Qin Mei's pupils contracted as her gaze met Jie Jingchen's. 'The one who slipped through the net of the literacy classes... that just means illiterate.' Suddenly, the newspaper in her hands felt like a hot potato. 'Am I about to be exposed?'
'On second thought, what does my being illiterate have to do with him? What's there to feel guilty about?'
"I'm illiterate and I'm proud of it. Got a problem?" Qin Mei's tone was hostile.
"Not at all." Jie Jingchen gazed at Qin Mei, his eyes full of meaning.
Qin Mei had no desire to engage with him. 'Talking to him will probably shorten my life.'
She went back to cracking melon seeds and looking at the newspaper, her thoughts drifting. 'The original owner has a brother... I wonder who he is?'
Suddenly, Qin Mei grew curious about the original owner's family. 'Where do they live? Who are her parents? Besides a brother, are there any other siblings? Are they from the city, or the countryside?'
'He knows her brother, so he must know about her family situation.'
Qin Mei put down the newspaper. 'If I'm going to ask for a favor, I need to have the right attitude.' She put on a sincere, toothy grin that made her eyes disappear. "Um, you're Jing Si, right? I wanted to ask..."
"Wife." Xie Jingchen was awake. He called out to Qin Mei, cutting her off.
'Perfect timing.' Qin Mei slipped on her shoes, walked over to Xie Jingchen's bed, and said softly, "Yes?"
"Wife... water. I'm thirsty," Xie Jingchen rasped, his mouth completely dry.
"Just a moment." Qin Mei picked up an enamel mug, filled it halfway with warm water, and inserted a thin bamboo straw. She crouched down. "You can drink now."
Xie Jingchen tilted his head slightly and began to drink through the straw.
"What do you think you're doing?" a voice, seething with uncontrollable rage, suddenly rang out.
Before Qin Mei could react, a hand grabbed her shoulder and violently yanked her to her feet.
SLAP! A heavy hand struck Qin Mei's fair cheek. The blow was so hard and vicious that she saw stars.
The woman's chest heaved, her eyes blazing with fury as she glared at Qin Mei.
'She had a stunning face, a curvaceous figure with a tiny waist, and an enchanting, bewitching air about her. Her seductive eyes were shimmering and hazy. Forget men—even another woman like me can't help but be dumbstruck by her looks.'
To seduce anyone would be bad enough, but to seduce *her* man... A cruel glint sharpened in the woman's eyes.
"You slut!" The woman raised her hand to slap Qin Mei again.
Fury shot through Qin Mei. She'd been slapped for no reason at all. A slap wasn't just painful; it was a profound insult, a deep humiliation.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you? You don't hit people in the face, and you don't call out their flaws." Qin Mei seized the woman's wrist, raised her own hand, and delivered a vicious slap in return.
"You slut! How dare you hit me?" The woman clutched her cheek, her eyes fixed on Qin Mei in a furious glare.
And so, the two began to brawl. The other woman fought with no technique, resorting to the classic trifecta of scratching, hair-pulling, and spitting.
Xiao Liu wasn't in the ward. Jie Jingchen and Xie Jingchen were both patients. Xie Jingchen, in particular, didn't dare move an inch. He couldn't see, so he could only try to figure out what was happening from the sounds.
His wife was being attacked! Xie Jingchen cried out desperately, "Jing Si, you have to stop them!"
"Sorry, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," Jie Jingchen said, and it was the truth. He watched the two women scuffle, a mocking glint in his eyes.
"Stop! Stop! Please stop fighting! Just talk things out!" Xie Jingchen was frantic. That was his wife; if she got hurt, he would be the one to suffer.
Qin Mei could tolerate the scratching and hair-pulling, but the spitting was what she found truly disgusting.
"Don't you dare spit! That's disgusting! You spit on me again and I'll break your jaw," Qin Mei threatened. She yanked the woman's hair, forcing her head back, and glanced at her own jacket, now spattered with saliva. She was so disgusted she wanted to throw the jacket away.
"I'll spit all I want! I'll drown you in it! You think my spit is disgusting? How about you, seducing my man? Isn't that disgusting?" The woman's eyes bulged with rage as she kicked and flailed, struggling with all her might.
Hearing this, Qin Mei froze, her hand still reaching for the woman's jaw. The shrill accusation was completely baffling.
"Who seduced your man? You can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say whatever you want. Watch your mouth. Besides, who even is your man?" Qin Mei demanded.
The woman pointed a finger at Xie Jingchen. "Him."
Qin Mei's face changed, her almond-shaped eyes flashing with anger. "Bullshit," she spat. "He's my man. We have a marriage certificate to prove it."
Qin Mei's conviction was so absolute that the woman's confidence immediately faltered. She began to wonder if she had walked into the wrong room and identified the wrong person.
'If you say it with enough conviction, any lie can sound like the truth.'
Half of her anger vanished in an instant. The woman asked meekly, "You two really have a marriage certificate?"
"Of course." Qin Mei threw her shoulders back and lifted her chin. 'If we didn't have a marriage certificate, his older sister would never have brought me to the Sun Family to be cared for, and he wouldn't be giving the Sun Family ten yuan a month.'
The woman completely deflated, her confidence gone. She stammered, "Oh... then... I... I'm sorry."
"I forgive you," Qin Mei said magnanimously, releasing the woman.
Both women were battered, their necks and arms covered in scratches. Their hair was disheveled, making them look like a pair of wild women.
'In the civilized world she came from, Qin Mei had only ever interacted with highly educated people.'
'Her upbringing and a sense of propriety had always held her back. She always spoke softly and gently, especially in front of her elders, let alone getting into a physical fight.'
'But she had to admit, that fight just now had left her with a feeling of exhilarating release.'
'In her past life, if her elders told her to go east, she wouldn't have dared to go west. If they told her to control her emotions, she wouldn't have dared to vent. Her elders' words were law. She could never resist, only obey. Over time, she had started to feel utterly suffocated.'
'Now that she had transmigrated to this era, she no longer wanted to be a good, obedient girl. She just wanted to live freely, on her own terms.'
Jie Jingchen was dumbfounded. 'She's just going to concede like that? Qin Mei has amnesia, so it's understandable that she'd mistake her husband. But this woman? Don't tell me she can't even recognize her own husband?'
He glanced at Xie Jingchen. 'At first glance, it's possible to get them mixed up. But if you look closely, you can absolutely tell the difference.'
Jie Jingchen looked at Qin Mei, his gaze loaded with meaning. "Are you sure the name on your marriage certificate is his?" he asked.
Qin Mei, in the middle of taking off her soiled jacket, froze. She raised an eyebrow and glared at Jie Jingchen. "What's that supposed to mean?"
The other woman, who had been hanging her head in shame, heard Jie Jingchen's words and her fighting spirit instantly flared back to life. She looked ready to start another fight with Qin Mei, but this time, she reined in her impulses and acted rationally.
The woman rushed to Xie Jingchen's bedside and scrutinized the man lying on the bed. The longer she looked, the more familiar he became. Who could it be, if not her husband?
"Pup?" the woman called out tentatively.
'Pup?' Qin Mei was so stunned she nearly laughed out loud. 'What kind of name is that?'
Xie Jingchen froze. Only his family ever called him "Pup." He hadn't heard that nickname since he'd joined the army. Even after he was discharged and came home, his family hadn't used it. "You're..."
"Xie Jingchen, what's your wife's name?" Jie Jingchen asked, a slight smile playing on his lips, his voice smooth and clear.
"Zhou Hongyi," Xie Jingchen answered.
"..." Qin Mei was completely floored, her mind a blank canvas of question marks.
"..." Zhou Hongyi.