Chapter 45.2

As the New Year approached, Li Xiao’s business grew increasingly prosperous. The supermarket’s sales was doing well, but the breakfast shop and the neighboring snack store were truly thriving. Li Xiao had a keen business mind and used New Year discounts as a gimmick to attract many customers.

One evening, he even came home carrying a box full of money and dumped it all on the bed. Jiang Rou spent the entire night counting it with him, totaling over sixty thousand, not including the staff wages and Zhou Jian’s share.

Jiang Rou was astonished. “That’s an incredible amount of money!”

It had only been a few months.

Li Xiao smiled lightly and said, “It will be even better next year. The supermarket’s earnings haven’t been counted yet. Altogether, it might be over a hundred thousand.”

Jiang Rou looked at him and quickly said, “That’s great. Use this money to pay off the bank.”

She had been worried about not being able to repay the money and possibly ending up on the streets.

Li Xiao looked at her amusedly and said, “No need to rush. You can deposit this money into the bank tomorrow when you have time, in your name. We’ll use this money for renovations next year. The sooner we renovate, the sooner we can move in.”

Jiang Rou hesitated and looked at him.

Li Xiao firmly said, “Trust me on this. I have a plan. Let’s set aside two thousand for this year. We should have a good New Year.”

He took two thousand from the box he had packed. “You and An An should each get two new outfits. Tomorrow, I want to eat the braised pork you make.”

Well, since he had earned the money, she decided to follow his instructions.

Jiang Rou did not hold back and put the money into her coat pocket, planning to go shopping the next day.

Early the next morning, Jiang Rou and Li Xin went out with An An to buy New Year’s goods. With only six days until the New Year and now having money in hand, Jiang Rou generously bought a variety of items. In addition to meats, vegetables, and seafood, she also bought a lot of fruits, candies, and clothes.

The happiest one was An An. The first thing Jiang Rou did at the market was buy her a tanghulu. She gave An An a bite every few steps, so An An did not fuss about being carried. Her eyes were fixed on the sugar-coated hawthorn stick in her aunt’s hand. Jiang Rou also bought her a cute little duck toy, which An An loved and held tightly in her arms.

After two days of shopping, their home could no longer accommodate all the items.

The 25th was Li Xiao’s last working day, which also meant that their new house would be ready. Jiang Rou had been looking forward to it all day, but when Li Xiao came home in the afternoon, he looked unwell.

Zhou Jian, who was with him, also had no smile on his face.

Jiang Rou asked curiously, “What happened?”

She thought perhaps there had been an issue with the house and quickly reassured him, “It’s okay. It’s just a house. We can earn more slowly in the future. Sometimes a windfall isn’t necessarily a good thing.”

Li Xiao glanced at her, remained silent, and took the property certificate out of his pocket, placing it on the table. “It’s not about the house.”

Jiang Rou picked up the property certificate with confusion and saw that it had both their names on it.

Still puzzled, she wondered what else could be wrong if it wasn’t about the house.

Finally, Zhou Jian could no longer contain his frustration and said, “There’s a problem with the breakfast shop. The owner said he sold it to his cousin without telling us. If he had informed us, we would have paid extra to keep it. We only found out today, and now he’s asking us to move out before the New Year. He’s opening his own shop next year, and it seems like he just can’t stand to see us doing well.”

“And the neighboring snack shop just opened. Who knows what the new owner will sell? If they don’t sell food, it could affect our business. We invested ten thousand yuan there.”

Zhou Jian was infuriated just thinking about it. Everything had just started to go well, and now another problem had arisen.

Li Xiao sat on the stool, wanting to smoke but just held the cigarette between his fingers without lighting it. An An slipped off Jiang Rou’s lap and crawled over to grab the cigarette, curious about it.

Jiang Rou saw this and took the cigarette from her small hands, putting it on the table.

After a long silence, Li Xiao said to Zhou Jian, “You should go home for now. Remember to pay Cao Wang’s wages. We can deal with this next year.”

“Brother?” Zhou Jian looked at him hesitantly.

Li Xiao stood up and patted his shoulder. “We still have to celebrate the New Year. I’ve talked to Chang Yong about your house. There shouldn’t be any problems. I’ll help you retrieve the property certificate in a few days. When you come over at the beginning of the year, bring your household registration book, and I’ll transfer it to your name.”

Zhou Jian, feeling frustrated, rubbed his head and said, “Brother, don’t be too upset.”

“Mm.”

Jiang Rou quickly got up and took out the gifts she had bought for Zhou’s and Wang’s families over the past two days, handing them to Zhou Jian. She pointed to a large, round bag and said, “This is for your wife and aunt.”

Then she pointed to another bag and said, “This is for Wang’s family.”

Zhou Jian hugged the gifts and said, “Thank you, sister-in-law.”

Jiang Rou shook her head and said, “Be careful on your way back.”

