“He is my fiancé Su Jincheng, and she is my neighbor Cai Xiaolan.”
“What are they doing here? Why are their clothes in disarray?”
Ruan Tang asked again, maintaining her innocent act to the fullest.
The grannies were shocked: things were indeed not simple.
The kind-hearted grannies quickly explained everything to Ruan Tang, adding some embellishments when describing the steamy scenes.
Su Jincheng wanted to stop them but didn’t know how to intervene. He couldn’t help regretting his actions—he should have been more cautious and chosen a safer place.
After listening, Ruan Tang’s expression turned unusually serious. She stepped forward and slapped Su Jincheng twice.
Slap! Slap!
Su Jincheng was stunned by the blows.
Ignoring his shocked expression, Ruan Tang angrily said, “If you didn’t want to marry me, you could have just called off the engagement. Why are you eating shit in front of me? You might not find it disgusting, but I do!”
“You’re the propaganda officer at the cotton mill, after all. Can’t you save some face for yourself? Do you have to tear off your dignity and throw it on the ground for everyone to trample on? Is that what makes you happy?”
Su Jincheng had never heard such harsh words before. His face turned red with anger, his neck thickened, and his chest heaved violently, but he couldn’t utter a single word in rebuttal.
Cai Xiaolan wouldn’t miss such a perfect opportunity to defend him. She quickly stepped in front of Su Jincheng and scolded, “How can you talk about Brother Jincheng like that? He—”
Slap! Slap! The sound of slaps rang out again.
Ruan Tang had tolerated them for far too long. Not wanting to hear any more nonsense, she raised her hand and delivered two more slaps.
She rubbed her sore wrist and complained, “Your face is really thick.”
“I hadn’t even gotten to you yet, and you jumped out on your own. You knew he was my fiancé, yet you still threw yourself at him. Are you giving yourself away for free?”
“If so, you’re even cheaper than the rotten vegetable leaves at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. At least a sack of rotten cabbage is worth five cents.”
“But you? You’re worthless.”
“Pfft!”
“Pfft, hahaha…”
Ruan Tang’s words left the crowd stunned.
At some point, another group of onlookers had gathered. They burst into laughter and began discussing the scene.
Su Jincheng was utterly humiliated. He never expected Ruan Tang to show him no mercy at all, and he felt like strangling her.
Cai Xiaolan covered her red, swollen face and glared viciously at Ruan Tang. She had no idea Ruan Tang could be so sharp-tongued and speak so harshly.
What was most infuriating was that she had no retort and could only swallow her anger.
As more and more people gathered to watch, especially workers from the cotton mill, Cai Xiaolan finally felt ashamed and hid behind Su Jincheng.
Ruan Tang curled her lips and gave them no time to catch their breath. She turned to Granny Li and asked, “Granny, what should be done with people like them? Should they be sent to prison or to a labor farm?”
Before Granny Li could answer, Su Jincheng panicked.
“Ruan Tang, what are you trying to do? I’m your fiancé! Are you determined to ruin me?”
Ruan Tang looked puzzled. “Isn’t this your own doing? What does it have to do with me?”
“And one more thing, remember this: from this moment on, you are no longer my fiancé. I’m calling off the engagement.”
“Tangtang, what do you mean by calling off the engagement? Didn’t you want to get married? The two of you should go get your marriage certificate tomorrow.”
Wu Mengzhi spoke as she emerged from the crowd, followed closely by Ruan Mu, Wang Yun.
Hearing this, Ruan Tang exchanged a glance with Jiang Ye, who was standing at the back of the crowd. This guy had been right after all.
He had said that even if Su Jincheng agreed to call off the engagement, it wouldn’t matter—the Su family was under Wu Mengzhi’s control.
But she was a tough opponent who required some strategy.
Ruan Mu had already learned the whole story before arriving, thanks to that young man’s account. She pulled Ruan Tang aside to examine her from head to toe, exclaiming angrily, “They’ve gone too far! How could they treat you like this? Let me see—did they bully you?”
No sooner had she spoken than slapping sounds came from beside them.
“Smack! Smack!” Two more slaps rang out.
