Chapter 3: “Worthless Maggot, Get Out!”
2017 Words
The door SLAMMED against the wall! Force reverberated through plaster, sending dust motes cascading downward.
Zhou Yating exploded into the corridor like a maniacal lioness! Her silk slip strained at the shoulders, chest heaving, face flushed with post-coital heat—but contorted primarily by volcanic rage and scalding humiliation. He dared film her?! The realization incinerated the last shred of her reason!
“Zhang Chi!!” Her shriek scraped raw nerves. “You f*****g stop!!” She lunged! Crimson talons raked viciously toward the phone clutched in Zhang Chi’s hand!
Wang Pengfei thundered out behind her! Fumbling with his trousers, robe belt knotted haphazardly, flabby belly exposed. His face streamed with greasy sweat, a mix of shock and fury. “f**k! Zhang! What the hell?!”
Zhang Chi moved as if prescient. An arm snapped back—fast as a viper’s strike! Just as Zhou Yating’s nails grazed the device!
She stumbled forward, off-balance! A strangled gasp escaped her. Rage vibrated through her frame!
“You bastard! Waste of flesh!!” Zhou Yating’s eyes blazed crimson, finger jabbing at Zhang Chi’s face. “You dare?! You DARE film us?! Give me that phone! NOW!!”
Wang Pengfei crowded closer, his jowled face darkening, threats dripping like oil: “Zhang Chi! Don’t push this! Hand it over! Blow this up, and your pathetic hospital career’s ashes! You hear?!”
Career ashes?
Zhang Chi’s mouth twitched. As if tasting a grotesque joke.
He turned. Slowly.
The corridor’s sterile light fell on his face—chill, impassive, carved from ice. The eyes that moments ago blazed red now held only fathomless indifference.
Dry wells. Emotion extinguished.
He regarded the entwined pair before him.
One a shrieking harpy.
One posturing a hollow authority.
The filthy imagery from the phone, the obscene gasps, the rhythmic slaps… surged back.
Now? Only revulsion.
Like swallowing a pound of carrion flies.
“Hand. It. OVER!” Zhou Yating’s voice scaled hysterical peaks, fueled by his glacial silence.
Wang Pengfei stepped closer, leveraging bulk and height, an intimidator’s stance. “Zhang Chi! Final warning! Don’t disgrace yourself further! Phone. Now. We talk. Or… suffer the consequences!”
Naked menace. Utter condescension. Like kicking a mongrel cur.
Finally, Zhang Chi reacted.
His lips parted. Voice low, unnervingly calm, each syllable dropping like a stone.
“Wang Pengfei?” Zhang Chi’s gaze settled on his face—inspecting roadkill. “Your fly… remains gaping.”
FLUSH!
Wang Pengfei’s face purpled instantly! An involuntary glance downward! Panicked fingers yanked at expensive trousers! Utter debasement! In his haste!
“Pfft!” A neighbor emerging nearby choked back laughter.
Zhou Yating’s face twisted! She quivered with outrage! Crimson nails slashed toward Zhang Chi’s eyes! “Zhang Chi! Worthless maggot! Filth!! You only know cowardly tricks! GIVE ME THAT PHONE!!”
Zhang Chi pivoted again. Swift. Implacable disinterest remained etched on his face.
He observed her, once the object of his dreams, now distorted by venom and shame. The last internal ripple died.
Gone. Utterly eradicated.
No desire to engage. None.
Such refuse wasn’t worth dirtying his hands. Or his soul.
The divorce papers were signed. Closure beckoned.
“Scram.” Zhang Chi expelled the syllable. Clear. Arctic. Brushing away gnats.
He turned decisively towards the elevator call button!
“LEAVE?! DREAM ON!!”
The word “scram” detonated Zhou Yating! She launched herself, claws sinking into Zhang Chi’s arm! Scratching! Shrieking obscenities:
“Worthless maggot! Running?! PHONE?! Delete those pictures! Or I will END you! YOU FAILURE! Five years! No money! No talent! Can’t f**k worth a damn! Couldn’t even GIVE ME A CHILD! DESERVE to wear cuckold’s horns! DESERVE IT!!”
“Pengfei! STOP GAWKING! TAKE IT!!”
Zhou Yating’s banshee howl laid all pretense bare! Elegance? Decorum? Gone.
Wang Pengfei jolted! Neighbors gathered; humiliation burned. He abandoned adjusting his open fly! Throwing his bulk forward, a meaty paw snatched toward Zhang Chi’s tightened fist!
