Chapter 7 Two Houses in Hand

Yang Mumu pulled the two women out of the house, locked the room, leaving the monitoring device behind, and took them to transfer the property. She wasn’t worried about anything happening in the house or with the people she took out; the best part was yet to come.  Unsurprisingly, the property transfer went smoothly.

 Her relationship with the two women made the transfer perfectly legitimate. To expedite the process, she bribed the clerk with a bag of fruit candies, and the clerk happily processed everything for her.  Leaving the property registration office, the two properties were now Yang Mumu’s.

 Li Yuhua and Zhang Cuilan dared not cause any trouble and put on a cheerful facade. Yang Mumu walked arm-in-arm with them, carrying freshly bought pork and celery, flaunting their success. She greeted people who acknowledged them, and made the two women greet them as well. 

“Auntie Wang, heading home to cook? What are you making today?” “Uncle Zhang, delivering food to Auntie?” Auntie Wang stopped, smiling. “Yes, it’s noon, I’m going home to cook.

Oh, you two are exchanging gifts today?  You’re eating well! You bought pork and celery, quite a lot! Two or three jin? Are you making dumplings or stir-fry?” Yang Mumu gave a shy smile. Li Yuhua, with a forced smile, said, “Heh, half stir-fry, half dumplings. We’re treating our in-laws to a meal, so we bought a lot.”

“That’s nice. You busy then, I’ll go home and cook. My husband is waiting for me.” Auntie Wang waved and hurried home, muttering to herself. Li Yuhua and Zhang Cuilan smelled awful, a fishy stench.

She knew exactly what that meant.  Tsk, shameless! Doing that in broad daylight! Poor Yang Mumu, her stepmother is a monster, and the family she married into isn’t any better.  The old and the young are all scoundrels.  She saw Zhao Yitian and that vixen Yang Qianqian feeding each other in the corner last night.

 Shameless! Auntie Wang turned back and looked at Yang Mumu sympathetically. What a poor child! “Auntie, goodbye.” Yang Mumu achieved her goal, waved goodbye, and took the two women home.

 “What do you want? Didn’t you say you’d give us the things after the transfer?” Li Yuhua couldn’t contain herself any longer, gritting her teeth and whispering. Zhang Cuilan was also worried. “You’re not going back on your word, are you?” “That was a previous promise. You broke the agreement yourselves.

How can I know you won’t go back on your word again? I have to keep something for self-preservation. Don’t worry, as long as you listen to me, I won’t mistreat you. From now on, keep the things here.” “You…” Yang Mumu chuckled, closed the door, and dragged the two women to the six-way pile-up room.

Zhang Cuilan swallowed her anger and immediately changed her tune, “Then you’ll keep your word, keep the things, and let us go.” “Let you go? Of course. I’m paid to do this.” Yang Mumu dropped the two women, picked up the three limp, conscious men like chickens, and threw them to Li Yuhua and Zhang Cuilan.

“Oh, you still look unsatisfied.” The three men had been badly tormented, still conscious, their spirits seemingly broken, but they still managed to glare at her. “Glaring at me? Should I put you back?” As soon as she said that, the three men were thrown back into the three-way pile-up.

The three men closed their eyes, tears streaming down their faces. Zhang Cuilan’s husband, delicate and soft-skinned, was the first to break. He cried and begged for mercy. “Please, let us go! I’m sorry! We won’t scold you or glare at you anymore.

 We’ll listen to you, we promise! Please! I still have money. I’ll give it to you when I get back. I haven’t received my salary this month, but I’ll get it soon, I can give you that too. I’ll write you an IOU.” “Fine, since you’re so cooperative, I’ll let you go.” Yang Mumu pulled him out and threw him to Zhang Cuilan.

The remaining two men didn’t need to say anything. They didn’t care about suffering together, and their mouths were hard, but after one begged and got a reward, things changed. They couldn’t hold back any longer, crying and begging for mercy, listing how much money they had and what things they owned, scrambling to write IOUs.

Yang Mumu pulled the remaining two out, straightened their dislocated arms and legs, wiped her hands, and looked at Li Yuhua with disgust. “Clean them up, change their clothes. You two smell bad too, change your clothes.

 You’re stinking up the place. There are clothes in my parents’ room. I keep my word, I’ll let you go, as long as you listen. Remember, listen, otherwise, the five of you…” The unspoken threat was understood by all five.

 They were no longer arrogant, nodding hastily.

“Yes, yes!” Seeing her change of attitude, the five believed her words and smiled slightly. Li Yuhua and the others happily led the three limping men to wash up.

The three-way pile-up by the lake was long forgotten! Laugh now, the happier you are now, the more you’ll cry later. The five cleaned themselves up, changed into clean clothes, and stood before her, wanting to leave this humiliating place, but without Yang Mumu’s permission, none of them dared to leave.

The examples of disobedience were fresh in their minds.  There was an exception, however. Li Yuhua glanced at the room, ultimately feeling sorry for her daughter, and whispered, “What about Qianqian and the others?” The other four glared at Li Yuhua.  Did she want to die? Yang Zhong slapped Li Yuhua’s mouth.

“Shut up! They haven’t finished yet! Do you want to get us all killed?” The drug had been prepared in ten times the dosage, the kind given to cattle. It wasn’t something that could be stopped easily.  Judging by their appearance, they must have taken a lot. Until the effects wore off, they wouldn’t stop.

 If those old bones went in again, they would die there. Yang Mumu threatened again, “Save your children, or save yourselves. You decide.”

 “Save ourselves, ourselves, me.” Yang Zhong was the first to speak, eagerly. Those three had nothing to do with him; their lives or deaths were none of his concern. “Save me.” Li Yuhua’s ex-husband, Xu Qiang, quickly raised his hand.

  A little girl, what was there to save? “Save me.” Zhang Cuilan’s husband, Zhao Bing, thought for a moment and raised his hand. He could still have children; keeping that useless son would only damage his reputation.