Zhu Hong was stunned by Ye Sheng’s scolding, and also frightened by her words. She glanced down—if she really jumped and ended up crippled or disfigured, what would she do then?
Wang Ying was worried and moved closer to Ye Sheng, whispering, “If you provoke her like this, what if she actually jumps?”
Ye Sheng snorted coldly: “Does she dare? If she really wanted to jump off a building, she should go to the water tower—that’s tall enough. This rooftop isn’t even high enough to kill her! Throwing away her life for a man—how stupid can she be? She really needs to get her head examined!”
She was so caught up in speaking her mind that she didn’t notice Zhou Yanshen had arrived behind her at some point, arms crossed as he watched Ye Sheng coldly, listening to her crisp voice laced with anger.
When she met him for the arranged marriage, she’d played the delicate, sweet role—was that all an act?
He also recalled what his mother had said when he called her earlier to ask for Ye Sheng’s household registration booklet: “Ye Sheng has gone to find you, hasn’t she? You must keep her there with you. There’s been quite a bit of gossip about her on our side—she’s been making eyes at that pretty boy in the Art Troupe every day. If you keep her at home, she’ll put a green hat on you sooner or later, and when you divorce, it’ll be you who looks foolish.”
Wang Ying agreed with Ye Sheng: “Let’s hope nothing happens. Otherwise, poor Beibei—she’s already lost her father. She can’t lose her mother too.”
Ye Sheng snorted coldly: “A mother this irresponsible is better off gone. The psychological damage she’d cause the child would be even worse.”
On the rooftop, Zhu Hong spotted Zhou Yanshen first and suddenly burst into tears: “Third Brother, are you really sending me back?”
Ye Sheng was startled by the cry of “Third Brother” and turned around to see Zhou Yanshen standing behind her—less than half a meter away. She had no idea when he’d arrived.
Wang Ying also just noticed Zhou Yanshen nearby: “When did you get here? God, you should really talk some sense into Zhu Hong, or call her family to come pick her up. Her mental state isn’t right.”
Zhou Yanshen reached out and took Beibei into his arms: “It’s fine. I’ll handle this.”
Then he glanced at Ye Sheng: “Did you buy the clothes?”
Ye Sheng thought to herself, you really have nerves of steel, old man—you can still remember whether I bought clothes at a time like this. She replied with a composed expression: “No, I forgot to bring money.”
And she’d been busy too—busy saving the child, busy scolding Zhu Hong.
Zhou Yanshen’s brow twitched. He swept his gaze over Ye Sheng—she really had nowhere on her person to carry money. “Let’s go. We’ll buy them now.”
With that, he strode forward holding Beibei, not even glancing at Zhu Hong still standing on the rooftop.
Ye Sheng felt a bit of sympathy for this Zhu Hong. The man wouldn’t even give you a hint of affection, and you’re throwing yourself into a life-or-death drama while he can’t even be bothered to look at you. How could she still be so brainless, making a scene up there?
She muttered inwardly as she hurried after Zhou Yanshen toward Yaya Clothing Store.
Seeing that Zhou Yanshen was completely ignoring her and had left with Ye Sheng, Zhu Hong screamed in anguish: “Third Brother, Third Brother…”
Wu Xianglan frowned and whispered to Wang Ying: “What is Zhu Hong trying to do? Does she not want to live in the family compound anymore?”
Wang Ying was also quite angry: “Isn’t she just relying on her brother being someone important, and on Changjiang’s sacrifice, to throw these tantrums and make all this fuss?”
……
Ye Sheng and Zhou Yanshen arrived at the entrance of Yaya Clothing Store before she suddenly remembered that she still needed to buy underwear, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for Zhou Yanshen to follow her inside. She stopped and turned to look at Zhou Yanshen: “You can lend me the money first, I’ll just go in and buy it myself. I’ll pay you back when I have money later.”
