The neighbor living across from me suddenly sent a message in the property owners’ group.
“I have an announcement. My wife is pregnant. To ensure she can rest assured during pregnancy, I’ve formulated a ‘Code of Conduct for Building Residents’.”
Right after that, he sent out ten major prohibitions.
“Renovation is prohibited, keeping dogs is prohibited, cooking at home is prohibited, using the elevator at night is prohibited, and no one is allowed to play with their phones when they meet my wife…”
1
“First, my wife may go to sleep at any time, so residents of this building are prohibited from making any noise, day or night.”
“Second, during my wife’s pregnancy, any form of renovation by residents of this building is prohibited.”
“Third, my wife is afraid of dogs, so keeping dogs is prohibited. Those who have dogs at home must dispose of them within three days.”
“Fourth, considering the radiation issue, when meeting my wife in the elevator, no one is allowed to look at their phones.”
…
“Ninth, my wife can’t stand the smell of cooking fumes, so residents on the 16th floor are prohibited from cooking at home.”
“Tenth, the elevator door makes a loud noise. After 9 p.m., residents on the 16th floor are prohibited from using the elevator.”
I twitched the corner of my mouth.
Was his wife carrying a dragon fetus? Where did he get the nerve to make such weird demands of others?
Especially since there are only two households on each floor. The last two rules were clearly aimed at me.
This guy continued to issue orders, “From today on, all residents of this building must consciously abide by this code of conduct. Now, the group owner, please help me mention everyone.”
Strangely, no one in the group cursed at him.
They could endure it, but I couldn’t.
I immediately retorted, “What does your wife’s pregnancy have to do with us? Could it be that this child was crowdfunded by all the men in the building?”
2
The guy across the way got angry.
“What the hell are you talking about? Are you looking for death?”
“I’m telling you, my wife’s pregnancy is the top priority. If anyone dares to affect her, I’ll never let them go!”
“You son of a bitch, which household are you from? Why isn’t there a note? Group owner, is this person from our building? If not, kick him out!”
Oh, so overbearing.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen plenty of such blustering and mouthy people.
I said, “It doesn’t matter who I am. The child in your wife’s belly has nothing to do with others, and you have no right to interfere with other people’s behavior.”
The guy across the way sent a voice message, cursing my ancestors from eighteen generations ago.
Then he even tried to add me as a friend, but I ignored him.
The aunt downstairs who invited me into the group sent me a private message.
“Xiao Zhou, you must never provoke the family in 1601. Everyone in the building knows that if you offend them, you’ll never have peace. The previous resident of 1602 moved out because they couldn’t stand them.”
No wonder the others in the group didn’t dare to speak. They were afraid of getting into trouble.
But if you say so, I’m really interested.
I may not be good at other things, but I’m very experienced in dealing with evil people.
The person in 1601 was still shouting in the group, repeating nothing but swear words.
I’m already immune to such words. Anyway, there’s plenty of time ahead. I’m too lazy to argue with him for a moment of verbal pleasure. I turned off my phone and went to sleep.
The next day, I went out to drink heavily with my friends. When I came back and got out of the elevator, there was a huge pickled – cabbage vat right at the door.
It was the hottest time in August and September. The air was stuffy and humid, and with the sour and stinky smell, it was hard to tell whether it was more like rotting dead fish and shrimp or suppurating stagnant water.
It stank so badly that it could almost make people vomit.
No need to guess. It must be the masterpiece of the guy across the way.
3
I went straight to knock on the opposite door.
A bald man with a fleshy face came out, looking very impatient.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
I pointed to the pickled – cabbage vat.
“This is yours, right? It’s not appropriate to put it here.”
The man sized me up first, then raised his chin.
“Why is it inappropriate?”
“The smell is too strong. Who can stand it?”
“If you can’t stand it, endure it! My wife is pregnant and loves to eat sour food. I can’t put it in my house and stink her, can I?”
So he knew this thing stank.
“If you want to put it, you should at least put it in front of your own door. You put it here, and I can hardly open my door.”
“Are you blind? Don’t you see that my side is already full? Your side is empty anyway. And this is a public area. First come, first served. If you want to blame, blame yourself for not occupying it first!”
His shameless and self – righteous appearance, if it were someone else, they’d probably be so angry that they’d get a heart attack in a minute.
Before I could say anything else, the bald man started to shift the blame.
