Chapter 9 – Going to See Her “Lover Brother”

After finishing the noodles, Lin Shuqiao quickly cleaned up the kitchen. Under Lu Zheng’s complicated gaze, she returned to her room and grabbed a small bundle.

“I’m going into the city,” she said as she stepped out with her coat and package.

Lu Zheng’s face instantly turned cold when he saw what she was carrying. He knew it—there was no way Lin Shuqiao had suddenly settled down. Turns out she still wanted to go see Jiang He. Clearly, everything he’d said to her before had gone in one ear and out the other.

“Oh, right. Ziqi’s coming with me. Don’t you have duty later? I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving him home alone,” Lin Shuqiao added.

Since Lu Ziqi couldn’t speak and was still very young, Lu Zheng hadn’t sent him to school.

In her previous life, Lu Ziqi had died alone in a house fire because no one was around to care for him. Even though the boy now seemed cold and distant toward her, Lin Shuqiao didn’t want to see such a young child suffer the same fate again.

She crouched down beside him and asked gently, “Ziqi, do you want to come out with me?”

Lu Ziqi looked at her and instinctively shrank back. Was the bad woman trying to sell him?

But when he noticed Lu Zheng glancing over, he ultimately nodded.

He didn’t want to go to Aunt Meng’s house…

After getting his consent, Lin Shuqiao took the boy and left the military compound.

Although the compound wasn’t too far from the city, it was still a bit out of the way. Fortunately, there was a scheduled military shuttle that ran at a fixed time each day.

By the time Lin Shuqiao and Lu Ziqi arrived at the stop, quite a few people were already waiting. The moment the crowd saw her, they instinctively stepped aside, clearly unwilling to stand next to her.

Lin Shuqiao wasn’t surprised—she hadn’t exactly been likable in her previous life. She quietly found a spot in the corner and didn’t say anything. After all, she’d be leaving soon; there was no point trying to win anyone over.

She picked a relatively isolated corner, only to realize there were already two women whispering there.

She glanced over and saw Liu Jie along with another woman she didn’t recognize.

Liu Jie looked annoyed, and when she saw Lin Shuqiao looking in their direction, she responded with a dismissive grunt.

Lin Shuqiao vaguely heard the word “boyfriend,” which reminded her of some gossip from her past life.

Back then, she and Lu Zheng had already divorced when she accidentally overheard a scandal involving Liu Jie. Supposedly, Liu Jie already had a military officer boyfriend—a regiment commander stationed elsewhere. But unable to bear loneliness, she still tried to seduce Lu Zheng.

Unfortunately for her, she had someone secretly pass a love note to the wrong officer. Though it was dark, that poor man was so frightened by her bold advances that he fled.

The whole compound buzzed with the scandal about Liu Jie cheating despite already having a fiancé.

“Lin Shuqiao?” Liu Jie’s voice cut through her thoughts. Lin Shuqiao looked up to see Liu Jie standing in front of her with the unfamiliar woman.

“Where are you off to?” Liu Jie sneered before Lin Shuqiao could answer. “Don’t tell me you’re going to meet that lover of yours again?”

The tone was mocking, with a hint of schadenfreude.

Lin Shuqiao raised an eyebrow. “So going out automatically means meeting a lover? Comrade Liu, is gossip the only thing in your head all day?”

Liu Jie rolled her eyes. “Don’t play innocent. Ask anyone here—who doesn’t know about you and Jiang He?”

Lin Shuqiao’s eyes were calm and cold. “Comrade Liu, do you have proof of an inappropriate relationship between me and Jiang He? If not, what you’re doing is slander.”

Liu Jie choked, her face turning sour as people nearby began whispering and glancing over.

“Hah! Proof? Isn’t it obvious? You took money from Captain Lu and bought Jiang Comrade all sorts of things. You think we’re blind? Giving so many gifts to a man without reason—you still claim there’s nothing going on?”

That reminded Lin Shuqiao of something.

So many good things ended up in the hands of that scumbag? He wasn’t even worth it.

She shot back confidently, “Who said I gave them? I loaned them. And it’s been ages without repayment. Next time you see Jiang He, Comrade Liu, tell him to return everything I lent him—with interest. Otherwise, people like you might keep spreading rumors.”

“You calling me a dog?!” Liu Jie snapped.

The bus pulled up. Lin Shuqiao ignored her, picked up Lu Ziqi, and got on.

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Liu Jie’s face twisted with anger—Lin Shuqiao had completely disregarded her.

Zhao Juan tugged Liu Jie’s arm and muttered, “She seems different now… she even denied anything with Jiang He.”

Liu Jie snorted, “Hah! Still a shameless flirt. Bet she really is going to meet that lover of hers.”

A scheming glint flashed in her eyes. “Why don’t we follow her and see for ourselves?”

Zhao Juan nodded, curiosity gleaming in her eyes.

The bus jostled along until they arrived at their destination.

Lin Shuqiao got off with Lu Ziqi and headed toward the livestock market.

In her previous life, she had been love-obsessed and often wandered the area while waiting for dates with Jiang He, so she knew this place well.

Ever since discovering her space dimension, Lin Shuqiao had decided she would continue raising pigs. Her space had many pig breeds, but she still needed a public-facing business front.

The first step was understanding current market prices and breeds—then she’d have a plausible excuse to “buy stock.”

Focused on her thoughts, she didn’t notice the two sneaky figures tailing her.

However, Lu Ziqi glanced back and caught sight of them. The two women jumped to a nearby stall and pretended to shop.

He frowned but didn’t say anything. Let dogs bite dogs, he thought. None of them are good people anyway.

Up ahead, a commotion broke out.

“Zhao Dahai, if you don’t want to do business, we do! Get rid of that infected pork—don’t drag down the whole market!”

“Yeah! Those pigs of yours clearly have swine fever. Don’t ruin everyone’s livelihood!”

“Exactly! Don’t blame us for being heartless. You know how dangerous swine fever is. We’ve all worked hard to raise our pigs. Hurry up and deal with yours!”

Lin Shuqiao had just stepped into the market and heard the crowd yelling at a middle-aged man.

He looked downcast and didn’t argue—he clearly felt guilty.

Swine fever?

After listening in, Lin Shuqiao quickly understood what was going on. She looked behind the man and saw a group of pigs lying on the ground, snorting and groaning in discomfort.

She stepped closer and studied them. In fact, they didn’t look like they had swine fever, but rather heatstroke.

She carefully examined the pigpen environment before speaking up.

“This isn’t swine fever. It’s pig heatstroke,” she said.

“You a vet, young lady?” someone asked skeptically.

Her words drew everyone’s attention. The middle-aged man, Zhao Dahai, looked up with hope and took a step forward.

“Zhao Dahai, are you out of your mind? Just because a little girl says so, we should believe her?”

“Exactly! What does a young slip of a girl know? We’ve raised pigs for years. You think we wouldn’t recognize swine fever?”

“Come on, man, deal with your pigs! We all depend on this market to feed our families!”

The brief flicker of hope in Zhao Dahai’s eyes dimmed again.

Yeah… he’d raised pigs for years. Could he really not tell swine fever apart?

He sank to the ground in despair.

Seeing this, and remembering the crowd’s earlier words, Lin Shuqiao understood—they didn’t believe her.

Still, she wasn’t mad.

“I’m not just making things up,” she explained calmly. “Swine fever and high-fever disease both cause fever and respiratory distress. But these pigs are breathing heavily, and their skin—on the belly, back, and ears—is flushed red or purple. Those are clear symptoms of heatstroke, not swine fever.”

“If you don’t believe me, come take a closer look.”