Chapter 6 — The Illusion of Spring Peaches

Listening to those words, Van Tinh felt her world completely collapse. She buried her face in her hands and burst into tears, her voice hollow and fractured. “I didn’t know… I truly didn’t know… I always thought… Tang Vien only bit him because she simply didn’t like him… I even thought… if I just separated the two of them for a little while… everything would be fine… But… but I never imagined… it would end up like this…” Inside the live broadcast room, the viewer count skyrocketed, and the comment section flooded the screen: [Sob, sob… Poor little Tang Vien…] [I honestly never expected that “gentle” brother-in-law to be such a monster!] [Wait… is there a chance… the older sister drove him to his absolute breaking point, which is why he lashed out and abused Tang Vien to vent his frustration?] [What the hell is the idiot above me talking about?! If you have a problem, go talk to the sister directly, why take it out on an innocent dog?!] [Exactly! By your logic, later on, whenever a husband and wife argue, beating the wife, beating the child, beating the dog… can all be blamed on “being driven to it”?!] On the hospital bed, Tang Vien lay inside a small oxygen cage, her breathing faint and shallow, while General refused to budge an inch, lying pressed tightly against the glass. Every now and then, the loyal dog would gently lick the edge of the enclosure, its eyes filled with agonizing worry and sorrow. This heart-wrenching sight left tens of thousands of viewers in the stream feeling a mix of profound sympathy and blazing fury. Meanwhile, I gripped the microphone tightly in both hands, my eyes cold as ice—Su Ham Giang, this game is far from over. Young master Ly offered a gentle word of comfort, though his gaze remained unwavering and resolute: “Sister, Tang Vien is going to be fine. But right now… you have to stay strong.” Van Tinh clenched her fists so hard that her fingernails dug deep into her palms, turning the skin deathly white. Her tear-swollen eyes suddenly flashed with an unprecedented, razor-sharp chill: “That’s right… Some debts… are finally time to be collected.” The two siblings left General and Tang Vien behind at the veterinary clinic, instructing the doctor to provide the utmost care, before rushing back to the apartment. Su Ham Giang was still waiting inside. Hearing the door unlock, he bolted to his feet, his face a mask of nervous tension. He hurried forward, his voice dripping with honeyed softness: “Van Tinh, let me explain… I didn’t mean to hurt Tang Vien, I was just… because I love you too much, that’s why—” “SLAP!” A crisp, resounding crack cut him off mid-sentence, carrying the full weight of a simmering fury. Van Tinh glared at him, her face pale, yet her gaze was as sharp as a butcher’s knife: “Su Ham Giang! I want a divorce!” At that exact moment, the livestream, tracking every second of the confrontation, erupted instantly: [Sister, you are epic!!! That slap was worth a million dollars!] [Oh my god, it’s finally time to ditch this trashy man!] [Sister, can you hit him one more time, just to satisfy the audience?!] Su Ham Giang clutched the burning red side of his face, standing frozen in his tracks. A fleeting glint of malice flashed across his eyes, but it vanished in the blink of an eye, replaced immediately by an expression of profound agony and aggrieved innocence: “Van Tinh… I swear on my very soul, ever since the day we married, I have been entirely devoted to you, never once doing you wrong. Are you really going to throw me away just because of a dog?” The comment section instantly split into two warring factions: [Get lost! “Just because of a dog”??? That’s a member of the sister’s family!] [You forget things pretty fast, don’t you? Just a moment ago you were screaming about “killing both the dog and her mother,” and now you’re back to shedding tears and swearing eternal devotion!] [But… looking at it from another angle… maybe he just lost his temper. He didn’t dare direct his anger at the sister, so he took it out on Tang Vien instead…] [What the hell! Classic domestic violence logic! Argue with the wife, beat the wife; get mad at the kid, beat the kid; and now, get irritated… and beat the dog?!] [Spot on! Honestly, anyone defending the brother-in-law right now is a potential domestic abuser. Get the hell out of this livestream!] Standing nearby, Ly Thieu had eyes red with rage as he clenched his fists so tightly they trembled: “Brother-in-law… Are you really trying to use your love for my wife—my sister—to justify beating an innocent dog? She… is her family!” Su Ham Giang’s eyes flickered nervously for a split second, but he quickly regained his composure, lowering his voice until it sounded as gentle as flowing water: “I know I was wrong… I will make it up to Tang Vien… I’m just begging you… please don’t divorce me.” But Van Tinh looked straight into his eyes, her own eyes brimming with tears yet devoid of any hesitation: “Su Ham Giang… Everything is over.” Simultaneously, the livestream comments surged wildly once more: [Sister! Don’t soften your heart! Don’t let him manipulate you again!] [Exactly! A man like this, forgive him once, and there will be a second time!] [He’s been pretending to be a saintly, gentle guy for all this time… I’d bet a fortune that this wasn’t the first time Tang Vien was beaten!] I stared at the screen, a sudden chill creeping down my spine. Something felt… terribly, horribly wrong. My intuition screamed that Su Ham Giang was infinitely more complex and dangerous than he appeared on the surface. Van Tinh let out a cold, raspy laugh, her voice trembling as every single word cut through the air like a blade: “Su Ham Giang… you claim you treated me well? Driving me insane step-by-step, you call that treating me well?! Today… I finally see you clearly for who you are! Before we got married, I had my own looks, my own talent… It was my own blindness that led me to marry you, ruining my life, and now… even