Chapter 27: Drama Queen

Once he disappeared, Shen Yingying finally stopped, picked up the kettle, and returned to her room to continue sewing buttons onto Xie Fangzhu’s clothes.

Just as she was about to enter, she almost bumped into Chen Qingqing, who was hobbling out of the house on crutches.

Shen Yingying was startled by her appearance.

Chen Qingqing’s round face was deathly pale, her forehead covered in sweat, and even the chest area of her dark-colored jacket was damp.

She looked absolutely terrified.

Shen Yingying: “…”

She wasn’t sure if Chen Qingqing was scared by Shen Jiacai or by her.

If it were anyone else, she wouldn’t have cared.

But this was Chen Qingqing—Xie Fangzhu’s informant.

Today’s commotion had been quite the spectacle. Chen Qingqing would definitely report everything to Chen Wenxing.

Chen Wenxing was Xie Fangzhu’s class leader. By tomorrow at the latest, Xie Fangzhu would hear about this.

Although nothing in Shen Yingying’s argument with Shen Jiacai had crossed the line, there were still some minor issues—like the mention of the letter and running off with a scammer.

If Chen Qingqing was truly scared of her, she might misinterpret the situation when recounting it to Chen Wenxing, twisting the facts into something unpredictable.

Xie Fangzhu had only just stabilized, and Shen Yingying didn’t want any more trouble.

So, she gently apologized to Chen Qingqing. “Qingqing, I’m sorry. I was too aggressive just now and scared you.”

“Yingying, you don’t have to apologize to me…” Chen Qingqing lowered her head anxiously, not daring to meet her eyes. “I… I… I’m not scared…”

Despite her words, she was clearly still shaken, not fully recovered from the shock.

Over the past few days, she had found Shen Yingying to be quite nice—not at all like the person others described.

But today, she realized she was wrong.

Shen Yingying was terrifying.

Had she been pretending all along when she acted kind to her?

That was even scarier than someone who was simply cruel and malicious!

Seeing Chen Qingqing’s face grow even paler, Shen Yingying confirmed that she had indeed frightened her.

She couldn’t help feeling a little frustrated. Sure, she had been a bit fierce, but was she really scarier than that sneaky rat Shen Jiacai?

“It’s good if you’re not scared… I was really worried I had frightened you,” she said, pretending not to notice, and sighed. “My third brother is a coward who bullies the weak. I’ve suffered so much under his hands. If I hadn’t fought back today, I’d have been the one beaten half to death.”

Hearing this, Chen Qingqing instinctively glanced at Shen Yingying.

She saw Shen Yingying’s face filled with helplessness. When she noticed Chen Qingqing looking at her, she hastily averted her gaze, as if trying to hide her emotions.

But Chen Qingqing had already caught sight of her slightly reddened eyes and the tears welling up in them.

For a moment, Chen Qingqing was at a loss. “Yingying…?”

Shen Yingying forced a bitter smile.

“Qingqing, let me tell you my story.”

And thus, her grand performance began.

“I’m the youngest in my family, with three older brothers. But because my family values sons over daughters, I was always forced to give in to my brothers. They’ve been beating me up since I was a child.”

“When my second brother was getting married, my parents forced Xie Fangzhu to marry me just to collect a hefty dowry. They took hundreds of yuan but didn’t give me a single cent as a wedding gift.”

“I thought that once I was married, they’d finally leave me alone. But no… they still wouldn’t let go of me. Even though Xie Fangzhu gives them money every month, they still pressure me to give more.”

“Now my third brother is getting married, and they’ve come to me again, forcing me to contribute to his dowry. They want to buy him the ‘Three Turns and One Sound’ set, plus a television.”

“That alone costs at least a thousand yuan. But in our house, only Xie Fangzhu has a job. How are we supposed to afford that? Last time, I merely said it would be difficult to gather that much, and my third brother beat me up for it…”

“I don’t even dare tell Xie Fangzhu. I’ve already sacrificed so much for my family—if he finds out they’re still squeezing me for my brother’s dowry, he might not want to stay with me anymore…”

“So, that’s why I left with that factory director. He said that as long as I gave him money, he could arrange a job for me. I thought that if I had a job, I could support my maternal family on my own and wouldn’t be a burden to Xie Fangzhu…”

“But later, Xie Fangzhu caught me and brought me back. Everyone scolded me, and that was when I realized I had been deceived. I was unbelievably foolish… Thankfully, Xie Fangzhu still believed in someone as stupid as me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have wanted to live anymore…”

“After that incident, I finally understood that my maternal family had never truly seen me as a person. To them, I was just a tool to make money…”

At this point, Shen Yingying’s voice was already choked with sobs, making it impossible for her to continue speaking.

She lifted her tear-filled eyes to look at Chen Qingqing. Large teardrops rolled down her cheeks, making her appear incredibly pitiful—completely unlike the sharp-tongued woman she usually was in front of the Shen family.

She grabbed Chen Qingqing’s hand. “Qingqing, to be honest, I was scared to death today, but I had no choice! If I continued enduring everything like before, not only would I be bullied to death, but I would also drag Xie Fangzhu down with me. I don’t want to burden anyone… but especially not him. He’s so good to me…”

Her hands were trembling uncontrollably.

“…I really care about him!”

Chen Qingqing’s eyes turned red with emotion. She had never interacted with Shen Yingying before, and she never imagined that her past had been so tragic.

She never thought that Shen Yingying hadn’t eloped with that man—she had been trying to buy a job.

And even more unexpectedly, Shen Yingying didn’t treat Xie Fangzhu the way the rumors claimed. In reality, she deeply loved him.

It sounded absurd, and maybe no one would believe it if she said it out loud. But for Shen Yingying, who had been driven into a corner at that time, was there anything impossible?

Chen Qingqing trusted her intuition and her own eyes.

She believed Shen Yingying’s words…

Any fear she had was already replaced by sympathy. Without realizing it, her tears also began to fall. She reached out, hugged Shen Yingying’s shoulders, and choked out words of comfort:

“Yingying, I understand you. They’re all horrible people. You didn’t do anything wrong at all. I was the one who misunderstood you. You’re truly a brave girl…”

“You don’t have to apologize to me. If anyone should apologize, it should be me. I’m your friend, yet when you were suffering, I hid away out of fear. I’m so useless… Next time… I won’t do that again…”

…..

Xie Fangzhu had been leaving work early these days. He usually reached the wellhead around 4:50 PM.

Since it took Shen Yingying more than ten minutes to get from home to the mine lamp room, she usually set off around 4:20 PM.

But today, she was too caught up in sharing her misery with Chen Qingqing and lost track of time.

By the time she realized, it was already 4:40 PM. Shocked, she quickly wiped away her “drama queen” tears, bid farewell to Chen Qingqing, and hurriedly pedaled her bicycle to pick up Xie Fangzhu.

The more anxious she was, the more mistakes she made. As she turned a corner near the cafeteria, heading toward the lamp room, she was going too fast—so was the other person. They collided directly.

She fell to the ground, scraping her knee on the gravel. The pain made her suck in a sharp breath.

Just as she was about to curse the other person for not watching where they were going, the man rushed toward her in a panic, fumbling to help her up while frantically apologizing: “Comrade, I’m really sorry! My brakes failed… Are you okay? Let me take you to the hospital!”

His clear voice was filled with anxiety and guilt.