After going downstairs, Su Qiao deliberately headed toward the exercise area where the neighborhood aunties usually gathered.
However, she did not raise her head. Instead, she kept it lowered and pulled the brim of her hat down very low.
A usually kind-looking auntie came over, recognized Su Qiao, and greeted her with a warm smile.
"Xiao Qiao, I haven't seen you out in so long. Are you feeling better... Ah!"
Before the auntie could finish speaking, she saw Su Qiao's swollen, bruised eyes and the injury at the corner of her mouth. She cried out in shock.
"Xiao... Xiao Qiao, what... what happened to you?"
The auntie was utterly astonished and even stammered a little. She reached out as if to touch Su Qiao's face, but was worried about hurting her.
Su Qiao hurriedly pulled her hat even lower. Her voice seemed to come from deep in her throat, and she looked awkward and timid. "It's... it's nothing. I... I fell."
"You fell?"
The auntie clearly did not believe her. She said angrily, "How could a fall leave you looking like this?"
"Auntie Guo, I still have something to do. I... I'll leave first." After saying that, Su Qiao hurried away.
"Xiao Qiao...?"
As it happened, Auntie Guo was a member of the neighborhood committee. Her family lived in Hongli Residential Area, and she was known for being especially upright.
Now that she had witnessed something like this, she naturally could not ignore it.
Unfortunately, Su Qiao had run too fast.
The commotion had already attracted the attention of several elderly women exercising nearby.
"Covering herself up and rushing off like that—there's obviously something wrong!"
"Let me tell you, yesterday, around nightfall, there was another huge commotion coming from their home. This time I heard it loud and clear. There's