“Who… who are you?” Bai Yongquan had a bad feeling about this.  

“You don’t even know who I am, yet you dare to impersonate a police officer from the city precinct?” Qiu Jie glanced at the fake ID in Bai Yongquan’s hand and smirked mockingly. “People these days really have no fear. Xiao Yu, you guys, detain all of them. Impersonating an officer is one crime, forging documents is an even more serious offense. Good thing Zhengrong informed me, or I wouldn’t have known someone would dare pull something like this.”  

As soon as he finished speaking, the men who had come with Bai Shengli immediately tried to flee, but Qiu Jie kicked one of them to the ground.  

“This has nothing to do with us!” Bai Shengli, now genuinely terrified at the sight of real police officers, pointed at Bai Yongquan and accused him, “It was my uncle who forced us to come. You should arrest him! His son was caught fooling around with Lin Xiao, and the Lin family threatened him. That’s why he made us pretend to be cops—I swear to heaven, my uncle was the mastermind!”  

Hearing Bai Shengli spill everything, Bai Yongquan staggered and collapsed to the ground, trembling uncontrollably.  

Qiu Jie walked over, handcuffed Bai Yongquan, and then approached Lin Zhengrong. “This little village of yours sure has a lot of drama.”  

Lin Zhengrong hadn’t expected things to escalate like this either. “I’ll leave them to you. Should those two be taken as well?” He pointed at Lin Sanzhu and Lin Xiao.  

“The car’s full. Didn’t the village already arrange a place for them? Just stick to the original plan.” Qiu Jie turned his attention back to Bai Yongquan and the others. “The crimes these people committed have severely tarnished the reputation of the police. I’m taking them to the city.”  

Bai Yongquan was likely to face execution—that’s how serious Qiu Jie made his crimes sound.  

Seeing real police officers arrive, Wang Chunhua and Lin Fugui were stunned. When Qiu Jie mentioned letting the village handle Lin Sanzhu and Lin Xiao, Wang Chunhua lunged at Bai Yongquan, sitting on him and slapping him repeatedly.  

“You said money could make the devil turn the millstone! I gave you everything I had! You promised you could save my son and daughter—that’s why I trusted you!” Wang Chunhua, hardened by years of farm work, had terrifying strength. Bai Yongquan’s face swelled instantly, but she wasn’t done. “You damn liar, give me back my money!”  

With his hands cuffed, Bai Yongquan could only endure the beating, but the pain was too much, and he screamed for help.  

Qiu Jie waited until Wang Chunhua had vented enough before grabbing her arm. “So you were an accomplice too. Come with us.”  

“No, Officer! We just asked them to find a solution—we had no idea Bai Yongquan would pretend to be a cop! We’ve been wronged!”  

Wang Chunhua began wailing. “Fugui, say something! This has nothing to do with us!”  

Lin Fugui nodded vigorously. “We really didn’t know!”  

The Bai family had only promised it would work but never explained how.  

Qiu Jie glanced back at Lin Zhengrong, who gave a slight nod, and then ordered Wang Chunhua and her husband to be taken away as well. “Whether you knew or not, we’ll find out at the station. No more delays—we have to get back to the city.”  

Now truly terrified, Wang Chunhua pleaded, “Officer, please don’t arrest us! We’re honest folks!”  

“Honest folks don’t make a scene like this. Take them all away!” Qiu Jie barked the order, and Wang Chunhua and Lin Fugui were also handcuffed. “Keep shouting, and I’ll add more charges!”

Wang Chunhua and Lin Fugui were taken away, while Bai Shengli spat at Bai Yongquan, “You damn bastard, you’ve ruined me! If I end up in labor reform, I swear I won’t let you off!”  

Bai Yongquan was completely dazed. How had things escalated to this point?  

Once everyone was loaded into the police van, Qiu Jie walked over to Lin Zhengrong. “Not bad, kid. You actually thought to call me. So, when are you coming into the city? Drop by my place for a meal.”  

Lin Zhengrong glanced at Jiang Qiuyue beside him, unsure if she’d be willing to go.  

Noticing his questioning look, Jiang Qiuyue smiled and nodded. “Since he’s your comrade, we should visit when we get the chance.” What she really thought was that Qiu Jie, being a city cop, might be useful to have connections with in case they ever needed help in the future.  

Only then did Qiu Jie realize the beautiful woman beside Lin Zhengrong was his wife. Back in the army, Lin Zhengrong had rarely spoken about his family, and if he did, it was only in passing.  

Looking at Jiang Qiuyue’s flawless skin and sweet smile, Qiu Jie stared for a long moment before turning back to Lin Zhengrong. “No wonder you never talked about your family—you were hiding a treasure! If Guowei and the others knew your wife was this gorgeous, they’d be green with envy.”  