“ZHANG! GIVE IT HERE!!”
A sweating, perfume-stench mass barreled close!
Zhang Chi’s eyes flashed—fury unleashed!
Enough!
“OFF!” The roar exploded!
Just as the fleshy hand neared!
Zhang Chi’s right foot snapped back half a pace! Leveraging momentum, his shoulder drove hard into Wang Pengfei’s corpulent chest!
THUD!!
A sickening impact!
Massive weight advantage? Meaningless. The targeted strike blinded Wang Pengfei with stars! “AAARGH!” he screamed, staggering wildly back—CRASHING spine-first into the metal security door opposite!
Reverberations shook the corridor!
“Ugh!” Wang choked, face crimson, wind knocked clean out!
“Pengfei!” Zhou Yating shrieked, grip on Zhang Chi failing as she scrambled toward her lover. “Pengfei! Are you hurt?!”
Zhang Chi didn’t spare them a glance.
He brushed the sleeve she’d wrinkled—reeking of her cheap scent—with unconcealed disgust.
Then, finally, he lifted his gaze. Swept over the entangled pair: fear, fury, and defeat mingled. The look dismissed them like foul gum scraped off a sole.
“Garbage.” Two syllables, uttered with diamond clarity. Invisible yet stinging slaps.
Zhou Yating vibrated with rage! “Zhang Chi! Damned maggot! You assault him?! I’m calling the police!!”
“Police?” Zhang Chi’s mouth curled in its first genuine expression—a glacial, scathing arc of mockery. “Excellent. Call.”
He pulled out his phone. Unlocked it. Fingers poised over the screen.
“Perfect timing.” His voice sliced through the chill. “Let them determine… trespass and adultery… merits how many years?”
“And perhaps… these…” He shook the phone meaningfully, screen dark yet teeming with implication, “…uncensored action sequences… might entertain the local headlines? Manager Wang?”
“You—!!” Wang Pengfei, gasping, blanched instantly! Cold sweat sheeted down! Sobriety hit with terrifying force! Police? Those pictures? His reputation! His position! Utter ruin!
Zhou Yating gulped down her screams, terror-stricken eyes locked on Wang Pengfei!
Wang Pengfei shot her a venomous glare—Fool! You nearly destroyed me! He plastered on a grotesque grimace of a smile, voice tinged with supplication: “Zh—Lao Zhang! Misunderstanding! Pure misunderstanding! Don’t! Don’t call! Let’s talk! Reasonable discussion!”
Whipped. Broken.
Zhang Chi snorted coldly. Pocketed the phone.
Tangling with refuse diminished him.
He reached again for the elevator button—urgent to quit this charnel house!
Then!
Wang Pengfei, breath recovered, flashed venom. Wounded pride demanded restitution. His weapon? Wealth.
He straightened his rumpled shirt collar (bearing Zhou Yating’s smeared lipstick!), hauled his bulk upright, assuming an odious stance of condescension:
“Hmph! Zhang Chi!” He pitched his voice for the gallery. “Sulk all you like! Just a woman! Divorced is done! Be a man! Wang Pengfei knows fairness!”
He fumbled inside his crushed suit jacket (nearly heart-stopped moments ago), withdrawing a wallet—gaudy gold crocodile skin flashing its vulgar logo in the dim light!
He leisurely extracted a card.
A gleaming gold bank card.
Extending it toward Zhang Chi’s face like alms to a leper!
“Here! Take it!” Wang’s face contorted in false bonhomie, eyes radiating pure, nauseating superiority. “Thirty thousand! PIN 123456! Consider it… brotherly compensation! After all… Zhou Yating wasted five years on you! True, you failed to satisfy a real woman! But I? Am magnanimous!”
He emphasized “Thirty thousand” like a gavel strike, smirking as his eyes raked Zhang Chi’s faded coat and the neighbors’ curious stares.
Thirty-thousand alms! Charity!
Zhou Yating instantly chimed, clinging to Wang’s arm, her face a mask of fawning admiration and utter loathing for Zhang Chi. “See?! THIS is a man! Bearing! Magnificence! Ever SEEN thirty grand, maggot?! A year’s savings?! Pathetic! Take the pity money! Crawl away! Pengfei pities your cuckold stink!”
Each word plunged deeper than a blade.
Neighbors murmured, eyes flicking between the gold card and Zhang Chi.
Zhang Chi stared at the stumpy, slick finger pinching the gilt plastic under his nose.
