"Fine, go ahead and call the police! Let the police come and see how you, Yi Zhonghai, orchestrated a scam! If I slap you twice, at most I'll just pay a few bucks in damages—I've got more money than I know what to do with. You conned the neighbors into donating to the Jia Family, and this time I'll make sure you rot in prison!"
"Y-You..."
"You what? You dare me? You spineless coward."
First Aunt Yi came out of the house and cursed fiercely at Chen Mo, "Chen Mo, what gives you the right to hit our Old Yi? You're completely out of your mind!"
"Ha, if it isn't First Aunt Yi? I won't argue with you. When it comes down to it, you're just a pitiful woman. You were perfectly capable of having children, yet you ended up married to an infertile man. All these years, you've had to bear the reputation of being barren—it really has been tough on you. You're only in your forties now, so while you still can, you should hurry up and divorce him and remarry. Otherwise, there really won't be anyone to take care of you in your old age. Why put yourself through this?"
"Shut your mouth!" Yi Zhonghai roared furiously.
"Ha, fine, I won't say another word." Chen Mo shrugged. "Let's all break it up. What kind of meeting is this anyway? Good grief. Don't ever call me to this kind of bullshit courtyard meeting again."
With that, Chen Mo put his arm around He Yushui and walked toward the back courtyard.
First Aunt Yi stood frozen in place. Chen Mo had said those very words last time, and she had actually thought about it then; but later, Deaf Old Lady had brainwashed her again, claiming she had a gynecological disease from her youth which made it impossible for her to conceive.
She didn't have much education to begin with, so she had just let it go. But hearing Chen Mo bring it up again, the idea of going to the hospital for a checkup began to take root in her mind.
Seeing Chen Mo and He Yushui leave, Xu Damao hurriedly scurried after them like a puppy. Shazhu, Yi Zhonghai, Jia Dongxu, and Qin Huiru all wore faces ashen with rage.
Jia Dongxu rushed over to grab the donation box. There were only twelve yuan left inside—ten yuan from Yi Zhonghai and two yuan from Yan Bugui. Yan Bugui had already taken his ten yuan back and slipped away long ago.
Jia Dongxu glared at Shazhu and snapped, "Shazhu, give my money back!"
"What money? That's my own money. Why should I give it to you?"
Shazhu already despised Jia Dongxu. What right did a good-for-nothing like him have to marry such a wonderful woman like Sister Qin?
"Shazhu." Seeing that Shazhu was refusing, Qin Huiru quickly cast a tender, alluring gaze at him, and Shazhu's bones turned to mush in an instant.
He immediately pulled the twenty yuan out of his pocket and said, "If it weren't for Sister Qin's sake, I wouldn't bother giving you the time of day."
Jia Dongxu felt a burning itch of hatred in his heart; he wanted nothing more than to slap Qin Huiru twice. This flirtatious bitch was actually batting her eyelashes at another man right in front of him! Still, getting twenty yuan wasn't bad either.
After returning home and shutting the door, the sound of porcelain smashing echoed instantly from inside Yi Zhonghai's house.
"Little bastard, I'll make you pay with your life!" Yi Zhonghai's face was twisted with fury, startling First Aunt Yi when she saw him.
"Old Yi, why don't we adopt a child? Stop making trouble for Chen Mo. When you get right down to it, the man doesn't owe us anything," First Aunt Yi said.
"What does a woman like you know? If I don't beat him into complete submission, who in this courtyard will ever listen to me again?"
Yi Zhonghai could already barely wait to go find Wang Gouzi.
Seeing that darkness had fallen, Yi Zhonghai threw on an outer jacket and walked out.
"Brother, you're truly awesome! Even that old fogey Yi Zhonghai got slapped by you—I've been wanting to slap him twice myself," Xu Damao said. "I've still got a good bottle of liquor at my place, let's the two of us have a drink."
"Some other time, we just finished eating not long ago," Chen Mo said.
"Then what about that matter we discussed earlier?" Xu Damao asked. With He Yushui present, he didn't state directly what the matter was, but he knew Chen Mo definitely understood what he meant.
The corner of Chen Mo's mouth curved into a smile as he said, "There's no rush on this. Tomorrow's not a workday either; we can call everyone over to discuss it then."
"Hehe, that couldn't be better! I'll come right over first thing tomorrow morning," Xu Damao chuckled.
"Brother Chen Mo, what were you and Xu Damao talking about? Xu Damao is no good," He Yushui asked hurriedly after Xu Damao left.
"Yushui, let me ask you: you say Xu Damao is no good, but has Xu Damao ever done anything truly monstrous or evil?" Chen Mo asked.
"This..." He Yushui thought about it, but couldn't come up with a single bad deed Xu Damao had committed.
"Xu Damao's just got a foul mouth, but he hasn't done anything wicked or harmful. On the contrary, those people in our courtyard you thought were good folks—like Deaf Old Lady and Yi Zhonghai—which of them isn't rotten to the core? You shouldn't judge a person by what they say, but by what they do. The reason Xu Damao has a bad reputation is actually because Yi Zhonghai and Deaf Old Lady spread those rumors to ruin his name."
He Yushui thought it over and finally nodded. She felt that Brother Chen Mo was right.
In the past, she had thought Yi Zhonghai and Deaf Old Lady were good people. But once when she was little, her brother Shazhu didn't come home, and she was hungry with nothing to eat at home, she went to find First Granduncle, who completely ignored her. Having no other choice, she went to find Deaf Old Lady instead, but Deaf Old Lady hid a plate of dumplings and lied to her that there was no food.
Ever since then, she had never gone to those two households for food again.
Originally, Shazhu had treated her pretty well, but ever since Qin Huiru started playing the victim and flirting shamelessly, Shazhu changed completely. Well over half of his monthly wages were borrowed by Qin Huiru, and the lunchboxes he brought home were always taken by Qin Huiru. She couldn't even remember how many years it had been since she last ate from a lunchbox brought home by Shazhu.
Because of this, He Yushui harbored deep resentment toward Shazhu and an even greater hatred for Qin Huiru. But in order to survive, she had no choice but to swallow her grievance and pretend to be on good terms with Qin Huiru.
Now, however, she had Brother Chen Mo, and she didn't want to keep up the act anymore—it was too exhausting. She believed Brother Chen Mo would never let her be wronged again.
At the hospital:
"President Nie, how is my husband's condition? You can see his complexion getting worse by the day," a woman in her forties asked President Nie.
President Nie shook his head and said, "Given current medical conditions, this case is very troublesome."
As he spoke, President Nie suddenly remembered Chen Mo—the man who had cured Sub-district Office Director Wang of renal failure a few days ago using the Thirteen Ghost Acupuncture needles. His eyes lit up instantly, and he said, "There might be someone who can cure your illness."
"Who?" Hearing this, Director Yang and his wife instantly felt a renewed spark of hope.
Director Yang was not yet fifty and was in the prime of his life. Having managed to climb to the position of director at a major enterprise like the Rolling Mill, he was deeply unwilling to just drop dead like this.
"As it happens, this person seems to be Chen Mo, the factory doctor right there at your Red Star Rolling Mill."
"Are you saying Chen Mo can really cure my illness?" Director Yang had originally only held a sliver of hope; since Chen Mo had been able to diagnose his ailment at a single glance, there was a strong chance he could treat it.