CHAPTER 438: CHAPTER 464: FAILING TO STEAL THE CHICKEN AND LOSING THE RICE

Liu Gang waited for her to finish speaking, then suddenly pushed Ai Mei’s arm: "What are you saying! Gu Junming isn’t like that! He only saw you injured and thought I did it, you shouldn’t misunderstand his good intentions."

"Even if it’s good intentions, you can’t make things up out of thin air. Anyway, I hope the leadership questions him properly." Ai Mei knew what she was doing wasn’t right, but if she didn’t make a fuss, would her husband be displeased? At most, she and Gu Junming’s family wouldn’t be neighbors anymore, but she and Liu Gang were together for life. Of course she had to think about him.

Besides, Liu Gang was right, the other side definitely wanted to bring him down.

At worst, I’ll just apologize sincerely to Sun Chan later. She looks like a good-tempered girl. Easy to talk to. Even if things don’t go well, what could she possibly do to me? At most she’d just ignore me.

Liu Gang spoke then: "I hope the leaders won’t pursue this. Gu Junming’s intentions were good, after all. Although he made some subjective assumptions, it wasn’t deliberate. No need for you to criticize him."

These words were skillfully spoken, he first pointed out Gu Junming’s nonsense, then highlighted my kindness and tolerance, showing that I wouldn’t mind Gu Junming’s excessive behavior. With these words, Gu Junming’s image with the leaders would suffer, and my own shining image would be highlighted.

But who knew the leaders would look at each other, all with shocked expressions.

Then one of them said, "Did you misunderstand something?"

"Huh?"

"Gu Junming didn’t say you beat your wife, he only said we should talk to you about taking care of her, that such heavy work shouldn’t be done by a female. Also, he said we should remind the courtyard’s residents to pay attention to safety. He didn’t mention anything else. If you suddenly say something... so did you actually hit her?"

As soon as this was said, the couple were dumbfounded.

Liu Gang was speechless, feeling as if cold water had been poured into hot oil inside him.

This matter, Gu Junming didn’t mention it at all! So were we falsely accusing him all this time, judging others with a petty heart? Either way, this wouldn’t leave a good impression!

He quickly said, "Who spread this? It’s too much! We, as a couple, thought... This is our fault; we took what people outside gossiped to heart. I’ll go apologize to Gu Junming later."

Another leader laughed and said, "People always say there’s no smoke without fire; we’ve heard some things too. You two often have some physical conflicts, but since Ai Mei hadn’t mentioned it, we left it alone. Ai Mei, is this true?"

Ai Mei quickly shook her head, her voice trembling: "No! My husband and I have a very good relationship; he’s never hit me. Those are just made-up lies by some vicious people! My husband is really good."

"But last time you came to us crying, saying he didn’t want to be with you."

"That was... that was someone instigating me. Gu Junming is not a good person! He spreads lies!" She had no education, couldn’t articulate well, and as she kept exposing herself, her words became more confused and she spilled all the bad things about Gu Junming without a break. After saying it, she regretted it, looking to her husband, but who knew Liu Gang had no reaction at all.

His mind was still buzzing; he couldn’t imagine Gu Junming being so treacherous, not mentioning the whole mess at all! I wanted to retaliate, but ended up looking like a vile person! What to do now?

Now, does my image in the leaders’ eyes look terrible? This is really embarrassing!

A leader spoke sternly: "What’s wrong with you, young lady? How long has Gu Junming been married? You came to us last year. He hadn’t even moved in yet, didn’t know you, how could he know your issues? Plus, we’ve heard the rumors floating around the courtyard for some time now; it’s not just one person saying it. What’s really going on with you two?"

Ai Mei was about to cry, and Liu Gang finally came to his senses, rage suddenly flaring up.

He could disregard his wife’s words, but he couldn’t disregard the leaders’. He had caught the sarcasm in their tone, which was not a good sign!

He quickly shouted, "If you can’t speak properly, then shut up! When did Gu Junming ever spread such things!?"

"Yes, I was wrong." Ai Mei was so anxious that her forehead was coated in cold sweat. Seeing the leaders’ displeased expressions, her heart was in turmoil.

She still didn’t know what she had said that was wrong.

Another leader quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "Perhaps there is some misunderstanding. Anyway, it’s not a big deal, just be more careful in the future. Correct any mistakes and learn from this. Liu Gang, you are a straightforward guy; sometimes your actions and words might be a bit much, making it easy for people to misunderstand. It could make people think you bully your wife, which isn’t good. Be more mindful from now on."

"Yes, understood." Liu Gang breathed a sigh of relief; at least he wasn’t pegged for beating his wife.

The two leaders spoke for a while, advised them to be more careful in the future, and then left. Once they walked out, the couple looked at each other and started laughing.

"What do you think of this Liu Gang..."

"Exactly. I used to think he was alright. Who would’ve thought?"

No one is a fool; if they were, they wouldn’t be leaders. Using such tactics against colleagues, trying to step on Gu Junming to climb up, isn’t that a bit much? But they didn’t bother to dig deeper; since you don’t admit it, we’ll just report the situation, but Liu Gang shouldn’t hope for any bright future anymore.

You beat your wife, which is like the lice on a bald head, glaringly obvious. Not only do you deny it, but you try to have your wife accuse Gu Junming, truly outrageous.

As soon as they walked out, Liu Gang shot up, his eyes almost spewing fire. He had held back just then; he’s no fool. The leaders’ sarcastic tone and expressions had made him incredibly uncomfortable.

Ai Mei bit her lip, speaking in a wronged voice, "I said what you told me to say."

"Shut up! All you do is ruin things! Who told you to bring up Gu Junming?" Liu Gang wished he could punch the woman in front of him to death; not helping bring down Gu Junming was one thing, but she made the leaders’ impression of him worse, truly outrageous!

"But you said Gu Junming..."

He stood up and said, "Really foolish! Even so, you shouldn’t say it, do you have evidence for your nonsense? Take care and rest well. I’m off to work!"

"Liu Gang... I really didn’t do anything wrong! Tell me, what exactly did I do wrong?" Ai Mei’s mind was dizzy now, having no idea what was going on.