Chapter 691: Poisoning

"Don’t worry, I can provide for you. If you need to go get your things, you should hurry. Do you want me to go with you?"

Bernice lovingly patted Jacqueline’s face. The girl was gaunt, practically skin and bones. That family hadn’t treated her niece like a human being. They forced her to do all the heavy, exhausting labor and didn’t even let her eat at the table. The fool they lived with often beat her, too. When Bernice had rushed over today, she’d seen the big, burly lout punching and kicking her niece. It made her blood boil.

"That’s alright. I can go by myself."

Jacqueline spoke timidly, putting on a worried expression as if she were afraid of being a burden to Bernice. Bernice’s expression grew even more tender, her maternal instincts awakening. She took off her own scarf and tied it around Jacqueline’s neck, saying softly, "Go on, I’ll wait for you here."

"Okay."

Jacqueline nodded and jumped down from the tractor. The moment she turned around, a cold sneer spread across her face. Her eyes, as if laced with venom, held a predatory gleam in the dark night.

She had a pouch of leaves in her pocket, which she had gathered from the mountain. The locals called it "gut-wrenching grass." If livestock accidentally ate it, they would die from severe abdominal pain. She had originally prepared these leaves for herself. She had waited day after day, but her aunt never came, and she began to think she had been abandoned.

In her despair, Jacqueline had decided to wait three more days. If her aunt still didn’t come, she would eat the grass and end her suffering.

Thankfully, the heavens were watching over her. On the very last day, her aunt finally arrived. She gave the fool’s family two hundred yuan and rescued Jacqueline from that hell.

And she’d brought the pouch of gut-wrenching grass with her.

Now, Jacqueline had a new idea. She would have her revenge!

With a cold laugh, Jacqueline quickened her pace and soon arrived back at her old home. She hastily gathered a few articles of clothing, tied them into a bundle, and slung it over her back. Then, she took all the gut-wrenching grass and pounded it into a juice with a mortar, filling a large bowl more than halfway. She also boiled the few eggs she had hidden away. There were only six in total. She ate two and tucked the remaining four into her pocket.

She had a special use for them.

The pigs, chickens, and ducks at the house were all gone. It didn’t take a genius to know that the Golding family had taken them. Jacqueline snorted coldly. ’They’ll find my things aren’t so easy to stomach.’

First, she went to the Golding family’s house. She knew her maternal grandfather’s home like the back of her hand. Jacqueline peeled an egg, smeared some of the gut-wrenching grass juice on it, and tossed it through the dog-hole in the fence.

A moment later, she heard the dog’s whimpering from inside. She smiled in satisfaction and crawled through the hole. She had to thank the abuse she’d suffered at the fool’s house; a month ago, she wouldn’t have been able to squeeze through so easily.

Once inside the Golding family’s courtyard, Jacqueline scanned her surroundings coldly. Several pieces of cured meat were hanging to dry under the eaves. One piece had been cut, with only a small portion remaining. Jacqueline’s lips curled. She took out a knife, carved several holes into the meat, and poured the gut-wrenching grass juice into them. She didn’t stop until she had used up half the juice.

After finishing, Jacqueline wiped her hands on the other pieces of meat. She glanced at the dog, which was moaning softly on the ground. Having eaten the poisoned egg, it lay there yelping in agony, with trickles of black blood seeping from its mouth. Its stomach rose and fell weakly. It looked like it was on the verge of death.

"Beast!"

Jacqueline kicked the dog and sneered. She crawled back out through the dog-hole. There was still half a bowl of the gut-wrenching grass juice left. ’Can’t let it go to waste.’

A few minutes later, Jacqueline appeared at the Thorne family’s home. She repeated the process, tossing a poisoned egg through the dog-hole, but this time she hid farther away. The Thorne family’s dog was particularly alert.

Dollar got up and sniffed the egg, then scanned his surroundings. Seeing nothing suspicious, he began to eat. However, he only ate a small portion; the taste seemed off. But his realization came too late. His stomach began to ache. Dollar wanted to warn his masters, but the pain was so intense he couldn’t make a sound. He staggered, trying to throw himself against the door, just as Jacqueline crawled in through the dog-hole, a metal wire now in her hand...