She couldn’t just stand by and watch her daughter die, so she had no choice but to come begging Qi Yuqing. Knowing that Qi Yuqing was softhearted, she had waited outside for several days. No one had been home until today, when she finally caught Qi Yuqing—but Qi Yuqing refused to help her. What was she supposed to do? What would happen to her daughter?
“Wang Dani, I’m not lending you any money. You know perfectly well how my child died. Even though I have no proof that you were the one who killed my baby, Heaven is watching. There’s a thing called karma.”
When Qi Yuqing said the word “karma,” she ground her teeth furiously. She had been staying at her parents’ home these past few days. The hospital had informed her today that she needed to move out of her room, so she had come back—only to run into Wang Dani. What rotten luck.
Auntie Ma hurried over at that moment. “You shameless woman! How dare you come here? Back then, you drugged her and made it impossible for her to have children. Now you have the nerve to come begging for money? Go, go, go! Don’t dirty our housing compound!”
When the people around them heard what Auntie Ma said, they chimed in as well.
“If you ask me, this is Heaven’s justice. When you were harming someone else, why didn’t you think about what might happen to your own child?”
Some people couldn’t bear to watch anymore and came over to pull Wang Dani to her feet. “Come on, stop kneeling here. You harmed her so terribly—how could she possibly help you?”
Wang Dani was helped to her feet. She kept murmuring two words: karma.
Could this really be karma? But why wasn’t it happening to her? Why did her daughter have to suffer from such a terrible illness?
When Auntie Ma saw Wang Dani leave, she called for everyone to disperse. She was just about to turn around and go when she spotted Xiao Mandong heading home.
“Doctor Xiao, wait a moment.”
Xiao Mandong hadn’t expected Auntie Ma to call out to her. She stopped and looked at her, waiting for her to speak.
Auntie Ma came closer, her face arranged in a broad smile. “Doctor Xiao, my second brother-in-law is twenty-six this year. He has a good job at the paper mill—a permanent position—and earns forty yuan a month. He’s handsome, too. I was thinking that a woman needs someone to rely on in the end, someone to love and care for her. Why don’t I arrange for the two of you to meet?”
Her brother-in-law really was excellent in every way—except that he had six fingers. A few girls had previously been introduced to him, but every arrangement had fallen through because of that.
When she had first brought up the matter, her brother-in-law had refused. He insisted on finding a young, unmarried girl. It was only after her eldest younger brother persuaded him that he reluctantly agreed to meet someone.
The moment Xiao Mandong heard Auntie Ma’s proposal, she remembered what she had seen in the communal bathroom yesterday morning, and her stomach churned.
She never would have guessed that the woman trying to introduce her brother-in-law to her was actually talking about her. Wasn’t this deliberately disgusting?
Xiao Mandong looked at her and curled the corners of her lips. “Auntie Ma, look at all the wrinkles on your face. Have you been worrying too much? Or have you had too many men fussing over you?”
“Hey, what kind of thing is that to say? I’m only doing this for your own good! Meeting him won’t cost you anything. I’m telling you, once you see him, you’ll know I’m not lying. Are you looking down on yourself because you’re divorced?”
“Don’t worry. Even though you’ve been married before, my brother-in-law won’t hold that against you.”
Auntie Gao had also been planning to introduce her nephew to Xiao Mandong, but someone had beaten her to it. How could she let that happen?
“Sister Ma, listen to yourself. Doctor Xiao is such a good catch. Why would she settle for a man with six fingers? Haven’t several of the girls in our compound already turned down your brother-in-law? Don’t you know why? Your family can’t afford to offer a decent bride price.”
Auntie Ma hadn’t honestly explained the man’s condition when introducing him, so she looked rather embarrassed now.
“What’s wrong with having six fingers? It doesn’t affect his ability to work, and it’s not as if he’s missing an arm or a leg. Besides, Doctor Xiao is divorced, while my brother-in-law is a young man who has never been married.”
“Oh, I see. You’re planning to introduce your nephew to her, aren’t you? If I remember correctly, you’ve already introduced him to several of the unmarried girls in the compound, haven’t you? They all turned him down because your family couldn’t afford the bride price.”
Their conversation caught Wang Dani’s attention. She looked up at Xiao Mandong, and suddenly remembered something. An idea instantly took shape in her mind.
“Comrade, could I speak with you privately?”
Xiao Mandong glanced at Wang Dani, the corners of her lips lifting in a mocking smile.
“There’s nothing for us to talk about.” She turned to leave, but Wang Dani grabbed her wrist and leaned close to whisper in her ear.
“Two nights ago, at around three in the morning, I was right outside your house…”
Xiao Mandong shook off Wang Dani’s hand, growing impatient. How long had it been since this woman brushed her teeth? The stench from her mouth was even worse than Diandian’s.
She didn’t give it much thought. She simply turned around and went inside.
Watching Xiao Mandong’s retreating back, Wang Dani’s eyes gleamed with venom. Auntie Ma came over, sensing that the woman was hiding something.
Wang Dani looked at Auntie Ma. “You’re planning to introduce your brother-in-law to her? Lend me some money, and I’ll tell you a secret.”
Auntie Ma turned to leave. Her own family was barely getting by; she certainly didn’t have money to lend a stranger.
“I don’t need much. Just give me two yuan.” Seeing that Auntie Ma didn’t stop, Wang Dani grew desperate. “One yuan. Just give me one yuan.”
Auntie Ma turned back to look at her. “I only have three mao. Do you want it or not? If not, forget it.”
Wang Dani gritted her teeth. “Fine.”
She didn’t have a single cent left in her pockets. She didn’t even know where that day’s meal was going to come from.
Then she looked at Auntie Gao. “Ma’am, give me three mao too, and I’ll tell you as well.”
Auntie Gao curled her lip and walked away. Pay money for gossip? She wasn’t that foolish.
Wang Dani leaned close to Auntie Ma’s ear, lowering her voice so Auntie Gao wouldn’t overhear.
“I’ve been waiting here for Qi Yuqing for three days. The night before last, at around three in the morning, I saw a man come out of that Doctor Xiao’s house. At first, I thought he was her husband, but then I realized she wasn’t married at all…”
“After the man came out, he didn’t leave through the main gate. He was afraid the gatekeeper would see him, so he climbed straight over the wall.”
Wang Dani’s words made Auntie Ma’s eyes widen. “Are you telling the truth? Was the man very tall, about six feet tall, and heavily built?”
“It’s true. It was pitch-dark, so how could I have seen him clearly? But he really was very tall.”
Auntie Ma fished three one-mao coins from her pocket and shoved them into Wang Dani’s hand before hurrying home.
She had to discuss this with her brother-in-law right away. That woman couldn’t marry him—but they could use this matter to extort something from her.
At that moment, Xiao Mandong still had no idea that someone had seen Gu Jianghan leaving in the middle of the night. After returning home, she took another bath using water from the spirit spring.
She ate some fruit in her pocket space, then lit the fire beneath the brick bed. Before long, someone knocked on the door again.
When she opened it, Auntie Ma was standing outside with her two brothers-in-law.
The man who had done those dirty deeds with Auntie Ma stared at Xiao Mandong, his eyes going wide.
He hadn’t expected this woman to be so beautiful. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed involuntarily.
“Doctor Xiao, we should go inside to discuss this, don’t you think?”
