Chapter 79

Li Xiao followed through on his decision. The day after An An returned home, he arranged for her to be sent to Country R.

Once there, An An made several video calls to Jiang Rou every day, and she was particularly happy with all the fun she was having. Lele took her to school, and An An made several new friends.

In that place, she was treated like a foreigner, and everyone wanted to play with her.

Although she didn’t understand the language, Lele had learned some of the local language of Country R and managed to act as a translator for her.

—o—o—o—

In a shabby little room, a family of three was sitting around a table eating. They all kept their heads down, not speaking a word.

The room was so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

Suddenly, the phone in the living room rang loudly—its piercing tone startling the three of them.

After hesitating, the man stood up to answer it. He didn’t say anything but seemed to be breathing heavily as if he was afraid of something.

The caller, hearing his heavy breathing, spoke first. “Is this the Zhou family? Hello, I’d like to propose a deal…”

The caller got straight to the point, offering to pay for their daughter’s plastic surgery and, upon completion, would give them a sum of money to live comfortably. In exchange, they needed to expose the Wen family’s affairs.

Upon hearing this, the man’s face, previously expressionless, showed a flicker of movement in his eyes, but he didn’t believe it. He remained silent before responding, “Sorry, our family has already been through too much. We just want to live a peaceful life.”

The caller seemed not to understand the reluctance. “I’ve deposited one hundred thousand into your account. Afterward, I’ll send your daughter abroad for treatment. You only need to appear. Think it over, and I’ll contact you again in two days.”

With that, the caller hung up.

The man was stunned for a moment. He looked at the phone, frowned, and then returned to the dinner table. The middle-aged woman beside him asked what had happened.

The man glanced at her and then recounted the details of the phone call.

Upon hearing this, the woman burst into tears and immediately said, “Let’s agree to it. We’ll cooperate. Can it get any worse than this? Even if I have to die, I want that little bastard to be buried with me.”

The girl who had been silently eating with her head down tightly gripped the chopsticks in her hand. With a hoarse and broken voice, she said, “Dad, promise him that even if they don’t give us money, I agree. I want to seek justice for myself.”

The man looked at his daughter’s corroded and disfigured face, feeling a pang of anguish in his heart. With reddened eyes, he agreed.

—o—o—o—

Half a month later, one morning, Li Xiao suddenly wanted to watch the local news from S City. After watching for a while, Jiang Rou saw a news report about feces being thrown at the entrance of a five-star hotel.

Banners were hung at the hotel entrance, reading “Adopted son Wen Beitan drove away his elder brother, caused the death of his third brother, and now condones his son’s destruction of others’ appearances, extremely shameless” and “Wen Beitan, doesn’t your conscience hurt?”

Several banners were displayed with red backgrounds and white letters. The words were very conspicuous, and reporters came for interviews. A girl with a terrifying appearance held up a sign in front of the camera and cried, “My name is Zhou Dandan. I was originally a student at the Third Middle School. The son of the hotel owner, Wen Haibo, said he liked me. When I refused, he threw acid on me, ruining my appearance. My parents went to seek justice, but his family used their connections to suppress the matter, even causing my parents to lose their jobs, forcing our family into poverty…”

The girl raised the sign in her hand and shouted, “This is Wen Haibo, the grandson of the Wen family.”

She then flipped the sign over and continued, “This is Wen Beitan. Not only does he condone his son’s actions, but he himself is a murderer. He caused the death of his brother and seized everything from his adoptive father’s family. My father has been secretly tracking him. Mr. Wen Lanshan, are you sure you want to protect the murderer who killed your son…”

The television did not censor the footage, and Jiang Rou had no idea how Li Xiao had managed to get his hands on this. As she was about to watch further, the screen suddenly went black.

She couldn’t help but worry, “They won’t be in danger, will they?”

She thought Li Xiao was really brave for confronting the situation so directly.

Li Xiao snorted, “They won’t be in danger. I’ve arranged everything.”

Saying this, he got up and made another phone call.

—o—o—o—

The next day, Jiang Rou heard from Li Xiao that he had hired a group of thugs to follow that family to the Wen family hotel entrance to protest.

Although they were eventually driven away by Wen family bodyguards, the incident had blown up significantly, especially since Li Xiao was willing to spend money on it, with coverage on local news and in newspapers.

