The stroke of deep red on the bedsheets reminded him that last night was not a dream!
Panic-stricken, he scrambled to his feet and put on his clothes. Just then, he caught sight of a ten-yuan bill lying on the table. He reached out and picked it up. Upon reading the words written on it, his face instantly turned dead pale.
……
Meanwhile, Mu Zhaozhao had already returned to her own room and knocked out the sleeping, unfamiliar man. She stared speechlessly at the small-eyed, pig-nosed stranger before her. Where did he get the confidence to come and harm her? He’s so ugly it should be a crime!
Having dealt with the man, she hid behind the main door of the guesthouse.
She remembered from the novel that after setting her up, Ding Jihuan had come ahead of time to check whether the plan was a success. If it was, Ding Jihuan would fetch Yue Xianzhi and the neighbors from the military compound to witness the scene, completely destroying Mu Zhaozhao’s reputation so she could never recover.
Since it wasn’t fully daylight yet, hiding here was bound to trap Ding Jihuan.
Sure enough, a moment later, Ding Jihuan’s sneaky figure appeared at the entrance of the military guesthouse. She walked straight to the door of Mu Zhaozhao’s room and softly twisted the doorknob.
The door wasn’t locked! A look of triumph flashed across Ding Jihuan’s face.
It seemed Nanmen Qing had succeeded in sleeping with Mu Zhaozhao; they had agreed that he would leave the door unlocked for her if he succeeded.
Ding Jihuan eased her footsteps as she walked inside, seeing the messy blanket on the bed with someone hidden underneath. A satisfied smile curved up her lips. Just as she was about to turn and leave, a sudden, excruciating pain struck the back of her neck. Her mind went completely blank, and she instantly lost consciousness.
Mu Zhaozhao clapped her hands clean, then placed her hands on her hips and muttered, “You shameless mistress, coming up with such a vicious plot to frame me. This time, you can reap what you sowed!”
After taking care of the two, Mu Zhaozhao casually strolled back toward the military family compound.
Suddenly, a chubby boy with a grease-smeared face dashed out from the roadside. Wiping his runny nose, he yelled, “You bad woman, where did you hide my mom? She said she was going to look for you! You’re back, so where is she?”
Seeing the boy, Mu Zhaozhao realized he must be the mistress’s six-year-old spoiled son. A sharp glint immediately flickered through her eyes. Feigning anxiety, she said, “Xiao Hu! Thank goodness I found you! Your mother fainted in Room 438 at the guesthouse! Go quickly and tell Yue Xianzhi, and don’t forget to call as many neighbors from the compound as you can to help!”
Lu Xiaohu was the child of Ding Jihuan and her late husband, spoiled by Ding Jihuan into having zero manners. Upon hearing that his mother had fainted, he burst into tears. “You bad woman! You’re the one who made my mom faint! I’m going to call people right now, and we’re going to get you, too!”
With that, he turned around and ran off, wiping his tears as he shouted for people to help.
Mu Zhaozhao crossed her arms, a tantalizing smile gracing the corners of her lips. She had been wondering how to expose Ding Jihuan’s illicit affairs without drawing suspicion to herself, but then little Lu Xiaohu fell right into her lap—a effortless victory.
Now, the real show begins!
Mu Zhaozhao returned to the guesthouse to wait. Sure enough, within minutes, Yue Xianzhi arrived in a rush. His brows were tightly knit, his expression filled with anxiety; clearly, this mistress held a very important place in his heart.
Behind him followed more than a dozen neighbors from the family compound, both men and women. People in this era were warm-hearted, and upon hearing that Ding Jihuan had fainted, they all rushed over to lend a hand.
Following Lu Xiaohu’s directions, Yue Xianzhi stormed straight to Room 438. Seeing the door unlocked, he slammed it open. The moment he laid eyes on the scene inside, his eyes rolled back, nearly passing out on the spot.
“Ahhh~”
Just then, Ding Jihuan regained consciousness. Finding herself stark naked in bed with Nanmen Qing, she let out a blood-curdling shriek. Her sharp scream echoed through the entire hallway.
Perplexed, the neighbors behind pushed their way into the room to help, only to end up witnessing the scene with wide-open eyes. The expressions on their faces shifted wildly in an instant.
Mu Zhaozhao stood calmly at the back of the crowd, a cunning arch touching her lips.
