Chapter Thirty-Four: Girlfriend

Ning Shuyi calculated the timeline carefully. Among the old events Wang Hongzhen had just mentioned, many key details that could help estimate the timing were quite complete. Judging from this, when Deng Qingrong was sowing discord between the couple, it was likely around the time when Chang Rong was injured.

However, this was merely an inference; the exact time still needed to be confirmed with Wang Hongzhen.

So she asked Wang Hongzhen, “What was the living situation like in Deng Qingrong’s household when all this happened?”

Wang Hongzhen paused for a moment, then thought it over. “If you hadn’t asked, I might have completely forgotten that period. Around then, their family did seem to have some troubles. Chang Junchao’s father—the quiet one—was reportedly injured at work in the factory, badly enough that he couldn’t work anymore.

That’s probably why Deng Qingrong spoke so harshly that time. I was pretty annoyed, but then I thought maybe her family was going through a rough patch, and she was just in a bad mood, taking it out on everyone.

Especially if she saw other families living in harmony, it would make her feel even more unbalanced inside. That’s likely why she stirred up such malicious things.

I was angry, but then I decided to let it go. She was older and already dealing with family troubles. If I kept quarreling with her, it would make me look like I lacked refinement.

Besides, at that time, my husband kept kneeling and apologizing to me. For a long stretch afterward, he behaved better than he ever had before, even before he started hitting me. I really thought he had changed and wouldn’t do it again.

But little did I expect, once that door was opened, it was like a thorn stuck in his heart. He couldn’t let it go, and seemed almost addicted to hitting me. It didn’t last long, just over a month, before we were fighting again over similar matters. He slapped me several times again.”

“Was it Deng Qingrong secretly stirring up trouble again this time?” Ning Shuyi asked.

“No, it wasn’t,” Wang Hongzhen considered carefully. Though she harbored strong resentment toward Deng Qingrong, she spoke with some objectivity. “What happened afterward had nothing to do with Deng Qingrong. From then until Chang Junchao’s father passed away and they moved out, at least half a year passed during which Deng Qingrong wasn’t even home. She never returned during that time, so even if she wanted to stir things up, she had no chance.

When she finally came back, they moved away within days.”

“Deng Qingrong wasn’t home? You mean after Chang Rong was injured, Deng Qingrong left their residence and only returned after Chang Rong’s death?” Huo Yan asked.

They hadn’t heard this from anyone before, so the sudden revelation was naturally startling.

Faced with Huo Yan’s question, Wang Hongzhen looked a bit flustered. She quickly glanced at him but immediately avoided his gaze. Realizing this might seem inappropriate, she awkwardly offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Officer Huo… these past few years, my husband has been extremely strict with me. If I talked to any man for even a few words, or sometimes there wasn’t even a conversation—just some kind of eye contact—he would find an excuse to pick a fight with me, accusing me of having improper thoughts behind his back.

I was so scared of his violence that I was always anxious about giving him reasons to explode. It left a shadow in my heart—please don’t take it the wrong way.

Before Chang Junchao moved out, there was a time when my husband fought with me upstairs—breaking things and yelling. Chang Junchao was downstairs, probably distressed by the noise, so he came up and knocked on the door, trying to intervene.

He said we were making too much noise upstairs and disturbing his father’s recovery, and that his wife shouldn't be treated so roughly.

My husband didn’t say much in front of him but told him to mind his own business. He called Chang Junchao a show-off who liked to play the good guy, saying it was his own business how he treated his wife, and that he should stay far away from other people's wives.

Chang Junchao didn’t interfere further and left quietly.

After he left, my husband got even angrier, insisting that there must be something going on between Chang Junchao and me behind the scenes. Otherwise, why would Chang Junchao meddle in our affairs when they had no relationship?”

Wang Hongzhen shivered slightly, as if recalling the terror of being abused by her husband, but she continued. “At that time, Deng Qingrong was already gone—she left about a month before all that. I remember seeing her dragging a suitcase and leaving alone.

At first, I thought she might be gone only for a while and would return, but she never came back. It was mostly just Chang Junchao by himself—working and taking care of his sick father.

So I’m quite certain that while Deng Qingrong might have started the trouble by sowing discord, I can’t blame everything on her.

After all, it was my husband who hit me. If he hadn’t been like that, no matter how many Deng Qingrong’s there were, she wouldn’t have been able to provoke him into hitting me.”

Ning Shuyi, hearing this, suddenly recalled the rumors about Chang Junchao’s health that had circulated among the neighbors of Chang Junchao and Deng Qingrong’s family later on.

She then asked Wang Hongzhen, “When your husband told Chang Junchao to go marry someone himself, was he deliberately trying to hit a sore spot, provoke him, and make him angry?”

Wang Hongzhen looked somewhat puzzled. “Why would that be hitting Chang Junchao’s sore spot?”

“While you were neighbors with Deng Qingrong’s family, did you ever hear anything about Chang Junchao’s health? Something that made him unsuitable for marriage?” Ning Shuyi asked cautiously, avoiding being too direct.

Wang Hongzhen shook her head. “No, I don’t remember that. Before Chang Junchao’s father got injured, it was around the second or third year after my husband and I got married, Chang Junchao actually brought a girlfriend home once.

I remember that girl was quite pretty—small and delicate. They even bought milk and other things downstairs, carrying big bags happily upstairs.

But not long after, maybe less than an hour, I was hanging clothes on the balcony and saw the girl rush out. Chang Junchao chased after her, and they seemed to have a quarrel downstairs.

In the end, the girl left, and I never saw her again.”

(End of chapter)