Huang Xiaojuan was already on edge, and when she heard that the locks had been changed, she snapped, “Why on earth would the lock change?!”
Mockery erupted from downstairs, “You still ask why?”
“It’s quite funny. You left two kids alone without giving them keys. How else are they supposed to get home without changing the lock?”
“Typical of someone so evil,” Engineer Li’s wife spat, “More likely, she is afraid of being accused of abuse again, so she intentionally forced them to sleep on the streets!”
Huang Xiaojuan was so angry that she lost all composure and blurted out, “Xia Mian has so many friends, she wouldn’t be homeless!” She thought this would turn the neighbors against Xia Mian, but it seemed to only increase their disdain for her.
“Bah! Xia Mian just got here; how could she have friends already? You think we don’t know what you’re up to?”
“You still treat us like fools!”
“Forget it, it’s nauseating to even talk to her. Let her be, talking to her dirties our mouths!”
Huang Xiaojuan was both angry and desperate — what kind of spell that damn girl had cast on these people?! Thinking this, she turned and began banging on the door furiously, believing that Xia Mian was inside and deliberately not opening it out of spite. Containing her anger, she shouted, “Xia Mian, open the door! Why did you call the police again?”
Upon hearing the commotion, Ning Shaoyun came out to take a look and asked, “Is that Huang Xiaojuan, the one who abused Xiao Feng and framed Xia Mian?”
“Exactly!”
The crowd immediately buzzed again. It was rare for Dr. Ning’s sister to engage with them, but now she seemed interested in Huang Xiaojuan’s antics.
It had been a long day for Huang Xiaojuan, with the long travel carrying both Xuanxuan and their luggage. She was both tired and hungry, and when Xuanxuan saw they were home but couldn’t enter, he started to cry.
Finally, Aunt Liu from across the hall, fed up with the noise, opened her door and said, “Stop shouting, Xia Mian isn’t here!”
Why don’t you just say it earlier?! Huang Xiaojuan clenched her teeth in frustration, convinced the old hag was doing this on purpose. Still, she held back her anger and asked, “Where did she go?!”
Aunt Liu pretended to be surprised. “After the way you drove her out, of course she went back to her hometown. Did you expect her to stay here and let you lock her out every day?”
“What about the lock?!” Huang Xiaojuan clenched her fists, teeth gritted. “Did she leave a key?”
“I don’t know, but Xia Mian, a young girl, managed just fine with Xiao Feng. There’s no reason you, an adult, can’t manage,” Aunt Liu replied nonchalantly.
Revenge, this is definitely Xia Mian’s revenge! Huang Xiaojuan felt dizzy with rage, and to make matters worse, Xuanxuan was crying louder, hungry and upset.
Left with no other option, Huang Xiaojuan picked up her luggage and held her son as she went to find a locksmith. But by the time she got there, the shop had just closed for the day.
Near breaking point, she kicked out in frustration at Xuanxuan’s incessant crying, shouting, “Shut up!”
After a brief shocked silence, Xuanxuan cried even louder…
In the end, Huang Xiaojuan had no choice but to take her son to a hotel. She had spent a good chunk of the money she withdrew from Xia Mian’s passbook, and after her family had taken the rest, she was now forced to use her own money, which she found extremely painful.
At the hotel, she frantically contacted Zhang Qiming, venting about Xia Mian calling the police, the lock being changed, and the neighbors’ speculations about the thugs.
Worried sick, she listened as Zhang Qiming asked back, “Did anyone in the compound say the police were looking for you?”
Huang Xiaojuan paused—actually, no one had mentioned that.
“That call was probably made by Xia Mian herself,” Zhang Qiming’s tone was calm, “You and your family are so naïve. When the police want to arrest someone, they don’t call; they just show up with a police car.”
