Revenge for grievances
Meng Family.
Because the matter of simultaneously meeting multiple matchmakers had been exposed, Old Master Meng had spent the past few days in utter chaos trying to appease those families.
Already short on liquid funds due to certain circumstances, the family had spent a significant amount of their remaining assets as compensation. As a result, their financial situation had become even more strained. Because of this, Meng Jun had been frequently scolded by his father over the past couple of days for messing things up.
Just as Old Master Meng finished calculating another账 and was about to vent his anger on his son again, the household steward suddenly reported: “Miss Shen’s family has sent a message to the young master, saying she wishes to meet him at a teahouse tomorrow.”
Both Old Master Meng and Meng Jun’s eyes lit up. The latter said excitedly, “Father! She must regret her attitude before!”
Old Master Meng rarely showed a relieved smile and patted his son on the shoulder with a laugh. “I knew it. No woman can escape my son’s grasp.”
That said, he also understood that the Meng family now only had the Shen family left as an option.
To ensure they didn’t miss their last chance, he specifically reminded Meng Jun, “When you meet that Shen girl, remember to coax her a bit more. Women like hearing nice words. Although the Shen family can’t compare to those earlier families, they have their own advantages.”
Their background was simple with no complicated ties, and they mainly dealt in grain shops and farmland. In other words, they had plenty of grain that could be converted directly into cash.
Those families who had come to cause trouble were likely acting on some rumors and deliberately applying pressure. If they could secure the Shen family alliance, it would solve their urgent financial crisis and prevent others from taking advantage of their weakened state.
Old Master Meng advised, “If you want to deal with her later, you can do it after the marriage is settled. Once she’s married into the family, she’ll be at our mercy anyway.”
Meng Jun nodded. “Don’t worry, Father. I know what to do.”
He agreed verbally, but on his way to the teahouse the next day, thinking back on the frustration and humiliation he had suffered at Shen Taohua’s hands, he decided he should assert dominance early.
Since she had taken the initiative to meet him, she must have realized how improper her previous attitude was and was trying to win him back.
Normally, when he was in a good mood, he didn’t mind saying a few nice words to coax a favored woman. But he also knew women couldn’t be spoiled too much, once indulged excessively, they would become arrogant and unmanageable.
Some rules had to be established from the very beginning.
Besides, the family had recently lost a lot of wealth, he might as well demand that the Shen family increase the originally agreed dowry by twenty percent. No, make it thirty percent!
Feeling increasingly pleased with his brilliant idea, Meng Jun arrived at the teahouse. But after scanning the room, he didn’t see Shen Taohua. Instead, he saw a familiar figure.
He frowned as he looked at the woman who had also noticed him, impatience written all over his brows. To avoid her causing trouble, he quickly walked over and questioned her in a low voice, “Why are you here? Didn’t I already tell you not to keep bothering me? I have matters to attend to, leave immediately and don’t get in the way.”
“In the way?”
The woman in the green dress had red-rimmed eyes and a haggard face. A flash of resentment flickered in her gaze.
“You said I wasn’t allowed to show up, so I can’t show up? On what grounds?! What do you take me for? A dog you call when you need and kick away when you don’t?”
Meng Jun replied impatiently, “It was nothing more than a casual fling. You were the one who took it seriously.”
The woman’s voice turned sharp. “A casual fling?! Why didn’t you say that from the start?! You deceived me into losing everything and then just walked away, how do you still have the face to act so innocent? ‘I have matters to attend to’? What kind of serious business could you possibly have? You’re just going to trick more women’s feelings again! Haven’t you harmed enough people?!”
Her voice grew more and more agitated. Then, under Meng Jun’s horrified gaze, she suddenly grabbed a scalding teapot she had prepared in advance, opened the lid, and hurled the boiling tea straight at him.
Meng Jun instinctively raised his arm to block, but the hot liquid still splashed onto his face, neck, and wrists. The burning pain made him scream instantly.
“Ah——!”
The other customers in the teahouse were shocked into standing up.
Some widened their eyes in shock to watch, while others quickly backed away to avoid being caught in the chaos.
Covering the scalded, reddened areas, Meng Jun cursed in fury, “Bitch! What the hell are you doing?! Have you gone insane?!”
Despite his shouting, he was genuinely frightened by her violent outburst. To avoid her losing control again, he subconsciously turned to flee the teahouse.
The woman simply watched him coldly and did not stop him, there was no need to.
Because before he had even taken two steps outside, he was blocked again by others, and another familiar former lover.
Meng Jun’s eyes widened again. “Why are you here too?!”
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed several more familiar women nearby. Some of them he had almost completely forgotten if they hadn’t appeared again.
Every single one of them had, at the very least, shared some fleeting romantic entanglement with him.
Meng Jun’s eyelid began to twitch violently. A growing sense of unease rose in his chest.
Carefully searching for an escape route, he swallowed nervously and asked, “W-what do you all want?”
“What do you think we’re here for?” one woman sneered.
These women could all see clearly that he was trying to run.
Now that they were already here, how could they possibly let him go so easily?
Without giving him a chance to act, they tacitly surrounded him completely. The most simply dressed yet strikingly beautiful woman among them rushed forward and grabbed his wrist. Her grip was so strong that he cried out again in pain, even more terrified.
“What are you doing?! Let go of me! Have you all gone mad?!”
Someone spoke coldly from the side.
