Feng Mingshu initially didn’t understand why Wang Sujuan had suddenly come to her door until she heard Yu Xiuchun’s abusive remarks. She then recalled seeing Zhang Yunxiao outside the neighborhood committee that morning and roughly guessed he had done something again, bringing this unwarranted trouble upon her. An involuntary wave of annoyance rose in her heart.
Ignoring Yu Xiuchun’s shouts, she directly addressed Wang Sujuan: “Your son and I are merely ordinary classmates. Whether he goes to the countryside or not has nothing to do with me. If you want to discipline your son, do it at home. Don’t come to someone else’s door and make a nuisance of yourself.”
Wang Sujuan seemed unprepared for such blunt words, her face instantly darkening as she dropped her composed demeanor: “If you hadn’t instigated him, would my son have suddenly decided to become an educated youth in the countryside?”
“Mom, what are you doing here?”
At that moment, Zhang Yunxiao rushed over and pulled his mother back, but didn’t dare look at Feng Mingshu.
Seeing her son’s spineless appearance, Wang Sujuan grew even angrier: “If I hadn’t come, how would I know what kind of person is seducing my son?”
“Mom, don’t talk nonsense—”
“Zhang Yunxiao, you came just in time,” Feng Mingshu interrupted the arguing mother and son, her voice cold with utter annoyance. “Please make it clear in front of everyone: besides being classmates, do we have any other relationship?”
Hearing this, Zhang Yunxiao felt a pang in his chest. He looked up at her, his voice hoarse: “No, there’s no other relationship… just classmates.”
He uttered the last words with difficulty, as if concealing sorrow, but Feng Mingshu remained indifferent. She gave a cold nod and raised her hand to close the door.
Just then, Yu Xiuchun jumped forward shouting: “Impossible! My daughter followed you today and saw with her own eyes how you chased after Feng Mingshu into the neighborhood committee! You were going to sign the volunteer form to go to the countryside with her! If my daughter hadn’t stopped you, it would have happened!”
Upon hearing this, Wang Sujuan’s face turned frighteningly dark. The gathered neighbors buzzed with discussion—they had all heard about the morning commotion at the neighborhood committee.
Feng Mingshu ignored the noisy chatter and fixed her gaze on Zhang Yunxiao: “Did I say a single word to you this morning?”
“No.” Zhang Yunxiao shook his head.
Feng Mingshu: “Did I tell you to go to the neighborhood committee?”
Zhang Yunxiao: “No.”
Feng Mingshu: “Then what does your decision to go to the countryside have to do with me?”
But this time, Zhang Yunxiao didn’t deny it as before. He just stared at her obsessively, his eyes slightly red.
A sense of foreboding rose in Feng Mingshu’s heart, but before she could think of a solution, Yu Xiuchun jumped out again.
“Look, look! Still saying there’s nothing between you? Now you’ve revealed your true colors!”
Yu Xiuchun wore a triumphant expression as she continued provoking the gloomy-faced Wang Sujuan: “Director Wang, I told you earlier this girl is no simple character. Just like her mother, she’s skilled at seducing men… Ah! You wretched girl, how dare you hit me!”
Caught off guard, Yu Xiuchun took a slap to the face and screamed as she lunged at Feng Mingshu.
Feng Mingshu sidestepped nimbly and accurately kicked Yu Xiuchun’s knee, sending her sprawling solidly before the courtyard gate. Looking down at her, Feng Mingshu declared: “If you dare slander my mother again, I’ll beat your face to a pulp!”
Having experienced the harshness of the world in her previous life and endured fifteen years of labor on a farm, she was no longer the delicate young miss who would stammer and blush during arguments. She had also learned how to fight.Perhaps the contrast was too stark. Her successive actions left the neighbors, along with the Zhang mother and son, momentarily stunned and unable to react.
Only the tall man who had arrived at the back of the crowd brightened up and quickened his pace.
“You bitch, I’ll fight you!” Yu Xiuchun, having suffered a great loss, screamed as she jumped up and lunged viciously at Feng Mingshu.
But this time, before Feng Mingshu could act, the man arrived, clamped onto Yu Xiuchun’s arm, and with a pull and a push, sent her stumbling backward toward Wang Sujuan.
“Mom, watch out!”
Zhang Yunxiao cried out in alarm, pulling Wang Sujuan aside just in time. The mother and son staggered slightly.
With no one to block her, Yu Xiuchun fell flat on her backside with a thud, howling in pain, “A soldier is hitting people! Everyone, come and see!”
The man had appeared too quickly and acted too fast. It was only upon hearing Yu Xiuchun’s wails that the crowd reacted, turning to look at his military cotton coat and the one-star, two-bar insignia on his shoulders. They exchanged uneasy glances.
After a moment of surprise, Feng Mingshu also looked over. Under the streetlight, she recognized the man with the sharply defined features as the very ruffian she had initially worried might show up. But now that he had actually appeared and intercepted Yu Xiuchun for her, her feelings became complicated.
Noticing her gaze, Zhou Jinshan curled the corner of his mouth into a slight smile, giving her a reassuring look before turning away with a stern expression. He strode forward and helped Yu Xiuchun up, saying, “Comrade, I only pushed you to prevent you from harming someone. I didn’t expect no one to catch you from behind—that was my misjudgment. My apologies.”
His words were reasonable and well-grounded, and his apology seemed sincere. The onlookers immediately expressed understanding and, following his lead, shifted their attention to Wang Sujuan and Zhang Yunxiao.
Zhang Yunxiao flushed red under their gazes, stammering and unable to explain.
Wang Sujuan, however, scowled darkly. She saw no obligation to catch Yu Xiuchun—a woman who had encouraged her daughter to covet her son. She would have been happier if Yu Xiuchun had fallen even harder.
Of course, as someone who valued propriety, she couldn’t say such things aloud. She could only glare darkly at the man who had suddenly appeared and disrupted the situation.
“What do you mean, I was harming someone? Didn’t you see that little bitch hit me first? I think you’ve been seduced by her and are taking her side! I’ll scratch your eyes out, you filthy man!” Yu Xiuchun shrieked, lunging at Zhou Jinshan again, clawing and scratching like a true shrew.
Feng Mingshu frowned and was about to step forward when she saw Zhou Jinshan raise his hand and clamp down on Yu Xiuchun’s scratching fingers. As the latter cried out in pain, he coldly warned, “Comrade, you are a civilian. I can let it slide if you attack me, but watch your language. Comrade Feng Mingshu is the woman I’m courting. I won’t allow anyone to slander her character or tarnish her reputation!”
The words “the woman I’m courting” buzzed in Feng Mingshu’s ears. She stared in disbelief at the man who was spewing such nonsense with a straight face.
The surroundings erupted into noisy chatter as people gossiped about when the Feng girl had started courting a military officer. Weren’t she and the Zhang boy just entangled moments ago? His mother had even come looking for her.
Zhou Jinshan ignored the idle talk. After warning Yu Xiuchun, he turned to Feng Mingshu and gave her a look asking her to play along for now.
Feng Mingshu was furious but knew it wasn’t the right time to deny it. She could only swallow her anger, her eyes reddening from the effort.Yu Jingqiu emerged from the courtyard, patted her daughter’s hand with a pained expression, then gave Zhou Jinshan a slight nod before saying, “Let her go. You’re a soldier—it’s unbecoming for you to scuffle with a shrew.”
The “shrew” naturally referred to Yu Xiuchun, Yu Jingqiu’s tone remaining light and detached.
Zhou Jinshan immediately complied and released his grip: “As you wish, Aunt.”
He took a half-step back but maintained a protective stance.