As long as the old master of the Wen family was still alive, he was bound to have heard about the commotion.

Jiang Rou couldn’t help but ask, “Did Wen Beitan’s brothers really die because of him?”

Li Xiao shrugged, “Who knows?”

He said casually, “The cost of replacing an heir is too great. The old man of the Wen family would definitely not give up his adopted son for a girl. At most, he would just prevent Wen Haibo from entering the Wen family’s house, but as long as Wen Beitan is alive, Wen Haibo’s life won’t be too bad. He will still be arrogant and complacent. What if he keeps harassing An An? My precious daughter is not to be tormented by this scoundrel.”

“But how can an adopted son compare to a biological one? If the old man suspects his youngest son’s accident, and the fact that the eldest son hasn’t returned home for years is related to Wen Beitan, how can he remain calm?”

“Even if nothing can be proved, once the seed of doubt is planted, it’s not so easy to uproot.”

Li Xiao understood the principle of eradicating the root cause. Wen Haibo’s arrogance was because he had the backing of his father and the Wen family. Thus, dealing with him effectively meant not just beating him until he cried, but ensuring he lost his support so he could never recover.

Moreover, Li Xiao deeply detested Wen Haibo. The thought of this little beast eyeing his precious daughter and making An An cry out of fear made him have no intention of showing mercy.

—o—o—o—

Indeed, in less than a month, Wen Haibo left school. Jiang Rou hadn’t had a chance to ask Li Xiao about the details yet, but Dong Mingming had already revealed them to her.

Dong Mingming had arranged to have lunch with Jiang Rou and casually mentioned the Wen family matter because Li Xiao had asked Shen He to investigate the incident involving the Wen family’s third son from years ago.

Having learned that An An was being bullied, Dong Mingming had been paying close attention to the situation.

She guessed that Li Xiao was behind the S City Wen family incident and couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up, “Your man is impressive.”

Li Xiao had managed to achieve his goals without showing his face this time. The Wen family probably never imagined that the person behind it was Li Xiao, who was far away in G Province and seemingly unrelated to the incident.

They would only think that some rival had used the girl’s family to bring them down.

Dong Mingming’s family had interests in the hotel industry and had dealings with the Wen family, so she knew more about the situation. She told Jiang Rou that Wen Beitan had been removed from his position, and even the Wen family’s elderly matriarch, despite her age, was causing a stir with a divorce, constantly scolding the old master as foolish for raising an ingrate who caused the death of his own son.

“As for Wen Beitan, last year when I was in S City for a meeting, I saw him. It’s hard to judge his abilities, but his demeanor was quite pretentious. Li Xiao did the right thing; otherwise, if it ever came to light that he was involved, it could cause trouble. Right now, he can’t even manage his own illegitimate child, let alone ensure his own safety.”

The more Dong Mingming spoke, the more she admired Li Xiao’s capabilities. Managing to accomplish all this from such a distance was no small feat.

As the conversation drew to a close, she asked when An An would return. Her family’s big and little treasures missed their sister.

Jiang Rou replied, “Soon. Li Xiao also misses her. When she’s at home, he complains about her talking too much, but when she’s away, he asks about her every day.”

Dong Mingming laughed upon hearing this.

That evening, when Li Xiao came home, he was on the phone while walking, a smile on his face. “I’ll leave the rest to you. Arrange for a better plastic surgeon for them; I’ll cover the costs.”

Li Xiao didn’t care much about money now, considering that if money could solve a problem, it wasn’t really an issue.

Especially since he had a daughter himself, he saw it as doing a good deed.

The person on the phone laughed, “What’s this amount of money? Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything. The family is decent, and the Wen family has inquired about the person behind this, but they are very tight-lipped.”

The person added, “The boy is underage, so even if they sue, it won’t be of much use. But after Wen Beitan was expelled from the Wen family, all the property he had given to the mother and son was reclaimed by the Wen family. The mother and son have now moved to a slum, which is chaotic. In the future, someone will deal with him for you.”

“That’s good. I trust you to handle it.”

—o—o—o—

Over half a month later, An An returned, bringing back two large boxes of items, including gifts for her parents, toys, and snacks for Zhou Chen, Mianmian, and the Dong family’s twins.

