Chapter 84 Dong Chunling and Qiao Aimei were both in the Women's Federation...
Qiao Aimei stayed at the Women's Federation for almost a month before her injuries finally healed.
During this time, she ate and stayed well at the Women's Federation, and Zhu Jianmin would occasionally come over to deliver her homemade lunches, so Qiao Aimei gained quite a bit of weight. Although at first glance, the girl was still thin and frail, at least her face had filled out a bit, and she was no longer as pale and thin as before, looking pitiful as if a gust of wind could blow her over.
After recovering from her injury, Mingxi took Qiao Aimei to the labor service company to report for duty.
After registering, Qiao Aimei first had to attend a short training course. Only after the training was completed would the company introduce her to a job. Knowing that the competition was fierce and jobs were hard to find, Qiao Aimei listened attentively during the training and dared not relax at all.
Of course, her efforts were not in vain.
When the training ended and an assessment was conducted, Qiao Aimei achieved the best score in the entire training program.
The company liked this kind of diligent and eager-to-learn employee, and in the end, Qiao Aimei was assigned to work at the No. 2 Textile Factory.
The Second Textile Factory, despite its name, was a newly opened branch. While called a factory, it was essentially a cooperative workshop—a small, new factory built with the textile factory providing the land and management personnel. The factory was small, mainly handling manual labor that the textile factory didn't consider suitable, such as sewing rags for the machine shop and small decorative accessories for clothing…
These jobs have low profit margins and complicated procedures, so textile factories don't want them. In previous years, they were outsourced to the street offices. The street offices would take the jobs and then distribute them to impoverished households in their subordinate streets. The impoverished households would take the jobs home to do, and then return them to the street offices. They would be paid per piece.
However, some subdistrict offices are not strict in their management, resulting in inconsistent product quality. Textile factories have to conduct an extra inspection, increasing time costs and making things difficult for them.
So this year, the textile factory decided to take this job back from the street office, pull out a few managers, and set up an independent second factory to specialize in producing these small miscellaneous jobs.
Factory No. 2 is different from Factory No. 1. It does not recruit workers separately. Instead, it recruits workers from the labor service company and signs labor contracts with them. It follows the path of outsourced contract workers in later generations. The wages and benefits are definitely not as good as those of the regular employees in Factory No. 1.
However, for those who joined the factory, it was at least a job. They could receive a monthly salary to take home and support their families, preventing them from starving.
Qiao Aimei was assigned to work at the No. 2 factory, where she earned eighteen yuan a month, which was considered quite good.
When Qiao Aimei reported to the Second Textile Factory, Mingxi accompanied her. After get off work that evening, she took a detour to the Second Textile Factory for a look.
Mingxi saw Qiao Aimei leaving get off work at the door, waved to her, and went up to ask, "How was your workday?"
Qiao Aimei nodded: "It's good. Our factory is mostly women. The women who work in the same workshop as me are all older than me and they take good care of me. Our work is also okay and easy to learn. I learned it after following the older woman next to me for a while. The work is not particularly tiring, just a bit tedious. But as long as you are honest and don't cheat, even if you work a little slowly, the workshop director won't say anything."
Her job requires a sewing machine, but she doesn't have one at home. Even if she did, Qiao Zhenjun and Wang Zhaodi wouldn't allow her to touch something so expensive.
She arrived at the factory today and touched a sewing machine for the first time.
Fortunately, there was an older woman in the workshop who taught her, otherwise she really wouldn't know how to use this thing.
Mingxi: "That's alright."
Fearing that Qiao Aimei was too young and inexperienced, she instructed her, "Be sweet-talking. The older women in the factory will take care of you and teach you things. Even if you don't buy them anything, be sweet-talking and say a few nice things."
You can't hit a smiling face, right? Just say a few nice words, it doesn't cost you anything, and you don't have to give anything in return. But if the other person is happy to hear it, they might be willing to teach you more.