At the expression screaming I’m rich, I f****d your wife, and I’ll buy your dignity.
At Zhou Yating’s groveling sycophancy and venomous hate.
Infernal fury and piercing scorn detonated within him!
Thirty thousand? Compensation? Magnanimity?
Fucked his wife. Defiled his bed. And now payment?!
Was he the brothel keeper?!
“Hah…”
A low laugh rumbled from Zhang Chi’s chest. Soft. Bone-chilling.
He moved!
Blur-fast!
His hand clamped Wang Pengfei’s wrist—a red-hot vise!
“OWW!” Wang howled, face contorted in agony! “Wh—WHAT?! Release me!!”
Zhang Chi’s other hand—violent! Savage!—ripped the crumpled black silk tie from Wang’s trouser pocket (hastily stuffed there minutes ago!).
The very tie from the sofa.
Zhang Chi gripped it! Summoning every shred of strength! He SCRAPED! RUBBED! GOUGED! GROUND the foul material into the hand holding the card!
Frenzied! Brutal! Relentless!
As if cleansing a plague-ridden cesspit!
“AAARGH!! f**k! ZHANG! INSANE! LET GO!!” Wang screamed, a beast at slaughter! His wrist screamed fracture!
Zhou Yating froze, petrified!
Zhang Chi remained deaf! Action accelerated! More ferocious! The tie shredded beneath the assault!
He scrubbed! Eyes locking onto Wang Pengfei’s contorted face! Words like iced razors, each syllable puncturing:
“Tainted cash?”
“I fear syphilis.”
“AIDS.”
“Contagion.”
“Filth incarnate!”
DONE!
Zhang Chi hurled the mangled tie—and Wang Pengfei’s arm—savagely outward!
CLACK!
The gold card clattered to the floor!
Wang Pengfei staggered back, crashing heavily against the wall!
Zhang Chi didn’t glance at the fallen card. He shook his own hand violently, as if dislodging lethal contagion.
“ZHANG CHIII!!! GODDAMN YOU!!!” Wang Pengfei’s roar choked on volcanic fury! Unprecedented humiliation! “I’LL KILL YOU!!!”
DING!
The elevator doors slid open!
A man in removals uniform pushed a massive, battered suitcase onto the landing. He gaped at the standoff.
“Um… Ms. Zhou? Items for disposal?” His uncertain gaze darted between the disheveled pair.
Zhou Yating’s eyes ignited! An outlet! Vengeance!
She stabbed a finger at Zhang Chi! Shrieking at the mover: “HIM! That worthless maggot! Give him the trash! GET OUT!! Take your rubbish! SCRAM!! OUT OF MY HOUSE!!”
The startled mover shoved the heavy case abruptly toward Zhang Chi!
Rusted wheels shrieked! The case slammed hard against Zhang Chi’s shins!
“OUT! MAGOT! Haul your junk! GET OUT!” Zhou Yating’s voice tore the air, raw with poisonous triumph! “WORTHLESS! TAKE YOUR FILTH! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!”
“AND THIS!” Zhou Yating lunged for a pair of scissors beside the entryway bin!
She tore open the suitcase! Clothes spilled! Grabbing an old shirt of Zhang Chi’s! She plunged the scissors! SNIP! SNAP! RIP!
Savage shredding! Rabid! Fetid fabric flew!
“WASTE! FILTH!! Your rags? ONLY FIT FOR THE INCINERATOR!!” She screamed, her rage consuming itself!
“AND THIS!” From a deep pocket, she yanked a cloth-wrapped weight. Unfurling it—Zhang Chi’s mother’s heirloom pocket watch! Tarnished silver, cracked face, broken chain! Worthless? Priceless.
“JUNK! DINOSAUR RELIC!” Instinctively, Zhou Yating hurled it toward the hard tiles!
Zhang Chi’s eyes blazed!
In the breathless arc of its descent!
His body lunged! Arm streaked out! Snatching the cold relic mere inches from annihilation!
Secured firmly in his palm!
He gazed down at the sole tangible memory, brushing grit from its face. Abyssal cold filled his eyes.
Looking up, Zhou Yating’s fury still raged.
“OUT!!!! OUT!!”
Denied destruction, her frenzy intensified! She kicked the battered suitcase with vicious force!
“WORTHLESS MAGOT! LOWER THAN GARBAGE! OUT! HAUL YOUR FILTH! NOW! OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!”
Her final, lacerating shriek filled the corridor. Every syllable barbed with venom.
“GET OUT!!”
- Writer
