Later on, when we interrogated that awful woman – Zhang Guoqing’s wife – we found out that when Huang Yiyi entered the lavatory, the ex was squatting in the cubicle, and hearing someone come in she made her presence known. Huang Yiyi responded politely. Of course they had seen each other in the past – you could even say that they knew each other – but not well enough to recognize each other’s voice. So on this occasion, even though they spoke to each other, neither realized who the other one was. If Huang Yiyi had recognized her voice she would have got the hell out of there and nothing would have happened to her. That is just a supposition though. In fact Huang Yiyi didn’t go anywhere, and thus two enemies met in a narrow lane … According to what that horrible woman said, when she came out of the lavatory cubicle and found herself face to face with Huang Yiyi, she was absolutely furious and cursed her with the most disgusting swear words she could think of. Huang Yiyi didn’t respond, other than to ask her to keep a civil tongue in her head; and she tried to move away, making it clear that she didn’t want to quarrel with her. But the ex-wife didn’t stop: she stood blocking the doorway as she continued cursing.

A neutral observer might say that Huang Yiyi was the troublemaker and the other woman a victim, and so for her to get angry and say some nasty things was perfectly understandable. So Huang Yiyi kept herself under control and didn’t try to answer back, though a disdainful expression played across her face. Then she shut her eyes, as if she were not listening to a word the other woman said. If the person you are cursing isn’t paying any attention then it is pointless, and so the ex decided to give up. But as the harridan explained, having decided to leave she looked at Huang Yiyi standing there with her eyes shut, and thought how pleasing it would be to smack her a couple of times in the face. Though she thought she would enjoy it she didn’t dare actually do anything because she was scared of getting into trouble. On her way out she noticed how strong the spring on the door was, and realized that she could use the door to hit Huang Yiyi and get back at her that way. So she deliberately pulled the door back as far as it would go, the spring at full stretch, and then suddenly let go. The door hit Huang Yiyi with full force as it swung back. Standing there with her eyes shut, how could she get out of the way? She lost her footing and as she fell, she hit the back of her head on the projecting bend in the pipework. She cried out and crumpled into a heap on the floor.