Mingxi knew that Qiao Aimei wasn't a very eloquent person, but in the workplace, it wasn't enough to just keep your head down and work; you also had to be good at talking.
Mingxi shared her experience: "You don't need to say much to them. Just sincerely thank them for teaching you and helping you integrate into the factory. The main thing is to show your attitude that you remember their kindness."
Qiao Aimei nodded seriously, keeping her words in mind.
Just as Mingxi was talking to Qiao Aimei, Zhu Jianmin and Zhu Lingling arrived.
The father and daughter greeted Mingxi with smiles on their faces, and Mingxi exchanged a few pleasantries with them.
Zhu Jianmin and Zhu Lingling came to pick up Qiao Aimei from get off work. Today was Qiao Aimei's first day at work, and the two of them bought Qiao Aimei's favorite dishes to celebrate.
Just then, Zhu Jianmin saw Mingxi and warmly invited her to his home to try her cooking.
Mingxi waved her hand in refusal. The three of them were celebrating; why should she, an outsider, interfere?
Seeing Mingxi's firm attitude, Zhu Jianmin did not continue to invite her. It was getting late, so he said a few words to Qiao Aimei, then said goodbye to Mingxi and left with Qiao Aimei and Zhu Lingling.
Watching the two adults and one child laughing and chatting as they left side by side, Mingxi curled the corners of her lips, turned around, and walked away in another direction.
Before we knew it, it was the end of August, and September and October were just around the corner. During this time, the Women's Federation was busy preparing for the activities to respect, love, care for the elderly and lonely elderly in September, as well as the National Day Women's Style Showcase in October. Everyone in the office was working hard.
Besides her work at the Women's Federation, Mingxi is also incredibly busy introducing potential partners to people in her private life.
September and October are the golden months for weddings, and Mingxi took on many jobs helping people propose marriage.
You wouldn't know unless you're a matchmaker; you can encounter some really strange people when you go to propose marriage. Mingxi met one just like that.
A gay man asked her to help him propose marriage. He had found the woman himself; they had been in a relationship for over half a year and felt they were a good match in many ways. They were also considering marriage and had discussed everything, so they just needed to go through the formalities.
Mingxi thought that going through the formalities wouldn't be too troublesome. She could just go along with it and get the matchmaker's red envelope. It was easy money, so she agreed.
As it turns out, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
Mingxi accompanied the man's family to propose marriage. The family seemed quite normal; the man's mother appeared rather domineering, the man's father was quiet, and there was also the man's older sister who was quite talkative.
When they arrived at the woman's house, as soon as they sat down, the man's older sister said, "To be honest, we are both ordinary families. If we're going to get married, let's just have a down-to-earth wedding. There's no need to compare ourselves to others."
Mingxi immediately sensed something was off about the tone of those words.
Isn't the implication behind these words a warning to the woman, implying that she's being competitive?
She had known about the couple's situation beforehand. The woman was a practical person who never said she wanted to compare herself to anyone.
Mingxi was still completely confused when she heard the groom's older sister say, "I heard it from my younger brother. You want a dowry of sixty-six yuan. He said that's the price everyone else pays, and that the number sounds auspicious."
She crossed her legs and started lecturing: "It's not that I, your sister-in-law, am deliberately stirring up trouble, but I genuinely think this dowry is inappropriate. Xiao Na, you've been dating my younger brother for half a year now, haven't you? I thought you were a sensible girl, but I didn't expect you to be just like those immature girls outside, only thinking about money and comparing yourself to others. Are you marrying my younger brother or some stranger? Are you going to live with my younger brother or some stranger? When it comes to living together, as long as we're comfortable at home, why compare ourselves to others? Do you think that your relationship with my younger brother for half a year is less important than a few dozen yuan? You can't be so vain."
The woman's family was completely stunned by these words. They were immediately berated. The woman herself was so aggrieved that her eyes turned red, and her father's hands were clenched tightly, with veins bulging. He was clearly also very angry about what she had said.
