She walked over to the dilapidated back window, where she seemed to hear voices coming from inside. She waved to Diandian, and the dog came running over. Xiao Mandong crouched down and carried Diandian into her spatial realm.
Then she pressed herself beneath the window and listened in secret…
The voice inside belonged to Wang Yuanyuan, and it trembled with tears.
“Yang Xueqiang, what exactly do you mean? You promised me. You said you would talk to your grandfather about marrying me, but what about you? Why did you sleep with Dong Huimin?”
She had thought that once she slept with Yang Xueqiang, he would certainly take responsibility for her. But she had never expected that yesterday, on the Old Party Secretary’s birthday, Dong Huimin would not return until the early hours of the morning.
When she came back, her eyes looked as though she had just been crying. From the way she walked, Wang Yuanyuan could tell at once what had happened at Yang Xueqiang’s house.
Yang Xueqiang squatted on the ground, clutching his hair.
“I told her I wanted to break up. I was afraid my grandfather would get angry, so I hoped she would bring it up with him. She agreed readily enough at the time and said she would tell him after dinner. Then she kept pouring me glass after glass of liquor. When my grandfather saw how drunk I was, he told her to help me into the room. After that…”
Yang Xueqiang rose to his feet and cupped Wang Yuanyuan’s tear-streaked cheeks in his hands.
“Yuanyuan, listen to me. I truly didn’t mean for this to happen. There’s nothing I can do now. Everyone in my family knows that she and I are together. I… My grandfather and my parents want us to go register our marriage today…”
Tears slid down Wang Yuanyuan’s cheeks.
“What are you saying? You mean that because you slept with her, you have to take responsibility, but sleeping with me doesn’t count?”
Yang Xueqiang’s knees gave way, and he dropped to the ground with a thud.
“Yuanyuan, I really do love you. But if I don’t marry her, my grandfather will beat me to death. Please, try to understand me, all right?”
Kneeling on the ground, he thought to himself that Wang Yuanyuan loved him. As long as he begged her properly, she would surely agree. Afterward, they could continue being together in secret, just as they had been.
Looking at Yang Xueqiang’s spineless appearance, Wang Yuanyuan was disgusted from the bottom of her heart. But she had no other choice. Her period had not come, and she was almost certain that she was pregnant.
Yang Xueqiang was her only hope now. She had to marry him. Otherwise, she was finished.
“No! If you won’t marry me, I’ll kill myself…”
After shouting, her chest heaved violently, and her tears continued to fall…
After several seconds of silence, her voice suddenly softened.
“Brother Xueqiang, have you ever considered that Dong Huimin deliberately set you up? Otherwise, with so many people in your house, if she hadn’t wanted anything to happen, she could have simply shouted a few times and someone would have heard her. Does she even like you? She doesn’t. She got together with you only because she wanted that scorekeeper’s job…”
Yang Xueqiang opened and closed his mouth, unable to say anything. He was caught between a rock and a hard place.
“But if I don’t marry her, what if she reports me?”
Wang Yuanyuan seized Yang Xueqiang’s arm.
“She won’t. When you get the letter of introduction today, find a way to get two blank ones. Listen to me—once we register our marriage, Dong Huimin won’t dare say anything, because she’ll want to protect her reputation.”
Yang Xueqiang was easily swayed. Thinking that Wang Yuanyuan had a point, he gritted his teeth.
“All right. Go home and get your household registration booklet. I’ll find a way to get the letters of introduction.”
Wang Yuanyuan wiped away her tears, lifted her head, and gazed at Yang Xueqiang with deep affection.
“Yuanyuan, don’t… We can’t… This is…”
“Why are you afraid?”
Wang Yuanyuan leaned close to his ear. Her voice was as soft as water, carrying a seductive lilt. Her warm breath brushed against Yang Xueqiang’s face, making his breathing grow increasingly ragged…
Yesterday, although he had been drunk, he had known who the woman in his arms was. It was simply that desire had overcome reason. When a woman offered herself to him, why would he refuse? Taking advantage of the alcohol, he had possessed Dong Huimin. To be honest, he had rather enjoyed her innocence…
He closed his eyes. Wang Yuanyuan knelt down…
Her hand slid to Yang Xueqiang’s waist…
For a long while…
The hot blood rushed to Yang Xueqiang’s head, and he unconsciously grabbed hold of Wang Yuanyuan’s hair…
Suddenly, Yang Xueqiang yanked Wang Yuanyuan to her feet…
Then he pressed her against the wall…
Cold air slipped up beneath their clothes. Yang Xueqiang’s icy hands gripped her waist, and Wang Yuanyuan could not help shivering.
At that moment, Yang Xueqiang was like a wild beast. Outside, the wind made the paper covering the broken window flap loudly…
The freezing wind swept through them again and again. Wang Yuanyuan suddenly cried out, and Yang Xueqiang clamped a hand over her mouth…
It lasted for quite some time. Nearly ten minutes later, Yang Xueqiang finally let out a low growl…
Wang Yuanyuan straightened her clothes.
“I’m leaving first.”
The encounter had been too intense, and she felt an uncomfortable ache in her abdomen. She only wanted to get away quickly. Inwardly, she cursed, What a man. He uses all his strength and whatever little intelligence he has on this sort of thing.
Yang Xueqiang nodded. He sat on the already-collapsed edge of the brick bed, panting heavily.
After Wang Yuanyuan left, Yang Xueqiang finally stood up. As he walked outside, he adjusted his trousers.
By coincidence, Dong Huimin had come looking for Yang Xueqiang and saw him. She had intended to ask when he planned to register their marriage, but she had never expected to see him emerging from that dilapidated house while pulling up his trousers.
She stopped in her tracks and hurriedly hid behind an old, withered tree. In the past, whenever Yang Xueqiang wanted to take advantage of her, he would bring her here. At first, she had been somewhat frightened. Later, Yang Xueqiang told her that the ghost story had been spread by members of his own family, simply to keep people from coming to the old residence and causing trouble or stealing things.
Thinking about it, Dong Huimin wondered whether Yang Xueqiang had merely needed to use the toilet halfway through. Just as she had finished making excuses for him, she saw Xiao Mandong emerge from the back of the house…
Xiao Mandong’s hands and feet were numb from the cold. She walked carefully, pulling her collar higher as she went. But to Dong Huimin, the scene looked as though Xiao Mandong had done something shameful with Yang Xueqiang there.
Dong Huimin was so furious that her hands and feet trembled. No wonder Yang Xueqiang had been cold and distant toward her lately. The day Xiao Mandong returned, Yang Xueqiang had immediately suggested breaking up.
So the two of them had been involved for a long time. No wonder—after Xiao Mandong had returned the last time, Yang Xueqiang’s attitude toward her had also changed.
The angrier Dong Huimin became, the more she lost control. She rushed out and shouted:
“Xiao Mandong, you shameless slut! You’re a divorced woman—why don’t you behave yourself? How dare you seduce someone else’s man? Don’t you have any shame?”
Dong Huimin yanked Xiao Mandong so hard that she stumbled and nearly fell. Once she regained her balance, Xiao Mandong looked at her in bewilderment.
“Dong Huimin, are you sick?”
“I’m sick? Xiao Mandong, I really never thought that someone who always seemed so pure and proper would be doing something like this behind everyone’s back! Even if we have our disagreements, you didn’t have to treat me this way, did you? You have a job, a pretty face, and money. I only want to marry someone and live a quiet life. Why did you have to sleep with my man?”
Dong Huimin was practically deranged by this point, her voice trembling. No matter what Xiao Mandong said, she refused to listen…
