Chapter 110: The Sneaky Wang Mazi
Ning Xiyue hadn’t expected to run into Wang Mazi that very afternoon.
Wang Mazi, forty-two this year, was just like his name — his face was covered in large pockmarks. He had a domineering, snobbish old mother, his family was so poor they could barely scrape together enough to eat, and he was notoriously lazy. He lived entirely off the team’s relief rations. No woman was willing to marry him, and he was still unmarried — the most infamous bachelor in the entire production brigade.
While Ning Xiyue was sitting in the clinic’s courtyard rolling medicine pills, she noticed Wang Mazi peeking in through the door several times.
He was sneakily glancing inside, looking at her with a disgusting grin. Every now and then, he even bared his mouthful of yellow teeth in a sickening smile — it was enough to make Ning Xiyue’s stomach churn.
She really wanted to throw a brick at him.
Fortunately, a patient arrived afterward. By the time she finished treating them and looked again, Wang Mazi was gone.
Otherwise, she really might not have been able to resist pulling out the brick.
But sometimes life was like that — the most annoying people always seemed to reappear in front of you, hovering around.
On her way back to the educated youth dorm that afternoon, she ran into Wang Mazi again. This time, he was hiding suspiciously behind a haystack, spying on something ahead.
Ning Xiyue stopped a short distance behind him, not too close but not too far, wanting to see exactly what he was up to — and how much of this had to do with Ning Xiaoxiao.
She hadn’t been crouching there for long when Wang Mazi tiptoed to get a look at something in front of him. After waiting a few seconds, he suddenly dashed out. From Ning Xiyue’s angle, she couldn’t see what was ahead or understand why he had run out.
But she found out soon enough.
“Ah! Let go of me!”
A sharp scream pierced the air.
Wang Mazi had rushed out and grabbed a young woman, trying to drag her into the haystack. That woman was none other than Chen Yechu.
Ning Xiyue sprinted over, but before she could throw her brick, she saw Chen Yechu lift a clod of earth and smash it at Wang Mazi. Ning Xiyue stopped in her tracks and watched her vent her anger.
Chen Yechu, usually so gentle, was now anything but. As she struck him with the clod, she shouted furiously, “You disgusting pervert! You worthless old bachelor! I’ll smash you to death!”
Caught off guard, Wang Mazi yelped in pain and quickly let go of Chen Yechu. His normally dull face twisted into something feral. “You little bitch! How dare you hit me—”
While resisting Chen Yechu with one hand, he secretly reached into the haystack with the other and pulled out a thick wooden club, planning to strike her by surprise.
The club was as thick as an adult man’s arm — if he hit her with it, Chen Yechu would probably pass out on the spot.
From behind him, Ning Xiyue saw everything clearly. She immediately hurled the brick at the club in his hand and shouted a warning to the unsuspecting Chen Yechu:
“Yechu! Watch out — he’s got a club in his other hand!”
Chen Yechu raised the clod of earth in her hand, preparing to block, and tried to retreat, but there was a haystack behind her — she couldn’t move back. All she could do was raise her other hand to protect her head.
Wang Mazi heard Ning Xiyue’s shout and instinctively sped up his swing.
But he was no match for Ning Xiyue’s Taijiquan-trained speed. That skill hadn’t been much use in other situations, but here, it made her fast — and deadly accurate. Her throw hit its mark with 100% precision.
The brick struck the club before it could land and even smashed his hand in the process.
“Ahhh—!”
A pig-like scream echoed through the air.
Wang Mazi tried to snatch the club off the ground and struggle again, but Chen Yechu slammed him with another clod of earth, and another shrill cry erupted.
Stubborn as ever, Wang Mazi saw Ning Xiyue approaching and still tried to lunge at her.
But Ning Xiyue kicked him to the ground and pinned him under her foot, pressing him so he couldn’t move.
“Argh! It hurts—”
Chen Yechu looked at Ning Xiyue with admiration, then lifted one of her own feet and stepped on Wang Mazi’s neck to keep his head from moving.
Ning Xiyue picked up her brick and pressed her foot down harder. “Talk. What were you sneaking around outside the clinic for today? What kind of dirty schemes were you plotting?”
“And me — who sent you? Tell us everything.” Chen Yechu’s voice was cold as she pressed down harder.
“Ahhh— please, take it easy! Spare me, please, I won’t dare again!”
Seeing that he still wasn’t talking, Ning Xiyue pressed down harder with her foot.
“Aahh— stop, stop! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” he cried.
“I just heard Ning Xiaoxiao mumbling that you both liked me, so… I went to the clinic to see you. I thought maybe you were feeling insecure about the scar on your forehead and too shy to confess…”
Seeing that the two women weren’t reacting — and weren’t stopping him — he got bolder, even a little smug:
“Actually, I didn’t intend to do anything. That scar of yours is really ugly, so I wanted to find a chance to reject you. But you were busy inside, so I never got the chance. Later, when people came, I left first.”
His words became more and more ridiculous. “As for you, Chen Yechu — you’re pretty and look gentle, just my type. I was going to reluctantly accept your feelings and tell you I’d accept you. But then you hit me! Hmph!”
He even sounded offended.
Chen Yechu felt sick to her stomach and spat at him. “Pah! A toad lusting after a swan’s flesh. Just looking at you makes my eyes dirty. Who the hell would like someone like you? And reluctantly accept? Don’t disgust me.”
The reason Ning Xiyue and Chen Yechu hadn’t reacted earlier was because they were too stunned — stunned by Wang Mazi’s outrageous words and sheer confidence.
Ning Xiyue pressed down harder with her foot and smashed the brick onto him, laughing in disbelief. “Who gave you the confidence to think we’d both like you? Look at yourself — even if I had ten scars on my face, I’d still be better than a pathetic, ugly, overconfident loser like you. I’d sooner like a dog than someone like you.”
The brick rained down like spring rain.
“Ahhh! Comrade Ning, you can’t just beat me because you can’t have me! Stop — it hurts!”
“Comrade Chen, how can you be so heartless— Aahh!”
The more he talked, the more bricks Ning Xiyue threw.
And Chen Yechu’s clods of earth rained down too, venting the disgust boiling inside her.
This was the perfect place — hardly anyone passed by, and the haystack gave them cover. A perfect place to beat someone up.
“Stop hitting me! You’re the ones who gave me a token of your affection — how can you turn your backs on me now? Aahhh— it hurts!”
Amid his screams, Ning Xiyue caught an important piece of information. She froze mid-swing and gestured for Chen Yechu to stop too.
Her expression turned icy as she glared down at Wang Mazi, lying on the ground like a dead dog. “What token of affection? Take it out. Now.”
