Chapter 3: Sweeping All Enemies Before Her

Just as Bai Linglong was about to speak to confirm something, a sharp voice that she loathed to the core interrupted her: “Bai Linglong, you wretched slut, just like your mother! The moment you get here, you’re seducing men. Why don’t you just die already?”

The speaker was the Bai family’s matriarch, short and crude, with a sharp, acerbic face and a pair of slanted, triangular eyes blazing with anger. Two women, watching with amusement, followed behind her.

Seeing them, Bai Linglong’s expression instantly darkened. Her charming face turned stormy, and her smiling eyes frosted over. She abruptly jumped up and said to Lu Jingchuan, “Comrade Lu, I’ll talk to you later. I need to handle some family matters first.”

With that, she strode forward, taking long steps and covering the distance in no time.

“Mom, let’s go.”

Bai family’s eldest daughter-in-law, Li Cuihua, knew trouble was brewing when she saw Bai Linglong’s expression. This troublemaker was about to go berserk again. She hurriedly pulled her mother-in-law to run outside.

Just then, a restaurant waiter emerged from the kitchen with a bucket of swill. Bai Linglong shifted her steps, rushed over, snatched the bucket, and swiftly turned to splash the swill onto the three women.

“Ah!”

Although Li Cuihua pulled them back in time, none of the three managed to avoid the swill entirely.

The matriarch was drenched, while Li Cuihua and Bai family’s third daughter-in-law, Wang Xiuhong, only had their faces splashed. Their clothes remained relatively dry.

“Bai Linglong, you wretched…”

As the matriarch wiped the dirty water from her face with her sleeve, she began to curse, but before she could finish, Bai Linglong kicked her hard in the stomach, sending her sprawling.

“Ah!”

The matriarch fell backward, clutching her stomach and writhing in pain, screaming loudly.

The two daughters-in-law, also knocked down, scrambled to their feet, ignoring their fallen matriarch. In unison, they started cursing Bai Linglong.

“Bai Linglong, you heartless beast! How dare you hit your grandmother! Do you have any humanity left?”

Ignoring their accusations, Bai Linglong grabbed a bamboo broom by the door and started beating them mercilessly.

The original Bai Linglong often fought with them, using brute force, but this Bai Linglong had undergone professional martial arts training in her past life for revenge. Her strikes were not random; each hit landed precisely on their weak spots, every bit of strength used to its fullest.

She single-handedly overpowered them, sweeping all enemies before her, beating them until they screamed in pain.

Lu Jingchuan had followed her out and, from the first strike, narrowed his eyes, watching with great interest.

“Hey, comrade, stop that! You can’t just beat people up in the street. If you keep this up, I’ll have to call the police!” The state-run restaurant’s waiter rushed out to stop her.

The matriarch of the Bai family, who had just caught her breath, clutched her stomach and wailed, “Report, comrade, call the police, call the Public Security Bureau, arrest this heartless…”

“Bang!”

Bai Linglong swung the broom backhandedly, striking the matriarch on the mouth and silencing her foul words.

Then, she turned and kicked Li Cuihua in the butt, sending her sprawling face-first to the ground. With an imposing presence, she looked at the waiter and said, “Please accompany these comrades to the Public Security Bureau. These three severely injured my mother yesterday and fled. My mother is now lying unconscious in the city hospital. I haven’t had the chance to report and arrest them, but now they’ve come to me on their own. Please help me report this incident.”

“It has nothing to do with me, I didn’t hit your mother,” Wang Xiuhong, already beaten down, said. Her face was covered in filth, blood mixed with swill, and rotten vegetable leaves stuck to her hair. She was a mess.

Bai Linglong responded with a strike from the broom, not holding back at all.

“You didn’t lay a hand, but you schemed and plotted from behind. The old hag and Li Cuihua are just your tools, they act on your command. Half of the suffering my mother endured over the years was due to your heartless schemes.”

Seeing that Bai Linglong had now targeted Wang Xiuhong, Li Cuihua seized the opportunity to escape. She barely crawled two steps before a dark figure blocked her path.

“Who are you?”

Li Cuihua’s eyes were blurred by the swill, so she couldn’t see the man clearly. His intimidating presence made her instinctively tremble.

Lu Jingchuan didn’t answer her, his tall figure standing like a pillar, blocking her way, clearly intending to help Bai Linglong.

Bai Linglong glanced over, seeing her matchmaker was on her side without a word, and her impression of him shot up, nearing full marks.

With his help, Bai Linglong felt free to act.

She first gave Wang Xiuhong a severe beating until she couldn’t fight back or beg for mercy. Then, she stripped off her coat, kicking her on the shoulder. “My mother worked hard to earn money, and you bloodsuckers just leech off her. She hasn’t worn new clothes in ten years while you use her hard-earned money to eat well and buy new clothes every year.”

“She makes clothes from scraps for me, and you rotten people steal them all. I’ll teach you the price of stealing my clothes today.”

“You like to show off, don’t you? You like to sway and act coy in front of men, don’t you?”

“Today, I’ll let you show off to your heart’s content. Let Wang Xiuhong show off her flesh in Tancheng.”

Seeing she was serious, crazier than ever, Wang Xiuhong was terrified. When Bai Linglong went to pull her pants off, she trembled and apologized profusely, “Linglong, I was wrong. I know I was wrong. I’ll never bully you again. I’ll never take your things again.”

“Don’t strip me, I’m your aunt.”

“Bai Linglong, let go. Let go of me.”

No matter how she pleaded, Bai Linglong ignored her, stripping off her coat, then her cotton shirt, and finally her pants and shoes, leaving only her vest and underwear to cover her.

There were many people near the state-run restaurant, and the commotion drew a crowd. Some tried to advise her, but Bai Linglong ignored them, while most of the men watched the spectacle with leering eyes glued to Wang Xiuhong.

After stripping her, Bai Linglong, now sweating, strode over to the trembling Li Cuihua and looked down at her threateningly, “Are you going to strip yourself, or should I do it?”

“Linglong, I was wrong. Your aunt was wrong. I’ll apologize to your mother. I’ll never bully you again.”

“Don’t strip me, I’ll pay for your mother’s medical bills.”

Normally stingy, Li Cuihua was willing to part with her money to preserve her dignity and avoid Wang Xiuhong’s fate. She quickly took out all the money she had.

Bai Linglong glanced at the money, saw it was only a bit over ten yuan, took it all, stuffed it into her pocket, and gave Li Cuihua a hard kick.