“As for you, how dare you come to me? It’s already ten o’clock. Didn’t I say yesterday that after nine o’clock, the elevator can’t be used because it will affect my wife’s rest! If you can’t remember, do I need to print those words and paste them on your door?”
Damn, it’s so similar.
It’s so much like the way my junior high school dean scolded students.
Obviously, it’s useless to reason with such a person.
I didn’t waste any more words and turned around to go home.
But when I walked in front of that pickled – cabbage vat, I staggered, retched a few times first, and then “vomited” out.
The turbid and sticky vomit splashed all over the stinky pickled cabbages in the vat.
Fortunately, neither the floor nor my clothes got dirty at all.
The bald man, who was about to close the door, stopped. When he saw this, his eyes almost popped out.
“Fuck! Are you fucking crazy!”
4
Fortunately, my door has a fingerprint lock. I quickly opened the door and flashed in.
By the time the bald man shuffled over in his slippers, I had already slammed the door shut.
Outside, there was a howl and curse like a pig being slaughtered.
Then his wife also came out, asking in a panic what had happened.
And then the cursing turned from one person to two.
I was in a great mood and just pretended not to hear.
That vat of stinky pickled cabbages was completely ruined now.
I was drunk and slept like a log. I didn’t know how long the yelling and cursing outside lasted before it stopped.
The next day when I went out, a smell even more stinking than pickled cabbages rushed towards me, almost knocking me out.
I quickly located the source of the stench.
Good lord.
My door was smeared with excrement.
No wonder the people in this building didn’t dare to mess with the opposite couple. They really went all out.
I found someone to clean the door, but I didn’t go to the opposite to argue.
Arguing only works with reasonable people. When fighting with a scoundrel, you have to be more of a scoundrel than him.
I bought a bottle of high – concentration skatole. It’s non – toxic but extremely stinky.
After the couple went out together, I sneaked over and gave their doorframe and doormat a thorough “baptism”. I didn’t spare the dozen or so shoes lying around on the ground either. I sprayed them all thoroughly.
When the couple came back at night, they stopped halfway through opening the door with the key.
Then the couple lay on the door like dogs, smelling. After smelling the doorframe, they smelled the floor, and after smelling the floor, they smelled the shoes. The woman couldn’t help retching a few times and almost vomited.
I was laughing my ass off while covering my stomach behind the peephole.
The next second, my door was smashed “bang bang” loudly, shaking the ceiling.
5
I opened the door a crack. The bald man almost poked my eyes with his finger and roared, “Did you fucking do this?”
I looked innocent. “What?”
“Don’t play dumb with me. The shit smell at my door, besides you, who else could it be!”
“Did you see me shitting at your door with your own eyes? My door was smeared with shit, and I still suspect it was you who did it. Was it you?”
“You…”
The bald man suddenly pulled open my door and reached out to grab my collar. I was quick – witted and grabbed his wrist.
In terms of strength, I’m not weaker than him.
At this time, the bald man’s wife came out to help.
She stood behind her man, put her hands on her hips, and started to curse like a shrew.
“Don’t play dumb here. We know what you’re thinking! You heartless dog, be careful when you have a son, he won’t have an asshole!
“You son of a bitch, you immoral thing, you won’t die a good death!”
Alas, getting angry like this is meaningless.
You smeared shit on my door, and I didn’t act like this.
No matter how much the couple cursed, I only said one sentence from beginning to end: “I don’t know, I’m not clear, it wasn’t me.”
Anyway, I just flat – out refused to admit it.
The bald man had no evidence. Being grabbed by the wrist by me, he couldn’t catch me. He pulled his hand out resentfully and almost gritted his teeth and said, “Okay, you little bastard. You’d better be careful in the future! I’m putting my words here today. This isn’t over between us!”
The smell of skatole was too long – lasting. For several days, the opposite side smelled like a septic tank had exploded.
The neighbors upstairs and downstairs were all discussing whether 1601 didn’t flush the toilet every day and left the feces at the door. The couple was so angry that they cursed in the group, forbidding everyone to discuss.
The aunt downstairs heard about my conflict with the opposite couple and was worried about me. “Xiao Zhou, those two are not ordinary difficult to deal with. They have no bottom line in doing things. If you suffer a loss from provoking them, it will be useless to find the property management or the police!”
Hehe, it’s not certain who will be the first to be unable to stand it and call the police.
6
The next night, I was cooking at home when the lights suddenly went out.
