The onlookers looked at the two women on the ground, shocked. Some little girls had no idea what that meant, so they asked their mothers. In return, they received a flick to their foreheads before their mothers dragged them away. They didn't let their daughters be exposed to such dirty things. Many of the men, who were there to accompany their wives or girlfriends, were pinched, hard. Many of them let out small cries, even. A few men, who were enjoying the show, were dragged away by their wives by their ears.
More people came over and pointed and talked about the two cousins. Should there be cellphones back then, Shu Yan was certain that they would make all sorts of headline news.
Fan Xiaomei looked around herself and put up a mean front. "Stop with your nonsense already. Do you have any proof?"
"How do you know that I don't?" said the woman as she pulled a stack of photos out of her purse and handed it over to the man next to her, having him distribute them to the onlookers. "It is fate that has brought us all together today. This is too good not to be shared with all of you here."
Even Shu Yan was shown a couple of them. One of them was inside a large bathtub. A respectable looking man was sitting inside with Le on one arm and Fan Xiaomei in the other. He was smiling happily. Another one was on the bed. The two girls were in the front and back...
Zhang Baizong was certainly very creative in the picture. In comparison, Ye Zhiqiang's affair was like childplay in front of him. Sure enough, city dwellers were more creative when it came to things like this. The saying was true.
Everybody was shocked. A few newly wedded young women even let out a small cry, then couldn't resist taking another look at them. Shu Yan noticed a few men secretly hid some of the pictures. Their intentions for them were obvious.
The final stack of photos was tossed onto Le and Fan Xiaomei. The two of them turned pale as they looked at the picture. Especially Fan Xiaomei, she had already collapsed onto the ground. She felt as though she had been plunged into an ice cave, and she was shivering in cold.
Le was single; she could move to a different city and start over again. Fan Xiaomei's situation was different. She has a husband and a child. If words got out, her man would kill her.
Fan Xiaomei crawled over to the woman, but she was stopped by the man next to the woman before she could touch her.
"That wasn't my intention. It was her. My cousin tempted me. She said if I do it with her, she'd help me open up a children's clothing shop. I had been poor for too long. I was forced into this. Please, don't."
Fan Xiaomei's abrupt change surprised even the woman. She gave Fan Xiaomei a smile that was not a smile then turned to look at Le.
Le, on the other hand, tossed all the photos aside and stared at the woman viciously. "So what if I have seduced the man? All I had to do was to wiggle a finger and he came crawling like a dog. After I left, I got a job and was just minding my own business. It was your husband who came and hugged and kissed me and apologized to me. He said he likes my type and that you were like a log in bed. If it wasn't for your money, he would have divorced you a long time ago. It was your fault that you couldn't keep your man, why are you taking it out on me?"
Everybody around them peeked over at the woman cautiously. Shu Yan, too, peeked at the woman and noticed that she appeared to be exceptionally calm.
"Don't worry. What I have waiting for him is even worse than what you are getting right now."
Most of those standing around were married women and they hated nothing more than who seduced other people's husbands. Seeing how Le still managed to sound so righteous, they started condemning her. "Shameless! Fox demon!"
"How am I shameless? It's her own fault that she isn't better."
"Why bother still having clothes on if you are that shameless?" A woman standing next to Le straight up ripped the jacket from her, made a loud spitting sound, and said, "People like you should be paraded naked."
"Give it back to me! Give it back!" Le shrieked.
If anyone might still think that woman was too ruthless at first, now they all thought Le was only getting what she deserved.
Le wanted to run, but the woman had brought quite a few people with her. They guarded around her, making sure that she'd have no chance to run away. She curled up on the ground and kept on shrieking.
Shu Yan let out a hrmph. When she looked up, she noticed that the woman was already gone. She left as abruptly as she came.
Now that the show was over, Shu Yan had the excited Zhang Huaxiu and Yingying return to work.
"I can't believe how shameless that Le was. How did she sound so righteous being a homewrecker." Yingying blushed again when she recalled the quick glance that she had at the picture and made a loud spitting sound. "The wife was pretty and elegant. And she is from a wealthy family. Neither Le's look nor body measures up to her. With such a pretty wife at home, what is wrong with the man who'd want to look for a woman who is worse than his wife in every way?"
"Women outside are sl*ttier. There is no such thing as a good man." Zhang Huaxiu suddenly worried about getting married. What if her husband has a woman outside of the marriage? What would she do then?
Chen Fei, who had just walked in, heard that last sentence that Zhang Huaxiu said. Stunned, he looked over at Shu Yan, having no idea what had just happened.
"We are talking about the owner next door. Apparently, she is a homewrecker. Her lover's wife came today, ripped all of her clothes off, and tossed her into the street."
Chen Fei had noticed the crowd on his way over, but not being someone with strong curiosity, he merely walked around the crowd and walked inside. He did not see what was going on.
His timing couldn't have been worse. After such a scene, any woman would have been left with a bad taste in her mouth; especially someone like Zhang Huaxiu who had some resistance toward getting married to begin with. Chen Fei understood right away.
