Chapter 83

As soon as Zheng Dajiang entered the room, he hadn’t even located the bed before he impatiently began undoing his belt. Just as he was about to unbutton his shirt, a flashlight beam suddenly shone directly into his eyes.

Zheng Dajiang instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes, but the next second, he was kicked hard and sent flying, crashing into the wall with a loud bang, letting out a wail of pain.

Qiao Xinyi grabbed the curled-up Zheng Dajiang from the floor, opened the door, and with a swift motion, flung him outside.

“Fu Qingshan!” Qiao Xinyi shouted toward the opposite room.

Fu Qingshan had woken up the moment he heard Zheng Dajiang’s scream. Hearing that the sound came from the room across from his, he didn’t even have time to put on a shirt—bare-chested, he threw open the door. When he heard Qiao Xinyi call his name, he didn’t bother with shoes either, running out barefoot toward her.

“What happened?” Fu Qingshan’s voice was urgent. He was so worried about Qiao Xinyi that he didn’t even notice the drunken heap of flesh lying in the courtyard like a dead pig.

“Zheng Dajiang crawled in through the window and took off his pants as soon as he came in—he tried to assault me!” Qiao Xinyi pointed in Zheng Dajiang’s direction. “I threw him out.”

Zheng Dajiang had returned drunk and was barely walking straight, so the noise he made climbing through the window wasn’t small. Qiao Xinyi had heard it early on. At first, she thought he might be sneaking in to beat her up for yelling at him earlier that day. She hadn’t expected something this filthy. He had this kind of idea?

The moment Qiao Xinyi said he tried to assault her, Fu Qingshan lost all sense of reason. With a dark expression, he strode over to Zheng Dajiang, grabbed him, and before he could even stand, unleashed a violent flurry of punches and kicks.

Zheng Dajiang was beaten so badly he screamed like he was dying.

“Dad! Fu Qingshan’s going to kill me! Mom! Help me!” Zheng Dajiang felt like everything went dark—his head was buzzing, and Fu Qingshan’s fists fell on him like a rainstorm, each blow so painful it felt like it was going to end his life.

Hearing Zheng Dajiang’s wailing, Zheng Youliang and Zhang Zao rushed out. When they saw Fu Qingshan pinning Zheng Dajiang to the ground and beating him in the courtyard, Zhang Zao let out a sharp scream and ran over.

“Fu Qingshan! If you’re angry, take it out on me! What kind of man beats my son?!” Zhang Zao threw herself in front of Zheng Dajiang to shield him, but an enraged Fu Qingshan didn’t stop just because she got in the way. He didn’t say a single word—he hit her too.

Now there were two people screaming in the yard.

“Qingshan! What are you doing?! Stop it! Are you going to kill your Aunt Zhang and your younger brother?!” Zheng Youliang rushed over and hugged Fu Qingshan around the waist, using all his strength to try to pull him away.

But Fu Qingshan didn’t acknowledge him at all. He shoved Zheng Youliang aside hard, sending him falling to the ground, and kept throwing punches at Zheng Dajiang and Zhang Zao without holding back.

Only then did Zheng Youliang realize how bad the situation was. Something must have happened to seriously enrage Fu Qingshan.

“Dajiang! What the hell did you do to make your brother this furious? Apologize to him now! Promise him you’ll never mess with him again!” Zheng Youliang was so anxious his voice went hoarse. When he looked up and saw Fu Qingshan’s fiancée standing at the doorway watching like it was a show, he shouted at her too:

“What are you standing there for?! Hurry up and pull Fu Qingshan off!”

Qiao Xinyi spat in his direction and didn’t say a single word—just gave him a look full of contempt.

“Dajiang!” Zheng Youliang once again rushed forward and grabbed Fu Qingshan’s hand, urging Zheng Dajiang at the same time, “What did you do to anger your brother? Apologize, now!”

“Dad! He’s going to kill me and Mom! Call the police—have the police take him away!” Zheng Dajiang was now half-sober, his head pounding like it had been slammed with a pile of boulders.

