation.

Even Wang Guihua’s face heated up. Those were things from years ago—how did this brat still remember them so clearly?

“I… that wasn’t…”

“In the dead of winter, just because Uncle Zhao gave us a sieve full of charcoal, you tormented my mother—forcing her to fetch water from the frozen river, demanding she fill two entire vats.

At that time, the river was all ice—there wasn’t even any water! My mother had to break the ice, carry it home, burn firewood to melt it, and then send the water to your house.

For two whole days, my mother’s hands were so frozen they developed sores. Afterward, she caught a cold and ran a high fever, bedridden for half a month!”