Ye Sheng was annoyed—how could she have forgotten to bring money just now? While she was agonizing over whether to go back and get it, she noticed a commotion not far ahead.
The sense of justice and gossip gene in her body made Ye Sheng hesitate for only three seconds before she couldn’t help but stride toward the crowd.
Pushing through the crowd, she was surprised to find Beibei standing in the middle. Three children around seven or eight years old were holding horsewhips and sticks, circling around Beibei like they were taunting a bull, shouting as they went: “Little idiot, come catch us! If you catch us, we’ll give you this candy.”
Only then did Ye Sheng notice that a piece of fruit candy was tied to the tip of the whip, dangling and swinging in front of Beibei like they were teasing a little animal. Beibei stood in place, expressionless, staring straight ahead, and there was no sign of Zhu Hong anywhere.
Among the surrounding adults, a few merely voiced verbal warnings for the older kids not to hurt Beibei, but no one stepped forward to stop them, as if they didn’t realize at all that teasing a child this way was humiliating and wrong!
Ye Sheng’s face turned cold as she walked over, snatched the horsewhip from the boy’s hand, and bent down to scoop Beibei up with one arm: “You’re this old, and you’re bullying a little kid—aren’t you ashamed of yourselves?”
She then glared at the other two children: “Where are your parents? Is this how you bully people? If you dare do this again, I’ll whip you with this horsewhip.”
The idle adults who had been watching the spectacle felt Ye Sheng was making a mountain out of a molehill: “They’re just kids playing around, no need to be so serious.”
“Exactly, they’re all boys. What’s wrong with a little teasing and a scuffle? Boys need to have some spirit!”
Holding Beibei with one arm and the horsewhip in the other, Ye Sheng turned to face the two men who had spoken: “Is that just ordinary teasing? Is that normal play between children? Can’t you see they’re mocking this child like he’s a little animal? Why don’t you try it? What’s it like to have a candy dangling on a whip swinging in front of your face?”
The men’s faces flushed red at Ye Sheng’s retort, but with so many people around, they couldn’t bring themselves to lose their temper. They rubbed their noses and pushed their companions away as they left.
The other onlookers had just wanted to watch some excitement to pass the idle time between farming seasons. Seeing Ye Sheng lose her temper, they quietly dispersed, thinking to themselves that this woman was probably the child’s parent.
In their eyes, kids fighting was no big deal—they even liked to egg on two children to fight for fun sometimes.
Seeing that most people had left, Ye Sheng glared at the three little boys again: “If you ever bully a little kid like this again, I’ll definitely whip you. Do you hear me?”
The three children were frightened by Ye Sheng. The boy whose whip had been taken didn’t even dare to ask for it back—he turned and ran. The other two, seeing their ringleader flee, scurried off after him in a flash.
Ye Sheng watched until the three boys had disappeared from sight, then looked down at Beibei in her arms. Beibei was still lost in his own world, as if what had just happened had nothing to do with him, his two little hands twisting his fingers together.
“Where’s your mom?”
Ye Sheng knew she wouldn’t get an answer, but she couldn’t help asking anyway.
Unsurprisingly, Beibei continued twisting his fingers and ignored her.
Ye Sheng carried Beibei and looked around, but there was still no sign of Zhu Hong. She couldn’t help muttering to herself—she’d just stormed off angrily from Wang Ying’s house, and now she’d dumped her child here and gone off somewhere to sulk?
After thinking it over, she decided to take the child back to the family compound first. As for Zhu Hong, she was a grown woman—let her see if she had the nerve to come back.
She hadn’t taken two steps with Beibei in her arms when she heard someone shout in alarm: “Someone’s about to jump off the Supply and Marketing Cooperative building!”
Ye Sheng turned to look. There were only a few two-story buildings in the center of the street, and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative was the tallest. Standing on the rooftop was a woman in a floral dress—who else could it be but Zhu Hong?
It was just after the wheat harvest, so there were plenty of idle people on the streets. In an instant, the area in front of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative was packed with onlookers.
Ye Sheng truly couldn’t understand how Zhu Hong’s mind worked. She was threatening to die because Zhou Yanshen wouldn’t give her the time of day—and she didn’t even care about her own son? After a moment’s thought, she still carried Beibei over.
Zhu Hong stood on the rooftop, coldly watching the people below urge her to think things through and not jump. Some were frantically shouting for someone to bring quilts to catch her.
Someone called out: “Miss, don’t do anything rash! Come down first, and we can talk about whatever it is.”
Only when Zhu Hong saw that enough of a crowd had gathered did she speak coldly: “Tell Zhou Yanshen from Ba Tuan to come here! If he won’t come to see me, I’ll jump from right here!”
Someone hurried off to deliver the message.
Ye Sheng stood in the crowd holding Beibei, still unable to figure out what was going on in Zhu Hong’s head. Did she really think crying, throwing tantrums, and threatening suicide would make a man like her? Want to be with her?
From what little she’d learned about Zhou Yanshen in just one day, that man definitely wasn’t the type to fall for this kind of thing.
Wang Ying heard the news and came running frantically with Wu Xianglan, shouting up at Zhu Hong: “Zhu Hong! Don’t do anything stupid! Get down from there right now! If something happens to you, what about Beibei?”
Zhu Hong’s face was stubborn: “Beibei, Beibei! It’s because of him that my whole life is ruined. Tell Zhou Yanshen to come! If he doesn’t, I’ll make him regret this for the rest of his life.”
Wang Ying was angry but didn’t dare say anything harsh, afraid of provoking Zhu Hong further: “Don’t talk nonsense. Come down first, and we can discuss anything at home. I’ll call Zhou Yanshen over to my place, and the two of you can sit down and talk properly. Look at all these people watching—it’s so embarrassing.”
Zhu Hong refused: “He’s already sending me back. What do I have to be embarrassed about?”
Wu Xianglan said urgently: “Zhu Hong, why are you so stubborn? Zhou Yanshen telling you to take Beibei back to the provincial capital is for your own good and Beibei’s. Look at what a beautiful child Beibei is—can you bear to let him grow up like this?”
Zhu Hong said dismissively: “I never wanted to have him in the first place. You’re the ones who made me keep this child, and look what happened? He ruined my life.”
Wang Ying was so angry her head spun. She turned and saw Ye Sheng standing nearby with Beibei in her arms, and hurried over: “Ye Sheng, you’re here too?”
In her previous life, Ye Sheng had been abandoned by her parents, so she hated irresponsible parents more than anything. Now, provoked by Zhu Hong’s words, she shoved Beibei into Wang Ying’s arms: “Zhu Hong! If you’ve got the guts, jump! Jump right now!”
“Who are you putting on this dying act for? Jump now!”
“But before you jump, let me give you a piece of advice! This building isn’t tall enough to kill you—but you’ll end up crippled and disfigured. If you jump headfirst, your skirt will fly up, and you’ll be a laughingstock.”
“If you end up crippled and ugly, Zhou Yanshen will want even less to do with you.”
“You really should take a good look at yourself in the mirror. Is it worth it for a man? Has the world run out of men, that you’d stoop so low as to throw away your own life? A woman like you who doesn’t even want her own child—go on, jump already. We’ve seen enough of the spectacle, and we still need to get back early to make lunch!”