The crowd was greatly alarmed, and then began to whisper among themselves.
No wonder Lin Yuyan had been rarely seen since returning to school; it turned out she had become so ugly.
Zhao Yanran was also shocked, then let out a mocking laugh.
"What face do a hideous monster like you have to enter the Cheng Wang's mansion? I'm afraid that even if you got married, before you even entered the bridal chamber, you'd scare him to death just by lifting the veil."
A wave of laughter swept through the crowd.
"My veil, my veil!"
Lin Yuning knelt on the ground in a panic, reaching for the veil on the ground, trying to cover her face. At the same time, she shouted angrily, "Shut up, all of you, shut up!"
Zhao Yanran snatched the veil and threw it on the ground, stomping on it fiercely. "Your face is ugly, that's a fact. Aren't people allowed to say it?"
She yelled at the top of her lungs, "Come quickly and see, this is the Marquis's daughter, the future Princess Cheng, she's practically like a dog, hahaha..."
She wanted to humiliate her thoroughly, to make her be spat upon, to make her lose all face! With this appearance, the Cheng Wang would surely discard her quickly!
The surrounding people gathered, pointing and gossiping.
Lin Yuning ignored the onlookers' comments, kneeling on the ground, covering her face with one hand and reaching for the veil under Zhao Yanran's feet with the other.
Lin Yuning looked down at her from above.
"Put more force into it, otherwise how can you pull it out? The noble daughter of the Marquis's mansion only has this much ability? Weren't you very arrogant before, and didn't put anyone in your eyes?"
She paused and then said sarcastically, "Sorry, I misspoke. The one with true ability is the legitimate daughter of the Marquis's mansion. What? Now that Lin Niange is dead and no one is protecting you, you've fallen so low?"
Lin Yuning suddenly stopped her hand and clenched her fists tightly.
"I remember you've been haunted by ghosts recently? Could it be Lin Niange? Didn't she love you the most? Could it be that you did something to wrong her, and she's come back to seek revenge after death?"
Lin Yuning suddenly looked up and slammed her stomach hard.
"Ah!" Zhao Yanran was thrown back and fell to the ground.
Lin Yuning didn't go to pick up the veil first. Instead, she rushed over and sat on Zhao Yanran's stomach, snatching the brush from her hand and stabbing it down fiercely.
"You shut up!"
Blood instantly splattered out.
The world fell silent.
Then the onlookers erupted in terrified screams.
The brush had pierced Zhao Yanran's right eye.
"Ahhh!!" she screamed piercingly.
Everyone panicked. Two people bravely stepped forward and pulled Lin Yuning off her.
During the struggle, something fell from Lin Yuning's body.
"What's going on?" Han Jitong, passing by, heard the commotion and pushed through the crowd to enter. Upon seeing the scene, he quickly stepped forward.
Zhao Yanran was helped to sit up, her hand hovering near her eye as if to cover it, and she cried out in terror.
The brush fell out of her eye. There was a bloody hole in the center of her right eye socket, and her eyeball was crushed beyond saving.
The public blinding of the Zhao family's legitimate daughter was no small matter.
Han Jitong quickly sent for a doctor and to notify the Zhao family.
The crowd descended into chaos.
"Hahaha..." an inappropriate, low laugh echoed, sending chills down one's spine.
Han Jitong looked at her, his gaze fixed on her disfigured half-face. He was stunned for a moment, then knitted his brows.
Although he hadn't interacted much with the second young lady of the Marquis's mansion, he knew she was a very gentle person. How could she suddenly go mad and do such a thing?
She was like a completely different person.
While he had heard she wasn't in good spirits these past couple of days, it shouldn't have reached this point. He felt there must be some underlying reason.
Lin Yuning finished laughing and looked down at the screaming Zhao Yanran, "Even without her, I could have taken your life!"
Who said I was inferior to Lin Niange? I'm much stronger than her, because even the formidable Lin Niange died by my hand!
Her voice was as sinister as a ghost's, making Zhao Yanran's hair stand on end.
Everyone also looked at her in terror.
Lin Yuning pushed away the two students holding her, stepped forward, and picked up the fallen object.
Only then did the crowd notice she was holding a palm-sized straw effigy.
"Look, there seems to be something stuck to the straw effigy? Is it a yellow talisman?"
The yellow talisman also had birth dates written on it.
Su Yunmo was very familiar with this date; it was her own birthday.
Lin Yuning took out a needle board from her embrace, pulled out a ten-centimeter thick needle, and fiercely stabbed it into the center of the effigy's forehead, again and again.
Her features were contorted, her expression utterly crazed.
"I know you're the one causing trouble, you cursed me, didn't you! Every time I have bad luck, it's blamed on you! This is punishment!"
If I can't live well, then no one else will! Especially Lin Niange, I want her to suffer even in hell!
"Hahaha..." Lin Yuning laughed wildly, her laughter, combined with her distorted face, was almost terrifying.
Everyone instinctively retreated, not daring to get too close to her.
Lin Yuning had stabbed enough. She cast a resentful gaze over the crowd, picked up her veil, put it on, and turned to leave.
The people on either side automatically made way for her, their hearts filled with dread.
From then on, their impression of the second young lady of the Marquis's mansion was completely overturned.
Su Yunmo watched her walk away, a sarcastic smile playing on her lips.
If she thought this was the work of ghosts, then let her think so, because the haunting had only just begun.
The events of the afternoon quickly spread throughout the entire academy.
The Zhao family sent people to pick up Zhao Yanran and were furious, demanding an explanation.
Given such a serious incident, no matter how responsible the academy was, there was no way to compensate. They had no choice but to expel Lin Yuning.
Lin Yuning's current state indeed made it unsuitable for her to remain at the academy.
In the afternoon, Ziyuan also learned of the incident. While she felt a sense of vindication, she couldn't help but feel heartache for Su Yunmo, realizing her young mistress had endured too much.
However, she was also happy. The fact that her mistress was willing to act indicated she had moved on from her grief. Regardless, her mistress was the victim of that fire.
Since those people had repaid kindness with enmity and betrayed her ruthlessly from the start, their current fate was their own just deserts.
Su Yunmo was unaware of Ziyuan's extensive thoughts for her. Completing one task made her feel much more at peace.
In a rare moment of good spirits, she decided to go out for a good meal.
She asked Ziyuan to book a table at 'Xiangge Restaurant'. Firstly, the dishes from last time were still half-eaten and quite palatable. Secondly, she wanted to confirm something.
'Xiangge Restaurant' had very few customers today, and Su Xiayue was still working there.
With a towel draped over her shoulder, she stood at the entrance greeting guests. Every guest who approached, she would step forward to speak to them, then bow and apologize.
As Su Yunmo got out of the carriage, she saw Su Xiayue stopping a guest who was about to enter for a meal, asking him to leave.
The guest frowned unhappily, cursed something, and left.
Su Xiayue continued to apologize.
"In business, you see people who attract customers, but never people who drive them away." Su Yunmo found this truly strange.
Su Xiayue's face lit up when she saw Su Yunmo approaching, but then her expression turned troubled again. "Because it's a bit inconvenient today, could Momo eat at another place instead?"
Su Yunmo raised an eyebrow. "We have a reservation."
Ziyuan hadn't mentioned any inconvenience when she booked the table earlier.
Su Xiayue wanted to explain, but her expression became increasingly distressed.
Su Yunmo narrowed her eyes, sensing something was amiss. She looked up at the restaurant's entrance and saw through the gap that a group of people inside were arguing and smashing things.
"Your restaurant's food is poisonous, and someone died after eating it, yet you want to settle this privately? You want to pay some money and be done with it? Go to hell!"