Chapter 58.2

Just like before, the family of four watched the Spring Festival Gala before going to bed.

Because they stayed up later than usual, the family of three fell asleep quickly. In the middle of the night, when Li Xiao’s phone rang, Jiang Rou, half-awake, thought it was morning and opened her eyes groggily.

Li Xiao had already gotten up, took his phone, and went to the window to answer the call. He seemed to have heard something and even opened the curtains to look outside.

After ending the call, Li Xiao returned to the bedside and began to get dressed. Seeing that he seemed to be preparing to go out, Jiang Rou sat up and asked, “What’s going on?”

Li Xiao had not expected Jiang Rou to wake up and hurriedly asked, “Did I disturb you?”

Jiang Rou shook her head and asked again, “Who made the call?”

Li Xiao did not hide anything from her and directly said, “The security guard. Cao Wang’s eldest son ran over and said that his mother was pushed to the ground and was bleeding by his grandmother. He didn’t know who to find, so he came to find me.”

Jiang Rou was stunned upon hearing this. “Didn’t they go home for the New Year?”

Then she remembered, “It’s not that close to the factory here. Did he come alone? And it’s late at night; this is too dangerous.”

Although usually it took Li Xiao about ten minutes by car to get to the factory, which was very close, if walking, it would probably take thirty to forty minutes.

Li Xiao replied, “Cao Wang went back to his hometown, but his wife didn’t go back. I didn’t expect that Cao Wang’s mother didn’t go back either.”

Jiang Rou didn’t know what to say. This was quite a disturbance during the New Year.

Thinking of the bleeding that Li Xiao mentioned, she felt a bit uneasy. She got up, sat up, and lifted the quilt, saying, “I’ll go with you.”

Saying this, she also put on her clothes.

Seeing her determined appearance, Li Xiao’s heart softened. “You continue to sleep. I can go alone.”

Jiang Rou did not listen. “Let’s go together. I’m afraid you won’t be able to handle it alone.”

As she spoke, she took his phone and dialed 120. Seeing that she was really going to go, Li Xiao went to find her a cotton-padded jacket. Although winter in the south wasn’t very cold, it was still important to keep warm at night.

Jiang Rou bent down and carefully picked up the sleeping An An, preparing to take her to Li Xin’s room.

Gently opening the door to Li Xin’s room, she found that Li Xin was still awake, reading a book with the lamp on. Seeing the door open, she quickly tried to turn off the light. Jiang Rou said with annoyance, “Why are you still awake so late? Go to sleep.”

Li Xin quickly undressed and prepared to get into bed, then asked softly, “What’s going on?”

Jiang Rou also spoke softly, “I’m going out with her dad. You stay with her for the night. We’ll come back as soon as possible.”

Li Xin nodded and snuggled into the blanket.

Jiang Rou went out with Li Xiao, drove to the security guard’s station, and picked up Cao Wang’s eldest son, Cao Xiaobei. Cao Xiaobei was not wearing any shoes, barefoot, with a frightened expression, red eyes, and tear-streaked cheeks, clearly having cried.

Seeing him like this, Jiang Rou took off her coat and wrapped it around him, gently patting him. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Auntie has already called 120. Don’t be afraid. Tell Uncle and Auntie what happened?”

Cao Xiaobei wiped his tears with his arm and then choked up as he explained what had happened.

It turned out that tonight his younger brother had a fever, and his mother wanted to take him to the hospital. When his grandmother heard about it, she said it was not a serious illness. She had heard that for children’s fevers, a few needle pricks on the tongue would cure it. She went to get a needle to prick his brother’s tongue, but his mother didn’t allow it. The two of them argued, and in the end, his mother picked up his brother and was preparing to leave when his grandmother pushed her from behind.

“To protect my brother, Mom hugged him tightly, then she fell on the floor and couldn’t move. She started bleeding, and I was so scared. I didn’t know who to find. Dad wasn’t at home. I remember hearing that the factory manager lived here before. I remembered the way from the last time I passed by, so I came to find the manager. Wuwuwu… I’m so scared… Will Mom be okay?”

Jiang Rou was horrified. She felt a deep anger towards that old woman. ‘How could someone be so ignorant and vicious?’

Li Xiao remained silent but drove a bit faster. Fortunately, there was no traffic at night, and they reached the factory’s staff dormitory in a few minutes.