The atmosphere on the scene instantly became tense, and the air was thick with the smell of gunpowder.
Seeing that something was wrong, Mingxi quickly tugged at the man next to her: "Wait, what's wrong with your older sister?"
Before the man came, he told her that the woman had heard rumors that the bride price was sixty-six yuan, and that her family would give her the money back home, plus an extra forty-eight yuan as dowry.
This number, in today's context, is just the average level in the northern part of the city; it's really not much.
Moreover, both the man and the woman have jobs, and their families are not exactly poor. The man's father works in a machinery factory, and the woman's father works in an electric motor factory.
This dowry is not considered excessive by either side.
The woman's family asking for this amount is clearly just a way to get the man to give a token gesture, to see if it's worthwhile. The man's side had agreed beforehand; at least when Mingxi asked, they said they had no objections.
You were all agreeing before, but then you suddenly did this when we got there. Mingxi's short temper flared up a bit, and she asked with a dark face.
"Didn't you tell me that your family knew about the bride price and agreed to it? What does your older sister mean by this? Didn't you tell her, or is she deliberately trying to cause trouble?"
The man stared blankly, saying, "No, I don't know what's going on. I talked to my older sister about the bride price at home, and she had no objections. I don't know why she said that."
Mingxi: "You don't know, you wouldn't stop her from telling?"
The man became timid again. He moved his lips and said, "This...this isn't appropriate. She's still my older sister, no matter what."
Upon hearing this, Mingxi knew immediately that she had been tricked today.
This whole thing must have been planned by the groom's family and his older sister.
Maybe it was this guy who came up with the idea behind it.
At this point, the groom's older sister was still rambling on, saying, "My younger brother and Xiaona have been together for so long, they really have feelings for each other, and our family isn't that stingy. So, in-laws, let's discuss this: the bride price will be a little lower, our family will contribute 44,000, and the bride price and dowry will be about the same amount, isn't that reasonable?"
The woman was furious when she heard this.
Look at the numbers they originally mentioned: sixty-six and forty-eight. These are auspicious numbers, signifying great success. Forty-eight means prosperity, and these are all lucky sayings.
On the groom's side, they immediately started haggling over the agreed-upon dowry, eventually managing to reduce it to a paltry sum of forty-four.
Forty-four, death is death, isn't this just hoping for someone in their family to die?
With this figure revealed, haggling over the bride price becomes irrelevant.
It's obvious that the groom's family isn't there to arrange a marriage, but rather to make enemies.
The woman's father, his face dark, was about to speak when Mingxi stepped forward and slammed her hand on the table. She glared at the man's family and shouted, "I'm not doing this job! This isn't what you told me before you came. You agreed with me that the bride price would be 66,000 yuan, and you promised to give it to the woman too. Now you're turning your back on me? Are you trying to make me share the burden? No way! I'm not doing this job. If you want to propose, find another matchmaker!"
Mingxi had no choice but to step forward. The two sides were on the verge of fighting, and if she didn't speak up and make her stance clear, the woman's family might think she was on the same side as the man.
In fact, it is very normal for matchmakers to have disagreements about betrothal gifts and dowries when they help people propose marriage. Normal matchmakers will also help the two sides communicate and mediate.
Mingxi was invited by the man, so she should stand on his side.
But this kind of negotiation isn't about saying one thing beforehand and then changing your mind at the last minute, then having the matchmaker smooth things over. You need to communicate with the matchmaker beforehand, and the matchmaker should try to help you speak amicably with the woman's family, so that things are peaceful and both sides save face. Now that things have escalated to this point, even a miracle worker couldn't mediate.
Anyway, Mingxi felt that she didn't have that much ability, and she couldn't handle this matter.
Not to mention, the groom's side has pushed the bride price down to 44,000, which the bride's side clearly won't agree to. In the end, the two sides will definitely become enemies. As a matchmaker who came halfway through the process, there's no need for her to get involved in this matter.
Mingxi stepped forward and uttered a series of scathing remarks that left both the man and woman speechless.