Huang Xiaojuan realized he might be right. If Xia Mian had really alerted the police, she would have wanted everyone in the compound to know. But since no one mentioned it…
“So that girl probably ran into some trouble and desperately needed to reach you, but she couldn’t handle the pressure and ran off instead,” Zhang Qiming seemed to be in a good mood. “As for those thugs, let her say what she wants. From now on, she can swallow her own words.”
That must be it! Huang Xiaojuan’s eyes brightened. Xia Mian must have caused some ‘major disaster’; otherwise, why would she flee despite being hailed as a hero for saving Dr. Ning’s nephew?
Finally, Huang Xiaojuan’s mood lifted—Once she had Xia Mian’s weakness firmly in her grasp, she could make her say whatever she wanted.
Unfortunately, her satisfaction didn’t last long. The next day, when the locksmith opened his stall, Huang Xiaojuan went to him.
The locksmith was straightforward, “What’s going on with your family? People usually did not change a lock in years, but your house has had two changes in just one week.”
Huang Xiaojuan was about to complain about Xia Mian when Aunt Liu from across the hall came out and heard the conversation, “Ah, this family is really good-hearted, keeping your business running,” chuckled she.
Huang Xiaojuan didn’t dare speak ill of Xia Mian in front of Aunt Liu. She paid the locksmith, feeling heartache seeing the banknotes change hands, and then slammed the door shut to express her displeasure.
Aunt Liu snickered and said to her daughter-in-law, “This is just getting started; they’ve got plenty more to be upset about. Watch, she’ll be back asking for my help soon.”
“Why bother with her?” Li Xinmei also laughed, “That girl Xia Mian is really something.”
“She has to be, to deal with scum like that. Otherwise, how could she protect herself?” Aunt Liu replied, “But this is getting interesting,” she added, eyes twinkling with the joy of watching the drama unfold, “I want to see her lose her mind!”
Li Xinmei chuckled again.
Sure enough, merely seconds later, Huang Xiaojuan burst out of her house, panicked and forgetting her feud with the Lius, “Aunt Liu, I think someone broke into my place! The color TV and the sewing machine are both gone.”
“I don’t know about any thief,” Aunt Liu replied, “But as for the color TV and the sewing machine, Xia Mian pawned them.”
“Pawned?!” Huang Xiaojuan’s first reaction was to assume Xia Mian had sold the TV as second-hand. She raised her voice in anger, “How dare she?!”
“What are you shouting for?” Aunt Liu asked, puzzled. “Wasn’t it your husband who told Xia Mian to figure it out herself when she and Xiao Feng were locked up? We all heard it. He also promised that he’d handle it when he gets back.”
“And Xia Mian only pawned them. You can redeem them within a month, and it’ll just cost an extra few yuan in interest,” Aunt Liu continued. “Or would you rather have the kids go hungry?”
Sister Wang from upstairs leaned out and chimed in, “Right, if anyone is to blame, it’s you and Xiao Zhang for not thinking things through. We’re all neighbors here; if you had left the kids the key and some money, would they resort to such a drastic measure?”
Aunt Liu followed up, “Exactly. It’s lucky Xia Mian’s so clever; Otherwise, what would those kids have done…”
So, the two neighbors proceeded to praise Xia Mian one after another.
With a livid face, Huang Xiaojuan turned back inside. Aunt Liu and Sister Wang exchanged glances and snickered, both feeling quite satisfied.
Fuming with anger, Huang Xiaojuan went looking for the pawn ticket, half expecting that Xia Mian had deliberately tampered with it, too. Fortunately, it seemed Xia Mian hadn’t dared to go that far.
Next to the telephone, she found the very conspicuous blue pawn ticket, but finding it didn’t improve her mood much:
The flamboyant script on the white paper was as bold as the person it came from:
[Surprise? Shocked?]
[This is my gift for you. Expect more!]
Gift your a**!
Seeing that redeeming the items would cost her 1,400 yuan, Huang Xiaojuan trembled with rage: Xia Mian!!!
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