Chapter 516

Seeing her scheme of leaning on her old age exposed, Jia Zhangshi's face changed instantly, and she mercilessly talked back to the young man opposite.

Her shameless behavior.

Indeed, she gave everyone present a lesson.

I didn't expect there to be such a shameless person—her own grandson is lying, loafing, and resting inside the house, yet she comes out to line up and, with righteous indignation, demands that others swap places with her, saying they should promote their style and give the other party a chance to earn fame by doing good deeds.

Who the hell are you?

You're so thick‑skinned!

One by one, they glared at the opponent, eyes wide with anger.

It gave a sense of unity against a common enemy.

The on‑site queue had fifty or sixty people; following Jia Zhangshi's shameless practice, she had you swap places with him, but human greed is endless—afraid that after you swapped, she would keep demanding those ahead swap with her, one after another, truly causing endless trouble.

Jobs are hard to find.

If it ever came to one's turn and there was no work left.

Cause a delay.

On the other hand, if others swap with Jia Zhangshi but you don't, it shows you're narrow‑minded and your character is flawed.

Rather than later sit and regret, it's better now to put an end to some of Jia Zhangshi's notions.

Want to swap places.

No way.

Don't blame anyone else; blame yourself for not coming earlier.

The young man who refused Jia Zhangshi, seeing her spit dirty words at him, momentarily lost his composure and started shouting back at her.

"What right do I have not to say your family's Bangeng? Now you're begging me to swap places with you—I've seen shameless people, but never anyone as shameless as you."

"How am I being shameless? It's just asking you to swap places with my old woman. You're young and healthy; my old woman is old and in poor health—where's the virtue of respecting the elderly and caring for the young? She's about your grandmother's age; if you say my old woman is shameless, ask your own conscience—do you feel guilty or not?"

Jia Zhangshi, aware she was in the wrong.

She also knew her conduct wasn't very moral, so she could only deflect by taking the moral high ground, accusing the other of not respecting elders.

This is also Yi Zhonghai's usual tactic from the old Siheyuan—using morality to blame others.

Too bad.

Jia Zhangshi's tricks had no effect.

On one hand, Jia Zhangshi touched everyone's interests; on the other, the other party simply didn't know who she was.

Put yourself in another's shoes.

Think from the other's position.

You're strolling down the street when suddenly an old lady jumps out, claiming to be your elder, demanding you respect her and telling you what to do.

That feeling is pretty much like stepping on dog poop.

People with good tempers pretend not to hear; those with bad tempers would have already slapped.

Jia Zhangshi's scheme had no effect at all, and even backfired.

"Who's elder are you? I don't recall our family having an elder like you."

"Believe it or not, I won't let this rest with you."

"Believe it or not, I won't let this go either. What kind of person are you, still wanting your family's Bangeng to become a cadre? I scoff, I dismiss it—if your family's Bangeng became a cadre, then all of us here would be cadres. Don't think we don't know what you're up to: you just want to swap places one by one to get to the front, letting your old woman go first. We're all people, yet you Jia Family folks act like you're more precious than us, while Bangeng stays at home and you come here to find him a job."

Jia Zhangshi saw that the other party absolutely refused to swap places with her.

She also saw the other party mention Bangeng in their words.

She worried that people would learn of Bangeng's shameful past.

Jia Zhangshi couldn't forget her desire to find Bangeng an employed, good‑looking daughter‑in‑law who could be controlled by the Jia Family. In the middle of the queue she spotted a meek, weak‑looking woman wearing glasses; the woman's whole bearing exuded a cultured air, which stirred Jia Zhangshi's greed, and her clean‑clean clothes led Jia Zhangshi to assume the woman's family was well‑off, so she set her sights on her, thinking she could flaunt Bangeng once they married. Once that woman married Bangeng, the Jia Family would become a dual‑income household envied and admired by many in the compound.

Worried that continuing to argue with the young man in front would spread Bangeng's "Chen Shimei" reputation to the little girl's ears, ruining her chances with Bangeng, she decided to end the farce with a hard‑line attitude.

Jia Zhangshi overestimated herself and underestimated that young man.

She turned her two hands into claws and lunged at the young man's cheek.

What a ruthless heart.

What a vicious person.

