Yun Tangyin tapped her fingertips on the table, her gaze sweeping across the courtyard gate: "Can you guarantee she'll obediently go with you?"
No sooner had she finished speaking than Xu Runli's scream rang out from outside the courtyard: "Jiang Zhicheng, you coward! Why should I go back to the countryside with you? I'd rather die than go back!"
She shoved Jiang Zhicheng aside like a madwoman, her hair disheveled as she rushed into the courtyard, her cloth jacket torn askew, revealing the shirt underneath: "Yun Tangyin! Don't think you've won! Let me tell you, as long as I'm still in Northeast China, you won't have a good life!"
Fu Yucheng stood up abruptly, his military boots making a dull thud on the ground: "Looks like the lesson this morning wasn't enough."
"Try touching me!" Xu Runli retorted, leaning closer to Fu Yucheng. "I'll scream for mercy right now! Let the whole regiment see how you, Fu Yucheng, bully a woman!"
Yun Tangyin sneered and suddenly shouted towards the wall, "Listen up, military wives! Xu Runli said she's going to stay at the military dependents' home and cause trouble at the Fu family's house every day. If anyone doesn't believe her, just wait and see how she throws a tantrum!"
A murmur arose from the top of the wall: "That woman has a thick skin!"
"Jiang Zhicheng is a good-for-nothing; he can't even control his wife!"
Xu Runli's face instantly turned a deep purplish-red, and her hand trembled as she pointed at Yun Tangyin: "You...you did this on purpose!"
"So what if I am?" Yun Tangyin stepped forward, looking down at her. "You want to cause trouble? I'll show everyone what kind of person you, Xu Runli, really are!"
"If you don't want anyone to know, then don't do it in the first place." Yun Tangyin looked coldly at Xu Runli. "You think no one knows about the dirty things you've done? Let me tell you, there are no secrets that stay hidden forever in the military dependents' compound!"
Jiang Zhicheng, standing nearby, stamped his feet anxiously: "Runli! Say less!"
"Why should I say less?" Xu Runli suddenly lunged at Jiang Zhicheng, scratching his face with her nails. "It's all your fault! If you weren't so incompetent, would I have been bullied like this by Yun Tangyin? I must have been blind to marry you!"
Fu Yucheng frowned as he watched, and picked up a carrying pole from the yard to go forward, but Yun Tangyin grabbed him and said, "Don't get your hands dirty."
She turned and called towards the door, "Officer Zhang! Sister-in-law Li! Could you please come over here for a moment?"
Neighbor Zhang and Sister-in-law Li rushed over upon hearing the commotion and were startled by the chaos in the yard. Yun Tangyin pointed at Xu Runli: "This woman is refusing to leave the Fu family's house and even tried to fight. What do you think we should do?"
Officer Zhang, who was from the security department, immediately darkened his face: "Xu Runli, if you continue to cause trouble, I will treat it as disturbing the order of the military dependents' home!"
Sister-in-law Li chimed in, "That's right! Brother Jiang has been good enough to you, aren't you satisfied?"
Xu Runli lost her temper after being talked down, but she still stubbornly insisted, "I won't leave! Unless Yun Tangyin apologizes to me!"
"Apologize?" Yun Tangyin seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world. "When you were stuffing the complaint letter into the suggestion box, did you never think of apologizing to the Fu family? When you were urging your second sister-in-law to change the account books, did you never think of apologizing? Xu Runli, is your face made of iron?"
She suddenly raised her voice: "I'll say it one last time, get out of the Fu family!"
Xu Runli shuddered at the ferocity in her eyes and instinctively hid behind Jiang Zhicheng.
Jiang Zhicheng took a deep breath, grabbed her arm, and dragged her outside: "Go! Let's go now!"
"I won't leave! Jiang Zhicheng, let me go!" Xu Runli struggled desperately, her heels scraping against the ground with a screeching sound. "Yun Tangyin, you just wait! I'll make you pay sooner or later!"
