The Onlookers Have Logged Off

This program was produced by Tomato Listening, Episode 36: The Onlookers Have Logged Off.

Seeing that the visitor was her younger sister, Dong Tiantian was somewhat surprised. "How did you get in?"

"Weren't you afraid of bugs and unwilling to come inside?"

Dong Mimi looked excited. She motioned for her to keep quiet, then said loudly, "Oh, Sis, you don't know this—Zhang Yanqiu was gossiping about Zhao Xianglan in there. Guess what she said about Sister Xianglan?"

Dong Tiantian looked completely bewildered. "Say it. Oh, I don't even know how to put it. Anyway, she meant that Sister Xiangwan was two-timing—acting close to Brother Xiangbei on the surface while secretly fooling around with Brother Wang Yang."

She deliberately shouted those words toward Li Xiangwan.

"Really?"

Dong Tiantian cried out in surprise.

Lin Yuzhu, sitting at the entrance to her home, slowly turned her head and looked at Li Xiangbei, whose expression was gradually darkening. She was speechless. Were all the supporting female characters in this novel this fierce?

They were doing it so openly?

Dong Mimi naturally didn't care what Li Xiangbei thought of her. Li Xiangbei wasn't her target. Her goal was to plant a Seed of suspicion in his heart and wait for it to take root one day.

It would be even better if he believed those words outright. That would give her sister a better chance.

Looking around, aside from Li Xiangwan, her sister was the prettiest. No, there was also Lin Yuzhu, but she had heard Lin Yuzhu had a terrible personality. She came from some small place—how could she possibly be worthy of Li Xiangbei? Brother Xiangbei probably wouldn't be interested in her.

Dong Mimi's thoughts were in a mess. By then, Li Xiangwan had already come out of the room. Dong Mimi had practically shouted it to the whole village—how could Li Xiangwan possibly not have heard? With a grim face, she strode straight toward the front courtyard.

Li Xiangbei followed close behind her.

Wang Yang awkwardly scratched his head, thought for a moment, and followed them. After all, he was one of the main characters too.

Wang Xiaomei came over toward Lin Yuzhu with a kitchen knife in hand, her eyes wide with gossip. "What happened? What happened?"

"What's going on?"

"Li Xiangwan and Wang Yang are having an affair." Lin Yuzhu stared at the kitchen knife in her hand, afraid that Wang Xiaomei might fling it out in excitement and hurt someone. Keeping her guard up, she asked, "Are we continuing to cook, or are we going to take a look?"

"Oh, what are we waiting for? Of course we're going to watch!"

Wang Xiaomei was already impatient.

Lin Yuzhu reached out and snatched the kitchen knife from her. Waving a knife around was far too frightening. She stood, tossed it into her own room, and said, "Come on, come on, let's go take a look. Life's already miserable enough—I'm exhausted like a dog, and I still want some gossip."

"Remember, that kitchen knife is mine."

Lin Yuzhu rolled her eyes at her. Did she look like someone who would covet a kitchen knife?

When they arrived, Li Xiangwan had just entered the room. Zhou Nan, who had been sitting in the courtyard, put away the newspaper in his hand and got up to come over as well.

Wang Xiaomei muttered under her breath, "This male tenant is a real gossip hound too, huh? Coming to watch the excitement!"

Lin Yuzhu said nothing, her eyes fixed on the newspaper in his hand.

Zhou Nan happened to glance at Lin Yuzhu. His cool voice rang out. "These are all old newspapers. Do you want to read them?"

Wang Xiaomei looked at Zhou Nan, then at Lin Yuzhu, and secretly marveled. Goodness, Zhou Nan was handsome too.

Lin Yuzhu smiled. "Do you have extras?"

Zhou Nan nodded. "Then after you finish, could you lend them to me?"

Zhou Nan nodded again. "Thanks."

Zhou Nan nodded once more.

Lin Yuzhu was speechless, and the atmosphere turned awkwardly quiet.

From inside, Li Xiangwan's low voice came through. "Zhang Yanqiu, which eye saw me being unclear with Wang Yang?"

When Li Xiangwan entered with Li Xiangbei, Zhang Yanqiu was already a little dazed. A bad feeling rose in her heart. Faced with Li Xiangwan's questioning, she panicked. She had only wanted to casually say a few things and spread the lies she had made up through Dong Mimi's mouth.

Once they slowly spread, even lies would become truth.

By then, how would Li Xiangwan have the mood to trace the source of those words? She would probably be too busy thinking of ways to explain herself to Brother Xiangbei.

She just hadn't expected Dong Mimi to expose it directly in front of the person involved so quickly.

"I—I—I didn't say that." Zhang Yanqiu was flustered. She couldn't think of any explanation at all and could only keep denying it.

Dong Mimi, who had been following behind and enjoying the spectacle, wasn't having it. She stepped forward and shouted, "How could you not have said it?"

"Did you say it, or did I say it?"

"You were clearly the one who called Sister Xianglan a fox, saying she lived so well because she hooked up with men everywhere. Sister Xianglan was sitting right beside you listening." Zhao Xianglan, who was still seated by the kang chair, smiled awkwardly. She gave Dong Mimi a meaningful look and calmly said, "It was just idle chatter, one thing leading to another!"

"Educated Youth Zhang didn't mean it that way either. Maybe you misheard."

Dong Mimi refused to let it go. "Hey, Sister Xianglan, you're close with her, but you can't protect her like this! Sister Xianglan usually treats you well. You can't eat someone's food and still help someone else fool people, can you?"

