Chapter 73 : Breakup

Wu Meili’s shouting outside grew harsher by the minute. When the second household didn’t come out, her frustration boiled over. She stormed up to knock on their door.  

“Second brother, both of you come out! You wicked family ate the javelin thrower! Where did you get the money to buy meat? Did you slaughter the pigs from the pig farm and eat them?”  

The work at the pig farm was grueling. It couldn’t all be done in a single night, and the workers had to show up for their regular jobs the next day. Exhausted, they often took turns staying home during the day to rest.  

However, the Zhuang family’s absence from work stirred rumors and resentment within the team.  

To ease suspicion, Zhuang Guoliang had suggested a shift system, where two people alternated working at the pig farm. This way, the work would get done without drawing too much attention.  

The previous night, it was the second household’s turn at the pig farm. Today, they returned with a large piece of fatty pork and locked themselves in their house to eat it.  

Boss Zhuang, who usually squatted under the eaves, watched with narrowed eyes, his expression full of doubt.  

When Jiang Hongmei heard Wu Meili’s accusations, she became alarmed. Zhuang Er and Cheng Yanyan’s silence only made things worse. Furious, she joined the shouting match.  

Finally, the door opened. Zhuang Er stepped out but was immediately grabbed by the collar.  

“Tell me, did you kill the pig?” Wu Meili demanded.  

Swallowing the last bite of his meal, Zhuang Er replied, “So what? We also own part of the pig farm. Besides, my wife’s family has a wedding coming up. My brother-in-law is getting engaged but can’t find meat. Shouldn’t we help out?”  

Boss Zhuang stood up abruptly. No wonder one of the smaller pig was missing when he’d counted the pigs at the farm this morning. He had thought it was a mistake in the dim light.  

“What about the rest of the pork?” he asked sharply.  

“It’s all here!”  

Jiang Hongmei rushed into the house to find a heap of unwanted pig offal, bones, and scraps. The pile looked to weigh less than 50 kilograms.  

Meanwhile, Zhuang Dabao and Cheng Yanyan lay on the bed, utterly bloated, their eyes half-closed as if in a food coma.  

“You gluttons! Does this pig farm belong to your family? How dare you eat like this?” Jiang Hongmei fumed.  

Cheng Yanyan retorted smugly. “We paid fifty dollars for our share. You didn’t pay a single cent, so what are you complaining about?”  

She grinned provocatively. “If you’re so upset, I’ll puke it back up for you.”  

Jiang Hongmei was enraged by Cheng Yanyan’s taunt. Wu Meili, equally furious, couldn’t stand it anymore. The argument quickly escalated into a physical fight.  

Zhuang Er, seeing his wife being beaten, jumped in to defend her.  

Amid the chaos, Jiang Hongmei was shoved to the ground. Blood began pooling beneath her.  

“My stomach… my stomach,” she gasped weakly, clutching her abdomen in pain.  

At that moment, Zhuang Guoliang returned home. He had been preoccupied for days trying to figure out how to sell the pork secretly. The black market was under heavy crackdown, and state-run restaurants had severed their supply routes, leaving him deeply worried.  

Seeing Jiang Hongmei pale and semi-conscious, lying in a pool of blood, he was horrified.  

When his gaze landed on the pile of pork in the second household’s room, his fury erupted. “Second brother, did you kill the pig secretly?”  

Zhuang Er hesitated but then blustered, “With so much pork here, wouldn’t it be stupid not to eat some? We have eight pigs at home. What’s the harm in eating one?”  

Zhuang Guoliang’s face darkened. “How could you slaughter a pig that wasn’t even fully grown? Eating meat openly, aren’t you afraid the neighbors will hear and report us? If anyone finds out, our entire family will be doomed!”  

Zhuang Er looked uneasy at this warning, but Cheng Yanyan dismissed it with a scoff. “Who would notice? No one’s that nosy.”  

Boss Zhuang interjected, “This won’t do. We’re all in this business together. Why should some people take advantage of the rest? I want to dissolve this partnership!”

Wu Meili’s words struck like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky. Boss Zhuang stood silently behind her, his demeanor clearly signaling agreement.  

With no market for the pork outside and constant turmoil brewing within the household, Zhuang Guoliang felt utterly drained.  

“Brother, sister-in-law, let’s not make a fuss,” he pleaded. “We’ll account for the money spent on this pig and deduct it when we split the profits. There’s no need to break up the partnership over this.”  

Wu Meili, however, was unmoved. “I can’t trust them anymore. Who’s to say the second brother’s family won’t slaughter another pig in secret to eat or sell? Then we won’t even recover the 30 yuan.  

“A pig costs thirty. We might as well raise our own and be done with it.”  

She felt justified in her frustration. It was always her doing extra work whenever it was the second household’s turn at the pig farm. Why should she continue to bear the burden?  

“Fine by me,” Cheng Yanyan shot back, holding her belly smugly. “Who needs to stay tied to you all? My family has plenty of capable people who can take over the farm work.”  

As tempers flared, voices rose and echoed through the household. The heated argument was interrupted only when Gao Xiuqin entered and noticed Jiang Hongmei lying unconscious. Alarmed, she called Liu Lixin over to assess the situation.  

To everyone’s astonishment, it turned out Jiang Hongmei was pregnant and nearly lost the baby due to the severe bleeding.  

“The child is almost three months along,” Liu Lixin explained gravely. “The mother is extremely malnourished, and the fall disrupted her blood circulation. She needs careful care from now on.”  

Zhuang Guoliang froze. Three months?  

A dark suspicion crept over him. ‘I haven’t been with Jiang Hongmei in three months. How could she be pregnant?’  

Aside from that one night… ‘But could it really be such a coincidence?’  

Instead of joy, Zhuang Guoliang felt only unease at the thought of becoming a father again. He had already fathered two children, but they were primarily raised by Cui Lingling, leaving him detached from the experience.  

“The child is really three months old?” he asked pointedly, his tone tinged with mistrust. “Don’t try to frame me.”  

His thoughts spiraled further. ‘Could Liu Lixin be conspiring with Qi Shaoqiang? Could they be trying to pin someone else’s child on me?’  

Liu Lixin’s patience wore thin. He took a deep breath and reminded himself of a doctor’s duty to be kind-hearted. With measured calm, he replied, “If you doubt me, go to the county hospital for confirmation.  

“But if the bleeding doesn’t stop, you’ll have no choice but to go there anyway. For now, make way so the patient can be moved to a bed.”  

The scene revealed the Zhuang family’s cold indifference Jiang Hongmei, bleeding heavily, lay on the freezing ground while no one stepped forward to help.  

At Liu Lixin’s insistence, Zhuang Guoliang and Zhuang San finally carried her back into the house.  

Meanwhile, Cheng Yanyan, gripped by fear that Jiang Hongmei might regain consciousness and hold her accountable, feigned her own distress. Clutching her belly, she cried out in pain, stopping Liu Lixin to demand an examination.  

Liu Lixin, already exasperated, took her pulse. His frustration deepened. “In this household, the healthy are jumping around pretending to be ill, while the genuinely sick are left without care,” he muttered under his breath.  

After preparing medicine for Jiang Hongmei and ensuring she drank it, the bleeding subsided. Only then did Liu Lixin collect his consultation fee and leave.  

As he walked away, he couldn’t help but grumble, “This family is beyond unreasonable. If either the woman or the child had died, they would have turned around and blamed me.”