“Yes, we’ve been driven mad by you! Today, we’re going to rid the world of a scourge and get our revenge!”
After that, at some unknown signal, someone shouted “Do it!”, all the women rushed forward in unison and began wildly clawing at Meng Jun’s face. As they scratched, they also cursed him in emotional rage.
The woman from the teahouse didn’t hold back either. She quickly rushed out and joined the others, her attacks even more vicious.
“You turned me and my family into a laughingstock for the whole neighborhood, why should you still get to live as your pampered young master?! You bastard!”
“Don’t you like watching other people suffer and laughing at them? Today I’ll make you suffer too, why aren’t you laughing now? Go on, laugh!”
The woman who said this slapped Meng Jun several times in quick succession, then frantically tore at his mouth as if she wanted to rip it apart completely.
Meng Jun screamed in pain and fury: “Stop pulling me! Let go! You crazy women! Bitches! Let go of me! Help! Somebody, help me——!”
None of the teahouse customers or passersby on the street stepped forward. Everyone was completely stunned by the sudden turn of events.
They could hear Meng Jun’s cries for help, but seeing how frenzied the women were, who would dare approach? What if they got accidentally hurt? That would be completely unjustified.
Moreover, these women weren’t just cursing Meng Jun by name, they were also exposing scandal after scandal about the Meng pawnshop.
Lowering appraisal prices was a common practice among many pawnshops and not particularly shocking. But the Meng family’s shop would even swap out pawned items and return fakes when people came to redeem their goods.
That wasn’t all. When they took a liking to certain valuable items, they would scheme against the owners, forcing them into hardship so they had no choice but to pawn their treasures. And they insisted on “dead pawn” transactions only before paying out, an especially contemptible practice.
The most explosive piece of news, however, was the Meng family’s current crisis.
Not long ago, the Meng pawnshop had received several high-quality counterfeit items so convincing they could pass as real. Not only did they lose a large sum of money, but those items were later sent to the Duobao Pavilion in the prefectural city for auction.
Now that the fraud had been discovered, Duobao Pavilion was demanding compensation, an amount so enormous it was nearly enough to cripple the Meng family.
After revealing this, one of the women cursed loudly: “Your family is in this mess because everyone from top to bottom has done too many wicked things, it’s karma! And even now, you still want to trick some wealthy woman into marriage so you can use her dowry to plug your financial hole? You truly are a rotten-hearted scoundrel!”
Covered in blood from the scratches, Meng Jun’s expression changed drastically. He blurted out, “How do you know about this?!” They had clearly been doing everything possible to conceal it!
The woman who spoke sneered, “If you don’t want others to know, then don’t do it in the first place. Heaven is watching everything!”
After hearing all this, none of the onlookers felt like interfering anymore.
From the women’s curses as they fought, they could already roughly guess what had happened to them.
If they were in their place and had been betrayed by a heartless man, they likely wouldn’t be able to stay calm either. In the first place, it was already difficult to speak up in mediation, and after learning how despicable the Meng family was, anyone with even a shred of justice or backbone would be unwilling to help such people.
It was simply karma coming back around. For outsiders like them, watching the spectacle was enough, why bother intervening? It’s not like anyone was going to die.
Even some people who loved stirring up trouble shouted along from the crowd: “Good hit!” “Serves him right!” “Cheating scumbags deserve a beating!”
With no one stepping in to stop it, Meng Jun was, of course, beaten even more miserably.
At one point, he wasn’t without thoughts of fighting back, but two fists can’t beat four, six, or even eighty hands.
His former lovers and victims, fueled by long-suppressed hatred, were now bursting with two to three times their usual strength. Meanwhile, he had long been hollowed out by indulgence in wine and women. His strength was even worse than that of a farm girl who regularly helped with agricultural work at home. If not him getting beaten, then who?
Just as one of the women began to feel a flicker of pity, thinking Meng Jun’s face was already so battered it was barely recognizable and wondering if they might be going too far, a voice suddenly rang out from the crowd:
“Don’t be polite when dealing with a heartless scumbag! Is there anything more important in this world than making yourself feel good? No! Personal morals can be set aside for now, just go crazy and hit him!”
The woman who had just slightly eased her attack immediately grew serious again.
They had originally been too concerned about reputation, swallowing their anger and blood in silence.
Now that they had finally decided to vent their rage properly, why bother thinking so much?
Just hit him!
With that thought, strength surged back through her body. The loosened grip turned vicious once more, and she punched Meng Jun hard under the eye, making him wail again. His earlier curses gradually turned into begging for mercy.
“I was wrong! Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me! I won’t dare again!”
Another voice from the crowd reminded them: “A man’s mouth is full of lies! ‘I won’t dare again’ just means he’ll do it again next time! Think about the suffering you went through, it’s all because you believed his nonsense! Keep hitting him, don’t stop!”
The victims’ faces turned cold.
That’s right!
Wasn’t it his sweet talk that deceived them back then?
After being fooled once, were they really going to be stupid enough to believe him again?
If Meng Jun could actually change his ways, pigs would climb trees!
Thinking back on all the suffering they had endured because of his deception, the women’s attacks grew even more violent and relentless, like a storm of wind and rain.
Beaten beyond endurance, Meng Jun’s swollen face twisted with resentment. Who the hell was constantly fanning the flames? Damn it!
Meanwhile, hidden within the crowd of onlookers, Shen Taohua silently reaped the benefits without taking credit.