Zhao Xianglan put on a troubled expression. She looked at Li Xiangwan, then at Zhang Yanqiu, and once again tried to play the peacemaker. "It's a misunderstanding, all of it. We still have to work this afternoon, and we've been standing here all morning. How about we talk about this later—"

Li Xiangwan couldn't be bothered to waste words with them.

Her lips pressed tightly together, she stepped forward and swung her hand across Zhang Yanqiu's face. A resounding smack rang out. Zhang Yanqiu was stunned, and everyone held their breath. The room fell silent.

"This slap is to tell you that I'm not someone you can bully, and I won't tolerate you making things up about me behind my back."

"You know how important a girl's reputation is, don't you?"

"If there's a next time, it won't be just one slap."

Li Xiangwan spoke coldly, her face as icy as frost.

"And if you don't want to live again, you'd better find another way. After all, one of your legs is injured. Who knows whether anyone will be there to save you if you jump into the river again? Don't accidentally throw your life away."

After saying that, Li Xiangwan looked at Zhang Yanqiu with extreme mockery.

"Even if you really die, I won't be afraid!"

Zhang Yanqiu stared at Li Xiangwan in shock, trembling all over. After a long while, she finally said angrily, "What gives you the right?"

"What gives you the right to hit me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Last time, she staged her own jump into the river and tried to kill herself!"

Before Zhang Yanqiu could finish, Wang Xiaomei exploded again. Her brows were drawn together as she glared at Zhang Yanqiu through gritted teeth.

Li Xiangwan's gaze darkened. Huang Xiaoming wasn't that stupid after all. She slowly said, "On the train here, Educated Youth Zhang specifically bragged about her glorious deed of jumping into the river to save someone!"

After saying that, she looked at Wang Xiaomei again. "The neighborhood office even gave her a red flower specially for it!"

The moment Wang Xiaomei heard that, she was so furious she seemed to grow taller. "You bitch! You made the whole village curse me! I'm going to skin you alive today! Who would believe your bullshit anymore?"

With that, she rolled up her sleeves and lunged forward.

Lin Yuzhu rolled her eyes and went up to hold her back.

Wang Xiaomei was already mad with rage. She struggled wildly, cursing as she shouted, "Let go of me! I'm going to beat her until even her mother can't recognize her!"

Lin Yuzhu was nearly dragged out in a tumble by Wang Xiaomei. She had no idea how this little runt was so strong. Lin Yuzhu was practically using all her strength, yet she still couldn't hold her back. Annoyed, she let go. This teammate is impossible to carry. Forget it, I can't control her. I did my best.

The instant she released Wang Xiaomei, her whole body relaxed, and the world became peaceful again.

Only then did Lin Yuzhu notice Li Xiangwan looking at her. For some reason, a sentence surfaced in her mind: When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you.

Their eyes met, and the calmness in their gazes was strangely unsettling.

Li Xiangwan's stare left Lin Yuzhu baffled. All she could think was, If you look at me, I'll look at you. Am I supposed to back down?

After looking for a moment, Li Xiangwan withdrew her gaze. She had always thought she could see through Lin Yuzhu. Cold-tempered, unwilling to suffer losses, extremely guarded—she didn't seem like someone who would casually open her heart to others. People like that were not good at making friends. It seemed she had been wrong.

Could she really treat someone like Wang Xiaomei with some sincerity?

But that didn't seem right either. The indifference radiating from Lin Yuzhu's bones couldn't be hidden. Otherwise, she wouldn't have let go so quickly.

The reason Li Xiangwan had stared at Lin Yuzhu just now was simply to see whose side she would take. Clearly, Li Xiangwan had been too full of herself.

Hmph. She didn't like Wang Xiaomei, and she certainly wouldn't hesitate to use her. Those two could bite each other all they wanted—Li Xiangwan was more than happy to see the scene before her.

There were still plenty of smart people around.

Look, as soon as she said that, many people had already caught on.

She actually didn't dislike Lin Yuzhu. She had even wanted to befriend her.

But seeing Lin Yuzhu getting closer and closer to Wang Xiaomei, that thought gradually faded.

Now that Lin Yuzhu had chosen Wang Xiaomei's side, there was no point in becoming friends.

Everyone had thought that once Wang Xiaomei broke free, she would rush over and give Zhang Yanqiu a brutal beating. But she didn't.

Wang Xiaomei merely climbed onto the kang, grabbed Zhang Yanqiu by the collar, and shook her violently. As she shook her, she cursed her with weak insults like shameless and liar.

She repeated the same few lines over and over, making Lin Yuzhu want to cover her face.

Zhang Yanqiu struggled weakly, to little effect. Her face was pale and bloodless, as though she might faint at any moment.

Lin Yuzhu was afraid Zhang Yanqiu might really pass out. Then Wang Xiaomei might mistake her for Zhuang Yun and give her two slaps. That would be far too unfair.

Everyone's attention was on Wang Xiaomei, and no one even noticed Li Xiangbei.

Zhou Nan stared coolly at Li Xiangwan, as though he were looking at something through her.

After all that fuss, Lin Yuzhu's stomach was growling with hunger. She stopped watching the show, turned on her heel, and left the front courtyard for her own room.

She had worked all morning and was nearly exhausted like a dog.

At noon, she simply steamed some rice, then bought a bottle of beef sauce from her space and mixed it into the rice. She truly had no energy left to stir-fry anything.

After taking her first bite of beef sauce mixed rice, Lin Yuzhu felt like she had come back to life.