"Those bastards from the Thorne family, just you wait! I’m telling you, retribution is coming, and it’s coming soon! Heaven itself will come for them!" Linden’s mother cursed, her eyes filled with vicious hatred.

Even though she had rinsed herself several times with water, she still stank horribly. Worse, she had washed off countless fat maggots. The mere thought of one bursting in her mouth sent Linden’s mother into a fit of retching until she was throwing up bile. Even if she were offered the most divine meal imaginable right now, she wouldn’t be able to stomach it.

"That’s enough! Just be quiet for a minute!"

Silas Golding’s face was grim as he sat in the living room, sullenly smoking a cigarette. The humiliation they suffered today was suffocating and utterly disgusting. The Thorne family had gone too far, but what could they do? The village chief was a Thorne. For years, the Golding family had suffered in silence, unable to voice their grievances. Today, they could only swallow their anger once again.

"Are you even a man? Your wife gets doused in shit, your daughter gets cursed out, and you just sit there? Silas Golding, you’re a useless coward! I must’ve been blind to marry you..."

"So what do you want me to do? Go pick a fight with Byron Thorne? Would that make you happy?"

Silas Golding shot back, furious. ’He regretted marrying this shrew,’ he thought. ’She slacked off on her chores and nagged from morning till night. It was beyond annoying.’

"Go on then, go fight Byron Thorne right now! If you don’t go, Silas Golding, you’re a goddamn coward!"

"Now that you’ve told me to, I’m definitely not going! Why should I listen to you?"

"You’re just a coward! A good-for-nothing piece of trash!"

"If you’re so capable, why don’t you go fight Phoebe Huxley? Oh, right, you did, and you still got covered in shit! Hmph!"

...

Standing outside the door, Jacqueline Spann’s expression grew uglier the more she listened. Though she hadn’t seen it happen, she could piece the story together. Phoebe Huxley had deliberately thrown feces on her grandmother, who, simmering with silent fury, had taken it out on her grandfather. ’Those thugs from the Thorne family are despicable,’ she thought. ’Throwing shit on someone for no reason at all... Aren’t they afraid of being struck by lightning?’

Jacqueline forced down her nausea and walked into the courtyard. The stench was even worse inside—more foul than a cesspit being stirred with a stick. In the bathroom, Linden’s wife was splashing water scoop by scoop. A few writhing maggots flowed out with the water. A wave of nausea rose in Jacqueline’s chest, and it took all of her self-control not to throw up.

"Grandpa, Grandma, stop fighting," Jacqueline urged pointedly. "It’s not worth arguing over outsiders. While they’re all happily eating and drinking, you two are in here fighting. You’re just giving them something to laugh about."

Silas Golding and Linden’s mother immediately stopped arguing. They both slapped their thighs in unison. Their granddaughter was right! Those thugs from the Thorne family were probably eating, drinking, and celebrating right now. How despicable!

Linden’s mother gritted her teeth and spat, "Just you wait. Heaven will take them. Their retribution is coming, and soon. I won’t even have to lift a finger."

"Is Heaven a relative of yours?" Silas Golding couldn’t help but scoff. "You say they’ll be taken, and they’ll just be taken? For all these years, those thugs have been living just fine, eating far more meat than our family ever does!"

Linden’s mother let out a cold laugh, her gaze turning even more sinister. "You just wait and see. The Thorne family has done too many evil things. Their retribution will come within a year, at most. Hmph!"

Jacqueline’s heart skipped a beat. ’Her grandmother had mentioned retribution three times now, each time with a tone of absolute certainty. Could she know something?’

’If only it were true,’ she thought. She couldn’t stand those thugs from the Thorne family anymore either—especially Tang Xiaonan. ’It would be best if she disappeared from Millstone Peak forever!’

Jacqueline was startled by her own thought. ’How could I have such a horrible idea?’ But the notion was like a weed, spreading uncontrollably through her mind. She found herself wishing more and more desperately that Tang Xiaonan’s entire family would just disappear. Then, things could go back to the way they were.