Zhou Yanshen glanced at Ye Sheng, holding the child with one arm while pulling out his wallet from his pocket with the other. Without even looking, he tossed it directly to Ye Sheng: “Go back by yourself after you’re done. You know the way, right?”
Ye Sheng caught the wallet in a fluster: “I know it. It’s about seven or eight hundred meters east from here.”
Zhou Yanshen nodded and walked away with the child, looking quite carefree.
Ye Sheng didn’t snap out of it until he had walked far away. Zhou Yanshen had actually given her his wallet—that was way too much trust in her.
She didn’t dare to flatter herself into misunderstanding that Zhou Yanshen had feelings for her, or for the original owner of this body.
She pushed open the door and entered the clothing store. The clothes hanging inside weren’t particularly fashionable or pretty, but they weren’t tacky or ugly either. She bought two sets of underwear, two pairs of the most popular leotards at the time, one white bat-wing sleeved blouse, and one lake-green blouse with streamers—a total of one hundred and fifty yuan.
Thanks to her impressive eloquence, Ye Sheng haggled with the owner and managed to bring the price down to one hundred and ten yuan.
The owner folded the clothes while muttering: “You drive a really hard bargain. I’m selling these at a loss, just hoping for a good start to the morning.”
Ye Sheng pretended not to hear, opening Zhou Yanshen’s wallet. It was neat and clean inside, with no photos of any girl, and not much money—around two hundred or so.
The owner took the money and asked Ye Sheng curiously: “I haven’t seen you before. Are you a family member from Ba Tuan? I know quite a few people in Ba Tuan. Whose wife are you?”
Ye Sheng smiled: “None of them. I’m just here visiting relatives.”
Carrying her clothes out of the store, she looked at the dusty street and thought to herself that she still needed to figure out a way to make money.
She had already spent quite a bit of Zhou Yanshen’s money. She couldn’t keep talking about divorce while spending his money without a care—that would seem pretty shameless.
But how could she make money?
Ye Sheng looked at the desolate street. Doing business probably wouldn’t work—there were barely any people around. She could only do some small business that would barely support her. Making a fortune would be quite difficult.
She walked and pondered, and before she knew it, she had reached the main gate.
She happened to run into Wang Ying and Wu Xianglan at the gate.
Wang Ying was quite surprised to see Ye Sheng: “Didn’t you two go back a long time ago?”
Ye Sheng held up her bag: “I just went to buy a couple of clothes.”
Wang Ying didn’t ask further. As they walked through the gate together, she sighed: “This Zhu Hong is really too much. When I get back, I’m going to tell Old Song about this. We can’t let her keep going on like this, or someone’s going to end up dead sooner or later.”
Wu Xianglan agreed: “And it’s embarrassing too. What will outsiders think? They’ll think our family compound is a mess.”
Wang Ying frowned: “I never realized Zhu Hong was this kind of person before. Tell me, if Zhou Yanshen really liked her, would he have watched her marry Wang Changjiang? With Zhou Yanshen’s personality—he can’t stand even a speck of sand in his eyes—how could he watch the girl he liked marry someone else, especially when that someone was his own brother?”
Hearing there was gossip, Ye Sheng slowed her breathing, afraid of missing even a single detail.
Wu Xianglan nodded: “Exactly, someone like Zhu Hong—only Wang Changjiang treated her like a treasure. And now that he’s been gone for less than a year, she’s already starting to act up. She doesn’t even think about it—she’s a widow now. What could Zhou Yanshen possibly see in her?”
Wang Ying was quite annoyed: “She’s just too full of herself.”
Wu Xianglan snorted disdainfully: “And she used to compare herself to Xiao Ying. What does she have to compare with Xiao Ying?”
Wang Ying suddenly realized Ye Sheng was right there, so she quickly nudged Wu Xianglan: “What nonsense are you talking about?”
Then she hurriedly said to Ye Sheng: “Don’t get the wrong idea—Zhou Yanshen has never been in a relationship before!”