Chen Weihua finished shouting, then realized he’d said the wrong thing.
Chagrin spread across his face.
Zhou Shengnan planted a foot on Chen Weihua’s chest and smiled at the guests gathered around them.
“You all heard him. This bastard owes me eight hundred yuan. I swear to God, that was my mother’s lifesaving money.
This piece of trash didn’t just disappear on me—he went and got married, too! My mother’s still lying in the hospital waiting for money to pay for her treatment!”
The guests around Zhou, who had already been jealous of Chen Weihua, immediately began whispering among themselves.
“Oh, my God! What a vile thing to do!
If anything happens to that young woman’s mother, Chen Weihua will be a murderer!”
“Exactly! Director Zhao’s a shrewd man. How could he choose a pretty boy like that for a son-in-law?”
As everyone gossiped, Chen Weihua’s face, smeared with pig shit, grew uglier by the second. Zhao Hongying, standing beside him, found their words even more humiliating.
She glared viciously at Zhou Shengnan.
This bitch had ruined the most important wedding of her life!
With that thought, she reached out to shove Zhou Shengnan.
“Where did you crazy woman come from? So he owes you eight hundred yuan. You gave it to him willingly.
Chen Weihua never forced you. Did you really have to come here and make a scene? Get out of my house!”
Zhou Shengnan had thought that if Zhao Hongying was innocent, she might even be able to rescue another innocent woman from the fire.
But judging by those words, this little bitch was no damn good either.
The next instant, Zhou Shengnan caught the hand Zhao Hongying had laid on her.
Zhao Hongying was five foot five, while Zhou Shengnan had inherited her father’s height and stood five foot nine.
Zhou Shengnan pulled Zhao Hongying’s arm upward. The strain on her bones and flesh made the pain so sharp that she had to rise onto her toes to ease it.
“Ah! You crazy woman! I’m the daughter of the food factory director. You dare cross me?!
Let go, or I’ll make sure you die a horrible death!”
Zhao Hongying was in pain and furious, and she spoke without thinking.
Zhou Shengnan snorted, tipped up Zhao Hongying’s chin, and spat in her face.
“When someone’s a complete idiot, medicine won’t cure them. Not only won’t it cure them, they somehow all end up in a pile together.
Chen Weihua’s disgusting enough, but I didn’t think you could be even more shameless.
He used my money for your bride price, and you’re the one who benefited. You still dare to yell at me? How many fathers pooled their contributions to produce a moron like you?”
Zhou Shengnan’s voice rang out loud and clear, and her insult had brought Director Zhao into it, too.
The grand wedding had already been ruined, and Director Zhao had lost face in front of everyone. Now a young woman was giving him a tongue-lashing on top of that.
He slapped the table and strode toward Zhou Shengnan.
“You little animal! Say one more word of nonsense and I’ll skin you alive!”
But Zhou Shengnan didn’t back down. She answered with a slap that cut through the air.
A loud smack rang out. Director Zhao spun around on the spot and barely managed to steady himself.
“You old bastard! You raised this little bastard. You waste air while you’re alive and land when you’re dead.
Come on, I’m right here. If you’ve got the guts, kill me!”
At this point, Zhou Shengnan wasn’t just going to get back the eight hundred yuan the original owner had lent them.
She was going to make this whole lot pay dearly, too!
Seeing Director Zhao get beaten, everyone first drew back. But then they decided this was a good chance to show what they were made of.
There were so many of them. Surely they weren’t going to let one young woman push them around?
So they all stormed over and blocked Zhou Shengnan’s way.
“Young lady, I’m old enough to be your elder. Just hear me out—”
“You’re full of shit! I’m not listening!”
Smack!
Vladimir Petrovich, who had spoken, spun around from the slap and moved aside.
“Young lady, for my sake—”
“You look like a pile of shit to me!”
Smack!
Another slap. The man spun around twice and cleared the way.
“It’s a happy occasion. Just listen to my advice—”
“You sound like a pile of shit. Get lost!”
Smack!
Zhou Shengnan gave her combative streak full rein.
Everyone who came over to speak got the slap they deserved.
In less than ten minutes, half the people in the courtyard had swollen faces and stars dancing before their eyes.
“That’s enough! Do you use your hand like a comma?”
The last man to get slapped fell to the ground and roared at Zhou Shengnan.
Zhou merely shrugged, looking innocent. They were the ones who’d stuck their faces out for her to hit, weren’t they?
Zhou could hit people all she wanted, but her real goal was to get the money. The original owner’s mother—no, her mother now—was still in the hospital, waiting for money that could save her life.
“Listen up, all of you! If Chen Weihua doesn’t hand over the eight hundred yuan he owes me today, not a damn one of you is leaving!”
As she spoke, Zhou Shengnan swung a fist into the table beside her. With a crash, it split in two.
