I am chasing a rough man in the 80s
Chapter 677: Speaking the Toughest Words in the Softest Voice

Chapter 677: Chapter 677: Speaking the Toughest Words in the Softest Voice

"If I really wanted to harm you, I wouldn’t have asked you to come and talk privately." Suizi sipped her tea with a seasoned calmness that belied her age.

"You planned all this, didn’t you? Waiting for a chance to catch me off guard so you can control me from now on? You farmers are cunning. I’ve known rural people’s nature for a long time; always trying to take advantages, forsaking ethics for profit, and acting stronger than they are! Why did you folks, who were better off farming in the countryside, come to the city?"

After a brief panic, Fan’s mother’s sense of superiority emerged again.

Suizi laughed.

"Did you label all farmers after meeting a few of them? If you have such keen judgement skills, where you can perceive the overall situation with a simple snap of your fingers, why don’t you work for the Bureau of Statistics?"

"At the time of our nation’s founding, 89% of the population were farmers. You’re constantly looking down on farmers, I suppose you must be a descendant of the remaining 11% aristocrats?"

Fan’s mother was just about to raise her chin and boast about her noble birth, but Suizi interrupted her by spitting out a mouthful of tea leaves in a manner both rude and endearing, leaving Fan’s mother speechless.

"Well, now I understand why they say we farmers should be in charge. We may be cunning, we may love to take advantage, but we would never stoop to coaxing someone into poisoning others. Really, if we let someone like you be in charge, chaos would ensue, wouldn’t it?"

After her speech, Suizi felt smug. It turned out those daily two Braised Duck Tongues she ate weren’t in vain; she had honed her debate skills indeed.

Being able to anger Fan’s mother with her eloquence was due to her shaking the rough draft she had prepared at home, to avoid stuttering during the quarrel. Today’s confrontation went smoothly indeed.

"Your grandfather was the one who poisoned us, you should take it up with him, not me!" Fan’s mother stubbornly denied her involvement.

"Are you still playing innocent? If I didn’t have some evidence, I wouldn’t be here confronting you. Your helpers have already confessed. All I want from you now is a simple statement. If you don’t cooperate, don’t blame me for not affording you a way out."

Suizi spoke the harshest words in the softest voice.

Fan’s mother seemed deflated, sitting there in silenced frustration.

Suizi did not pressure her. She simply continued to sip her tea leisurely.

After finishing two cups of tea, Fan’s mother’s voice seemed to drift from far away.

"What do you want me to say? That medicine, even though I did switch it, it wouldn’t seriously harm anyone who took it. At most, it would cause mild food poisoning. How is it my fault that you fed it to the dog in such a large dose?"

Though she began with a lack of confidence, as she went on, she seemed to believe she was in the right. As if it were Suizi and her husband’s fault that the dog was poisoned.

Suizi laughed, finally realizing what her husband Jingting meant when he often said, "Flowers come in a hundred shades of red, men and dogs are not the same."

One should never argue with selfish people; it’s like playing a lute for a cow.

Nor should one try to guess what a selfish person is thinking using their own mindset, you’ll never understand. Even if you take apart their brains, you’ll only be left with the word ’absurd.’

"How did you know my grandfather planned to laxative the wedding banquet?" Suizi asked.

"It was his own stupidity. Speaking about these things on the street with his student, if he dared to speak them out loud, he shouldn’t be afraid of others overhearing!" Fan’s mother still thought she was justified.

"... How is it possible that someone as egotistical as you managed to raise my father, a man of integrity? Is it a case of opposites attracting or mean reversion?"

"I only did what everybody else was doing, Chen Lijun was disowned by everyone, even her own father didn’t want good things to happen for her. All I did was change her father’s laxative to another drug. There was essentially no difference."

From the onset of her nervousness to her self-justification, in the end, Fan’s mother felt as if she had done nothing wrong.

With that in mind, she found Suizi’s accusations overblown and unnecessary.

"No difference? There’s a significant difference. We consulted a friend about the substitute drug you provided. Normally, it’s used to ease menstrual cramps, but if improperly applied, it could cause severe nausea, vomiting, numbness, even difficulty breathing, and can potentially lead to death. With the dose you provided, not just dogs would have died."

"How’s that possible? The Liu’s assured me there wouldn’t be a big issue. Their family has royal physician ancestry, how could they get it wrong?"

"So it’s the Liu family." Now that Suizi had gotten the information from Fan’s mother, she was certain.

She and Jingting had gone there to find out who was the instigator behind the scenes.

Jingting’s heavy-handed approach may have seemed rash, but every word he uttered had been carefully calculated by the couple to expose the mole.

It seemed that while Jingting was arguing with the third family, the second family was playing peacemaker with friendly facades. But if they genuinely wanted to intervene, why did they wait until Jingting’s bombardment was over to speak up? They were clearly just stirring the pot.

The fourth family remained bystanders throughout the whole ordeal, barely noticeable. Suizi was uncertain if they were involved.

She had brought the old woman out alone, made a false threat and managed to puzzle out the truth of the matter.

"The second aunt heard my grandfather discuss the laxative with his student, came home, coaxed you into thinking that the laxative was ineffective, persuaded you to swap it for a potentially lethal mix instead. This way, even if the plot is exposed, it could be pinned on my grandfather. You could then stand out, preventing my mother from entering."

"If your mother hadn’t insisted on marrying into this family, would all these problems have arisen?"

"I’m telling you responsibly; you’ve been used as a pawn. Aren’t you upset?"

"Pawn? How so?" Although Fan’s mother did not think highly of Liu Yue, she had always considered herself superior. How could she fall for the schemes of Liu Yue, a softie?

"Second Aunt had always known that you would be exposed, she planned your every move, yet you naively fell into her trap without realizing it. If it weren’t for me and Jingting, by now, you would be a puppet on someone else’s string, not daring to go west when told to head east."

"Impossible! Liu Yue is such an idiot, how could she outsmart me?"

"The most skilled hunter often takes the form of its prey."

Suizi took out a folder from the drawer. In it was the minute description of the wedding procedure, two pages dedicated to food safety alone. This was her own planning.

"My parents’ two weddings were both hosted by my husband and I, I took great care of the security, especially in the kitchen. We had our people overseeing every process, I even borrowed quite a number from my father’s side. All of my husband’s close friends got involved, too. Nobody could have tampered with our food. Anyone with a bit of sense could figure this out if they asked around."

"Then why would Liu Yue still insist on me replacing the drug, even though she knew it wouldn’t work?" Fan’s mother was baffled, she’d not anticipated that Suizi and her husband could be so meticulous at such a young age.

"Because her starting point wasn’t to poison."