Chapter 24.1

Two days later, Jiang Rou went out with An An and picked up their photo in the studio.

In recent days, Li Xiao has been going to the city with Zhou Jian to sell marinated dishes. Besides marinated dishes, Zhou Jian also sold live fish, mountain goods, and wild vegetables, so their tricycle was always piled high when they set out each day.

However, they made a good profit. Recently, Li Xiao often brought vegetables and other foods back from the city market—including large crabs shipped from other regions. This was the perfect time for eating crabs, and after steaming them, the crab shells were filled with rich crab roe.

But it was a bit expensive—a few yuan each—so Li Xiao bought three, tasted one himself, and gave the remaining two to Jiang Rou.

Jiang Rou felt quite embarrassed and gave him a few of the crab legs.

Li Xiao left every morning at 4:30 in the morning and returned only after selling everything, usually around one or two in the afternoon.

Today was no different. Jiang Rou had left some food on the stove. When the man came back, he first washed his face and hands, drawing water from the well and bending over to wash his hands and face.

The weather was already quite cold, and Jiang Rou had already changed into a cotton-padded jacket at home, but he himself didn’t feel much of a difference.

However, the water in the well was not very cold in the winter.

After washing his hands and face, he would check on An An, who was napping in the room, before going to the kitchen to get food.

When he stepped out of the room today, he accidentally noticed an envelope on the table.

He asked Jiang Rou, who was sitting on the bed reading a book, “What is this?”

Jiang Rou glanced up and said casually, “It’s the photos. I picked them up today.”

Li Xiao paused when he heard this, then turned around and sat down directly.

The envelope was not sealed. He pulled out the photos and saw that the first one was of An An wearing a flag hat. He and Jiang Rou were sitting side by side, with him holding their daughter in his arms. Jiang Rou was smiling with her eyes crinkled up, looking very happy.

An An seemed out of sorts, tilting her head and looking upward with wide-open eyes, appearing quite dazed.

As for himself, although he didn’t smile as broadly as Jiang Rou, his eyes also held a gentle smile.

He never knew that he looked like this in the photos.

He had taken pictures before, standing in the back row with his classmates during elementary and middle school graduations. He remembered that he was always in the last row.

Although his grades had always been good, he was considered an unappealing presence in the eyes of teachers.

Li Xiao looked at the photos one by one, and when he saw the last one, the camera just happened to capture An An yawning—she looked very bored.

He couldn’t help but smile again.

Seeing him remain still, Jiang Rou couldn’t help but remind him, “Aren’t you going to eat? The food is getting cold.”

Li Xiao replied with a “Hmm” and took the photos with him when he went out.

He wanted to look at them a bit more.

Jiang Rou noticed it and rolled her eyes silently. ‘Who said a few days ago that taking photos wasn’t fun.? ’

After eating, Li Xiao took a half-hour nap at home before going out again.

When he was focused on work, he was very serious. He always supervised the purchasing himself, fearing being cheated.

Such situations were not uncommon. After visiting the pig farm, he learned that some people, if they were unscrupulous, would even sell sick pigs.

Before Li Xiao left, Wang Tao had come over.

After beating around the bush with a few words, Li Xiao was in a hurry to go out to do something. Seeing this, he asked impatiently, “Are you here to pay back the money for the fish last time? It was two yuan.”

“…”

Wang Tao remembered that last time when he bought fish from Zhou Jian, Li Xiao had offered to cover the cost, and he thought it was settled like that.

Not wanting to chat further, he quickly got to the point: “Zhu Qiang expressed his deep regret for what happened on the wedding day. He was unaware of the situation at the time and asked if you were available to join him and the rest of our brothers for a meal.”

Hearing this, Li Xiao’s expression immediately darkened.

Wang Tao, still playing the mediator, smiled and advised, “We’re all good brothers; there’s no need to make things so awkward. We all know Zhu Qiang; it must have been some misunderstanding. Let it go. We’re adults, so don’t hold it against him.”

After a pause, he continued, “Boss, Zhu Qiang is doing great now. His family is going to be demolished, and he’s going to make a lot of money from it. Plus, he’s going to work as a chef at Jiangnan Mountain Villa soon. I heard they can earn thirty yuan a day there, which adds up to nine hundred yuan a month. He even said that since we’re on good terms, once he’s settled in, he’ll get us in there too.”

Li Xiao looked at Wang Tao, who was getting happier and happier, and suddenly felt a little disgusted.

The Wang Tao he remembered was a kind-hearted person who would rather go hungry than not feed stray cats. He was the earnest student who would be dragged into wild adventures by friends and end up copying homework tearfully at the last minute, having realized he was the only one who hadn’t done it.

