Chapter 46: Gu Tingxiao is Here
Chen Ming’s face flushed red, then turned a ghostly pale. He glared at her, his eyes blazing with fury.
“Don’t be so ungrateful!” he spat. “It’s your absolute good fortune that a man like me is willing to marry you. You’re already twenty years old. Who else would want an old maid like you?”
Chen Ming possessed an inflated sense of superiority. In his mind, a twenty-year-old unmarried woman was practically a expired commodity. Most girls her age were desperately throwing themselves at any eligible man, so he couldn’t comprehend why Sheng Wanyan was acting so arrogant.
“If it’s such a blessing, why don’t you keep it for yourself?” Sheng Wanyan countered coldly. “As a state worker with a secure job, why on earth would I ever worry about finding a husband? But you—you just stand there spreading lies and harassing me. Be careful, or I’ll report you to the police for slander and acting like a hooligan!”
The onlookers’ eyes lit up the moment they heard she was a state factory worker. A state worker! What did her being twenty years old matter? Her job alone was a golden ticket. Whichever man married her would be set for life.
Humiliated in public and finding his pride thoroughly dismantled by Sheng Wanyan, Chen Ming’s expression darkened to a venomous scowl. What man could endure such public disgrace?
“You… you shameless bitch!” he snarled. “Who else would look at you if it wasn’t for me? Do you really think having a job makes you something special?”
Chen Ming pointed a shaking finger at Sheng Wanyan, a stream of venomous insults flying from his mouth. Wu Jiaxiu had never encountered a man so utterly pathetic and vile. Horrified, she stepped firmly in front of Sheng Wanyan, shielding her behind her back. Is there a structural defect in this man’s brain? she thought. In this day and age, having a permanent job is the greatest thing alive!
Sheng Wanyan was never one to sit back and take a beating. She scanned the area and spotted a deliveryman unloading supplies at the entrance of the State-Owned Restaurant. Resting against the wall was his thick, sturdy wooden carrying pole.
She marched over and hoisted the heavy wood, a fierce, menacing light in her eyes. “Can I borrow this? If it breaks, I’ll pay for it!”
“Go right ahead!” the deliveryman answered swiftly, handing it over without a second thought.
Sheng Wanyan gripped the pole. Seeing the dangerous look on her face, Chen Ming recoiled in shock.
“Sister Jiaxiu, step aside!”
Sheng Wanyan swung the heavy wooden pole. Hearing the warning, Wu Jiaxiu instantly dived out of the way.
The heavy pole sliced through the humid afternoon air, the force of the swing sending a sharp whistle of wind right past Chen Ming’s ears. He scrambled to dodge, but the pole was long and caught him dead across the back.
“Aaaargh!” he screamed, tumbling into the dirt. “You crazy bitch! How dare you hit me! Just wait until you marry me—I’ll beat you to death, believe it or not!”
Even flat on his back, Chen Ming refused to stop cursing.
Sheng Wanyan didn’t waste her breath arguing. She raised the pole and swung it down a second time.
This time, Chen Ming managed to throw his hands up and catch the descending wood. Though he was thin and weak compared to some, he was still a manual laborer who performed heavy tasks daily, and his grip was deceptively strong. Enraged, he channeled all his strength and yanked the pole violently to the side.
Sheng Wanyan was caught completely off guard by the sudden resistance. Overbalanced by his forceful pull, her feet slipped, and she began to fall sideways toward the hard concrete.
“Wanyan!” Wu Jiaxiu shrieked, her heart leaping into her throat. A fall like that would undoubtedly break bones.
Sheng Wanyan squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the inevitable impact. She was fiercely stubborn; as long as she survived the fall, she swore she would make that bastard pay tenfold.
But the expected agony never came. Instead, a strong pair of arms wrapped securely around her waist from behind, catching her mid-air and hoisting her back onto her feet.
Before she could even steady her balance, the man gently spun her around, holding her firmly by the shoulders as his eyes swept over her body.
“Are you hurt?”
A deep, familiar voice laced with intense anxiety washed over her. Sheng Wanyan opened her eyes and found herself looking into a cold, strikingly handsome face mere inches from her own. The raw worry radiating from his eyes was overwhelming, and she could only shake her head in a daze.
Gu Tingxiao wasn’t convinced. He inspected her from head to toe, left and right, only letting out a breath when he was absolutely certain she was physically intact. However, when his gaze fell upon her palms—which had been rubbed raw and red from Chen Ming’s violent yank on the pole—a dangerous, terrifying fury flared in his eyes.
