An Ning pulled a ghost-face mask out of her space, put it on, and stepped back a few paces. She was about to dash and leap onto the wall when a flicker of firelight caught her eye from the main house.
Immediately, she hid in a shadowed corner. A tree stood between her and the house, and through its branches, she saw a figure carrying a bag.
The figure hurried across the yard toward the main gate. It was too dark and distant to make out clearly, but it seemed to be a woman.
An Ning quickly entered her space and followed. Not long after, around a corner of a courtyard, a man stood waiting beside a bicycle.
The figure noticed him and approached, whispering, “Wei Ming-ge, let’s hurry. That old bastard drank the porridge I spiked with sleeping pills today—he won’t wake anytime soon. We can stay longer once we get home.”
“This is the stuff we got from that old guy a few days ago at the Yang family—several boxes of jewelry and a few boxes of gold bricks. He hasn’t even sorted them yet, so I brought some over tonight.”
“Wei Ming-ge, can you hold it? It’s heavy, my hands are already red from carrying it.”
“Oh, Hongli, why didn’t you say earlier? Give me the bag, don’t tire my Lili out.”
A middle-aged man’s voice. An Ning felt it was familiar but couldn’t immediately place it.
The woman hung the bag on the bicycle’s front, and they both mounted and prepared to leave. Watching their familiarity, it was clear this wasn’t their first time doing such a thing. Wait—did she just hear “Lili”?
Could it really be Xu Hongli, Ge’s wife? Oh, this would be interesting. While Ge played around outside, he had no idea his own household was already overrun with… An Ning smirked.
She pedaled alongside them in the space, wanting to see exactly who the man was.
“Wei Ming-ge, I heard the Jiang family is claiming their daughter was swapped at birth. Will your daughter-in-law still be that An Ning?”
“Depends. If the Jiang family still treats An Ning as their own and favors her even more than the country girl who came back from the countryside, the marriage could still happen.”
“If the Jiang family doesn’t recognize An Ning as their daughter, just a rural girl like her—she doesn’t deserve to marry into my family. Dream on.”
Ah, now An Ning realized—it was one of the male leads’ fathers, Li Jianguo’s father, meaning he was her childhood betrothed’s dad.
She sneered inwardly. With a son like that, besides the female lead, who would want a “Phoenix man” like him? Not deserving—no, he’s the one not worthy of her, An Ning. Let him go find the white-lotus female lead instead.
Li Jianguo was already 23, a company commander—neither high nor low in rank. Most people would consider him competent, but compared to Su Sinian, he fell short.
Su Sinian, 25, already a regiment commander stationed in Shanghai, was handsome and extraordinarily capable. The Jiang family valued him highly, which led to his tragic fate.
Li Jianguo’s father, Li Weimin, was an officer in the Shanghai propaganda department, often dealing with Ge. Birds of a feather flock together: a perverted, scheming Ge and a man like Li Weimin were a perfect match.
Xu Hongli, outwardly gentle and virtuous, secretly bold enough to spike her husband with sleeping pills—a family of rotten fish.
The two hadn’t gone far. This area was filled with small courtyards, mostly middle-class homes. Some were self-purchased due to nearby factories, so homeownership was common.
They stopped in front of a small courtyard, about three to four rooms, cozy for a family. Xu Hongli pulled out a key, unlocked the gate, and they pushed the bicycle inside. An Ning followed quickly.
Without entering the house, she headed straight to the back, where firewood was stored.
Like pros, they moved a pile of firewood, parting dry kindling to reveal a wooden panel underneath. Li Weiming lifted it—there was a one-person entrance below.
Li Weiming went first, Xu Hongli behind with the bag. Somehow, they had a flashlight, illuminating the staircase.
The stairs were shallow, quickly leading down to a roughly 30-square-meter secret room with over a dozen boxes.
Xu Hongli opened a box, half-filled with gold bricks, and emptied the bag of its gold bricks into it. Then she covered the box and emptied the jewelry from the bag into another half-filled box.
Satisfied, Li Weiming walked among the boxes, smiling.
“With these, Hongli, even if the family discovers it, our son’s future is secured.”
“Yes, Wei Ming-ge. We only have this one precious son, so we must plan carefully for him.”
“Hongli, so many treasures left in Ge’s hands—it’s such a waste. Can we try to get more out?”
“Don’t rush, Wei Ming-ge. That old man knows exactly how much he has. I got all this through painstaking effort. Otherwise, with his stingy nature, I’d get nothing. Did you see those two boxes at the front? Never got a thing, just made someone else’s dowry.”
“That old man’s cruel—he even gave his own wife away. I’ve never seen a man so sneaky and vile.”
“When are you divorcing him, Wei Ming-ge? I’m scared he’ll send me to someone else.”
“Hongli, let’s talk upstairs. It’s late; after we finish, I’ll take you home.”
Watching this, An Ning couldn’t help but marvel. These shameless adults—the fact that Ge married Xu Hongli was truly poetic justice.