The woman's family assumed that Mingxi was invited by the man's family because she knew about the situation and wanted to speak up for the other side. However, they did not expect that she was also unaware of the situation and had been tricked into coming.
The woman's family were all quite reasonable. Hearing Mingxi's words, they knew she was innocent, so they didn't argue with her. They just looked up and glared at the man's family with angry eyes.
The man's family of four got angry when they heard Mingxi's words.
Although they were the ones who acted unfairly at first by not telling Mingxi the truth beforehand, they still paid Mingxi to come and act as matchmaker. It's still too much for her to back out at the last minute and wash her hands of the matter!
The man's older sister pointed her finger and rushed straight at Mingxi: "Hey, what's wrong with you, matchmaker? Our family is paying you, how can you just say you don't want to do it? Do you believe I'll tell other people about this and see who will still come to you for matchmaking?"
Mingxi flicked her arm, swatting away her sharp fingertips: "Go ahead and tell others! If you don't tell others, I'm going to give you a good talking-to!"
She spat to the side and said, "Pah! I've never seen anyone like you. You agreed on a dowry of sixty-six yuan, and your family even agreed to it, but then you changed your mind when it came to the marriage proposal, saying that the woman is materialistic and vain. If she were really materialistic and vain, she wouldn't even look at your brother, who's just average in every way except for his big face, a shriveled bastard who doesn't care about being ashamed at all!"
Mingxi's words were purely out of resentment and a malicious attack on the other party.
The man is indeed of average appearance and his family is of average means. Both he and the woman are ordinary people with similar family backgrounds in all aspects, so it's hard to say who is better or worse.
But Mingxi was still unhappy and didn't like the man.
You said that you and the woman are a good match in all aspects, and you have a foundation of feelings for each other. Sixty-six yuan is not much for you, at most three months' salary. Just do as agreed, why can't it be done?
Why did you have to pull such a disgusting stunt at your wedding? What were you trying to do?
I want to conduct a compliance test to see if the woman can obediently follow my lead, to know her bottom line, so that I can better control her after marriage.
This is just plain stupid!
Mingxi's words were like poison, leaving the man feeling uneasy. His sister was even more upset that Mingxi had pushed her away, and she yelled that she was about to rush over and fight with Mingxi.
It was her younger brother who pulled her back at the critical moment: "Sister, sister, calm down! She's Mingxi, the one who can catch bullets with her bare hands!"
The man's older sister froze, recalling the rumors circulating outside: Mingxi was highly skilled in martial arts, capable of defeating ten opponents at once, able to catch bullets bare-handed, had connections in both the legitimate and criminal worlds, and was a ruthless killer, yet the police hadn't arrested her.
She couldn't help but shiver, shrinking her neck and hiding behind her younger brother.
Oh right, how could she forget about that!
She specifically sought out Mingxi because she had heard that Mingxi was skilled in fighting. She thought that even if the woman's family disagreed and wanted to take action, Mingxi's presence could at least help restrain the woman's family.
Unexpectedly, Mingxi said he wouldn't do it as soon as he heard what she said.
The man's older sister gritted her teeth, feeling extremely unhappy.
Today, she has shot herself in the foot.
Seeing the man's older sister cowering obediently, Mingxi rolled her eyes speechlessly. It was the first time she felt that the rumors outside weren't entirely useless; at least they could scare these cowardly and greedy good-for-nothings.
The groom's family didn't dare to boss Mingxi around, and they used all their strength on the bride's family.
The man's older sister turned to the woman and said, "How can you not appreciate your blessings? My brother has been dating you for over half a year, you've kissed and hugged, and the fact that he's willing to give you 44 yuan as a bride price is already quite generous. Otherwise, even if our family didn't give it, there's nothing you could do. Anyway, everyone knows you're not clean, let's see who you marry!"
The woman was so angry that her face turned red.
When she started dating him, she didn't think too much about it. The two of them were dating with marriage in mind. After dating for more than half a year, when their feelings deepened, some intimate contact was inevitable.