This shouldn’t be right. I just paid the electricity bill yesterday.
Almost immediately, I thought of something.
I went out to the electric meter box in the corridor to check. Sure enough, the switch on my side was pulled.
The opposite door was tightly closed, looking calm.
I have to say, the actions of the opposite couple, like smearing shit and cutting off the power, are really disgusting. They catch you off – guard, and you have no evidence. Even if you catch them, and call the police, the police can at most just give them a few words of education. They can’t really do much to them.
Any normal person who encounters such scoundrels will be in pain and torment.
But now that they’ve met me, the ones who will be in pain and torment are them.
I smiled and calmly restored the switch, then turned around and went back to the room.
After a while, the lights went out again.
I did the same as just now, silently went out and pushed the switch up.
When the power went out for the third time, I calmly opened the door.
The bald man was standing under the electric meter box, his right hand tightly holding the switch. When he saw me come out, his expression became a bit flustered.
“What, is this switch fun?”
The bald man held his breath and tried hard, but his hand didn’t move at all.
I smiled. “This is quick – drying super – strong glue. Feels good, right?”
Only then did the bald man realize that he had fallen into my trap.
“Fuck you! You tricked me!”
“You maliciously turned off my power. I can call the police. After doing this several times, I don’t know if my electrical appliances are damaged. If they are broken, you can just buy me new ones.”
As soon as he heard that he might have to pay for it, the bald man almost jumped up.
“Fuck you! What maliciously turning off the power! I just wanted to pull my own switch, but I made a mistake.”
“Come on, are your eyes that bad? You made the mistake three times.”
“I haven’t gone out since this afternoon. I just came out now! Who are you slandering by saying three times? Do you have any evidence?”
7
Tsk tsk tsk, he really is an old scoundrel as soon as he opens his mouth.
I looked at him and nodded. “I really don’t have evidence. But you’d better be careful when you play with the switch next time. Anyway, I have plenty of glue at home. This time it’s the switch, next time it might be someone’s doorknob.”
After saying that, I went back to the room.
“Fuck you, fuck you!”
The bald man was anxious and angry, his face red and his neck thick. But now, except for cursing me, he had no other way.
His wife came out and cursed him as a stupid pig, then said that the internet said hot water could dissolve the glue, and she was about to pour a glass of water on it.
The bald man was so scared that he even cursed his wife. “Are you a pig? Do you want to electrocute me?”
“You yell at me? I’m trying to help you out of kindness, and you actually dare to yell at me? Who are you calling a pig? Ah? Are you rebelling?”
Well, it turned into an internal conflict.
Finally, after the couple tossed around for almost an hour, the bald man was about to burst his bladder, and his hand was finally freed.
His first thing was to run to my door and curse and kick the door again.
I was already lying in bed, scrolling through Douyin. I didn’t go out no matter how much he shouted. Let him shout. Anyway, it wasn’t me who was tired.
Finally, the bald man stopped cursing after almost half an hour.
In the middle of the night, when I was sound asleep, the doorbell suddenly rang.
It was actually a delivery guy, asking me to open the unit door downstairs.
“You must have the wrong number.”
The guy’s tone was very certain. “Building 7, 1602, it’s correct, it’s yours. Buddy, hurry up and open the door. My order time is almost up.”
I was confused. Who would order takeout for me at three o’clock in the morning?
This disruption made me lose all my sleepiness.
When the takeout was delivered, the bald man suddenly rushed out from the opposite side and snatched the takeout from my hand with lightning speed.
“This is mine!”
8
Both the delivery guy and I were stunned.
The bald man showed the mobile phone order, and it was really his.
The delivery guy apologized to me. “Sorry, bro.”
But the bald man didn’t show any apology. He gave me an unfriendly look and was about to take the takeout and go back to the room.
I was unhappy and asked him what it meant to fill in my door number for the takeout in the middle of the night.
The bald man snorted. “I filled it in wrong by accident. What, can’t you even understand such a small thing?”
I don’t believe him.
I couldn’t help but say, “If I accidentally fill in the wrong address in the middle of the night someday, you have to understand too.”
The bald man immediately turned around and stared at me. “How dare you? My wife is a pregnant woman. If you dare to disturb us in the middle of the night and make her and the baby in her belly uncomfortable, can you bear the consequences?”
Oh, the “dragon fetus” warning is here again.
I didn’t say anything more and politely reached out to signal him to go slowly.
