Chapter 10 Take the money and get out

When the people around started shouting to call the police, Xia Lizhu panicked.
“No! You can’t call the police! Please don’t!”

“You said you didn’t steal the money. Then isn’t calling the police the best way to prove your innocence?”

“Exactly. If you didn’t take it, what are you afraid of?”

Facing the questions from the crowd, Xia Lizhu couldn’t say a word. What should she do now? If they really called the police, she’d be done for…

Seeing their daughter’s guilty look, Xia Zhihou and Chen Hui immediately understood—there was no doubt, their daughter had taken the money.

Chen Hui held Xia Lizhu tightly, her eyes full of worry and pain.
“Zhihou, think of something! We absolutely can’t let them call the police! If this gets out, the whole family will be ruined!”

Xia Zhihou frowned, thought for a moment, and then said,
“Go home and get the money. Return it to them. As long as the money’s returned, this whole thing can be settled.”

Chen Hui nodded quickly, “Okay, okay! Sweetheart, don’t be scared. Come home with mom—dad and I will handle this.”

She grabbed Xia Lizhu’s hand and led her away. Xia Lizhu followed obediently with her head lowered, sniffing and sobbing, looking like she had just suffered a huge injustice.

Jiang Peiyu rolled her eyes at the performance, cursing under her breath, “Damn little green tea, still pretending? Didn’t your mom teach you to stop acting fake?”

Back at the house, Chen Hui rushed into the bedroom, frantically searching through drawers. She finally gathered all the cash she could find, counted it carefully, and came up with 1,100 yuan. She quickly handed it to Xia Zhihou.

He took the money and immediately threw it in front of Jiang Peiyu, scattering bills all over the ground.
“Here, 1,100 yuan. Count it. Take the money and get lost. I better not see your face ever again.”

Jiang Peiyu wasn’t about to put up with his attitude. She called him out by name,
“Xia Zhihou, pick it up and hand it to me, or I’m calling the police right now.”

“You…”

“What you? Hurry up. Your granny here doesn’t have all day to waste on your nonsense.”
“You don’t want to see me again? Pfft. You think I want to see you? Who do you think you are?”

“You… you…” Xia Zhihou was so furious he couldn’t speak.

Chen Hui quickly stepped in and pointed at Jiang Peiyu.
“Jiang Peiyu! Our Xia family raised you for 22 years, and this is how you repay us? You ungrateful snake!”

“Heh… hehehe… I just learned from the best—your whole family. The old ones are heartless, and the young ones are thieves. What was I supposed to learn from that?”
“If I didn’t turn out to be a criminal, it’s thanks to the kindness and decency running in the Jiang family’s blood.”

“Damn it, why am I wasting words with you people again? Xia Zhihou, are you picking it up or not? If not, I’m walking right out that door to the police station.”

Seeing that she was serious, Xia Zhihou took a deep breath, swallowed his anger, and bent down to pick up the scattered cash. He handed it over one bill at a time.

Jiang Peiyu snatched the money from him.
“Hmph, see? If you’d done that from the start, we wouldn’t have had to go through all this crap. Wasting my time for nothing.”

“Second Brother, let’s go. This whole damn family reeks of bad luck. Let’s get out of here before it sticks to us.”

Before leaving, Jiang Peiyu turned and bowed 90 degrees to the crowd.
“Thank you, uncles and aunties, for standing up for us today. We’re heading home now.”

“Oh, don’t mention it. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Yeah, we hate this kind of behavior…”
“Make sure your kids stay away from the Xia family in the future…”
“Right, don’t let them bring their bad luck over to ours…”

Amidst the villagers’ criticism of the Xia family, Jiang Peiyu and Jiang Yanwen climbed into their creaky ox cart and slowly rode away.

“Bro, we got the money back. We should celebrate! Want to stop by the supply store and grab a couple pounds of pork?”
“Sure! I’ve been craving meat forever. Let’s go get two pounds to treat everyone!”

The siblings returned to the courtyard with fresh pork in hand. Jiang Yanwen called out,
“Ma, quick! We’re having meat tonight—I’ve been dying for it!”

Li Shuzhen took the pork from him, surprised.
“Where’d you get the money for meat? Did you get the money back?”

“Yep! My little sister is amazing. I’m so thirsty—going to get water first.”
“Ma, here’s the 1,100 yuan we got back. Count it.”

Li Shuzhen took the money, eyes full of emotion.
“We really got it back… Oh, thank the heavens! Wonderful, wonderful! Your father—”

Jiang Fugui came out of the house.
“What is it? What’s with all the shouting…”

“Our girl! She did it—she got the money back!”
“Really? All of it?”

“Yep, it’s all here. I counted it—exactly 1,100 yuan.” She handed it to Jiang Fugui.

“Good, good. Now that we’ve got the money back, I’ll go see Old Brother Lu tomorrow and call off the engagement.”

Jiang Fugui finally relaxed. Now that the money was recovered, ending the engagement would be easier. He had been too embarrassed to bring it up without returning the dowry first. Now things could finally move forward.

Suddenly remembering the pork, Li Shuzhen turned to ask,
“Sweetie, we got all the money back. What about the money for the pork?”

“Oh, Second Brother paid for it with his pocket money he’d been saving up.”

Hearing that, Li Shuzhen was relieved. She had worried her daughter used her own money. She quickly took the 1,100 yuan inside for safekeeping.

Then she came out with 20 yuan, paused, and decided to give Jiang Peiyu 50 yuan instead.
“Sweetheart, here’s 50 yuan. Girls like to buy little things—it’s not right for you to have no money on you.”

“Thanks, Ma,” Jiang Peiyu beamed, happily accepting it.

That evening after dinner, the family gathered in the main room. Jiang Yanwen animatedly recounted how they got the money back. Everyone was thrilled and showered Jiang Peiyu with praise. Thankfully, she had a thick skin and could take it.

Before bed, Li Shuzhen counted out 600 yuan and handed it to Jiang Fugui.
“Dear, take this 600 yuan and go see the village secretary tomorrow. Let’s officially cancel the engagement.”

“I’ve been on edge this whole time. Once the engagement’s off and the money’s returned, we’ll owe them nothing.”

Jiang Fugui took the money and tucked it under his pillow.
“Alright. I’ll go early in the morning. Now let’s sleep.”