"Wh-who's there?!"
Chen Qing instinctively pulled Liu Xiufen behind him, his voice trembling.
Chen Jiaqi's voice came from outside the door. "It's me!"
The two of them looked at each other and let out a long sigh of relief. They completely missed the displeasure in Chen Jiaqi's voice.
The moment Chen Qing opened the door, he said, "Jiaqi, didn't you get back a while ago?"
"And why were you banging on the door so loud?"
"You nearly scared Mom and me to death—"
"Then why didn't it just scare you to death?!"
Before Chen Qing could finish, Chen Jiaqi raised her voice.
Chen Qing was stunned. "What did you say?"
Normally, Chen Jiaqi was always obedient and well-behaved. Forget this attitude; it was rare for her to even speak loudly.
Chen Qing was already frustrated after getting beaten up by Chen Erbao. Hearing Chen Jiaqi dare to speak to him like this, his anger flared up in an instant.
"Say that again!"
Chen Jiaqi didn't back down an inch. "I'll say it ten more times and it'll still be the same!"
"You're a useless piece of trash who can't get a wife, so you set your sights on me! You want me to marry that one-eyed pig Wang Dazhu, and you made such a scene the whole village knows about it."
"Now look what you've done! They're just short of pointing their fingers in my face and cursing me out!"
"Why don't you just go die?!"
Chen Qing couldn't take this. The fire in his heart burned hotter. He rushed in front of Chen Jiaqi, swung his arm, and—SLAP!—hit her across the face.
Liu Xiufen was dumbfounded when she saw this.
Chen Jiaqi, meanwhile, clutched her face and stared at Chen Qing in disbelief as her own anger flared.
"You hit me?"
"You dare hit me!"
"Chen Qing, you're like a total moron! You're useless at everything! You ruined your own life, and now you want to ruin mine."
"And now you dare to hit me!"
"I'll kill you!"
With a furious roar, Chen Jiaqi grabbed a handful of Chen Qing's hair. Her hands moved as if spring-loaded, desperately clawing and scratching at him.
Chen Qing didn't hold back either. His fists flew, and the two of them immediately descended into a brawl.
Liu Xiufen finally snapped out of it and rushed over. "Stop fighting! Both of you, stop it!" she cried, trying to pull them apart.
She was so anxious, but how could one person possibly stop two enraged people?
Not only did she fail to separate them, but in the struggle, an enraged Chen Qing slammed his elbow into Liu Xiufen's eye socket. The blow sent her sprawling to the ground, her eye already starting to bruise.
Watching her two children brawl and thinking about the earlier gossip, Liu Xiufen felt more and more wronged. Unable to hold it in, tears began to stream down her face.
"Stop fighting! Please, stop fighting!"
"What has our life come to?!"
"Why is my life so bitter!"
"Keep your voices down! If anyone else hears, I won't have the face to stay in this village anymore."
As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours, and trouble always finds a widow's door.
No sooner had Liu Xiufen said she was afraid of being overheard than the wind blew the unlatched front door open a crack. As luck would have it, a passing villager saw everything.
He was stunned.
"Holy shit!"
"Chen Qing and Chen Jiaqi are fighting over the thing with Er Bao!"
That was one thing about the village: everyone lived close together. For any little thing, no matter how trivial, if one person knew, the whole village knew.
The villager's shout immediately attracted more attention.
More and more people ran over to Liu Xiufen's front door.
"Holy cow, they're really going at it. Chen Qing's face is a scratched-up mess."
"Chen Jiaqi looks pretty bad too, her face is all swollen. Hey, was it that big to begin with, or was that from the beating?"
"Look at Liu Xiufen's eye. She looks like a national treasure—a panda."
Liu Xiufen was furious. 'It's one thing to stand there and watch the drama,' she thought, 'but what's the deal with enjoying it so much?'
'Don't they know they could come and help?'
Fortunately, the villagers were still kind-hearted.
"We should hurry and pull them apart, or something bad could really happen."
"No kidding. It's tragic enough that Jiaqi has to marry that one-eyed Wang Dazhu. If Chen Qing puts her in the hospital on top of that, she'll get depressed."
"Quick, quick, let's help."
While "helping," the crowd didn't forget to take photos and record videos.
Liu Xiufen was so angry she was howling and crying. Today, she had completely and utterly lost face.
...
The commotion at Liu Xiufen's house also reached Chen Erbao's ears. He couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
"Serves them right! This is what happens when you're blinded by greed!"
Beside him, Fang Yun was a little worried. "Er Bao, maybe you should go have a look."
"If things get too ugly, your business with Jiaqi might..."
Chen Erbao's eyes darted around, and he sidled up next to Fang Yun.
"Sis, are you really okay with me marrying someone else?"
Fang Yun's breath hitched. It wasn't just because of Chen Erbao's words, but also because of the fervent pressure she felt between her buttocks.
She was wearing a skin-toned, form-fitting miniskirt today. Liu Xiufen's family had arrived in a hurry, and in her haste, she hadn't even put on a pair of safety shorts. Beneath the skirt was only a thin layer of lace.
The two layers of fabric might as well have been nothing. She could feel him pressing against her through the divide of her buttocks—scorching, hard, and with a faint, damp heat.
Fang Yun hadn't slept very soundly last night, and her dreams had been as intense as they could be. She couldn't help but recall the images from her dream: Chen Erbao's strong, powerful back, the broad warmth of his arms, and the feeling of almost being pierced through.
'Calm down!'
'Fang Yun, you have to calm down!'
'This isn't the time to be thinking about this. I still haven't made things clear with Er Bao.'
'But...'
'It's so big... If it could just go in from behind...'
Haaa...
Fang Yun's breathing gradually quickened. Her already pliant body began to unconsciously writhe like a snake.
Her slender waist swayed slightly, causing the swell of her rear to tremble as well. Every so often, she would brush against the top of Chen Erbao's thigh. The faint, intermittent friction was like a glimpse of snow-white skin hidden behind a gauze curtain—a hazy yet powerful temptation.
Chen Erbao had only meant to tease Fang Yun, but he never expected such a strong reaction from her. His hips pressed forward.
With a single thrust from behind, her buttocks were easily parted. The lace panties, already struggling to contain her perky rear, began to slip down. Chen Erbao glanced down and caught a glimpse of the shy black triangle beneath the hem of her skirt.
Her garden, once protected, was like a greenhouse having its plastic film suddenly ripped away, exposing it to the elements. The bashful flower bud could no longer remain calm and began to weep, its glistening dewdrops moistening the petals. Even the wild blades of grass nearby were blessed by the rain and dew, swaying precariously as they drooped, pulled down by gravity.
The blades of grass that peeked out were faintly adorned with crystalline dewdrops, swaying as if in a breeze, involuntarily clinging to the plump, pink walls beside them.
Chen Erbao swallowed hard.
"Sis, I..."