After just one encounter, Jiang Lizhu could basically confirm that the Xiao Jinzhu before her was not the purely good and righteous female lead from the novel.
Everyone has their own dark side. Clearly, Xiao Jinzhu could be kind and generous to others, but she was unwilling to let Jiang Lizhu, the person she had wronged and taken advantage of, live well.
Moreover, the Xiao Jinzhu in front of her was very much aware that she had always been the one who could most effectively provoke the original Jiang Lizhu’s mindset.
Otherwise, why would she, a “precious and rare” university student studying accounting, who could easily find a good permanent job at any big factory or unit—especially since university students were still assigned jobs back then—insist on coming to the Number One Hospital, where the original Jiang Lizhu worked?
When coincidences pile up, they cease to be coincidences; they become intentional, deliberate!
Xiao Jinzhu intentionally worked at the same hospital as the original host. She intentionally provoked the original host’s mindset. She simply didn’t want the original host to have a good life.
As Jiang Lizhu, now directly facing this malice from Xiao Jinzhu, it was naturally impossible for her to show Xiao Jinzhu any kindness.
But getting truly furious was unnecessary. In response to Xiao Jinzhu’s malice, all she had to do was break free from Xiao Jinzhu’s deliberate proximity, live her life earnestly, and keep improving her own circumstances. That would make Xiao Jinzhu miserable deep down, far more effectively than any confrontation.
Right now, Xiao Jinzhu was feeling an indescribable discomfort and panic. Upon this sudden encounter, she was clearly thrown off by Jiang Lizhu’s transformation, caught off guard. She instinctively stepped back a few paces, her brows furrowed, muttering wordlessly.
But her stepping back took on a completely different meaning in someone else’s eyes. It wasn’t that she stepped back on her own; it was that she was forced back by Jiang Lizhu’s bullying.
“I heard you lost your job. Jinzhu came to care about you with good intentions, and you still bully her? I’ve never seen such a vile, wicked woman as you!” Lin Mojia, Xiao Jinzhu’s fiancé, strode out quickly from the corner leading from the central courtyard to the eastern small courtyard, shouting loudly at Jiang Lizhu.
“How could someone with Auntie Ruan’s noble character have a daughter like you…”
“Waa! Wah wuwuwu…” The little one dozing on Jiang Lizhu’s lap was frightened by Lin Mojia’s harsh tone and burst into loud crying. Two streams of tears immediately rolled down his face. He looked so pitiful.
Jiang Lizhu, who had been listening with an unchanged expression until then, immediately exploded!
With a swift movement, Jiang Lizhu stood up holding her son with one hand. She took a few steps forward, raised her right hand, and slapped him hard. “Slap!” The sound was solid and landed squarely on Lin Mojia’s face.
Whether Lin Mojia’s face hurt or not was unknown, but Jiang Lizhu’s right hand went numb from the force. In her fit of rage, Jiang Lizhu had slightly overestimated this body’s combat effectiveness.
But that was okay. Jiang Lizhu, while keeping an eye on the stunned Lin Mojia, quickly calculated the route and time needed to dodge back into her room with her son.
The so-called coward doesn’t show fear. Before having to make her escape, Jiang Lizhu intended to curse her fill!
“Which household let their unleashed dog run wild, spewing filth until it stinks to high heaven!”
As she spoke, Jiang Lizhu deftly turned her son around, his little round head resting back on her shoulder. She patted him gently while slowly backing away. Her cold gaze shifted from Lin Mojia back to Xiao Jinzhu.
“Your family and mine, you and me—don’t you know exactly what our relationship is? That so-called good looks, good education, and good upbringing of yours were all given to you by my Jiang family. As for my current appearance, I owe it entirely to my own efforts. No one but myself has the right to lecture me.”
“You think I don’t know why you’re here? You brought this stinking beast just to show off in front of me? A guy like him isn’t even fit to hold my husband’s shoes!”
Lin Mojia, momentarily ignoring the pain on his face, seized upon this as if it were leverage and retorted loudly, “Ha! As if everyone in the family quarters doesn’t already know that your military officer man is old, ugly, and remarried! I’m not fit to hold his shoes? What kind of nonsense, fantasy bullshit are you spouting!”
