Chapter 16.4

When Li Xiao returned home, it was morning. He had rushed back overnight by train, and after arriving in the city, he took a two-hour bus ride to the county.

Fortunately, he didn’t have any money on him on the way back, so he slept soundly. (He didn’t need to be afraid of being robbed because he didn’t have money in him in the first place.)

However, he was still a bit tired. After eating the fried rice Jiang Rou had made for him, he quickly took a shower and went to bed.

He slept until two in the afternoon. When he woke up, Jiang Rou was sitting under a tree in the yard, trimming the nails of frozen chicken feet.

Since he performed well this time, made great contributions outside, and listened to her advice to return the money, Jiang Rou planned to make him something delicious as a reward.

When she saw Li Xiao get up, she looked up and said, “I saved some food for you in the pot.”

Li Xiao glanced at her, then went to the kitchen. He lifted the pot lid to find a large bowl of rice and a separate bowl of vegetables, which she must have saved for him before she ate.

Actually, it wasn’t necessary; he wouldn’t have minded eating her leftovers.

But he still felt a slight, strange sensation in his heart; he felt that she valued him.

Li Xiao poured the vegetables over the rice and then carried the bowl to the front to eat.

When Jiang Rou saw him coming to her side, she asked about the situation of his trip.

Li Xiao, while eating, explained that, as she had guessed, the banners and reward money had all been taken back. However, because of his significant contribution and positive attitude in admitting his mistakes, his punishment was waived, and he was only given a few words of criticism.

The two were somewhat unlucky. Although they hadn’t received much money, they had spent some. They were originally supposed to be detained for a few days, but Li Xiao used two hundred dollars to bail them out.

“They weren’t angry. I’m planning to head south next year and promised to take them along to make money together.”

“The police returned the money that the pyramid scheme had scammed from the victims. However, the amount still didn’t add up, as quite a bit had been used by those people.”

Especially the big fish in G Province, which were found to have connections with other countries upon closer investigation. If the arrests hadn’t been timely, these people might have already fled abroad to live in luxury.

The 9,000 yuan was just a drop in the ocean compared to the total amount scammed by the pyramid scheme.

However, during the few days Li Xiao spent at the police station, he also heard many things. He learned that when the police returned the money to some victims, several families were no longer there. Some had committed suicide after being defrauded; some had been separated from their spouses and children; and some had died from illnesses because they lacked the funds for treatment.

Because the gap was so vast and some families were indeed struggling, a few officers even used the bonus they received for their meritorious service to fill the gap. Unfortunately, it was a drop in the bucket.

At that moment, although he still thought Jiang Rou and those officers were quite foolish, it didn’t prevent him from feeling a tinge of pride in Jiang Rou’s integrity.

Even though he was a scoundrel, his wife was a good person.

Jiang Rou, feeling somewhat depressed after hearing this, didn’t say anything further.

She suddenly remembered something and turned to Li Xiao, saying, “Yesterday, Zhou Jian came to find you. He said that your friend from college is back for the National Day holiday and will be leaving in a couple of days. He wants to get together with you.”

When Li Xiao heard this, he knew who it was. Among them, only Jin Dayou was admitted to the university, and only he would be returning home for the National Day holiday.

He nodded. “Alright, I understand.”

After he finished eating his meal, Li Xiao worked on the door in the yard, planing the wooden boards smoothly with a planer. Jiang Rou, seeing his skilled movements, couldn’t help but say, “When you have time, make a rocking bed and a stroller for the baby. If you don’t know how I can draw the design for you tonight.”

Li Xiao, without looking up, blew the sawdust off his hands and agreed, “Okay.”

He thought to himself that since he had nothing much to do recently, he could create a bathroom for his home similar to the one in the hotel. That would be very convenient. Besides purchasing a solar panel, he could handle everything else himself.

Li Xiao worked quickly. He had only completed part of the wooden door last time. It took him an afternoon and an evening to finish the door. He also applied a layer of varnish and set it outside to dry.

