Chapter 22: The Clown

The old man felt happy seeing his grandson enjoying the watermelon. He wrapped two meat buns in paper and handed them to Jiang Peiyu.

“Girl, it’s almost noon. You two must be hungry. Take these buns and eat.”

Jiang Peiyu had bought meat buns from the old man a few days ago—15 cents each, stuffed with lots of meat and thin-skinned. They were quite tasty. So she didn’t refuse and accepted them, planning to give a couple of melons later to the old man and his grandson in return.

They continued selling until after 1 p.m., by which time both baskets of melons were completely sold out. After packing up, they headed home. As Jiang Wenyan and Jiang Peiyu approached their house in the ox cart, they could already see a noisy crowd of villagers surrounding their gate from a distance.

Voices of arguing could be heard coming from inside the courtyard, and something about the voices felt familiar to Jiang Peiyu. The siblings exchanged glances, quickly stopped the cart, pushed their way through the crowd, and rushed into the yard.

Their father, mother, and eldest brother and sister-in-law were standing under the eaves, each of their faces filled with anger. All of them stared furiously at Chen Hui and Xia Zhihao, who were making a scene in the courtyard.

Chen Hui, despite being an older woman, was dressed flamboyantly in a gaudy dress, drawing even more attention to herself. To Jiang Peiyu, she looked nothing more than a clown—a ridiculous one at that—and completely unaware of it.

She and Xia Zhihao stood with arms crossed, wearing smug expressions, looking down at the Jiang family with arrogance. Chen Hui spoke with haughtiness and impatience.

“Just say it! How much money do you people want to let my daughter go?”

“My poor daughter has suffered for so many years in this backwater, countryside hellhole!”

As she spoke, her eyes scanned the entire Jiang family courtyard with nothing but contempt and disdain. Her gaze dripped with arrogance.

“Your daughter has lived in our home enjoying twenty-some years of wealth and luxury, and now…”

“She ends up sending my daughter to jail? You people are utterly ungrateful!”

“I didn’t go to the police to report how you swapped the children all those years ago. That was already merciful of me.”

“You’d better come to your senses and bring Jiang Peiyu out—have her go to the station and withdraw the charges…”

“If you ever dare to come near us again, don’t blame me for being ruthless. I’ll make sure you’ll regret it!”

Hearing this, Jiang Peiyu was furious. Standing behind her, she immediately raised her voice and confronted her.

“What do you mean by ‘make us regret it’? What are you going to do?”

“And who do you think you are, coming to our home barking orders?”

“You’re here begging for help but acting like some high-and-mighty noble. Who are you putting on that fake act for?”

“Who would even want to go to your home? What’s there to show off about besides some stinking money?”

“Even a dog would show more love and compassion—if it found out the child it raised for years wasn’t its own, it would still care…”

“You people aren’t even as good as a dog, and you dare come here barking?”

“The Jiang family may not be rich or powerful, but at least we know what it means to be human…”

“And we know how to protect and love our own children…”

“Do the Xia family know anything about love? Oh wait, I forgot—you’re not even worthy of being called animals. Of course you don’t.”

Chen Hui saw Jiang Peiyu had returned and was openly scolding her and Xia Zhihao without mercy. Her anger exploded.

“It’s you—you ungrateful brat! I can’t believe I raised you for over twenty years…”

“I’m telling you, go to the police station and drop the case right now…”

“Otherwise, don’t expect peace for your Jiang family!”

Saying that, she lunged forward to grab Jiang Peiyu. But Jiang Wenyan quickly stepped in front of her.

“What do you think you’re doing? Try touching my sister and see if I don’t cut you down.”

Chen Hui was startled by Jiang Wenyan’s intense aura and couldn’t meet his eyes. Embarrassed, she took two steps back and hid behind Xia Zhihao.

Seeing things weren’t going their way, Xia Zhihao stepped forward, trying to play the peacemaker with a kind and fatherly tone.

“Peiyu, your parents are only here because we care.”

“Lizhu didn’t mean any harm. She knows she was wrong.”

“Please forgive her just this once and come with me to the police station to withdraw the charges…”

“When Lizhu gets out, I’ll have her come to you personally to apologize…”

“If you want money or anything else, we’ll give it to you…”

Jiang Peiyu was so angry she actually laughed.

“Dad? Mom?”

“Who are you calling parents? You shameless people dare call yourselves that in front of me?”

“You think you’re worthy?”

“You—” Xia Zhihao was livid from her words. He wanted to explode, but thought better of it and held back.

Now wasn’t the time. Once they got Xia Lizhu out of prison, then he’d settle the score with this entire Jiang family.

Taking a deep breath, Xia Zhihao forced a smile again.

“Peiyu, I know you resent us for sending you back to the countryside…”

“How about this? If you withdraw the charges…”

“When Lizhu is out, we’ll bring you back to live with us…”

“From now on, both you and Lizhu will be daughters of the Xia family…”

On the side, Chen Hui immediately objected to Xia Zhihao’s words.

“Zhihao, what are you saying? How could you—”

Before she could finish, Xia Zhihao barked at her.

“Shut up!”

Then he turned back to Jiang Peiyu.

“Peiyu, what do you say… is that acceptable?”

Jiang Peiyu didn’t immediately respond to Xia Zhihao’s words—it looked like she was deep in thought. The Jiang family still didn’t know the full truth of what had happened. From what Chen Hui had said, it seemed Xia Lizhu’s arrest was somehow connected to their own daughter.

Li Shuzhen, seeing Jiang Peiyu silent, assumed she might agree to leave with the Xia family, and she grew anxious.

“Daughter, you can’t go with them…”

“This is your home…”

“And what’s going on anyway, huh?”

“Why did they suddenly show up causing trouble, yelling at our whole family like that…”

Jiang Wenyan, seeing Li Shuzhen so worried, stepped up to explain the situation to everyone.

“That ungrateful Xia Lizhu…”

“Half a month ago, she hired some local thugs to harass my little sister…”

“I wasn’t there because I’d gone to the supply co-op to buy meat, but luckily my sister was smart and ran toward a crowd…”

“She happened to run into Brother Huaiqin and the others, and they saved her…”

When Jiang Fuguì heard that his daughter had almost had her entire life ruined because of Xia Lizhu, and these people had the nerve to come to their home causing trouble—acting all high and mighty like they were above everyone—he was furious.

In a rage, he grabbed a nearby hoe and swung it toward Xia Zhihao.

“Get out of my house!”

“Out! You’re not welcome here!”

“Get lost—you bully my daughter and now have the gall to show up trying to twist the story?”

“Let that ungrateful Xia Lizhu rot in jail!”

Xia Zhihao and Chen Hui, terrified the hoe might actually land on them, dodged and scrambled backward. The moment they reached the gate, they turned and fled straight to their car.