Though Zheng Youliang was holding onto Fu Qingshan’s arm, Fu still managed to give Zheng Dajiang another vicious kick.

Then Fu turned to Qiao Xinyi and said, “Xinyi, go to the Fengs’ house next door. Ask Uncle Feng to help call the police. I’m staying right here—I won’t let him get away.”

“Uncle, my brother and I will go!” Fu Linzhou and Fu Zeyu had been watching from the side for a while. As soon as they heard there was an errand to run, they pulled on their sandals—still wearing just their underwear—and dashed off toward the Fengs’ house. Their speed proved to Fu Qingshan that while they were young, their legs worked just fine.

“Come back! Get back here! This is a family matter—what are you calling the police for?! Family business should be handled behind closed doors!” Zheng Youliang still didn’t know exactly what had happened, but in those days, nobody wanted to deal with the police. Big or small, any police involvement was considered shameful.

But of course, the two little guys weren’t going to listen to Zheng Youliang. The more he shouted, the faster they ran, disappearing in a flash.

When Aunt Feng heard that something had happened at Fu Qingshan’s place—serious enough that he was beating Zhang Zao and Zheng Dajiang to the ground in the middle of the night—she told her eldest son to call the police and dragged her husband with her to the neighboring house.

The Fengs were more clear-headed than Zheng Youliang and Zhang Zao. As soon as they entered and saw the scene, they immediately noticed that Zheng Dajiang wasn’t wearing pants—just a shirt and underwear—and spotted a chair beneath the window of Fu Qingshan’s room. The couple exchanged a glance and instantly understood why Fu Qingshan had nearly beaten the man to death.

Aunt Feng quickly walked over to Qiao Xinyi and asked in a low voice, “Did he scare you? Are you alright?”

She could only guess what Zheng Dajiang had been planning, but not how far he had gotten. Fu Qingshan and Qiao Xinyi weren’t even married yet, so Qiao Xinyi must have been sleeping alone in his room tonight. Zheng Dajiang was a man, and Qiao Xinyi, a delicate girl from the provincial capital, had worked all day and was likely sleeping deeply at night… Aunt Feng didn’t dare think further.

“I’m alright, Aunt Feng,” Qiao Xinyi said calmly. “He was drunk, really drunk. He wasn’t very nimble climbing the window. I woke up as soon as he came in. He’d just taken off his pants when I kicked him across the room.”

It was terrifying to imagine what might’ve happened if it had been any other girl in her place tonight.

Zheng Dajiang was in so much pain his brain was fuzzy. When he heard Qiao Xinyi’s words, he wanted to open his mouth and refute her—but the moment he opened it, a mouthful of blood came pouring out, along with several teeth.

Even in this state—his eyes swollen shut, lips puffed up so badly that even speaking hurt—Zheng Dajiang still forced himself to talk through the pain.

“Qiao Xinyi, you already belong to me. We’ve slept together—what are you ashamed of? You’re already mine, you can’t marry Fu Qingshan now. Just accept your fate. You can only marry me, Zheng Dajiang!”

“And don’t act like you’re losing out—Fu Qingshan married Liu Yun, and I got a job at the canning factory. Marrying you isn’t some downgrade for you.”

Because of the pain—and the fact that he’d lost several teeth—his speech was slurred. He had to repeat himself several times before he could get his point across.

Zheng Dajiang figured, since he had already taken the beating, he might as well make it count. No one could prove whether or not he had actually slept with her, so he might as well stick to the story. That way, Qiao Xinyi’s reputation would be ruined, and she’d have no choice but to marry him. Then the beating wouldn’t have been in vain.

But before he could finish speaking, Fu Qingshan had already kicked him again.

Zheng Dajiang let out a wail and immediately vomited—right onto Zhang Zao, who had just come over to help him up.

Blood, alcohol, and half-digested bar snacks spewed all over Zhang Zao’s face, causing her to throw up too, purely out of disgust.