Who would have thought that these things would now become the man's means of threatening her?
Mingxi rolled her eyes again and raised her voice: "Comrade, don't listen to her. It's just a kiss and a hug, what's the big deal? Don't be afraid, dump this guy, and come find me. I'm a professional matchmaker. Whatever kind of person you want, I can find you one."
The man's family became very anxious upon hearing this. They wanted to control the woman, but they didn't really want to break up with her.
The man panicked and grabbed the woman's arm: "No, Xiaona, we've already discussed getting married. I even came to propose today. You can't just back out now. What will happen to all the things I've prepared for the wedding if you don't marry me? Do you know that my mom has already told other relatives about my marriage? How am I supposed to face everyone else if you break up with me now?"
The woman saw that all he was thinking about at this moment was his own interests and his own face, and he didn't even say sorry, so she completely gave up on him.
With a cold face, he said, "We're done. Do whatever you want, face whatever you want, it has nothing to do with me."
The man remained obstinate, grabbing the woman's arm and saying, "No, you can't do this!"
The woman's father punched her: "Go to hell! What do you mean you can't do this or that? My daughter already said you two are broken up and have nothing to do with each other anymore. Don't you understand?"
He had been holding back his anger for a long time, but he had previously hesitated to act because his daughter had feelings for the other man.
Now that his daughter has taken the initiative to break off her relationship with him, what else does he have to care about?
When the man's family saw him being beaten, they yelled, "How dare you hit my brother/son!"
The man's entire family rushed over without a second thought.
The two families started fighting, and the commotion quickly attracted the attention of the neighbors in the courtyard.
"Old Wang's family, are you alright?"
Neighbors in the courtyard stood at the door shouting, and the sounds of things being smashed inside the house never stopped, but the neighbors couldn't hear any of Old Wang's family members. They all became serious.
Several tall, burly men exchanged glances and then kicked open the door to Old Wang's house.
Right now, the man and woman are fighting fiercely, and Mingxi is standing on the sidelines, occasionally kicking the man to try and take sides.
This is, after all, the woman's home. These neighbors have lived together in the courtyard for decades. No matter how they usually behave in the courtyard, they certainly can't tolerate seeing outsiders bullying the people in the courtyard.
And so, everyone in the courtyard rolled up their sleeves and got to work.
No matter how fierce and unreasonable the groom's family was, they couldn't suppress the local bully. The whole family was beaten black and blue, and in the end, they could only swallow their anger and take the things they had brought home.
As the family left, the people in the courtyard began to speak up: "Old Wang's family, what happened? Wasn't that young man your Xiao Na's boyfriend? I saw him bringing your Xiao Na back a few days ago. Why did you two start fighting?"
"Sigh, stop talking. It's our family's fault for misjudging people; we ended up with an unreasonable one..."
The woman's mother burst into tears. She squeezed into the neighbors' group chat, wiping away her tears, and recounted everything the man's family had done that day, including how the man's sister had threatened her daughter, saying that her daughter would never be able to get married even if she married someone else.
Half of her tears were genuine regret for not stopping her daughter from dating the man when she misjudged him, and part of it was just for show.
After the man's family goes back, they will definitely gossip about her daughter, exaggerating and slandering her, and trying to pin the blame on her. It's better for her to take the initiative and speak out first.
Besides, it's not her family's fault in this matter. If she says it out loud, others will only think that the other side is being unreasonable.
After the woman's mother finished speaking through tears, the neighbors in the courtyard were all filled with righteous indignation.
"No way! What's with this guy?! Changing his mind at the last minute!"
"Exactly! Everything was agreed upon. You were all happily preparing, waiting for them to come and propose marriage, and then they pull this stunt. Isn't this just making yourselves lose face?"
"Your daughter Xiaona is lucky to have seen through her in-laws' true nature before the wedding. This is a case of a blessed woman not marrying into a family without blessings!"
"That's right..."
