Lu Jianguo bringing in helpers was something Xiao Mandong hadn't expected.
The two men looked Xiao Mandong up and down. No wonder that Lu fellow had tied up her sister just to get her to remarry him — that skin, that face, that figure, curvy in all the right places. Tsk, tsk...
One of them, a wiry, dark-skinned man, stepped forward: "So the little lady's not just pretty, she's got guts too, coming here alone?"
Lu Jianguo, meanwhile, gazed at Xiao Mandong with deep emotion in his eyes: "Mandong, all you have to do is remarry me and come home to live a proper life, and I'll release Xiao Manxue right away."
Xiao Mandong agreed on the spot: "Fine."
Xiao Manxue struggled harder, letting out muffled cries. Lu Jianguo rubbed his hands together — he hadn't expected Xiao Mandong to agree so readily: "Then we'll go get the marriage license first thing tomorrow morning. Otherwise, what if you change your mind?"
"Fine." Xiao Mandong's easy agreement caught Lu Jianguo off guard.
"Can you release Xiao Manxue now?" Xiao Mandong's tone was flat, her voice devoid of any emotion.
"Not now, definitely not. I can only let her go after we've gotten the license. And besides, we need a letter of approval from the production brigade for the license. What if you back out?"
"Just let her go, and I'll agree to any condition you name. A young woman, tied up, alone with two strange men — I can't rest easy. If something happens to her, can you take responsibility?"
Lu Jianguo waved it off dismissively: "That's impossible, don't worry. They're friends, nothing's going to happen."
Xiao Mandong tossed the bamboo basket from her back to the ground and spread both hands wide: "I'm not going anywhere either, so what are you afraid of?"
Lu Jianguo pointed to the cave dwelling nearby: "Then you'll have to rough it here tonight. We'll go get the approval and the license first thing tomorrow. I swear I'll treat you well for the rest of my life."
Xiao Mandong took a deep breath, forcing down the nausea churning inside her: "Lu Jianguo, the truth is, I've always had feelings for you. But you broke my heart over and over. Do you have any idea how I felt when I saw you with Wang Xiumei? Do you know how much I looked forward to our wedding night? And yet, in our bridal chamber, you..." Xiao Mandong's voice caught, turning choked. She wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes and continued:
"I know what you've done today is because you want to win back this marriage. Don't I want the same? What woman wants to be stuck with the label of divorcee?"
"What's done is done. I don't blame you. If you'd go to these lengths for me, then you must care about me in your own way."
"Untie her now. She's my only family. Let her go, and I'll go home with you this minute. First thing tomorrow morning, I'll go with you to the brigade for the approval and straight to get the marriage license. I want to live a proper life too."
Lu Jianguo's eyes reddened at Xiao Mandong's words. He had truly wronged her. He, too, had looked forward to their wedding night. That was their bridal chamber. How could he have been such a bastard, done something like that?
"Mandong, I'm sorry. It's my fault. I swear I'll have nothing more to do with Wang Xiumei. We'll live our own life, just the two of us."
"Then send that woman away. I don't want to see her again."
Xiao Mandong's words put Lu Jianguo even more at ease. The fact that she could make such a request meant she truly intended to build a life with him.
"Fine, fine, fine. I agree to everything."
With that, Lu Jianguo moved to untie Xiao Manxue, but suddenly the wiry, dark-skinned man rushed in front of him, blocking his path: "Lu Jianguo, what's the meaning of this? You dare go back on your word after what you promised me?"
Xiao Mandong seized the moment to speak: "Whatever he promised you, I'll pay double. Just let my sister go, and you two can be on your way. What happens between me and my husband is our own business."
She pulled ten ten-yuan notes from her pocket.
The wiry, dark-skinned man sneered: "What do I want money for? Your man here made a deal with me — he gets you back, and I get to marry your sister."
Xiao Mandong's nails dug into her palms. Rage nearly burst through her chest. She wished she could tear Lu Jianguo apart piece by piece. Forcing down the fury boiling inside her, she kept her voice as steady as she could, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked at Lu Jianguo: "You said that?"
Lu Jianguo mumbled, his lips trembling. He regretted listening to Wang Yuanyuan's conniving advice — she'd said that only by keeping control of Xiao Manxue could he keep a permanent hold on Xiao Mandong. He opened his mouth, but no explanation came.
Xiao Mandong withdrew her gaze and looked back at the two men: "I'll give each of you two hundred yuan. You release my sister, and from today onward, you have nothing to do with any of this. Two hundred yuan is more than enough to find yourselves a wife, and there's no risk attached."
The two men's eyes lit up at Xiao Mandong's words. Two hundred each — they'd never seen that much money in their lives. They began to waver.
"Don't believe a word she says!" A shrill female voice suddenly rang out from the broken cave dwelling nearby.
Wang Yuanyuan burst out of the cave and ran over to the two men: "Aren't you afraid she'll pay you off and then march straight to the police station to report you? The only way to keep her in line is to marry that Xiao Manxue. Then she wouldn't dare go to the authorities."
Then Wang Yuanyuan glared fiercely at Xiao Mandong, a triumphant smirk curling at the corners of her mouth.
Xiao Mandong's gaze fell on Wang Yuanyuan. She hadn't expected Wang Yuanyuan to be the one behind all this. This Wang Yuanyuan was rotten to the core. Fine, then. If that's the way she wanted to play, she had no one to blame but herself.
The look in Xiao Mandong's eyes made Wang Yuanyuan's skin crawl, but she knew that as long as today's plan succeeded, both Xiao Manxue and Xiao Mandong would be finished for good.
"What are you both standing around for? Get to it! Once you've made her yours, the money and the woman are yours."
Xiao Mandong curved her lips into a smile: "You take the money and do the job, I pay to avoid disaster. As long as my sister's safe, I won't go to the police — for the sake of my own reputation. Besides, my husband and I are remarrying, so in a way, you're doing us a favor. There's no reason for me to keep after you. But if you harm my sister today, I swear I'll hunt you down even if it kills me."
Xiao Mandong continued: "You have a better option, though. For instance..." Her eyes landed on Wang Yuanyuan, her gaze loaded with meaning.
Before the two men could figure out what she meant, Xiao Mandong picked up the bamboo basket from the ground, and using it as cover, pulled another four hundred yuan from her hidden stash. She waved it in front of them: "Wang Yuanyuan here is my cousin. I'll throw in an extra hundred as a bride price. All you have to do is use her own idea — the one she came up with for my sister — on her instead. The money's yours."
Wang Yuanyuan stumbled backward, terror and fury flooding her eyes.
"Xiao Mandong, you... you venomous woman! You black-hearted, rotten-souled bitch! How can you be so cruel, coming up with such a vile scheme, using such filthy tricks? Are you even human? I'm your own cousin!"
Xiao Mandong smiled thinly: "This idea came from you. When you were scheming against Manxue, it never struck you as cruel, did it? But now that it's aimed at you, suddenly it's cruel?"
Xiao Mandong continued to coax them: "You can take the money right now and leave with her. Once the deed is done, all that's left is between me and Lu Jianguo. You two will have nothing to do with it."
The greed and lasciviousness in their eyes were impossible to conceal. They exchanged a glance with each other, and the lean, dark-skinned man immediately grabbed hold of Wang Yuanyuan while the other went to untie Xiao Manxue. He then picked up the very rope that had just bound Xiao Manxue and used it to tie up Wang Yuanyuan instead.
Wang Yuanyuan screamed in terror, "Let me go! I'll report you to the police! I'll make sure you both rot in prison—" But her mouth was quickly gagged before she could finish.