A few days later, at three o’clock in the middle of the night, the doorbell rang again.
“Hello, takeout.”
I immediately put on my coat and said to the microphone, “No need to deliver it up. I’ll come down and get it.”
After getting the takeout, I took the elevator to the 15th floor first, then walked up the stairs quietly and went home.
It was so quiet that the motion – sensor light in the corridor didn’t even turn on.
When I got home, I opened the takeout. Good lord, there were spareribs in soy sauce, spicy chicken gizzards, spicy crayfish, and ice – cold beer… The bald man was eating so well in the middle of the night.
A few minutes later, my door started to be knocked “bang bang bang” again.
I’m really afraid that one day he’ll tear down my door.
“Open the door! You son of a bitch, give me back the takeout!”
I smacked my lips through the door. “I’m just hungry. This meal is really good! Thanks for the treat!”
The volume outside suddenly increased. “Fuck you!”
The bald man was furious.
The takeout was eaten by me, and I refused to show up. He couldn’t bear it anymore and called the police.
9
I had to open the door when the police came. As soon as I opened the door, I met the bald man’s vicious eyes that seemed to want to kill me, and his wife was also beside him.
The couple excitedly said that I deliberately stole their takeout and must compensate them. The police were not fools and wouldn’t be led by the nose. They carefully looked at the takeout order on the bald man’s phone and asked him why he wrote the address as mine.
The bald man said righteously, “Well, we live in 01 and 02 respectively. It’s normal to make a mistake. But he knew clearly that the takeout wasn’t ordered by him, yet he shamelessly took it and ate it!”
The police asked me, “Did you eat the takeout?” I shook my head, “No, I didn’t.”
The bald man shouted, “Impossible! If you didn’t eat it, how could you know what’s inside!” His wife chimed in, “He did it on purpose! He ate our takeout and must compensate us!”
I was helpless. “Use your brain, okay? What’s inside is written on the receipt. I’m not as stupid as some people, like a pig.”
“Who the hell are you calling a pig?”
“Okay, okay, stop arguing.” The police stood between me and the bald man and said to me, “Since you said you didn’t eat it, return the takeout quickly, and this matter will be over.”
I handed the intact takeout packaging to the bald man. The bald man was a bit surprised to see that the takeout really hadn’t been touched.
“Then why didn’t you open the door just now?”
“You were so fierce, looking like you were going to eat someone. Who would dare?”
“You…”
The police were also speechless about dealing with such trivial matters in the middle of the night. Before leaving, they criticized the bald man, saying that he shouldn’t fill in the wrong address for takeout in the middle of the night. After all, this whole mess was his fault in the first place.
The bald man was submissive in front of the police, repeatedly saying yes. As soon as the police left, he immediately changed his face. I wondered what kind of foul language he was going to spew.
I picked my nose and said, “I really didn’t eat the takeout. I just opened each item and added something to it. But don’t worry, it’s just a bit disgusting, definitely not enough to kill anyone.” Then I flicked my thumb nail against my little finger nail.
The bald man’s face changed. “What do you mean? Make it clear!”
I “bang” shut the door. Let him guess, idiot.
10
The couple still didn’t leave in front of my door.
“Honey, this takeout…”
“What are you still asking? Aren’t you disgusted? If you want to eat it, go ahead! We’re really unlucky! It’s all your stupid idea!”
In the end, the couple still didn’t eat the takeout. The woman directly threw it in front of my door. The next day when I went out, I gave it a flying kick and kicked it back.
After this battle, things finally quieted down. No one called my doorbell in the middle of the night to disturb my dreams anymore.
The despicable couple met another setback with me. I wondered what underhanded means they would use to deal with me next. To be honest, I was kind of looking forward to it.
And they really didn’t disappoint me. The couple across the way stole my express delivery. I was so sure because I replaced it with an electronic peephole, and the surveillance captured the bald man’s wife sneaking around outside my door and then taking away a box of papaya oranges that I hadn’t had time to bring home. It was a five – jin box, and the total value was less than thirty yuan.
How petty. Their vision was really narrow.
A few days later, a big box appeared at my door. The outer packaging said it was a ten – jin box of high – quality 5J cherries. The woman across the way came out to throw out the trash, took a look, and was overjoyed. Then she quickly went back to the room to call the bald man to come out and help. The bald man also laughed foolishly and carried it home without hesitation.
