Chapter 19 If He Hadn’t Provoked Her

Downstairs, Xu Lianghan was wearing a polite smile, exchanging greetings with Yu Yan and his wife in the living room.

When he saw Ruan Yaoyao and his wife coming down holding the baby, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief and quickly stood to greet them.

Yu Xiangqiao quickened her pace slightly, walking up to Xu Lianghan and smiling as she greeted her elder brother and sister-in-law.

Yu Yan and his wife also greeted them, and especially with Ruan Yaoyao holding the baby, as an elder, she also stood up politely.

“Please, sit.” Ruan Yaoyao’s face was expressionless, her demeanor calm, almost giving off the impression that she wasn’t particularly welcoming.

She sat at the farthest distance from them, holding her granddaughter, and had no intention of letting anyone else see the child.

【Tsk, tsk… can’t believe it. The elder brother of the daughter-in-law is really like this—already married and still pining for his first love. No wonder even his own wife was manipulated.】

With one glance, she could see through the body of “Gong Minhui.” That soul, which had looked like a delicate little white flower, was completely unlike Gong Minhui herself—visually, it wasn’t very appealing.

【It was a pity for Gong Minhui’s own soul. Just like her daughter-in-law back then, it had shrunk to the size of a thumb, trapped in the Mud Palace, tangled in a mess of black threads.】

【Compared to her daughter-in-law, who had only her limbs bound, Gong Minhui was far worse off, her entire body nearly cocooned with only her head exposed.】

【Her eyes were tightly shut, her face numb, looking completely resigned, as if she had long given up hope and was waiting to die.】

【Sigh… so pitiful!】

Looking at Yu Yan made her even more irritated.

【If he hadn’t provoked her, Gong Minhui wouldn’t be suffering like this.】

【I wonder if there’s anything I can do…】

Yu Xiangqiao’s eyes suddenly lit up. She quickly thought in her mind: Mom, you definitely have a way! Go for it!

Xu Lianghan noticed how fidgety Yu Xiangqiao had become and quickly reached out to grab her hand, giving her a steadying look.

Meanwhile, Yu Yan had been warned by his parents when he left the house: his sister’s mother-in-law was sick. No matter what he saw or heard there, he wasn’t to react. If anything happened, wait until he returned home to report it.

“Huh? Madam Xu is sick? Why didn’t I hear about this?”

Zhong Wenmei glared at him: “If you didn’t hear it, then you didn’t. Did you hear what I said or not?”

“I heard it,” Yu Yan replied helplessly. He had gone to check on his sick sister but didn’t know her situation yet. Instead, he first found out that his sister’s mother-in-law was “sick.”

To prevent his wife from worrying, he had explained the situation to Gong Minhui as well.

So when Yu Yan heard some strange sounds, he just cast a glance at Ruan Yaoyao and quickly averted his gaze, muttering to himself: No wonder my parents warned me. This “sickness” is so niche! She must be watching too much TV.

He didn’t notice that Gong Minhui, sitting beside him, hadn’t heard anything at all and was still smiling while talking to Yu Xiangqiao, acting like the perfect sister-in-law.

Yu Xiangqiao, for her part, was somewhat perfunctory in her responses. All she wanted to know now was whether her mother-in-law could truly “save” her sister-in-law. If not, it would be a serious problem.

Four adults and one child, none of their minds were really on the conversation.

Ruan Yaoyao herself wasn’t sure she could do it. After all, last time when she “saved” her daughter-in-law, it was purely by chance. She hadn’t even figured out what was going on before it was over.

After the black threads entered her body, she had observed them for several days and didn’t notice anything wrong.

So these black threads were harmless to her body?

Ruan Yaoyao focused intently on the threads, silently chanting in her mind: 【Unbind!】

【Unbind!】

【Unbind!】

…

That feeling returned again. It was as if her mind had grown feelers, gently touching the threads, which responded with slight movement.

This time, unlike before, there wasn’t an immediate end; it was more like a tangled ball of thread, and Ruan Yaoyao needed patience to untangle it.

Ruan Yaoyao admitted that patience was her biggest weakness.

If she had been patient, she would have achieved greatness long ago—why would she be living as a rich housewife?

But this was a matter of life, not ordinary affairs.

With renewed empathy, Ruan Yaoyao looked at the motionless soul of Gong Minhui and silently told herself to take it slow. There was no rush; she would eventually sort out the tangled threads.

Pulling here, tugging there, she hadn’t loosened the thread ball at all. In fact, it had become even tighter.

“Uh…”

Embarrassed, Ruan Yaoyao had to think of a way to pull it back.

After trying for quite a while, she finally found a starting point.

Ruan Yaoyao exhaled in relief.

【Finally found it…】

With each tug, the black thread ball around Gong Minhui’s soul loosened. Ruan Yaoyao grew more and more excited; the sensation was incredible!

【So this is what it feels like to untangle a thread ball!】

As the ball loosened, Gong Minhui’s soul sensed it too. She opened her eyes in confusion and instinctively struggled.

One side untangled, the other struggled. Soon, the thread ball fell from her soul, floating lightly toward Ruan Yaoyao.

Having done it once before, Ruan Yaoyao remained calm, watching the threads enter her body.

At the same time, the real Gong Minhui seemed to react, lunging at the thing that had been occupying her body. Whether it was years of frustration or what, she clawed and bit like an enraged tigress.

“Gong Minhui” was caught completely off guard. The real Gong Minhui landed on her and let out a miserable scream: “Ah…”

Her suffering startled Yu Yan, who was sitting beside her.

“Wife, what’s wrong?!”

Before he could approach, Yu Xiangqiao, fully prepared, grabbed him, and Xu Lianghan stepped forward to help, holding Yu Yan’s waist and pulling him back.

“Don’t go over there!”

“What are you doing?! But I’m her husband—”

Yu Xiangqiao fumed: “Don’t talk nonsense! Your wife already—” She almost shouted it out, but was interrupted.

The interruption wasn’t anyone else but Gong Minhui fainting—she collapsed to the floor.

By her ear, Ruan Yaoyao’s voice echoed: 【Oh! Another soul dispersal?!】

【Evil meets its due. Serves her right!】

【It’s just a pity for this young girl. Her body was occupied for so long, her spirit is unstable. It’ll take a while to fully recover.】

Yu Xiangqiao no longer stopped her brother but instead helped call for help, immediately getting the real sister-in-law to the hospital.

This time, Ruan Yaoyao didn’t go. The person had been rescued, and she still had to care for her precious granddaughter. She wasn’t interested in watching the commotion.

Yu Xiangqiao estimated the baby’s feeding time, then brought Xu Lianghan along to take her brother and sister-in-law to the hospital, also telling them the “truth” as she knew it.

Yu Yan’s face was full of disbelief: “How is this possible?! You two also got ‘sick’?”

“No, it’s real. Our parents know about it, or else why would they have instructed you like that and sent you and your sister-in-law over? Did you really think it was just to see me?” Yu Xiangqiao scolded him in exasperation. “They were counting on my mother-in-law to save you. If you don’t believe it, call our parents and ask.”