Chapter 9

Losing Face in the Family Courtyard

A week later.

Hu Ouhua was buying groceries at the market when two women blocked her way.

“Hu Ouhua, you ungrateful wretch! What sin did I, Wang Chunlan, commit to give birth to such a shameless thing like you? It’s not enough that you harmed your own mother, now you want to harm your sister too? Watch me beat you to death—”

These past few days had been tough for Wang Chunlan.

Ever since her affair with Old Zhao was exposed and even brought to the police station, Hu Daqian had accused Old Zhao of being a hooligan, leading to his immediate arrest.

For the first time, Wang Chunlan saw Hu Daqian’s fury, and she was genuinely afraid. She repeatedly knelt and begged for mercy, hoping that Hu Daqian, for the sake of their two daughters, wouldn’t let her face execution.

Hu Jingcheng also knelt to plead for her mother.

“Dad, please forgive Mom. If she gets executed, I won’t live either…”

In the end, Hu Daqian swallowed his anger.

He didn’t hold his wife legally accountable.

However, he made it clear that from now on, she shouldn’t expect a single cent from him. Once their two daughters finished college, they would divorce.

With no other options, Wang Chunlan had no choice but to agree.

However—

Hu Jingcheng returned home crying after being publicly humiliated when she borrowed notes from Li Weiguo. The Li family mocked her, calling her mother shameless, saying she had loose morals, and labeling her a delinquent. They even said she, as the daughter of such a woman, couldn’t be clean herself.

What hurt most was that Li Weiguo, right in front of her, lent the notes to Song Bao, the person she despised the most.

At that moment, her dignity and pride were shattered.

She cried for three days and nights.

Thus, when mother and daughter ran into Hu Ouhua at the market while trying to bargain for vegetables, their pent-up resentment exploded.

“Come look, everyone! This is the wild child I gave birth to! A shameless seductress who only knows how to lure men! She refuses to come home because she’s out there fooling around with some wild man! I tried to introduce her to a good match, but she insisted on fooling around with other men instead—” Wang Chunlan yelled while crying.

It was pitiful.

Her dramatic outburst quickly attracted a crowd of gossip-loving older women, who eyed Hu Ouhua suspiciously… like she was some kind of vixen.

Her big eyes fluttered, and with just one flirtatious glance, she could probably steal a man’s soul.

“Even her own mother says so—this must be true.”

“She looks like a temptress. Shameless! Ugh—”

“We should report her and have her locked up. How can we let someone like her roam the streets? What if she seduces my man?”

“If she’s throwing herself at them for free, what man could resist?”

Hu Jingcheng secretly gave her mother a thumbs-up.

The older, the wiser.

Did Hu Ouhua think she could live a good life just because she clung to some officer from Beijing?

Dream on.

Her mother would always be her mother!

Deciding to go all out, Wang Chunlan didn’t hold back. If this wretched girl wouldn’t let her live in peace, then they’d go to hell together. She refused to believe Hu Ouhua could escape her grasp.

“My life is so bitter! How did I give birth to such a cursed child? If I didn’t care about her, I would’ve reported her long ago and had her locked up! Boohoo—”

She threw herself onto the ground, wailing and cursing in a theatrical tone.

“Elder sister, Officer Lu already has a fiancée. Last time, you thought he was protecting you, but in reality, he was just using the situation to send his fiancée back to Beijing for an official job.” Hu Jingcheng sneered.

Her words completely turned the crowd against Hu Ouhua, accusing her of clinging to a man, refusing to leave his house, and even driving away his real fiancée.

“Ma’am, don’t blame me for being harsh, but why are you keeping such filth around?”

“If I had a daughter like that, I’d strangle her myself.”

“Call the police! Arrest this vixen!”

“Shameless, absolutely shameless!”

As the crowd grew more agitated, some were already preparing to throw rotten eggs at Hu Ouhua.

But suddenly, tears welled up in Hu Ouhua’s eyes and began falling in large drops.

She cried out, “Mom, Uncle Zhao is already in jail, and yet you gave Dad such a huge green hat (humiliated him). Poor Dad.

He gave you all his money, and you spent it raising another man’s child.

You even tried to sell me off to some old, ugly freak. All I wanted was to earn a living, yet you slander me like this? Boohoo—”

Then, before Hu Jingcheng could react, Hu Ouhua turned her fire onto her sister.

“Sister, you were kissing Uncle Zhao’s son in the alley. Li Weiguo saw it with his own eyes—that’s why he refused to lend you his notes. He has cleanliness issues; he thinks you’re dirty.”

Boom!

Hu Jingcheng trembled with rage, her lips turning purple.

She had been extremely discreet when kissing Zhao Xiao…

How did Hu Ouhua know?

“Mom, if what you’re saying is true, let’s call the police. Let the authorities handle it. I can call Dad and have him step in—”

“Shut up!”

Wang Chunlan sprang up and slapped Hu Ouhua across the face.

“Mom… You, you hit me—boohoohoo, I knew it. Just to force me to marry that disgusting man, you’re willing to destroy me with lies. Listen, even if I die, I will never jump into that fire pit.” Hu Ouhua declared resolutely.

At that moment, a familiar figure stepped out from the crowd—it was Li Weiguo’s wife, Liu Bo’er.

She glared at Wang Chunlan and scolded, “Wang Chunlan! You already disgraced yourself by fooling around with men and ruining the reputation of our entire railway family courtyard. Now, you’re so shameless that you’re even attacking your only decent daughter?”

“I-I… That’s not true… It’s not true…”

Wang Chunlan tried to argue.

But behind Liu Bo’er stood a group of women from the family courtyard—witnesses to the entire humiliating affair. No matter how hard she tried, there was no salvaging her reputation.

Defeated, she glared furiously at Hu Ouhua before dragging her younger daughter away in disgrace.

That look seemed to say: Just you wait.

The moment Hu Jingcheng got home, she locked herself in her room and collapsed onto her bed, crying hysterically.

She pounded on her bed and screamed, “I don’t want to live anymore! I have no face left! Boohoohoo—”

Wang Chunlan coughed up a mouthful of blood in fury.

With her reputation in ruins, controlling Hu Ouhua wouldn’t be so easy anymore. The only way forward was to work with Yang Wei.

Yes.

The Yang family wasn’t to be messed with.

Yang Wei was a loafer who knew plenty of shady people.

As long as… he set his sights on that stubborn girl, Hu Ouhua, there was no way she could escape!

Hu Ouhua returned to her small courtyard, victorious.

But she knew very well that with Wang Chunlan and Hu Jingcheng’s personalities, if they failed once or twice, they would only come up with something even more vicious.

A tougher battle was inevitable.

After thinking it through, she decided to seek Lu Yuetang’s help—maybe she could get a weapon for self-defense.

But Lu Yuetang had been away these past few days.

It wasn’t until 8 PM that night that he finally stepped into the courtyard under the silver moonlight.