“The Wang family, huh?” Wei Liang tilted his head to look at Lin Jiu. His cold demeanor softened slightly, and his eyes seemed to carry a deeper meaning.
An odd feeling welled up inside Lin Jiu, similar to the mischievous thrill she often had when sharing a secret after pulling a prank with a childhood friend. “Go handle your business. I’ll take care of things here,” she said with a caring smile.
Wei Liang paused briefly, as if hesitating.
“Go on, don’t worry about me,” she urged him again.
Liu Qingyin bit her lip, watching their interaction with utter disbelief. Had she actually been imagining things? How was it possible? When she confessed her feelings to him, she had clearly seen pain and restraint in his eyes… how could he have changed so quickly?
Wei Liang gave a slight nod and headed towards the main gate.
Liu Qingyin and her second senior brother, Gu Fei, exchanged a glance before quickly trailing behind him.
As the Wanjiangui people departed, leaving only the Lin family’s mother and children in the hall, Zheng Ziyu slumped into the ebony chair, clutching her waist and cursing under her breath, “Wang family, just you wait! With my son-in-law backing me, I’ll make sure you all suffer!”
Her sharp, harsh eyes fixed on Lin Jiu as she spat, “You worthless girl, why aren’t you coming over to massage my back?! Listen, the other day I noticed that Wei Liang wasn’t pleased with this marriage, so I cleverly prepared a backup plan for you—Wang Bitan, who is still interested in you! I even gave him two of your undergarments! Now that Wei Liang is treating you well, you must never allow this matter to come to light. What a handful girl you are—look how your mother has been breaking her back, worrying about your future!”
Facing Zheng Ziyu’s self-righteous barks, Lin Jiu remained cool throughout and simply raised an eyebrow as she commented, “It’s more than just my undergarments, isn’t it? If I guessed correctly, you must have promised him a chance to sleep with Wei Liang’s wife.”
Wang Bitan was the di-born grandson of the Dongting Wang family, a Golden Core cultivator who was supposed to take Lin Qiu in as his concubine. According to the plot, after Lin Qiu was sent back home by Wei Liang, she quickly became entangled with Wang Bitan. It now seemed clear that Zheng Ziyu had played a big role in that.
Zheng Ziyu raised an eyebrow. “It was all for your sake! Who would have imagined that a useless girl like you could actually win Wei Liang’s heart? You must thank me for giving you such a pretty face… Come here now, we need to strategize for your little brother. Wanjiangui is such a gold mine! This time, we must score your brother something big to bring home!” She grinned, her face full of greed.
Lin Jiu gave a chilling smile and glanced over at Lin Dong, who was sitting nearby, nonchalantly cleaning his nails with his legs crossed.
“What are you doing? Say something!” Zheng Ziyu urged.
“I’m afraid you’ll go crazy if I talk,” Lin Jiu let out a mocking chuckle.
“What nonsense are you talking about, you damn girl!” Zheng Ziyu’s greedy smile hadn’t faded. “Hurry up and stop wasting time.”
Lin Jiu folded her arms, taking her time. “Fine, I’ll say it then. Let alone small things like spirit stones, spiritual veins, or the three thousand miles of Dongting. Even if you want the world, no one will stop you. However, since you dare to have such a big appetite, go ahead and take it yourself!”
“What on earth are you talking about?” Zheng Ziyu’s face darkened.
“If you are unable to get something through your own abilities, even if you manage to beg and steal it, you won’t be able to hold onto it,” Lin Jiu stated, her lips curling into a smile. “After all, who’s to blame for raising your son into such a useless leech who only knows how to freeload and wait for a windfall?”
Zheng Ziyu’s mouth dropped open in shock. “What did you just say?! You ungrateful wretch! Everything you have today is because I fought for it! Lin Qiu, how dare you forget where you came from!”
Lin Dong’s lips curled up into a cruel smile, his eyes flashing with ferocity as he rolled up his sleeves menacingly.
Lin Jiu’s subtle chuckles had turned into full-blown laughter, causing her to bend over slightly. “Me? Ungrateful?” She said from between her laughter. “Who in Dongting does not know that none of the concubines who enter the Wang family survives for more than six months? Once they become a human furnace, their cultivation and even vitality are sucked day after day, their youth and beauty quickly wither away. Even if they aren’t drained to death, they’re eventually abused and discarded once they become old and ugly, dying in misery. If I hadn’t pretended to be incompetent and failed to master the Jade Heart Sutra, I’d already be dust by now. Do you remember how you forced me to practice it? Zheng Ziyu, your daughter has long been dead!”
Yes, dead. The original Lin Qiu had died, and so had the former Lin Jiu.
Zheng Ziyu’s expression turned awkward. “Nonsense! That’s just because they weren’t skilled enough to keep their man; if they died, they deserved it! With your beauty, how hard could it be to enchant Wang Bitan? If you play your card right, you could even rise from concubine to main wife! I was doing my best to give you a chance to enter a golden nest, and instead of being grateful, you dare hold a grudge against me? Is this how a daughter should act?”
Lin Dong could no longer hold back his annoyance and leaped from the ebony chair to kick toward Lin Jiu’s chest, spewing obscenities as he shouted, “I’ll teach you a lesson for Mother, you ungrateful wench!”
Zheng Ziyu had poured countless resources into her son’s cultivation, leaving only meager scraps for her daughter. Despite this, Lin Qiu managed to reach the Foundation Establishment at the age of fifteen, while Lin Dong, at seventeen, was still stuck in the Qi Condensation stage. Only after Zheng Ziyu sold Lin Qiu and obtained an advancement pill from the Wang family did her precious son barely manage to reach the Foundation Establishment stage.
Despite being more advanced in her cultivation, the original Lin Qiu had been living a life of suppression and was too afraid to resist her younger brother’s tyranny, which made Lin Dong think she was no match for him. But Lin Jiu wasn’t about to let this worthless brat faze her. Thanks to the karma lotus, her cultivation had advanced from the middle to the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, lacking only an opportunity to form a golden core and break through to the next level. With the additional boost from the Stalactite Spiritual Essence that Wei Liang helped her absorb, her meridians had been strengthened tremendously, and the aura circulating in her body was now abundant, pure, and rich—enough to crush dozens of Lin Dong!
In her eyes, his kick looked so slow and feeble.
With a cold sneer, Lin Jiu sidestepped and grabbed Lin Dong by the ankle, slamming him hard onto the ground!
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With a family like this, no one needs an enemy.
With a family like this, FL doesn’t need any enemies, her family is her enemy.