Everyone was talking at once, and Mingxi, seeing that the family didn't seem to be brainless, felt relieved and prepared to leave.
Before leaving, she turned back to the woman who had been proposed to earlier that day: "Comrade, what I just said is true. If you're looking for a partner, I can introduce you to men. I have all kinds of men here. If you need me, come find me at No. 68, Jinyu Hutong. My name is Mingxi."
"Or you can come to the Women's Federation to find me, I work there."
Wang Na nodded blankly, "Oh, okay."
Mingxi finished securing business for herself before turning to leave.
Well, let's get to the point. I didn't make much money today, and I was even forced to eat a pile of shit.
But if you can successfully develop one customer, that would be considered a success!
Mingxi quickly calmed herself down and walked briskly home. After mid-August, the temperature in the northern part of the city had dropped considerably. The past two nights had been a bit chilly, but it was still strangely hot at midday. She walked along the shade of the trees, avoiding the sun.
Just as she was about to reach the entrance of her alley, a woman covering her face and crying all the way past Mingxi suddenly brushed past her.
Who is this?
Mingxi craned her neck to take a curious look. The woman was dressed quite plainly, in a striped short-sleeved shirt and coarse cloth pants. Her hair, however, was quite fashionable, with a short head of hair permed into big waves.
Wait, that back view looks so familiar...
Mingxi was craning her neck to look when she saw the person bump into Aunt He, who was coming out of the courtyard.
Aunt He: "Oh dear, what the heck—"
She clutched her aching back and immediately began to scold, "Hey, why don't you watch where you're going? Look how badly you bumped into me! If anything happened to my old bones, I definitely wouldn't be able to get around..."
As she was speaking, she looked up and saw the other person's face clearly. She immediately exclaimed, "Oh dear, daughter of the Dong family, what happened to your face? Did someone hit you? Who hit you? It wasn't your man, was it?"
Upon hearing this, the woman who hit the person glared angrily at Aunt He and said, "Mind your own business!"
She covered her face, lowered her head, and hurried away.
"Hey, what kind of person is this? You bumped into someone and didn't even apologize. Are you blind or mute? You have no manners at all. I don't know how your family raised you. I saw your injury and kindly asked you what happened, and you immediately accused me of meddling. Fine, fine, I guess I'm meddling. My good intentions are wasted!"
Aunt He was in a bad mood and grumbled at Dong Chunling's back.
Mingxi walked over: "Aunt He, what's going on?"
"Hey, Mingxi, you're back?" When Aunt He saw Mingxi, her expression improved a little, but she was still unhappy. She waved her hand and said, "You don't know, just now, right here at the door, that girl, Dong Chunling, the daughter of the Dong family, bumped right into me. She bumped into me so badly that my old bones felt like they were going to fall apart."
Aunt He clutched her waist, grimacing in pain.
Dong Chunling is the one Mingxi and Zhao Sulan discussed last time—that famous, eccentric woman in the alley. She discovered her fiancé was cheating on her, insisted on marrying him, and ended up going back to her parents' home every day to beg them to help her get justice. After her family reprimanded the man, she immediately went to play the good guy and reconciled with her husband.
Mingxi: "Are you alright? Do you want me to go to the hospital with you?"
Aunt He waved her hand: "It's not that serious, it's not that bad."
“However, this isn’t a serious matter!” Aunt He raised her voice: “You know, when Old Dong’s daughter bumped into me, shouldn’t she apologize to me, at least say sorry? After all, she’s the one who bumped into me. But she didn’t say a word, not even a peep, as if nothing had happened.”
"Besides, I just saw a bright red handprint on her face, no joke, it was so red and swollen. I was wondering if something had happened to her, or if someone had hit her, so I asked her. Well, she reacted like she was on fire, glaring at me fiercely and saying I was meddling. Hey, I've never seen such an ungrateful person..."
Aunt He kept muttering to herself, getting angrier and angrier the more she thought about it, and she just couldn't calm down.