Previously, because Cao Wang’s wife had arrived, Cao Wang had been assigned a couple’s dormitory. However, when they followed Cao Xiaobei’s lead to their dormitory, Jiang Rou and Li Xiao were stunned. The surrounding dormitories were clean, but in front of their door, there was a pile of trash, leaving no space to step.

Cao Xiaobei, fearing that they might dislike it, quickly explained, “It’s all garbage that Grandma picked up. She said she wanted to sell it to earn extra money.”

“Before Grandma came, the house was fine. After she came, Mom was always stressed. She didn’t work but when Dad was home, she cooked, and when he wasn’t, Mom had to take care of her. Mom told Dad about it but he didn’t believe her.”

“……”

Jiang Rou felt suffocated—suddenly finding Lin Meiru somewhat endearing in comparison.

As they reached the door, Cao Xiaobei opened it. Jiang Rou and Li Xiao saw Qin Xiuxiu sitting against the wall with a child in her arms. Jiang Rou turned on the light, and the two of them—mother and child, were in stark contrast—one pale and the other red-faced.

At that moment, Jiang Rou’s phone rang from her pocket. It was a call from the ambulance, asking where they were, as they had arrived.

Jiang Rou provided the location of the back door and instructed Cao Xiaobei to go there and meet them.

On the other side, Li Xiao had already gone to help. He lifted the child with one hand and reached out to pull Qin Xiuxiu with the other.

Seeing them come over, Qin Xiuxiu seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. She bit her lip tightly, trying to use Li Xiao’s strength to stand up.

Jiang Rou hurried over and said, “Don’t move her yet. Let’s wait for the doctor to arrive.”

Li Xiao hesitated and stopped moving.

At that moment, Cao Wang’s mother, who had been sleeping in the room, came out and complained impatiently, “It’s so noisy in the middle of the night. Can’t I get some sleep?”

Upon seeing Li Xiao and Jiang Rou, her expression changed. Recognizing Li Xiao as Cao Wang’s boss, she was just about to say something when Cao Xiaobei, panting, ran in and pointed back, saying, “Here, right here—”

Cao Wang’s mother immediately started scolding him, “You worthless child, where have you been in the middle of the night? I knew you were up to no good, just like your mother…”

Unable to stand it any longer, Li Xiao shouted loudly, “Shut up!”

A young male and female doctor pushed a stretcher into the room. The male doctor hurried to Qin Xiuxiu’s side and said to Li Xiao, “I’ll take over.”

He bent down and carefully lifted her onto the stretcher.

Li Xiao carried the child and followed behind. When Cao Wang’s mother saw them about to leave, she quickly moved to block their way, and said: “What are you doing? She just got pushed a little. You’re making a fuss about calling the hospital. It’s a waste of money. We don’t have the money for this…”

Li Xiao handed the feverish child to Jiang Rou, pushed Cao Wang’s mother aside, and then, along with the two doctors, carried Qin Xiuxiu who was on the stretcher out of the room.

Cao Wang’s mother was pushed back several steps. Seeing that she couldn’t stop them, she sat down on the ground and cried, “Bad luck, wasteful woman. What kind of disaster has our Cao family fallen into!!!!”

Cao Xiaobei, angrily, shut the door from the outside.

Cao Wang’s mother seemed to sense something was wrong and ran over to pull the door, discovering it wouldn’t open. She became truly frantic, cursing, “Open the door for me, you nasty little brat. Just wait until I get out and beat you up—”

Jiang Rou and Li Xiao ignored her and anxiously got into the ambulance.

In the ambulance, there was no fever-reducing medicine, so Jiang Rou used her cold hands to try to cool down the child. Cao Xiaobei looked at his unconscious mother on the stretcher and sobbed quietly.

They waited for two hours at the hospital.

Fortunately, both mother and child were fine in the end, but Qin Xiuxiu lost the baby she was carrying. Li Xiao called Cao Wang and then took Jiang Rou back home.

They arrived home at five in the morning. An An had not yet woken up, and Jiang Rou did not go to pick her up but went back to the bedroom to sleep with Li Xiao.

When An An woke up in the morning and did not see Jiang Rou and Li Xiao, she cried and fussed about wanting her parents. Li Xin was worried about disturbing her sister and brother-in-law and tried to comfort An An, telling her to wait a little while before looking for her parents. An An was not satisfied and ran out of bed to the master bedroom.

