I am chasing a rough man in the 80s
Chapter 994: Stereotypes Can Be Deadly

Chapter 994: Chapter 994: Stereotypes Can Be Deadly

"That woman chatted with me about everyday things for a bit, then, after asking how many people are in our family, she started saying she could tell fortunes."

Jiaojiao said this and couldn’t hold back; she laughed out loud.

Suizi and Yu Jingting laughed too.

Because this trick was all too familiar.

Back when Jiaojiao couldn’t even walk and was still in swaddling clothes, Wang Cuihua was already carrying her around and using this trick to tell fortunes for money.

So when Jiaojiao heard someone in front of her talk about telling fortunes, she really couldn’t hold it in and just laughed.

"She insisted on giving me a reading. I said, ’Sure, go ahead.’ She closed her eyes, her fingers moving back and forth randomly—I almost told her that she wasn’t even pinching her fingers correctly."

Jiaojiao also initially aspired to be a ’great psychic.’ If Suizi hadn’t corrected her, she would still be preoccupied with telling fortunes for others, after all, she did have a head start in the ’charlatan race.’

"What nonsense did she spout?" Yu Jingting asked.

"After her own set of charades, she said the reading showed I didn’t get along with my biological brother, that we fight daily, and that my brother, being a ’Lonely Star of Evil,’ overpowers me. She even saw that my sister-in-law and my brother are of one mind, quarreling with me every day, and she asked if it was accurate."

One couldn’t say that her reading was inaccurate; it was simply irrelevant to the truth.

That’s why Jiaojiao is considered smart. Other kids, when they hear someone badmouthing their family like that, would blow their top, but Jiaojiao listened and nodded repeatedly, oh yes, yes, yes, you’re so accurate.

"When that swindler heard me say that, she was extremely pleased, so I thought, if she asks me for money, I will just call the gatekeeper to catch the swindler."

Jiaojiao listened to the woman’s spiel as if she were watching a monkey show.

She thought the other party was out to scam money, which naturally meant delivering her to the police.

But the woman didn’t mention money; after hearing Jiaojiao confirm the accuracy of her reading, she leaned into Jiaojiao’s ear mysteriously and said that to resolve the conflict between her, her brother, and sister-in-law, Suizi must go to Fayuan Temple on the weekend to pray and offer incense to the Buddha.

She also said that if Suizi didn’t go, her family would surely face bad luck in the future.

Having said that, the woman left.

The more Jiaojiao thought about it, the more it didn’t seem right; she quit posting the bulletin and slipped back to tell her sister-in-law about it.

When Suizi first heard it, she was filled with pride, her teaching had produced such an outstanding child.

But the more she listened, the more something seemed off.

While Suizi was still pondering what was amiss, Yu Jingting had already realized it and burst into loud laughter.

That laughter was too hearty, and it carried a hint of... lewdness?!

Suizi’s mental alarm bells rang furiously, and then it dawned on her.

"Jingting, I think we should heed the call to avoid gambling, as the risks of gambling are huge. How about we consider our bet canceled?"

How could Yu Jingting let go of such a meal—no, such a Suizi—when it’s already within reach?

"Can’t stand to lose?"

At that moment, images of bathrooms, floors, gardens, rooftops, and secluded school groves... Beautiful times and perfect scenes for an advantage hard won, why should he give it up!

The weekend was precisely within the range of their three-day wager, and it was clear someone was laying a trap to lure Suizi there. Who else could it be but Zhang Zheng!

"Ah... my heart hurts." Suizi clutched her chest, as if she could already foresee her back also being in pain in the future.

"What kind of riddles are you two talking about? I don’t understand at all," Jiaojiao said, her face filled with question marks.

Yu Jingting, with a look of benevolence, took out ten yuan from his pocket and handed it to Jiaojiao.

"As a reward for your valuable information, my sister Jiaojiao, you are truly outstanding. It’s clear that you have a bright future ahead of you."

Because of reasons related to bathrooms, floors, gardens, rooftops, and secluded school groves... Yu Jingting was looking at his sister with what was probably the most fondness he’d ever felt in history.