Wu Mengzhi, her face full of rage, unceremoniously slapped Su Jincheng twice, then declared loudly, “Even if Ruan Tang forced marriage on you, you shouldn’t have done such a thing just to spite her! She only forced you to marry because she didn’t want to go to the countryside—there were reasons behind it. You shouldn’t be this angry!”
While these words superficially criticized Su Jincheng, they actually shifted the blame to Ruan Tang, implying she resorted to forcing marriage just to avoid rural labor.
All the fault was pinned on Ruan Tang.
Some bystanders who didn’t know the whole story began pointing fingers and whispering about Ruan Tang. Seeing this, Wu Mengzhi sneered inwardly: How presumptuous! If not for her son being frail as a child and the fortune-teller saying Ruan Tang could bring him good fortune, who would have wanted to arrange this engagement?
Now, if they could just delay for another month or so, until after Jincheng’s twentieth birthday, it wouldn’t be too late to call off the engagement.
Unaware of Wu Mengzhi’s thoughts, Ruan Mu grew furious seeing her daughter being criticized!
“Wu Mengzhi, you were the one who begged me to arrange this engagement for the children back then. Now that Tangtang has come of age, what’s wrong with having them marry?”
“Besides, my Tangtang did go looking for Jincheng a few times, but she never even saw him! How can you call that forcing marriage?”
Ruan Mu trembled with rage.
Ruan Tang stepped forward and glared at Wu Mengzhi. “Su Jincheng was wrong, plain and simple. You should address the actual issue instead of twisting the facts.”
“They acted improperly without a proper matchmaker, yet you claim he did it because he was angry about me forcing marriage. So in your Su family, if Uncle gets angry, does he go out and find some woman to fool around with too?”
Her words caused an uproar among the crowd.
People couldn’t help but marvel inwardly: This girl looks so sweet and innocent, completely harmless—but her personality? Not soft at all!
In truth, Ruan Tang had no ill intentions; she was simply stating the facts.
But Wu Mengzhi acted as if someone had stepped on her tail, her face shifting through colors like a palette. Her usually calm and kind mask completely shattered.
Pointing at Ruan Tang, she roared, “You’re slandering me!”
“Ruan Tang, what nonsense are you spouting? Apologize to my mother right now!” With his backup arrived, Su Jincheng gained confidence, his voice growing louder.
“If you want to break off the engagement, fine—I agree! I never liked you anyway, and I certainly don’t want to marry an ill-bred woman like you.”
The moment he finished, a scornful laugh came from the crowd.
“Hah, you’re really something.”
“You, a rotten person who fooled around, calling someone else ill-bred? What fucking right do you have to say that!”
Jiang Ye stood at the back of the crowd, his over-six-foot frame exceptionally conspicuous. His face now showed clear anger.
“Someone like you should have a pair of worn-out shoes hung around your neck and be paraded through the streets as a warning to others.”
Hou Lin, quick on the uptake, immediately raised his hand and shouted, “Parade him! Make an example! Down with improper conduct! Parade him…”
Others joined in the chanting.
“Parade him! Down with improper conduct…”
In an instant, the scene erupted. Everyone began pushing into the room, some even grabbing gravel and weeds from the ground to throw at them.
The three of them—Su Jincheng and the others—panicked, huddling in the corner with their heads in their hands, trembling uncontrollably.
Seeing the timing was right, Jiang Ye shot Hou Lin a meaningful look, and the latter nodded before darting out again.
He casually maneuvered himself in front of Ruan Tang, shielding both her and Ruan Mu.
The long-abandoned temple, silent for years, now erupted into chaos at its peak.
So much so that when the Public Security Bureau arrived, their shouts went entirely unnoticed at first.
It took considerable effort for them to finally quell the uproar.
“Comrade officers, please save us,” Cai Xiaolan pleaded, dropping to her knees as if they were divine saviors descending from the heavens.
Her hair was disheveled, her face swollen and streaked with bloody scratches, and her clothes were filthy—she looked utterly pitiful.
Wu Mengzhi, protected by Su Jincheng, fared slightly better.
But Su Jincheng had it the worst: already slapped four times earlier, his face was now swollen like a pig’s head, his shirt buttons gone and the garment hanging precariously off his shoulders.
He looked thoroughly disheveled.
The Public Security officers scanned the scene, their faces stern, and one commanded loudly, “Take them all to the police station.”