Chapter 27.1

Hearing Jiang Rou say this, Li Xiao had no choice but to carry An An to the kitchen to serve the dishes.

For dinner, they had three dishes and one soup again. Jiang Rou was still quite particular about food, and she was particular about the taste and nutritional balance. For example, she made sure not to repeat the dishes from the previous day.

Unlike Li Xiao, if it was a dish he liked, he would always buy it. There was a time before when he liked to eat the minced meat eggplant made by Jiang Rou, and then he bought eggplant every day, and Jiang Rou almost vomited at the sight of eggplant.

After that, she would tell him what ingredients to buy every day and not let him choose by himself.

Jiang Rou placed the damp shoes in the fire barrel to dry.

Then she went to the kitchen to wash her hands. Li Xiao was holding An An in one arm and using a spatula to serve the rice with the other.

Jiang Rou finished washing her hands and walked over to get their chopsticks.

During meals, they were not as silent as before. Although Li Xiao still spoke little, he would respond with a word or two when Jiang Rou spoke, showing that he was listening.

Jiang Rou’s circle was not very large, but since she was well-liked, she knew all the gossip around her. Even though Li Xiao was out every day, he heard less than she did.

For instance, Jiang Rou suddenly said in a mysterious tone, “Do you know? Something happened at Zhu Qiang’s house.”

Li Xiao looked up at her instinctively when he heard Zhu Qiang’s name, raising his eyebrows.

He knew that whenever Jiang Rou asked like this, she didn’t really expect him to answer. She would spill everything herself.

Sure enough, without waiting for Li Xiao to speak, Jiang Rou immediately said, “Today, I heard a few aunts chatting that Zhu Qiang’s eldest brother-in-law was deceived into marriage.”

In this era, the concept of marriage fraud appeared to be nonexistent. After she finished speaking, she worried that he might not understand her, so she added, “It was his wife, Mei Zi’s brother, the one with polio. A while back, he met a very beautiful girl and wanted to marry her. The girl agreed but asked for a higher bride price. Who would have guessed that just two days after the wedding, the girl disappeared, and the bride price was gone too?”

“Later, I heard someone say that the girl did the same thing in another village a few years ago, running away within two years. This time, she ran away even quicker. I’m afraid she didn’t even want to go through the process of pretending to be his wife after getting the money.”

In fact, those aunts were more blunt. They said that Zhu Qiang’s father-in-law and his family were too naive, not even considering what their son looked like. The girl was pretty, and she appeared out of nowhere and became interested in their son—there had to be something wrong.

She actually wanted to marry someone else. Isn’t that like bringing a thief into your own home?

“I heard that Zhu Qiang didn’t even know about this. His eldest brother-in-law didn’t inform him about the wedding feast. The bride price was probably related to the Zhu family, and Mei Zi’s family was quite poor, so they couldn’t afford a high bride price. They probably didn’t want Zhu Qiang to know and be unhappy.”

One could only say that Mei Zi’s family handled this situation rather unfairly.

Zhu Qiang said that Mei Zi’s parents didn’t favor boys over girls, but it was clear that Mei Zi sided with her family.

There was nothing wrong with favoring one’s family; filial piety and loving one’s siblings were good things. However, Zhu Qiang, caught in the middle, seemed a bit like a fool.

Li Xiao has been running back and forth between the city and home during this period, and he really doesn’t know what happened to Zhu Qiang.

He hasn’t seen Zhu Qiang for a few days. Since their last falling out, he hadn’t even thought about him. He was too busy with his own affairs to care.

Hearing about Zhu Qiang now didn’t evoke much of a reaction. He simply remarked, “Just take it as something you’ve heard.”

Since the news had reached Jiang Rou, Zhu Qiang should have known by now.

Jiang Rou nodded—she just wanted to listen to the gossip.

Li Xiao was right—Zhu Qiang did know about it and came to ask him for help.

As soon as the two finished eating their meal, Zhu Qiang ran over in a hurry; his eyes were slightly red as if he had been crying.

Li Xiao was sitting at the door, holding his child, and watching the snow. The little girl is now three months old and can be held upright, but he has to support her neck.

Li Xiao was strong and held her steadily. She loved being held by her father. Unlike Jiang Rou, who would put her down after a while, An An would instinctively grab onto her mother’s clothes every time.

While holding An An, Li Xiao was very quiet, forming a sharp contrast with Jiang Rou. Jiang Rou loved talking to An An, and even without a response, she would ask and answer her own questions. An always looked at her obediently, as if she understood.

But she was also very well-behaved with her father, even though he never spoke.

She just nestled quietly in his arms, enjoying the snow with him.

The father and daughter’s heads were close together, their expressions matching as if they were molded from the same mold.

When Zhu Qiang pushed open the door, he saw this scene and was momentarily stunned.

