A thunderous crash broke out!
Zhou Caixia is in love with Yu Yaozu.
Yu Zhaodi is in love with Zhou Xiangyang.
The surrounding neighbors erupted in murmurs and whispers rose on every side.
“That girl Caixia has no conscience at all. Zhaozhao has always been so good to her.”
“That is true. When she fell ill and needed a doctor, it was Zhaozhao who looked after her every time.”
“Alas. Yu Zhaodi and Yu Yaozu are utterly shameless. They have led Caixia astray.”
…
Yu Zhaodi’s face turned deathly pale. She stepped forward hurriedly to defend herself, her voice trembling. “Little Sister Zhaozhao, it is not what you think. You have misunderstood me.”
A moment earlier, the two had stood apart. Yu Zhaozhao had held back her anger and stayed her hand. Now, seeing Yu Zhaodi scrambling to twist the truth, her temper flamed beyond restraint.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Sharp, ringing slaps landed one after another without mercy upon Yu Zhaodi’s cheeks. Her face swelled red instantly.
“Zhaozhao!” Zhou Xiangyang called out at once.
Yu Zhaozhao pulled back her stinging palm and looked him straight in the eye. Her gaze was icy and commanding. “Xiangyang-ge, do you mean to shield her? Will you stand in my way?”
Yu Zhaodi shrank quickly behind Zhou Xiangyang.
Zhou Xiangyang stepped back twice to put distance between himself and Yu Zhaodi. He held out a wooden stick to Yu Zhaozhao. “I would not have your hand ache. Use this instead.”
He burned with indignation too. His good name had been ruined, yet he would never strike a woman.
Yu Zhaodi stared at Zhou Xiangyang in disbelief. They had shared the same bed. How could he treat her so cruelly?
Yu Zhaozhao accepted the stick, but instead of striking, she drove her foot hard into Yu Zhaodi’s stomach.
“Ahh!”
Yu Zhaodi collapsed onto the ground screaming. No one stepped forward to stop Yu Zhaozhao in her fury. No one had imagined either that Zhaozhao, slight and delicate in appearance, could strike with such ferocity.
“Yu Zhaozhao! How dare you strike my sister!”
Yu Yaozu lunged at her. Yu Zhaozhao swung the stick and beat him soundly.
“Do not hurt Brother Yaozu!” Zhou Caixia cried, her heart aching to see the one she loved beaten.
Yu Zhaozhao spared no mercy. She laid into Zhou Caixia as well.
“Stop this at once! Everyone stand down!”
The crowd parted to make way.
The Women’s Affairs Director stepped forward to halt the chaos. Her face grave, she asked. “What has happened here?”
“Director.”
Yu Zhaozhao gave Yu Zhaodi and the others no chance to speak. Her eyes reddened with hurt and grievance, she told the whole story clearly and fully.
Meanwhile, a busybody woman had already run to the Yu family home. She came rushing back screaming at the top of her voice.
“Ahh! Wen Huazhi is with a man!”
A murmur swept through the crowd like a rushing tide. The news was so sensational that all the women and aunties of the courtyard surged toward the Yu household at once.
Yu Zhaodi and Yu Yaozu paled. Forgetting all else, they raced for home as fast as they could run.
Before the eyes of the whole neighborhood.
The entire courtyard erupted once more in shock and uproar.
Wen Huazhi had been found in bed with Wang Baogen.
At first she had resisted, but soon she had yielded completely.
Outside the door, onlookers stared with eyes wide and gleaming. This was more scandalous than anyone had imagined.
Wen Huazhi, older by far, had taken a young lover. And how wildly they had behaved.
For the moment, the affair between Zhou Xiangyang and Yu Zhaodi was entirely forgotten. Neighbors whispered among themselves, gesturing with their hands.
“Should we not separate them?”
“They are locked in each other’s arms so tightly, how could anyone part them?”
“Wang Baogen is so ugly. How could she ever bring herself to kiss him?”
“How utterly useless must Yu Jianshe be for his wife to take up with Wang Baogen like this?”
The onlookers watched with sparkling eyes and keen interest, clicking their tongues in disapproval.
“Stand aside!”
Yu Zhaodi and Yu Yaozu were frantic. They tried to push through the crowd, but how could they make their way past aunties and neighbors greedy for every detail of the gossip?
The Women’s Affairs Director, her face dark with anger, sent messengers to summon Zhou Xiangyang’s father, Yu Jianshe, and the leaders of the Street Office, the Machinery Factory, and the Textile Factory.
This was no longer a petty quarrel. It was a public scandal of the gravest concern to the whole neighborhood and all three work units.