But now, that naive Wang Tao seemed to have vanished—with not even a trace left.

Li Xiao suddenly asked in a deep voice, “Wang Tao, how did you become like this?”

Wang Tao, who was talking eloquently, stopped subconsciously after hearing this and looked at Li Xiao blankly as if he didn’t understand what he meant: “Become like what? I haven’t changed.”

Li Xiao remained silent for a moment, not answering the question but directly rejecting, “Tell Zhu Qiang that I’m not available recently.”

This was not only his own issue but also Zhou Jian’s. Zhou Jian had brought his girlfriend along, and the girl had already secretly married him. Zhou Jian took her there to introduce her to everyone and to give Wang Yan some face, but in the end, Wang Yan didn’t even have a seat.

It was as if they were being humiliated.

Li Xiao had been standing there, surrounded by people looking at them with strange expressions. He was relieved Jiang Rou wasn’t there; otherwise, he wouldn’t have let it go so easily.

Wang Tao, seeing Li Xiao’s sudden change in demeanor, became somewhat frightened. “I’ll go back and tell Zhu Qiang.”

He left in a hurry.

Because of this incident, Li Xiao’s expression remained sour before he left. He still reminded Jiang Rou to make sure to close the door properly.

Jiang Rou had heard what had happened and didn’t say much, just reminding him to be careful while riding his bike.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The next morning, Zhu Qiang came to the Li family’s door with two large bags of things.

Li Xiao was not at home, and it was Jiang Rou who opened the door.

Zhu Qiang wasn’t surprised to see her, probably due to the recent marriage, and greeted her with a cheerful smile, “Hello, sister-in-law.”

When Jiang Rou saw that it was him, she asked in surprise, “Why are you here? Your big brother is not at home.”

“Is that so?”

Zhu Qiang’s face showed regret but quickly turned into a smile again: “It’s fine; I can still speak with you.”

“Well, I don’t know how to start, but about the wedding a while back, things were really hectic, and with so many people, it was easy to get mixed up. Mei Zi’s relatives didn’t recognize Boss and Zhou Jian, so they kept them outside. It’s really upsetting; I only found out about it yesterday.”

“I was wondering why I didn’t see Boss that night. I was so busy and confused that I didn’t think of asking. I was really mad when I heard about it yesterday. I couldn’t come over because I was at Jiangnan Villa yesterday and didn’t have time to come over, so I asked Wang Tao to bring a message for me. I don’t know what he said, and only said that Boss refused my apology, so today I’m bringing gifts to apologize. Boss is a big-hearted person, so please don’t be mad about this. It’s not worth it. Mei Zi’s relatives usually don’t visit and live far away.”

After saying that, he said pitifully, “That day, they made such a fuss and insisted on taking two hundred yuan from me before they stopped. Do you think such relatives are not a headache?”

Jiang Rou was stunned and felt that he was worthy of working in a hotel—he was really good at speaking.

But she was not stupid. This sounded harmless, but when you thought about it carefully, the fault was all on his wife’s distant relatives, and what Wang Tao said caused a misunderstanding. Whatever happened, it had nothing to do with him from beginning to end.

But from what she heard, the female relatives had claimed in front of everyone that Li Xiao and Zhou Jian had served time in prison, which was why they weren’t allowed into the new house.

If they were truly distant relatives, how could they dare to cause such a scene?

And Zhu Qiang, did he really not know, or did he know but choose to ignore it?

Jiang Rou didn’t know how to respond. She merely smiled and said, “It’s useless to tell me this; I don’t know what happened. Why don’t you wait for Li Xiao to come back and tell it to him this time?”

Zhu Qiang agreed immediately: “That’s fine; I’ll leave the things here and come back to explain once Boss returns.”

As he said that, he was about to put things down.

But Jiang Rou naturally refused. She didn’t even know whether Li Xiao was willing to accept his apology, so what was the point of accepting his gift?

She quickly stretched out her hand to refuse: “No, no, no. Take these things back. There’s no need for them. You should go back first. Li Xiao should be back around two o’clock. You can come and talk to him then.”

Zhu Qiang responded with a sigh, “That’s quite unfortunate. I have other matters to attend to. How about this: I’ll leave the things here, and when Boss returns, you can say a few good words for me. I’ll come back to clarify things in a few days.”

“……”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Rou understood his intention. 

He wasn’t planning to apologize to Li Xiao directly. He only wanted to leave the gifts and have her speak well of him.