Since Li Xiao’s child was born, he had never seen An An. He thought all children were pretty much the same, so he hadn’t been very curious.

But seeing An An, who was fair-skinned and dressed up like a flower, for some reason, he felt a twinge of envy.

It was somewhat ridiculous for him to say that he envied Li Xiao. He had never envied Li Xiao, not even as a child. In fact, he had always felt a sense of pity for him and Zhou Jian. Their families were not well-off, and when he played with them during their childhood, he always harbored a sense of superiority because he had enough to eat, warm clothes, and the love of his parents.

However, at some point, things started to change. Li Xiao had become more particular about food and clothing; Zhou Jian had found a close confidant; and even Jin Dayou had been admitted to a university in the provincial capital.

Meanwhile, only he and Wang Tao remained stuck in place.

After severing ties with Li Xiao, he unconsciously felt a sense of relief. Perhaps he believed that, as long as he didn’t witness their hard work every day, he could continue to live a peaceful life.

Zhu Qiang’s eyes landed on Li Xiao, and he stood still for a moment.

It was Li Xiao who turned his head to look at him, slightly raising his eyebrows, and asked, “Why are you here?”

Zhu Qiang snapped back to reality and forced a smile, though there was a hint of bitterness in it.

He walked into the yard, but instead of explaining the reason for his visit, he asked, “Is this An An? She’s so cute.”

Li Xiao didn’t react much. He had been complimented on his looks since childhood, and lately, when he took his daughter out, he often heard people praising her for being “cute” and “beautiful.” He had heard it so many times that it no longer made an impression on him.

The little girl was even more indifferent. She merely glanced at Zhu Qiang before turning her attention back to the falling snow outside, as if uninterested. Her expression and mannerisms mirrored those of Li Xiao.

Li Xiao had always been this way, reluctant to engage in conversation, even as a child.

Zhu Qiang silently reflected on this as he walked under the eaves, brushed the snow off his clothes, and refrained from entering the house. Instead, he stood at the doorway and explained the purpose of his visit.

With genuine sincerity, he said, “Brother, I was wrong last time. I apologize to you.”

He hesitated briefly before continuing, “We can settle this matter however you like, but recently, I’ve encountered some trouble. Could you please let bygones be bygones and help me out?”

Before Li Xiao could respond, Zhu Qiang began recounting everything Mei Zi’s family had done. His eyes reddened as he spoke, and his hands, clenched into fists at his sides, shook with anger. He had to take a few deep breaths before he could go on.

That money had been the hard-earned savings of his parents, accumulated over many years, along with the money he himself had worked so hard to earn. Mei Zi had assured him that her parents didn’t favor boys over girls and that she would bring all the dowry gifts with her when she married, which had convinced him to persuade his parents to agree.

But now, Mei Zi has not only left the betrothal gifts to her brother, but her brother has also used that money as a dowry for someone else.

So what did that make their family?

The money earned through hard work was all for her brother to marry.

What was worse, the money had been stolen, and now they didn’t even know where the scammer was.

Just thinking about it made Zhu Qiang’s chest ache with anger. The whole situation was clearly a scam, and Mei Zi’s brother was not even a normal person. Why would anyone like him? The laughable part was that Mei Zi’s family hadn’t even informed them when they were hosting the wedding banquet. Who were they guarding against?

Whether Mei Zi knew about it or not, he didn’t care to find out. He only knew he needed to recover the money.

He truly regretted it now; if he had never married her, he wouldn’t have encountered this issue.

Finding a wife who genuinely cared, like Li Xiao and Zhou Jian’s wives, was better than anything.

Zhu Qiang recounted these details with more depth than Jiang Rou had heard, but since Li Xiao had already listened to the story during dinner, it didn’t stir much emotion in him the second time around.

After all, the money wasn’t his. No matter how furious Zhu Qiang was, Li Xiao couldn’t fully relate to his anger.

Moreover, he had only one thought after hearing this: the foolishness was widespread. Zhu Qiang was foolish, and Mei Zi’s family was even more foolish. Such things wouldn’t happen to him and Jiang Rou.

Although Jiang Rou didn’t have a sick brother, she did have an unwise older sister. She had never considered giving money to her sister but had instead dug out some old books and bought some cheap notebooks and pens, asking him to deliver them to her sister’s family.

Even if Zhang Yan and her younger brother saw these things, they wouldn’t want them, but these things could genuinely help the two children.

She also said that if the two children did well in their studies in the future, she, as an aunt, would help them.

Li Xiao had no objections. She had always been kind-hearted. As long as it wasn’t like her sister, who was deeply involved with her mother’s family, he had no issue with helping out relatives a little.

