Chapter 27

Right in front of her, the older woman hurried into the telephone room, and though it was unclear what was said on the other end, she lifted her chin and sneered at her. “My son is coming back tonight, and he’ll personally dump you tomorrow.” With that, she left the room with a smirk on her face.

Xu Ruhua wanted to make a call herself but was flatly refused by the phone room staff. Now, she was filled with worry. Back then, part of the reason she and her boyfriend got together was due to the mother’s support.

Xu’s father was fretting about his promotion prospects, as the rumors around town were mounting. His face was scabbed from the day’s events, and people were beginning to whisper that he’d abandoned one family for another. Feeling guilty, he didn’t try to refute it.

Xu’s mother, too, had started blaming Xu Ruhua, saying that if she hadn’t insisted on stealing her sister’s boyfriend, their family wouldn’t have lost face like this. And Xu Niannian — that “little vixen,” as she put it — had apparently played dumb all along, making everyone take her for a fool.

No one was concerned with Xu Niannian’s whereabouts. But she had already left the house, deep in thought about the house deed issue. After seeing her family’s behavior, she’d come to a decision: she wanted to sell the house.

She wandered around the streets, unsure where to find a buyer who could purchase it immediately. She thought hard, trying to recall if the original owner had any useful connections, but nothing came to mind. She was even considering the black market.

She knew Lu Huaijin’s position made it sensitive to involve him too much before marriage, so this was something she had to solve on her own. She would need someone cunning and tough, but the original owner’s social circle had been too clean for anyone like that.

As she walked down the bustling street, she noticed a commotion up ahead. Curious, she jogged closer to check it out. A fair-skinned young woman in a dress was holding a piece of pork, and a rough-looking man had grabbed her. The woman was crying and pleading, “Please, help me! I don’t know him, please!”

The man held her tight, cigarette in hand, shouting angrily, “What’s wrong with you? You think you can just leave me for some rich boy who buys you pork? Today, I’ll teach you a lesson for being so ungrateful!”

Xu Niannian glanced over and noticed they were near an alley, a dead-end spot she recognized. She fished a piece of hard candy out of her pocket and handed it to an elderly woman nearby. “Auntie, what’s going on here?”

The older woman popped the candy in her mouth, not even looking at Xu Niannian. “She got caught cheating, that’s all. Went off with another man, and her husband found her.”

“But if it’s a love affair, where’s her new guy? There’s only this one man here,” Xu Niannian pressed.

The woman paused mid-chew. She didn’t know the answer to that but felt compelled to continue, if only to justify the treat. “The other guy must’ve run away, scared of this man’s temper.”

Xu Niannian’s brows furrowed. The girl’s hands looked too clean, as if she was someone pampered, not someone who would do housework. That guy was lying.

She worked her way through the crowd and questioned the man. “How can you prove she’s your wife?”

The man spat on the ground, took a long drag on his cigarette, and glared at her. “Is it a crime to discipline my own wife now?”

The elderly woman who’d taken the candy chimed in, “That girl must have done something shameful for people to defend her husband’s right to scold her.”

Xu Niannian turned back to the man. “What’s her name, and where’s she from?”

Without missing a beat, the man answered, “Cui Mei, from Datong Village nearby.”

The young woman kept shaking her head, sobbing, “I’m not, I’m not! I have a fiancé!”

The man slapped her hard across the face. “Oh, you mean that lover of yours? Think he’s better than me?”

Onlookers began murmuring again, some even siding with the man. Xu Niannian raised her voice, asking, “Isn’t anyone going to call the police? I think this guy’s a trafficker. This girl doesn’t look like someone from his village.”

The crowd quieted, some reconsidering. “That’s true. They don’t look like they’re from the same family.”

Just then, an older woman entered the scene, gave the girl another slap, and snapped, “My son is unlucky to have married such a disloyal woman! How dare anyone speak for this kind of person.”

The woman was crying, casting glances at the man, who understood her meaning: take the girl and leave quickly. But he was eyeing Xu Niannian with interest. She looked even better than his current target, and the watch on her wrist glinted. She’d make a fine addition.

Realizing this was about to get worse, Xu Niannian shouted to the crowd, “Don’t believe them; they’re human traffickers! Someone go get the police. This girl needs our help!”

With no phones, there was little she could do except rely on her electric baton if needed. She called out to the girl, “Hold on! Don’t be afraid. Justice will prevail. The people here won’t let bad guys go free.”

She turned to the crowd. “Look, this old woman was hiding here the whole time. If she were truly a mother-in-law, she’d be the first to step up, not lurk in the background.”

The old woman’s face changed, but she gritted her teeth and refrained from arguing, instead signaling the man to hurry and leave. She could tell Xu Niannian wasn’t one to be easily intimidated.