That evening, Jiang Rou made spicy and sour lemon chicken feet. She had initially planned to make pickled spicy chicken feet but decided against it since it was a bit too spicy for her to eat during pregnancy. Seeing lemons at the market, she thought of this dish instead.

The ingredients were few: onions, small chili peppers, cilantro, green onions, garlic, and others were all available at the market. Other seasonings were already at home.

The method was simple: first, cut the cleaned chicken feet in half, then add cooking wine, green onions, and ginger slices to remove the smell. Boil in cold water for about ten minutes, and after cooking, soak in cold water for a while to give the chicken feet a chewy texture.

Finally, mix the soaked chicken feet with the prepared sauce and let it marinate overnight.

The best way was to store it in the refrigerator, as refrigerated chicken feet would be more elastic and flavorful, but since they didn’t have a refrigerator, Jiang Rou just left it overnight.

Li Xiao couldn’t wait. He smelled the fragrance and couldn’t help but open the cupboard and take one to taste. “It tastes good.”

Jiang Rou saw him eating non-stop and couldn’t help reminding him, “Don’t eat it all. Take some to Zhou Jian and others tomorrow. “When you weren’t at home, Zhou Jian helped me a lot. And your friend with the surname Jin gave me a complete set of high school textbooks.”

She remembered all these details.

Since she was already giving food to Zhou Jian and Jin Dayou, it wouldn’t be fair to shortchange Zhu Qiang, so she made a bit extra—a whole big basin of it.

The next day, Li Xiao left the house at nine in the morning and told Jiang Rou before he left, “I won’t be coming back for lunch.”

Jiang Rou, who was reading in the room, looked up when she heard Li Xiao: “Alright, remember to come back early in the afternoon.”

She had bought a lot of vegetables that morning. Since Li Xiao returned, she hasn’t needed to do much work at home. Li Xiao had even prepared braised pig intestines the previous night.

Perhaps because she had gone to bed early, she woke up very early that morning, went to the vegetable market to buy vegetables, and then came back to cook.

Li Xiao was still lounging in bed when she returned.

—present

“Mm.”

Li Xiao went out with a bag of chicken feet, which was packed in the white plastic bag Jiang Rou had used for tofu earlier. He had cleaned it and packed it up.

He had many friends in the county, but those closest to him since childhood were only Zhou Jian, Zhu Qiang, Wang Tao, and Jin Dayou.

Wang Tao had gotten married a year ago, and their relationship had become a bit distant since then.

So, when he went out, he only greeted Zhou Jian and didn’t trouble Wang Tao.

Since his house was the closest to Zhou Jian’s, he went to find Zhou Jian first. The two of them then split up to look for Zhu Qiang, Wang Tao, and Jin Dayou, agreeing to meet at a small restaurant at the intersection of North Street and East Street.

Li Xiao went to find Jin Dayou, whose house was on the suburban outskirts of the county. The area was full of small, run-down houses, and his home was the third one, where he lived with his grandparents under poor conditions.

Li Xiao came there on a bicycle. On the way, he borrowed an old bike from a repair shop. He parked on one foot on the roadside and shouted to Jin Dayou’s house, “Lao Wu——”

Jin Dayou seemed to be still sleeping. After being woken up, he cursed, and when Jin Dayou, who was still sleeping, woke up, he grumbled and opened the window with disheveled hair.

Seeing it was Li Xiao, he rubbed his face and, without asking how he got there, said hoarsely, “Give me two minutes.”

True to his word, Jin Dayou was out in two minutes, briskly brushing his teeth and washing his face at the well by the door.

The old man who was sitting by the door weaving baskets saw Li Xiao and greeted him with a smile. “Xiaozi is back?”

Li Xiao replied, “Yeah, I heard that Dayou is back, so I came to visit.”

The old man shook his head and smiled. “Your wife doesn’t care about you. How old are you? Why are you still so fond of playing around?”

Li Xiao was too lazy to pay attention to him. This old man has been controlled by his wife all his life. When he sees someone getting married, he hopes that the other party will also be controlled by his wife.