Having safely retreated to within three steps of her door, Jiang Lizhu’s fox eyes instantly filled with tears. She turned to address the neighbors who lived in the eastern courtyard and had gradually come out to watch the commotion.
“Auntie Han, Granny Li, Doctor Chen, please tell me, was there anything wrong with what I said to Xiao Jinzhu just now? Did I bully the precious wife of Young Master Lin in any way?”
“She offered to repay me, and I made a perfectly reasonable and not-at-all difficult request. What’s excessive about that? Besides, Xiao Jinzhu was all talk and had no intention of actually doing anything. For my parents’ sake, I wasn’t forcing her either.”
“And Young Master Lin here has such wonderful upbringing! He rushes out without hearing the full story, scares my son into crying, and now he’s slandering my husband! My husband is a soldier, I am a military spouse. We will absolutely not tolerate such slander and defamation! I’m going to report this to the authorities!”
Previously, Jiang Lizhu really hadn’t known that such gossip about her was circulating in the family quarters and hospital. And while Jiang Lizhu couldn’t be sure of much else, as the male lead of a novel, Gu Mingyan absolutely could not be old and ugly. The claim of him being remarried was even more nonsensical.
Earlier, when Jiang Lizhu and Xiao Jinzhu were talking, neither had lowered their voices. Granny Li, who had been paying attention to them all along, had heard almost everything from beginning to end.
Auntie Han and Doctor Chen, who had originally come out to watch the excitement in front of their own doors, also nodded in agreement.
Maybe Jiang Lizhu’s reaction was a bit excessive, but Lin Mojia, a grown man, had been the one to scare a little baby into crying first. Jiang Lizhu, with her slender arms and legs, might have slapped him suddenly, but it couldn’t have hurt him that much.
Furthermore, ever since finishing her confinement, Jiang Lizhu often brought her son out to sunbathe in the courtyard. She had the look of someone content now that she had her child. Occasionally, when in a good mood, she would even share snacks with them. The neighbors’ impression of her had gradually and subtly changed over time.
“Young Lin, we were all listening. Your wife… no, Miss Xiao wasn’t being bullied. Why are you so… rash in your actions?” Granny Li was the first to poke her head out from the low window of the communal kitchen, speaking a few fair words for Jiang Lizhu.
She might be a bit slow in her movements, but her voice was still loud and clear.
With someone supporting her, Jiang Lizhu’s confidence grew even stronger. Her words remained relentless, but her expression stayed pitifully tight.
“Rash? That’s putting it mildly. Young Master Lin, the son of Dean Lin, is so mighty and impressive! It’s a pity that this child’s father is off protecting our country, risking his life, while he himself is slandered, his wife is wronged, and his not-yet-hundred-day-old son is frightened into crying.”
Jiang Lizhu looked at Lin Mojia, whose face was turning livid, and lifted her chin slightly. “If my son suffers any consequences from this fright… I won’t just report you for defamation; I’ll also write letters to the leaders of your work unit to expose you. Even Dean Lin will have to answer to me and my husband!”
Even though Gu Mingyan’s military unit was far away, her identity as a military wife was valid and sufficient right now. Lin Mojia daring to scare her son had touched her absolute bottom line!
Today, she would let Lin Mojia witness firsthand just how terrifying a malicious and calculating bad woman could be.
“Lizhu, don’t get agitated. Mojia just got carried away because he cares; he absolutely didn’t mean it! And about your husband… I, and everyone else, can understand your difficulties, but you can’t accuse Brother Mojia of slandering and defaming a military man,” Xiao Jinzhu hadn’t expected Jiang Lizhu to erupt so suddenly and sharply, showing such a difficult and relentless attitude.
But Xiao Jinzhu wasn’t panicked either. Anyone who knew Jiang Lizhu basically understood the circumstances of her marriage to that military officer.
Given that Jiang Lizhu had managed to keep her job through a military marriage last year when her father was reported and sent away, the rank of the officer she married couldn’t be low.
And it wasn’t hard to figure out the situation in the military. For someone to become a high-ranking officer, his age definitely wouldn’t be young.