Zhou Xiangyang’s father and Yu Jianshe hurried back from work, their hearts pounding with dread. They had already learned of the affair between Zhou Xiangyang and Yu Zhaodi and wore heavy, troubled expressions. Reaching the courtyard, they found the Yu home thronged from within to without. Neighbors stood huddled by the doorway, whispering in hushed, excited tones, their faces lit with scorn and fascination.
Zhou Xiangyang’s father and Yu Jianshe were bewildered. The messenger had said the trouble was at the Zhou home. Why was everyone gathered here instead? Could it be that Zhou Xiangyang had come to the Yu family after all?
Before Zhou Xiangyang’s father could reason further, he caught sight of his own son. Striding swiftly forward, Yu Jianshe too saw the young people. Before he could speak, a neighbor spotted their return and called out loudly.
“Old Yu is back! Old Yu is here! Make way everyone! Make way! Let Old Yu pass!”
Several voices took up the cry and pulled Yu Jianshe through the crowd. The onlookers were even more eager now that the husband had arrived.
Not even the Women’s Affairs Director could force her way to the scene, let alone restore order.
Inside the room.
Bodies lay bare and pale, faces flushed and expressions rapturous beyond all measure.
Yu Jianshe’s eyes bulged in horror. His face flooded dark red and the veins stood out on his neck as he roared in a voice of thunder. “You! You shameless woman! You beasts!”
Yu Zhaodi and Yu Yaozu stood stunned, their minds reeling. How could this have happened?
Yu Jianshe lunged forward and began beating the pair furiously.
“Ahh! Jianshe, stop!” Wen Huazhi started awake from her daze. She stared in terror at Yu Jianshe and the crowd filling the doorway. She shoved Wang Baogen away violently. Taken unawares, Wang Baogen fell backward and struck his head hard against the floor.
Beside himself with rage, Yu Jianshe began kicking and striking Wang Baogen without restraint.
“Jianshe, do not kill him! You will kill him!” Wen Huazhi threw her arms around Yu Jianshe to hold him back. She truly feared Wang Baogen might die and that the Wang family would hold them to account.
Her intervention only stoked Yu Jianshe’s fury to bursting. He turned his rage upon Wen Huazhi and beat her savagely.
Neighbors rushed forward to pull them apart. It was Zhou Xiangyang’s father who first noticed blood trickling from the back of Wang Baogen’s head.
“Jianshe! The boy’s head is bleeding! We must get him help at once!”
A cry of alarm went up. “Quickly! Carry him to the hospital! Before it is too late!”
In an instant, all thought of watching the scandal was forgotten. The door panel was wrenched from its hinges. Wang Baogen was lifted onto a tricycle and rushed to the clinic.
“Divorce!” Yu Jianshe’s face was black with rage as he seized Wen Huazhi by the arm and dragged her away. “We are going to get a divorce!”
“Jianshe, no! I will not! We have Yaozu! Think of our son!” Wen Huazhi begged him tearfully.
“Would you have me live as a cuckold?” Yu Jianshe roared, his voice shaking with wrath. “Wen Huazhi, you shameless woman! What devilish courage possessed you to shame me so before the whole world?”
He burned with humiliation and fury. To think that all the neighbors had seen this disgrace. Not only the courtyard but both factories and the entire district would know before nightfall. How could he ever show his face again? He could have strangled her with his bare hands.
Yu Zhaodi and Yu Yaozu stood paralyzed, not knowing what to say or do.
Then Wen Huazhi caught sight of Yu Zhaozhao. Her eyes blazed bloodshot red. Contorted with hatred, she lunged forward screaming. “You little whore!”
Bang!
Yu Zhaozhao pulled Yu Yaozu sharply into her path to shield herself. With a wet, guttural sound, Yu Yaozu spewed a mouthful of blood all over Wen Huazhi’s face.
“Ahh! Yaozu! My son!” Wen Huazhi shrieked in horror. She reached out to cradle him, but Yu Jianshe was quicker. He rushed forward and caught his son in his arms.
“Yaozu, my boy! Do not leave your father!” Yu Jianshe cried out in terror. Blind with rage, he swung his arm and struck out wildly at Yu Zhaozhao.
Yu Zhaozhao seized Yu Zhaodi and pulled her forward instead.
The heavy blow landed squarely across Yu Zhaodi’s cheek.
A searing, blinding pain burst across half her face. Her head rang and spun. The world seemed to tilt and reel around her. She could not even speak for the shock, the anger, the bitterness and hatred surging through her.