Free Web NovelChapter 43: Chapter 43: The Soft Target Becomes a Hard Case
Suppressing her fear, Gu Jinhua said, "You have a respectable job, don’t you? How can you be so tyrannical and unreasonable? Believe it or not, we’ll go to your workplace and report you!"
"Just because I have a job, does that mean no one in your family does?" Zhang Wei Qiang laughed coldly. "Yes, I have a job. But do you think my superiors have a rule that, without asking who’s right or wrong, I have to stand by and watch my own family get bullied? That I have to be a coward and back down?"
"..."
Chen Suxiang was at a loss for words. She remembered that her eldest and youngest sons also had jobs. If the Zhang family really decided to go all out...
Her heart filled with alarm. Not only would her sons’ jobs be affected, but Zhang Minzhen’s brother was utterly unreasonable. What if he decided to latch onto their family, showing up at their house to cause trouble from time to time? What would they do then?
She couldn’t help but look at Gu Jinhua again, a surge of resentment washing over her for this terrible idea.
"By the way, at ten o’clock, my parents and I will be at your family’s home to discuss my little sister’s divorce from Gu Lihui. If you happen to be too busy or not at home, we don’t mind chatting with your neighbors first. We’ll wait as long as it takes, no matter how late. I do recall my little sister has a share in that house of yours, doesn’t she? So if it gets really late, we won’t have to worry about where to spend the night."
Zhang Wei Qiang couldn’t be bothered to give her a response. He mentally calculated the time. ’Because of this whole mess, I don’t have time to see that elder Mr. Mu told me about. I might as well request leave from work first and handle that later.’ After saying his piece, he turned, got on the bicycle with Zhang Minzhen, and rode off.
’Whether someone deserves respect has nothing to do with their age and everything to do with their actions. He simply couldn’t bring himself to respect people who used their age and seniority to do such disgusting things.’
"Hmph! He’s a tyrant! A bandit!"
Chen Suxiang understood the threat in Zhang Wei Qiang’s words perfectly, which only made her feel more desperate. As the saying goes, the tough are afraid of the aggressive, and the aggressive are afraid of those with a death wish. She had been all for her eldest son divorcing his wife, but after today, it was clear the other side had a brother who was willing to risk it all. Her fantasy of smearing Zhang Minzhen’s name and kicking her out with nothing was now likely to go up in smoke.
"What did I do in a past life to deserve this? To bring such a jinx upon us..." She plopped down on the ground and began to cry.
"Mom, don’t be upset. We’ll definitely figure out a way to deal with him," Gu Jinhua said, crouching down, her expression turning vicious.
"You have the gall to talk? If it wasn’t for your brilliant idea, would we be in this miserable state?" Gu Lihuang shoved Gu Jinhua down and vented his frustration by kicking and punching her repeatedly.
From a distance, Ye Rong finally shuffled over, glaring at Gu Jinhua as if she were a sworn enemy. ’Thanks to her, I was nearly dragged into this mess without even knowing why.’
"Mom, Mom... Stop him! Stop Second Brother!" Gu Jinhua screamed, covering her head with her arms.
"That’s enough. Lihuang, stop hitting your big sister," Chen Suxiang finally spoke up. Gu Lihuang sullenly retracted his foot and spat viciously at Gu Jinhua. "From now on, if that bastard Zhang touches me even once, I’m coming straight for you. I’ll know you were the one causing trouble behind the scenes."
"Are you even trying to be reasonable? Who do you think I did all this for? I’m your sister! Forget respect, you dare to treat me like this? Mom, why aren’t you teaching him a lesson?" Since getting married, Gu Jinhua had been coddled by her side of the family. She had never suffered such a major humiliation at their hands, especially not right in front of her own workplace. With so many people coming and going, watching her get beaten half to death by her own brother, there was no hiding it. How was she supposed to show her face at the supply and marketing co-op after this?
"Was your brother wrong? If it weren’t for your terrible idea, would he have nearly been killed by that bitch’s brother? You work with that bitch all day long, so how could you not even know that her brother is no longer in the army?" In Chen Suxiang’s eyes, her son was, of course, far more important than her daughter, so she was naturally displeased to hear her daughter talk back to her second son.
Gu Lihuang shot Gu Jinhua a sidelong glance, his face full of smug satisfaction.
An unhappy expression crossed Gu Jinhua’s red, swollen face.
"That Zhang guy is a ruthless one. We can’t afford to provoke him. You’d better stop causing trouble for that bitch, too, so her brother doesn’t keep coming after us," Chen Suxiang instructed Gu Jinhua as she stood up, pretending not to notice her daughter’s unhappy expression.
"I can promise I won’t cause her any trouble, but I can’t speak for everyone else," Gu Jinhua retorted sulkily.
"You’ll promise whether you can or not. If your second brother gets hit again, believe me, even I won’t let you off." Chen Suxiang squinted her small eyes, staring viciously at Gu Jinhua. "What good does it do you if your first and second brothers get beaten up? Or do you really have some dark, ulterior motive? Are you trying to use someone else to do your dirty work?"
"Mom, you’re accusing me of that, too?" Gu Jinhua couldn’t believe her own mother would think such a thing of her and cried out. A wave of dizziness washed over her, and a bone-deep chill enveloped her body, as if she’d been plunged into an icy cavern.
"Alright, alright, stop putting on an act. You think I don’t know you?" Chen Suxiang saw the look on Gu Jinhua’s face and grew a little hesitant. ’What if I really push her too far? How will I get things from her so easily in the future?’
So, she softened her tone. "If you really don’t have such thoughts, then stop playing these little mind games. Didn’t you take the day off? It’s getting late. We need to prepare some lunch for your first brother, tell him what’s going on and see what he thinks, and then we have to rush back to wait for the Zhang family. Sigh... if we don’t do what they say, I’m afraid..."
She didn’t finish her sentence, feeling waves of frustration wash over her.
’The Zhang family’s son was never a pushover, but he’d never been this terrifying before. For a soft target to suddenly become such a tough nut to crack... it was hard to adjust to so quickly.’
Of course, Zhang Wei Qiang and Zhang Minzhen had no idea about the psychological trauma Chen Suxiang was experiencing. Even if they had, they would have just had a good laugh and treated it as entertainment. After all, are pushovers really that easy to bully? Aren’t people who enjoy picking on them ever afraid that one day they’ll squeeze too hard and end up with their hands covered in mush?
The brother and sister went to the grain station to request leave and then headed straight for the post office. Zhang Minzhen was smiling the entire way, which made Zhang Wei Qiang glance at her several times.
"I’ve just seen the light," Zhang Minzhen explained.
’At that moment, she suddenly felt that all her years of suffering and patiently enduring the Gu family had been a complete waste. How had she not realized it sooner? With some people, the more you tolerate them, the more they’ll take advantage. There was really no need to live life by constantly holding back, giving in, and catering to others. Not only does it fail to earn you any respect, it just makes people look down on you even more.’
Now that she understood, she felt as if a great weight she had been carrying for a very long time had finally been lifted, and she was completely at ease.