Seeing her, Jiang Rou picked her up and placed her back in bed, patting her to continue sleeping.

An An puffed up her cheeks and looked a bit angry.

Jiang Rou feigned innocence and said, “You were the one who insisted on sleeping with your aunt last night. Mommy wouldn’t let you, but you got out of bed and ran off. Don’t you remember?”

An An looked at her mother’s serious expression and seemed to believe it, asking uncertainly, “Really?”

Jiang Rou maintained her serious demeanor, “Of course. How could Mommy bear to let you leave?”

“Alright, let’s sleep a little more.”

An An snuggled into her mother’s arms and stopped being upset.

Li Xiao, lying beside them, closed his eyes but smiled.

It was clear that he was awake.

Cao Wang arrived from his hometown and would stay for a few days. During this time, Jiang Rou and Li Xiao couldn’t ignore everything, so they visited daily. Cao Wang arrived on the fourth day of the New Year.

As usual, Jiang Rou and Li Xiao came at 8:30 in the morning to bring food. Before they even pushed the door open, they heard loud voices from inside. The loudest voice was Cao Wang’s mother’s, and they could clearly hear her through the door, “This child always sides with his mother and says whatever he wants. Obviously, I wanted to take the child to the hospital, but your wife insisted on stopping me, saying I had bad intentions. Don’t you think I’m wronged? Xiao Nan is my grandson. How could I want to harm him?”

“And I see that your wife’s relationship with that big boss of yours isn’t quite ordinary. There might be something going on between them.”

Jiang Rou and Li Xiao, who were eavesdropping outside, were speechless.

Inside, Cao Wang immediately rejected the idea without hesitation, “Impossible. The boss really likes the boss’s wife. Everyone in our factory knows that.”

The old woman sneered dismissively, “That’s not necessarily true. Besides, what if your wife was the one who seduced someone? You didn’t see it, but that night, your big boss kept holding your wife’s hand and wouldn’t let go. And in front of his own wife, he didn’t dare do anything. You know your wife, she had many men helping her when she worked in the countryside.”

Cao Wang fell silent.

—o—o—o—

Outside, Li Xiao’s face turned completely dark. She rolled up her sleeves and prepared to kick the door, but Jiang Rou held her back.

Jiang Rou quickly calmed her down with a gentle hand, whispering, “Don’t be angry. I saw what happened and won’t blame you.”

Li Xiao gritted her teeth and cursed, “Damn it, this old woman deserves to die!”

—o—o—o—

Inside the room, Qin Xiuxiu lay on the bed, looking out the window. She did not argue but remained silent, her eyes not even moving as she listened to the conversation.

Cao Wang, seeing her reaction, became somewhat angry. He frowned and said, “What’s the matter with you? You’ve made the whole house a mess.”

The ward fell into a heavy silence.

Jiang Rou and Li Xiao hesitated about whether to enter. They heard Qin Xiuxiu’s voice from inside the room say, “Let’s get a divorce.”

Jiang Rou and Li Xiao were taken aback and exchanged glances. Jiang Rou then withdrew her hand from the door.

Cao Wang inside the room was also stunned.

The old woman exploded in anger, “Divorce? Do you have no shame? How old are you to be talking about divorce? Do you think my son is scared? If you want a divorce, go ahead and leave. Get out of our house.”

Qin Xiuxiu ignored her mother-in-law and looked at Cao Wang with a numb expression, “I don’t want anything, just the two children.”

The two children stood beside their mother’s bed, having remained silent from the beginning, seemingly already knowing everything.

Cao Wang pressed his lips together, wanting to say more, but the old woman shouted loudly, “Dream on! Xiao Bei and Xiao Nan are members of the Cao family. What right do you have to take them away? If you want a divorce, you can go alone.”

Cao Xiaobei, who had been holding back his words, suddenly rushed over and pushed people, shouting, “Get out! Get out of here, I hate you!”

The old woman’s face immediately changed, and she began clutching her chest and crying, “Oh dear, Da Wang, look at what she’s done to these children!”

“See, this is how your wife usually treats me,” Cao Wang said.