I watched the surveillance on my phone and laughed along with them. I wondered what kind of reaction the couple would have when they happily opened the box and found that there were no 5J cherries inside, but a box full of plump, wriggling maggots.
Originally, I wanted to arrange a box of cockroaches, but considering that they might run to other people’s houses and affect the innocent, I gave up.
This time, both the bald man and his wife went crazy. Since I wasn’t at home and they couldn’t find me, they could only curse in the group. It was a mixed – gender tirade, really dirty. But they never mentioned stealing my express delivery.
11
The people in the group really couldn’t stand it anymore and told them to watch their words. The bald man then started to attack everyone indiscriminately, saying that if anyone helped me speak again, he would go and make trouble at their door right away.
He mentioned me, saying that he would do nothing else today but wait for me. As long as I dared to show up, he would teach me a lesson.
When I came back at around eight o’clock in the evening, the bald man had indeed moved a chair and was sitting in front of my door, holding a baseball bat in his hand. When he saw me, he stood up suddenly.
Just one second ago, he was fierce like a vicious dog, but the next second, he immediately tucked his tail between his legs, and the raised baseball bat stopped awkwardly in the air.
The police officer behind me said, “Is it him?” I nodded.
“You, now you’re suspected of stealing other people’s property, with the amount involved exceeding 1,000 yuan. Come back to the station with us.”
The bald man was originally full of anger, ready to settle accounts with me. But when he heard that he had become a suspect, he panicked.
“No, police officer, when did I steal other people’s things? I didn’t!”
I picked up my phone and showed him the surveillance screenshot. “The video clearly shows it. How can you still deny it?”
When the bald man saw that there was actually surveillance on my phone, he was stunned for a moment, then immediately started cursing, “Fuck you! There weren’t any cherries in this box at all! Police officer, there were maggots inside! Maggots!”
“Am I crazy to buy a box of maggots for myself? This was clearly the cherries I bought online. I still have the purchase record!”
This time, although the bald man stole things first, I really pinned the blame on him. He immediately rushed towards me with red eyes, wanting to beat me up, but was immediately stopped by the police.
The police handcuffed him without saying a word. “Let’s go! Come back with us obediently and cooperate with the investigation!”
The bald man couldn’t explain clearly. His wife almost threw a tantrum when she saw that he was about to be taken away. She insisted that it was a box of maggots and that the bald man had thrown it in the community trash can.
But when the police went to check with them, there was no such big carton in the trash can, let alone such a disgusting thing as a box of maggots.
12
Of course, the couple couldn’t imagine that as soon as they threw away the maggots, I followed and destroyed the evidence. I had the purchase record on my phone and iron – clad evidence of the bald man taking my express delivery. No matter how much he pleaded innocent, he couldn’t clear his suspicion.
So the final result was that either we privately mediated and he compensated me for my losses, or he would be detained for five to ten working days for maliciously injuring others. The bald man, of course, could only reluctantly compensate.
The day I got the one – thousand – yuan “compensation”, I bought another box of cherries and put it at the door. I also specially sent a message in the property owners’ group, saying that anyone who wanted to eat could come to my house and take them for free.
All day long, I could hear the couple across the way throwing things and arguing.
Coincidentally, I had to go on a business trip for a while, so I had a few days of peace.
But I never expected that when I came back, the couple across the way gave me another super “surprise”.
Damn it, I couldn’t find my door.
I came back in the middle of the night. When I got out of the elevator, I was looking down at my phone. Before I took two steps, there was a dull thud, and I felt like I hit a wall.
When I looked up, I was stunned. A whole floor – to – ceiling wooden cabinet blocked the less – than – two – meter corridor tightly. I pushed it with my hand, but the cabinet didn’t move at all.
My first reaction was that the couple across the way deliberately moved the cabinet from their home out. But then I thought, such a big cabinet could never be moved out from inside the door. There was only one possibility, that is, this cabinet was built directly in the corridor.
This was really amazing. They really went all out to deal with me.
They must have thought that I would be furious because I couldn’t get into my house and then demand that they remove the cabinet immediately. Or I would try to remove it myself, and they could then ask me to compensate.
Anyway, as long as they could make me uncomfortable, they would be happy.
In the middle of the night, I didn’t want to argue with them. Anyway, the cabinet couldn’t be moved for a while. I decisively found a hotel near the community and slept there for the night.
The next day, I went to find the bald man, but there was no one at home. I went to the property management. As soon as the property management heard it was the bully family in 7 – building 1601, they kept shirking responsibility and suggested that I call the police.