Behind them, Chen Ming had scrambled up and was attempting to swing the carrying pole at Gu Tingxiao’s back. Without even turning around, Gu Tingxiao shot his hand out and gripped the wooden pole with a backhand lock.
With a murderous look in his eyes, Gu Tingxiao gave a sharp, brutal tug. The immense force ripped the pole from Chen Ming’s grip and sent him flying sideways, landing flat on his face with a sickening crunch.
“Aaaargh!” Chen Ming howled, thrashing in the dirt. “My waist! My waist!”
His midsection had slammed violently into a jagged stone embedded in the ground. His entire torso was trembling, and he couldn’t even summon the strength to crawl up.
The surrounding crowd watched in awe, a collective sense of satisfaction rippling through them. A pathetic, shameless creature like this deserved exactly what he got. How could a grown man act so entirely without honor?
“Who do you think you’re threatening?”
Gu Tingxiao strode over like a dark storm, reached down, and hauled Chen Ming up by his collar like a sack of trash.
Grimacing in agony, Chen Ming raised a fist to swing at his attacker, but the moment his eyes registered the crisp military uniform and the terrifying aura radiating from the man, his hand froze. When he met Gu Tingxiao’s icy, dead-eyed stare, a cold dread gripped his chest, and his voice trapped in his throat.
Desperate, Chen Ming began to wail to the crowd, “Look, everyone! A soldier is beating a civilian! The military is abusing citizens!” He glared up at Gu Tingxiao. “Let me go! I’ll report you to the police and have you arrested for assault!”
Gu Tingxiao let out a cold, mocking sneer. He tightened his grip on the man’s collar and began marching down the street. “Excellent idea. Let’s go to the Public Security Bureau together and see exactly what the police have to say about a man acting like a degenerate hooligan toward an unmarried female comrade.”
Chen Ming’s heart plummeted. If he was formally charged with hooliganism in this political climate, his entire life would be utterly ruined. “Put me down! Put me down!” he shrieked.
Chen Ming stood at 1.7 meters, but Gu Tingxiao towered over him at 1.88 meters, carrying him so high that Chen Ming’s feet literally dangled in the air. No matter how violently he thrashed, his struggles were a pathetic joke against a trained soldier’s strength.
To Gu Tingxiao, a man who directed his strength toward terrorizing women instead of serving his motherland was lower than dirt. If he had arrived even a moment later, the girl would have taken a terrible fall and ended up in a hospital bed.
Gu Tingxiao stopped, turned back to Sheng Wanyan, and handed her his heavy canvas duffel bag. “Head back to your office first,” he instructed, his tone softening slightly. “I’ll come find you after you clock out. There’s a tube of medicinal ointment in the inner pocket of the bag—take it out and apply it to your hands immediately.”
After barking out the brief instructions, he turned back around and hauled the weeping Chen Ming toward the police station.
Sheng Wanyan stood frozen on the sidewalk, clutching his heavy bag against her chest, watching his broad shoulders disappear into the distance with a look of utter bewilderment.
“Wanyan, are you really alright?” Wu Jiaxiu gasped, her face pale. If it hadn’t been for that military officer, Wanyan would have suffered terribly. A wave of guilt washed over her; if she hadn’t insisted on dragging Wanyan out for lunch, they never would have crossed paths with that monster.
Sheng Wanyan shook her head, pulling herself out of her thoughts. Aside from the stinging heat radiating from her palms, she was completely unharmed. “Sister Jiaxiu, I’m fine.”
“Thank heavens. Thank heavens.” Wu Jiaxiu let out a massive sigh of relief, immediately taking Wanyan’s arm and pulling her back toward the safety of the factory gates, terrified another member of the Chen family might spring from the shadows.
Once back in the Propaganda office, Sheng Wanyan unzipped Gu Tingxiao’s bag, located the small tube of ointment, and carefully smeared it over her raw palms. The medicine felt intensely cool against her skin, followed by a slight, sharp sting. She let out a soft sigh.
The Chen family is definitely going to form an angry mob and march on my house tonight, she thought.
Chen Ming had been dragged straight to the police station. With Gu Tingxiao’s military status backing the report, Chen Ming would almost certainly lose his coveted factory job. If he was formally convicted of hooliganism, he would be shipped straight to a hard labor camp, cementing a blood feud between the Chen and Sheng families.
Yet, Sheng Wanyan didn’t harbor a single shred of regret or pity. If a wretched creature like Chen Ming wasn’t dealt a crushing lesson early on, he would only grow bolder and more dangerous in the future.
