To Defeat Scum, You Must Start Early, My Lady

In the quiet hall, Nie Xiaofei’s voice could be heard loud and clear.

Qin Ciling’s face hardened. “Keep reading!”

Nie Xiaofei obediently continued to read in a soft voice, “According to insiders, the eldest daughter of a certain Song family recently accepted her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, but the one who proposed is not the young master of the Ji family who she is engaged to, but a person named Yi who has been together with her since her college years. It is rumored that the two were a loving couple in college and have promised to get married upon graduation. It seems that the rumored marriage between the Song family and the Ji family exists in name only.”

The more Qin Ciling heard, the harder her face became.

Nie Xiaofei carefully handed the phone to Qin Ciling. “There are also photos.”

Song Zhizhi had also taken out her phone to check the news. Besides the photo of Yi Wenhan proposing on one knee last night, there were also many intimate photos of them taken during their college years.

So…

This was Nie Wenzhi’s counterattack?

To show the world that Yi Wenhan and her were indeed a couple!

When the Ji family saw this news, they definitely could not accept it, and it would definitely affect the marriage agreement. She had only just gone personally to the Ji family a few days ago to declare that she would be a good daughter-in-law to the Ji family. Wasn’t this breaking her own promise?

Nie Wenzhi really was capable of all kinds of underhanded tricks.

“What in the world is going on?! Your father just called me two days ago to tell me that you’ve grown up and have promised to marry Ji Baijian. He even asked me to pick an auspicious date! What the hell are you doing? As a daughter of the Song family, how can you be so thoughtless?!”

“Mom, calm down. You have high blood pressure; getting too agitated is bad for your health. Zhizhi must have her own reason for doing this,” Nie Wenzhi quickly said with concern.

Qin Ciling quietened down. She glared at Song Zhizhi with an infuriated expression.

“Yi Wenhan did propose to me last night, grandma, but I rejected him. Ji Baijian is the only one I’d marry,” Song Zhizhi tried to explain.

“Then why the news?” asked Qin Ciling.

“Someone did it on purpose. I’ll find out who.”

“Investigate it properly! Find out who wrote the news!” Qin Ciling said vehemently.

“I will.” Song Zhizhi nodded. She stole a glance at Nie Wenzhi.

Nothing could be read from Nie Wenzhi’s face at all.

“There’s another news update,” Nie Xiaofei suddenly said, “Someone left a comment saying that sis has only just publicly announced her marriage to the eldest Ji young master a few days ago, but is already accepting someone else’s proposal now. It said sis is…”

Nie Xiaofei stopped herself.

“Is what?” Qin Ciling asked in a stern voice.

Her tone seemed to have shocked Nie Xiaofei. Nie Xiaofei answered in a hurry, “It said that sis is a promiscuous woman, and laughed at the Song family for producing a young lady like her!”

Qin Ciling was so angry that her body was trembling.

“Calm down, mom. Everything has a solution. The media are just deliberately creating stories to gain attention. Please don’t get angry.” Nie Wenzhi quickly comforted her. She even asked the maid to summon the private doctor, acting as if she was afraid that something would happen to Qin Ciling.

Seeing her grandmother so agitated, Song Zhizhi did not dare say too much. She kept quiet as she listened to Nie Wenzhi comfort Qin Ciling. Only after the family doctor came to take Qin Ciling’s blood pressure and administer blood pressure medication did the tense atmosphere calm down somewhat.

And at that moment, Song Shan came back home. The moment he came in, he asked loudly, “What’s going on? Did you see the news? The Ji family just called to demand an explanation, but I don’t even know what to tell them!”

His voice was loud and contained anger.

Nie Wenzhi quickly went over to him and whispered, “Keep your voice down. Mom’s blood pressure got really high just now.”

Noticing his mother, Song Shan forced his anger back down. He went over to her and asked with concern, “Mom, are you all right?”

“I’m fine now.” Qin Ciling had calmed down. “Zhizhi, tell us honestly. What exactly is going on?”

“Mom, why don’t you go back to your room and take a rest. Zhizhi’s father and I will find a solution to this.”

“I’m fine now. Zhizhi, tell me honestly. What the hell do you really want to do?” Qin Ciling was not able to completely calm down. Her voice was still tinged with anger.

Song Zhizhi took a deep breath and explained to her grandmother. “I told you, grandma, I rejected Yi Wenhan’s proposal. Yes, I admit I did like Yi Wenhan before, but we’ve never dated, and I’ve now completely severed my relationship with him. Ji Baijian is the only one I’ll marry. I have no idea why a news like this would break at such a time.”

“The problem is, the Ji family is now very dissatisfied with you,”said Song Shan, “Ji Yunlei has just called me and said they will have to reconsider the marriage.”

Song Zhizhi bit her lip, “Let’s suppress the news first. As for the rest, I’ll find a way to explain myself to the Ji family.”

“It’s not as simple as you think,” said Song Shan. “It’s different from before. The last time when you canceled the marriage, there was no media report, so they can just turn a blind eye when you try to make peace. But now, it concerns the reputation of the Ji family. It’ll be hard to convince them.”

“I’ll find a way,” Song Zhizhi answered resolutely.

“What can you do now?!” Qin Ciling immediately got angry again, “You’ve disgraced the Song family.”

Song Zhizhi was powerless to refute. She could only stay silent for now.

She was silently waiting for a certain someone to make a move.

“When you said you like the man called Yi or whatever his name is, our whole family opposed it, but you didn’t listen! What can you do now? If I were the Ji family, I wouldn’t want a daughter-in-law with a tainted history like you either!” Qin Ciling said angrily.

Qin Ciling was the typical type who put family interests first before anything else. She would take a hard stance whenever the reputation of the Song family was at risk. That was also why, due to Song Zhizhi’s wilful decision in her previous life, she had become estranged from her family.

Nie Wenzhi tried to make use of this point. She continued on with her kind persona and said, “Mom, don’t get angry. I believe Zhizhi didn’t mean it.”

“Don’t get angry? How can I not get angry? Tell me, son, how do we solve this problem?” Qin Ciling asked.

Song Shan did not have a solution yet.

Song Zhizhi was clearly in the wrong to date someone else when she was already engaged. It did not matter whether Song Zhizhi had broken up with the guy, they were the ones in the wrong. The Ji family had every right to cancel the marriage.

But if it really came to that, it would be a huge disgrace to the Song family.

Mutual agreement to cancel a marriage and having the marriage cancelled on you were two different things.

Nie Wenzhi’s solemn voice cut through the stiff air. “I have some opinions, but I don’t know if I should say it.”

“We’re family. Just tell us what you have in mind.” said Qin Ciling in a stern tone.

“I’ll say it then. Please don’t be angry if I say something wrong, mom,” Nie Wenzhi said carefully.

Song Zhizhi knew then that Nie Wenzhi was going to make her big move!