Last time I called the police to make the bald man pay some money. This time, calling the police didn’t seem to make sense. Since he wanted to play, I would play with him to the end.
I asked the property management to call the bald man, and then I would talk to him. He didn’t deliberately not answer, but said very arrogantly that he had accompanied his wife back to her parents’ home and the return date was uncertain. He said to talk about the cabinet matter when he came back.
13
I said I had to solve it now. The bald man immediately shouted excitedly on the phone, “This is the cabinet I paid for and I need to use it. If you dare to remove it, you have to compensate me ten thousand yuan first.”
That crappy cabinet dared to cost ten thousand yuan. I knew this guy had this kind of plan. He must have been so annoyed by the one – thousand – yuan I tricked him out of that he couldn’t even sleep at night.
I smiled faintly, “Don’t worry, I promise I won’t remove your cabinet.”
“Ah? You won’t remove it?” The bald man really didn’t expect me to say this, and his tone was full of surprise.
“I won’t remove it. Didn’t you say I couldn’t remove it?”
“You… Anyway, I’m warning you, don’t damage it either! If you damage my cabinet even a little bit, you must compensate!”
Fortunately, I have a friend who runs a decoration company. I borrowed two experienced workers from him. It took a day to carefully remove the cabinet doors and panels, unscrew the screws on the wall one by one, and then reinstall them exactly the same way.
The difference was that this time I installed the cabinet in front of the opposite door.
The “obstacle” was finally solved. Then I found that the peephole on the door had been smashed.
The bald man and his wife came back the next day. When they saw that “wall” blocking their own door, the couple stood at the elevator entrance and were stunned for several minutes.
This time, he had no reason to make trouble with me. He said it was his cabinet, so I moved it to his place. He said not to damage the cabinet, and I restored it exactly the same.
There was nothing wrong with it.
The bald man never expected that after all the trouble, he dug a hole for himself. But no matter how angry he was, he could only quietly find someone to remove the cabinet.
Tsk tsk tsk.
The couple, who usually couldn’t hold back their temper, actually became quiet for a whole week after suffering this loss and didn’t come to trouble me again. But I didn’t think they could really swallow their anger.
If at first they just didn’t like me, now they definitely wanted to kill me.
14
One night, a buddy called me to drink again. When I was on my way back, there was no one on the road. There was an abandoned dirt road near the community. When I passed by, I couldn’t hold my urine, so I turned in to relieve myself.
Just as I pulled up my pants, I felt a sharp pain in my back. When I turned around, I saw two men, one fat and one thin, both wearing masks and hats. Although the light was weak, I still recognized one of them. That short and chubby figure, the triangular eyes with a fierce look, who else could it be but the bald man?
Good. Since he couldn’t out – rogue me, he resorted to brute force. No wonder the bald man had been quiet for so many days. He was lying in wait for an opportunity, choosing a pitch – black night with no people and no surveillance to attack me.
I rubbed my shoulder and pretended not to recognize him. “Guys, I don’t have anything valuable on me. And this is a society ruled by law. You’d better think carefully before you act.”
The skinny guy next to the bald man, holding an iron rod in his hand, ignored my words. He exchanged a look with the bald man and swung the rod at me again.
At this point, it would be impolite to reason anymore. I didn’t hesitate at all and gave him a flying kick right in the chest.
I’ve practiced martial arts. This kick was definitely unbearable for this skinny guy. He staggered a few steps and fell to the ground, unable to get up for a long time.
The bald man also rushed over, swinging the iron rod in his hand. Unfortunately, his movements seemed too slow to me. They just managed to sneak – attack me once. I easily snatched the rod from him.
Then I started hitting him hard on the same spot on his calf.
“Ah – ah -” The bald man let out a heart – rending scream.
He usually looked big and strong, but I didn’t expect him to be so vulnerable. After I hit him about ten times, he was already rolling on the ground, holding his leg.
Seeing that I was about to hit him with another rod, the bald man shouted, “Are you trying to kill me? I’m telling you, this is a society ruled by law! Think clearly!”
Wasn’t this my line just now? I almost died laughing.
15
I thought I had taught him enough, so I threw the rod away and left. But when I got home, I regretted it. I regretted that I had been too lenient on the bald man. After all, it was not easy to have such an opportunity to beat him without worrying about him calling the police.