It wasn’t an exaggeration—Qiu Jie had never seen a prettier young wife than Jiang Qiuyue. He thought Lin Zhengrong was one lucky man.  

But then he wondered: If his wife was this beautiful, why hadn’t Lin Zhengrong taken her with him during his military service?  

If she were his wife, he’d keep her by his side every day—otherwise, how could he trust the village boys to behave?  

Jiang Qiuyue was pleased by the compliment, but Lin Zhengrong frowned slightly at the mention of his army buddies and urged Qiu Jie, “Aren’t you in a hurry to get back?”  

“Alright, alright, I’m going. You really just toss people aside after using them, huh?” Qiu Jie shook his head with a laugh. “When you come to the city, remember to look me up. Your sister-in-law’s a good cook—we’ll have a drink at my place.”  

Lin Zhengrong agreed and walked Qiu Jie out.  

Only then did Hu Haizhi dare approach Jiang Qiuyue. “Qiuyue, is Dazhu close with that policeman?”  

“They’re comrades,” Jiang Qiuyue explained.  

“Ah, no wonder. That scared me to death—when Bai Yongquan pulled out that document, I was terrified Dazhu had made a mistake.” Hu Haizhi patted his chest in relief.  

Jiang Qiuyue remained calm. “You can trust Dazhu to handle things, Brigade leader. You’ve worked hard these past few days—if there’s anything Dazhu can help with, just ask.”  

After all, Lin Zhengrong would only be back for less than a month. Might as well make the most of it—otherwise, it’d be a waste.  

Seeing Lin Zhengrong return, Jiang Qiuyue checked the time and decided it was about time to head back. She gathered the two children and went to meet him.  

From a distance, Lin Xiao screamed at them, “Jiang Qiuyue! Lin Dazhu! You’ll die horribly for this! Sending Mom and Dad to the police station—you’ll pay for this!”

Meanwhile, Lin Sanzhu, after confirming that he was indeed being sent to labor reform, completely lost it—laughing one moment, crying the next.  

Lin Xiao kept cursing nonstop, but Jiang Qiuyue didn’t bother arguing back. After all, Lin Xiao was only so furious because she was finally facing the consequences of her actions.  

When they got home, the new bed had dried, and Lin Zhengrong carried it into the room.  

The house only had one summer quilt, but luckily, Lin Zhengrong wasn’t afraid of the cold. Jiang Qiuyue stuffed a few clothes into the pant legs to serve as a makeshift pillow and took out another piece of clothing for him to use as a blanket.  

“If you get cold at night, you can grab a cotton-padded jacket from the wardrobe, but you probably won’t need it,” Jiang Qiuyue told him.  

“I’m sleeping on the new bed?” Lin Zhengrong asked.  

“Yeah.”  

Jiang Qiuyue wondered why he even needed to ask—who else would sleep on it if not him? But since Lin Zhengrong had worked so hard, she figured she should phrase it nicely. Otherwise, if she asked for more living expenses later and he refused, what then? “You’ve been working hard these past few days. I noticed you haven’t been sleeping well at night—you must want a proper rest.”  

Lin Zhengrong: “…” So it wasn’t what he’d thought.  

Just then, Lin Beibei saw the new bed and, upon hearing it was for his dad, wanted to sleep on it too.  

Jiang Qiuyue had no objections. “Sure, you’re a boy—it’s good for you to sleep with your dad.”  

She had already planned that once Lin Zhengrong returned to the army, Beibei would sleep on the bed alone. Boys shouldn’t share beds when they got older.  

“Yay! I get to sleep with Dad!” Lin Beibei jumped for joy. “Dad, aren’t you happy? We have our own bed now!”  

Lin Zhengrong replied expressionlessly, “…Happy, I guess.”  

To Jiang Qiuyue, Lin Zhengrong mostly wore a blank expression anyway, so she didn’t think much of it. Seeing that it was getting late, she started preparing dinner.  

They had braised pork intestines for lunch, leaving plenty of leftover broth. Jiang Qiuyue made hand-pulled noodles, boiled them in a pot, then ladled them into bowls, sprinkled with finely chopped scallions, and drizzled with the braising sauce.  

She mixed the noodles for the kids, leaving Lin Zhengrong to handle his own. As the family sat by the kitchen door, a few loud slurps later, Lin Zhengrong had already finished his bowl.  

“Qiu Jie said his wife is a great cook, but I don’t think anyone in the world could cook better than you,” Lin Zhengrong praised.  

Jiang Qiuyue wasn’t that conceited. “That’s not necessarily true. There are plenty of amazing cooks—you just haven’t tried their food yet.”