Cao Wang went over to pull the child, but Cao Xiaobei shook him off ruthlessly. Cao Wang frowned as he looked at Qin Xiuxiu lying on the bed, “Everything was going well. Why divorce?”

Qin Xiuxiu couldn’t even be bothered to explain. She calmly said, “Whether you agree or not, we will divorce.”

The old woman continued to shout, “Divorce is fine, but leave the children behind.”

Meanwhile, Xiao Nan looked fearfully at his mother. Though he was young, he understood that if his parents separated, he wanted to stay with his mother. He couldn’t help but cry, “Mommy, don’t leave Xiao Nan behind.”

Qin Xiuxiu’s eyes instantly filled with tears.

Cao Xiaobei picked up a fruit knife from the bedside table and charged at the old woman, “Get out, you old witch! If you dare to make me stay, I’ll stab you to death in the middle of the night!”

The old woman, seeing her grandson’s hateful gaze, was so frightened that she cowered to the side, cursing loudly, “This is terrible, the Cao family has produced a bad seed.”

Cao Wang looked at his eldest son’s frenzied state and his younger son’s fearful expression, unable to stop himself from becoming stunned.

—o—o—o—

Outside the door, Jiang Rou was pulling Li Xiao away. Despite her efforts, Li Xiao remained rooted to the spot, still listening with his ears perked up, “…”

She finally understood where An An’s strong curiosity came from.

The kindergarten teacher had said that An An was generally well-behaved and obedient but had a strong curiosity and loved to be involved. Whenever there was a commotion outside, An An would be particularly excited, getting up to watch and even running outside to see, often taking the entire class with her.

She would always head straight to the most exciting place.

During meals, she was always the most active. When they told her to sit still and wait for the teacher to get the food, she would rush out to get it herself before they even finished speaking.

Jiang Rou didn’t listen to the rest of the conversation and pulled Li Xiao away directly.

—o—o—o—

Compared to the mess Cao Wang and his wife had, Lin Shujun and Fu Fei seemed much happier. They got married on the sixth day of the lunar new year.

Fu Fei was a person who knew how to handle relationships well. During the New Year, he went to Lin Shujun’s hometown, bringing a truckload of gifts. Lin Shujun’s family was very pleased with him. It wasn’t clear how he had managed it, but the two quickly settled on their plans. With few relatives on both sides, the wedding wasn’t very elaborate. They only held a small reception at a restaurant with two tables, just a meal together.

According to Lin Shujun, a simple meal with both families would have sufficed. However, Fu Fei insisted on having a small wedding ceremony. Although it wasn’t very grand and didn’t have many guests—just a few relatives from both families and some colleagues of Fu Fei and Lin Shujun—it was still quite warm and cozy.

An An served as a flower girl, presenting the rings. The little one followed Jiang Rou’s teaching, and said in a sweet voice, “Wishing Uncle and Aunt a long and happy life together, loving each other, being happy, and having… having… a little baby soon.”

She had forgotten what was the last part, so An An filled in a word on her own, which made everyone burst into laughter.

Fu Fei rubbed her little head and said with a smile, “Thank you, An An.”

An An blushed and smiled, then waved her hand like a little leader as she came down—

making everyone laugh again.

—o—o—o—

On the tenth day of the lunar new year, Mr. You and his family returned from their overseas trip, bringing many gifts. Lele gave An An a beautiful colored bracelet.

An An played with it for a while before tossing it aside. Her eyes were fixed on the delicious food nearby, and she pointed at it—as if asking her Brother Lele to open it for her.

Lele sighed like an adult and patiently opened it for her. An An took a couple of bites and then reached for another snack, wanting to eat that one too. Jiang Rou gave her a gentle pat on the hand, and the little one puffed up her cheeks.

Lele saw this took the snack from her hand, and said with a smile, “Big brother also wants to try this. How about I open it and share a few pieces with you?”

An An was instantly delighted.

Jiang Rou, observed Lele’s considerate behavior and felt a bit helpless. After leaving the You family’s house, she says to Li Xiao, “Lele spoils An An too much. He had completely spoiled her.”

Li Xiao who was holding An An, shrugged nonchalantly and replied, “An An is so cute. Who wouldn’t like her?”

Jiang Rou: “…”

—o—o—o—

Lucia: I guess Li Xiao’s radar is not working right now, be careful, your cabbage might get stolen.