The next day, when I woke up, the property owners’ group was very lively, all discussing the bald man’s matter. It turned out that the bald man’s leg was broken by me, and he called an ambulance in the middle of the night and was sent to the hospital. It made quite a commotion.
With a broken leg, he could only be hospitalized. During the days when the bald man was hospitalized, the neighbors in the whole building seemed to feel much more relaxed. They didn’t have to worry about meeting that crazy couple when walking their dogs, nor did they have to be afraid of being scolded for looking at their phones in the elevator. Some people even said that it would be really great if this family could move away.
A week later, the bald man was discharged from the hospital and went home. His wife was supporting him, and a thin man with yellow hair was following behind. Looking at his figure, he was exactly the same as the skinny guy who had attacked me that night.
That day happened to be Saturday. I was wondering whether to order takeout or cook by myself when there were suddenly a few loud bangs on the door, which startled me.
When I went out to check, the bald man’s wife was smashing my fingerprint lock with a hammer. I couldn’t figure out what this crazy woman was up to.
She was shaking her head and looking like a female hooligan, with provocation in her eyes. “Do you have any objections?”
I smiled slightly. “No objections. Anyway, you can just compensate me if you smash it, right?”
“Compensate you? You’re dreaming! We haven’t even settled the score with you for my husband’s broken leg yet!”
“Well, you’re really making false accusations. How does your husband’s broken leg have anything to do with me? Just because I have a feud with him, are you going to blame me for everything, like him not being able to eat, poop, or have children in the future?”
The bald man’s wife’s face turned pale instantly, as if I had really hit a sore spot.
“What the hell are you talking about!”
16
Suddenly, she went berserk, like a crazy woman, and rushed towards me, trying to scratch me without hesitation.
Seeing that her claws were about to reach my face, I grabbed her arm. Considering that she was a pregnant woman, I didn’t use much force and just gently pushed her away.
But this woman seemed to have been hit by a car. She directly stepped back several meters and then sat down on the ground.
Then she started to howl at the top of her voice, “Someone is hitting me! A big man is beating a pregnant woman!”
I raised my eyebrows.
Immediately afterwards, the skinny guy burst out from the opposite door.
“Sister, are you okay?”
“My stomach hurts so much…” The bald man’s wife was covering her stomach, looking extremely painful.
I couldn’t bear it any longer. “Cut the act, miss. Your acting skills are truly terrible.”
The bald man somehow appeared at the door of his house with a walking stick, holding a phone in his hand, filming . The skinny guy threatened me, “You son of a bitch, you’ve been causing trouble for my sister and brother – in – law every day. What did they do to you? How can you have a conscience bullying two honest people? I’m telling you, if anything happens to my sister and the baby in her belly, I’ll make you pay with your life!”
Damn, what did I just hear? Honest people? If this couple could be considered honest, there would be few villains in the world.
My eyes swept over the three of them. “Fine, I’m waiting.”
That night, the property owners’ group exploded. The bald man released an edited video. In the video, I pushed his wife, and then she sat on the ground, covering her stomach and crying. The yellow – haired guy shouted, “I’m telling you, if anything happens to my sister and the baby in her belly, I’ll make you pay with your life!”
At the end of the video, his wife was lying on the hospital bed, and there was also a hospital diagnosis certificate beside her. It showed that the pregnant woman had symptoms of threatened miscarriage.
17
Beating a pregnant woman and causing a miscarriage is a serious crime. So the couple, together with the skinny guy, came to me to stage this play.
“I’m in so much pain now. I really can’t imagine that just because of some small neighborhood disputes, some people can be so vicious. They keep causing trouble for us, intimidating, extorting, and now they’ve broken my leg and almost caused my three – month – pregnant wife to miscarry! My wife and I have been married for five years, and it was so hard for us to have this child. But now I don’t even know if our child can be saved. What on earth did my wife and I do wrong? Is there no justice? Is there no law?”
The bald man’s long post seemed extremely “sincere”. Every word was accusing me of being a heinous criminal.
The neighbors in the group gradually jumped out to speak, but most of them were skeptical. The aunt downstairs was the first to speak up for me. “To be honest, I don’t believe Xiao Zhou is this kind of person. How could he possibly hit your wife! This young man isn’t like that!”
An unremarked account echoed, “Yeah, if we’re talking about who the villain in this building is, there’s no need to say it. Everyone knows it well…”
“I’ve watched the video several times, and I didn’t see 1602 using any force.”
