DBTHDCAR Chapter 30

On the small square courtyard of the apartment building, there was only one streetlamp, flickering dimly as if it had no strength left to shine.

Under the lamp, a family of three was pulling and tugging at each other. A pink bicycle lay toppled on the ground.

The husband and wife pointed at each other’s noses, hurling the harshest insults they could think of. A little girl stood between them, looking helplessly from side to side at the two adults. Unable to hold it in, she burst into loud tears.

“Chang Weiqiang, get lost! We’re already divorced. You have no right to come looking for me!”

Wang Yihong covered her face with one hand while pointing at the man with the other, cursing, “You damned wretch, you deserve to be shot— may heaven strike you dead! Get lost, get lost!”

“Wang Yihong, even if we’re divorced, I’m still Lele’s father. If you think you can just shake me off, not a chance!”

The man called Chang Weiqiang looked fairly refined and pale, but his expression was as fierce as a demon.

“I’m telling you, if you don’t give me money today, I’m not leaving. Hurry up and hand it over. Did you hear me?!”

“Dad, Mom, stop arguing… wuwuwu…”

Chang Leyun, wearing a thin school uniform, trembled as she cried loudly.

The weather was really too cold today, and the wind was strong. She simply couldn’t push the bicycle home by herself, so she had called her mother’s workplace from the school guard room and asked her to come pick her up.

The mother and daughter had just braved the strong wind and entered the residential area. Before they even had time to push the bicycle into the shed, a figure suddenly rushed out from behind them and, without a word, grabbed her mother by the hair.

Her mother leaned back, and the courtyard light fell on the face of the person who came. Chang Leyun recognized him at once. It was her father!

They had hidden for so, so long. They had even moved houses, and her mother had stopped working. How had this man still managed to track them down?

Before fear could fully sweep through Chang Leyun’s small body, Chang Weiqiang shoved Wang Yihong against a utility pole, then slapped her hard across the face.

“You bitch! Let’s see where else you can run!”

That single slap was enough to alarm the entire building.

“Oh my, in weather this cold, how did it turn into such a fight? Hey, isn’t that man the husband of the woman surnamed Wang from Room 220?”

No matter how cold it was, it couldn’t stop the Shanghainese neighbors’ determination to gather at the front lines of gossip. Faced with this freshly unfolding emotional drama, all the aunties and uncles in the building showed the spirit of fearing neither cold nor hunger. Some rushed downstairs without even finishing dinner, while others leaned over corridor railings and balconies to watch the excitement.

“Looks like her husband. But from what they were saying, they should’ve been divorced for a long time already, right?”

Aunt Zhang, Aunt Tian, and Aunt Fang stood together in the first-floor hallway, pressing close to one another for warmth.

It was sheltered from the wind here, a bit warmer than the square outside. The only problem was that too many people were blocking the view, forcing them to stand on tiptoe just to see anything.

“Money? What money? Why should I give you money?”

Wang Yihong pointed at the man and shouted sharply, “Shouldn’t it be you paying child support every month? It’s been over a year since we divorced. Where is it? Have you given Lele even a single cent? Have you ever bought her new clothes or school supplies for the holidays? You’re asking me for money? I should be the one asking you!”

“Oh my, what a lousy man. The wife may not be his anymore, but the child still is, right? How can he be like this?”

The neighbors began talking all at once.

“What the hell are you talking about? If you weren’t so promiscuous, would we have ended up like this? Of course you have to give me money, you owe me compensation for my losses!”

“Bullshit! You were the one gambling on soccer, playing mahjong, and fooling around, losing all the family’s money. Back then my mother was in the hospital, urgently needing money. When I went home and checked the bankbook, there were only twenty cents left! I had no choice but to borrow money from our manager. And then you went and bit the hand that helped you, even running to my workplace and beating him up! Chang Weiqiang, you heartless bastard! It was you who destroyed our family with your own hands. Get out! Get out, I don’t want to see you. Lele doesn’t have a father like you. Get out!”

Wang Yihong stood there with disheveled hair, stubbornly lifting her head as clear tears streamed down her face. The sight of a beauty weeping made the male neighbors around feel as if their hearts were twisting in pain.

“Ah-Hong, Ah-Hong, I was wrong before. But I’ve really hit a dead end. The people chasing my debts didn’t just go to our old place. They even went to my mother’s home. Ah-Hong, just think of it as helping me.”

Suddenly, Chang Weiqiang dropped to his knees and tightly grabbed Wang Yihong’s pant leg with both hands, looking utterly disgraceful.

“Oh my…”

Seeing this, the neighbors all sucked in a sharp breath. “He was hitting her just now, and now he’s kneeling? Shameless bastard!”

“Dad, Auntie Wang’s husband is really something else…”

Ning Xiaobei gently tugged at Ning Jianguo’s sleeve and whispered.

Ning Jianguo frowned and nodded.

“Dad, if Lele’s dad tries to hit her again later, you have to step in and stop him. We can’t let him keep hitting people.”

“Don’t worry. As long as I, Ning Jianguo, am here, no one gets to hit a woman in front of me.”

