Chapter 210: Messed with the Wrong Person

The two women locked eyes, both tensing their arms at once.

The moment a hand came up, Guo Shushu saw an opening and swung her bag.

She smashed it furiously against Wu Xin’s arms!

“You dare hit my grandmother? Who the hell do you think you are! Shameless! Utterly shameless!”

With every shout, she put more force into her swing.

Though she was shouting insults, her attack was entirely physical.

Wu Xin’s arms were already pinned tightly by Leader Liang and his men. Unable to move, she could only endure the beating.

How could He Wei stand for that?

Her eyes bloodshot, she swung a vicious slap at Guo Shushu’s face, her hand cutting through the air.

Guo Shushu had no intention of dodging. She swung the bag off her shoulder.

The body of the bag crashed sideways into the outside of He Wei’s forearm!

He Wei cried out in pain. Her face contorted instantly, and her lips went pale.

“Bitch—!”

The word was barely out of her mouth before she clenched her left hand and lunged to grab the top of Guo Shushu’s head.

Yang Lei darted forward from behind and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist.

He yanked her backward, pinning her securely in his arms so she couldn’t move an inch.

‘Song Yao is Shen Zhenwu’s biological daughter, and Guo Shushu is her sister-in-law.’

‘With connections like that, who in their right mind wouldn’t get it?’

‘And she actually attacked them?’

‘Did she think anything good would come of this?’

They had been married for over a decade, after all. Yang Lei was still trying to protect her.

But He Wei wasn’t having it. She struggled and screamed.

“Let go! Let go of me! You useless coward…”

Guo Shushu showed no mercy. She bent down, scooped up her fallen bag, and whacked He Wei across the back with it several times.

“Bitch! Right back at you!”

He Wei went berserk. She violently twisted her head back, opened her mouth, and sank her teeth into Yang Lei’s right forearm.

With her arms pinned, Wu Xin’s body was tilted to one side.

“Everyone, look! The great leaders are acting like tyrants! They’re bullying us common folk!”

“SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!”

Yang Wanqing rushed forward. Alternating hands, she landed three solid slaps across Wu Xin’s face.

“You old thing! I was trying to give you some face, thinking you were someone of consequence! But look at you, putting on airs as an elder? Have you no shame?”

“If anything had really happened to Song Yao today, the bones of your entire family wouldn’t be enough to pay for it! These few slaps? You got off easy! I’d love nothing more than to rip that foul mouth of yours to shreds and pull out every last one of your white hairs!”

The more she spoke, the angrier she became. Yang Wanqing lifted her leg as if to kick.

But her leg went weak, and she suddenly lurched forward, nearly collapsing.

Liang Youwen reacted instantly, catching her by the arm.

“Ma’am, please don’t be angry. We’ll handle this! We’ll be sure to resolve it properly for you!”

Yang Wanqing steadied herself, her chest still heaving.

“Handle it? If you don’t give me a satisfactory explanation, I’ll…!”

She stopped abruptly, halfway through her sentence.

‘Who could she complain to?’

‘These men had been sent by her own son.’

She stomped her foot fiercely.

“You listen to me! This must be investigated thoroughly. If anyone dares to show favoritism, I, this old woman, will see this through to the bitter end, even if it costs me my life!”

Liang Youwen nodded repeatedly.

“We wouldn’t dare! We truly wouldn’t dare!”

He Wei was still trying to break free from Yang Lei to get at Guo Shushu.

Yang Lei locked one hand around her wrist in a death grip while his other hand pressed down heavily on her shoulder. The force was so great that one side of her body sagged.

Only after dragging her to the side and forcing her to stand still did he hiss, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? That’s the leader’s mother, and his officially wedded daughter-in-law!”

“The wife of Director Li that you just attacked is Mr. Shen’s precious daughter,” Yang Lei forced the words out through clenched teeth, his face taut with tension.

He had finally snapped.

‘He knew in his heart that he was utterly done for!’

A moment ago, He Wei had been glaring at him, puffed up with rage.

The moment she heard this, she froze on the spot, going limp as if her spine had been ripped out.

She couldn’t even spare a thought for her own mother, who had just been slapped.

Only after taking several slaps to the face did Wu Xin’s head finally clear.

