One of Us

Mrs. Chen's maiden name was An Zining. Like many with Chinese couples, she adopted her husband's surname after marriage. So technically speaking, Ye Shuang could call her Sister An and not Sister Chen. In Beijing's upper society, Sister An's name was quite notable.

According to legend, Sister An had shown signs that she was not going to be a normal character since birth. To be precise, her cries when she was born was so loud that even her grandparents, who had stood outside the delivery room, could hear her clearly. Based on the clarity and loudness of the voice, they were certain it was an unruly baby boy, but…

As Zining grew up, other than the initial miscalculation of gender, everything else occurred as decreed by Madam An. Her unruliness was such that she wouldn't allow anyone to influence her decisions. She lived her life according to her own rules; a firm slap on the back wouldn't be able to alter her decision.

When she was in kindergarten, a fatty next to her sneakily tossed his carrot pieces into her lunch box when the teacher wasn't looking because he didn't like them. Naturally, An Zining picked up her lunch box and upended it on his head.

When she was in primary school, there was a common game called 3-8 line. It denied extreme closeness between children of opposite sex. Those who violated the rules had to be punished. An Zining accidentally crossed the line one time, and as punished, one of the boys pulled on her ponytail. After the afternoon nap that day, everyone woke up to find there were uneven holes on the boy's head. Based on the size and depth of the holes, it was obvious that the shaving had been done by an untrained hand.

More tragedies continued to occur throughout high school and university. The An family gave her the name Zining in the hopes that the meaning of the name would brush off on her and she would learn to be quiet and patient1. Alas, it seemed to have achieved the opposite effect, because like an Asura, An Zining blazed a trail of chaos through life.

Due to the An family's influence and the fact that even though she was forceful, she didn't commit any crimes, most of the people silently condoned An Zining's behavior, hoping that she might turn over a new leaf once she married into the Chen family…

…

To be perfectly honest, it was not uncommon among social elites for the husband to keep a mistress. If this happened to another family, it probably wouldn't have caused a ripple since, at the end of the day, familial harmony was more important than everything else. As long as the mistress didn't show any obvious attempts to replace the wife, there was nothing the wife couldn't tolerate with a grit of the teeth. However, An Zining wouldn't suffer such a humiliation. She understood everything had its bottom line, but her understanding of the bottom line was different from everybody else.

Therefore, while she wouldn't ask for a divorce and wouldn't turn her back against the Chen family, she had to end this extra-marital affair before it took root. Want her to stay silent and stay out of it? Impossible!

Since he dared cheat on An Zining, then he had to suffer An Zining's wrath after she found out.

…

An Zining had a very good impression of Ye Shuang. Based on her martial art proficiency alone, she found herself appreciating Ye Shuang. A woman had to be able to hold up half of the house, and not sneak into it and break it up from within.

After finishing the real estate transfer process, An Zining grabbed hold of Ye Shuang and insisted on dragging her to shop alongside her to thank her for saving her life. Her party followed along to have a celebratory feast later that day for having finished a perfect raid. Mr. Chen and the mistress didn't dare to even breathe while this was happening.

Fang Mo looked on with fear as the party of girls filtered out of his sight. His friend's girlfriend alone was scary enough, but combined with the Chen family's tigress… He shivered from the thought. Alas, what could he do to stop it? Nothing, so the only thing he could do was allow it to happen.

Since Ye Shuang didn't have any responsibility for the rest of the day, she followed along. Her plan was to wrangle a lunch out of it.

"Haven't had lunch‽" An Zining was shocked when she heard Ye Shuang. "Why did you come to join the fun if you haven't even had lunch? All of us had stuffed ourselves full, knowing the fight would require energy."

"…" Ye Shuang was speechless. "I happened to run into Brother Fang when I was sending my boyfriend off. I overheard the situation on the phone, and since I was looking for a place to stay, I realized I mustn't miss out on the opportunity… Cough I hope you don't mind me taking advantage of the situation!"

"Of course, I don't!" An Zining laughed generously. "This is expected of a human being. At the end of the day, someone is going to take advantage of the situation, and if that is the case, it might as well it's you. Instead of letting some outsider have the satisfaction, I'd rather benefit one of my own people."

"Sister An sure is kind." When did I become one of your people‽

"Then again, we did thrash plenty of furniture." An Zining thought about it and said, "You'll need to relay the flooring. Thankfully, this happened in such a hurry, or else I would have called the construction company to dig up the foundation itself."

Ye Shuang was speechless when she heard it. Scolding and screaming was common in the process of flushing out an extra-marital affair, but this was the first time she had heard about construction workers being used in such a manner.

An Zining sighed with regret, but soon, her eyes lit up with an idea. "However, there might still be hope! Didn't you save that bastard‽ To thank you for saving his life, it wouldn't be out of place for him to refurbish the house."

"…" Oh wow, what have gotten myself into?

Ye Shuang smiled in appreciation. When she thought about it, she realized the other woman was right. Why shouldn't she take as much advantage as she could? She did save Mr. Chen's life, and what was a few furniture compared to the valuable life of a man‽

However…

"From what Sister An said, you gathered your people once you heard the news‽" Ye Shuang was shocked by the rashness of An Zining's action. "You didn't even double-check the sources? What if your source was mistake‽"

An Zining rolled her eyes and explained, "Silly girl, the source is my own biological little brother, so how can the news be false‽"

Ye Shuang nodded and chuckled to herself. High class families sure are different. If something like this happened to me, and Ye Feng has accidentally found out, as annoying as he can be, he would definitely help me settle this on his own and wouldn't tell me this news so as to not ruin my mood.

Then again, even if the little brother didn't want to sort this problem on his own, why would he purposely leak this news to his recalcitrant elder sister? Hell, he didn't even stop Sister An from coming out to seek vengeance.

This little brother has such faith in his sister that she wouldn't lose no matter what? Or was this his plan all along‽

Right then, An Zining's phone rang. When she picked it up, an ancient yet powerful voice said agitatedly, "An Zining! Someone told me you've created more trouble for your husband, Chen He‽"

Someone said‽ Who said‽ This sure is suspicious… Ye Shuang lowered her head and shuffled quietly back, trying to make herself seem as invisible as possible.