People generally married early in this era. The military had its peculiarities, but it wouldn’t be too late either. Jiang Lizhu had rushed into marriage for self-preservation, so her options were limited.
Word spread, and soon enough, Jiang Lizhu’s officer husband was rumored to be old, ugly, and remarried.
“Great, so you’re slandering and defaming me behind my back too! Thanks for the reminder. When I report this, I won’t forget you. And I certainly won’t forget to send letters to your leaders and your school. I’ll make sure you both share the responsibility and stand together. So much deep affection, isn’t it? How wonderful.” Jiang Lizhu was also a master of sarcasm.
“You… you’re simply impossible, despicable and shameless!” Lin Mojia was furious at Jiang Lizhu’s constant threats of reporting and exposing them. His expression was ferocious, and the slap mark on his face was even more prominent and noticeable.
And Jiang Lizhu, seemingly fragile as she was, had put quite some force into that slap.
More than the pain on his face, the humiliation of being slapped in public was what Lin Mojia couldn’t bear. He stepped forward a few paces, eyes wide with rage, his right hand raised high long before he reached her.
“Don’t!”
“Hey! You kid…” Granny Li and the others hadn’t expected Lin Mojia to actually retaliate against Jiang Lizhu, who was holding a baby.
Jiang Lizhu’s arms tightened around her son. Her slightly narrowed gaze quickly dropped, and her left foot moved half a step back, poised and ready.
When Lin Mojia took two more steps forward, she would teach him a lesson he would never forget!
The slightly ajar door was right behind her. Jiang Lizhu was fully confident that after one kick, she could calmly retreat back into the room with her son.
By then, Doctor Chen and Auntie Han, who were rushing over, would have enough time to react and restrain the surely pained and enraged Lin Mojia.
No matter how badly Lin Mojia was hurt, this would be self-defense!
But faster than Jiang Lizhu’s slightly raised foot was a military-green figure. He approached quickly, grabbed Lin Mojia’s raised wrist with one hand, and twisted it back in the opposite direction.
He dragged the grimacing Lin Mojia away from Jiang Lizhu’s vicinity, then pushed him hard. His lowered gaze swept over Jiang Lizhu’s right foot, which she hadn’t yet withdrawn, before he turned around. His tall, straight frame blocked the front of Jiang Lizhu, who was still holding the baby.
“Ouch! It hurts! I’m telling you, you’re dead meat! I won’t let you off… I won’t let either of you off!”
Lin Mojia’s face hurt, his hand hurt, his whole arm hurt. His pampered temper was completely ignited. Blinded by rage, he immediately scrambled to charge again, only to be sent flying far away by a seemingly effortless kick, unable to get up for a while.
“Ah!” Xiao Jinzhu screamed, rushing to Lin Mojia’s side. She struggled several times before helping him up, sobbing as she asked, “Brother Mojia, are you okay? Does it hurt? Wuwuwu, it’s all my fault. I implicated you…”
Lin Mojia gasped for breath, wheezing. He could only look at the weeping Xiao Jinzhu beside him with pity in his eyes. Even if he had harbored a slight resentment towards her initially, it was gone now.
But at the same time, his inner anger towards the newcomer and Jiang Lizhu multiplied exponentially!
Of course, Lin Mojia also knew pain. Having suffered loss twice, he realized the newcomer was someone he couldn’t afford to provoke, at least physically.
“Of course it’s you, you people, who are wrong! You’re simply wicked through and through! Lin Mojia! You were about to lay hands on me and my child just now, weren’t you? Are you even a man, attacking a defenseless woman and a three-month-old baby!”
“Ah, Dean Lin and his wife are such noble and virtuous people. How could they have raised a son like you…”
Jiang Lizhu put her foot down, resuming her relaxed posture. She unhesitatingly turned the accusation back on him, making it stick firmly, ensuring neither she nor this righteous soldier would be morally condemned.
No matter how many excuses Lin Mojia had, the moment he impulsively raised his hand against her, he was destined to face moral judgment from everyone. This was the inevitable outcome of them coming to provoke trouble.