Liang Haifeng was secretly glad this was the town, where few people knew him—otherwise he would have lost all face.
He no longer wanted to recover the money Yu Yao had taken from him.
Instead, he generously offered to treat her to some pastries and turned to slip away.
“Liang Daniu, don’t run!”
Yu Yao chased after him and grabbed his arm.
Liang Haifeng panicked, his face flushed red. “Let go! This is a public place—don’t you have any shame, pulling and grabbing like this?”
“Slap!”
Yu Yao stood on tiptoe and gave him a fierce slap across the face.
Both scumbags and shameless women deserved a beating—she wouldn’t show favoritism.
“You hit me?” Liang Haifeng looked at her in disbelief, glaring with disgust. “Are you crazy?”
Has this woman gone mad because she couldn’t win my love? Has she turned insane out of love?
Yu Yao held him tightly with one hand and pointed at his nose with the other, scolding loudly.
“Liang Daniu, do you even have any shame?”
“You owe me money and pretend nothing happened?”
“You want to treat me to pastries? Spit! I’ll take back my own money and buy whatever I want. I don’t need your fake generosity!”
“Tell me—when will you return my 527 yuan? If you don’t make it clear, you’re not leaving today!”
It was the evening rush hour at the market, and soon a crowd gathered to watch the commotion.
More and more people squeezed into the pastry shop, pointing at the young man and woman who were struggling and arguing, whispering among themselves.
Liang Haifeng’s cheek was already swollen and burning with pain.
He had been robbed of his money and then slapped—he was on the verge of exploding in anger.
But Yu Yao kept holding on to him. If he didn’t repay her, she refused to let go.
Some even speculated, “Did this guy take advantage of the girl and now want to deny it?”
People naturally sympathized with the weaker party, and when they saw a man and woman arguing, they often assumed it was a romantic dispute.
Liang Haifeng became even more anxious and shouted in defense, “Yu Yao, can you be reasonable? That money was voluntary support you gave me! Every time I refused, you insisted on giving it to me—”
Before he could finish, Yu Yao shoved the cloth bag holding a sewing basket straight into his mouth.
Liang Haifeng quickly blocked it with his hand, finally losing patience.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
Yu Yao sneered. “This time I’m forcing it on you—why won’t you take it?”
“Oh, so you only take money, huh?”
“Since you accepted it, don’t say I forced it on you!”
“If it really was forced, you wouldn’t have been able to take it—unless you actually wanted it in the first place!”
Liang Haifeng: “……”
He felt that as a “decent man,” this kind of scene was beneath him.
“Can you let go first? We both look bad like this.”
Yu Yao immediately seized the opportunity. “Write me an IOU!”
“No way!” Liang Haifeng refused outright.
If he wrote an IOU, there would be no escaping it later.
Yu Yao grabbed him tighter and shouted loudly, “Everyone come look! This man owes me 527 yuan and refuses to pay!”
The crowd finally understood—it wasn’t a love dispute, but a debt dispute.
Liang Haifeng was furious beyond words. “Yu Yao, I didn’t expect you to be this kind of person! I misjudged you!”
He had once thought she loved him deeply and purely.
He didn’t expect that after being rejected, she would turn around and demand her money back. Truly disgraceful.
“I’ve told you many times—I love Feng Xueqing!”
“Now that I’m going to marry her, you’re losing your mind, right?”
“Even if you act like this, I still won’t love you. All you’re doing is pushing my heart further away—”
“Slap!”
Yu Yao slapped his other cheek again.
She had already hit Feng Xueqing on both sides, so she couldn’t be biased—everything had to be even.
Yu Yao pointed at him and cursed, “Who cares how far your rotten heart is from me!”
“Either write the IOU, or pay me back right now!”
“Stop wasting time! Otherwise I’ll go to your workplace and let your leaders judge this!”
“Repaying debts is only natural!”
Aunt Fang firmly believed that Yu Yao had just gone to the market and would return soon, so she stayed at home waiting.
Liang Hui and three younger men searched the market, but it was like looking for a needle in the sea.
Xiao Hai anxiously said, “This isn’t working… should we ask Fifth Brother for help?”
“Don’t tell him!” Liang Hui warned sharply. “No one is allowed to mention this!”
The “Fifth Brother” was actually surnamed Wu. Over time, people started calling him “Fifth Brother.”
He had considerable wealth and connections in town and was influential in both legal and illegal circles.
Many people wanted to befriend him, but Liang Hui was not close to him.
He especially did not want this man to know about Yu Yao.
Liaozi couldn’t help sighing, “What a waste… the bed we fixed is useless tonight.”
Liang Hui, already burning with anger, kicked him without hesitation.
“Ow!” Liaozi stumbled and fell.
Dongzi helped him up sympathetically. “You really can’t talk, can you?”
Rubbing salt into a wound—that was asking for a beating.
Liang Hui adjusted his plan. He told Liaozi to return to Youjiagou to ask around—maybe Yu Yao had gone back to her grand-uncle Yu Hongyuan.
Then he would mobilize more people to search the town and bus stations.
Yu Yao had money on her, but no travel documents, so she couldn’t even stay in an inn.
It was getting dark—alone, a young girl could easily run into danger.
Liang Hui gritted his teeth.
He better not catch her, or else…
“Liang Daniu…”
A sharp female voice faintly drifted over.
Liang Hui instantly recognized it—it was Yu Yao.
Liang Daniu? That was his cousin Liang Haifeng’s old nickname.
He jolted and quickly scanned the surroundings.
Not far away, the pastry shop was packed with people.
The commotion seemed to be coming from there.