Given Jia Zhangshi's grabbing style, once her claws touch the young man's cheek, he is sure to end up with his face scratched.

His handsome cheek would no longer be a cheek.

He'd be disfigured.

The young man also gave Jia Zhangshi no face; seeing her about to scratch his face, without a word he raised his palm and slapped her.

A crisp "pa" sound rang out on the scene.

Jia Zhangshi felt something flash before her eyes, heard the "pa" sound in her ears, then her left cheek was hit with a burning pain.

She instinctively covered her slapped cheek with her hand.

Her eyes were filled with shock.

She had been hit, and even slapped by a young man about Bangeng's age, with so many people watching—how dare he hit her? Isn't he afraid of getting the label "beater of elders" and never finding a good wife?

Jia Zhangshi's daring to make a fuss with the other party stemmed from her belief that the other party wouldn't do anything to her.

It's essentially another version of moral blackmail, but she didn't expect the other party to think, 'I have no morals, so you can't blackmail me.'

Jia Zhangshi's plan also went up in smoke; after being slapped, when she realized she'd been hit, she opened her mouth wide and cursed the other party's eight generations of ancestors.

"You damn brat, you hit my old woman—didn't your parents teach you to respect your elders? My old woman won't let this go with you; just because of this behavior, your family's upbringing isn't good, your whole household is not human, you bastard, my old woman…"

He had barely spoken a few words when the hero who had beaten Jia Zhangshi, hearing her insult his eight generations of ancestors, launched a beautiful flying kick with his left foot, knocking her to the ground.

Suddenly she was struck.

The person was kicked away again.

Jia Zhangshi was dazed.

Looking around in confusion, her mind filled with one thought: Who am I? How did I end up lying on the ground? Then she realized she had been hit.

She opened her mouth.

A wailing cry flew out from her mouth.

"Someone help! I've been hit—is there still any law? I, an old woman, have worked hard to find a job for Bangeng; all I wanted was to discuss swapping positions with him. As for hitting me, if the position isn't swapped, it isn't swapped—can't I still force him to swap? Hit me, kick me."

Director Wang happened to be going to handle some business when Jia Zhangshi was being beaten and crying; she coincidentally walked to the courtyard gate.

Seeing that the person causing a scene was Jia Zhangshi.

She let out an instinctive cold snort in her heart.

As the newly appointed director of the Jiēdào, Director Wang had learned from her predecessor about some of the residents' situations—those troublemakers, how to handle work, what to watch out for, how to unite capable people, etc. —and after a brief briefing, she realized that the currently wailing Jia Zhangshi was the key focus the predecessor had told her to watch.

She had originally planned to meet Jia Zhangshi after a while.

But she never expected Jia Zhangshi to come to her door herself.

Earlier, while discussing work inside the house, she faintly heard Jia Zhangshi shamelessly urging someone to swap positions with him.

She felt Jia Zhangshi was shameless.

The reason she didn't send anyone to handle it, and even stopped those who wanted to come out and resolve the issue, was to see just what kind of character the troublemaker Jia Zhangshi, warned about by the former director, really was.

Whether a mule or a horse.

Need to take them out for a spin.

Just a few short words.

Only a little content.

She fully enacted Jia Zhangshi's disgraceful conduct.

Director Wang was the type of leader promoted from elsewhere, and she knew how to deal with someone like Jia Zhangshi who wasn't quite up to causing a scene.

Give her a little color and she'll want to open a dye shop.

The more you yield to her, the more likely she becomes arrogant.

No matter when, when arriving at a new place, suppressing the local arrogant people is suspected to be the most effective and direct way to establish authority.

Kill the chicken to scare the monkey!

She stepped forward toward Jia Zhangshi, stopping when she was about two or three meters away, and silently stared at the scene-making Jia Zhangshi.

Jia Zhangshi saw an unfamiliar young person, about thirty or forty, and was momentarily startled; upon seeing Zhao clerk standing behind Director Wang, she immediately realized who the person was—could someone who has Zhao clerk following behind be an ordinary person?

Back when the former Director Wang was in office, Zhao clerk followed behind him; now Zhao clerk follows behind this young person—could the young person be the newly arrived director?

Jia Zhangshi had said before that the old Director Wang of the Jiēdào was getting old, would retire, and a new Jiēdào director would come.