She kept a straight face and said, "No, I have to go to Old Dong's house and get an explanation for this."
Aunt He, trembling, was about to head to Old Dong's house in the alley.
Seeing how unsteady she was when she took a step, Mingxi knew that she had really been badly bumped by Dong Chunling.
She advised Aunt He to go home and rest, but Aunt He was stubborn and refused to go back with Mingxi.
With no other option, Mingxi had to go to the Dong family's house with Aunt He.
After all, Aunt He was her longtime gossip buddy and her business partner who helped her gather information.
If something really happens to her, Mingxi won't know who to ask for information for her in the future.
Mingxi helped Aunt He to the Dong family's house. The door of the Dong family's house was wide open, and a sharp cry and voice came from inside. Although the people sitting in the yard did not show any particular behavior, Mingxi could tell at a glance that everyone was listening intently to the commotion inside the Dong family's house.
All that could be heard was Dong Chunling crying her heart out: "Dad, Mom, you have no idea how awful Yan Zhiwen is! He has other women outside!"
Mingxi couldn't help but blurt out, "Doesn't Yan Zhimin have enough women outside?"
Yan Zhiwen is Dong Chunling's husband who never stopped having affairs.
Believe it or not, there are quite a few people in the courtyard who share Mingxi's thoughts. Dong Chunling goes back to her parents' home to cry about Yan Zhiwen messing around with other people outside, once or twice a month.
Everyone's used to it.
The Dong family was also helpless with Dong Chunling. She would come home and cry at the drop of a hat, but she was unwilling to divorce Yan Zhiwen.
What can they do?
Mr. and Mrs. Dong, including Mr. Dong's elder brother, all remained calm, as if they hadn't heard Dong Chunling's cries.
Dong Chunling felt even more aggrieved. She covered her face and cried pitifully, "Dad, Mom, Big Brother, please say something! Yan Zhiwen doesn't take me seriously at all. He's messing around outside. Shouldn't you stand up for me?"
Speaking of this, Brother Dong got angry and slammed his fist on the table: "Then tell me, how should we avenge you? Should we go to Yan Zhiwen's house and beat him up? Or should we smash up his house?"
“Last time you came back, you said you saw Yan Zhiwen putting his arm around a woman and going into the guesthouse. Didn’t we follow you to Yan’s house to settle accounts with him and smash up his house? And what happened? You made up with Yan Zhiwen and then turned around and blamed us for smashing too much stuff. There’s nothing usable in the house, and you want us to pay for your furniture.”
"And the time before that, you came back and said that Yan Zhiwen was having an affair with a woman at work, and that he was having a secret rendezvous with her while her husband was away. Didn't we go with you to confront Yan Zhiwen? I beat him up, and what did you say in return? You said I went too far and was too ruthless."
"Dong Chunling, Dong Chunling, look at what you've done all these years! Have you ever done anything decent? Let me tell you, if I weren't your own brother, and if our parents weren't your own parents, we wouldn't let you into our house today!"
Brother Dong launched into a rapid-fire barrage of words, leaving Dong Chunling utterly embarrassed.
Mingxi: "Tsk tsk tsk, Boss Dong really has it tough."
While enjoying her melon, Aunt He didn't care about being pushed by Dong Chunling. She listened to the commotion inside the house with great interest and chimed in, "That's right, how many messes has Boss Dong cleaned up for Dong Chunling over the years?"
Mingxi recalled what she had heard before and asked, "When Dong Chunling caused trouble at Yan Zhiwen's workplace, was it Dong Laoda who cleaned up her mess?"
Aunt He: "That's right! If it weren't for Boss Dong constantly chasing after her to apologize, Dong Chunling would be in jail right now."
They were talking about last year when Dong Chunling's husband, Yan Zhiwen, became quite close to a female colleague at work. Dong Chunling felt that her husband must be having an affair with that woman, and that the woman had seduced her husband.
