Chapter 16 (2/2)

“Huamei, you regularly steal Feng Lu’s jewelry, and when Feng Lu can’t find them, you allow me to be maligned and beaten. For my own good, you say? Who’s the shameless one here?”

Huamei’s sneer slipped, giving way to embarrassment, before taking on a caustic, bitter edge. “What proof do you have? You liar–you were clearly the one brazen enough to steal, and now you’re blaming me? The Fengs were too kind to you. They should have beaten you to death long ago!”

Before Tang Qiu could retort, the man in the wheelchair grabbed her hand. “This woman used to beat you?”

Briefly stunned, Tang Qiu’s eyes drifted to Huamei, whose face was written all over with unabashed mockery. She nodded. It was true–Huamei would steal Feng Lu’s jewelry, then point fingers at her, leaving the Feng family to punish Tang Qiu.

Jiang Shaocheng felt a stab of pain in his heart. He gripped her hand. “Qiu, it’s a public place, let’s not make a scene.”

Huamei had dared to lay a hand on his wife, and he would not let her off for it. But it would do no good to create a bloodbath in the mall–or have Tang Qiu bear witness and be frightened.

Mistaking his words for disapproval, Tang Qiu said, “I’m sorry. I overreacted. I won’t quarrel with her anymore.” Back then, she had swallowed all her retorts, too, rather than argue with the Fengs and earn herself a beating.

“Afraid I’ll air all your dirty laundry?” Huamei asked, smug at her sudden speechlessness.

Jiang Shaocheng turned a deadly stare of ice onto Huamei, and a shiver trickled down her spine. She tore her eyes away, not daring to meet his gaze, wondering silently how it was that this cripple could project such a terrifying demeanor.

But a cripple was still a cripple. “That pretty face of yours is a useful tool, Tang Qiu,” she said, scoffing coldly. “But one day, you’ll have no more youthfulness to squander.”

To the man in the wheelchair, she said, “If Tang Qiu is willing to endure your company for money, she must have done the same with other men in the past. Take it as my kind advice: you’re pathetic enough as it is, so don’t go about aggravating your condition and catching some incurable disease. Although, I must say, you’re pretty lucky to have a woman willing to tolerate you at all, let alone one who doesn’t care what illness you have.”

Jiang Shaocheng held her gaze in frosty silence. Right then, the coffee Tang Qiu had ordered arrived, and he picked it up, pouring the scalding liquid over Huamei’s face. She howled out loud, her hands flying to her face.

Jiang Shaocheng’s voice was as cold as a harsh winter. “Get lost…” he said, “… unless you want me to disfigure your face.”