Li Mu snorted. “I get angry just hearing his name now.”
When Li Xianglian heard they had gone to town, she asked, “Father, didn’t you also need to go exchange some grain? When are you going?”
“Do you need me to buy something for you?” Li Fu asked, nodding.
“I don’t need anything. I just want to see what he’s doing with the children, so I can have a clearer idea,” Li Xianglian said.
Li Fu immediately understood. “Alright, I’ll make the trip.”
In the evening, Li Fu returned.
“How was it, Father?” Li Xianglian asked curiously.
Li Fu took a sip of water and sat down. “I followed them the whole way. First, they went to a pawnshop—I don’t know what they pawned, but they exchanged it for money. Then they took the children to a bun shop and bought meat buns. While eating, they kept looking around, as if afraid someone familiar would see them. After that, they went to the county magistrate’s residence. I waited a long time, but they never came out, so I came back.”
Li Xianglian sneered and slammed the table. “That Chen Lang really has something hidden away from me. So the whole family treats me like a thief while guarding against me like this.”
Li Mu was also furious. “Spit! I was against your marriage from the start. Even if he became a scholar, so what? You’ve been living like a fool, played like a monkey.”
Li Fu sighed. “What’s the point of saying this now? I say just divorce him.”
Li Mu agreed.
But Li Xianglian shook her head. “No. That would be too easy for him. Since he’s hiding things from me, I’ll make him suffer in silence. I’ll ruin his reputation as a man who abandons his wife!”
Li Fu sighed again.
“Father, I need your help with something.”
“Go ahead.”
Li Xianglian handed him a few copper coins. “Go back to town. Bribe someone to intercept any letters addressed to ‘Zhao Lang’. Also, spread what happened today—him pawning items, taking the children to eat meat buns while leaving his wife at her parents’ home.”
Li Fu frowned. “Spreading rumors is one thing, but intercepting letters? Who would he even be writing to?”
Li Xianglian paused, then quickly said, “It’s complicated. Just intercept letters for ‘Zhao Lang’.”
Li Fu didn’t ask further. In his heart, he already felt his daughter had changed completely since breaking her leg. No longer the soft, easily bullied girl she once was.
She had finally woken up.
That evening, villagers gathered outside enjoying the cool air. The topic inevitably turned to Chen Lang and Li Xianglian.
“What kind of scholar is he? Leaving his injured wife at her parents’ home!”
“That’s not the worst. I heard his daughter falsely accused her own mother of theft.”
“And I saw something even more shocking today,” one man said, drawing everyone’s attention.
“What is it? Hurry up and say it!”
“I saw Chen Lang take the children to town. First, he pawned a jade pendant and got two jars of money. Then he bought meat buns and meat cakes. After that—guess where he went?”
“Where?”
“Don’t keep us guessing!”
The man smiled. “He went to the county magistrate’s residence.”
“What?!”
Everyone exploded in discussion.
“What is he doing there? Does he have ties with the magistrate?”
“Could his scholar status have been bought through connections?”
At that moment, Chen Lang happened to pass by. Hearing fragments of the conversation, his expression darkened.
He had clearly been careful—but someone had seen everything.
Even the fact that he had gone to the magistrate’s residence.
“Was someone following me?”