Chapter 6: A Call from the Fu Family
1038 Words
By the time Briar Qin reacted, Ronan Qin had already dragged her into the car. The driver was about to tie her up with rope.
Enduring the excruciating pain, she grabbed Ronan’s arm and scratched it fiercely.
Ronan winced in pain, tightened his grip on her hair, and slapped her hard across the face repeatedly.
Briar was stunned by the blows, her vision blurring. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, and her ears rang with a buzzing sound.
She tried to climb up, but her body felt paralyzed, unable to move.
How painful was it?
Through her haze, Briar remembered a time when she was a child, almost hit by a car. When she fell, every bone in her body creaked—and the pain now was no different.
Even when Ronan had hit her before, he’d never struck so hard. Briar thought he might even kill her tonight.
She gasped for breath, struggling to crawl toward the car door, but Ronan threw a heavy punch directly at her temple.
"Kneel!" Ronan slammed the semi-conscious Briar onto the concrete floor of the Qin family’s ancestral hall.
The fall jolted her awake. Dizzy and disoriented, she simply lay there, not moving.
"Kneel properly!" Ronan pulled her up roughly.
Briar knew she couldn’t fight back in her current state, so she let him do as he pleased.
Ronan and his bodyguards forced her to her knees, and Briar didn’t resist at all.
"Do you admit your mistake?" Ronan asked coldly.
Mistake? What mistake had she made?
Briar sneered at the row of memorial tablets in front of her. When she opened her mouth, a mouthful of blood spattered onto the most exquisite tablet in the middle of the bottom row—carved from red sandalwood, more precious than any other ancestral tablet.
"You!!!" Ronan slapped her again, his anger flaring instantly.
She always knew how to make him fly into a rage in seconds.
Briar’s face was numb, no longer feeling any pain.
"Tell me," she said after a few seconds, smiling faintly, "does this third wife deserve such offerings?"
"Before she died, she caused trouble at the Qin family. Did anyone here recognize her or that bastard’s status? She couldn’t even enter the Qin family gate when she was alive—this tablet only made it into the ancestral hall after Grandma passed away. You want me to kneel to such a lowlife? The Qin ancestors will come for you tonight!"
Ronan couldn’t believe she was still being so stubborn!
Outside, the snow fell harder, accompanied by several winter thunderclaps.
Under the dim light of the ancestral hall, Briar looked up at him, covered in blood with a fierce glint in her eyes—like a vengeful ghost from hell. For a moment, Ronan felt a chill run down his spine.
"Either kill me today," she said calmly, her voice void of emotion, "or if I kneel to her now, I’ll burn this tablet to ashes tomorrow!"
There was a quiet madness in her words.
Everyone knew she was capable of it.
Her indifferent, disdainful attitude infuriated Ronan even more.
Coming to his senses, he grabbed Briar by the neck and lifted her off the ground.
Briar’s back slammed hard against the altar behind her with a loud crash, shaking the ancestral tablets. For a split second, she thought her spine might snap.
"Fine! So be it!!!" Ronan’s grip tightened, almost crushing her slender neck.
"Sir!" At that moment, another deep thunderclap boomed, and the butler rushed in anxiously, pulling Ronan away.
"Let go! Tonight I’ll see how tough her bones are!" Ronan roared, shaking off the butler like a madman.
"Answer the phone first!" The butler held the receiver out to Ronan, urgency in his voice. "It’s a call from the Fu family!"
The words "Fu family" instantly sobered Ronan up.
He let go of Briar, growling, "I’ll deal with you later!"
Briar collapsed to the ground, coughing violently and spitting up more blood.
Ronan saw she was in no state to cause trouble, so he took the phone and strode out.
When Briar regained consciousness, she was alone in the ancestral hall.
She tried to sit up, but every bone in her body felt broken—even moving a finger was agonizing.
After resting for a while, she crawled toward the altar, her body soaked in cold sweat by the time she arrived.
Looking at the altar, she smiled, reached out, and grabbed the red sandalwood memorial tablet tightly.
"...Yes, that little beast is in the ancestral hall. Please hold on!" Ronan’s voice came from outside.
Briar leaned against the altar, turning her head toward the door.
The moment Ronan pushed the door open, Briar raised a sharp fruit knife in her right hand and stabbed it fiercely into the tablet.
Her eyes fixed on Ronan. The first stab didn’t go all the way through, so she pulled the knife out and stabbed again—over and over, without hesitation.
Her ferocity stunned everyone present into silence.
"That’s enough." Briar picked up the tablet, folded it gently along the knife marks. With a crisp c***k, the tablet snapped in two.
Then, she raised her hand and tossed the pieces into the brazier for burning paper, like throwing away garbage.
Ronan’s vision went white.
Each stab to the tablet hurt more than if it had been stabbed into his own flesh.
He rushed to the brazier, pulling the scalding tablet pieces out with his bare hands.
The smell of burning wood filled the air, but Ronan didn’t notice. His eyes were red with rage as he raised his hand to strike Briar’s face.
Briar had no strength left to dodge. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, bracing for the onslaught.
But after waiting for a long time, the expected pain never came.
She opened her eyes. A figure stood in front of her, backlit. Her vision was blurry, and she couldn’t make out who it was.
She blinked a few times, adjusting to the light, and realized—it was Ewan Fu.
Her overtaxed heart raced wildly, and she could even hear its pounding.
He looked down at her, his handsome brows furrowed slightly.
- Writer
