Xia Xian’s emotions got the better of her for a moment when she saw her parents, but after all, she wasn’t really a child anymore. She pressed her lips together, wiped away her tears, and had more or less calmed down. She looked seriously at her family and made her promise.
She truly didn’t blame any of them—everyone had their own position. Later on, everyone had supported her divorce, especially her two sisters-in-law, who had told her to come home with Chu Nannan and stay.
It was she who hadn’t wanted to cause trouble for the family, and she hadn’t been willing to give up, so she’d just endured it. As it turned out, the saying was true: once you’ve walked into a dead end, you should turn around without delay.
Before, she hadn’t understood that, and she’d worn herself out for a lifetime—and lost her life in the end.
“What you’re saying still sounds like you blame us.”
“Xian, Eldest Brother Chu was your own choice. Dad knows you’re hurting right now, but you really can’t blame us for this.”
“That’s right. Your brother’s married and has kids now, and the work unit won’t allocate housing. The whole family’s squeezed together—it’s hard for everyone. It’s not that I didn’t want to be a good sister-in-law; the problem is our family doesn’t have the conditions. You had a job, and we never even asked you to hand over your work position before you got married. I may not be the best sister-in-law, but I’m not that bad either, am I?”
Second Sister-in-law Xia finally spoke up, muttering endlessly, afraid people might say she bullied her husband’s younger sister.
“I know. I really don’t mean to blame any of you. In my heart, my two sisters-in-law are better than my two brothers. We’re all women—you understand me better than they do.”
Xia Xian emphasized sincerely.
“I’ll stay for at most a month. I have other plans—it’s not that I’m afraid you’ll kick me out.”
She’d already thought it through on the way back. The house was small, and everyone was short on space these days. Even if she was willing to spend money to rent a place, she might not be able to find one, and even if she did, the price would certainly be steep. Besides, she didn’t want to stay here and listen to other people pointing fingers at her.
Weighing everything, helping Quan Ruifeng out in exchange for him helping her transfer her household registration and finding her a place to live was a good deal.
She remembered that Quan Ruifeng’s case here had been successful back then. So even if she was walking into danger, she believed she could get out of it safely—and Quan Ruifeng wouldn’t just watch her get hurt either.
“Alright, alright, alright. Let’s eat first. We can talk about the details later. What’s this about a month or two? This is your home too—stay as long as you like. Don’t overthink it.”
Lei Juan cut off Xia Xian’s words, wiped her own tears, took down Xia Xian’s bundle, and urged her to eat first.
She was also afraid Xia Xian was speaking too definitively. If something changed and she couldn’t move out within a month, someone in the family would start feeling resentful.
“Mm, okay.”
Xia Xian smiled and didn’t argue further. She sat down and took a few bites with them.
Her two nieces were still young and didn’t understand things. Seeing their aunt come back with a big bundle, they thought there might be food inside. Their eyes sparkled as they excitedly went to open it, and the adults couldn’t stop them in time.
Xia Xian’s eyes dimmed at the sight. Good thing she’d hidden the wooden box and gold bars before coming back.
Money stirs people’s hearts. If her family knew she had that many gold bars, even her mother would probably demand she share some with her eldest brother, second brother, and third brother.
The human heart is the thing least able to withstand testing.
Xia Xian stayed at home for one night. Although Chu Sheng and his mother didn’t know, they had a feeling she would leave. So the moment they were released and allowed to go in the morning, the mother and son rushed straight back home. Sure enough, Xia Xian was already gone—and she’d left the house in this god-awful state!
“Damn it, that bitch! I’ll find her, she’s not getting away!”
“If I can’t live well, neither will she! I’ll haunt her for the rest of my life!”
Chu Sheng was furious, cursing nonstop, no longer hiding his volatile temper.
“That little slut—she didn’t steal everything from the house, did she!”
When Mother Chu saw the state of the house, her head spun and she nearly fainted from rage. She hurried as fast as she could to her own room and started rifling through the wardrobe.
That thirty-some yuan was their last bit of savings! There was basically no food left in the house either—it had all been used for the banquet. If the money was gone, how were the mother and son supposed to get by?!
Although her eldest son’s job could be passed down to her second son, he couldn’t start right away. Even when he did, his wages would start at the temporary worker rate, and he wouldn’t get paid until next month.
But she searched high and low and couldn’t find it. Xia Xian hadn’t even left her a single cent!
“Oh heavens above! That Xia Xian is a thief! Her hands are so dirty!”
“She stole all my money! Report it! Son, go report it to the police right now and make her pay us back! And all our losses here—she has to compensate us for everything! If not, I won’t go on living! I’ll go hang myself on her doorstep!”
Mother Chu’s legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor, wailing and crying to the heavens.
When Chu Sheng heard the money was gone, his heart raced with panic and fury—but then a flash of inspiration struck him. A sudden idea came to mind, and he broke into a dark, sinister smile, his anger fading away.
“Mom, how much money did you lose?”
“Thirty-eight yuan and forty-two cents! And a few tickets!”
Old Mrs. Chu remembered it clearly, not a single cent off.
“No, Mom, you’re wrong. You lost two thousand thirty-eight yuan and forty-two cents.”
“Not only will I make Xia Xian compensate us for the money, compensate us for our family’s losses, but I’ll also make her give us her people! Hahahaha!”
Chu Sheng laughed heartily. He had been worrying about how to get Xia Xian back after she left, but now he had a perfect excuse.
Xia Xian, oh Xia Xian, if you don’t court death, you won’t die. This time, you can’t escape my grasp!
“Two thousand thirty-eight yuan and forty-two cents?”
Old Mrs. Chu pondered for a moment, then immediately understood. She clapped her hands and laughed, her mouth stretching to the back of her ears, wrinkles piling up, skin dry and withered, like the malicious old witch from a fairy tale.
She swiftly and nimbly scrambled up from the ground.
“Yes, I lost over two thousand yuan! Son, we can’t delay. Let’s go to the police station and file a report right now! This is a huge sum of money!”
“Let’s go!”
The mother and son hurried back to the police station without a moment’s rest.
Quan Ruifeng was about to head out when he happened to run into the two of them returning.
He stood on the steps, his gaze cold, looking down at them from above.
“What are you doing?”
His voice was also icy, like ten thousand years of frozen cold.
Chu Sheng was a bit afraid of this young public security officer, feeling he was even harder to deal with than an old hand like Liu Jun.
After yesterday, he and his mother had deeply realized that making a big scene was useless with the police.
He shrank his neck awkwardly, bowing and scraping.
“We’re not here to cause trouble. We’re here to file a report.”
“Last night, you locked me and my mom up, and Xia Xian took the opportunity to steal over two thousand yuan from our house. She also took her luggage, probably going back to her parents’ home. We’re here to report it. You’re the police, so you must help us get that money back. This time, you can’t be partial to her anymore!”
“This money is all our family’s savings! Even if she’s our eldest sister-in-law, stealing money is still wrong! As long as she’s willing to return the two thousand plus yuan to us, we won’t pursue anything else. She can go back to her parents’ home and marry whoever she wants.”