After Zhu Qiang finished speaking, he looked at Li Xiao with a hint of desperation in his eyes. “Big Brother, can you help me? I know you have many friends and connections. I’ve heard that this woman has scammed several people. If we find her, it can be considered as protecting a lot of people. Could you ask your friends, like that ‘Brother’ you mentioned before? Didn’t you mention before that he’s connected to both the underground bosses and the government? He must have a way. That woman is despicable. We must get the money back—that’s my parents’ hard-earned money. Please, brother.”

As he spoke, his voice began to break. 

He was truly desperate.

When Zhu Qiang learned about this earlier that afternoon, it felt like a bolt of lightning had struck him. His mind was buzzing, and he couldn’t believe this was happening to him. His mother even fainted on the spot.

He had questioned Mei Zi at home for a long time, but she only cried and didn’t reveal anything. Later, he went to his in-laws’ home to inquire, but they didn’t say a word. He only pieced together the truth from the neighbors.

At that moment, he felt an overwhelming urge to harm someone.

He didn’t even know how he got home, feeling as if he had been drained. His mind was blank, and he wandered home in a daze. He sat there staring into space until suddenly, Li Xiao’s image popped into his mind, and he came here with a glimmer of hope.

Li Xiao had many friends among the gangsters and knew people everywhere. Even Qin Wenguo, who fell out with him, never spoke ill of him. Finding that scammer shouldn’t be too difficult for him.

After hearing these words, Li Xiao was silent for a while. He frowned and was about to speak.

“He can’t help you with this.”

Jiang Rou came out of the kitchen and directly refused his request. “Zhu Qiang, it’s not that I disagree with him helping you. It’s just that Li Xiao’s leg is injured, and he can’t go out these days. Don’t blame me for being harsh; he really can’t handle running around in this cold winter.”

When Zhu Qiang heard this, he looked at Li Xiao’s legs. Just as he was about to say something, Jiang Rou approached and said, “In this situation, looking for him is useless. He’s an ordinary person. What can he do? My second sister ran away a few days ago, and he couldn’t do anything about it. Moreover, that woman you’re talking about is a habitual scammer and is likely better at evading detection than an average person.”

“You should call the police when you encounter these things. Life is not a movie, and those friends of his aren’t much better than he is. You shouldn’t place your hopes on Li Xiao.”

Zhu Qiang said nothing after hearing this and then turned his eyes to Li Xiao. Li Xiao didn’t say a word after Jiang Rou spoke. Zhu Qiang sighed as if understanding Li Xiao’s meaning and his expression became somewhat unpleasant.

But thinking about the money, he was still reluctant. He spoke hesitantly, “Sister-in-law, brother, I was really wrong last time. I…”

Jiang Rou interrupted him directly. “Zhu Qiang, don’t say such things. We’ve long forgotten about the last incident. Your current situation is very troublesome, and we really can’t help you. You should report it to the police immediately. That scammer likely has accomplices. It’s not something that can be resolved by just one or two people.”

Zhu Qiang’s lips moved, and he glanced at Li Xiao, who was holding a child, and then at Jiang Rou, who was protecting Li Xiao. Finally, without saying another word, he turned and left.

He was likely angry, but Jiang Rou didn’t care. She turned to Li Xiao and glared at him. “What were you about to say just now? ”

Li Xiao was stunned for a moment, seeming not to have reacted yet. The woman who had just been protecting him now looked furious, her brow raised.

Jiang Rou said angrily, “Can you agree to such a thing? What can you do if you get involved? You have many friends, but who are you going to find? Don’t let yourself get into trouble after helping someone. Believe it or not, if you find the person and the money, they will think that that’s what you should do. But if you don’t find the person, he will blame you for not trying your best, accusing you of being petty and holding grudges from before. If you find the person but the money is missing, he will suspect that you took it.”

Jiang Rou has seen a lot of such things. She once heard about a young man who was ignorant and impulsively helped his friend vent his anger, which resulted in his accidental murder. In the end, his friend was fine, but he went to jail and accumulated debts.

If Li Xiao accidentally hurt someone while searching, who would be responsible?

Will Zhu Qiang stand up for him?

Jiang Rou felt he wouldn’t.

And most importantly, Jiang Rou hadn’t lied to Zhu Qiang earlier. A woman as bold and reckless as her, who would involve herself in fraudulent marriages, likely had someone backing her. Such a person wouldn’t hesitate to kill if necessary.

No matter how powerful Li Xiao was, what could he possibly do against these people?

In her past life, Li Xiao’s records hadn’t mentioned this incident, but he had changed significantly from who he once was, making it impossible for Jiang Rou to predict his future based on past records.

Li Xiao awkwardly touched his nose and said, “I didn’t say anything.”

This woman’s temper was getting bigger and bigger.

But he felt inexplicably comfortable in his heart and felt that it was not bad to be protected by someone.

——