It must be the person before her.

She turned to the newly arrived Director Wang and began to wail about her grievance.

"Director Wang, you've finally come out—I, an old woman, have been slapped and kicked; you must stand up for me."

Director Wang glanced at Zhao clerk behind her.

She had never met Jia Zhangshi, and Jia Zhangshi had never met her; she had only come to the Jiēdào yesterday afternoon to hand over duties with the former Director Wang.

There is no fact that Jia Zhangshi knows her.

Director Wang also never revealed her identity to Jia Zhangshi.

Jia Zhangshi shouldn't have known she was the new Jiēdào director, yet Jia Zhangshi bluntly exposed Director Wang's identity; Director Wang subconsciously thought Zhao clerk had leaked her identity beforehand.

Seeing Zhao clerk's bewildered expression—even more confused than herself—she guessed that Jia Zhangshi must have inferred her identity from Zhao clerk.

She felt somewhat relieved in her heart.

Someone able to deduce from Zhao clerk's behavior behind her that she is the new director must have only average intelligence and shouldn't be doing self-destructive things.

The shameless remarks Jia Zhangshi just made about getting others to swap positions, and her repeated bragging that Bangeng would become a cadre, are not things a person with brains could say or do.

She felt Jia Zhangshi was contradictory.

A combination of having brains and lacking brains.

To say she lacks brains yet she could guess her identity; to say she has brains yet she spouts nonsense, constantly claiming she was bullied and demanding Director Wang arrest the young man who hit her and throw him in jail.

In these days, fighting until heads are bloody and broken at most ends with showing up at someone's door holding a canned food bottle.

Arrest people.

Pure nonsense.

"You are Jia Zhangshi?"

The questioning Director Wang.

Sizing up the Jia Zhangshi before her.

A plump, white-skinned old woman—this physique really is a remarkable sight nowadays.

Nothing else to say.

Judging solely by appearance, especially by analyzing Jia Zhangshi's gaze, one can tell this old woman is not easy to get along with—no wonder the Jiēdào listed her as the first person to watch.

"I am Jia Zhangshi, Director—I've been hit." Jia Zhangshi pointed at the young man who beat her, repeating her old words to have Director Wang arrest him: "Hurry up and seize him, let him hit the elderly again—he's unfilial, he's a scoundrel; give him a heavy lesson so he knows the consequence of striking an old person."

"To arrest someone you need a reason, right? Why did he hit you?" Director Wang asked Jia Zhangshi in a calm tone, "Among so many people, why did he single you out, Jia Zhangshi, instead of hitting someone else?"

"I wanted to swap positions with him; if he won't, fine—but he still hit my old self. Look at my old self, how old am I, and I still have to endure his blows—isn't that bullying?"

"I heard what you just said, Jia Zhangshi, inside the house—no wonder the former Director Wang called you a slippery troublemaker, telling me to pay extra attention to you. Cooperating with you really is a slippery troublemaker: others have their lineup set nicely, you're late, you don't look for fault in yourself but try to make others swap places with you—don't think I don't know what you're up to; are you trying to swap positions one by one, eventually moving to the front of the line?"

Jia Zhangshi didn't expect her little tricks to be seen through by Director Wang.

She froze on the spot instantly.

This was completely different from what Jia Zhangshi had anticipated—shouldn't she first deal with the young man who hit her? Why is she now being held accountable?

"Me?"

No reason left to explain? Others can line up, why can't you? Even if you really feel unwell, why not let your good grandson come out to line up? Your grandson Bangeng is idle and resting inside, while you stand outside in line, relying on your old age, playing the old geezer to swap places with others; they don't agree, so you curse their eight generations of ancestors, and you still have the nerve to blame others—first look for your own cause.

Director Wang.

I still have a question to ask you: just now you said what? That your family's Bangeng is going to enter the factory as a cadre, saying that your family's Bangeng entering the factory as a cadre is a blessing that the factory cultivated in a previous life, saying that our Jiēdào has already reached an agreement with you, that we will give your family's Bangeng a cadre position, Jia Zhangshi, in front of all these neighbors around you, please explain properly—who gave you this guarantee? As the newly appointed Jiēdào director, how could I be completely unaware?