Liu E dismissed it with a wave of her hand. “Mom, please don’t look at me like that. I’m telling the truth—just today, Jiajia’s future is basically ruined.

“In Ningcheng, she’ll either follow Qin Xin’s path and end up just like her, or she’ll have to settle for an arranged marriage with someone who doesn’t even know her. There’s no way she can ever rise to the ranks of the prestigious families now.”

“Do you really need to remind me?” Old Lady Liu’s head was pounding. She glared at her daughter once more before saying, “What I want to talk about now is Liu Hao. What should we do about him?

“I’ll be frank: he’s my only sensible nephew. No matter what, I can’t just stand by and watch him get beaten to death.”

“So let him marry Jiajia then,” Liu E suggested. “They both come from the same family, after all—they’re both part of the old Liu clan. As long as he agrees, at least there’ll be some closure to this whole mess.”

Wang Zhi immediately shook her head. “No way. Jiajia is so proud and arrogant; she’d never even consider Liu Hao. There’s no chance she’d agree to this.”

“But what if she refuses now? This secret can’t stay hidden forever. Even if Ming Shuo and Qin Xin try to smooth things over, outsiders won’t be fooled. Do you really think the wealthy, high-ranking families in Ningcheng wouldn’t find out? Remember, there was more than one person who saw what happened today!” Liu E shot back at her sister-in-law, Wang Zhi, as if she were deliberately trying to argue with her.

Wang Zhi fell silent at once. Though she desperately wanted to retort, she’d learned enough about the rules of Ningcheng’s elite circles over the years.

When it came to choosing a daughter-in-law, they took certain matters very seriously and would investigate thoroughly.

No one else could argue with Liu E, so after everyone discussed it, the decision was made: Liu Hao would marry Liu Jia, and that would bring the matter to a close.

However, when Liu Qinxin, who had just gotten her wounds treated at the hospital, came over to see her son and heard about this decision from the other members of the Liu family, she was the first to shake her head firmly. “Are you really my Jiajia’s relatives? To protect a shameless rapist, you’re actually willing to ruin Jiajia’s entire life, is that right?”

“Qinxin, that’s not what we mean at all. It’s just that things have reached this point, and there’s no better way out. We have no choice but to do this. Don’t you understand?” Old Lady Liu said earnestly.

Liu Qinxin immediately shook her head. “Of course I don’t! I can understand why you’d want to protect that beast—after all, you’re his aunt. But Mom, don’t forget—you’re also Jiajia’s maternal grandmother.

Have you ever thought about what will happen to my Jiajia if you handle things so carelessly? Are you going to make her spend the rest of her life facing a man who’s insulted her every single day?”

“Qinxin!”

“There’s no room for negotiation on this! No one is allowed to bring it up again—anyone who does will be cut off!”

Liu Qinxin had just had medicine applied to her face, and when she shouted, the skin on her cheeks stretched so painfully that it hurt.

It was only then that everyone in the Liu household noticed something was wrong with her. They hurriedly asked, “What happened to your face? How did you get hurt? Was it that little slut again?”

“So what if it was? So what if it wasn’t? Right now, all you care about is your precious nephew. Who’s going to care about me and my Jiajia?”

Liu Qinxin said, pouting.

Old Lady Liu quickly examined her daughter’s injuries. Seeing so many new marks on such a beautiful face, she was heartbroken. Gripping her cane, she gritted her teeth and snapped, “That little slut! Bastard! How dare she hurt my daughter like this—I’ll fight her to the death!”

She even made a move to grab her cane and head straight over to the Ming family.

But Liu Qinxin grabbed her furious mother’s arm and said, “Enough! Stop making things worse. That old body of yours isn’t even good enough to fill the gap between her teeth.”

End of Chapter 96: Counterattack 22