Chapter 39.3

After lunch, once An An was asleep, Jiang Rou took the tricycle out again. She bought two pounds of meat at the market and then took it to Zhou Jian’s house.

Wang Yan, now seven months pregnant, had stopped working since Zhou Jian left. Zhou Jian’s mother was in much better health than last year. It was said that Wang Yan’s brother had found wild ginseng in the mountains and given it to her mother-in-law. Wang Yan now only needed to take good care of An An at home.

She often said that compared to her previous marriage, where she had to wash clothes and fetch water at eight months pregnant, this was like living in a fairy tale.

When Jiang Rou entered the house, she didn’t hesitate. She explained her situation directly and said, “You know how things are with my family. Li Xiao’s mother married into a problematic family, and Li Xiao offended them all and was kicked out. I really don’t dare go there myself. So, I was wondering if you could ask your brother to help me out.”

She continued, “Aunt Wang also said that if I don’t deal with this, it’ll affect Li Xiao and me negatively. Li Xiao has worked hard to get where he is, and I really don’t want him to be seen as a bad person by others.”

Wang Yan quickly reassured her, “Sister-in-law, don’t worry. I’ll ask my brother to take care of it. He should still be at the vegetable market now.”

She then called Zhou Hong, “Honghong, go and find your uncle and let him know that we need his help and it’s urgent.”

Jiang Rou expressed her gratitude, “I’m really sorry to trouble you.”

Wang Yan waved her hand dismissively, “It’s nothing. You’ve helped us a lot.”

Zhou Jian’s mother, who was sitting nearby, added, “Our families should not be so formal with each other. Li Xiao has looked after Xiao Jian since he was young. They are closer than brothers.”

—o—o—o—

Zhou Hong quickly returned with Wang Yan’s elder brother, Wang Wei. Jiang Rou had seen him from a distance before; he was very tall and strong, looking quite formidable.

Before Jiang Rou could say anything, Wang Yan explained the situation to him.

Jiang Rou added, “Brother Wang, I just need you to go and check things out. If everything is okay, that’s great. If there’s a problem, please help bring her out, and we can take them to the hospital together.”

“Got it.”

Wang Wei, summoned by Zhou Hong, had been handling fish. He thought there was an urgent matter and, without washing his hands or changing out of his fish-stained bib, prepared to leave.

“Let’s go now,” he said.

Jiang Rou was worried that An An might wake up and be scared if she didn’t see her, so she immediately led the way.

Wang Yan, supporting her belly, saw them off, and Zhou Hong, after jumping onto the tricycle, joined them.

Wang Wei scolded him with a laugh, “What are you doing up here? Get down.”

Zhou Hong ignored him, smiling as he moved aside.

Wang Wei didn’t insist and just let him stay.

Jiang Rou drove the tricycle to the alley where the He family lived, parked outside, and led Wang Wei inside.

When they reached the He family’s yard, she pointed and said, “It’s this one.”

The gate was open, and they could see a corner of the dirty yard filled with trash and bamboo, leaving almost no space to walk.

No one was outside, but faint voices could be heard coming from within the house. Along with the voices were intermittent sobs, though they were too soft to be clear.

Jiang Rou bit her lip, “It sounds like my mother-in-law is crying.”

Wang Wei, having heard some background about Jiang Rou’s family, said, “Wait here. I’ll go in alone.”

He had heard about Jiang Rou’s family through his sister and Zhou Jian. His wife liked to gossip while managing their stall, so he knew about many family issues.

Wang Wei went in directly.

Jiang Rou held Zhou Hong’s hand and waited outside. Soon, she heard arguing from inside—women’s voices, men’s voices, and the sound of a child crying…

She didn’t hear Wang Wei’s voice, but suddenly there was a loud “bang”—it sounded like a door being kicked open.

Shortly after, Wang Wei came out carrying someone on his back. Jiang Rou saw that the person was Lin Meiru. Her hair was much grayer, and her face had more pronounced wrinkles, making her look older than her actual age.

Lin Meiru’s lips were pale. Upon seeing Jiang Rou, her eyes reddened slightly as she weakly said, “Why did it take you so long to come? I’m in so much pain.”

Jiang Rou glanced at her with a neutral expression, then took Zhou Hong’s hand and walked out.

Behind them, the He family members chased after them. When they saw Jiang Rou, He Wenying shouted, “If you have guts, don’t come back! ”

Although Jiang Rou didn’t show Lin Meiru any kindness, she didn’t like the He family either. She turned around and shouted, “Do you think my husband is dead or something? ”

He Wenying fell silent, her face showing some discomfort at the mention of Li Xiao.

The commotion drew the attention of neighbors, who came out to see what was happening. Upon seeing Jiang Rou and Lin Meiru who were being carried, they couldn’t help but comment, “It’s unexpected that in the end, it was the real daughter-in-law who came.”

—o—o—o—

Jiang Rou made arrangements to have Lin Meiru admitted to the hospital.

As she saw Wang Wei off, Wang Wei said, “Your mother-in-law is not someone who can be easily bullied. When she knew it was you who came, she dug out the money hidden under the bed.”