In a panic, Ding Jihuan turned her head. The first thing she saw was Yue Xianzhi’s furious face, followed by the probing gazes of the neighbors. Terrified, she began screaming wildly.
“Ah~ Xianzhi, it’s not what it looks like! Listen to me, let me explain…”
“The facts are right in front of us, what else do you have to say?!” Yue Xianzhi’s chest heaved violently with rage, his face brimming with utter disappointment. He never expected the woman he so carefully cherished to be so unchaste and lacking self-respect.
Ding Jihuan pleaded frantically, “It was Mu Zhaozhao! She framed me! I don’t even know this man!”
“Ding Jihuan?” Just as she finished her sentence, the man beside her groggily woke up. Seeing her sitting by the edge of the bed, he called her name in confusion to ask what was going on.
Hearing this, everyone present widened their eyes, squinted, and pursed their lips—their faces practically screaming that they were witnessing prime gossip.
She just said she didn’t know him, and the very next second he intimately called her by name? Talk about a lightning-fast reality check!
Yue Xianzhi’s face instantly turned dark green. Gritting his teeth, he said, “He can even call you by your name, and you still tell me you don’t know him?!”
“No, Xianzhi, Nanmen Qing came looking for Mu Zhaozhao… The one lying in bed with him was supposed to be her! I don’t know why it ended up being me… I… I…” Overwhelmed by panic, nervousness, and urgency, Ding Jihuan became incoherently frantic.
“Oh my, what’s all the commotion about? Let me take a look!”
Mu Zhaozhao’s lighthearted voice rang out as she squeezed through the crowd into the room.
Seeing the scene inside, she instantly put on an exaggerated expression of remorse. “My, oh my! Ding, you mistress, what on earth are you doing? Stealing a man in broad daylight for everyone to see? Being a mistress wasn’t enough for you, so you had to go hunting for wild game outside? Is your brain a watermelon? What on earth were you thinking? It’s truly mind-boggling!”
“Mu Zhaozhao! Shut up! You framed me! This was clearly your room, the person lying in bed with Nanmen Qing was supposed to be you! Not me!” Furious, Ding Jihuan yelled at Mu Zhaozhao while pointing her finger at her.
Yue Xianzhi shifted his sharp, probing gaze toward Mu Zhaozhao.
Mu Zhaozhao remained unfazed, putting on a wronged facade. “Ding, you mistress, you’ve been caught red-handed in bed, yet you still dare to blame me! Wasn’t it you who used Yue Xianzhi to threaten me yesterday, insisting on borrowing my room for the night, or else you’d force us to get a divorce? I’m so simple-minded, how could I have known you wanted my room just to hook up with a wild man?”
“You’re spewing utter nonsense! Yesterday, it was clearly you who was going to… with Ximen Qing… that drug…” Midway through her screech, Ding Jihuan almost blurted out the truth. She caught herself just in time and stopped abruptly, looking anxiously at Yue Xianzhi. “Xianzhi, it really wasn’t me! I didn’t do anything! Please believe me!”
Mu Zhaozhao’s expression turned solemn. “Ding, you mistress, why are you still making excuses? The man behind you can call out your name, and you can call out his! The situation speaks for itself, yet you’re still dumping the blame on me. Are you picking on me just because you think I’m simple-minded and easy to bully?”
Hearing this, the onlookers’ expressions grew even more dramatic.
From the looks of it, they seemed to finally understand a bit of what was happening. Weren’t Yue Xianzhi and Ding Jihuan a couple?
In the past, their impression of Ding Jihuan had been extremely positive; she knew how to navigate social interactions. Since moving to the military compound two years ago, she had been living and eating alongside Yue Xianzhi and his child, leading everyone to assume they were husband and wife.
Ding Jihuan was always friendly in the compound, often visiting and bringing gifts, so everyone quite liked her.
Just yesterday, they had heard a rumor that a stunning woman had arrived at the compound, claiming to be Yue Xianzhi’s wife from Shanghai. As soon as she arrived, she started throwing tantrums—not only fighting with Ding Jihuan, but also taking her anger out on the neighbors, picking fights with whoever she saw. Naturally, no one held a good opinion of Mu Zhaozhao.
Looking at the situation today, however, it seemed the truth was entirely different.