Tang Vien has been driven to this state by your hands!” The livestream exploded with comments: [Wait… sister, doesn’t that statement sound a little… overly confident?] [Well, regardless of anything else, the brother-in-law was in the wrong for hitting the dog, but saying she was “driven insane”… sounds a bit hard to believe.] [Wait!!! Hold on, hold on, hold on!! Everyone, I looked up the sister’s name, and it matches! She used to be the “leader of the national ballet troupe,” a top-tier ballerina!!!] [Whattttt??? There’s no way! A national pinnacle, a stage swan… turned into a “difficult, heavy mother”?!] I looked at Ly Thieu through the screen and saw him frowning, his expression a tangled mess of confusion and doubt. Clearly, he couldn’t understand why his older sister had degenerated into such a state, nor could he fathom the psychological cage Su Ham Giang had trapped her in. I hit the mute button on my end for a second before speaking in a low, detached tone: “Ly Thieu. Did you notice anything? From the moment your sister and your brother-in-law walked into this room, your brother-in-law has been continuously “dog-whistling” your sister.” Ly Thieu blinked, reacting a beat too late: “Dog-whistling? What the hell is that?” I picked up a bag of cat treats from the desk, held it up in front of the camera, and said nonchalantly: “Let’s take an example… Today, you sent me ten grand festivals in the livestream, making you my most generous donor ever. I’m deeply grateful and want to repay your kindness. This is a snack I bought for my own dog. Its main function is… to boost fertility. I’ll send you a whole box of it, guaranteed to help your General successfully “breed” and pump out a whole litter of “little Generals” soon.” Ly Thieu: “…” He froze blankly for two seconds before his face suddenly flushed a deep crimson, his eyes blazing with fury: “I swear I’m going to smash your head in!” I put on an utterly innocent expression, blinked playfully at the camera, and asked in the most naive voice possible: “Oh, Ly Thieu, what’s wrong with you? I’m just kindly sending dog treats, why are you suddenly getting so hot-headed?” Inside the chat room, the viewers laughed until the screen shook: [PFFFF!!! The streamer is legendary! A textbook example of successfully pulling Ly Thieu’s strings!] [What do you call this? Practical application of “dog-whistling”!] [Spot on! Outsiders listening wouldn’t think anything of it, but someone on the inside… getting hit with that would definitely trigger them.] I switched back to a serious tone, breaking it down for Ly Thieu: “That right there is dog-whistling. To put it simply: In a public setting, a person uses words, gestures, or hidden subtexts that only the two involved parties understand, specifically to provoke, stimulate, or humiliate the other person. To outsiders, it sounds completely harmless and normal, but the target instantly gets triggered, losing emotional control. And the moment they lose their temper and snap, in the eyes of the public, they become the problematic ones—viewed as unstable, erratic, and incomprehensible. Understand now? From the very beginning, your sister has been constantly dog-whistled by Su Ham Giang, and she didn’t even realize it herself.” I paused, my eyes narrowing slightly: “A prime example… Did you notice that the entire time, your brother-in-law kept dropping these subtle, loaded traps? Things like “that dress from last year doesn’t fit you anymore,” “no one loves you as much as I do,” “you couldn’t accomplish anything without me”… All of it… was pure dog-whistling.” The livestream went quiet for a split second. Then, the comments detonated like a string of firecrackers: [WTF???!!! So the sister was being passively provoked by her husband this whole time without even knowing it?!] [Brilliant, Su Ham Giang… turns out you were the one driving her crazy all along!] [The more I think about it, the more horrifying it gets… This kind of psychological warfare is a hundred times scarier than direct physical abuse!] [Oh god… no wonder the sister’s personality completely changed, it turns out… it was all meticulously orchestrated!] I watched the expression on Su Ham Giang’s face through the camera and noticed the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, a flash of icy malice crossing his eyes… He knew. He knew I had completely seen through his game. I stared straight into the camera lens, my voice calm yet sharp as a blade: “Just like today, you and every single viewer in this livestream watched the entire conflict unfold from start to finish. What did you all think? Did the majority of you assume that your sister was just losing her mind for no reason?” The chat room plunged into silence once more. Thousands of scrolling comments ground to a halt as if someone had hit the pause button. Ly Thieu’s expression reflected profound bewilderment; he understood the concept vaguely, but still hadn’t grasped where the root of the problem lay. I took a slow breath and continued my analysis in an even, steady tone: “Ly Thieu, let me remind you of something: The very first time your sister showed signs of agitation was at the dinner table. Your brother-in-law ordered food from a restaurant she supposedly loved, but almost everything on the table… consisted of dishes she couldn’t even eat.” I turned my gaze toward Van Tinh, our eyes locking: “Sister, am I right? He pursued you for years… your favorite tastes, the foods you hated, the ingredients you were allergic to… he knew every single detail by heart.” Van Tinh bit her lower lip, her eyes shimmering with tears as she gave a faint nod: “He… used to say… back when he was courting me, he memorized every single dish I liked, down to every single grain of salt.” I offered a cold, humorless smile: “And that right there is the trap. Your brother-in-law knew perfectly well, yet he deliberately chose a menu that went entirely against your preferences. And when you finally spoke up, what did he say?”