“……”

Before Jiang Rou returned to the ward, she heard Lin Meiru’s pained screams before even entering. As soon as the door was pushed open, Lin Meiru turned her head and said bluntly, “Call Li Xiao and tell him that He Wenying and her husband beat me up. They’re not humans. Her son stole my money, so I pushed him. It didn’t even leave a scratch, but they both beat me up.”

Jiang Rou looked at her calmly and replied, “Why didn’t you do this earlier? If there was a problem, you should have contacted Li Xiao, or why didn’t you look for your good son, He Wenhua?”

She added, “And don’t forget, you have a good daughter-in-law who gave you a grandson?”

Lin Meiru was displeased by this comment but kept silent for the sake of her dignity. She only said, “Wenhua isn’t home yet; he hasn’t had a vacation.”

Jiang Rou rolled her eyes and retorted, “Li Xiao is not at home either. I’m not going to get involved in that.”

She then added, “I heard you brought money with you when you came out. You can use that to pay the rest yourself. If you’re hungry, ask the nurse to buy something for you. I have other matters to attend to, so I won’t be coming back.”

With that, she turned and left, showing no sympathy for Lin Meiru.

Lin Meiru shouted after her, “Why are you so heartless? I’m seriously injured! ”

Jiang Rou replied coldly, “I don’t owe you anything.”

Watching Jiang Rou’s figure disappear, Lin Meiru felt abandoned—as if everyone in this world didn’t want her.

—o—o—o—

Upon returning home, Jiang Rou called Li Xiao in the afternoon to update him on the situation.

After a pause on the line, Li Xiao’s voice was cold as he said, “Don’t concern yourself with her. You don’t need to get involved in such matters in the future. She can handle the consequences of her actions herself.”

Jiang Rou agreed. “Mm.”

—o—o—o—

In the evening, Zhang Ping suddenly came over.

Jiang Rou and Li Xin were having dinner in the yard. As it started to get a bit dark, they moved a small table outside and set up two small stools facing each other. They ate while keeping an eye on An An, who was crawling on a mat nearby.

An An wore only a bellyband and small pants. She crawled skillfully and quickly on the mat. Aware of the dirt outside, she was careful not to venture beyond the mat.

When she got tired, she would roll over to Jiang Rou, seeking water or something to eat.

She even tried to stand up by propping her small hands on the table.

When Zhang Ping arrived, Jiang Rou invited her to sit down and join them for dinner.

At first, Zhang Ping declined, but her stomach growled loudly with hunger.

Her face turned red, and Jiang Rou urged her to sit down. Li Xin took the initiative to get her a bowl of rice.

Zhang Ping then explained her visit. She had heard that her classmates were going to the school to estimate their exam scores, so she decided to join them. “Wen Yang is here too. Today, he’s helping with the score estimation at the school. I also heard you’re preparing for the college entrance examination, so I thought I’d come by and bring you the test papers. You can calculate your scores with these.”

She pulled several test papers from her backpack. “These were written by Wen Yang and the top students in each class. Our homeroom teacher and other teachers from different subjects reviewed and revised them. They should be almost accurate. You can take a look.”

Jiang Rou quickly set aside her chopsticks, took the papers, and saw that the first page was written by Wen Yang.

She recognized Wen Yang as the person who had a mutual crush with the original owner. Even though she had no particular feelings for him, the handwriting was still very familiar.

Jiang Rou steadied herself, got up, and went back inside to fetch a pen and paper. She started calculating her scores.

Seeing the test papers and problem-solving steps helped her recall the answers. She marked the correct ones with a pencil and used question marks for those she couldn’t remember.

Jiang Rou didn’t look at the Chinese language test. She had reviewed it herself when she returned home and got all the answers right, estimating a score of about 110 to 120.

For the other subjects, she made some mistakes: three multiple-choice questions wrong in English, two wrong in math, and a miscalculation in a big question at the end.

In physics, chemistry, and biology, she had a few incorrect answers but not many.

Her estimated score was between 630 and 650. Last year’s cutoff for the first-tier science programs was 555, so she had exceeded that by quite a bit.

Jiang Rou was not surprised by this result. Her previous college entrance examination score had been 662. This time, given her rushed preparation, she did not expect to achieve the same score.

However, Zhang Ping was shocked. She recalculated using the test papers, marking the correct answers and calculating twice. She found that the lowest score was 632.

This estimated score of Jiang Liang, the top student in the school, was between 610 and 620. It seemed that everyone’s scores this year weren’t very high.

Wen Yang, who had passed last year, would have achieved a higher score this year if he had taken the exam.

Jiang Rou felt relieved and thought she should be able to attend the university she had applied for.

Zhang Ping looked at Jiang Rou with a complex expression. “The acceptance letters should be coming soon. The school will call you when it arrives. Remember to go pick it up.”

“Thank you,” Jiang Rou said with a happy smile.

Zhang Ping also smiled from the bottom of her heart. She was sincerely happy for Jiang Rou, who was taking the college entrance exam. She didn’t want to look back years later and see that her closest high school friend had missed out on life because of her early marriage.

Half a month later, Aunt Wang excitedly called Jiang Rou. She said, “Someone called and asked you to pick up your notice letter. It’s here now! ”