Qin Xinyao's eyes were bloodshot as he looked at her, his gaze sharp and filled with unconcealed hatred. The handsome features on his face were devoid of their usual silliness.
"Haven't you been deceiving me all along?" he asked, his lips parting slightly.
His words were clear, his tone icy, completely unlike his usual foolish demeanor.
He was tired; he didn't want to pretend anymore.
Seeing him like this, Qin Yonghui felt a mix of joy and sorrow, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
She was glad because he was no longer foolish. She no longer had to worry about how he would manage alone in the Qin family after she was gone.
She was sad because he had deliberately feigned ignorance, even deceiving her.
In all these years, were her sincere affections not worth a moment of his willfulness?
Even a tiny bit.
"Yao'er, you... I... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. Auntie knows she was wrong. Can you forgive Auntie?" she choked out, her eyes welling up with tears of regret.
"Auntie truly knows she was wrong. All these years, I've repented before Buddha every day, praying for you and the Qin family. If I haven't earned merit, I've at least endured hardship. Auntie begs you, can you forgive Auntie?"
Looking at her like this, Qin Xinyao found it incredibly ironic. His chest heaved, unsure if it was from anger or rage.
"Heh, forgive? Take back your crocodile tears. Don't try to fool me again!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Auntie knows she was wrong, truly sorry!" Qin Yonghui apologized with tear-filled eyes. If she hadn't been tied to the chair, she probably would have knelt before Qin Xinyao.
Qin Xinyao remained unmoved. "If apologies were useful, why would Sixth Uncle still be locked up in prison for so long without being released?"
Qin Yonghui froze, then sobbed, "I really didn't mean to. If your father had been more obedient back then, why would I have argued with him? How could I have accidentally stabbed him to death?"
"Do you think I've had an easy time all these years? I've spent every day consumed by regret and repentance!"
As Qin Yonghui spoke, she broke down in tears, as if blaming Qin Xinyao, and perhaps even blaming Yu He:
"I've repented for so long, why aren't you willing to forgive me?! I already know I was wrong! I'm willing to change, why aren't you willing to forgive me! Why did you have to expose me?"
"If you truly knew you were wrong, you wouldn't have framed Sixth Uncle! Letting Sixth Uncle suffer in your place!" Qin Xinyao couldn't hold back and roared.
His whole body trembled, his eyes red-rimmed, yet he stubbornly held back his tears.
"If you had recognized your mistake from the beginning, my mother wouldn't have died of illness! Sixth Aunt wouldn't have been killed because of this, and younger sister Xinshu and Grandma Yu wouldn't have been forced to wander! You call that a mistake?" he bellowed. "You call that selfishness! Because of your selfishness, everyone else has to pay the price for you!"
For the first time, Qin Yonghui saw him like this and suddenly felt like the person before her had become a stranger, terrifying.
She shook her head desperately. "No, you're not my Yao'er! My Yao'er wouldn't be like this! Who are you? Give me back my Yao'er!"
In the monitoring room.
Yu He watched Qin Xinyao's hysterical outburst with a pang of sadness.
His situation was more cruel than her adoptive father's plea for her to stop investigating the past case. Indeed, none of the 'Yong' generation of the Qin family were good people!
It seemed her adoptive father's words were true: "This matter involves too many people. Investigating further will only land many people in the Qin family in trouble..."
"There's a doubt in Qin Yonghui's words. The Second Old Madam wasn't her biological mother, so why would she help her?" Yu He said.
As far as she knew, Qin Second Old Madam, née Ma, was the Qin patriarch's second wife, married after his first wife passed away.
Qin Yongchao, Qin Yonghui, and Qin Yong'an were born to the first wife. Not long after the first wife gave birth to the twins Qin Yonghui and Qin Yong'an, she fell ill and passed away. Three months after his wife's death, the Qin patriarch brought Madam Ma into the family. The following year, Qin Yonghao was born.
With a stepmother and a father who had remarried, the Qin patriarch, who had found a new love, gradually neglected the three children born to his first wife.
Qin Yonghui, being naturally sharp, especially disliked Madam Ma, feeling she had stolen her father. Therefore, she often played pranks and tormented Madam Ma.
Madam Ma outwardly appeared to be a virtuous wife and loving mother, but what her true intentions were remained unknown.
If she had been true to her word, why would rumors have suddenly spread in the inner court before the Qin patriarch's death that he intended to pass the family headship to Third Master Qin? This led to the tragedy at that time.
Qin Yonghui's hatred towards Madam Ma also shifted after Qin Yong'an's death, a fact all the Qin family members witnessed.
However, at the time, everyone just thought Qin Yonghui had been deeply affected by the blow, and Madam Ma had shown her care during this difficult period, proving their bond in adversity.
But was that truly the case?
The staff switched the main monitor screen to interrogation room 1, where Madam Ma was being questioned.
To Yu He's surprise, Madam Ma was quite cooperative with the interrogation.
Upon closer inspection, she realized Madam Ma's mental state was not right.
"She wasn't being honest, so we had her stay in the 'dark room' for a while. Now she's cooperating," Chen Yongyue explained.
Yu He was slightly surprised and casually asked, "What kind of 'dark room' is this? It's so effective."
Chen Yongyue's eyes lit up. "Right? I think it's incredibly effective too. It's Seventh Master's design, truly advanced tech!"
Yu He glanced at Qin Beiting. "Oh? Seventh Master Qin's business is truly extensive."
This glance, in Qin Beiting's eyes, was the young girl blaming him for not telling her.
He cleared his throat. "It's all for survival."
Yu He: "..."
What kind of survival was this?
Chen Yongyue: "..."
Why hadn't life forced me to design something like this??
"You can even command the Special Investigation Department, is there anything you can't do?" Yu He teased.
Qin Beiting thought for a moment, then whispered into her ear, "Have babies."
Yu He: "..."
Yu He: "Be serious!"
In interrogation room 1.
"I instructed Huang Ying," Madam Ma said.
Interrogator: "Why?"
Madam Ma: "Because she knew things she shouldn't have."
Interrogator: "What things?"
Madam Ma suddenly fell silent. She lowered her cloudy eyes, looking at her cuffed hands, her focus gradually blurring as she recalled a scene from years ago.
"Ten thousand yuan! Second Madam, if you give me ten thousand yuan, I'll keep the matter of the Fourth Young Master smothering the Eldest Young Master's infant child a secret!" a servant from the Qin family threatened her.
That year, the Qin patriarch was still alive, and Qin Yonghao and the others were still young, not yet elevated in generation. The Eldest Young Master, Qin Yongchao, had married early and had a young son.
However, the child died shortly after birth, which was why there was no Eldest Young Master in the current 'Xin' generation of the Qin family.
"I'll give you twenty thousand, and from now on, you are not allowed to appear in the capital again," Madam Ma said.
The servant's greedy expression immediately surfaced, and he nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, of course."
Madam Ma disgustedly had cash amounting to twenty thousand yuan brought to her and ordered the driver to take her back to the countryside.
The servant, clutching the money, boarded the car with a smile, completely unaware of the irreversible fate that awaited him.
After dismissing the servant, Madam Ma thought the matter would be buried forever, and no one would ever know the truth behind the little young master's death. But when she turned around, she saw Shu Yun'er standing in the courtyard, having appeared at some unknown time.