It was Zhou Pandi who arrived. Her injuries had healed, but she was left with asthma as a lingering effect.
After coming back from the county hospital, she heard that Zhou Hongxia had taken her spot and got a temporary job in the workers’ cafeteria, which made her so furious that she couldn’t catch her breath on the spot.
Wang Jinzhi quickly tried to soothe her, saying, “Work is a small matter; your health is what really matters.”
“It’s all Zhou Zhijun and Li Chun Tao’s fault! If it weren’t for them, would I have ended up like this?”
Zhou Pandi blamed the two of them entirely for falling into the mud pit, grinding her teeth in hatred.
“That slut Li Chun Tao, carrying Zhou Zhijun’s bastard, and she turned around and accused me of slandering her!”
“You never learn your lesson, still spouting such nonsense!”
Wang Jinzhi scolded her verbally, but in her heart, she was also suspicious: If Li Chun Tao had nothing to do with Wang Jieshi anymore, why would Zhou Zhijun hide her away?
Zhou Pandi was stewing with anger at home, feeling suffocated lying around, so she sneaked out while Wang Jinzhi was away.
She first went to Wang’s place to find Zhou Zhaodi, but the door was locked, so she turned and headed to Huang Meili’s house.
Sure enough, Zhou Zhaodi was at Huang Meili’s place, the two of them huddled together whispering, looking very secretive.
Huang Meili spotted Zhou Pandi coming in and smiled as she greeted her, “Pandi, is your body all recovered now?”
Zhou Pandi ignored her pleasantries and cut straight to the chase, “What were you two whispering about? So furtive!”
Zhou Zhaodi could no longer hold back, looking at Huang Meili and urging, “Go on, spill it!”
Huang Meili glanced at both of them, lowered her voice, and said, “Li Chun Tao must be hidden at a relative’s house, probably in Dongshan…”
“Dongshan? Which village?” Zhou Pandi pressed immediately.
“At Zhou Zhimin’s aunt’s place, in Liujiagou in Dongshan! That place is remote, a good hundred li from here!”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhaodi cursed out loud, “She must be pregnant with that bastard and hiding in the mountains to give birth secretly!”
Zhou Pandi said nothing, keeping her face expressionless, but her mind was scheming—how could she expose Li Chun Tao without having to do it herself.
While these three were hatching their own plots, over at Liu Cuilan and Wang Jieshi’s place, they were also stirring, equally restless.
They couldn’t stand that Chun Tao had just left like that, and even more, they couldn’t bear Zhou Zhijun and Li Chun Tao getting together.
“Jieshi, you’re stuck in bed and can’t move, and that damn girl Lanhua has vanished without a trace—I’m truly at my wit’s end!” Liu Cuilan sighed.
“Li Chun Tao is definitely hidden at Zhou Zhijun’s relative’s place, carrying that bastard in her belly…”
“Of course, even an idiot could figure that out!” Liu Cuilan chimed in.
Wang Jieshi’s eyes were bloodshot, and he panted hoarsely as he roared, “Go to the Family Planning Office! Have them arrested!”
Liu Cuilan thought it over and said, “Zhou Zhijun’s aunt lives in the mountains—she might be hiding there, just not sure which village…”
“Go ask Huang Meili! She definitely knows!” Wang Jieshi urged urgently.
Huang Meili didn’t get along with Zhou Daniang and her crowd, so she would be happy to see someone mess up Zhou Zhijun and Li Chun Tao’s affair.
With no further hesitation, Liu Cuilan headed to Huang Meili’s house.
As she stepped into the yard, she saw Zhou Zhaodi and her sister were there too. Enemies meeting made their eyes burn with hatred, and a weight pressed on her chest.
Neither of those two sisters was any good—one had caused her to lose her baby, the other had framed her with an anonymous letter, landing her in jail for a few days.
But Zhou Pandi had gotten her comeuppance, too: she lost her temporary job and fell into the mud pit, leaving her with chronic health problems.
Thinking this, Liu Cuilan felt a bit more at ease and turned to leave.
But Huang Meili had already spotted her and called out, “Aunt Cuilan, don’t leave! Come in and sit for a while!”
Liu Cuilan knew that Zhou Zhaodi and her sister also hated Zhou Zhijun and Li Chun Tao to the bone.
The enemy of one’s enemy was an ally—joining forces against them was better than fighting alone.
She turned and went inside, putting aside her past grievances with the two sisters, and forced a smile on her face. “Everyone’s here so early today, eh?”
Her gaze finally landed on Zhou Pandi, and she asked, “Pandi, is your body all better now?