Jin Dayou shouted to his grandfather, “I’ll stay at Zhou Jian’s place tonight and won’t be back.”

The old man, who generally ignored him, didn’t even lift his head and say, “I see. Drink less.”

Jin Dayou jumped into the back seat of Li Xiao’s bike. Seeing a bag hanging on the bike’s handlebar filled with something that looked like food, he couldn’t help but ask, “Boss, what did you bring?”

He even tried to reach for it.

Li Xiao swatted his hand away. “Your sister-in-law made it. I brought it for you to try. We’ll eat it together later.”

“Alright then.”

Jin Dayou didn’t feel regret but thought that his sister-in-law was as good as Zhou Jian said, and she seemed quite nice.

A few days ago, when he was at Zhou Jian’s place, Zhou Jian mentioned some things about his sister-in-law, saying she always tried to give him food, which made him feel a bit embarrassed.

Jin Dayou had no strong impression of Jiang Rou. Li Xiao rarely talked about her, and Jiang Rou seemed very low-key, never appearing in front of them.

As for Zhu Qiang’s girlfriend, he and Zhou Jian had met her several times, and each time, she looked at them with visible disgust, which made them feel awkward.

When Li Xiao rode his bike to the small restaurant, Zhou Jian was already there, alone.

Upon seeing the two of them, Zhou Jian’s expression turned sour. He complained as soon as he spoke, “Zhu Qiang came with me, but when he saw his girlfriend, she dragged him away. You should have seen the look on her face; she acted like I was some kind of filth. Damn, if she weren’t a woman, I would have really wanted to hit her.”

Finally, he added, “Wang Tao said he would be here later, so he asked us to eat first.” 

At this point, his anger increased. ‘What do you mean by ‘eat first’? Isn’t it just because he’s afraid of paying for it?’ 

They had been to this restaurant many times and knew that the rule was to order and pay first before eating.

Jin Dayou sat opposite him and laughed heartily upon hearing this, finding Wang Tao increasingly amusing.

Li Xiao placed the chicken feet on the table and said directly, “Then don’t wait for him; I’ll go order the dishes.”

“Alright, since you made a lot of money this time, you should treat me to this meal.”

Li Xiao winced at this comment. He didn’t have the heart to admit that he hadn’t made a penny this time and would have to rely on Jiang Rou’s support in the future.

But Jiang Rou was not upset. In the morning, she had even asked if he had enough money.

Thinking of this, he went straight to the order window and avoided ordering overly expensive dishes.

Jin Dayou and Zhou Jian couldn’t wait to open the bag. Zhou Jian asked, “What good food did you bring?”

Jin Dayou smiled and replied, “It’s made by my sister-in-law. Brother didn’t let me eat first just now.”

Zhou Jian immediately smiled and said, “Since my sister-in-law made it, it must be delicious.”

He quickly grabbed a chicken foot, put it in his mouth, and his eyes lit up as he nodded repeatedly, “Delicious.”

Jin Dayou, who hadn’t eaten anything since he got up, also took a piece and enjoyed it.

By the time Li Xiao came back, both of them had a pile of bones in front of them. Li Xiao couldn’t help but curse, wondering if they had left any for him.

They had come quite early, so the restaurant was still empty, and the dishes arrived quickly.

He ordered potato slices, garlic eggplant, peanuts, and sauced tofu, plus a few bottles of beer.

Seeing the dishes, Zhou Jian looked at Li Xiao in disbelief and said, “Boss, why is everything a vegetable dish?”

Li Xiao looked calm. “Didn’t I bring meat?”

“…”

Well, it seemed that married men were all stingy.

In the end, Zhou Jian was still not satisfied and went to the window to order a dish of chicken stewed with mushrooms.

Three men with appetites that could match a cow had almost finished all the food by the time Wang Tao arrived.

Wang Tao was not picky; he asked for a bowl of rice and devoured the remaining dishes and soup.

