Chapter 5

The man walked toward Deng Zhilán and just as he reached out his hand, Wei Yanzhen grabbed his arm firmly. “What do you think you’re doing?”

The man smiled instead of getting angry. “Captain Wei, you’ve finished searching the house, but this person hasn’t been searched yet!”

Wei Yanzhen tightened his grip on the man’s arm and said slowly and clearly, “You’ve already taken so many things, isn’t that enough?”

The man struggled to break free and snorted coldly. “With such a big Wei family estate, you only found that much? Since you’re so opposed, it looks like she’ll have to be searched!”

At that moment, Deng Zhilán yanked off the necklace from around her neck — the only valuable thing she had on her was that gold necklace.

“Take it. Besides this necklace, I have nothing else on me.”

The people from the Red Committee, seeing she was cooperating, accepted the necklace and were about to leave. But the leader’s eyes suddenly flicked and he said, “No, how do we know you’re not hiding something else in your clothes?”

Then he reached out again to tug at Deng Zhilán’s clothes.

Wei Yanzhen instantly flew into a rage and punched the man square in the face.

The Red Committee members around quickly surrounded them, some whispering among themselves, trying to stop their leader from causing more trouble.

After all, the Wei family had just been “downgraded” — no one knew if they might come back one day. It’s wise to leave some dignity, so they could meet on good terms in the future.

In the end, the Red Committee members left.

Wei Xiaotian took out the last bit of money from his pocket and handed it to Wei Yanzhen. “Go buy some train tickets. We shouldn’t stay long in Guangdong Province. Our whole family needs to leave as soon as possible.”

Wei Yanzhen didn’t feel comfortable leaving Deng Zhilán alone at home. When he went out to buy the tickets, he took her with him.

The tickets were quickly bought. But when they returned to the compound, Deng Zhilán saw two familiar figures.

She told Wei Yanzhen to go home first.

She wanted to say goodbye to an old acquaintance.

Wei Yanzhen didn’t think much of it — his wife’s old acquaintance was probably just a friend from the compound nearby. If anything happened, he could come out to help.

So he was the first to return home.

After seeing Wei Yanzhen walk away, Deng Zhilán turned and walked into a nearby alley.

Not far off stood a woman with long black hair tied into a ponytail, decorated with a sapphire-blue silk ribbon tied in a butterfly knot that hung from the top of her head.

She wore a nice pale pink shirt with a simple yet elegant white skirt that reached past her knees, and beige high-heeled shoes that made her figure look slender and refined.

She was indeed better dressed than the original owner, but unfortunately, she lacked brilliance, only managing a delicate beauty. Her face wasn’t as attractive as the original girl’s.

“Itao, long time no see!”

Next to Song Itao stood a man in a simple white shirt and dark blue pants, holding several books. He looked clean and fresh but his eyes seemed a bit unfocused when he looked at Deng Zhilán.

Song Itao snapped back to attention and smiled warmly. “Zhilán, you came just in time. Shi Hui came to find me and asked me to invite you to watch a movie together.”

Living in the same compound, just separated by an alley, Song Itao certainly knew about the Wei family’s situation.

The Red Committee officers who raided the house only just left in the morning, and by the afternoon, Song Itao was already eager to contact Shi Hui.

If it weren’t for their collusion behind the scenes, Deng Zhilán wouldn’t have believed it. In the original story, Song Itao was just a minor, disposable friend with little description.

“Sorry, the Wei family was raided,” Deng Zhilán said.

“Itao, I don’t have a penny on me right now. I can’t afford movie tickets, but I remember I spent quite a bit on you. Why don’t you pay me back?”

“Oh, and Shi Hui — I remember I helped pay for your meals and part of your tuition too. You should pay me back for that as well!”

Song Itao was stunned, not expecting Deng Zhilán to come asking for money.

She had called Shi Hui over to plan how to get the Wei family out and even hoped Shi Hui could take her down south to Hong Kong.

She had been jealous of Deng Zhilán since childhood — the better Deng Zhilán did, the more unhappy she was.

Now that the Wei family was being raided, it was the perfect chance to take advantage of her. But Deng Zhilán suddenly seemed to have some sense and dared to ask for money?

“What money are you talking about, Zhilán?”

“We grew up together as good friends. You bought me good food, I bought you good food too.”

Her eyes flickered nervously, and her words were evasive. Deng Zhilán couldn’t help but sneer, eyeing the shirt and high heels she was wearing — all things taken from the original owner.

After all, Song Itao’s father was Deng Zhilán’s stepfather, and she had a younger brother. She barely had enough to eat or wear at Song’s house and was only good at mooching off the original owner.

Deng Zhilán didn’t want to waste words with such a shameless leech.

She suddenly rushed forward, pushed Shi Hui aside, grabbed Song Itao by the hair, and slapped her several times in quick succession, stunning Song Itao.

“Deng Zhilán, are you crazy?!” Song Itao yelled.

“Yes, I’m crazy! And today I’m going to beat you so crazy you won’t know what hit you!”

Several more slaps left blood dripping from Song Itao’s mouth.

Shi Hui couldn’t bear it and stepped forward to stop her.

“Zhilán, stop!”

“It was Itao who said she wanted to be a primary school teacher and asked me to find her some books. I was coming to see her, but I was really coming to see you.”

Deng Zhilán ignored Shi Hui and kicked Song Itao to the ground. Then she grabbed a brick lying nearby and smashed it onto Shi Hui’s head, blood gushing out.

“You filthy man, who do you think you are? Shut up!”

Shi Hui was stunned — he had never seen this fierce side of Deng Zhilán before.

“Song Itao, pay me back!”

Holding the brick, Deng Zhilán was about to hit Song Itao again. Song Itao covered her head in fear and quickly nodded, “I’ll pay you back now.”

She threw her small purse at Deng Zhilán. Deng Zhilán quickly grabbed it and found a stack of bills inside — about a thousand yuan.

Whether the money originally belonged to the original owner or not, Song Itao definitely owed her.

Deng Zhilán took the money without hesitation.

Just as she was about to leave, Song Itao shouted loudly:

“Wei Yanzhen, your wife is cheating on you!”

“You coward, if you don’t do something about her, she’s going to be unfaithful!”

Deng Zhilán didn’t believe a word of it.

This poisonous friend was full of schemes, always fooling the original owner.

Without even turning her body, she picked up the brick again, ready to hit Song Itao.

But this time, her arm was grabbed.

The man’s strength was immense; Deng Zhilán couldn’t break free. She turned and was surprised to see Wei Yanzhen.

As Wei Yanzhen approached, Song Itao hurriedly complained again:

“Deng Zhilán is involved with that pretty boy. I’ve warned you before.”

“Wei Yanzhen, you should take her home and teach her a lesson. A woman like that deserves it, or else she’ll cheat on you!”

Even Shi Hui, standing beside them, couldn’t stand it anymore.

Though he wanted to seduce Deng Zhilán, with her husband right there, he felt uneasy.

“What? You’re not leaving?”

“Trying to take my wife away?”

Wei Yanzhen didn’t bother to retort at Song Itao. His sharp gaze locked on Shi Hui.