The sales clerk quickly glanced behind her and, seeing that the manager wasn't there, hurriedly apologized to Old Mrs. Wu in a low voice, "I'm so sorry, is there anything else you need?"
Huang Xiaoqiang remained silent. Old Mrs. Wu had bought everything she needed and then shook her head.
The sales clerk gritted her teeth, bent down and opened the cabinet, taking out a Dacron shirt. "This is a good thing, eight yuan a piece. I, I'll sell it to you for six yuan less, please don't tell our manager."
Grandma Wu waved her hand, clearly indicating that she didn't want it, and left with Huang Xiaoqiang.
On the other side, Huang Mancang, who had just experienced a bad day, stepped into the courtyard when he was pulled to a secluded corner by a pair of hands.
Huang Mancang opened his eyes and saw Zhou Pandi. He reluctantly pulled away, saying, "What kind of behavior is this, pulling and tugging like this?"
She glanced at Zhou Pan with disdain, then turned to the side and said, "I'm leaving first."
Zhou Pandi quickly grabbed him, but Huang Mancang shook her off. Worried that he would really leave, she hurriedly asked, "Do you know what Wu Mingxia said and did at the textile factory?"
Huang Mancang successfully stopped and turned to look at her. "What?"
Zhou Pandi raised her chin smugly, "Wu Mingxia spread rumors all over the textile factory, saying that you beat your wife and left her covered in bruises. She told everyone she met that you were making enemies everywhere."
"They also said you gambled away a lot of money from your family, and then complained about being poor, which made the women in our factory... tsk tsk tsk, they really look down on you."
Huang Mancang clenched his fists and lowered his voice, "Is what you said true?"
Seeing that he was angry, Zhou Pan couldn't hide her excitement, "Of course, you can find out about this as soon as you go out. Would I dare to lie to you?"
I'm angry, really angry. When I get back, I'll beat him up, beat Wu Mingxia up really hard.
Hmph! Let's see how arrogant that bitch Wu Mingxia can be now?
Suppressing his anger, Huang Mancang walked home, step by step. Every time he thought about how everyone at the machinery factory had treated him like he was invisible, his anger rose inch by inch.
He said, how could the people at the machine factory know that he beat up Wu Mingxia and gambled?
On her first day at work, she had prepared all the reasons, and they all believed her. But how come everything changed after just one day? It turns out she was the one playing tricks.
Grandma Wu and Huang Xiaoqiang followed behind, having bought the groceries. As soon as they opened the door, Huang Mancang sat aggressively on a stool. Huang Xiaoguo and his brothers glanced at Grandma Wu and then lowered their heads.
"What's going on?"
"You still have the nerve to ask!"
Old Mrs. Wu narrowed her eyes and looked at Huang Mancang with a dangerous gaze. "You'd better explain yourself clearly to me."
Explain? Huang Mancang gave a cold laugh. It was she who should be explaining to him. "I'm asking you, were you crying to someone at the textile factory, saying that I hit you and that you gambled away all your money?"
Grandma Wu scoffed, slamming the item down on the table with a blank expression. "I didn't."
"Stop trying to deny it! I know everything. Otherwise, why would the news have reached the machine factory and made me suffer the scorn of others!"
Seeing that Old Lady Wu had no intention of explaining, Huang Xiaoqiang, fearing that the two would really have a conflict, quickly stood in front of Old Lady Wu and said, "Dad, is someone gossiping in your ear? Mom never went out to spread family scandals before, so why would she now?"
"Besides, what good would it do her to tell her?"
Huang Mancang was taken aback and asked suspiciously, "But how would the people from the machinery factory know?"
Huang Xiaoqiang tried to explain, "The relationships involved are complicated and convoluted. Everyone in the compound knows about the time I brought people to visit on Wednesday."
"Then there's the matter of you hitting Mom. After all these years, no matter how well you pretended in the same courtyard, there will always be a time when you're exposed."
Huang Mancang pursed his lips, saying... "What he said does make some sense."
Before he could say anything more, a gust of wind suddenly swept over him, and Huang Mancang's head snapped to the side.
Out of the corner of their eye, a blindingly cold light flashed by. Just as Huang Xiaoguo and his brothers were about to grab the old woman, a 'plop' sound of flesh being pierced rang clearly in everyone's ears.
Huang Mancang looked at Old Lady Wu in disbelief, a piercing pain shooting through his right arm, and bright red blood gushed out.
Wang Huijun covered Huang Xuewen's eyes and ears early on, her face showing the same fear as Li Jin'e.
Old Mrs. Wu's lips curled slightly, but there was no smile in her eyes. She slowly got up, took out a pair of scissors, picked up the corner of her clothes, and slowly wiped away the bloodstains.
"Alright, that's my explanation, Huang Mancang... do you accept it?"
Huang Mancang staggered backward, clutching his arm, his face filled with terror and disbelief surging wildly in his eyes. "You're not Wu Mingxia! Absolutely not!"
Grandma Wu seemed to have heard something ridiculous and couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm not? Then who is?"
Huang Xiaoqiang stepped forward helplessly to help Huang Mancang up. "Dad, it really is my mom. What nonsense are you talking about?"
Huang Xiaoguo also had some doubts in his heart. In the past few days, Old Lady Wu was like a completely different person, not at all like before.
Li Jin'e nudged Huang Xiaomin beside her with her elbow, "What do you think, Mom...?"
The room was quiet at that moment, but Li Jin'e's voice, which she thought was very low, rang clearly in everyone's ears.
Old Mrs. Wu put the scissors back in her pocket, carefully placing them away. She turned to look at Li Jin'e with a nonchalant expression. "What? Possessed by a ghost? Resurrected?"
Li Jin'e lowered her head abruptly, but Old Lady Wu didn't let her off the hook. She slowly approached and continued, "You want to find a shaman to exorcise the ghost and bring back that fool who only knew how to work and devoted himself to you? So that you can boss him around again?"
Huang Xiaomin felt Li Jin'e trembling violently beside him. He was about to open his mouth when Wu Laotai suddenly slapped his hand back.
“I told you, if your wife says the wrong thing, you’ll get beaten.”
Seeing Huang Xiaomin being beaten, Li Jin'e cowered even more behind him, not daring to utter a single word.
Grandma Wu's face was expressionless, but Huang Xiaoqiang felt a pang of sadness and opened his mouth to tell her not to get angry.
Old Mrs. Wu turned around and went back into the house with the thermos.
Huang Mancang was helped up again by the brothers Huang Xiaoguo and Huang Xiaomin, and a similar scene was repeated just two days later.
This time they didn't go to the hospital; a simple bandage to stop the bleeding was all they needed.
It was such a farce that no one had any appetite, and everyone went back to their rooms.
Zhou Pandi, who had been keeping an eye on the Huang family, heard the commotion and went back to her room, satisfied.
She wanted to see if Wu Mingxia could act all high and mighty tomorrow!
"What have you been doing?"
A deep voice suddenly rang out behind her late at night, startling Zhou Pan. She turned around and saw her man, her tone filled with reproach.
"Don't you know how scary it is to scare people at night? It's terrifying!"
Hao Ren was speechless. "Aren't you sleeping at night? Are you wandering around like a ghost? You're eavesdropping on other people's conversations. Don't you know any shame?"
Seeing that he was about to start nagging again, Zhou Pan rolled her eyes, turned around and went back into the house. "I have to get up early tomorrow, I can't be bothered with you."
Hao Ren scratched his head. Early? Doesn't she usually arrive at work right on time?
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