Honestly, with those few troublemakers in the village, nobody gets any peace.
Look how many incidents we’ve had this year—it’s turned everything upside down!”
Zhou Zhaodi curled her lip and snorted coldly, “The troublemakers have overturned your house, and you didn’t even dare to let out a peep, did you?”
Liu Cuilan had never forgiven Zhou Zhaodi for making her lose her baby, and seeing Zhou Zhaodi now with a big belly only made her angrier.
But remembering she needed to cooperate to deal with Zhou Zhijun and Chun Tao, she swallowed her rising fury. However, Zhou Zhaodi’s jab ignited her anger again.
“Zhou Zhaodi, keep your mouth clean! I held back to save face,
but you spew filth like it’s nothing—do you really think I’m afraid of you?
Your baby is a baby, but the one you cost me wasn’t a life too?”
Zhou Zhaodi put her hands on her hips and shouted, “Liu Cuilan, if you’re going to drag up that old rotting mess, fine, let’s talk!
I made you lose that baby, but wasn’t it all because of Zhou Zhijun?
If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have gone to the brigade meeting, and none of this would have happened!”
There was some logic to that—all those troubles had been stirred up by Zhou Zhijun and Li Chun Tao in the first place.
Liu Cuilan’s cheeks puffed with anger as she retorted, “Zhou Zhijun started it, but it was you who hit my belly, not him!”
“Even if I did it, you cheated half a sack of grain out of my family afterward—that settled everything long ago!”
The two argued more fiercely, and Huang Meili quickly stepped in to mediate, “It’s all in the past, let it go. From now on, you’ll see each other every day—be good neighbors!”
Zhou Pandi chimed in, “What’s the point of you two bickering here? By the time they have the baby somewhere else, it’ll be too late!”
Under their coaxing, Liu Cuilan and Zhou Zhaodi finally stopped.
Liu Cuilan rolled her eyes, turned her face away, and muttered, “I’m not going to stoop to your level. If I really wanted to settle this, it wouldn’t be over!”
Zhou Zhaodi wasn’t one to back down, thrusting her big belly forward. “Over? What are you going to do about it? Want to hit my belly? Come on if you’ve got the guts!”
The two women were like angry hens, bristling and unwilling to yield, and started arguing again.
Seeing this, Zhou Pandi quickly pulled Zhou Zhaodi away.
Liu Cuilan spat after them, cursing, “What a pair of lowlifes!”
Huang Meili was still annoyed with Zhou Zhaodi over the ring incident, so hearing Liu Cuilan’s curses felt satisfying.
She played along and said, “Aunt Cuilan, Zhou Zhaodi is a hysterical mad dog. It’s not worth getting upset over her—no need to ruin your mood!”
Liu Cuilan suddenly remembered she had come to ask about something; all the quarreling had made her forget the real purpose.
She quickly asked, “Meili, which village in Dongshan is Zhimin’s aunt’s place exactly?”
Huang Meili knew perfectly well what she was after but pretended ignorance. “Auntie, why are you asking about that?”
“No particular reason—just crossed my mind, casually asking,” Liu Cuilan replied.
“My second cousin Zhi Min’s wife lives in that eastern mountain valley, somewhere called Liu Family Gully. It's pretty far—I've never been there!” Huang Meili replied with a forced casual tone.
Liu Cuilan pressed further, “I heard your mother-in-law went up east mountain a while back?”
“How would I know about any of her comings and goings? That old woman hides everything from me, and I don't care to meddle in her business anyway.”
Despite her words, resentment seeped through every syllable.
“Meili, there are things I probably shouldn't say, but since we've already brought it up today, I'm going to speak my mind.” Liu Cuilan leaned in closer. “Your mother-in-law has never felt close to you or Hai Ying, yet she treats Li Chun Tao, this unofficial adoptive daughter, like a precious jewel. She and Zhou Zhi Jun take turns looking after Li Chun Tao, completely neglecting their own family.”
Liu Cuilan grew more enthusiastic as she spoke. Huang Meili’s face darkened, her chest heaving with rage.
“Hmph. If she's so keen on Li Chun Tao, there's definitely something shady going on,” Huang Meili muttered.
Liu Cuilan quickly followed up, “What kind of shady business?”
“What else could it be? That second son of hers and Li Chun Tao—they've already hooked up long ago!”
The two of them went back and forth, their voices rising with excitement. Before long, they were inseparable as two peas in a pod, their mutual gripes cementing a newfound bond.
And thus, the seeds of a conspiracy against Zhou Zhi Jun and Li Chun Tao were quietly sown.