She was slowly starting to grasp the situation.

‘The military leaders weren’t here to take her side; they were terrified of angering the real power players and were rushing to show where they stood!’

Then she took another look at Guo Shushu’s crisp Beijing accent.

Wu Xin realized with a delay.

‘Crap, I’ve picked a fight with the wrong people!’

Liang Youwen had just escorted a calmer Yang Wanqing back to the hospital room. He turned and gestured to his men.

“Take them all away.”

Wu Xin was being led away by the arms, and it was only when she was halfway down the hall that she came to her senses.

“Hey? Where are you taking me?”

“What law did I break? Why are you arresting me?”

“For starters, you can’t control your mouth. Cursing and harassing the family of a service member is enough to open a case.”

Liang Youwen didn’t even bother to look up.

Only then did Wu Xin panic, instinctively turning her head to look for her daughter’s support.

But He Wei had already buried her face in her hands and didn’t dare to look up.

“I… I didn’t say anything that awful!”

“Nothing awful? You call sending someone to the hospital ‘nothing awful’?”

Liang Youwen raised his voice, his shout making everyone’s ears ring.

“It’s a miracle she’s okay! If something had really gone wrong, you’d be eating prison food until your teeth fell out!”

Wu Xin stopped shouting at them and turned to call for her daughter.

“Xiao Wei! Xiao Wei! Hurry up and defend your mother. I really didn’t say anything out of line. I… I just couldn’t stand seeing that girl act so arrogantly, humiliating you in front of so many people. As your mother, it broke my heart!”

She cried injustice, but in her heart, she knew exactly what was going on.

After catching her breath, she hurriedly grabbed Yang Lei’s arm.

“Son-in-law! Son-in-law, quickly put in a good word for your mother-in-law. I really didn’t have any bad intentions. I was just thinking… Xiao Wei was being bullied, and I had to make that girl stop provoking her. If she keeps insulting people, who will dare to talk to Xiao Wei in the future? Who will dare to come near our family?”

“I was really doing it for Xiao Wei’s own good!”

She turned to Liang Youwen and waved her hands frantically, her fingers trembling slightly.

“She’s my own daughter, would I ever harm her? I’ve never even said a single harsh word to her face!”

Liang Youwen shot her a sidelong glance.

“For her own good? The woman is heavily pregnant, about to go into labor, and your idea of ‘good’ is to go to her home and curse her out? You banged on her doorframe, blocked her doorway, and yelled at her for over twenty minutes, not even sparing the child in her belly?”

“But… it won’t really come to sending me to jail, will it?”

Wu Xin’s voice trembled, and her eyes immediately reddened.

“At my age, if I go in there, I’ll probably be cashing in my funeral savings! Ever since this happened, I haven’t been able to sleep a wink!”

“I just said a few nasty things!”

“I’ve been hit, I’ve been yelled at, and I didn’t even talk back! What’s the big deal? Worst comes to worst, I’ll kowtow to her and pay some money. That should be enough, right? Is there any need to be so relentless?”

“The old saying goes, ‘a close neighbor is better than a distant relative.’ Did you forge your neighborly relations with a rolling pin?”

Director Cheng couldn’t stand it any longer and shot back.

He slammed the cup of water in his hand onto the table, and a few drops sloshed out.

“Do you have any idea if Director Li’s wife’s water broke when she fell? She’s in the delivery room under observation right now! And you’re here talking about letting it go?”

Wu Xin choked, rendered speechless.

Yang Lei looked at his wife, then at his mother-in-law, and finally forced himself to speak.

“This is entirely our fault. We’ll pay every cent for Director Li’s wife’s medical bills and recovery expenses. We’ll go to their home immediately to apologize. Whatever the punishment, we’ll accept it. It’s just… my mother-in-law, her age is a factor. She has to hold the wall just to walk. The last time she climbed to the second floor, she was so out of breath she couldn’t stand up straight. If this really goes to court, I’m afraid she’ll collapse before a verdict is even reached.”

Wu Xin’s eyes welled up, and she let out a choked sob.

“Lei…”

Yang Lei didn’t look back. He kept his head down, his gaze fixed on Liang Youwen and Director Cheng, his expression filled with desperate pleading.