He Guangrong pointed at Wei Donglai. "Your son was vicious yesterday. He beat that man badly enough to put him in the hospital. If I hadn't gone over to put in a good word and smooth things over, they were ready to call the police and have your son arrested."
Li Yue'e's heart trembled when she heard that. "Where was their group leader hurt? Which hospital is he staying at? How about Guoqing and I go see him this afternoon?"
"There's no need for that. He's a magnanimous man and isn't planning to pursue the matter anymore. Besides, even if you went, he might not see you. But there's something else I want to make clear to you."
"Go ahead, Guangrong."
"It's like this. I went through countless hardships, pulled a lot of strings and spent quite a bit of money to get Lijuan this job. That group leader's father is also the factory's office director. When I went over yesterday, they made it clear they didn't want to see anything like this happen again."
"Don't worry, Guangrong. If anything like this happens again, you won't need to say a word. I'll break this little bastard's legs myself."
He Guangrong waved a hand, signaling for them to let him continue.
"I've more or less watched Donglai grow up, and I know he can't change that impulsive, quick-tempered nature of his overnight. To keep anything like this from happening again, how about we call things off between him and Lijuan?"
At those words, Wei Donglai gave a cold laugh.
After all that talk, he had finally said what was really on his mind.
Ever since the second child in their family had started a small business over in Guangzhou, He Guangrong had looked down on him.
And not just him. His daughter, He Lijuan, felt the same way.
That feeling had grown even stronger after He Lijuan joined the leather shoe factory in town.
Although he had hit the man yesterday, he was confident he hadn't beaten him badly enough to put him in the hospital. He had kept quiet until now, waiting for the other man to say exactly this.
"Hold on, Guangrong. How can you just call it off like that? This was nothing more than a misunderstanding. Can't they just talk it through?"
He Guangrong looked troubled. "Sister-in-law, it wasn't easy for Lijuan to get this job. I really don't want her prospects affected, so please understand. Besides, with your son's temper, can you guarantee nothing like this will happen again?"
Wei Guoqing put down the belt and silently picked up his pipe and began smoking off to the side.
He could see it now. Seven parts of this were disdain for his son, and the other three were contempt for their family.
But when he thought of his own son's unreliable nature, he couldn't muster the confidence to say no.
If anyone was to blame, it was Wei Donglai himself for failing to live up to expectations.
Li Yue'e felt the same way at that moment.
He Guangrong might have spoken tactfully, but his contempt for their family couldn't have been more obvious. He wanted to climb a higher branch.
But the facts left her unable to argue. His son had made money away from home, and his daughter had joined the leather shoe factory in town.
Even a conservative estimate put her monthly wages at forty or fifty yuan, to say nothing of the factory's current prosperity and its excellent benefits.
Her own son, on the other hand, didn't have a proper job and often fool around with a pack of fair-weather friends. There wasn't a trace of a future in sight.
No wonder they looked down on him. Even she found him wanting.
"All right. Since you've put it that way, Guangrong, let the two of them split up."
When Li Yue'e said those words, it was as if a force she had been holding inside her had been drained away.
How could she not want to find her son a wife? But things hadn't gone as she wished, and it was only right that people looked down on him.
Looking at his parents' backs, suddenly hunched over, Wei Donglai knew in his heart that he had been hoping for this outcome, but he still felt deeply uncomfortable.
"Wait."
"What else do you want? Haven't you embarrassed us enough?"
Seeing his father raise his pipe, Wei Donglai stepped forward to meet it without a trace of fear.
"Dad, I have no objection to calling things off with He Lijuan, but there are some things that need to be made clear. Even if you want to hit me, you'll have to catch your breath first."
With that, he turned to He Lijuan.
"He Lijuan, I, Wei Donglai, might not be much of a good man, and I don't mind if you want to climb a higher branch, but you shouldn't have stepped on me to get there."
"What do you mean?"
"What do I mean? I'm saying you shouldn't be a whore and still put up a chastity arch."
"You little brat, do you think I'm not here?"
Seeing the anger above He Guangrong's head visibly shoot up, Li Yue'e gave Wei Donglai a hard smack on the back of his head.
"You little bastard, is that any way for a person to talk?"
"Mom, don't complain that my words are harsh. He Lijuan and I have been together for almost a year. Whenever money needed spending, I didn't skimp by a single cent. And I'm not afraid to let you laugh at me: even now, the most we've done is hold hands."
A mocking look appeared on He Guangrong's face. "What? Holding hands isn't enough for you? Were you planning to act like a hooligan?"
Wei Donglai glanced at He Guangrong. "Uncle, we've both been through it. Do you really think there's any point in saying that?"
He Lijuan also spoke up to explain. "I've always been slow to warm up. What more do you want?"
Looking at He Lijuan putting on a pitiful act, Wei Donglai felt a contempt beyond words.
"Right, you're slow to warm up, and I'm quick-frozen. You can save that line for fooling idiots. I was blind before, giving you my whole heart and treating you well."
He Lijuan pointed at her own face. "Your whole heart? Aren't you ashamed to say that? Is this what you call giving me your whole heart?"
"You deserved that hit. The Nanhua Hotel on the night of March 11, the Zhenxing Inn on the afternoon of March 18. When you were lying in that bastard's arms, did you turn into an instant heater?"
He Lijuan's face filled with alarm. "How did you know?"
As soon as she said it, she realized she had let it slip and immediately changed her tune.
"You're slandering me."
But after that, how could those words be even the slightest bit convincing?
In his previous life, after this relationship fell apart, Wei Donglai had gone back to find He Lijuan's group leader, Zhang Hui. After a vicious beating, that bastard had spilled everything, stopping just short of giving the details.
Unable to swallow his anger, he had stomped on the man's third leg and crippled it, but that had also earned him three years in prison.
Now he would never do something so stupid over this woman again.
Wei Guoqing and Li Yue'e finally understood what had happened. So the other side had put a hat on their son, and a bright green one at that.
Then she really had deserved that slap. If anything, he had hit her too lightly.
Both their faces darkened instantly, and Li Yue'e's teeth were chattering with rage.
"He Guangrong, your family hasn't acted decently in this, have you? If my son hadn't spoken up, I'd still be kept in the dark. After all the rotten things your daughter has done, how did you have the nerve to bring your shameless fucking face to my door and accuse my son?"
"Even if you hadn't said anything today, my son certainly wouldn't have touched a single hair on your daughter from now on. You can smell that slutty stench from ten miles away."
He Guangrong's face had turned as ugly as pig liver. "Sister-in-law, isn't that a bit harsh?"
"If you don't like hearing it, then your daughter should have done something nicer! You even talked about calling the police to arrest my son. If you hadn't brought it up, I would have called them myself. I'd like to see which is the greater offense: hitting someone or acting like a hooligan."
"Even if my daughter did wrong, your son isn't much better, is he? Why don't you go ask around? What girl in all the villages for ten miles around would be willing to be with your son?"
"Are you an old yellow dog burping because you've eaten too much shit? No matter how useless my son is, he can't hold a candle to how wildly your daughter plays around. You're really an old sow wearing a bra-one set after another. You and your daughter, get out of here, now. Don't dirty my home."