Zhou Jian found it quite boring. If it weren’t for seeing that the boss and sister-in-law were doing well, he really thought that marrying a wife was torture.

How honest and straightforward Wang Tao used to be! Now, he’s starting to become shrewd too. And as for Zhu Qiang, he’s even started dating.

After the birth of his son, he gradually grew distant from them.

He was truly worried that in a few more years, the brothers who grew up together would drift further apart.

However, Jin Dayou didn’t think as much as he did. Being the youngest among them, he hadn’t considered such things yet. He just looked at Wang Tao and laughed. “How many days has it been since you ate?”

Wang Tao’s cheeks were puffed up as he ate, and he said helplessly, “The food at home isn’t as good as this.”

His wife was very frugal, to the point where she wouldn’t even use much oil when cooking. She said their son would be going to school in a few years, so they needed to save money. He didn’t earn much, so he couldn’t say much about it.

Originally, his wife saw how successful Li Xiao’s business was and wanted him to follow suit, but then something suddenly happened. Just a few days ago, she scolded him, saying that Zhu Qiang had taken Li Xiao out but hadn’t called him, as if they didn’t consider him their good brother.

Wang Tao knew that Zhu Qiang wasn’t like that. It was probably because he had the job of watching the reservoir, so they didn’t ask him to go. But he still felt a bit uncomfortable about it.

Today, he happened to be home because he had swapped shifts. The reason his wife agreed to let him come was that she had heard Li Xiao was making money out of the county.

Wang Tao finished two bowls of rice and then wanted to ask Li Xiao about what was going on outside.

At this moment, Li Xiao was talking to Jin Dayou, asking him if he still had the high school physics and math notebooks.

Last night, he saw Jiang Rou sighing and scratching her head, and seeing her distress, he was worried that her hair would fall out.

Now that he was at home, he could still teach her. But when he went south next year, she would have to rely on herself.

When Jin Dayou heard this question, he had a strange expression on his face. “Do you want to go to university?”

Then he couldn’t help but nod. “Study hard; you will definitely pass.”

Back then, even without studying, he could still get first place. If it weren’t for that scoundrel named He, his older brother would have been at university long ago.

Unexpectedly, Li Xiao shook his head and took a sip of beer. “No, I’m planning to head south next year. It’s your sister-in-law who wants to go to university.”

Zhou Jian and Wang Tao didn’t think much of it when they heard this. Jin Dayou, however, remembered the last time Zhou Jian came to borrow books. At the time, he assumed it was for his sister-in-law’s younger sibling. He hadn’t expected that Zhou Jian was reading them himself.

Unlike Zhou Jian and Wang Tao, who were more dull, Jin Dayou, although the youngest, was sharp and had seen a lot. He had seen many couples who, after getting into university, broke up in the end.

There was a boy in their dormitory who started dating a girl from the next class within a month of the school year beginning. He thought she was just older and unmarried, but to his surprise, she was actually married and had a baby in her hometown. He only found out when he accidentally saw the information in the counselor’s office while serving as a class monitor.

He was clear about how Li Xiao and Jiang Rou got together and felt that the relationship was unreliable, especially seeing how his older brother seemed quite concerned about Jiang Rou now. He was a bit worried, and I couldn’t help but mention it to him.

Jin Dayou wanted to warn him.

Unexpectedly, Li Xiao didn’t take it to heart at all and replied without thinking, “That won’t happen. Her mind is completely on me.”

If he hadn’t known Jiang Rou well before, he might have felt uneasy hearing this. But now, with her rigid demeanor, as if she wanted to carve the word ‘upright’ into her forehead, it would be more believable for him to find 10,000 yuan on the street than to believe that Jiang Rou would cheat on him.

“……”

After hearing this, Jin Dayou felt he was slapped on the cheek.

Zhou Jian next to him also said to Jin Dayou: “You think too much. Sister-in-law is genuinely a good person; it’s just that sometimes Boss is too unreasonable. A few days ago, he even made sister-in-law so angry that she ran away.”

