Reborn in the 1970s — Married a Proud Rough Man

Chapter 55: Chapter 33: I Am the Victim 2

SLAP! Jie Jingwei slapped Xu Chunyan directly across the face. ”I told you to shut up.”

Clutching her cheek, Xu Chunyan stared at Jie Jingwei in stunned disbelief. ”You hit me?” she asked incredulously. ”You actually hit me? I’ll kill you.”

They had been married for many years and were deeply in love. In all that time, Jie Jingwei had never even said a harsh word to her, let alone hit her. Yet now, he had just slapped her in front of everyone.

Already feeling wronged and furious, Xu Chunyan completely lost control. She lunged at Jie Jingwei, punching, kicking, scratching, and biting him.

Mrs. Xie watched with a cold expression. She detested men who hit their wives. Normally, she would have either stopped it herself or had her husband intervene and scold Jie Jingwei. How could a husband possibly strike his own wife?

But Xu Chunyan had crossed a line today. If Mrs. Xie defended her, she would be failing her other son and daughter-in-law.

’Whoa! An internal revolt,’ Qin Mei thought. She really wanted to grab a flag and cheer them on.

”Enough!” Mr. Xie, unable to watch any longer, roared with imposing authority. ”If you’re going to fight, do it in your room! Don’t disgrace yourselves out here.”

’Thank goodness we don’t live in a shared courtyard compound,’ he thought. ’If we did, they would have utterly disgraced me. The news would reach the mechanical factory by tomorrow, and my authority as director would be in tatters.’

Mr. Xie’s voice stopped Xu Chunyan in her tracks. She still hoped to impress her father-in-law, wanting him to choose Jie Jingwei as his successor. With the prestigious title of ”the director’s wife” in mind, Xu Chunyan quickly adopted a penitent attitude.

”Dad, we were wrong,” Xu Chunyan said, straightening her messy hair and clothes.

Xu Chunyan had scratched Jie Jingwei’s face, leaving several bloody marks on the back of his hand as well. ’This woman really attacked me like she was possessed,’ he thought. ’It’s strange, though. She’s so ferocious, yet she couldn’t gain the upper hand against Qin Mei.’

He looked from Xu Chunyan to Qin Mei. One was a disheveled mess with a scalded face; the other was devastatingly beautiful, without a single hair out of place.

Qin Mei was completely unscathed. Jing Si was injured, but he still protected her as if she were the most precious thing in the world. And them? They had brawled in public, and he was the one who ended up wounded.

A wave of resentment washed over Jie Jingwei. He glanced at his wife again, at her fawning, sycophantic attitude toward his father, and felt completely speechless. ’It’s just the factory director’s position,’ he thought. ’Does she really have to go this far?’

’If only she were more like Qin Mei, then I’d protect her the way Jing Si does.’

”Get in the room,” Jie Jingwei said, roughly grabbing Xu Chunyan’s wrist and dragging her away.

Qin Mei was a little disappointed. ’That’s it? They’re just going back to their room?’

Seeing that Mr. Xie didn’t stop them, Qin Mei frowned. ’Is that it? Is he just going to let the matter of Xu Chunyan injuring Jie Jingchen slide?’

’Mr. Xie might be willing to let it go, but I’m not.’

’Jie Jingchen is my husband. You’re supposed to consider the master before you beat the dog, yet she went and injured my husband. I’ll be keeping score.’

”Xiao Mei, your sister-in-law was just spouting nonsense. Don’t listen to her.” Mrs. Xie took Qin Mei’s hand, shot a glance at Jie Jingchen, and explained, ”This whole thing with Jing Si and Teacher Lin is just neighborhood gossip that’s gotten out of hand. I can’t say what Teacher Lin’s feelings are, but Jing Si definitely doesn’t feel that way about her. Xiao Mei, trust me. If Jing Si had even the slightest interest in her, I would have already gone to the Lin Family with lavish gifts to propose marriage. Why would I have set him up with my colleague instead?”

Qin Mei considered this and realized she was right. On the very first day Jie Jingchen had brought her to the Jie Family home, Mrs. Xie had a blind date waiting for him.

’However, Teacher Lin’s feelings for Jie Jingchen were as plain as Sima Zhao’s intentions—everyone could see them.’

”Mom, I trust Jie Jingchen, and I trust my own judgment even more. If he weren’t a faithful man, I wouldn’t have married him,” Qin Mei said, squeezing Mrs. Xie’s hand and breaking into a brilliant smile. ’At a time like this, a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law must be united. We can’t give anyone with ill intentions an opening.’

Mrs. Xie was greatly relieved. ”You’re a good child,” she said with conviction. ”Your judgment is excellent. I can’t promise much, but I can guarantee that Jing Si is absolutely faithful when it comes to love.”

Qin Mei’s eyes curved into crescents as she smiled. ’I should stop here,’ she thought. ’Getting too sentimental might reveal a crack in my performance.’

”What’s that smell?” Mrs. Xie frowned. A foul odor hung in the air—the smell of something burning mixed with the stench of a shoe. Suddenly remembering something, she slapped her thigh. ”Oh, no!”

Mrs. Xie rushed into the kitchen, and her enraged shout followed immediately after. ”Xu Chunyan! You really did throw a shoe in the cooking pot!”

Mr. Xie’s face darkened. Qin Mei had said Xu Chunyan threw a shoe in the pot, but she had also kept interrupting the other woman. He had assumed Qin Mei was just making things up, but he never expected it to be true.

It wasn’t just Mr. Xie; Mrs. Xie hadn’t believed Qin Mei either. Throwing a shoe into the pot used for cooking was simply too vile an act to imagine.