Chapter 22 You Never Thought of Marrying Her

Her mood changed as quickly as flipping a page.
Song Yiyi was starting to wonder if Kang Ying had actually hit her head.

“So what you mean is, you don’t have the ability to make a man like you, so you’ve come to blame me?” Song Yiyi gave a cold snort. “Weren’t you so capable before? You almost fooled your parents and brother, made your sister-in-law lose face and carry the reputation of being a thief. How come you can’t even handle one man now?”

Kang Ying’s face changed drastically, and she stared at Song Yiyi in shock.

Song Yiyi, looking utterly unconcerned, shrugged. “If you don’t want others to know, then don’t do it in the first place. Kang Ying, do you think your parents don’t see through your tricks? Have you forgotten what your father said to you that day?”

Kang Ying hadn’t fallen down the stairs by accident. She was afraid her father would expose her clumsy scheme in front of Cen Bowen, so she used that method to shut him up. And it worked — her father was indeed fooled in the end. His judgment had tilted toward his daughter, and her sister-in-law’s grievance had simply gone unredressed.

Kang Ying stared blankly at Song Yiyi as she spoke, enunciating each word clearly:

“Kang Ying, that day I told you I was going to marry Cen Bowen — that made you anxious, didn’t it?”
“Then you went home, saw your pampered sister-in-law, and came up with a so-called perfect plan.”
“You waited until she wasn’t paying attention and secretly slipped the necklace Cen Bowen had given you into her pocket. Then you deliberately picked a fight with your brother so you could head upstairs.”
“You wanted to ruin my date with Cen Bowen so at least he would abandon me for you — to prove you were in his heart.”
“Then you deliberately guided everyone to lift your sister-in-law’s scarf so they could accuse her of being improper.”
“You even planned to find the necklace in her pocket to cement her as a thief in everyone’s eyes, so your brother would completely despise her.”

It was as if Kang Ying suddenly snapped to attention. Her eyes bloodshot, she glared at Song Yiyi with hatred. Her voice came out from deep in her throat, each word bitten off:

“Song Yiyi, was it you who threw the necklace at Bowen’s feet?!”

Song Yiyi admitted without hesitation. “Yeah. Your sister-in-law was innocent, and I’m a kind soul — I help people without expecting thanks.”

Kang Ying’s whole body trembled with rage.
So it hadn’t been a coincidence at all — it was Song Yiyi who had ruined her plan!
Because of her, Kang Ying was now homeless, questioned multiple times by the gate sentry before she could enter the compound — and not even Bowen bringing her in could bypass that!
Her family had pressured her to move out!
Her own brother was threatening to cut ties with her!
That hypocritical sister-in-law’s status in the family had skyrocketed just from shedding a few tears!
And all of it was because of Song Yiyi!

Kang Ying suddenly reached out to slap Song Yiyi. “Bitch!”

But Song Yiyi was faster, quickly dodging back. Kang Ying swung at the air, nearly falling and making her leg injury worse. Song Yiyi, quick as lightning, raised her arm to slap her back — but someone else was faster.

Out of the darkness came a round, stocky figure, charging straight at Kang Ying.

Smack!
The sound of the slap was deafening.
Caught completely off guard, Kang Ying was knocked to the ground.

Song Yiyi hadn’t the faintest idea where this person had come from. Looking closer, she saw a short, round middle-aged woman.

In the dark, the woman’s wide mouth opened and shut furiously as she shouted:

“You little tramp! I thought you liked Bowen and wouldn’t harm my son! Turns out you’ve been scheming against him! You made him lose face in the army and even write a self-criticism! I’ll beat you to death today!”

Rolling up her sleeves, the woman landed another hard slap on Kang Ying’s uninjured cheek.

Already hurt, Kang Ying was completely stunned. She lay on the ground, unable to speak a word.

Song Yiyi had already retreated three meters away.
The heavyset woman was still about to hit Kang Ying again when a cool, calm voice came from under a tree nearby:

“Second sister-in-law, this is the compound. Mind your image.”

Song Yiyi jumped — there had been no one around just a moment ago, so how had several people appeared out of nowhere? It seemed in this compound, she’d better watch her words and actions — you never knew when eyes might be on you from the shadows.

Cen Yue stepped into the light, glanced at Song Yiyi, then walked forward. The plump woman actually listened to him, immediately standing up and saying, panting:

“Fine, little brother, but you people in the compound better not let this bad woman off! She ruined my son’s marriage! If you don’t deal with her, I’ll go to the police, I’ll go to the old commander!”

Her shouting drew neighbors from nearby houses.

Hearing the commotion, Song Minghui and Cai Mengjun hurried over, worried that Song Yiyi might have been hurt. When they saw the scene, Cai Mengjun quickly shielded Song Yiyi and asked softly:

“Yiyi, you’re not hurt, are you?”

Song Yiyi shook her head, smiling brightly. “Nope. I haven’t done anything heaven-defying — no one’s going to beat me in the middle of the night. Dad, Mom, let’s go home for dinner.”

Even though she hadn’t landed those slaps herself, they felt even more satisfying than if she had. She ate several extra wontons at dinner.

The next day, she heard from other military wives that Kang Ying had been carried back to the hospital. The heavyset woman from last night was Cen Bowen’s mother — and also Cen Yue’s sister-in-law.

That same night, Cen Bowen had found out about her conversation with Kang Ying and had angrily rushed to the hospital to confront her — only to find she was still unconscious. Kang Ying’s leg, which had just healed, had been knocked out of place again in the fall. It was said she’d been jolted awake from the bone-setting pain.

When she woke up, she didn’t say a word — just cried nonstop until she fainted again.

The Kang family arrived late and promptly kicked Cen Bowen out of the ward.

Full of pent-up anger, he tried to reason with them, but Kang Qiang punched him without listening.

Fuming, Cen Bowen wanted to argue further, but Kang’s father stepped in:

“Bowen, it’s not just me — ask around, who doesn’t know you and our Yingzi are a couple? You’re a grown man hanging around such a young girl — what do you think people will say? Who else could she marry but you?”
“And yet you never intended to marry her. Are you even a man?”

Cen Bowen tried to explain, “Uncle, Yingzi and I are just friends.”

But Kang’s father waved his hand, and Kang Qiang dragged him out.

“Get lost! And don’t let me see you again, or I’ll go to the military district and accuse you of seducing a woman!”

The roar left Cen Bowen stunned for a long while.

He couldn’t understand how things had spiraled this far — he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Suddenly he remembered a comrade’s words: ‘You like both.’

He shouted at the tightly shut ward door:

“I do not like both! I only like Song Yiyi! It’s your Kang family’s daughter who’s delusional!”

Then the military hospital sentries carried him out, saying that in the middle of the night he was disturbing other patients.

Kang Ying had gotten into the hospital thanks to his connections, but the other patients were military personnel or their family members — not people Cen Bowen could afford to offend.