Ning Jianguo had been a soldier before and had a strong sense of justice. Whether in the factory or out on the streets, he was always the type to step in when he saw wrongdoing. He had even been praised multiple times for catching thieves and hooligans.

He hadn’t seen that slap just now, so he couldn’t stop it in time. But if Lele’s father tried anything again, he would be the first to step in!

Even though people say even a fair official can’t settle family disputes,  no matter the reason, hitting a woman is wrong. A man who hits a woman is a coward, a useless weakling!

But when Ning Xiaobei heard this, he took it in a completely different way.

As expected… Dad really does have a bit of interest in Aunt Wang.

Over the past few months of getting along, with his encouragement, the two families would occasionally exchange homemade wontons, buns, and the like. Bit by bit, their relationship grew closer through this sharing.

“Chang Weiqiang, look at what you’ve become now. You weren’t like this back in university; otherwise, why would I have married you right after graduation? Back then we had no money and no house, but you had knowledge and ambition. I believed our life would only get better, that’s why I married you.”

Wang Yihong looked at the man kneeling at her feet like a lump of useless mud and couldn’t help but cover her face and cry.

“Look at you now, do you still act like a man? Heaven, why did it turn out like this? Why…”

It turned out that Wang Yihong and Chang Weiqiang had once been classmates. After graduating from university, they both entered a garment export company, where Chang Weiqiang worked as a cashier. With the same high level of education, a handsome man and a beautiful woman, they were once a couple everyone in the company admired.

But the good days didn’t last long. A few years ago, Chang Weiqiang fell into the bad habit of gambling. Not only did he lose all the family’s savings, he even stretched his sinful hand into the company’s funds. Taking advantage of his position, he used public money to take a gamble at the tables.

It wasn’t long before the company discovered what he had done. However, out of consideration for his talent, they didn’t call the police right away. Instead, they gave him a chance, to repay all the misused funds within one month. Otherwise, Chang Weiqiang would have no choice but to go to prison.

To fill this huge debt,  Wang Yihong and her family not only sold their marital home, but also drained the savings of both sides’ parents and took on a large amount of debt, barely managing to repay the company within the deadline.

Of course, Chang Weiqiang was ultimately fired by the company.

But at that time, Wang Yihong still hadn’t thought about divorcing him. They had started dating in their first year of university, and stayed together all the way until their daughter was born. Years of feelings made it hard for her to give up on the husband she once deeply loved.

Back then, Chang Weiqiang, having narrowly escaped disaster, felt especially guilty toward his wife and daughter. He swore he would turn over a new leaf, find a job as soon as possible, and repay all the debts they owed.

Both Chang Weiqiang and Wang Yihong believed that, with his bachelor’s degree and years of work experience, finding a decent job shouldn’t be too difficult. Even if he couldn’t get into a big state-owned enterprise or major company, foreign firms and private companies would still be good options.

But unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a secret that stays hidden forever. In his old company, Chang Weiqiang had offended quite a few people because he relied on his talent to act arrogant and looked down on others. After this incident, seeing that such a beautiful and devoted woman like Wang Yihong still stood by him only made those who envied or hated him resent him even more.

So Chang Weiqiang found himself hitting walls everywhere when looking for a job. Not only could he not find anyone to help him, even when he submitted his resume at job markets, despite interviews going smoothly, he would go home full of confidence; only to never hear back.

After a few more months of this kind of life, having completely lost confidence in both life and work, he returned once again to the gambling tables.

Day after day, Chang Weiqiang drifted through life in a daze, like a walking corpse. Only when he held mahjong tiles, Pai Gow pieces, or playing cards; listening to the sound of dice, calling out “chi¹Chi(吃) — means you take the tile someone just discarded to form a sequence (like 3–4–5). Only the player next in turn can usually do this.,” “peng² Peng(碰) — means you take a discarded tile to form a three-of-a-kind (e.g., three identical tiles).,” “hu³Hu” (胡) — means you win; you’ve completed a valid hand.”, did he feel that he was still alive, that his long-frozen heart was still beating.

It didn’t take long before he lost everything again.

This time, it was truly everything. Not only did his family have nothing left for him to squander or use to repay debts, even relatives and friends no longer dared to lend him any money.

So he turned to loan sharks, and stepped onto a road of no return.

After that came the divorce, and the fight over the child.

To avoid him, Wang Yihong moved out from her parents’ home and, after many twists and turns, managed to settle in an apartment in the Workers’ New Village. She had thought this would finally let her escape that man—

But who would have expected that on this bone-chilling, windy night, he would show up again? The moment he opened his mouth, he demanded that Wang Yihong take out 50,000 yuan to repay his high-interest gambling debts.

“What a piece of trash…an animal, an animal!”

“Damn that bastard! That dog of a man! Xiao Wang and her daughter have had such a hard life.”

The three aunties were filled with righteous anger, wishing they could rush up and tear Chang Weiqiang apart with their bare hands.

Standing beside his father, Ning Xiaobei clearly saw Ning Jianguo clench his fists.

“Ah-Hong, I know you still have money. Back then, when we traded foreign currency together, didn’t we make a big profit? I know you put it in a ten-year fixed deposit. Take it out, just treat it as withdrawing early. I’m begging you, please, I’m begging you!”