She is the mother of Li Xiao’s child and the person who sleeps beside Li Xiao. Naturally, her words would carry more weight than Wang Tao’s. Moreover, having accepted the gifts, Li Xiao might not have the face to be angry, even if he wanted to be.

Zhu Qiang planned to wait until things calmed down before coming back to apologize, considering the matter settled.

Such scheming was remarkable.

If Jiang Rou were less discerning, she might have been swayed by the gifts, but she was not and found Zhu Qiang’s behavior quite disgusting.

It was one thing to encounter problems, but shirking responsibility and blaming others was a surefire way to lose goodwill.

First, he sought out Wang Tao as a mediator, and when Wang Tao failed to convince her, Zhu Qiang tried to drag her into the situation.

Zhu Qiang also opened the bag for her to see, revealing various supplements, including Vitasoy, Kellogg’s, sesame paste, and chocolates.

Jiang Rou’s smile faded. She politely said, “These are too valuable. How can I accept them? You must have misunderstood Li Xiao. He’s been very busy these days and hasn’t mentioned being upset with you. Please take the things back. When he returns, I’ll talk to him, and don’t worry.”

Zhu Qiang didn’t expect Jiang Rou to have this attitude. After visiting Wang Tao’s house, where he hadn’t taken much, Wang Tao’s wife had been all smiles, and Wang Tao hadn’t said a word. She then sent him to Li Xiao’s home to ask for help.

Although they had grown up together, Zhu Qiang knew Li Xiao was far more important to him than Wang Tao. He was aware that he had indeed angered Li Xiao this time.

With his understanding of Li Xiao’s personality, he was worried that this incident might ruin their friendship.

Thinking of this, he spoke with a hint of pleading, “Sister-in-law, the situation is special this time. Please say a few good words for me. I’ve been very busy these days, and I need to go to Jiangnan Mountain Villa to help. Otherwise, I might lose my job. I need to leave now. I’ll leave the things here and come back to thank you properly in a few days.”

He bent down to place the items down.

Jiang Rou was quicker than him and stopped him. She frowned and said, “I really don’t want these things, Zhu Qiang; you take them back. Otherwise, I’ll end up bringing them back to you myself while holding An An. Even if Li Xiao were home, I wouldn’t let him accept such expensive gifts. It wouldn’t look good if it got out, would it?”

Jiang Rou genuinely did not want the gifts. Living with Li Xiao, she naturally considered his feelings. She knew the full context of the situation and saw through Zhu Qiang’s pretense of ignorance and insincere apology. There was no need to make Li Xiao unhappy over him.

She remembered an incident from the past when her brother had a falling out with their parents. He had been pushed down the stairs in middle school, which caused him to miss a competition. When the offending classmate’s mother came to apologize, her parents, being kind-hearted, had let it go due to her good attitude.

However, her brother had held onto that grudge for a long time, not forgetting it even into adulthood.

Jiang Rou felt she had no right to accept an apology on Li Xiao’s behalf.

When Zhu Qiang heard that she was going to take An An with her to return his gifts, he knew that she really didn’t want them and wasn’t just being polite.

With a helpless look on his face, he glanced at Jiang Rou and finally sighed and left with his things.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Li Xiao came home later than usual that day. He had visited the hospital to check on Uncle Wang and Aunt Wang and mentioned that Uncle Wang would be coming home in a few days.

Jiang Rou was reading in her room. After Li Xiao finished speaking, she told him about Zhu Qiang’s visit earlier that day.

Li Xiao frowned and asked, “Where’s the gift?” ”

Jiang Rou replied honestly, “I didn’t take them. I told him to take them back because they were too expensive.”

Li Xiao, who had been feeling somewhat upset, laughed when he heard this. He realized that Zhu Qiang’s cleverness had backfired. Did Zhu Qiang really think that everyone was as easily swayed as Mei Zi and Wang Tao’s wives?

Jiang Rou never liked taking advantage of others; the more expensive the gift, the less she would want it.

Li Xiao nodded with satisfaction and said, “I’ll have less contact with Zhu Qiang in the future. We’re not the same kind of people anymore. If he brings something to you again, don’t accept it. I’ll buy it for you instead.”

Jiang Rou smiled and said, “Okay.”

She lowered her head and continued to read.

Li Xiao looked at her soft profile—he couldn’t help but feel his heart soften.

From birth until now, he hadn’t had many things that truly belonged to him, which made him cherish the people around him. But now he realized that if someone’s character or principles didn’t align with his own, there was no need to continue being friends with them.

Perhaps it was because Jiang Rou and the children were by his side that he no longer feared losing anything.