Around the usual time of seven o’clock, Zeng Shuyi would see her second sister at the street corner.
But today, she had already waited about ten minutes past that, and the second sister still hadn’t appeared.
So Zeng Shuyi headed in her direction.
After turning just two streets, she saw a few people surrounding her second sister.
“What are you guys doing?” Zeng Shuyi immediately picked up a wooden stick from the ground and charged forward.
The group was one woman and two men, all with their faces covered.
It was too dark for Zeng Shuyi to see clearly, but she struck swiftly and forcefully, aiming the stick hard against one of the men’s heads.
“Ow! It hurts, it hurts!”
“Are you looking for death?!”
Both men shouted in unison.
Zeng Shuyi knew she couldn’t take on three people at once, so she didn’t waste time arguing.
She grabbed her second sister and shouted loudly, “Stop the hooligans! Someone’s being robbed, help!”
Zeng Shuyue was already terrified, crying so hard she was gasping for air.
But Zeng Shuyi only shouted louder and louder.
Her years of shouting while hawking goods on the streets had trained her voice, and today she was pushing it to its limit.
Hearing Zeng Shuyi’s cries, the attackers started to panic a bit.
Zeng Shuyi caught one of them mutter “woman’s mother” quietly.
She reached to search the woman’s scarf but was slapped away.
“Let’s go, a real man doesn’t suffer losses like this,” the woman said, then tried to run.
Zeng Shuyi wasn’t going to let her second sister be bullied for no reason.
The men were stronger, so she grabbed the woman’s arm instead.
“Let go!”
“No!” Zeng Shuyi held on tight, but two men came over to search her.
She bit down hard on the woman’s cotton jacket, tearing off a large piece.
At that moment, someone came running from a distance.
Seeing this, the three attackers panicked.
One man shoved Zeng Shuyi to the ground with force, then all three took off running.
“Ouch,” Zeng Shuyi groaned, clutching her waist as she got up.
Zeng Shuyue was still crying, asking if she was hurt.
“Of course it hurts!” Zeng Shuyi thought she probably had bruises from the fall.
Looking down at the ripped cotton jacket she had torn off, she told her sister not to cry anymore, “What’s the use? This is the main street. You have to shout! What do you think they’d do otherwise?”
When a few people came over to ask what happened, Zeng Shuyi quickly put on a smile.
“Comrade, you saw it too, right? Those three just robbed someone near our neighborhood. If we don’t catch them, no one will feel safe living here.”
Since they came so quickly, it meant they lived nearby.
Robberies were something people had heard about, but usually in remote, deserted places — this wasn’t one of those.
After Zeng Shuyi’s words, the people straightened up and said, “I’ll call the police right now!”
Soon, more people arrived.
Zeng Shuyi busied herself asking her second sister how she was.
She heard that her sister had been pushed several times but wasn’t beaten, which eased her heart a little.
“Second sister, do you know who they were?”
Zeng Shuyi was confused.
Her second sister was such an honest person; who could she have offended?
“I…”
Zeng Shuyue was no longer as scared and had calmed down.
She was unfamiliar with the two men but had a vague impression of the woman’s voice.
Before she could figure out who it was, the police arrived first.
She went with the witnesses to the police station to give a statement.
After explaining what happened, the police asked the same question, “Comrade Zeng Shuyue, have you offended anyone recently? Anyone who might have a grudge against you?”
“Officer, I’ve always kept to myself. I never quarrel or offend anyone…”
Before she finished, Zeng Shuyue suddenly remembered the woman’s voice.
“Wait, I think that woman’s voice sounds a bit like Wang Jie, but I haven’t offended her, have I?”
The police asked, “Who is Wang Jie?”
“She’s the nanny working for my current employer. She used to be the nanny at the hospital.”
Zeng Shuyue carefully recounted what had happened earlier at the hospital.
Meanwhile, Wang Jie and the two men ran all the way back home.
Once inside and the door shut, the three of them finally breathed heavily.
“That really scared me to death. Where did that shrew come from, not even afraid of us, hitting me right on the head!” Lin Ziye said, rubbing his head.
“Ouch, it hurts so much. Mom, please check if it’s swollen.”
Wang Fenfang kicked off her shoes to check.
Sure enough, there was a swelling lump.
“Zeng Shuyue’s little sister is really fierce. Her sister was scared half to death, but she actually hit you hard. Don’t worry, we’ll get our revenge.”
Lin Ziye’s head was throbbing worse and worse.
“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have come with you guys. Zeng Shuyue is really timid. I just asked her to bring out the money, and she sighed and fell to the ground trembling.”
Lin Shanliang sat at the edge of the bed drinking water.
