Chapter 318 Shameless Moral Blackmail

Chapter 318: Playing Dirty with Emotional Blackmail

Zuo Zuying squatted by the roadside with Zhao Gang, listening to his sobbing.

Watching the other man with snot and tears all over his face, he raised a hand to shield himself from the sun, then suddenly leaned into him.

"Hey, hey, quick, give me a hand! Help me up!"

Zhao Gang, his eyes red, reached out to steady Zuo Zuying. "What are you doing?"

Zuo Zuying said with fake weakness, "Just now, watching you cry like a woman, I cringed so hard I curled my toes in embarrassment. But I’m not very good at it—my toes cramped up."

Zhao Gang, furious, shoved him hard with both hands.

"Oww—!"

Zuo Zuying face-planted into the dirt.

"After all I did for you, Zhao Gang?!"

Zhao Gang snapped. "And you call yourself a brother? Someone stole my girl, and you’re cracking jokes? Even curled your toes till they cramped up?!"

Unfazed, Zuo Zuying awkwardly picked himself up. "You’re blubbering like a baby—did you expect no one to laugh? At least I’ve been blocking you from view this whole time. People passing by only heard the crying—not see your face."

"Otherwise, Gang Zi, your rep would be toast."

Zhao Gang’s eyes were red with indignation, his gaze filled with rage.

Zuo Zuying patted his shoulder. "I only dragged you out because I was afraid you’d say something you couldn’t take back. You needed to cool off."

"Sis Xiaoyu’s been through enough. If you’d said something to cut her deep, wouldn’t that be cruel? Some words, once spoken, can’t be undone—no sorry can undo them."

Zhao Gang’s eyes bulged. "Xiao Zuo, whose side are you on? Who was I slaving away for?"

Zuo Zuying’s smile slowly faded. "You tell me—who was it for?"

Zhao Gang pointed angrily in the direction of the Jia family’s shop. "Wasn’t it for her? And how did she repay me? She got with that damn stutterer while I was gone!"

Seeing Zhao Gang’s fury, Zuo Zuying sighed. "You went out to earn money to marry Sis Xiaoyu, but you could’ve just walked away or picked a girl who didn’t need money. It didn’t have to be her."

"Now that she’s marrying someone else, you’re off the hook."

Zhao Gang’s eyes went red, and he swung a fist at Zuo Zuying’s face.

Zuo Zuying sidestepped, dodging the punch, and slapped him back.

*Smack!*

Zhao Gang froze.

Zuo Zuying felt a pang of guilt but quickly shouted, "Look at yourself! Instead of figuring out the problem and fixing it, you’re just lashing out everywhere. With this attitude, Sis Xiaoyu would have to be nuts to pick you."

The midday sun was blinding, making Zuo Zuying’s eyes ache. Seeing that Gang Zi had settled down, he pulled Zhao Gang under the shade of a nearby eaves.

Zhao Gang hung his head, smoking in silence. "You saw how happy I was on the way back. All these years of feelings weren’t fake. I need answers."

Zuo Zuying waved away the secondhand smoke Zhao Gang exhaled, snatched the cigarette from his mouth, and crushed it underfoot.

"For fuck’s sake, I’m here with you through your breakup, and you’re making me inhale your secondhand smoke? Is this how you treat the nation’s future?"

"After all this time, why are you still blaming Sis Xiaoyu? Why don't you take a look at yourself?"

Zhao Gang muttered, "What issues do I have? I gave her everything I had—I might as well have torn it out and laid it before her. My parents even knelt before hers for my happiness, and yet she... I can’t even face my parents now. I’ve failed them."

Zuo Zuying curled his lip in disbelief. "Are you hearing yourself? And who told you Sis Xiaoyu only agreed to marry Tang Guojun after your parents knelt? It was your parents who knelt first, and then she chose Tang Guojun!"

Zhao Gang turned to glare at him. "What’s the difference? My parents did it for my happiness. My dad, a proud man all his life, for me—"

Zuo Zuying was about ready to walk away. He felt like Zhao Gang had a screw loose.

"Of course there’s a difference! You and Sis Xiaoyu had already agreed. What was the point of your parents suddenly kneeling at her doorstep?"

"Was it to avoid paying the bride price? To force her family to give her away for nothing? You just stood by while your parents knelt for your so-called happiness, but did you ever think—how did that make you feel? How did your brother and sister-in-law feel? What about your parents? Did you even consider that?"

"And why didn’t they discuss it with you? Your family isn’t even split—was 500 yuan really that impossible? Even if you didn’t have it, couldn’t you borrow it? Most importantly, didn’t you say on the bus this morning that Uncle Jia told you they could negotiate if you really couldn’t afford it? What did you say then?"

Zuo Zuying was really worked up now, grabbing Zhao Gang’s arm and dragging him toward the post office. "Come on, let’s go—"

"Go where?" Zhao Gang was still reeling from the barrage of questions.

Zuo Zuying snapped, "We’re going to kneel in front of the post office."

Zhao Gang was baffled. "Why would I kneel there?"

"To demand they hand over all their money. They’ve got cars too—might as well take those. Better yet, their buildings. If they refuse, we won’t get up."

Zhao Gang yanked his arm free. "Are you insane? Who do you think you are? Are your kneecaps made of the imperial seal? Expecting them to just give you money, cars, and houses?"

Zuo Zuying smirked. "Then are your parents insane? Are their kneecaps made of the imperial seal? Expecting the Jia family to give her away for nothing?"

"Just like me dragging you to kneel at the post office, your parents kneeling at the Jia family’s door was pure coercion—bullying them."

The color drained from Zhao Gang's face as realization struck.

Zuo Zuying pressed on, "Do you know what your parents’ kneeling did? Shouting for Uncle Jia to ‘bless’ you and Sis Xiaoyu—do you know what the Jia family faced?"

"Uncle Jia and Auntie were labeled as heartless, accused of keeping true lovers apart, of caring only about money, of selling their daughter, of forcing your parents to kneel. The town’s gossip would’ve drowned them. And if Sis Xiaoyu had become your wife under those conditions, what kind of life would she have had?"

"It was just 500 yuan. Why didn’t your parents kneel at the post office? Why the Jia family? They could’ve gone door-to-door begging relatives for help—anything but kneeling there."

"When you got back, did you even ask around? Or did you just listen to your parents’ version?"

"Do you know Uncle Jia had a heart attack and collapsed on the spot? That your parents stood in the doorway, refusing to let them take him to the hospital, forcing Sis Xiaoyu to agree? That it was Tang Guojun who carried Uncle Jia out of the shop in the end—?"