Although no one could quite understand her thought process, she was determined to stick to her idea. She even went to Yan Zhiwen's workplace, found the female colleague, and said she wanted to strip her clothes off and parade her through the streets.
Of course, with unit leaders and security personnel present, they couldn't let her do that, and in the end, Dong Chunling was taken to the security department.
When her first scheme failed, Dong Chunling came up with another plan: to have an affair with the woman in the security department who had reported her, and to seduce her husband by writing him love letters.
Dong Chunling couldn't bear to blame her husband. Even if her husband had affairs with other women, it wasn't his fault; it was all the other women's fault!
Moreover, she wasn't stupid; she knew that if she said Yan Zhiwen had an affair, Yan Zhiwen would also be investigated, so she only said that the woman had seduced Yan Zhiwen.
Of course, after an investigation, the security department found that there was no such thing.
The woman and Yan Zhiwen were just having normal working interactions.
Perhaps Yan Zhiwen was interested, but the woman wasn't; their relationship was purely professional.
Just because she talked to Yan Zhiwen a few more times and lent him her work log, this female comrade was almost slandered as a woman who had promiscuous relationships. How could she easily swallow this insult?
The other party contacted their superiors, the Public Security Bureau, and the Procuratorate, determined to send Dong Chunling to jail.
It was Dong Laoda who chased after the other party to apologize and actively compensate them, going to great lengths to get them to let Dong Chunling off the hook.
That time, Boss Dong was furious. When he saw Dong Chunling being released by the security department, he went up and slapped her across the face.
After being released, Dong Chunling behaved herself for a while, but soon, as Yan Zhiwen became entangled with other women, she started making trouble again.
Thinking of this, Mingxi couldn't help but shake her head: "Hesitation will only lead to trouble. The Dong family still can't bring themselves to be ruthless. If it were me, I would have severed ties with Dong Chunling directly."
Aunt He shook her head: "What's the use of severing ties? The Dong family is all here. Even if we sever ties, she'll still come back and cause trouble."
Mingxi: "Let her make a fuss, just ignore her, isn't that enough?"
If you ignore her once, or twice, she'll know her family won't tolerate her anymore, and she'll have to stop.
Ultimately, Dong Chunling's behavior stems from being spoiled by the Dong family.
Aunt He: "The Dong family just can't bring themselves to be ruthless."
If the Dong family had been ruthless, Dong Chunling might not have married Yan Zhiwen.
While Mingxi and Aunt He were chatting away, in the other room, Dong Chunling broke down in tears because her family wouldn't stand up for her: "Waaah, how could you do this? You're still my own father, mother, and brother. Waaah, Yan Zhiwen wants a divorce, and you don't care about me. I finally understand, there's no one in this world who likes me, and there's no place for me."
As she cried, her eyes caught sight of the open kitchen door of the Dong family's house. She rushed towards the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and brazenly placed it against her neck.
The cold blade touched her skin, instantly drawing a shallow gash, from which bright red blood immediately seeped out. Holding the knife, she shouted, "Since no one cares about me, no one loves me, what's the point of my life? I might as well die!"
When the Dong family looked up, they saw a scene that terrified them, which terrified the whole family.
Even if they say they don't care about Dong Chunling's affairs, no matter what, Dong Chunling is still their own daughter and sister, how could they watch her die?
Dong Chunling's older brother's pupils constricted sharply, and he shouted, "Chunling, put the knife down!"
With red eyes, Dong's mother said in a shrill voice, "Yes, Chunling, put down the knife and let's talk this out."
Upon hearing the commotion, the people outside immediately sensed something was wrong.
Although Dong Chunling comes back and causes trouble every few days, she has never used a knife before. Today she did, and things have gotten really out of hand!
Mingxi also realized that something was wrong. She rushed to the door of the Dong family in a few steps and saw Dong Chunling with a kitchen knife against her neck, tears streaming down her face like a broken string.
Mingxi: !!!
Good heavens, they actually went under the knife.
Dong Chunling, that woman, is too crazy!
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