“I’ll call security.” Li An said. “Luo Qingmeng, don’t push your luck. I don’t even want to air your dirty laundry. Just behave yourself.”
Li An made it sound so convincing that Luo Qingmeng almost believed him. But she could tell he had no intention of talking things out properly with her. Fine then—she tried to dodge around him and run further inside. Li An grabbed her in one swift motion and cursed, “Are you crazy?”
“You’re still demanding money from me? Weren’t the tables, chairs, bedsheets, and duvet covers in my home the ones you took and sold off?” Li An simply couldn’t forget it. After a month in the hospital, he’d come home, opened the door, and found the place stripped bare—a heartbreaking sight.
“If you hadn’t been unable to find my house deed, you would’ve listed my apartment on Xianyu and sold it off for two thousand bucks, right?”
During those days leading up to the divorce, Luo Qingmeng hadn’t been idle either. She’d put everything in Li An’s home up for sale on Xianyu. But the really valuable items simply wouldn’t sell there, so she’d slashed the prices.
The TV that had cost over three thousand when new? Luo Qingmeng hadn’t hesitated to list it for five hundred. After all, she hadn’t bought it.
She’d planned to sell the fridge for four hundred too, but she hadn’t gotten around to it.
Luo Qingmeng didn’t want to make too big a scene. She snapped at him, “Are you going to give me the money or not!”
Li An snorted coldly. God knows what made him act so superior. He crossed his arms and said, “Did I cheat on you? Aren’t you living with a woman? Aren’t you a lesbian? This counts as marriage fraud on your part.”
Luo Qingmeng frowned and asked, “What do you mean by that?”
She was starting to catch on. Could it be because Li An knew she had slept alongside Qiu Shuxue, and now Qiu Shuxue wanted nothing to do with him? Maybe he felt like he’d handed his mistress off to her and was accusing her of cheating instead.
How insidious.
Luo Qingmeng rarely won a real argument with anyone because she always ended up crying. But Li An kept crossing her lines over and over. She pressed her lips together tightly and said, “Just tell me if you’re giving me the money or not.”
Li An let out a mocking laugh and threatened her coldly, “Think it over. You think I don’t have dirt on you? If you dare make a fuss, I’ll expose what you and Qiu Shuxue have been up to…”
Luo Qingmeng gritted her teeth and unzipped her backpack. Li An recoiled in instinctive terror, his hands flying to cover his crotch. But she pulled out a megaphone and cracked it right against his forehead. His head buzzed from the impact.
Luo Qingmeng glared at him fiercely and cursed that he had forced her hand. She charged straight into their office, with Li An chasing after her. In the hallway, she cranked the megaphone’s volume to maximum.
The megaphone, which she’d already pre-recorded, now blared at full blast: “Li An’s a whoremonger who indulges in booze, gambling, whoring, and domestic violence! His dick’s rotted away like cauliflower! He tricked me into marriage and won’t even pay compensation! Your company has a real gem here—such a rare talent! Li An, Li An, the lowest scum of the earth!”
It was a spacious open-plan office filled with people in suits and ID badges around their necks. They all turned to stare at the commotion.
Li An rushed in to drag Luo Qingmeng away. Her cheeks were flushed with rage as she screamed into the megaphone, “Li An’s a domestic abuser who preys on young girls—I have all the evidence! Marriage fraudster—give me back my money!”
Luo Qingmeng kept shouting the worst she could think of. If Li An wouldn’t pay up, she wasn’t backing down either. Worst case, she’d be charged with causing a disturbance. If it came to blows, it’d be mutual assault—who was she afraid of?
Li An tried to snatch the megaphone but failed, so he grabbed her around the waist, clamped a hand over her mouth, and started dragging her toward the exit.
Luo Qingmeng had always been the type to cry uncontrollably. She’d only planned to make a quick scene and leave, but now Li An was telling his colleagues she was crazy and had mental problems.
Enraged, Luo Qingmeng burst into sobs and wailed, “You’re choking me! You smashed my waist—it hurts so much! You bastard is hitting me again, you rotten cucumber! You’re scum! Get cancer! Get AIDS!”
She broke free and flopped straight onto the floor. Sobbing, she said, “You just crushed my heart—it’s so uncomfortable. I think I’m dying.” She’d seen this trick online from other netizens: claim heart trouble, and if he laid a hand on you, accuse him of nearly killing you. A hospital check would just show chest tightness or emotional distress—enough to make him sweat, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Li An was lost for words, furious. He jabbed a finger at her nose. “Luo Qingmeng, have you lost your mind? You really are crazy! I don’t want to make a scene with you—get out of here, now!”
But Luo Qingmeng was determined to make a fuss and piss off this idiot. She pulled out the IOU and slapped it onto the floor. “Back when you tricked me into the divorce and begged me not to air your dirty laundry, did you ever pay me the money? You promised fifteen grand, but you only gave me one!”
