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Chapter 74
After Zhang Zao finished speaking, she crossed her arms and raised her brows at Qiao Xinyi. When she first heard that Qiao Xinyi was from the provincial capital, she had wondered if maybe Qiao’s family background was even more powerful than Liu Yun’s. That’s why she had initially spoken to Qiao Xinyi nicely and tried to gather some information. But instead, she ended up being humiliated.
Now that Liu Yun had arrived, she had become Zhang Zao’s best weapon to fight back against Qiao Xinyi. Zhang Zao thought to herself, After hearing all that, Qiao Xinyi must be scared now.
But to her surprise, Qiao Xinyi just stood there looking at her like she was an idiot—her threats seemed to have absolutely no effect on her.
“Are you really that dense or just pretending?” Zhang Zao sneered. “Let me say it again—Fu Qingshan will not marry you.”
“You, a woman who followed a man back to his home, only to be dumped in the end—when word of that gets around your neighbors, you’ll have no reputation left. You’ll never get married for the rest of your life, right?” The thought of that made Zhang Zao practically gleeful.
“Don’t look at us country folk with that city slicker face of yours. Even someone like our Dajiang wouldn’t want a woman like you who’s already ruined her reputation!”
“Did the fall of the Qing Dynasty forget to take you along?” Qiao Xinyi rolled her eyes. “You must be a leftover relic from feudal times, talking about reputation like that.”
As if she had such a stellar reputation at the textile factory’s family compound. She hadn’t even been home the past couple of days—Chen Ju and Qiao Laiwang were probably out there tearing her name to shreds. Her reputation didn’t even need Fu Qingshan to ruin it; he wouldn’t even get the chance—there was a line ahead of him.
“You and Uncle Zheng are both not right in the head. You two are so stingy, but you’ve still managed to save up money. Why not spend some of it on getting your brains checked at a hospital?” Qiao Xinyi clicked her tongue. “This is why I always say people should study more. If you don’t study, your brain stays dull, unrefined… stupid~”
How could Zheng Youliang and Zhang Zao ever think they could control Fu Qingshan?
They couldn’t control him when he was a child—how could they possibly manage now that he’s grown?
The household registration for Fu Linzhou and Fu Zeyu, the two children, wasn’t even under their grandfather Zheng Youliang’s name. When Fu Qingshan’s older brother, Fu Zhuohua, started working, he moved his own registration out right away—didn’t even notify the Zheng family when he got married.
Though due to some complications later, the two children’s registration couldn’t remain with the unit where Fu Zhuohua had worked before he passed, and it was moved back to the town. But even then, it was placed under the town’s collective household registry, not under the Zheng family.
Fu Qingshan had long been preparing to take the children with him to raise as soon as he had the chance. When he came back to handle his brother and sister-in-law’s affairs, he never transferred the kids’ registration into the Zheng household—he wouldn’t give the Zhengs any leverage.
If Fu Qingshan wanted to take the kids and move their household registration with him, he only needed to handle three things:
Not one of these steps required Zheng Youliang’s permission—because before she passed, the children’s mother had formally designated Fu Qingshan as their sole legal guardian.
So what business did any of this have to do with Zheng Youliang and Zhang Zao? Yet here they were, clueless and smug, still scheming.
Qiao Xinyi fired off her insults one after another, each with a different flavor. Zhang Zao, who had never had much education, needed a while to realize the first line was even an insult. But by the last sentence—with that final “stupid~”—even a fool would’ve understood.
Zhang Zao was so angry her nose was practically crooked. Just as she was about to start cursing like a madwoman, Liu Yun stepped forward and gently took her arm, patting the back of her hand.
She spoke up in her place:
“Comrade Qiao Xinyi, Aunt Zhang is an elder after all. Don’t you think it’s a little rude to speak to her that way?”
But judging from Qiao Xinyi’s reaction, Liu Yun realized—Qiao Xinyi knew exactly who she was.
“Oh, so going after someone else’s man is your idea of being polite?” Qiao Xinyi shot back. “Do you know what someone like you is called in the provincial capital? A homewrecker. A slutty little fox. A shameless tramp.”
Three lines of psychological attack in a row—even Liu Yun couldn’t maintain the poised, well-mannered façade she had at the beginning.
“Watch your mouth!” Liu Yun shouted angrily. “You and Fu Qingshan aren’t married—he’s single, you’re single. We’re just competing on our own merits!”
Then she forced her temper back down. Her gaze swept Qiao Xinyi up and down—gone was the warmth and politeness from earlier when she was trying to sound Qiao out. Now she looked at her like she was inspecting an inferior product.
“If you had any self-awareness, you’d know to walk away. That would at least be a little more dignified than getting utterly humiliated in the end,” she said coldly. “You and Fu Qingshan are not a good match.”
Qiao Xinyi nodded very seriously—like she’d just read the message and decided to reply with complete nonsense. “True, I also think Fu Qingshan isn’t really good enough for me.”
Liu Yun: “…”
All three of them froze.
How could someone say that kind of thing so casually? And with such a calm tone?
Liu Yun smoothed her skirt and continued, “My parents are government officials, and even my relatives who aren’t are from scholarly, well-educated families. Compared to me, what can a penniless nobody from the provincial capital like you offer?”
She gave a dismissive laugh. “In terms of looks, in terms of figure—you can’t compare to me either.”
“And when it comes to education, you’re an illiterate who hasn’t gone to school a single day in your life. What do you have to compare with me? I have a university degree.”
“If I marry Fu Qingshan, I’ll bring him pride. With my education, I might even help his political career someday. We could grow and progress together. Can you offer him any of that?”
With every sentence Liu Yun uttered, Qiao Xinyi nodded along—“mm-hmm, mm-hmm”—as if she were listening intently and wholeheartedly agreeing. But her face was full of perfunctory indifference.
“Qiao Xinyi, you’re the one who’s not good enough for Fu Qingshan.”
But the moment Liu Yun said that last line, Qiao Xinyi stopped nodding.
She simply blinked her seemingly clear, bright eyes at Liu Yun for a few seconds, then gave her a look that said, “That’s it? You’re done?”
And every word she spoke next hit Liu Yun square in the ego.
“But even if you were a fairy, so what? Fu Qingshan’s the one who’s with me~ What now? He just likes me, what can you do~”
If Liu Yun hadn’t come looking for a fight, Qiao Xinyi, as a fellow woman, honestly wouldn’t have used these kinds of words to attack her.
But Liu Yun had insisted on running straight into her knife.
“Maybe Fu Qingshan doesn’t like divorced women with kids. Maybe he doesn’t want to be someone’s stepdad.”
“Maybe he doesn’t like older women either. Maybe he just likes someone younger like me.”
Saying those kinds of things out of the blue would indeed be nasty. But Liu Yun had asked for it.
If she wanted to steal someone’s man, she should’ve put in effort at the wall—what’s the point of yelling at the person inside the wall?
“And also, I’ve never gone to school, but I’m not illiterate,” Qiao Xinyi said. “Someone like Zheng Dajiang didn’t go to school because he was dumb, couldn’t learn, and the schools didn’t want him. But I’m different.”