“Ah! Third Brother, you mustn’t tell Mom! You know how scared I am of her!”
Hearing this, Shen Jiacai’s gaze fell on her face. Though she spoke words of fear, her exaggerated manner was somehow deeply unpleasant to witness.
But remembering his purpose for coming today, Shen Jiacai didn’t want to waste time on pointless bickering. He waved a dismissive hand at her impatiently. “If you know, then why aren’t you going?”
Shen Yingying raised an eyebrow. “Alright, Third Brother wants water. Your little sister will pour it for you.”
With that, she stood up and walked toward the next room.
A moment later, she returned, carrying a thermos in one hand and a large sea bowl in the other.
“It would’ve been better if you’d just brought it honestly from the start, instead of asking for a scolding…” Shen Jiacai glared at her as she entered, reaching out to take it. When he saw the large sea bowl she was holding, he started cursing again. “Can’t you do anything right? Why bring such a big… Ouch!”
Before he could finish, Shen Yingying’s hand holding the bowl tilted.
Instantly, the sea bowl slipped from her grasp, and all the water inside poured onto Shen Jiacai’s hand.
Shen Jiacai let out a sharp cry, instantly retracting his hand and jumping up, clutching it between his legs.
Chen Qingqing beside him was stunned, leaning on her crutch as she frantically retreated to a corner of the room.
If she remembered correctly, the boiling water in Shen Yingying’s thermos had just been boiled by Shen Yingying that afternoon. Being scalded by water that hot would surely peel off a layer of skin!
Shen Yingying hastily took a few steps back. “Third Brother, my hand slipped. I’m so sorry!”
Shen Jiacai grimaced in pain. “Shen Yingying, I’ll f*ck your mother!”
Shen Yingying clutched the thermos, looking panicked and genuinely frightened, yet she still managed to remind him: “Sorry, Third Brother! But my mother is also your mother. You can’t say that—it’s immoral.”
Shen Jiacai howled in pain, nearly spitting blood from anger at her words.
Was she an idiot? Couldn’t she tell his words were just an expletive for venting? How could he possibly actually do that to his own mother?
Once the pain had eased slightly, Shen Jiacai tucked his scalded, burning hand under his armpit and snarled viciously:
“Shen Yingying, you’ve really crossed the line today! You did that on purpose, didn’t you? Scalding me and then talking back with that sarcastic tone!” As he cursed, he charged toward Shen Yingying with his uninjured hand raised. “I’ll beat you to death!”
“Ah! I’m so scared!”
Shen Yingying feigned terror with a shriek and turned to run outside.
Just as Shen Jiacai rushed out after her, Shen Yingying suddenly swung the thermos in her hand as if to splash him.
Still traumatized from the earlier scalding, Shen Jiacai saw her movement and dodged to the side in fright, roaring, “Shen Yingying, are you insane?!”
Shen Yingying stopped, widened her eyes, and waved the thermos at Shen Jiacai, showing him the mouth of the bottle with an innocent expression:
“Third Brother, I was just scaring you. The cork isn’t even pulled out.”
Shen Jiacai looked closely. Indeed, the cork was firmly in place.
He had been tricked.
Immediately, the fury in his heart burned even hotter, twisting his entire face with rage.
Just as he was about to charge at Shen Yingying again, he saw her hand “pop” the cork out.
“But now it’s pulled out.” She blinked. “Third Brother, don’t come any closer. I’m afraid I won’t be able to control myself.”
Shen Jiacai: “???”
Saying such things with an utterly harmless expression was even more infuriating than an angry threat.Shen Jiacai was seething with rage, wishing he could beat her to death, but seeing the thermos flask in her hand, he ultimately didn’t dare to move.
Finally, with no other choice, he once again played his trump card, Pan Yun, gritting his teeth as he said:
“Shen Yingying, if Mom finds out you treated me like this, you’re dead! Mom will definitely beat you to death! Put down the thermos flask, let go of it, and I won’t tell Mom about this.”
“No, I’m afraid you’ll hit me,” Shen Yingying held the thermos flask tightly, refusing to let go. “Besides, Third Brother, it’s not entirely my fault. You wanted water, so I poured it for you. If you had been a bit more careful, you wouldn’t have gotten scalded.”
She looked utterly innocent, as if she were the one who had been wronged.
Shen Jiacai was nearly driven to tears by anger.
He had never seen someone so shameless. He was the one who got hurt, so why was she acting like the victim?
“Who drinks boiling water in such hot weather?! Shen Yingying, are you out of your mind?!”
He couldn’t be bothered to argue with Shen Yingying any longer. Planting his hands on his hips, he pointed at her and said, “Stop with the nonsense. Put down the thermos flask now, and I’ll just slap you once. Then we’ll consider this matter settled!”
Shen Yingying replied firmly, “Absolutely not!”
Shen Jiacai clenched his teeth tightly, thinking to himself that it had only been a short while since he last saw her, so how had this girl become so disobedient?
In the past, if he had spoken like this, she would have obediently offered her face for him to slap.
She really needed to be taught a lesson.
If it were any other time, he would have beaten her until she cried for her mother.
But remembering the purpose of his visit today, he gritted his teeth in secret, deciding not to pursue the matter for now.
Taking a deep breath, he softened his tone. “Forget it. Who told you you’re my sister? I’ll let you off this time.”
“Actually, I didn’t come up here to cause trouble for you. We received the letter you wrote.”
“Mom was afraid you’d do something foolish, so she rushed me up here. Thankfully, you didn’t do anything stupid!”
“There are so many scammers these days. That man is just a fraud—there’s no way he could be a factory director. What kind of woman hasn’t a real factory director seen?”
“How could he possibly be interested in a country girl like you? If you ran off with him, the ‘landlord’s brat’ cash cow would be gone! By then, you wouldn’t even have time to cry!”
At first, Shen Yingying didn’t understand what he meant by “the letter.”
After recalling the original owner’s memories, she remembered that before eloping, the original owner had written a letter to her family.
In it, she mentioned that she had found a better man and was going to S City with him to live a good life.
She told them to pretend they knew nothing and come looking for her after some time.
By then, when they couldn’t find her, they could turn the tables on Xie Fangzhu, claiming that a perfectly good girl had disappeared because of him and demanding compensation.
Given Xie Fangzhu’s personality, he would obediently pay up, allowing them to make another profit.
In addition, the letter mentioned the 500 yuan she had swindled from Xie Fangzhu.
She said that once she arrived in S City, she would send the money back to Shen Jiacai to help with his betrothal gifts.
Shen Yingying thought that aside from checking whether she had run away, Shen Jiacai had likely also come to ask about the 500 yuan.
Sure enough, no sooner had this thought crossed her mind than Shen Jiacai brought up the 500 yuan.”Also, little sister, I saw in your letter that you mentioned you’ve already gotten hold of Xie Fangzhu’s 500 yuan. That’s a lot of money to keep on you—it’s not safe. If it gets lost, it would be a huge loss, and then Third Brother won’t be able to get married either. Give it to me, and I’ll buy the rest of the betrothal gifts myself. You just need to get me a television ticket, that way you won’t have to worry about it.”
Shen Yingying thought to herself, what does your marriage have to do with me?
But she didn’t show it on her face, instead saying with some difficulty, “But the money has already been taken back by Xie Fangzhu. If you want it, you’ll have to go ask him.”