After hearing this, Li Xiao’s face turned somewhat unnatural. He wasn’t as majestic as Zhou Jian described; now, he even finds it hard to speak confidently in front of Jiang Rou.

When it was past three in the afternoon, Zhou Jian suggested going to a new KTV that had opened in the county. Even Wang Tao was somewhat tempted, but Li Xiao calmly stood up and told the three of them, “Your sister-in-law bought a lot of vegetables this morning and asked me to come back early. Let’s plan for another time.”

“…”

Okay, people really change after getting married.

In the end, only Zhou Jian and Jin Dayou went out to have fun, while Wang Tao thought about it and decided to go home as well.

After leaving the restaurant, the group dispersed. Li Xiao pushed his bike for a while before Wang Tao caught up with him. He awkwardly scratched his head and, somewhat embarrassed, asked, “Boss, how was your trip? Did you make a lot of money out there? ”

Wang Tao was the oldest among them, and he usually called him Xiaoqi. It was rare for him to call Li Xiao the boss.

Li Xiao knew what kind of person Wang Tao was. Compared to Zhu Qiang, Wang Tao was more straightforward and earnest; his emotions were all written on his face, and even if something was done to him, he wouldn’t hold a grudge.

He patted Wang Tao on the shoulder and didn’t hide anything. “No, I was deceived. Not only did I not make any money, but I also lost some.”

Li Xiao could tell what Wang Tao was thinking as soon as he started speaking and couldn’t help but remind him, “Your temperament isn’t suitable for going out to make a fortune. You’re likely to be at a disadvantage. Your family doesn’t have much burden. If you really want to earn money, you could rent a shop and sell some food. I remember Auntie’s cooking is quite good.”

Wang Tao hesitated and nodded. “Okay, I’ll go back and discuss it with Xiao Ping.”

But when he thought about him and Zhu Qiang being cheated outside, he couldn’t help but worry, “Did your sister-in-law scold you?”

Li Xiao got on the bike and said calmly, “No, your sister-in-law said it’s great that I came back safely.”

When Wang Tao heard this, he couldn’t help but look at Li Xiao with envy.

If it were his own family, even if he only lost some money, his family would have scolded him.

Wang Tao’s gaze made Li Xiao feel quite pleased. He waved at him and rode off.

His back showed a hint of ease.

Li Xiao went to return the bike first, and when he returned home, Jiang Rou was already busy in the kitchen.

The cupboard door was open, revealing dishes that had already been prepared: sweet and sour ribs, stir-fried pork with green peppers and wood ear mushrooms, stir-fried bean sprouts, and garlic vermicelli shrimp. At the moment, there is steamed bass in the pot. Seeing him come back, she asked him to wash the oyster mushrooms and prepare to cook a pot of oyster mushroom tofu meat soup.

Li Xiao smelled the aroma and approached the cupboard. He directly took a piece of sweet and sour rib and tasted it. The taste was so good that he raised his eyebrows.

Then he looked at Jiang Rou’s back suspiciously and asked, “Why did you suddenly make so many delicious foods?”

Li Xiao smelled the aroma and approached the cupboard. He directly took a piece of sweet and sour rib and tasted it.

Jiang Rou lifted the lid of the pot and said without turning her head, “You have made great contributions outside this time. You have performed well, and you also returned the money after knowing your mistake, so I decided to reward you.”

Li Xiao’s hand paused as he was eating, and he looked at Jiang Rou with a momentary surprise and confusion, perhaps never expecting this to be the reason.

However, he gradually felt a wave of uncontrollable joy, a joy that was unfamiliar and made him feel a bit at a loss.

He put another piece of ribs into his mouth, but this time he couldn’t help but savor it slowly, seemingly wanting to truly enjoy the taste.

He couldn’t help but recall that when he was a child, other kids would get rewards from their parents for doing well on exams. He used to envy them, and as he grew up, he became dismissive, thinking it wasn’t something to be overly happy about. Now, however, he seemed to belatedly experience some of that emotion.

Although he wasn’t as good as she said he was….