“Okay.”

After Zhou Jian left, Jiang Rou hesitated and looked at Li Xiao. “Should we tell Chang Yong and ask him to help?”

Wasn’t the landlord of the breakfast shop a friend of Chang Yong? He might be able to intercede.

Li Xiao sneered coldly. “Asking him would only make us a laughingstock. Do you think he doesn’t know about this?”

“…”

“He’s trying to put me in my place.”

Jiang Rou realized that Chang Yong was likely behind this and was very angry. “What kind of person is he? Didn’t you save him before?”

“He has already paid it off with the house. That’s how business works. There are no permanent friends—when interests align, you are friends; when they don’t, there’s plenty of people ready to take advantage of you.”

Li Xiao picked up the cigarette from the table. “I’m going out for a smoke.”

Jiang Rou watched his back in silence.

Li Xin, who had been silent beside Jiang Rou, suddenly spoke up. “Sis, I want to be a lawyer in the future.”

Jiang Rou turned in surprise and looked at her. “Why the sudden interest in becoming a lawyer?”

She remembered that just a few days ago, Li Xin had said she wanted to become a doctor.

Li Xin didn’t respond immediately. She didn’t like seeing her sister and brother-in-law being bullied, and if she became a lawyer, she could help them in such situations in the future.

Having a doctor like her sister was enough.

In the afternoon, Chang Yong came over and personally delivered Zhou Jian’s property certificate.

He arrived with a face full of apology. “I heard that your breakfast shop was taken over. Is it true? Should I talk to Old Li about it? What he did was really inappropriate.”

Li Xiao seemed somewhat resigned and shook his head. “Forget it. They’ve already sold it. It would be difficult to reverse the situation, and I don’t want you to offend people on my behalf.”

“I didn’t know about this either. If I had, I wouldn’t have let him get away with it. How are you holding up?”

Li Xiao gritted his teeth and remained silent for a long while. “We’ll have to take it one step at a time. Fortunately, we did earn some money this year, so we can manage for a while.”

Chang Yong patted him on the shoulder. “If it really comes to that, come back. There will always be a place for you with me.”

Li Xiao looked at him with considerable gratitude. “Thanks, Brother.”

Chang Yong smiled. “There’s no need for thanks between us.”

Li Xiao didn’t believe a word of it. He could even guess that if he were to go back and ask Chang Yong for help, Chang Yong would likely make him sit on the cold bench for months and train him to be as loyal as a dog.

—o—o—

As soon as Chang Yong left, Li Xiao’s troubled expression vanished completely, replaced by a chilling coldness in his eyes.

Jiang Rou found his demeanor a bit frightening and couldn’t help but ask softly, “Are you planning something bad?”

Li Xiao looked at her with a puzzled expression. “What are you talking about? I’m fine.”

The more he said this, the more unusual it seemed.

Jiang Rou thought for a moment and said, “Just don’t do anything illegal.”

Li Xiao chuckled softly, rubbing her head. “You’re the only one who would worry about that. I’m not going to break the law over a few trifles. If I want to make them uncomfortable, I’ll do it in a way that’s not against the law. They like to scheme, right? I’ll open a funeral home next to them and see who can be more ruthless!”

Jiang Rou thought that opening a funeral home right next door was quite a malicious idea. If Li Xiao went ahead with it, it would definitely affect the neighboring businesses.

However, Li Xiao didn’t see it that way. He asked Jiang Rou about her preferences for the new house’s decoration, as he was planning to buy land for a factory and hoped to start construction by early next year. He wanted to renovate both the factory and the new house at the same time.

Since Jiang Rou hadn’t seen the new house in person yet, she, along with Li Xiao, An An, and Li Xiao’s younger sister, went to the new house the next morning.

The neighborhood was large and beautiful. Li Xiao’s younger sister, who followed Jiang Rou, whispered to her, “The houses here look really nice.”

Jiang Rou nodded in agreement as she looked around. She was very satisfied. “It’s close to my school. I’ll be able to walk there.”

They found Building Eight, and since Li Xiao’s younger sister didn’t know how to use the elevator, Jiang Rou patiently taught her how to press the buttons. They went up to the thirteenth floor, and their new home was on the right side of the elevator. When they opened the door, they saw a spacious house with an open-plan living room and kitchen, and the kitchen had two windows.

At this stage, there were no shared areas, so the listed size was accurate. The master bedroom had a large en-suite bathroom that could be separated into wet and dry areas.

Jiang Rou carried An An around the house, and what she liked the most were the two balconies connected to the master bedroom. She planned to separate them and open them up to the master bedroom.

As they explored, Jiang Rou was already envisioning how she would decorate the place.

Li Xiao’s younger sister couldn’t help but exclaim, “This house is so bright and airy!”

Jiang Rou smiled, “You can buy a bigger house in the future. I heard lawyers make a lot of money.”

