Chapter 5. Even the neighbor who came with Aunt Du Hai couldn't help but glare...
The neighbors who followed couldn't help but widen their eyes in surprise.
Is Aunt Du Hai involved in this?
Mingxi thought back and realized that Zhao Sulan had mentioned Du Hai's aunt, Du Shuying, to her.
When Du Hai's parents passed away, the neighborhood committee originally wanted to send Du Hai and his sister to Du Shuying for care. However, Du Shuying refused, saying that with her brother gone, her relationship with Du Hai and his sister was severed, and she didn't want to support these two freeloaders. She told the neighborhood committee to send them to an orphanage instead.
Everyone could see that Du Shuying was afraid of the cost of raising a child. Later, when Du Hai took over his father's job, Du Shuying even came back to cause trouble, trying to take Du Hai's job and his father's compensation money. Of course, with the steel mill leaders and the street office as witnesses, Du Shuying's plan failed.
Du Shuying made a scene but gained nothing, and never visited the Du family again until the beginning of this year. This time, Du Shuying came to introduce Du Hai to a potential partner—none other than her future husband's niece.
Du Hai knew his aunt's character well; he knew she wouldn't do anything without a reason and wouldn't kindly introduce him to someone. So he asked around and learned that Du Shuying's in-laws' niece already had a boyfriend of several years, and the two had even discussed getting married. But at the beginning of this year, the man climbed the social ladder and dumped Du Shuying's niece. To make matters worse, Du Shuying's niece was pregnant, and now Du Shuying's in-laws were very worried about this.
Now Du Hai understood everything.
Du Shuying wasn't trying to be kind by introducing him to someone; she just wanted him to help her take over her boyfriend's affairs.
Of course, he couldn't agree, and the next day he went to his aunt's house with great fanfare to refuse the matchmaking offer. He thought this would dispel his aunt's scheme, but he didn't expect the other party to be even more daring than he thought. She actually picked his door lock that night, broke into his house, and tried to cling to him. Luckily, Du Hai was working overtime at the steel mill that night, and only his sister was home; otherwise, he would have been in deep trouble.
Du Hai had no other choice but to approach Zhao Sulan. He figured that if he found someone to marry first, she wouldn't be able to keep bothering him anymore.
Thinking about this, Mingxi understood.
Du Shuying deliberately spread rumors about Du Hai's incompetence in front of the Wang family, aiming to break up Du Hai and Wang Hongmei so that Du Hai could continue to be her niece's "backup plan".
Mingxi had already realized what was happening, and Du Hai naturally understood as well.
He clenched his fists, his eyes filled with anger, muttered a curse under his breath, and then raised his hand to smash it against the wall next to him.
A loud "bang" startled Zhou Cuihua. She shrank back, not understanding what she had said wrong.
Mingxi leaned close to Zhou Cuihua's ear, lowered her voice, and whispered to Zhou Cuihua, "Du Hai and his aunt don't get along. They haven't been in contact for years. His aunt is deliberately trying to cause trouble by spreading rumors to you..."
Zhou Cuihua was dumbfounded: "No, this, this, I don't know anything about this!"
She said, "I didn't know Du Hai and his aunt didn't get along. If I had known, I definitely wouldn't have believed her!"
She anxiously defended herself: "Besides, it wasn't just his aunt who told me this; a neighbor in Du Hai's courtyard also told me the same thing. That person also told me that the whole courtyard knows that Du Hai is no good. Du Hai is just taking advantage of the fact that outsiders don't know, trying to trick girls from good families into marrying him. That's why I got angry and went to make a scene with Zhao Sulan."
Zhou Cuihua pouted, looking extremely aggrieved.
If she hadn't heard from Du Hai's neighbor that many people knew Du Hai was incompetent, she wouldn't have thought Zhao Sulan was deliberately setting her up, wouldn't have gone to Zhao's house to cause trouble, and wouldn't have been beaten.
"Neighbor, which neighbor?"
Mingxi immediately grasped the key point.
Zhou Cuihua: "She was a neighbor of Du Hai's, a woman with a long face. My daughter met her when she went to Du Hai's house for a matchmaking event. Later, when I wanted to go ask Du Hai about it, I ran into that woman on the road and asked her. She then told me about Du Hai's impotence..."
A long-faced lesbian?
Mingxi immediately had a suspect. Her eyes swept across the crowd and finally settled on a middle-aged woman whose eyes were darting around.
She pointed at the middle-aged woman and asked Zhou Cuihua, "Aunt Zhou, can you tell if this is her?"
Zhou Cuihua looked in the direction Mingxi was pointing and immediately nodded: "Yes, yes, that's her! She's the one who told me Du Hai wasn't good enough!"
That person was the one Mingxi had called out when she went to the Du family's courtyard.
At that time, Zhou Cuihua was focused on settling scores with Du Hai and didn't pay attention to anyone else, but Mingxi had been watching closely. The middle-aged woman's expression changed as soon as she saw Zhou Cuihua.
Mingxi now understands; she was actually feeling guilty.
Mingxi had already guessed, so she wasn't too surprised, but the others were extremely astonished, especially those who lived in the same courtyard as Du Hai. Everyone stared wide-eyed at the long-faced woman.
"Old Liang, Old Liang, how could you do such a thing!"
"That's right, Liang Xiu, what grudge do you have against Du Hai that you're ruining his reputation like this!"
"Tch, if you ask me, she's just jealous that Du Hai passed the Level 4 worker exam. Her son took the exam too, but he failed..."
