After becoming a widow, I became the apple of a rough man's eye.

Looking at Qin Lie's hunting rifle, the old village chief was afraid that he might really do something reckless, so he could only grit his teeth and say some harsh words.

"Fine! If I don't get a satisfactory explanation by tomorrow morning, I'll bring my men to smash up your Qin family's place!"

"Let's go," Qin Lie said in a low voice.

Gu Qiangying grabbed Lin Qingqing's wrist and led her back.

Lin Qingqing glanced back and saw Su Jiaojiao being helped up by the old village chief, while Chen Qinghe had quietly left the crowd and disappeared into the darkness.

When he got home, Li Dongye was so angry that he kicked the wooden door of the main room.

"Damn it! What kind of mess is this! I've been driving for half a month, and I just got back and run into this jinx!"

He threw his leather jacket on the table, plopped down, and started chugging cold water from the teapot.

Jiang He leaned against the door frame: "Fourth Brother, aren't you usually quite the charmer? How come you fell for the village chief's daughter this time? That Su Jiaojiao isn't bad looking either. Why don't you just go for it and become the old village chief's live-in son-in-law?"

"Get lost!" Li Dongye glared at him. "Do you think my taste is that bad? I wouldn't even take that kind of brainless trash if he were given to me for free."

"Fourth brother, you really didn't touch her?" Xiao Yong asked in a muffled voice.

"I swear, I didn't even touch her hand!"

Li Dongye got anxious, his eyes unconsciously drifting towards Lin Qingqing, and his voice lowered considerably, "Although I, Li Dongye, love to have fun, I never do such low-class things. Don't fucking tease me, it's upsetting me."

Lin Qingqing looked up at the bloody marks on Li Dongye's neck.

"Fourth Brother, I believe you."

Li Dongye breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to take her hand, but Gu Qiangying subtly blocked him.

"Whether you believe it or not is not important; what's important is how to solve it." Gu Qiangying pushed up his glasses, sat down at the table, and wrote something on a piece of paper with a pen in his hand.

"Solve what? Just go and grab that bitch and confront her!" Li Dongye shouted.

"Confrontation?" Gu Qiangying sneered. "She's convinced you've been a pervert. Your clothes are torn, you've cried, and the whole village saw it. What are you going to use to confront her? Your mouth that only knows how to spout lewd nonsense?"

Qin Lie, seated in the main seat, suddenly spoke: "Qingqing, what did you say to her in the bamboo forest just now?"

Lin Qingqing walked to the table and sat down, recounting the details she had just observed.

"Su Jiaojiao ripped her own buttons off. Her hands and nails were very clean, not like she had struggled on the dirt road. The injury on Fourth Brother's face must have been inflicted by her when he wasn't paying attention. Also, she kept looking at Chen Qinghe."

"Chen, the educated youth?" Jiang He raised an eyebrow. "That pretty boy is here too?"

"He was there, and he looked terrible." Lin Qingqing pursed her lips. "I tested him by saying that Chen Qinghe was watching, and Su Jiaojiao immediately stopped crying loudly. I think this matter is definitely related to Chen Qinghe."

Li Dongye frowned and thought about it carefully.

Gu Qiangying put down her pen and folded the note she had written.

"It's not that simple."

"What do you mean?" Everyone looked at Gu Qiangying.

Gu Qiangying stood up and walked to the medicine cabinet, rummaging through something.

"This afternoon, Su Jiaojiao came to see me for a medical checkup. She said she was dizzy and her period was irregular."

"And then?" Li Dongye pressed.

"I took her pulse." Gu Qiangying turned around, holding a small packet of medicinal herbs in her hand. "It's a pregnancy sign. She's been pregnant for at least a month."

Li Dongye was stunned for a long time, then suddenly slapped his thigh.

"Holy crap! More than a month? Back then I was still hauling goods in Guangzhou!"

"So, she's looking for someone to take over?" Jiang He sneered, a ruthless glint in his eyes. "She's got her eye on Fourth Brother, who just got back, has money, and has a bad reputation. Even if she says Fourth Brother did it, everyone will believe her."

"That bitch, she's got a vicious heart!" Xiao Yong cursed gruffly. "She's treating Lao Si like a sucker, and now she's ruining his reputation. I'm going to drag that Chen Qinghe out right now and beat him half to death, let's see if he confesses!"

"Why bring him back? To make him publicly admit that the child in Su Jiaojiao's belly is his?" Qin Lie glanced at Xiao Yong. "If he were capable, he would have stood up in the bamboo forest just now. Why would he have waited until now?"

Xiao Yong sat back down on the bench, sullen and panting heavily with anger.

Lin Qingqing sat to the side, feeling a wave of fear wash over her.

If Gu Qiangying hadn't detected the pregnancy pulse today, or if Fourth Brother hadn't been able to prove he'd been away from the village for over a month, this mess would have really been pinned on the Qin family.

"Third Brother, since you figured it out, why didn't you just say so this afternoon?" Li Dongye looked at Gu Qiangying.

"She just doesn't seem like she's peaceful. I'm here to treat her illness, but I don't want to meddle in other people's business. At that time, I didn't understand what she was trying to do either." Gu Qiangying walked behind Lin Qingqing, put her hands on her shoulders, and gently massaged her shoulders.

Lin Qingqing shrank her neck but didn't dodge.

"Now I understand. She wanted to use this as an excuse to force Dongye to marry her. Once they're married, whether the child is born at three or five months, it can be said to be premature. The old village chief cares about his reputation, so he'll definitely help cover it up."

Li Dongye was so angry that he paced around the room.

"Dream on! I'd rather stay a bachelor my whole life than marry a slut like that! I'm going to the old village chief's house right now and make this clear!"

"You can't go." Qin Lie put the gun back in its case and stood up. "If you go, the old village chief will only say that you deliberately splashed dirty water on Su Jiaojiao to evade responsibility in order to protect his daughter's reputation."

"I'll go," Lin Qingqing said softly.

All eyes were on her. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear, trying to make her voice sound steady.

"Su Jiaojiao is definitely on guard against you now. I'm a woman, so it's most appropriate for me to visit her." Lin Qingqing looked at Li Dongye, "Fourth Brother, can you lend me something?"

Qin Lie paused for a moment, then said, "I'll listen to Qingqing."

Gu Qiangying raised an eyebrow, and Li Dongye asked, "What?"

……

These two chapters are transitional chapters.

There will be two more chapters this afternoon.