"Slap!" Second Brother Bai smacked Wang Fang hard across the face.
"You shameless hussy! If you keep running your mouth, I'll kill you. Get the hell back home right now!"
Second Brother Bai's eyes blazed with fury. He had never expected this woman to know everything. No wonder she had changed completely the moment she gave birth to their child—she wouldn't let him touch her, wouldn't let him come near her, and every day she either pulled a long, sullen face, ranted and raved, or clammed up entirely.
If she had just let him have his way, why the hell would a man in his twenties go chasing after a woman in her forties? He was a man, and he had a strong sex drive—how was he supposed to hold that back?
Wang Fang lifted her swollen, stinging cheek, wiped away her tears, and threw herself at Second Brother Bai like a woman possessed, scratching and clawing at his face.
"You shameless bastard! Who do you think you're going to kill?"
One of Second Brother Bai's hands was injured and useless, and with his other hand he couldn't fend her off at all. In just a few minutes, his face was scratched so raw it was crusted over with blood.
That was when Ma Xiu'e finally snapped out of her daze. She knew she couldn't let this hussy keep causing a scene, or her reputation would be ruined for good. She stumbled over to Wang Fang and grabbed her wrists.
"Xiaofang, we're family! You've got it all wrong. That woman surnamed Xiao is spouting nonsense—why would you ever believe a stranger's words? Haven't I treated you well all these years? We both lost our mothers-in-law young, remember? I even waited on you during your confinement. Where did I ever wrong you? Just because your dad got sick and you wanted to borrow money, you think I said no on purpose? It's not that I didn't want to help—I just didn't have that much extra cash. Zhigang still hasn't found a wife, and as his sister-in-law, I have to save up for his betrothal gift money."
Her words sounded so thoughtful and selfless that she even moved herself to tears.
"When I married into the Bai family, Third Brother Bai was only thirteen, and Second Brother had just graduated from high school. I used the betrothal gifts and dowry from my own wedding to get Second Brother a temporary job at the factory. Lucky for him, half a year later, the permanent position went to him. Then I put Third Brother through high school, and used all the money I'd saved over the years to get him a job too. I ask you—where in the world can you find a sister-in-law as good as me?"
"Wang Fang, what did I ever do to you that you'd try to slander me like this?"
The crowd of onlookers, who were all long-time residents of the family housing compound, started to doubt Xiao Mandong's claims. Over the years, everyone knew Auntie Ma treated her two brothers-in-law as if they were her own sons, and she was such a warm, outgoing person that she'd even been elected the building's residential chief.
But Wang Fang was blinded by rage by that point. She lashed out and slapped Ma Xiu'e hard across the face.
"Me borrow money from you? How dare you even say that! Ever since I walked through the door of the Bai family, I've never seen a single cent of Second Brother Bai's paycheck—he hands every bit of his salary over to you. When the work unit offered to assign us our own apartment, you wouldn't let us move out. Why? You were just scared that once we moved out, he'd stop giving you all his money!"
Wang Fang's words ripped Ma Xiu'e's thin pretense of decency right off. Everyone realized that all that talk about buying jobs for the brothers had just been a way to turn them into long-term unpaid laborers—she must have long since earned back every penny she spent on those jobs.
"Oh, come on—if he wouldn't hand over his paycheck, did she have to keep him tied down with her body?" Auntie Gao called out, never one to shy away from stirring up drama or spouting whatever was on her mind.
Ma Xiu'e couldn't believe her usually meek, quiet sister-in-law had just slapped her, and the whispers of the crowd made her feel so ashamed she wanted to vanish into thin air.
The next second, Second Brother Bai's eyes went wild. He grabbed Wang Fang by a handful of her hair and started kicking her over and over. His sister-in-law had spent all these years getting him a job, arranging his marriage, even helping raise his kid—how dare this woman hit her? And instead of helping to calm things down now, she was just running her mouth even more. How dare she?
"Stop that at once!"
Director Yu and a group of women's affairs workers rushed over, and with the help of the bystanders, they finally pried Second Brother Bai's hands off Wang Fang.
A whole clump of her hair came loose in his grip as his hands slipped away. Wang Fang was no match for a man's strength, and she collapsed to the ground, unable to hold herself up.
Her hair was a tangled mess, there was blood at the corner of her mouth, and she ground her teeth together as she glared at Second Brother Bai. Finally, she poured out all the grievances she had bottled up for years.
It turned out that when Wang Fang was in confinement, her thimble had slipped out of her hand and rolled under the cabinet. When she reached under to get it, she found a diary nailed to the very bottom of the cabinet with a nail. Curious, she pried the nail out and pulled the diary out. The second she opened it, she felt as if the sky had fallen apart.
The diary had detailed entries dating all the way back to when Ma Xiu'e first married into the Bai family: how Second Brother Bai used to eavesdrop on his brother and Ma Xiu'e in their room, how he started testing Ma Xiu'e's boundaries, every time he made a move on her, and every detail of their first time sleeping together.
The last page even recorded the details of his wedding night with Wang Fang, filled with his regret, his tangled, conflicting feelings, and his admission that he couldn't control his own lust. Reading those lines made Wang Fang retch in disgust. But looking down at the swaddled baby in her arms, she swallowed her revulsion and held back. She couldn't just leave—she had no job, and the baby was still too small. What other choice did she have?
Every time Second Brother Bai tried to get close to her, the words from the diary played out like a movie in her head. She couldn't stand it, so she did everything she could to avoid him. Every time he forced himself on her, she would get sick and throw up. Eventually, Second Brother Bai lost interest in her completely.
Later on, Wang Fang found a temporary job at the factory and saved up some money, and then she began her revenge. She would catch Ma Xiu'e and Second Brother Bai in the act every now and then, but never confront them directly—just give them little scares that made them jump, so the two of them would be forced to sneak around outside the house to meet. She had been waiting all this time for them to get caught red-handed by other people, because no one would have believed her words otherwise. And now, the day she had waited for had finally come.
For a split second after Wang Fang finished speaking, the whole crowd fell dead silent. Then it exploded into chaos.
Oh my god, can this really be true?
Second Brother Bai, you're not even human!
Ma Xiu'e, your husband works away from home—you're not just cheating on him, you're making the two brothers turn against each other!
Ma Xiu'e's face went as white as a sheet. Her legs went limp, and she had to lean against the wall to keep from collapsing. Her lips trembled so hard she couldn't say a single word. She knew she was done for, completely ruined. She had no idea what would happen to her next.
She turned and glared at Xiao Mandong, wishing she could bite her throat out. It was this woman who had spilled her secret. For over ten years, no one had found out about it—if it weren't for her, Wang Fang would have kept on enduring it forever.
Xiao Mandong looked back at Ma Xiu'e with a defiant smirk.
"Ma Xiu'e, what are you staring at me for? Everyone here believes the truth now, right? Second Brother Bai has never been a decent man. Someone call the police for me, please. What he's doing is the crime of hooliganism!"
Meanwhile, Second Brother Bai was making frantic eye contact with Bai Zhigang, signaling him to go destroy that diary. If they got rid of the evidence, there would be nothing to prove his guilt, and they couldn't charge him with anything.
"Director Yu, my hand is really hurting so bad. Can I go to the hospital first?" he said, trying to draw the crowd's attention away, buying Lao San time to get rid of the evidence. If the police showed up before that, he would be completely ruined.