Li Xiao’s younger sister’s eyes lit up. “Really? If I get a bigger house, you can come live with me, sister.”

“Sure,” Jiang Rou agreed.

After touring their own house, Jiang Rou took Li Xiao’s younger sister and An An to check out the neighboring house. The adjacent unit was also quite nice, with three south-facing rooms. The master and secondary bedrooms were adjacent, and the small room and bathroom were connected. The layout was very good.

Jiang Rou thought that the children’s rooms could be fitted with bunk beds in the future.

As they finished their tour and headed downstairs, Jiang Rou encountered a familiar face in the elevator.

“Jiang Rou?” Dong Mingming looked surprised to see her.

Jiang Rou smiled, “What a coincidence! Do you live here?”

Dong Mingming nodded, “Yes, I’m here to check out the house. I’m planning to move in after renovating it next year. The dormitory is too cramped and frustrating.”

She reached out to tease An An, who glanced at her before turning away and clinging to Jiang Rou—not letting Dong Mingming interact with her.

Dong Mingming laughed at her reaction.

Jiang Rou had heard about Dong Mingming’s difficulties with her roommates. Dong Mingming was known as a rich second-generation student, and while she was initially popular and admired, rumors later spread about her being pompous and having a spoiled princess attitude.

Despite this, Jiang Rou had a good impression of her. She remembered an incident where a former student, who had studied abroad, was invited to speak to their class. The speaker was constantly bragging about the wonders of foreign countries, and Dong Mingming had loudly challenged him in class: “If our country is so terrible, why don’t you stay to your own Country?”

The classroom had fallen into silence, and Jiang Rou had clapped loudly in support.

The speaker had been visibly embarrassed and left in a hurry after finishing his talk.

Because of this incident, Jiang Rou and Dong Mingming had become acquainted.

Seeing how cute An An was, Dong Mingming insisted on buying her a gift. She took Jiang Rou and the kids to a row of shops outside the neighborhood and bought An An two little dresses and a watch for Li Xiao’s younger sister.

Jiang Rou couldn’t stop Dong Mingming from buying the gifts, so she let An An call her.

An An clung to her mother’s neck and sweetly called out “Auntie.”

Li Xin also obediently said, “Thank you, Sister Mingming.”

Dong Mingming ruffled An An’s hair with a smile. “So cute. Seeing her reminds me of myself when I was young.”

Then she waved goodbye to Jiang Rou, “I’m leaving.”

Jiang Rou waved back, “Take care on the way.”

Dong Mingming didn’t look back but casually waved her hand as she left.

—o—o—

That evening, when Li Xiao returned and saw the new dresses, he couldn’t help but examine them. “Did you buy these too? They all look the same.”

It was as if he wanted to say they were ugly.

Jiang Rou ignored him and took the clothes from his hands. “They were a gift from my classmate. We met her today while looking at our house. She also bought a place in the same building, just above us. She insisted on buying these for An An. Each one costs four or five hundred.”

Jiang Rou felt a pang at the thought of the expensive price, even though it was a reasonable amount for such clothes even two decades later.

Li Xiao was surprised, “So expensive?”

He usually bought clothes for just a few dollars.

Jiang Rou carefully folded the clothes. “She’s a rich second-generation. Her last name is Dong. Have you heard of her?”

“Dong?”

Li Xiao’s surprise faded as he continued, “I think I know who she is. Her father has a younger son now.”

Jiang Rou turned to him with disbelief.

Noticing her reaction, Li Xiao shrugged, “It’s not a big secret in the circle. That younger son is around six years old. I went to a birthday party for him at a hotel organized by her father.”

Li Xiao had gone with Chang Yong at the time. Chang Yong had been quite envious and even suggested Li Xiao should have another child.

The idea was absurd to Li Xiao. With An An being so well-behaved, he and Jiang Rou were already kept on their toes, worried about her every need and comfort. The thought of having another child was overwhelming.

As for the future, if he ever made it big and built a large family business, it would go to An An. If she didn’t want it, he’d consider finding a suitable son-in-law. By then, both he and Jiang Rou would be old, and gender wouldn’t matter. In his view, what people fussed about—like preferring sons over daughters—was simply irrational.

Jiang Rou was irritated by the conversation, “Don’t talk about this anymore. It’s annoying.”

She then asked, “Does Chang Yong want a son too?”

Li Xiao scratched his nose, “Probably.”

Since discovering Chang Yong’s infidelities, Jiang Rou had started referring to him as “that Chang Yong” rather than just “Brother Chang.”

Li Xiao added, “There aren’t many good men out there. If any man approaches you, be cautious.”

Jiang Rou felt something was off, glancing at him.

Li Xiao’s expression remained calm, “I’m just speaking off the cuff.”

“Okay,” Jiang Rou replied.