Jiaojiao received the "prize money", yet her face still brimmed with curiosity.

Why did her brother look so smugly delighted, as if he’d stolen some fish to eat, while her sister-in-law appeared utterly crestfallen?

"This was a bet I made with your sister-in-law. We wagered that within three days, a bad person would proactively come knocking on our door. That woman you encountered probably belongs to the bad guy’s group; he intended to lure your sister-in-law over on the weekend," Yu Jingting explained to his sister, dissolving her confusion.

"Ah, these people are too wicked, aren’t they?!" Jiaojiao exclaimed in shock, but then she felt something was off, "But why did they target me? And why were they so certain I didn’t get along with you?"

Yu Jingting cherished Jiaojiao deeply, always finding ways to give her spending money, willingly letting his sister milk him dry which only worsened his already not-too-abundant pocket money situation.

Jiaojiao would playfully argue with Yu Jingting at home, and outside she was especially protective of him; if anyone dared say a single bad word about her brother, she was truly ready to fight them to the death.

Thus, being targeted by the bad people, and their certainty that she and her brother didn’t get along, left Jiaojiao deeply frustrated, feeling unjustly slandered.

"I remember now," Yu Jingting smacked his forehead.

On the day of the chubby kid’s competition, he and his sister were bantering outside when there was a flash of light. Not certain if it was someone taking covert photos of him, he didn’t chase after the photographer.

Now thinking about it, the photos of him and Jiaojiao that day must’ve been taken by Zhang Zheng’s people. It just so happened that Zhang Zheng was also present!

All of this, just like a jigsaw puzzle, seemed to fit together perfectly.

While grieving over her soon-to-be-doomed slim waist, Suizi mulled over the causes and effects in her mind, the more she thought, the more terrified she became.

"If our family’s relationship wasn’t this strong, if you and I didn’t share everything, if Jiaojiao really did have a rift with us, then his chain of schemes would have succeeded."

Zhang Zheng’s tactics, applied to others, one link after another, would be difficult for the average person to dodge.

"Some people, unhappy in their own lives, enjoy speculating that other people’s families are a mess too, just like the ’Quack Quack Quack’ book you read; it’s full of stereotypes."

Yu Jingting still felt irritated thinking about Suizi’s "Quack Quack Quack book".

The book boldly claimed that all men want to have affairs, a barrage against all men in the world, rife with stereotypes.

Zhang Zheng was the same, always assuming that all sisters-in-law must get along badly and that siblings must fight over inheritance, another example of one-sided stereotypes.

Those like frogs in a well deserved their bad fortune.

In this regard, Suizi felt a strong resonance.

Previously, many had insinuated and speculated about her relationship with her mother-in-law and Jiaojiao.

Initially, Suizi could reply in good temper that her mother-in-law was a broad-minded and easygoing person, and her sister-in-law a lovely girl.

But no one believed her. They even thought she was scheming, hiding the truth. Everyone else was cursing their mother-in-law, only you dared to be different and praise her. If we’re not alienating you, then who?

In some people’s eyes, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship has to be an eternal conundrum, problematic in every household.

The sister-in-law is seen as the second evil mother-in-law, a notion deeply ingrained in people’s minds.

Suizi didn’t deny that indeed many families didn’t handle these relationships well, but it wasn’t always the case.

There were no conflicts of interest in her family, and all the family members had good tempers; without temperaments clashing, where would conflicts arise from?

But no matter what Suizi said, those people didn’t believe her, their eyes filled with doubt.

Over time, Suizi grew tired of bothering with them. If someone asked her, she would just respond, "Ah, yes, yes, you’re all correct."

Zhang Zheng, as a business tycoon of the future era, couldn’t escape the circle of stereotypes even in his youth.

To view the Yu Family through stereotypes served him right for his misfortune; Suizi clenched her teeth in hatred for Zhang Zheng.

If not for his superficiality, how could she have lost to Yu Jingting?

Stereotypes kill!

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