"The problem lies with the man. If he doesn't have the intention, it doesn't matter what kind of beautiful women try to seduce him."
"Glad you understand that." Shu Yan looked at Chen Fei. One's mind was one's mind. Nobody could read someone else's mind. Take Zhang Baizong for example. He was able to have a pretty, elegant, and wealthy girl marry him. She possesses good looks and education. And then what? He was more interested in wild flowers that do not measure up to the one at home.
Chen Fei looked at Zhang Huaxiu and said to her, "My family is a bit different. My mother was picked by my grandmother. My parents were never that close in their marriage. Rather, my father was never that nice to my mother. I have always seen my mother crying behind my father's back when I was a child. My father brought in a new woman shortly after my mother passed away. It was quite a shock to me. And I have always thought that I would not just marry someone just because. I'd rather remain single unless I run into someone I like. That's no reason to make someone else miserable. But, if I have the opportunity to run into someone I like and I can be with her, I will do my best to be nice to her and grow old with her."
Zhang Huaxiu, with her head lowered, curled her lips upward.
Shu Yan could tell that she had been convinced. Shu Yan shook her head. Women! They accused men of saying sweet nothing on one hand, but love hearing sweet nothing on the other. That being said, Chen Fei did look like one who was sincere and responsible. And she'd be the only one who could say how easy it was to get along with him. People could change and nobody could predict the future. Perhaps Zhang Huaxiu would be the one who had a change of heart in the future. Who'd know?
"Designer Chen is here to deliver the lights?" She had shown him the blueprint of the remodeling of her place. She hadn't expected him to be enthusiastic about it. He made a special trip to her place, made custom designed lightings for her place, and helped her place the order for her custom lightings and furniture to be made.
"Oh, right. The lighting is done. The furniture will be a bit longer. I have already checked on them over at your place last time. The masters' work was very skillful. The remodeling also looked good but you can't move in just yet. I suggest waiting for 3 months before you move in." Chen Fei had heard about Shu Yan losing her rental.
"I've already found a new place that I can stay till the end of the year. Should be able to move in then." Shu Yan took Yingying with her to look at the lightings, leaving Chen Fei and Zhang Huaxiu there by themselves.
Business was particularly poor that day. Everybody was talking about what happened with Le all over the place. The scene was quite lively.
Right when Shu Yan was about to take off early for the day, the cops came. Their next door had called the cops. Turned out the woman didn't just strip Le naked, she also smashed her shop. Otherwise, the landlord would not have called the cops.
"Hi, we are here to ask a few questions."
Shu Yan nodded and told all she knew. She shook her head when they asked her whether she knew the woman, or whether she remembered what the woman looked like. It couldn't go wrong to answer no to all the questions.
It was all just a formality. The cops wouldn't spend too much time looking into an incident like this.
It was a rare early day for Shu Yan. She hadn't been able to lie down in bed in the daytime forever. Shu Yan let out a sigh of comfort. She really didn't want to get back up, but she has two more mouths to feed. Resigned, she finally got back up to shop for ingredients for dinner before she went to pick up the children.
"I heard that a lot had gone on where you were earlier?" asked Lin Hui when she saw Shu Yan.
"How did you find out?" asked Shu Yan, surprised. West City Nan Road was quite a bit of distance from here. How did she find out?
"A colleague of mine had the day off, went shopping on West City Nan Road, and saw it with her own eyes. She skipped lunch to come straight back to the factory to share it with all of us. I even saw the photos." Having said that, Lin Hui blushed a little from embarrassment before she asked softly, "Was that true?"
"Yeah. I was right next door."
"Oh really? Then tell me more." Lin Hui was a little excited. When Wu Xiuyue arrived later on and saw them, she also came over to find out what they were talking about. Hearing the recounting from Lin Hui, she, too, looked excitedly at Shu Yan.
Shu Yan: So nosy!
In the next few days that followed, the shop next door did not reopen. Shu Yan saw the landlord next door have someone came to remove the sign and asked, "They are closing this place down?"
"Yeah! My place was smashed and they weren't even going to do anything about it. What bad luck," said the landlord as he sighed. Due to something like that, it will be a while before he would be able to rent his place out. He took a look at Shu Yan and said, "Your business seems to be going quite well. Do you want to rent my side too and expand your place?"
"No, no need. I am not planning on expanding anytime soon." Shu Yan shook her head.
Shu Yan felt that even the air was fresher without Le there staring at all day in and day out.
Her business improved slowly and her daily income was around 1,500 yuan. Shu Yan would go and bring in more merchandise every weekend. On a regular day, she'd head into the shop after dropping off her kids and pick them back up around 4 or so in the afternoon. Then, she made dinner and helped them with homework. Days weren't as busy as she had imagined.
This day, after Shu Yan had dropped off her kids and went to her shop, she was stopped by a man in a black suit before she stepped foot into her shop. "Miss Shu, our Miss would like to invite you to lunch."
Shu Yan looked in the direction where his hand was pointing and saw the window on a luxurious car roll down slowly. Inside was a pretty but slightly haggard looking face. It was Zhang Baizong's wife who beat up on the homewrecker the other day.