Yun Tangyin grabbed a broom from behind the door, pretending to hit him: "Still dare to talk back?"
Xu Runli screamed in fright and dared not struggle any longer. She was dragged away by Jiang Zhicheng.
As they watched the two men walk away, both Zhang and Li sighed.
"This Xu Runli is truly hopeless." Officer Zhang shook his head. "Brother Jiang is unlucky to have such a wife."
Sister-in-law Li also said, "Yinyin, don't take it to heart. This kind of person is just taking advantage of you. Just ignore her."
Yun Tangyin smiled and thanked the two of them. After seeing them off, she noticed that Fu Yucheng was still standing in the courtyard with his fists clenched and his face ashen.
"Don't be angry." She walked over and gently patted his arm. "They're all gone."
Fu Yucheng turned around and pulled her into his arms: "I was so scared just now, I was afraid you would get hurt by her."
"I'm not that fragile." Yun Tangyin leaned against his chest, listening to his strong heartbeat. "Besides, with you here, I'm not afraid of anything."
Song Yushuang and Yu Xia came out of the house and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the tightly closed courtyard gate.
"Finally, some peace and quiet." Yu Xia patted her chest. "That Xu Runli..."
Song Yushuang also said, "I hope Jiang Zhicheng can keep an eye on her this time and prevent her from causing any more trouble."
Fu Yucheng looked down at Yun Tangyin in his arms and suddenly said, "Tomorrow I will go to the regimental headquarters to apply to raise the wall of our compound by half a foot."
Yun Tangyin was amused: "There's no need to be so exaggerated."
"Why not use it?" Fu Yucheng said seriously, "I can't let you suffer any more grievances."
Moonlight filtered through the leaves, falling on the two of them and casting a soft glow upon them.
Yun Tangyin knew that Xu Runli would definitely not let it go, but as long as Fu Yucheng was by her side, she was not afraid of anything.
After all, her man always kept his word.
The next morning, Fu Yucheng indeed sent people to raise the courtyard wall.
Jiang Jianhua stood at the door, looking on, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself.
Yun Tangyin sensed her thoughts and asked, "Is there something you need, Second Sister-in-law?"
Jiang Jianhua rubbed the corner of his clothes, his eyes darting around: "I went to fetch water just now and heard Xu Runli crying and wailing at the alley entrance, saying... saying she was going to the regimental headquarters to report you for withholding food coupons for military families."
Yun Tangyin paused in her vegetable-picking, then burst out laughing: "She's good at twisting the truth. Second Sister-in-law, do you think the regiment would believe someone who doesn't even acknowledge an IOU from her own family?"
Jiang Jianhua's face instantly turned red, and he stammered, "That's not what I meant... I just felt that if she really made a scene, it wouldn't sound good."
"You have to listen to it even if it's unpleasant." Yun Tangyin threw the rotten vegetable leaves into the bamboo basket. "The more you give in to this kind of person, the more she'll take advantage of you. If you're really worried, Second Sister-in-law, you might as well go and persuade your brother to keep his wife in check."
Just then, Xu Runli's cries came from outside the courtyard gate, even shriller than yesterday: "Fu Yucheng, come out! Yun Tangyin is withholding ration coupons! Is this how your Fu family treats military families?"
Fu Yucheng had just returned from the army. He put his military cap on the stone table and said in a deep voice, "Does she still dare to come?"
Yun Tangyin pulled him back: "Don't rush, let's see what she's up to today."
As the two approached the gate, they saw Xu Runli sitting outside the Fu family's courtyard, clutching a stone in her arms. She cried to everyone she saw, "Come quick, everyone! The Fu family's new daughter-in-law is withholding our family's food coupons! My husband works so hard at the factory, and I can't even afford a decent meal!"
She stopped several passing military dependents, who were crying and pleading with her. Some of them looked doubtful: "The Fu family doesn't seem like that kind of family..."
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