A Dish Best Served Cold (The Man In Rage)

Ye Fan had just levied a serious accusation against Han Yue and, as if startled by a peal of thunder, the latter was rendered dumbstruck.

Han Yue's face paled considerably as panic overwhelmed her.

The other guests were shocked as well.

After all, if what Ye Fan had said was true, then Han Yue was truly an unfilial child.

It was one thing to pass off something inferior as something of quality, but it was another matter altogether to claim that a poisonous plant was a tonic. If the old madam had ingested the poison, then perhaps her birthday banquet would have turned into her funeral feast?

"This is bullshit!"

"He is making things up."

"Mom, don't believe him. He is just a poor country boy! I bet he has never even seen a normal ginseng before!"

"Let alone a wild-grown one!"

"He is just making things up and mixing truth with lies! He is defaming me!"

"Mom, you musn't believe this worthless trash-"

Han Yue was completely panicking and behaving like a mad dog that had gotten its tail stepped on. At the same time as she was pleading with Madam Han for understanding, she was also hurling abuses at Y Fan.

"You bastard! You are such an ungrateful wretch!"

"All along, you have been freeloading off my niece. And yet, right now, you are spouting nonsense and embarrassing me."

"You... You... You are completely heartless!"

"You came here today to cause trouble!"

Han Yue's body was shivering with rage as she lashed out at Ye Fan.

But Ye Fan only laughed, as if he had just heard the world's funniest joke. "Auntie, what you said is too funny."

"I am freeloading off Mu-Cheng, but what does this have to do with you?"

"And since you know Mu-Cheng is your niece, why did you humiliate us earlier? Did you consider her feelings then?"

"You called me heartless, but I think you are the heartless one!"

"Even now, you are still denying that you have given a spoiled product to your mother. Have you considered what would happen if your mother believes you and eats it? If she gets sick, can you shoulder the responsibility?"

Ye Fan was not fazed by Han Yue's scoldings. Even as he smiled, he was glaring at her in cool defiance of her anger.

Ye Fan had thrown out a series of questions and overbearingly pushed Han Yue into silence. After retreating a few steps, the latter now stood with her face flushed red.

Finally, Ye Fan took a step forward and addressed Madam Han respectfully. "Grandmother, what I have just said is the truth. If you do not believe me, you can get somebody to smell the so-called 'wild ginseng,' and see if there is really a pungent foul odor. If you still do not believe me, then you may take it to a medicine shop and get a physician to appraise it."

He was confident in the truthfulness of his words and spoke with heavy emphasis.

When they heard what Ye Fan had to say, the guests nearest to the ginseng moved closer and sniffed the air. And then all of them frowned.

"Damn!"

"That live-in son-in-law was right!"

"There really is a foul odor. You can't really smell it when you are far away but, when you get close, you can smell a pungent odor."

"Unbelievable-"

"This Han Yue is truly a wolf in sheep's clothing!"

"She is dressed decently, but her heart is so vicious!"

"She tried to fob off a spoiled ginseng on her mother because she was too stingy to spend money on a birthday gift."

"Look at her. What's the point of having so much money? She isn't willing to spend any money on you. And even tried to poison you with a spoiled ginseng. I think that live-in son-in-law is a better person. Even though his gift is inexpensive, it is still a token of his filial piety."

All at once, the guests in the hall started discussing the matter among themselves. And, one by one, they started to look at Han Yue differently.

Madam Han's eldest son, Han Hai, could not sit still any longer. After all, if his sister had really tried to fob off a spoiled ginseng on their mother, then the Han family would suffer a huge loss of face today. Just then, Han Hai's face had turned an ugly shade of green. He slammed the table hard and yelled at his sister, "Tell me! What is going on?"

"Hai, I-

Now that the cat was out of the bag, she was so frightened that she almost burst into tears.

The truth was close to what Ye Fan had said. This ginseng had been given to her by her son-in-law, Mo Xuan. He had given her two ginsengs at that time, a cultivated one and a wild-grown one. Han Yue had eaten the wild ginseng already, and completely forgotten about the cultivated one.

A few days ago, she had found the cultivated ginseng lying around her house and decided to give it to her mother as a birthday present. She had thought that, since all ginsengs looked alike, she could pass it off as a wild-grown ginseng and make herself look good at her mother's banquet.

But Han Yue would never have thought that a poor bumpkin like Ye Fan would be able to tell the difference between a cultivated and wild-grown ginseng. Especially when all the other guests had been unable to do so.

"But Hai, I really have no intention of harming mom."

"Mom, you have to believe me. You have to believe me. I really have no idea that it has gone bad-"

Han Yue was almost about to cry. It looked like she was thoroughly frightened.

After all, Ye Fan had accused her of attempted matricide. If he could prove that she had indeed tried to poison her own mother, then she would lose her place in her maternal home.

"You wretch! How dare you..." Han Hai blew his top and was about to rebuke his sister for being unfilial, when Madam Han waved her hand and interrupted him.

"Hai, why are you so anxious?"

"Why are you losing your temper when you haven't even got to the bottom of things?"

"How could you side with a useless live-in son-in-law against your own sister?"

"Mom, what are you...?" Han Hai asked doubtfully. He had no idea what his mother was trying to say.

"I bought this ginseng together with Yue a few days ago. I was the one who chose it, and Yue paid for it with her money. We are still not certain if this is a wild ginseng or not. But even if it isn't, then it is my own fault for getting cheated. This is not Yue's fault. On the contrary, I was the one at fault for wasting several hundred thousand of her money."

"But look at you. Not only are you spouting nonsense here, you are also acting disrespectfully toward your elders. How dare you mix lies with truth and make a baseless accusation against my daughter?" "Our family will not stand for this nonsense!"

And by twisting the words around, Madam Han had changed Ye Fan's position from accuser to accused.

Han Yue was dazed for a while when she heard this. Following that, the panic on her face was replaced by a sinister and smug smile.

"That's right! My mom was the one who chose the wild ginseng. Ye Fan, you said this is a cultivated ginseng that has gone bad? Are you implying that my mom is an undiscerning person?" "How dare you!"

"You are just a useless live-in son-in-law! How dare you insult me? How dare you insult my mother?"

"You disrespectful bastard! Our family will not stand for your nonsense!"

"Go on, get lost!"

"Our family does not recognize you as Mu-Cheng's husband."

Han Yue lashed out angrily at Ye Fan.

Han Hai also blew his top and rebuked Ye Fan for being a disrespectful good-for-nothing.

Han Fei-Fei laughed mockingly and said, "Mu-Cheng, why don't you just divorce a person like him? What is the point of keeping him around?"

"He only knows how to cause trouble."

The sudden turnaround had caught the guests off guard.

But afterward, they also changed their attitude toward Ye Fan and started attacking him.

"That's right. The youngest daughter of the Han family is renowned for her filial piety. There is no way she would attempt something as heinous as matricide."

"But look at this live-in son-in-law. He is just a poor fellow from the countryside. Do you think he has even seen a ginseng before?"

"He was just spouting nonsense earlier!"

All at once, everyone started condemning Ye Fan.

Ye Fan stood dazed on the spot for a long while and, finally, he laughed a self-deprecating laugh.

It was his fault for underestimating the complexities of the human heart.

The world is cold and treachery lurks in the hearts of men.

Ye Fan should have expected this ending.