Chu Shenyu gritted his teeth. "I can't stay clear-headed!"
As he spoke, he crushed her against him, his breath growing hotter and heavier. The imposing man seemed both pitiful and resentful as he growled, "You smell too good, just like the lion's head meatballs from dinner. I could just eat you up."
Zhu Yun felt a mix of shyness and satisfaction. Her feminine vanity had been stroked, and she was secretly gloating.
But she spoke in a timid voice. "But... if I don't go back out soon, everyone will get worried and come looking for me. If they see us like this, we'll become the butt of everyone's jokes."
"Besides, you've already hugged me and kissed me... How am I supposed to face anyone after this?"
Chu Shenyu's senses blurred again. He let out a low growl and lunged, only to be knocked out cold by a single, clean chop from Zhu Yun!
After getting the man settled, Zhu Yun buttoned up her clothes and pushed the door to the inner room open just a crack.
Seeing the two inside were about to get undressed, she quickly grabbed Sister-in-law Tan and Aunt Li and hurried toward the room. "Those two are completely drunk and acting wild!" she said anxiously. "They're all over each other, and I can't pull them apart on my own..."
"I was afraid it would be a bad scene if everyone saw, so I had to come get you. Plenty of people in the village get drunk, but I've... I've never seen anyone act like them. They're like... like animals in heat, only thinking about *that*."
The moment Sister-in-law Tan and Aunt Li heard this, they didn't dare delay. Forcing smiles and offering placating words to the others, they hurried over to the side room.
Chu Shenyu, still hidden in the shadows, went completely unnoticed. Aunt Li pushed open the unlatched door and nearly fainted on the spot.
The pair's clothes were in disarray. Though they hadn't managed to get fully undressed, their frantic haste had left them clumsy. They were just clinging to each other, mashing their mouths together and grinding their bodies, trying to scratch an itch through a pair of boots.
Aunt Li and Sister-in-law Tan each tried to pull one of them away, but it took a tremendous effort. In the end, Zhu Yun, unable to watch any longer, had to step in and help pry the two apart from their death grip.
Everyone was panting, and for a moment, no one knew what to do.
Just then, Wu Quanquan regained a bit of his senses. Face beet red, he lowered his head and looked at Guo Meiyun, who was groaning uncomfortably. The soft, fragrant feeling of her body still lingered on him.
He stammered, "I'll take responsibility!"
The machinery factory had its own song and dance troupe, and every one of the young women in it was beautiful and graceful. You could say that besides a few older, married men completely devoted to their work, there wasn't a single man who didn't know of the troupe's "Six Golden Flowers."
Lin Jin was one of them, and so was Guo Meiyun.
Although Guo Meiyun was one of the more average-looking of the Six Golden Flowers, her skill in traditional folk dance was unmatched. Her parents were both state employees, she had only one younger brother, and her family was well-off. She certainly had reason to be proud.
She usually walked down the street with her head held high, never deigning to give anyone a second glance.
And now, this very person had just let him take what he wanted...
"Auntie, I want her," Wu Quanquan said, growing more flustered and resolute. "She's my woman now, and she has to marry me! I refuse to marry some ugly woman."
Zhu Yun's face darkened. "Who do you think you're talking about?"
Only then did Wu Quanquan notice she was there. He frowned. "Classmate Zhu, I'm sorry. I was wrong before. Even if I'm just looking for a mother for my children, I have to pick someone who is good-looking and cultured."
"Classmate Zhu, you're a good person, but we're not right for each other."
Zhu Yun felt like she was going to be sick. The feeling of being politely rejected by a total scumbag was just too much to bear.
"What's with the way you talk? Do I even know you? With a face so plain and forgettable I'd forget you the second I turned away, you have the audacity to be picky?"
"You're just some minor accountant, aren't you? Got tempted by my high salary? 'Reluctantly' agreed to a blind date with me? Pfft! The nerve! You're a freeloader with a bunch of kids in tow, sponging off your parents and your sister, and you really think you're some great catch?"
"Did you slick your hair back with half a bottle of fragrant oil? A fly would slip and do the splits trying to land on it! You have two sips of cat piss and you can't even tell which way is up. You screwed up, you little sissy, is your brain filled with pus? You really think *my* standards are that low?"
Lin Jin had been keeping an eye on the house. Hearing the muffled sounds of Zhu Yun's angry tirade, she immediately grabbed Wang Xianbing. "Quick, take a couple of men and go see what's happening! Why is Zhu Yun making a scene again? Meiyun drank a lot; make sure she doesn't get taken advantage of."
Wang Xianbing immediately shot to his feet, grabbed two other men, and headed for the side room.
Tan Zhiming also sensed something was wrong, so he got up and followed them.
The group of large men quickly drew everyone's attention. Forgetting about the leftovers on the table, the crowd surged forward to see the commotion.
But the door to the side room had been bolted from the inside, and they couldn't hear clearly what was happening.
"Meiyun, are you in there?" Lin Jin yelled, sheltered behind Wang Xianbing. "What happened? Open the door! We're here now, we won't let anyone bully you!"
Zhu Yun stepped forward and opened the door. "Well now, Lin Jin. Funny how you seem to know everything. You haven't even seen anything, yet you're already so sure that Miss Guo Meiyun has been taken advantage of?"
'If those two women dared to scheme against her, then they could face her wrath.'
'If I were not a transmigrator, and had let my guard down for even a second, I would have fallen right into their trap.'
'Just the thought of that little wench Guo Meiyun trying to set me up with that fly-splitting man makes me want to punch her!'
Lin Jin was getting frantic. Pretending not to see Zhu Yun, she stood on her tiptoes and yelled into the room, "Sister-in-law Tan, what's going on? Where's Meiyun?"
Zhu Yun stepped aside, and several of the wives immediately swarmed past her, making a beeline for the inner room.
The lights were on in the courtyard, so with the main door open, you could vaguely make out the scene in the outer room.
Chu Shenyu, dressed in dark work clothes, had been sitting in a corner with his head lolling to the side. He was slowly regaining his senses now and, with a cold expression, took the opportunity to slip into the crowd.
"It's nothing, nothing! A mouse just ran past and gave us all a little scare," Aunt Li explained awkwardly.
Sister-in-law Tan also stepped in front of Guo Meiyun—who was passed out and subconsciously tugging at her own clothes—to hide her from view. "That's right. One of the young women was resting in the back room and screamed when she saw a mouse, which startled the men out here."
"That's the one bad thing about living in these bungalows—you never know what bugs or pests will crawl out of the woodwork."
A woman's reputation was paramount. It was best to cover things up for now and deal with the details later.
The two women couldn't help but glance nervously at Zhu Yun.
"Exactly," Zhu Yun nodded. "None of us ladies were that bothered, but Mr. Wu was so scared he was shaking. I couldn't help but say something to him about it."
The crowd noticed Wu Quanquan's nervous sweat glistening in the dim light. Laughing it off as a false alarm, they all began to disperse.
The men might not have thought much of it, but the women from the family courtyard were a different story. Every one of them was like a master detective, eager to piece together the truth from the tiniest of clues.
Lin Jin glanced at her best friend, now being helped onto the bed, then at Mr. Chu, who was slipping away, and finally at Zhu Yun, who was giving her a cold, mocking smirk. A sense of panic bloomed in her heart; she had no idea what had actually happened!