Chapter 2

“Open the door, Liu Chunhua! You open this door for me!”

“You dare bully my daughter? Do you think I, Zhao Fang, don’t have a temper?”

“You old hag, open this damn door already…!”

Su Yuwei’s eyes turned red with emotion as she listened to her mother’s powerful shouting from outside. Forgetting the argument, she shoved Pang Wenli aside, grabbed the letters Pang Chuan had sent from the edge of the kang (heated bed), stuffed them into her chest, and rushed to open the door.

“Yuwei…”

Liu Chunhua quickly grabbed her daughter-in-law’s hand, forcing a strained and ugly smile onto her old face. After a brief hesitation, she lowered her voice and tried to persuade her:

“Family scandals shouldn’t be aired outside, Yuwei. In a bit, just ask your mother and them to leave, alright? Do it for the child. We can’t let outsiders laugh at our family’s mess.”

Pang Wenli, who had been shoved to the ground, didn’t care about the pain on her face anymore. She got up and immediately grabbed Su Yuwei’s other wrist, glaring at her viciously as she threatened:

“Su Yuwei, if you dare ruin our family’s reputation, I’ll never speak to you again!”

Su Yuwei was furious…

She suddenly remembered—in that disgusting novel, she had actually been talked into sending her own family away when they came to back her up, all because she listened to Liu Chunhua and her daughter.

…Now that she thought about it, she must’ve been possessed back then.

Anger boiled in her chest. She suddenly jerked her hand out of Liu Chunhua’s grip and gave Pang Wenli a hard slap across the face, shouting coldly:

“Get lost! Your Pang family’s done such filthy, heartless things and you don’t even want people to talk about it?”

“And you have the nerve to say it’s for the child…”

Su Yuwei glanced at the baby sleeping soundly in the corner of the kang, then turned back and pointed at Liu Chunhua, scolding:

“That heartless bastard Pang Chuan—after I gave birth to his child, he went out and messed around with some whore. If he really cared about the child, he wouldn’t do something so disgusting. He’s an animal! Not afraid of being struck by lightning?!”

Pang Chuan was Liu Chunhua’s pride and joy…

She always thought her son was outstanding. She had never spoken a harsh word to him growing up. Now hearing Su Yuwei curse him like this, she immediately snapped.

“You poisonous little wench—!”

She spat a wad of phlegm at Su Yuwei. When Su Yuwei dodged it, she flew into a rage and tried to claw at her face, shouting even more foul words:

“I didn’t want to stoop to your level before because you’re young, but you viper-tongued harpy, how dare you curse my Chuanzi! You can’t even keep a man and you dare blame my Chuanzi? A useless thing like you deserves to be dumped!”

Her eyes were red with rage. When she missed scratching Su Yuwei, she turned and went to grab the feather duster from the kang.

At the same time, Pang Wenli, seeing her mother go on the attack, also sprang up and lunged at Su Yuwei, trying to grab her hair.

Su Yuwei’s eyes sharpened, and a memory suddenly flashed in her mind from that strange woman she remembered…

She had learned self-defense techniques before—so Su Yuwei instinctively used a proper takedown move.

In the next second…

Caught off guard, Pang Wenli was thrown to the ground with a cry, her arms flailing as she fell hard.

Right then, Liu Chunhua raised the feather duster and swung it hard at Su Yuwei.

Bang!

Before the feather duster could land on Su Yuwei, the courtyard gate burst open with a loud crash.

A tall, thin middle-aged woman stormed in first, her presence fierce. She looked through the window and saw the scene inside.

“Hey! Liu Chunhua, you damned hag! You dare hit my daughter? I’ll beat you to death!”

Before the words even finished leaving her mouth, she charged into the room, grabbed Liu Chunhua by the hair, snatched the feather duster out of her hand, and started whipping her with it.

“I’ll teach you to hit my daughter, you old bat! When you married her into your family, what promises did you make back then…”

Liu Chunhua’s health wasn’t great. Taken by surprise, she was hit several times in a row, the pain making her body ache all over. She turned and saw that a whole crowd of villagers had gathered in the yard to watch the drama, and her old face turned beet red with shame.

“You old hag! Don’t hit my mom—!”

Still on the floor, Pang Wenli snapped out of her daze. She jumped up with a shout, ready to charge into the fray. But just as she moved, Su Yuwei blocked her again.

“What are you doing? Move out of the way!”

Pang Wenli shouted, trying to stretch her arm past Su Yuwei to help Liu Chunhua.

Su Yuwei grabbed her arm, gave her a cold sneer, and with a sudden motion—

Another over-the-shoulder throw.

In the dizzying spin, Pang Wenli heard a faint voice in her ear:

“Off you go!”

The tone was laced with obvious schadenfreude, but she wasn’t sure if it was Su Yuwei’s voice.

Because the moment she hit the ground, the whole world went quiet. Her head buzzed for a while before the sounds outside gradually came back.

“……”

Inside the house, the chaotic scene suddenly froze, as if someone had pressed the pause button.

The villagers crowding the doorway looked like they’d seen a ghost. Even Su Yuwei’s mother, Zhao Fang, was completely stunned.

“Yuwei, you…”

Zhao Fang’s tongue stumbled, and the rage on her face momentarily froze. She stared at her soft, delicate daughter in disbelief.

“Oh no! My poor Wenli!”

Liu Chunhua screamed, breaking free from Zhao Fang and scrambling to Pang Wenli’s side, sobbing as she slapped her twice on the back.

“Mom, stop hitting… it hurts…”

Pang Wenli grimaced and protested weakly. She felt like her bones were all falling apart and was already regretting getting involved earlier.

Had Su Yuwei really gone crazy from the stress?

After all, when women in the village fought, it was usually just hair-pulling, face-scratching, and slapping. Who the hell just throws people around like that?

Was that normal?

She still didn’t even understand how she had been thrown.

Terrified, she grabbed Liu Chunhua’s hand and said with a trembling expression:

“Mom… Mom… Su Yuwei must’ve gone mad!”

“……”

Zhao Fang, who had been feeling a little guilty just moments before, instantly got fired up when she heard that. She stepped forward and pointed at the crumpled Pang Wenli, cursing:

“You little brat! Who are you calling crazy? You’re the one who’s crazy! You people pushed my daughter to this point and still have the nerve to talk nonsense!”

The more she cursed, the angrier she got. She habitually rolled up her sleeves, ready to jump in and argue some more.

But the next second, her daughter suddenly burst into tears with a loud “Waaah” and threw herself into Zhao Fang’s arms before she could react.