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On the way back, Li Xia leaned close to An An’s ear and whispered a few words. “When the time comes, just do exactly as I taught you, okay?”
An An nodded. Although he didn’t fully understand why he had to do this, he would follow whatever his mother said.
Seeing that An An understood, Li Xia reached out and gently ruffled his soft, fluffy hair. It felt so nice to the touch.
Now that the matter with Zhou Qingshan was settled, it was time to settle accounts with the Li family.
At this hour, the Li family was having dinner. As soon as she pushed open the courtyard gate, the rich aroma of braised pork wafted out.
Inside the house, Liu Chunhua had just placed a steaming plate of braised pork on the table when Li Jiangang spoke up: “It’s already so late, and An An still isn’t back. Could he have gotten lost?”
Liu Chunhua responded indifferently, “Why should you care? He’s got the surname Gu, not Li. He isn’t part of your Li family, so why are you worrying so much? He’s just like his mother—nothing but trouble.”
At the mention of Li Xia, Li Jiangang continued, “It’s been days since Li Xia last came home. Could she really have run off with that Zhou guy? If that’s the case, how are we supposed to explain things to Gu Weicheng? If he finds out Li Xia ran away with another man and stops sending his military allowance, what are we going to do?”
Liu Chunhua scoffed, “Are you stupid? If we don’t tell him, how would he ever find out? He hasn’t been back in years!”
She continued smugly, “I had the best idea back then. When I suggested drugging Li Xia so they’d have no choice but to sleep together, you hesitated, worrying about this and that. If it weren’t for me, would Li Xia have ever been able to latch onto a military officer like Gu Weicheng?”
“Every month, he sends back ten yuan in allowances—that’s as much as a dual-income couple earns in the city! Without me, would you even get to eat braised pork? With this money, our son can marry a city girl in the future.”
Thinking back to what had happened, Liu Chunhua couldn’t help but feel proud of her brilliant decision.
Back then, Gu Weicheng had come to their village on behalf of the army to deliver condolence payments to the family of a fallen soldier. Since it was already late, he had no choice but to stay overnight in the village.
Despite normally being extremely stingy, she had immediately offered up a place in their home for Gu Weicheng to stay. Later that night, she secretly drugged both him and Li Xia…
At first, she had assumed that a military officer like Gu Weicheng would never be willing to marry Li Xia. She had already prepared to extort a hefty sum from him as compensation. To her surprise, he unexpectedly proposed to marry Li Xia instead.
But this outcome was even better. Li Xia had married Gu Weicheng and, more importantly, listened to her advice not to follow him to the army. Now, Gu Weicheng sent half of his monthly allowance back home, which was an even better result than she had initially planned.
Just as Liu Chunhua was basking in her self-satisfaction, Li Xia’s voice rang out.
“Uncle, Aunt, I’m back!”
Liu Chunhua and Li Jiangang turned their heads and saw Li Xia standing at the courtyard entrance, holding An An’s hand.
Liu Chunhua immediately put on a worried expression and said, “Li Xia, you’re finally back! We were so worried! An An, where have you been? Your grandpa and I searched everywhere for you!”
An An lowered his head and said nothing.
He didn’t know what to say. Just this morning, his grandmother had been yelling at him, yet now that his mother was back, her attitude had completely changed.
Li Xia tightened her grip on An An’s hand, silently comforting him.
Then, she walked over to the dining table and took a deep breath, inhaling the rich aroma of the braised pork. “Wow, the food at home is really good today! You even made braised pork. Perfect timing—I’m starving.”
With that, she sat down at the table and began to eat. The braised pork with white rice was simply delicious.
As she ate, Li Xia called An An over. “An An, come try Grandma’s braised pork. It smells amazing!”
Meat was scarce during these times, and there were only a few pieces of braised pork on the table. By the time Liu Chunhua and Li Jiangang realized what was happening, more than half of it had already disappeared into Li Xia and An An’s stomachs.
While eating, Li Xia didn’t forget to praise, “Aunt, your cooking skills are getting better and better.”
Weren’t they always saying how much they cared about the original Li Xia? That they treated her like their own daughter? Well, surely, their “own daughter” eating a bit more braised pork wouldn’t be a problem, right?
No matter how angry Liu Chunhua felt inside, she had to keep up appearances. She forced a smile and said, “If you like it, have some more.”
It was just a polite remark, but to her horror, Li Xia actually took another two pieces of braised pork.
Liu Chunhua: “…”
That was just me being polite—you actually took me up on it?!
Just as Liu Chunhua was feeling heartbroken over the braised pork, Li Xia put down her chopsticks and pulled twenty crisp ten-yuan bills from her pocket, handing them over.
“Aunt, I went to the city to withdraw money. I was supposed to come back yesterday, but I got caught in the rain, came down with a fever, and got delayed by a day. This time, Gu Weicheng sent his mission reward along with his regular allowance—two hundred yuan in total. Aunt, you should keep it.”
Seeing such a large sum of money, Liu Chunhua’s eyes lit up. She snatched it up instantly.
“Li Xia, your aunt truly cares about you. I’ll hold onto this money for now, and when An An grows up, we’ll use it to get him a wife,” Liu Chunhua said, making it sound generous and thoughtful—just as she had when she first convinced Li Xia to hand over Gu Weicheng’s allowances.
Li Xia smiled. “Aunt, we’re all family—no need to be so formal. My parents passed away early, and I’ve always considered you and Uncle my real parents. Hurry and put the money away so you don’t lose it.”
“Of course!” Liu Chunhua replied cheerfully, quickly rushing off to stash the money.
She entered her bedroom, shut the door tightly, then crawled under the bed. Lifting a loose brick from the floor, she carefully tucked the two hundred yuan inside.
Liu Chunhua had no idea that everything she did was clearly seen by Li Xia from outside the window.
Watching Liu Chunhua’s careful hiding of the money, Li Xia thought to herself—what a secure hiding spot.
In the past, the original Li Xia had never checked where Liu Chunhua stashed the money, and even the novel hadn’t mentioned it. But as the saying goes, “You can’t catch a wolf without sacrificing a child.” If she hadn’t handed over the money, how else would she have found out where Liu Chunhua hid it?
Before Liu Chunhua could step out of the bedroom, Li Xia quietly slipped into the kitchen.
An An was already there. Seeing the look in Li Xia’s eyes, he immediately picked up a burning stick from the stove and walked out.
Moments later, a loud cry came from outside.
“Grandpa! Grandma! There’s a fire! I accidentally set the firewood pile on fire!”