The bald man got angry. “Are you all blind? Can’t you see the diagnosis certificate? Do you see the word’miscarriage’? This isn’t something I forged!”
A female property owner immediately replied, “Threatened miscarriage isn’t a real miscarriage. I also had it when I was pregnant. Besides the cause of impact, it could also be due to the quality of the embryo itself or the pregnant woman’s malnutrition.”
Unable to refute everyone, the bald man mentioned me again. “No matter how much you all say, it’s useless. I’ve already sorted out all the evidence and will call the police right away. Just wait for the law to punish you!”
I replied to him, “Um… why don’t you not call the police first? There’s no need to make a big fuss.”
The bald man thought I was scared. “It’s too late to regret now! Why didn’t you think of this consequence when you hit my wife? If you want me not to call the police, then pay up!”
Oh, here we go again. It’s all about the money. I followed his words and asked, “So how much do you want me to compensate?”
“Medical expenses, nutrition expenses, mental damage expenses, at least one hundred thousand yuan. If something really happens to my wife’s pregnancy, you have to compensate us five hundred thousand yuan! If you don’t pay, I’ll sue you. I’ll sue you to death!”
I smiled and finally threw out the trump card I had prepared for a long time. “Is it really worth it for you to go through all this for another man’s child?”
18
The bald man immediately sent a voice message. “What the fuck are you talking about? If you talk nonsense again, I’ll tear your fucking mouth apart!”
He seemed on the verge of flying into a rage. He wouldn’t confess until he saw the evidence.
I calmly sent the evidence I had prepared in my phone one by one in the group. The first picture showed his wife opening the door for a tall man, and the time in the upper – right corner showed 11:50 p.m. on August 22nd.
The second picture showed the man coming out of the door, with the time 7:20 a.m. on August 23rd. The third picture was of his wife hugging the same man in a restaurant. The fourth was a video. His wife was standing in the corner, looking angry, saying that a paternity test could only be done after the child was born.
Each piece of evidence was more shocking than the last. I added, “Whether I pushed your wife or not, I know, you know, and your wife knows. Although you’re a jerk, as a kind – hearted man, I still can’t bear to see you protecting her like this, only to be cuckolded and raising another man’s child.”
The bald man stopped talking. The others in the group were also silent, falling into a deathly stillness.
The bald man must have been on the verge of collapse at this moment. Who could have thought that I would discover his wife’s affair?
Three days after the bald man was hospitalized, my phone’s surveillance software suddenly popped up a message, alerting me that there was movement in the surveillance area. I casually clicked on it and saw a tall man coming out of the elevator and walking straight towards the opposite door. The door was quickly opened. His wife seemed to have known the man was coming and showed no surprise. She smiled and pulled the man in. The man didn’t come out until the next morning.
With such an explosive discovery, of course I wouldn’t let it go. I spent some money to hire someone to follow his wife for a few days. Finally, after much effort, we managed to take pictures and a video of their secret meetings.
19
The bald man left the group. His wife also left the group. They didn’t say a word, but it seemed as if they had said everything.
I went out early and came back late as usual. I didn’t run into the couple for two consecutive weeks, and the bald man didn’t come to trouble me again.
Well, being publicly exposed of such a big family scandal, any man would be devastated. How could he have the energy to fight with me?
The last time I saw the couple was half a month later, one night. I was running back at night. The opposite door was wide open, and I heard the bald man shouting inside, “Get out now! I bought this house. It has nothing to do with you!”
Then a suitcase was thrown out. The bald man’s wife came out, crying hysterically. When she saw me standing at the elevator entrance, there was deep hatred in her eyes.
I stepped aside and politely invited her into the elevator. She glared at me, picked up the suitcase, and left resentfully.
The bald man came out to close the door and saw me too. The expression on his face was even more interesting. It was hard to tell whether it was embarrassment or anger, but it definitely wasn’t a good look. He “bang” shut the door heavily.
The next night when I came back, I heard from the property owners’ group that the people in 1601 had moved away, and the house was listed for sale at the property management office.
I really didn’t expect the bald man to move away, let alone so quickly.
A month later, a couple of teachers moved in across the way. On the first day they came, they gave me a welcome gift and softly asked me to take care of them in the future, which made me feel a bit embarrassed.
Occasionally, I still think of the bald man. It’s probably very hard to meet such an extraordinary neighbor again in this lifetime.
– End –