Wood chips flew through the air and smacked into Chen Weihua’s pig-shit-smeared face, making the sight all the more ridiculous.
The people around Shengnan shrank back at the display of strength.
With that kind of power, she must have been holding back when she slapped them. Otherwise, their heads might have gone flying a quarter mile.
And the worst part was, while Zhou Shengnan had been slapping them, Zhao Hongying had been dangling in midair on her tiptoes.
At this rate, Zhou Shengnan could probably beat up another whole round of people and throw in a Thomas Flair for good measure.
“Chen Weihua, is what she said true? Do you really owe her eight hundred yuan?”
Director Zhao stared at Chen Weihua with a cold expression.
He’d never thought much of the pretty boy, but his daughter was stubbornly fond of him. After she’d worn him down, and with the bride price settled quickly, he’d finally agreed to the marriage.
Who could have imagined that this coward would ruin his reputation for life?
“No, I don’t owe her anything. Dad, this woman likes me. She saw me getting married and wanted to ruin everything, so she made this up.”
Chen Weihua wasn’t stupid. If he admitted it, the wedding would be off—and he wouldn’t be able to stay in this city either.
Zhou Shengnan let out a cold laugh. A scumbag who could cheat someone out of both money and love would have no qualms about twisting the truth, either.
But she hadn’t come unprepared. She immediately pulled a piece of paper from her pocket.
On the train, using the original owner’s memories, she’d imitated Chen Weihua’s handwriting to make a promissory note.
It stated that Chen Weihua had borrowed eight hundred yuan from Zhou Shengnan and would repay it with twenty percent interest. If he hadn’t repaid it within a month, the debt would double.
The note was dated last month, so the deadline for doubling had just arrived.
“That’ll be 1,920 yuan. Since we work at the same factory, I’ll round it up for you. Just pay me two thousand.”
Never mind the usurious terms Zhou Shengnan had written down—even the way she’d rounded the amount up instead of down left everyone stunned.
Chen Weihua was trembling with rage. He scrambled to his feet and lunged for Zhou Shengnan, but she dodged him, not wanting to touch anything that filthy.
“Zhou Shengnan, we’ve known each other for so long. Even if we were only coworkers, you shouldn’t ruin me like this.
I don’t like you, and I’ve never borrowed money from you. Don’t slander me just because you want me!”
To save face, Chen Weihua not only denied his relationship with the original owner but tried to smear her as well.
If she were still the original owner—a hopeless romantic—she’d probably have run out in despair.
But she was Zhou Shengnan, known as “the hyena.”
“Don’t make things up out of thin air. When did I ever like you?
Don’t think I don’t know how you got that purchasing agent job—you sold yourself to the factory leaders for it.
I heard from the other workers that you wanted kickbacks so badly, you sucked a sixty-year-old granny’s dentures.
Tsk, tsk, Chen Weihua. How did a piece of trash like you manage to get married? Have you had your venereal disease treated?”
Zhou Shengnan’s words rattled off like machine-gun fire. Everyone standing near Chen Weihua backed away.
As if they were afraid he’d infect them.
Zhao Hongying’s eyes went wide as she stared at Chen Weihua, unable to believe what she’d heard.
Sold himself? Sucked an old woman’s dentures?
“Ugh! Chen Weihua, you’re disgusting!”
Zhao Hongying covered her mouth and gagged. Thinking of how she’d kissed Chen Weihua made her want to throw up bile.
“No, I didn’t! Zhou Shengnan, you’re talking out of your ass!”
“You farted first, so I farted too!”
Zhou Shengnan shrugged, looking as irritating as could be.
He’d tried to spread a sexual rumor about her. Hmph. Not only did she not care, she’d thrown the mud right back in his face.
Looking at Zhou Shengnan’s face—strange, yet familiar—Chen Weihua’s mind filled with questions.
Before, he’d thought she was a bit dim and spoiled by her family, which was why he’d deliberately gotten close to her.
Throughout their relationship, she’d done whatever he told her. If he’d asked her to kill herself, she’d probably have slit her throat on the spot.
So why had she changed today?
Zhou Shengnan felt Chen Weihua’s suspicious gaze. She turned and gave him a feral smile, her eyes dark and sinister, as though steeped in poison.
Chen Weihua felt a chill run through him. The next moment, Zhou Shengnan continued.
“What I said just now was only the tip of the iceberg. This guy was peeking at old ladies in the bath when he was three, watching widows use the toilet when he was seven, and forcing widows to watch him use the toilet when he was thirteen.
At fifteen, he got the family’s bitch in the belly. By eighteen, he’d caught a disease, and by twenty, it had rotted so badly they had to cut it off. Zhao Hongying, congratulations—you married a eunuch!”
As Zhou Shengnan spoke, everyone felt as if the air around them had filled with viruses.
The next instant, a deep rumble came from the sky. A bolt of lightning cracked down between Zhou Shengnan and Chen Weihua.