"Old woman, are you alright? Don't scare me. If you die... I... I..."
Slap!
A slap landed on Min Ziqiong's father's face.
Immediately, Min Ziqiong's mother flipped over and sat up from the ground, glaring at Min Ziqiong's father, "If I die, what will you do? Will you immediately find a younger one? I knew you weren't honest, you must be keeping a little vixen outside!"
"Min Ziqiang! You ungrateful scumbag! Don't you remember that without the help of my family, you wouldn't have stood out among so many younger generations of the Min family and gained your current status?
"Now your wings are strong, and you want to replace me! I'll twist your ears off!"
Saying that, Min Ziqiang's mother reached out to twist Min Ziqiong's father's ear.
Min Ziqiong's father did not dodge, letting his ear be twisted like a pretzel, still with a smile on his face, "It's fine, old woman, you're fine! You've finally twisted my ear!"
It was as if Min Ziqiong's father had a perverted hobby of liking his ears to be twisted.
"You don't know how abnormal your mother was a few days ago. Whenever she got angry with me, she would look at me as if she wanted to kill me. It was so frightening! She used to twist my ear, but she didn't do it once during those days! The most common action was to strangle me! It was as if she really wanted to strangle me to death!"
Min Ziqiong's father looked at Min Ziqiong, saying with lingering fear.
Min Ziqiong frowned, then looked at Nannan in her arms with a sudden realization.
Could it be... what Nannan just said was true?
Was her mother really being targeted and possessed by something unclean, and then Nannan saw through it and drove that thing away?
Otherwise, how could she explain her mother's abnormality before and her normalcy now?
Min Ziqiong had only guessed half of it.
Her mother had indeed come into contact with something unclean, but she had actively provoked it, rather than being targeted.
Back then, Min Ziqiong's mother ignored Ying Chen's advice and rolled on the ground throwing a tantrum even at the hour of noon, and was then attacked by the residual Nine Dragon malevolent energy of Shouyang Mountain, fainting on the spot.
Although she woke up later, the malevolent energy still remained, and it continued to affect her mind from time to time.
Her attempt to strangle Nannan just now, and her arguments with Min Ziqiong's father where she wanted to strangle him, were all caused by the influence of the malevolent energy.
However, while the Nine Dragon malevolent energy might be extremely dangerous to ordinary people, it posed no threat to Nannan, who was under Cao Ye's protection.
Before it could even touch Nannan, it was affected by the residual wave of Cao Ye's Dao intent and dissipated into a wisp of smoke.
"Dad, Mom, what are you doing here today?"
"Don't tell me you came to see Nannan. Nannan herself doesn't believe it..."
Min Ziqiong interrupted her parents' bickering and asked.
Min Ziqiong's father's old face turned red, and he wanted to argue.
But Min Ziqiong's mother spoke first, "I said not to hide it. It's your dad who felt embarrassed and had to find an excuse!"
"Hmph, your own son is in mortal danger, and you still care about face! You can't do anything right and only make things worse!"
"Let me be direct! We came specifically to find you, to ask for your help with something!"
Min Ziqiong seemed to have expected this and asked calmly, "What is it? I will do what I can, but what I cannot do..."
"Hmph! You haven't even asked me to do it, and you're already saying you can't. As expected, daughters are ungrateful wolves! I shouldn't have given birth to you!" Min Ziqiong's mother interrupted coldly.
"Old woman, don't argue with our daughter as soon as you meet! She's a piece of flesh that fell from you. Xiao Qiong, let me tell you, it's like this..."
Min Ziqiong's father stepped forward two steps and said in a low voice.
After a long while, Min Ziqiong finally understood what her parents wanted.
It turned out they wanted to use the family heirloom snuff bottle to compensate Ying Chen!
"You know about this snuff bottle, it's a family treasure of our Min family. Although it was withdrawn from auction due to special circumstances, in a normal auction, it could fetch at least three..."
"Three what three? At least sixty million! Not a penny less!"
Before Min Ziqiong's father could finish speaking, he was rudely interrupted by Min Ziqiong's mother.
The price was doubled by her!
Hearing this figure, Min Ziqiong was speechless.
She had some understanding of the value of her family's snuff bottle.
If she was lucky, it might fetch thirty million; if she was unlucky, it might sell for just over ten million.
With a few words from her mother, the price had skyrocketed to sixty million. This was clearly treating Ying Chen as a sucker!
"Xiao Qiong, you try to persuade that fellow named Ying. Kidnapping is illegal after all. This kind of life-threatening business, we should make as much as we can. We'll use this snuff bottle plus forty million in cash to get your brother back. He won't lose! If the snuff bottle appreciates in value later, he can even make a profit!" Min Ziqiong's father earnestly persuaded.
He looked as if he was thinking of Ying Chen's interests.
Min Ziqiong hesitated for a moment, then sighed, "Dad, Mom, we really didn't kidnap Xiao Qing. Why do you still not believe it?"
"Besides, our family's snuff bottle is worth at most thirty million. You've doubled the price with a lion's mouth. Isn't this ripping people off?"
As soon as Min Ziqiong said this, Min Ziqiong's mother became furious, "Min Ziqiong, I'm telling you, you haven't left the Min family yet, and you still have the Min surname. Don't turn your elbow outwards so obviously!"
"You say you didn't kidnap Xiao Qing, so why did Xiao Qing say on the phone that he could come back if the money was in place? I know Xiao Qing is afraid of dying and dare not say it directly, but do you think you can fool us like this?"
"Alright, stop pretending! Hurry up and ask that fellow named Ying if the snuff bottle plus forty million is acceptable! Every second you waste is equivalent to harming your brother's life for a second!"
Min Ziqiong felt somewhat崩溃.
She finally understood the mentality of those elderly people who were scammed by fraudsters but still insisted on transferring money to them despite being warned.
Her parents were exactly like that now!
No matter what, they refused to believe that Min Ziqing was not kidnapped!
"Okay! I'll go and ask for you both!" Min Ziqiong hugged Nannan and left, feeling wronged.
"Hmph, ungrateful thing!" Min Ziqiong's mother's scolding came from behind.
Meanwhile, inside the villa.
When Min Ziqiong was still more than ten meters away from Ying Chen's room, she heard Ying Chen's voice from within the room.
"I heard the commotion outside the door."
"Two words for your parents: No."
Min Ziqiong was stunned.
Ying Chen could hear from such a distance?
Wouldn't that mean that whatever she did in her room, Ying Chen was also fully aware of it?
Instantly, a feeling of shame and annoyance washed over Min Ziqiong.
Shame because, in this way, what was the difference between them and being in the same room?
Annoyance because she had lost her most basic right to privacy!