Looking at Wu Xiaoru’s abject demeanor, Zhang Xiaoshan felt no pity or heartache, only ridiculous disgust.
"So, what’s your business with me?" he asked.
Zhang Xiaoshan could tell at a glance that Wu Xiaoru was definitely there for a reason.
"I, I don’t have any business, just came to see you," Wu Xiaoru said with a flushed face and in a wronged tone.
Zhang Xiaoshan didn’t show a trace of amiability toward Wu Xiaoru.
He who deceives me, need not come again.
"Wu Xiaoru, stop playing the pitiful victim in front of me. I’ve seen through you long ago. If it wasn’t for some issue, why would you behave so humbly toward me?"
Zhang Xiaoshan’s words were direct and explicit, leaving Wu Xiaoru feeling extremely embarrassed.
Yet, recalling what her mother had said, she dared not be impolite to Zhang Xiaoshan.
"Alright, I admit it, I came to you because I have a problem," she confessed. The rıghtful source is 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✶𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲✶𝗻𝗲𝘁
Wu Xiaoru took a deep breath, steadied her emotions, and then explained to Zhang Xiaoshan.
"It’s about my brother Wu Yong’s situation. He’s been formally arrested by the Security Bureau. I heard that Huang Gou and Wang Xiaolong have pinned all the blame on him, claiming the gun belonged to him. Now, my brother is the prime suspect and could be sentenced to seven or eight years."
"Seven or eight years?"
Hearing this, Zhang Xiaoshan laughed.
"Wasn’t your brother fawning over Wang Xiaolong all the time? Calling him ’brother-in-law’ over and over, it seems that’s been in vain."
"No, not in vain—at least he’s got his meals figured out for half his lifetime."
"After all, it’s like landing a secure job that brings glory to the ancestors."
"By the way, aren’t you fond of looking for men? Thinking you’re pretty, you shouldn’t come to me. You should find someone more powerful than Wang Xiaolong’s family, sleep with them, and don’t mind if the man is seventy or eighty years old, or disabled—just grit your teeth, close your eyes, strip off your clothes, and lie down."
"I’m just a small village doctor, an ordinary citizen—what use do you have coming to me?"
The depth of love once had is the depth of the hatred now harbored.
In previous years, Zhang Xiaoshan had given his heart and soul to Wu Xiaoru, willing to lay down his life for hers. To be with Wu Xiaoru, he had given up a bright future, yet she had betrayed him.
This disgrace was seared deep into Zhang Xiaoshan’s heart.
Now, seizing the opportunity, he was furiously venting his pent-up resentment.
The words he uttered were particularly harsh.
Any woman facing such venomous speech would be unable to bear it.
Wu Xiaoru had become a mess of tears.
"Little Shan, I know it was me and my family who wronged you, but that’s in the past. Can you stop bringing it up, please?"
"We were together for several years, why do you have to humiliate me ? Were your feelings for me all these years fake?"
Zhang Xiaoshan sneered.
"If it were not for you, would I have given up my job in the city?"
"Talk about humiliation?"
"Fine, let’s say you’re not wrong in pursuing a better life, but couldn’t you have been clear with me and broken up amicably? Moreover, after we split, you and your brother insulted me repeatedly, trying to embarrass me. At the Security Bureau, you even wanted to see me go to jail."
"If it weren’t for the county leaders showing up later to put in a good word for me, I would be the one sitting in jail right now, wouldn’t I?"
As he spoke, Zhang Xiaoshan’s eyes, fiery with rage, were fixed on Wu Xiaoru.
Those eyes seemed to hold an endless number of sharp swords, piercing to the extreme, causing Wu Xiaoru to turn red and shiver without feeling cold.
She couldn’t bear to meet Zhang Xiaoshan’s eyes and once again bowed her head.