"If her son failed the exam, that's because he's incompetent. What does it have to do with Du Hai? It's disgusting that she resorts to such underhanded tactics..."
"you do not say……"
Hearing everyone's chatter, the woman named Liang Xiu couldn't sit still any longer. She shouted, "What does this have to do with my son? Don't wrong my son. It was Du Shuying who paid me to help!"
She said, "Du Shuying gave me twenty yuan and told me to tell Zhou Cuihua that Du Hai was no good. Twenty yuan is almost my son's monthly salary, and that's all I got..."
The crowd's expressions did not improve because of these words.
Instead, they felt even more contempt.
Having lived under the same roof for over twenty years, Liang Xiu was an elder who had watched Du Hai grow up. Yet, she spoke ill of Du Hai behind his back and helped outsiders scheme against him over just twenty yuan. This shows that she was short-sighted.
Du Hai's face turned ashen; he was so angry he didn't know what to say.
Liang Xiu noticed Du Hai's pale face and stammered as she leaned closer to him, "Um, Du Hai, don't be angry. When I agreed to your aunt's request, I thought she just wanted me to joke around. I didn't expect things to turn out like this. Well, how about I give you this twenty yuan, and you can just pretend nothing happened, okay?"
"Pfft—"
Mingxi couldn't help but laugh out loud. Anyone with a brain would know that Liang Xiu was just trying to coax a child.
How could she not have imagined that Du Hai and Wang Hongmei would break up because of her words when she took the money?
It was none of her business, so she acted maliciously without any restraint.
Now that she's been exposed, she's scared. She's afraid of losing face, afraid of what her neighbors will think of her, and afraid of affecting her son, so she's just trying to cover things up.
Liang Xiu glared: "What are you laughing at!"
Mingxi: "I laugh at you for treating everyone like fools. You spread rumors behind our backs, ruined Comrade Du's wedding, damaged his reputation, and indirectly damaged my mother's reputation. I'm willing to report you to the police and send you to jail. You think you can just take twenty yuan and get rid of this? You're dreaming."
Liang Xiu was just a housewife with little education. When she heard Mingxi say that, her legs trembled.
"What nonsense are you talking about? I only said a few words, why should the police arrest me and put me in jail?"
Liang Xiu wanted to argue, but Ming Xi didn't give her the chance. She turned around and pretended to go to the police station to report the crime: "I hope you'll say the same thing to them when I call the police over."
"No!" Liang Xiu stepped forward abruptly and grabbed Mingxi's arm.
"You can't go report it to the police, you can't go!"
Mingxi stopped and turned to look at Du Hai: "Comrade Du, what do you have to say?"
She is giving Du Hai the choice.
After all, the real victim is Du Hai, and whether or not to report the case is ultimately up to Du Hai.
Du Hai thought for a moment, then said firmly, "Report it to the police!"
His marriage was ruined, and he almost got a bad reputation. Liang Xiu only wanted to compensate him twenty yuan to settle the matter, but that wouldn't do!
And his aunt, Du Shuying.
To put it bluntly, Du Shuying is like a toad crawling on your foot—it doesn't bite, but it's disgusting.
If we don't teach his aunt a lesson this time, she might use her status as an elder to do something else later.
Mingxi understood Du Hai's meaning, so she prepared to report the case without any more hesitation. Liang Xiu wanted to stop her again, but Mingxi didn't tolerate her. She turned around and shouted to the people standing next to her, "Brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, is there anyone kind enough to help me go to the police station and call the police officers?"
"I'll go!" someone in the crowd immediately responded.
The one who responded was also a hothead. After shouting, he turned around and ran to call the police. Liang Xiu couldn't stop him in time.
Seeing that the person who reported the crime had already gone far away, Liang Xiu slumped weakly to the ground.
Sobbing and snotting, she cried, "Du Hai, do you have any conscience? We've lived in the same courtyard for so long. Before your parents passed away, I brought food to your family so many times. If it weren't for me, your sister and you would have starved to death long ago. Now you want to send me to jail for such a small thing. You're such an ingrate..."
Du Hai remained silent with a cold expression.
An older woman nearby couldn't stand it anymore and spoke up, "Liang Xiu, you're lying through your teeth! Du Hai's parents may be gone, but he has a job, a fixed allowance, and the factory canteen provides meals. Even without your family sending him food, he wouldn't starve. Besides, don't think everyone doesn't know what you've been sending him. It's either leftover cornbread or cornmeal porridge that's been reheated several times. You're giving the Du family these leftovers, and when you leave, you even try to take some flour and cooking oil from their place, making it seem like Du Hai can't cook and his family doesn't need it. Do you think we don't know?"
Liang Xiu was speechless after hearing this.
She just kept crying with her head down.
The person who went to report the crime quickly returned with the police. Among the two police officers who came with them was a junior officer who had only been in office for a short time. Seeing such a large group of people, his heart was in his throat, thinking that some serious incident had occurred.
After Mingxi finished explaining the whole story, their mouths dropped open in astonishment.
Good news, it's not a serious incident.
The bad news is that the case is a bit too complicated.
Unlike the young police officer with clear eyes who was only interested in watching the drama unfold, the more experienced veteran police officer next to him quickly grasped the key point: there was still one person involved missing.
He immediately ordered the junior policeman to call Du Shuying over.
Du Shuying has a good mental fortitude; even when the police summoned her, she denied everything.
"Officer, I don't know what you're talking about."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com