Chapter 101: Chapter 101

"You clearly saw the letter. You were the one who passed it to Zhang Yuan. You’re lying. You clearly saw the letter!" Zhao Hongmei, furious, reached out to grab Li Jianshe’s sleeve and shook it back and forth. "How can you lie ? Just tell the truth! Zhang Yuan obviously didn’t want Bai Ruxue and abandoned her to return to the Capital City!"

"Comrade Zhao Hongmei, I don’t want to argue with you since you’re a woman. Please show some respect! Don’t touch me!" Li Jianshe’s usual playful face turned solemn.

"You...you bastard, you’re a scoundrel! Why won’t you just tell the truth? Or do you also have a thing with Bai Ruxue?" Zhao Hongmei angrily spouted whatever came to mind.

But only Bai Ruxue noticed the flash of cunning on Zhao Hongmei’s face.

She swiftly stepped forward and, before anyone could react, slapped Zhao Hongmei twice across the face.

"Zhao Hongmei, I see you’re just an actress, and I don’t want to bother with you or listen to your act, but you’d better watch your mouth. Spreading filth everywhere is your fault — it pollutes the environment and taints people’s ears!" Bai Ruxue’s every word was clearly heard by those present.

"Good! Well done!" The first to react was Qian Tiegang, who applauded vigorously.

"Ah...Bai Ruxue, you bitch! How dare you hit me? I’ll strangle you!" Zhao Hongmei lunged forward, trying to grab Bai Ruxue.

Li Jianshe quickly pulled Bai Ruxue back, taking a solid slap from Zhao Hongmei himself.

With that move, Wang Xuehua and An Liangliang rushed over, and several onlookers outside the crowd also came running.

A scuffle broke out, or to be precise, a one-sided lesson for Zhao Hongmei. Li Jianshe and the other educated youths didn’t join in, and Liu Lili didn’t dare to help Zhao Hongmei either.

Bai Ruxue didn’t let her two younger brothers get involved, so together with Wang Xuehua, An Liangliang, and her two sisters, the five of them pinned Zhao Hongmei to the ground and gave her a beating.

Zhao Hongmei had no ability to resist and rolled on the ground.

Until the team leader, found by Liu Lili, came over.

"Stop it! What’s the meaning of this?" Wang Jianjun shouted sternly, and several people finally stopped.

Zhao Hongmei clutched her arms, sobbing, her hair a mess and blood dripping from her nose.

"Wah, wah, wah, I’m going to report you all! A group of you ganging up on me! I’m going to make sure you all go to jail!"

"Go ahead, then! Go on! You’d better do it now! When the time comes, I’ll have a nice talk with the police about your rumors! With that filthy mouth of yours, if I don’t have the Disciplinary Office take you away, I won’t be called Wang!" Wang Xuehua stood with one hand on her hip and pointed at the ground at Zhao Hongmei.

"Enough, Xuehua! Shut up!" Wang Jianjun shouted in frustration.

This daughter of his was feisty, always having strong arguments even when she was wrong.

It seemed this little educated youth must have offended her.

Bai Ruxue, after the fight, stood quietly to the side with no expression on her face, neither scared nor angry, with a look that said, ’I’ve hit her. What of it?’

Her two sisters stood by her now, Bai Ruyun’s face was pale and frightened.

Meanwhile, Bai Ruxia looked thrilled, as if she still hadn’t had enough.

"Team Leader, you have to stand up for me. Since I came to Chaoyang Commune Fifth Team, I have worked diligently and made no mistakes. Today, I was beaten by several of your village’s shrews. If you don’t give me justice, I’ll go to the commune myself and to the town’s police station!" Zhao Hongmei cried with tears streaking her face.

"Help her up!" Wang Jianjun ordered sternly.

Liu Lili quickly rushed over, but couldn’t support Zhao Hongmei alone, so she turned back to seek help from two other educated female youths.

Qian Guiying and Qian Xiuying were sisters, the elder Qian Guiying was eighteen, and the younger Qian Xiuying was sixteen. They usually kept a low profile and had little presence.

"Guiying, come help me! I can’t lift her!" Liu Lili called out, and Qian Guiying, resigned, came over to help.

Normally, Zhao Hongmei and Liu Lili were never kind to the sisters, making them do all sorts of chores, fetching water, or gathering firewood that they didn’t want to do themselves.

The sisters had their complaints but had no choice. When Zhao Hongmei and Liu Lili teamed up, they would beat the sisters frequently.

"Take her back to the educated youth point and disinfect her wounds!" Wang Jianjun suggested once Zhao Hongmei was helped up.

People around just watched indifferently since Zhao Hongmei was known for being difficult and looking down on rural folks; hence, no one stepped forward to help now.

"Team Leader, I won’t return to the educated youth point unless this matter is resolved! How are you going to handle the fact that Bai Ruxue and her gang beat me?" Zhao Hongmei pressed.

"I need to understand what this fight was about!" Wang Jianjun didn’t give Zhao Hongmei an immediate answer.

"What else? I just told a truth, and Bai Ruxue couldn’t stand being dumped by a man, so she took it out on me!" Zhao Hongmei said softly, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Team Leader, that’s not how it happened!" Aunt Sun Hong immediately stood out.

Her daughter was also involved in the fight, but she didn’t seem to blame her.

"Yes, Team Leader, that’s not how it was. Comrade Zhao Hongmei was slandering! She even said our Xiao Xue had a fling with Li Jianshe, the educated youth. That’s why Xiao Xue went up to hit her! Previously, she was making up stories that Zhang Yuan didn’t want our Xiao Xue, went back to Capital City to get married, yet Xiao Xue never paid attention to Zhao Hongmei!" The Third Granny, overhearing Zhao Hongmei’s words, fumed in the crowd.

If she weren’t getting on in years and saw that Xiao Xue hadn’t suffered, she would have joined in too.

"Heh...who’s to say she wasn’t telling the truth? That educated youth Zhang Yuan did return to the Capital City, so who knows if it’s for a wedding?" Grandma Bai sneered next to Third Granny.

"Elder Sister-in-law, Xiao Xue is your granddaughter. How can you say such a thing? Do you know how serious it is if one’s engagement is abandoned by their fiancé?" Third Granny snapped back coldly at Grandma Bai.

Grandma Bai had mumbled to let off some steam but dared not say more against Third Granny, glaring at her before turning away.

"That’s how it is, Team Leader! Comrade Zhao Hongmei accused Comrade Bai Ruxue of an affair with Comrade Li Jianshe, which angered Bai Ruxue leading to the hit!" A male educated youth beside Li Jianshe explained on his behalf.

"Yes! We can all testify!" Several people in the crowd stepped up to confirm.

They all knew that regardless of whether Zhang Yuan had abandoned Bai Ruxue to return to marry in the Capital City, Bai Daliang worked at the milk powder factory, and they might need a favor from them someday, so they helped when they could.

Moreover, they didn’t have a good impression of Zhao Hongmei, who didn’t appreciate kindness.

"You...you’re all barefaced liars! You’re slandering me! It’s clearly Bai Ruxue who can’t stand being..." Before Zhao Hongmei could finish about being dumped by Zhang Yuan, Liu Lili covered her mouth. Fresh chapters posted on novel⁂fire.net

"Hongmei, just say less. You’re already wrong in this. Besides, we’re on their turf with so many testifying for them; we can’t win!" Liu Lili whispered in her ear, supporting her toward the educated youth point. "Let’s go treat your wounds first; there will be plenty of time later! We can take our time!"

Zhao Hongmei, hearing Liu Lili’s suggestion, calculated within her mind and ceased her loud confrontation, compliantly returning to the educated youth point.