After she left, Mr. Jin returned to his seat and saw Liu Yizhu walk out from behind the bookshelf with a worried look on his face. Mr. Jin gave a slight smile.
"You heard that, right? That girl who just left is quite a catch. If you've really set your heart on her, then you'll have to try even harder," said Mr. Jin.
Liu Yizhu sat down across from Mr. Jin, looking a little dejected. "I know," he said.
Mr. Jin reminded him, "You'll also need to work on persuading your mother."
Liu Yizhu hung his head even lower. Seeing him like this, Mr. Jin showed sympathy on his face. This boy had been sweet on the same girl ever since he was little. Why was it so difficult?
"Let's not talk about this anymore. Young man, I should first finish reviewing your essays so I can hand them out tomorrow," said Mr. Jin.
"Yes, it's getting late, let's work on them together," replied Liu Yizhu.
After being distracted by chatting with Li Mingwei, the two stayed up late into the night before finally finishing their work.
On the last day, there were no classes. Mr. Jin summarized and reviewed each child's progress for the parents before sending the kids home. The start date for next semester would be announced later after being finalized.
Wang Chunhua and Dong Shan went together to listen to the teacher’s comments. Wang Chunhua happily patted Dong Lei’s head, nodding with satisfaction. The teacher had just praised him for making good progress.
“Do you remember all the homework Mr. Jin assigned?” asked Wang Chunhua.
“I remember,” replied Dong Lei.
“Good. Mother is going to the market to buy some groceries. Pack up your things and go back home with your dad,” said Wang Chunhua.
As Wang Chunhua headed to the produce market, Dong Shan first took his son back home. When Li Mingwei heard that the teacher had praised Dong Lei, she also said she would reward him.
She took Dong Lei to the rouge shop in town. Yesterday she had noticed how windburnt his face looked and wanted to find some type of ointment or cream to put on it, to at least provide some protection for his little face. Little Xiao Yan was also about old enough to start using it.
As the adult and child stepped into the rouge shop, two mocking voices came from behind them, “Oh look, they’re so poor yet still buying rouge. What a true fox spirit.”
“Right, she even dared to publicly make advances on Young Master Liu. So shameless.”
“I bet she threw herself at him but Young Master Liu still didn’t want her. She probably thinks dressing up more will work.”
Li Mingwei turned around to see who it was. Two young girls were looking at her with contemptuous smiles on their faces, waving handkerchiefs in their hands.
Having spent time working in the embroidery workshop, Li Mingwei now had a basic understanding of fabric prices. She could tell these two girls were dressed noticeably better than her.
Seeing her look back at them, the two girls didn’t back down at all. Their faces were full of provocation. They had spoken loudly on purpose for her to hear.
Li Mingwei raised an eyebrow and stroked her hair coquettishly, “If he doesn’t want me, how could he possibly want you two? Go look in a mirror, neither of you are half as pretty as me.”
“You!” One of the girls was so angry she wanted to rush up and teach Li Mingwei a lesson, but was held back by the other girl.
“We’re good girls from respectable families. How could we compare looks with a fox spirit?” said the second girl mockingly.
“That’s right. Doing shameless things like publicly grabbing men on the street, we could never,” added the first.
Li Mingwei gently touched Dong Lei’s little head and slightly crouched down, pointing at the two girls, “Little Lei, do you remember what these two elder sisters look like?”
Dong Lei looked up at them briefly then nodded to indicate he remembered.
The two girls were confused. Was this woman crazy? Did she want this little kid to get back at them later?
Li Mingwei looked tenderly at Dong Lei and educated him, “Remember their faces clearly. Auntie will tell you, there is a place in the county town full of girls dressed like them. They love standing around waving handkerchiefs to attract men. If you ever get lured in by them, your mom will beat you to death.”
“What do you mean!”
“What do I mean? Can’t you two understand human speech? Just look at yourselves covered in gaudy colors. With all your flashy red and green, you must have a lot of good friends working in the county town brothels. And you still call yourselves good girls? Even a fox spirit like me doesn't dress as vulgarly as you!”
The people around them burst into loud laughter. The two girls’ faces turned pale. The one with the worse temper could no longer hold back. She rushed up wanting to hit Li Mingwei.
Li Mingwei was prepared. She tightly grabbed the girl’s hand while Dong Lei hugged the other girl's leg.
“Don’t hit my auntie!” yelled Dong Lei.
“You little brat, piss off!”
Seeing the girl try to attack Dong Lei, Li Mingwei directly flung the other girl’s hand aside and shielded Dong Lei behind her body. She disdainfully scolded, “Go on, hit me! Do it! Assaulting someone in broad daylight, even bullying a child. Let’s see who still dares to marry you shrews!”
She raised an eyebrow provocatively, “Hurry up! One against two, such a good chance doesn’t come often. Everyone’s watching. If you beat me up, this fox spirit, word will spread across all of Qingshi Town by noon.”
“Stop!” The slightly more reasonable girl quickly glanced around at the gawking crowd. She held back her companion and pleaded, “Don’t do it!” But she was directly shoved aside and almost fell.
“Don’t get in my way! Today I’m going to teach her a lesson no matter what!” shouted the angry girl.
She watched in dismay as her friend tangled fiercely with Li Mingwei, not daring to step in and help. If word got out they were brawling shrews, she might never get married. Ruining her own future over someone who already had a bad reputation wasn’t worth it.
Li Mingwei had been prepared to fight them two against one, so battling just one assailant was even easier. The two grabbed each other’s hair, scratched faces, and choked necks.
Unlike her decorated opponent, Li Mingwei had no accessories. She grabbed the girl’s earrings and yanked them down harshly. The girl yelped in pain and lowered her head, allowing Li Mingwei to press down on the back of her skull and shove her face towards the ground.
“What are you two doing!” Just as the clash was intensifying, a woman rushed in to separate them. “How can two young ladies fight like this!”
“Aunt Cui!”
Aunt Cui shielded Li Mingwei behind her and glared fiercely at the young girl, “What do you think you're doing hitting someone!”
The girl argued, “It was her! She said we looked like prostitutes!”
“Only because you called me a fox spirit first!” retorted Li Mingwei.
“You basically are one...”
“Enough!” Aunt Cui shouted to halt the squabbling, “Speaking with a mouth as nasty as yours, just looking at you brings shame on our family! Let’s see what your mother says about this!”
“Auntie, how can you take that outsider’s side!” protested the girl.
Oh? This girl is Aunt Cui’s niece? Yet Aunt Cui is still justly shielding her. How righteous! How inspiring!
“You still recognize that I’m your aunt?” said Aunt Cui sarcastically, dragging her niece outside by the collar, "Don't make things worse by chattering and just come back home with me!"
Before leaving, Aunt Cui shot one last glare at the remaining girl, scolding her too, “I warned you many times, don't befriend the Dong girl. She's cunning and deceitful. Look at what happened! You both ganged up to provoke someone but in the end who was the only one left humiliated and beaten?”
Only now did the Cui girl finally look at her friend still standing frozen in place. Fury boiled up within her instantly. “Dong Qin, you didn't help me?”
Dong Qin stammered out excuses, “I did try to stop you, but you wouldn't listen...”
“How could you...!” Aunt Cui grabbed her niece by the shirt collar before she could continue, “Not one more word! Come back home with me right now!”
With the older woman's departure, Dong Qin no longer dared linger. She fled in shame and humiliation.
