Just as the constables lifted Zhang Heng and Brute Bull, and the Zhang Family prepared to leave in a panic, Zhang Wanning suddenly stopped.
She spun around and glared at Zhang Yu, who had sat back down inside the cell. "Zhang Yu, what you're doing... does it mean anything to you?"
Her accusatory question brought everyone to a halt.
Zhang Wanning's chest heaved as if she had grasped the "truth." She spoke rapidly:
"Don't think we're all fools. This whole thing is a show you put on yourself—a despicable, laughable act to get Mother's attention and make all of us pay attention to you."
Her voice trembled with excitement.
"First, you used a scheme to saddle the Marquis Estate with a huge debt, just to show off your ability and importance.
"Then you used some filthy means to find someone to defile Xiao Heng.
"You wanted us to see Xiao Heng in that filthy state after being violated by a man. You wanted us to despise and distance ourselves from him for losing his innocence and bringing shame on us.
"That way, you could get Mother and Father's attention again, along with mine and Sister Jiang's."
"Then—"
Her voice suddenly rose. Her eyes gleamed with the self-satisfied certainty of someone who thought she had seen through everything.
"You conspired with that 'Brute Bull' and staged the rest of this. You had him pretend to attack you, then suddenly 'erupted' and showed off your supposed 'profound cultivation.'
"You wanted to shock us, make us think you'd been hiding your abilities, make us regret looking down on you and start valuing you instead—even... begging you to return to the Marquis Estate?"
"Zhang Yu, what a devious mind you have, what a vicious scheme.
"To fight for favor, to get that pitiful scrap of attention, you'd even harm your own younger brother like this. You'd concoct such a vile, filthy charade. You're simply... simply not fit to be human."
Zhang Wanning's astonishing deduction, so "well-reasoned" and "logically sound," was like a boulder dropped into an already murky pond, stirring up even greater chaos.
Everyone inside and outside the cell, including the Zhang Family themselves, was stunned.
The fear in Qin Xuehua's eyes gave way to confusion when she heard Zhang Wanning's words. Then, little by little, a glimmer of doubt crept into her expression.
That was true... In the past, Yu'er had been willing to endure any humiliation and do any absurd thing to please them.
If he had staged this whole pitiful-act-turned-reversal to win their attention again, it did seem... consistent with his old, obsessive need to please them.
Besides, how could Yu'er have gained such powerful strength overnight?
If it was all an act, if he and Brute Bull had conspired, then it made sense.
The furrow in Jiang Luohan's brow relaxed slightly, too.
She had never been able to accept the reality that Zhang Yu had suddenly gained the strength to overwhelm a sixth-rank cultivator. She was even less willing to admit that she had misjudged him and broken off their engagement by mistake.
Zhang Wanning's claim that it was all an act was far-fetched, but somehow it offered her a measure of comfort.
It wasn't that Zhang Yu had truly become stronger, nor that she had been blind. He had simply used despicable means to put on a show.
Thinking of it that way, her fear of Zhang Yu instantly turned into even deeper contempt and disgust.
She snorted and added:
"Zhang Yu, even if you've schemed for all you're worth, even if Xiao Heng really has... been defiled, I still wouldn't give you a second look.
"Your despicable tactics make me sick.
"I, Jiang Luohan, regret nothing more in my life than ever having been engaged to you."
Zhang Qingyue also nodded, for no clear reason.
She looked at Zhang Yu with disappointment and a condescending sort of pity.
"Eldest Brother, to fight for favor, you stooped to such despicable, contemptible methods—hurting your own family and staging the whole thing yourself.
"All you've done is make us see your pettiness and baseness more clearly. You won't get what you want; instead, you'll make us... never forgive you.
"And don't think so highly of yourself. The Marquis Estate's businesses have a solid foundation. Even without you, they'll still flourish under Xiao Heng's leadership. Don't think you can use this to curry favor or threaten us."
The Zhang Family's servants and the matrons who had come along naturally believed whatever their masters said. One after another, they cast contemptuous, accusing looks at Zhang Yu.
Even some of the prisoners watching, after their initial shock, heard Zhang Wanning's "reasonable" theory and remembered Zhang Yu's old reputation as a "people-pleasing freak" and "bootlicker." Quite a few of them ended up believing most of it.
"So that's what happened. He staged it himself."
"He'd even harm his own younger brother to fight for favor. What a piece of trash!"
"I was wondering how a good-for-nothing suddenly got so good at fighting. Turns out he and Brute Bull were in on it!"
"Tsk, tsk. The eldest young master of the Marquis Estate really will stop at nothing to get attention!"
In the cell next door, the Heir of Prince Jing, Xiao Sheng, didn't burst into laughter this time. Instead, he stroked his chin, his face full of amusement, and muttered under his breath:
"Interesting... very interesting... How does the fourth young lady of the Marquis Estate's mind even work?
"She actually came up with something so bizarre.
"But... it looks like everyone else believes her?
"Hahaha! That 'bootlicker' image of the Zhang Eldest Young Master is really ingrained. It's done him no end of harm!"
Faced with Zhang Wanning's wildly imaginative, supremely self-important accusation, and the contempt, blame, and sudden "understanding" that followed from the Zhang Family and the onlookers, Zhang Yu could only feel an absurdity so overwhelming it shot straight to his skull, making his head buzz.
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