Chapter 1185 — Calling at the Door to Demand an Explanation

It seemed Wei Zhao had long since seen through Gou Huli's tricks, and had paid her back in her own coin.

"Damn it! You good-for-nothing woman, you've really ruined this family!" Xiao Ji took in Gou Huli's words and dealt her another slap. "I told you a lion was nothing to fret over — Second Brother had already thought up a way to teach the Gu family a lesson on your behalf. So why did you have to go and take matters into your own hands? And now look — it's all gone wrong, hasn't it? The whole family has been dragged down with you! My stomach — ah!"

"Eldest Brother, enough. There's a silver lining in this too, you know. Thank heavens what Sister-in-law bought was laxatives — had it been poison, some of us would be dead by now and the rest laid up in the hospital!" Xiao Ben smiled a helpless smile. "Let's just let the matter drop. We'll come through it well enough; it's only that we've dragged those two fine fighters of the Pi family into the mess."

"This old man is fine — my miraculous skills protect me, so I'm none the worse for it," said the elder of the two Pi fighters, who had no wish to lose face over such a trifle. He waved a hand as though it were nothing at all. "Martial artists all have strong constitutions."

"That's a relief, then!" Xiao Ben heaved a long sigh. "Though I'm afraid we've made a fine spectacle of ourselves before Elder Pi and Mr. Pi..."

"It's nothing. Since there's no harm done, this old man will go back to his room and rest." With that, Elder Pi took his leave. The urge had come upon him again — he needed a toilet at once.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Gou Huli never once appeared in the hospital ward, as though she had simply forgotten the whole affair. Apart from Manager Zhang of the housekeeping company, who came by once with some compensation, no stranger showed their face in Mother Yu's ward again.

Although Er Goudan said his boss's medical skill was superb and that he would surely find a way to heal his mother's leg, the man had never come in person to examine her or to give his verdict, so Yu Yuanyuan still felt uneasy. "Zhou Jiaming, do you really think... your boss can cure Mom's injury?"

"Of course he can! Yuanyuan, do you trust me? If you trust me, that's enough. I would never lie to you!" Er Goudan thumped his chest in pledge.

"Mm!" Hearing the certainty in Er Goudan's voice, Yu Yuanyuan let out a breath of relief.

"Yuanyuan, the wicked owner of that lion still hasn't shown herself. I have to go and demand an explanation from her. We can't just let ourselves be bullied and never learn why!"

"Maybe... maybe just let it go... I'm afraid you're no match for them, and it will only bring more trouble..." Yu Yuanyuan said worriedly. Several days had passed, and her heart had settled somewhat; apart from a lingering sorrow, she no longer burned with the anger she had felt before.

"No, I can't! My boss says that when someone bullies you, you have to bully them right back — and twice as hard! I can't bring shame on my boss! You're my... my friend, and you being bullied is the same as me being bullied. I have to get an explanation!" Er Goudan was getting worked up now.

"Oh... then be careful. If they won't listen to reason, just let it go..." Seeing how set Er Goudan was, Yu Yuanyuan had no way to stop him. Over the past two days he had learned the employer's home address from her mother, and she knew his temperament well enough to know that nothing she said would hold him back.

"I know. I'm going to find them right now. And if that nasty woman won't give me an explanation, I'll smash that lion dead with one punch!" With that, Er Goudan strode out of the ward and set off for Gou Huli's home.

Watching Er Goudan's retreating back, Yu Yuanyuan sighed. She did not know whether to be glad or troubled.

With Er Goudan at her side, she did feel safer than before — but he was so reckless, always ready to beat someone to death, and that was what worried her and gave her headaches. If only he did not stir up some terrible disaster!

This time Er Goudan had grown smarter. To keep from losing his way, he carried a map of Songshan City in his pocket, and following the marks upon it he ran like the wind to the Xiao family villa. Gazing at the grand and magnificent villa before him, he felt a pang of envy. What a splendid house this was!

Back when he had been staying in the apartment building at Yu Yuanyuan's home, he had already thought it far more comfortable than the single-story houses of his village. Now, looking at this villa, it seemed to him like a palace — how could a house be so grand? No wonder the people who lived in it were so arrogant! But arrogant or not, if your pet bites someone, you still have to take responsibility!

Er Goudan knew nothing of doorbells. In the village, when you wanted to find someone you generally just shouted for them, and when you went to another's house you banged on the door directly. Who had ever heard of a doorbell?

"Anyone there? Is anyone home?" Er Goudan began banging on the iron fence outside the villa.

Of course, though Er Goudan's heart burned with anger at the unreasonable mistress of the house, he still had not made clear what these people meant to do, so he would not go so far as to damage the fence outside the villa.

Er Goudan's voice was like a loudspeaker broadcast, deafening — the people inside the Xiao family villa heard every word, clear as day.

"Is anyone there? Is there anyone in this villa?" Er Goudan once more hammered madly at the villa's fence.

At last the front door of the villa opened, and Xiao Ji stepped out. "Who is it? Shouting and yelling in front of the Xiao family's gate — do you have a death wish?"

"It's me!" Seeing someone come out, Er Goudan pointed at Xiao Ji. "Where is Gou Huli? Tell her to come out and see me!"

"Gou Huli?" Xiao Ji's face darkened at once. He looked Er Goudan up and down, unable to guess where this man had come from. "Who are you? What business do you have with my wife?"

"Oh? Gou Huli is your old woman? Then that's perfect — hurry up and call her out here!" Hearing that Gou Huli was Xiao Ji's wife, Er Goudan knew he had come to the right place. It was this house, all right!

"Who are you calling an old woman?" Gou Huli had come out along with Xiao Ji. She had just been called an old woman by Shen Yushu, and now today Er Goudan had called her the same thing. Her anger flared at once. "I'd say you've come here looking for trouble, kid!"

Gou Huli did not know that in many parts of the countryside, older married couples generally addressed one another that way — the husband an "old man," the wife an "old woman." And Er Goudan, having come out of the countryside, naturally spoke the same way. But to Gou Huli's ears it carried the ring of an insult. What fashionable young wife in the city, a woman like Gou Huli, would ever want to be called an old woman?