A Chance to Turn the Tables
"Lily Evans, that wretched woman, survived!? How is that even possible? The river was freezing—she should've died in there!" May Parker shot up from beside the fire, so furious her face turned green.
"May, maybe you should run!" Helen Parker shoved a bundle into May Parker’s arms. "It’s all the silver I’ve saved up—take it and get out of here!"
"I’m not leaving! Why should I run?" May Parker hurled the bundle to the ground, glaring at Helen. "Why are you so scared? I’m not afraid, so what are you afraid of!? Lily fell into the river by accident—no one’s to blame! I disguised myself as a beggar that day and mingled with the crowd. There’s no way she knows I pushed her. No one can pin this on me."
"Sigh, my dear, what are you planning now? The Leo Family is out for revenge and searching everywhere for you. You can’t keep hiding forever." Helen Parker’s hair had turned a few shades whiter from worry over her daughter these days.
Just the mention of the Leo Family made May Parker grit her teeth in hatred. She cursed, "That whole Leo bunch are fools! They turn on me after just a few setbacks? One day, I’ll make them regret it!"
Helen Parker groaned. "Sweetie, can you please stop obsessing over that winter vegetable scheme?"
"What do you know!" May Parker spat on the ground. "If I can grow veggies like Lily Evans, I’ll make a comeback! Lily, Leo Family—just you wait!"
After days of blizzards, the wind and snow finally stopped. The sky cleared up.
"What? Lily, are you saying someone pushed you into the river on purpose?" Arthur Evans stared wide-eyed at Lily Evans, who was lying in bed.
Lily Evans flipped her hair and nodded, certain. "Uncle Arthur, I’m sure someone lured the beggars to surround me, then took advantage of the chaos to push me into the river. I remember hearing someone speak—their voice was deliberately hoarse. I didn’t recognize it at the time, but now that my fever’s gone and my head is clear, I’ve thought it over. That voice was May Parker’s."
Lily paused, then said, "Uncle Arthur, can you check the carriage I rode in that day? Something’s fishy about the broken wheel. I use that carriage every day, so why did it break down right by the river? I suspect someone tampered with it."
The carriage Lily rode that day was still parked in the backyard. Arthur Evans immediately took the butler to inspect it. Sure enough, they found pry marks on the loose axle—clear signs of sabotage!
"May Parker, what a vicious mind you have!" Arthur Evans was so angry his teeth itched. Though both May and Lily were his nieces, Arthur only acknowledged Lily as family. As for May Parker—what was she to him, anyway!?
"May Parker..." Lily Evans lowered her gaze, fingers tracing the medicine bowl, her eyes cold with a wicked smile. "She’s got some nerve, trying to kill me—tsk. Uncle Arthur, I found someone building mudbrick greenhouses like ours in the fields near Ten Mile Slope, but all the seedlings inside froze to death. I sent someone to find out who owns those fields. The report came yesterday: all thousand acres belong to the Leo Family. Turns out, the Leo Family ripped out all their cotton and put up greenhouses for vegetables. So May Parker only managed to marry into the Leo Family because she claimed to have our greenhouse vegetable technique. Ha! That fool thinks she can learn our methods just by peeking for a few days? The real secrets of greenhouse farming aren’t so easy to steal!"
"Madam, Helen Parker and May Parker are at the gate asking to see you. They’re threatening that if you refuse, you’ll regret it." Belle came to report.
Lily Evans smiled wryly. Well, well, they’ve come knocking themselves!