She had a wonderful time in R Country. She told Jiang Rou and Li Xiao, “Brother Lele even took me skiing! It was so much fun. At first, I was too scared to try, but Aunty Song helped me, and then I dared to ski myself. Dad, I want to go play with Brother Lele again next year.”

Li Xiao, who hadn’t seen his daughter for two months, was in a good mood and responded to everything An An said with patience. “Sure, by the end of the year, our whole family can go.”

“Yay!”

An An was even happier. After two months, she had forgotten the unpleasantness from before. When she heard Wen Haibo’s name, she was no longer scared. She simply asked, “Really?”

Jiang Rou glanced at Li Xiao beside her. “It seems he had some family issues and left. He probably won’t be coming back.”

“That’s great.”

An An thought it was really good news.

—o—o—o—

On Monday, she went to school with her backpack and was as cheerful as before.

In the evening, Jiang Rou decided to write a diary like An An:

May 5, 2008

An An has returned to school with a smile on her face. Her future remains full of uncertainty, but her father and I will do our best to protect her.

She is our treasure, and we hope she grows up surrounded by love and warmth.

Before she could finish, Li Xiao came up from behind and looked over her shoulder—he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “Isn’t this a bit cheesy? ‘Our treasure’?”

“……”

Jiang Rou, annoyed, closed the notebook and elbowed him. “You’re really annoying. Don’t look.”

—o—o—o—

During the summer vacation, Li Xin returned.

She had cut her long hair into a sleek, sharp bob, which made her face look even more refined and beautiful, with an added touch of coldness and sharpness.

At first, Jiang Rou didn’t notice anything unusual, but An An curiously asked, “Where is Uncle? Did he bring me a gift?”

Li Xin paused while rummaging through a box, then quickly regained her composure. “We broke up. There won’t be an Uncle anymore, so don’t call him that.”

Jiang Rou was taken aback, setting aside the dress she was holding and looking up at her in surprise. “How did you break up? I thought you and Ji Yu were doing well.”

She knew that Li Xin and Ji Yu had been dating for several years. When Ji Yu was abroad, Li Xin was in China. Later, when Li Xin went abroad for her senior year, Ji Yu returned to China.

Now that they were finally both in the same country, Jiang Rou had even secretly prepared a dowry for Li Xin, thinking they might get married by the end of the year. She never expected them to break up at this time.

Li Xin did not hide anything from Jiang Rou. She explained directly, “His mother didn’t approve. She chose a girl from a family of similar status to Ji Yu, and I could see he was quite troubled, so I took the initiative to break up.”

Li Xin was reluctant to end the relationship. During her junior year, Ji Yu returned to attend a high school reunion and said he had come back specifically to find her, asking if she had a boyfriend and if she would consider him if she didn’t.

She agreed because she felt cared for and valued by him, which gave her a strong sense of security.

However, she realized that she didn’t know Ji Yu as well as she thought. Although Ji Yu was good to her, he was also good to others, and many people liked him.

There was also something she hadn’t told Jiang Rou: Ji Yu’s mother had recently inquired about her past, including whether she was still a virgin and if her sister and brother-in-law had known about her being sold to an older man.

Her sister had once told her not to feel inferior, that she was a remarkable girl and shouldn’t doubt herself because of others’ narrow-minded views. At that moment, Li Xin knew that her relationship with Ji Yu had no future.

She didn’t dare to tell her sister and brother-in-law, fearing it would upset them because she knew they cared deeply for her.

She forced a smile, “I’m fine. I’ve come to terms with it. Perhaps this is just a case of having a connection but no destiny.”

She then joked with Li Xiao, “Brother-in-law, if your company has any young talent, remember to keep an eye out for me.”

Li Xiao came out of the kitchen with a dish in hand. “It’s no big deal. I’ll make sure to find you someone even better.”

Jiang Rou didn’t say much more. To her, relationships and breakups were natural, and she comforted her by saying, “It’s good to know earlier that you’re not suited for each other. It saves you from regretting it later. As they say, out with the old, in with the new. There will be better things ahead.”

However, Jiang Rou never expected that soon after, Jin Dayou learned about the breakup and began to passionately pursue Li Xin.