Seeing that Wang Yihong remained unmoved, Chang Weiqiang simply turned around and walked up to Chang Leyun, placing both hands on his daughter’s thin shoulders.

Chang Leyun trembled all over. The man in front of her felt so unfamiliar. There wasn’t even a trace of what a father should be like.

“Lele, go beg your mom. Tell her to take the money out. Go on! Have you forgotten how good I used to be to you? I bought you dresses, bought you a violin. You were Daddy’s little princess. Whatever you wanted, I bought for you. Have you forgotten?”

“You haven’t forgotten? Then go! Go beg your mom! You unfilial girl, do you want to watch your father get hacked to death?”

Chang Weiqiang’s eyes were bloodshot as he lowered his head and shouted at her.

“Dad, please don’t be like this…”

Chang Leyun shook her head from side to side, hiccupping from crying and the cold.

“You heartless thing, just as vicious as your mother! I’ll beat you to death!”

Completely out of his mind, Chang Weiqiang raised his hand high and swung it toward his daughter’s young face.

“Stop!”

Two angry shouts rang out from the crowd at the same time. Ning Jianguo and Zhao Jingwen both rushed out from the onlookers.

Zhao Jingwen grabbed Chang Weiqiang’s raised arm in one swift move, while Ning Jianguo took the chance to pull Chang Leyun behind him, shielding her with his arm.

“Lele!”

Wang Yihong staggered forward and tightly hugged her daughter, who was crying so hard she could barely catch her breath.

“Chang Weiqiang, you beast! That’s the money for Lele’s future college education. No one is allowed to take it, no one!”

“She’s only in middle school now. How many years will it be before she even takes the college entrance exam? And who says she has to go to college? I graduated from college too, and I still can’t find a job! Going to college is just a waste of money. So what’s wrong with giving it to me now? Half of it is mine anyway!”

Chang Weiqiang struggled, still trying to attack the mother and daughter.

Seeing this, Zhao Jingwen let out a roar, twisted his arm hard behind his back, then kicked him in the knee. With a cry of pain, Chang Weiqiang dropped to his knees.

“You hit women, and that’s not enough, you even hit a child? That’s your own daughter! Are you even human?”

As Zhao Jingwen spoke, he pressed his body down hard, making the man cry out in pain again and again.

“Well, well, Wang Yihong, how long have you even been living here? And you already have a lover? Two men standing up for you, huh?”

Chang Weiqiang craned his neck and shouted, “So it really was you who wronged me!”

“Screw you!”

“You dare bully people from our Workers’ New Village? I’ll let you see just how fierce a working woman can be!”

Before Zhao Jingwen could make another move, Aunt Zhang, Aunt Tian, and Aunt Pang could no longer hold back their anger and rushed out from the hallway.

One grabbed his hair, another scratched his face, another spat at him, then came a flurry of wild punches, beating Chang Weiqiang up badly.

“Good! Beat him!”

“A man like this lacks human decency!”

The other neighbors chimed in one after another. A few kids even took the chance to stir up trouble, scooping up bits of coal cinders, yellow sand, and small stones from the corner of the hallway and stuffing them down the back of Chang Weiqiang’s collar.

Two women who lived on the first floor helped Wang Yihong and her daughter into the hallway, then brought hot water from their own homes to wipe their faces.

“Boss, didn’t you say hitting people is against the law? It’s gotten this bad. Aren’t you going to call the police?”

Fan Xia looked at the battle situation in the courtyard and leaned close to Ning Xiaobei, whispering.

“What, you planning to call the police? And have who arrested? The three aunties?”

Ning Xiaobei rolled his eyes at him.

“No, no, I wouldn’t dare…”

Everyone knew that in Shanghai, the people you absolutely shouldn’t mess with aren’t street thugs — it’s the aunties.

Going against them is basically asking for trouble.

Ning Xiaobei turned his head and watched with a smile as Wang Yihong took the cup of water from Ning Jianguo.

The faint smile Aunt Wang gave his dad when she looked up, beautiful yet fragile, even Ning Xiaobei, who wasn’t interested in women, felt a soft spot for her. Let alone a straight man like his dad.

Sure enough, Ning Jianguo’s cheeks turned slightly red, clearly, his heart had been stirred.

This Dad Chang was really a heaven-sent assist, a perfect catalyst for the relationship between his dad and Aunt Wang.

Ning Xiaobei touched the soft scarf at his chest, feeling more and more that a happy family life was just within reach.

Based on his more than thirty years of life experience, a woman like Wang Yihong, someone hurt in marriage, would find it hardest to resist a good man like his dad.

A new mom is as good as secured!

………………

Author’s Note:

Comrade Zhao Jingwen, please be warned! Ning Xiaobei is about to pull off a bold move to stir things up in his dad’s love life.

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• 1
  Chi(吃) — means you take the tile someone just discarded to form a sequence (like 3–4–5). Only the player next in turn can usually do this.
• 2
  Peng(碰) — means you take a discarded tile to form a three-of-a-kind (e.g., three identical tiles).
• 3
  Hu” (胡) — means you win; you’ve completed a valid hand.