“Good thing we ran fast, or we’d be finished if caught. Fenfang, you don’t think Zeng Shuyue will find us here, do you?”
“Don’t worry, she definitely won’t.”
Wang Fenfang was confident.
“Zeng Shuyue was scared silly; there’s no way she could recognize me. Even if she found us, what evidence would she have? You can’t just say it’s us without proof!”
Wang Fenfang had long suspected that Zeng Shuyue had taken her nanny job.
Because of that, her reputation at the hospital was bad, and no one wanted to hire her as a caregiver.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.
When she heard that Zeng Shuyue had started working as a nanny for Li Dandan, she immediately thought Zeng Shuyue had ruined her job.
The salary from Zhou Sheng was good, and Li Dandan was easy to get along with — such a good job taken away by Zeng Shuyue made her hate her even more.
After holding it in for two days, Wang Fenfang still couldn’t swallow her anger.
Knowing Zeng Shuyue had to walk home alone at night, she gathered her husband and son to scare Zeng Shuyue, hoping she’d be too afraid to walk at night again and would lose the job.
At first, it went smoothly.
But when she learned about Zeng Shuyue’s little sister appearing…
Thinking of the Zeng sisters, Wang Fenfang spat on the ground.
“All right, everyone go to sleep. No one is allowed to mention this again, got it?”
Lin Shanliang nodded.
Lin Ziye, worried about his head, asked, “Mom, do you think I’ll get a concussion?”
“It’s nothing, just a bump. It’ll get better in a couple of days.”
Wang Fenfang was tired.
She was sure Zeng Shuyue wouldn’t suspect it was her.
Everyone in the Lin family went to lie down.
Wang Fenfang yawned and soon fell asleep.
But not long after, there was a loud knocking on the door.
“Who is it?” Wang Fenfang frowned, annoyed.
“Police, please open the door and cooperate with the investigation.”
It had to be the police.
From the other room, Lin Ziye, wearing only pants, hurried over anxiously, “Mom, what do we do? The police came looking for us!”
“Why panic? What can the police do? Zeng Shuyue doesn’t have evidence!”
Wang Fenfang said that, but her heart was pounding just as fast.
She knew she couldn’t rush.
“Take a few deep breaths. Don’t be scared. As long as we don’t slip up, no one will know it’s us.”
Lin Ziye was young and scared.
He ran back to his room.
Outside, the police waited a long time for someone to open the door.
“Open up, or we’ll break it down!”
“Here we come,” Wang Fenfang yawned and opened the door, pretending she just woke up.
“Officer, what are you doing out here so late?”
“Are you Wang Fenfang?”
“Yes, I am.”
Wang Fenfang asked what was going on.
Zeng Shuyi had followed along and carefully sized up Wang Fenfang’s figure.
When she heard Wang Fenfang’s voice, she was even more certain it was her.
The police questioned Wang Fenfang about what she did that day.
She said she went home after work.
“Exactly what’s going on, officer? Our whole family obeys the law and are good people.”
She glanced at Zeng Shuyi at the back but pretended not to see her, or she’d be exposed.
Lin Shanliang also came over, “Yes, officer, we’ve been asleep for a long time. We were confused when you suddenly came over.”
Police: “Are you sure none of you left the house?”
Wang Fenfang: “After eating, chatting with neighbors by the door counts as going out?”
The officer frowned, but since they had come, they had to check inside.
Hearing that, Wang Fenfang generously let them in.
“Look around, we only have two rooms. It’s a small place; there’s nowhere to hide anything. Look all you want. But officer, you coming here this late might damage my reputation. You’d better clear that up.”
As soon as she said that, Wang Fenfang saw Zeng Shuyi head toward her bed.
She rushed over to stop her and snapped, “Who are you? You don’t look like the police. No stranger is allowed to rummage through my house!”
From Wang Fenfang’s eyes, Zeng Shuyi caught a flicker of panic.
She was looking for the cotton jacket—the same one she had bitten and torn.
A cotton jacket costs money and effort, from the fabric to the cotton itself.
Zeng Shuyi didn’t believe Wang Fenfang would be so reckless as to throw it away.
Seeing Wang Fenfang block her, Zeng Shuyi smiled calmly at her.
“Wang Jie, I want to know, how did my second sister offend you?”
“What did you say? I have nothing to do with your second sister.” Wang Fenfang replied.
“Wang Jie, as far as I know, we haven’t met before. Do you even know who my second sister is? Or did you only find out tonight when you heard me calling ‘second sister’?”
Zeng Shuyi immediately caught the flaw in Wang Fenfang’s words.
“Officer, you heard that, right? We didn’t know each other before, but she knew I was related to my second sister!”