Li An was dumbfounded. Luo Qingmeng had stooped to some vile online hag’s tactics, throwing herself on the ground at the drop of a hat. He couldn’t very well join her. His colleagues were crowding around now. Luo Qingmeng had become quite beautiful these days. Her words were harsh, but her tear-streaked face tugged at everyone’s heartstrings. They told Li An not to cause a scene at the office—everyone still had work to do.
Li An grumbled through clenched teeth, “You’re sick! You’re out of your mind! Fuck, I… I only agreed to ten grand—no, five! When did I ever say fifteen?”
After Li An had signed it, Luo Qingmeng had figured there were no duplicates anyway. With his signature right there, she’d sneakily added a “1” in front of the amount out of greed. And now it was paying off.
People at this private company were pretty cold. No one really stepped in to help Luo Qingmeng, but they gossiped and pointed fingers at Li An. She actually felt a bit sorry for Qiu Shuxue.
Luckily, with the IOU out, a few women grew curious. They saw it really did say “150,000” and spoke up for her. “Brother Li, didn’t you say you were giving her half your assets—over fifty grand? It was just fifteen? And you bring this drama to the office?”
Xiao Ninghe helped Luo Qingmeng to her feet. “You okay?”
Luo Qingmeng picked up the IOU, tears streaming down her face. She regretted it deeply in her heart—should’ve written “550,000.” Sobbing, she said, “Yeah, he gave me one out of fifteen, then kicked me out. Said women were trash, that a bunch at the company had climbed into his bed, and his phone’s full of photos of women.”
Luo Qingmeng avoided saying “cheating” or naming any specific girl. Let whichever one was involved deal with it themselves.
As someone who’d been through it, she truly didn’t want any other foolish woman falling into this scumbag’s trap. Nor did she want anyone knowing about Qiu Shuxue.
Xiao Ninghe, who was supporting her, frowned. “Wait—what? He has photos of someone from our company on his phone?”
Luo Qingmeng pressed her lips together. She figured she couldn’t show Li An the photos, so she stuck to claiming he’d taken them secretly. “Yeah, yeah—tons of them. Photos of so many women. He took them without permission.”
At her words, Li An’s eyes widened slightly, and he started stammering, “Y-you’re talking nonsense! I didn’t take any photos. Don’t spread lies. I divorced her because she’s crazy.”
Luo Qingmeng could tell he lacked conviction. She shot back, “Talking nonsense? With your ugly mug, only I was blind enough to fall for you back then. Who in your company would look at you twice? It’s not like they took the photos for you on purpose. Your company’s guys are all better-looking than you—why not go after them instead…”
Xiao Ninghe’s expression grew even grimmer. She pressed him, “Li An, did you take photos of someone from the company? No one in the office wants anything to do with you…” She glanced at the others, who all shook their heads—they clearly found him repulsive.
Yin Sisi said, “Shuxue isn’t here…”
“Qiu Shuxue wouldn’t give him the time of day either,” Luo Qingmeng blurted out without thinking. As she said it, she frowned. Right—she was feeling what Qiu Shuxue had described: Li An wasn’t popular at their company anymore.
She took a closer look at the other men besides Li An. They weren’t stunning, but they were all young, dressed sharp, and way younger than him. So why…
Could he really be a creep taking secret photos?
The realization shocked Luo Qingmeng.
She didn’t realize how inflammatory her words were. The guys who’d been complimented indirectly crowded closer. “Li An, what the hell? Who’d you take photos of?”
Luo Qingmeng reached for her phone. With so many people around, she hadn’t planned to show it, but she’d recorded everything back then. As she pulled it out, Li An lunged and smacked it from her hand.
Luo Qingmeng froze for a few seconds, then her mouth reacted first. “Li An, you pervert! You really are a secret photographer.” She ignored the phone and swung her bag at him wildly. “Pervert! Dead pervert!”
The other women tried to hold her back, but Luo Qingmeng lunged at him like a madwoman, pummeling him until she was crying herself. The other women feared she’d kill him and pinned her down, but they were pissed too. They took the chance to shove Li An—who knew if they were the ones photographed?—and walloped him a few times.
What had started as Luo Qingmeng making a solo scene had turned into a group piling on Li An, putting him on trial and demanding he hand over his phone.
Luo Qingmeng got shoved out of the scrum and ended up sitting on the floor, trembling nonstop.
If he was taking secret photos, Li An probably wasn’t just targeting Qiu Shuxue. Maybe those really explicit ones… there had to be more than just her…
No wonder he’d agreed to the divorce so quickly when she demanded to confront Qiu Shuxue.
Luo Qingmeng thought of her phone and scrambled to pick it up. How had she not realized it was secret photography before… Qiu Shuxue wasn’t the mistress…
She wasn’t…
