Two bags each of rice and flour, two buckets of oil, salt, vinegar, soy sauce, and various other seasonings, plus a kettle and two thermoses.
Lu Jiajie explained, “Yesterday was such a rush, I didn’t buy everything we needed. Today I made a special list of what to buy, though there might still be things missing. Whatever you’re short on, write it down and give it to me later.”
“Okay.”
Once everything was put away in the kitchen, Ma Lili took off her apron and brushed some dust off herself. “Jiaxin, Xiaofeng cries if she doesn’t see me by evening, I’ll head back now. This weekend, I’ll bring those two little rascals over.”
She’d come along this time partly to visit Jiaxin, and partly to familiarize herself with the way here.
“Okay.”
Before leaving, Lu Jiajie brought something up with Jiaxin. “You were almost harmed by that trafficker, Big Brother thinks you should file a police report.”
He personally felt reporting it wouldn’t do much good, there’d been so many trafficking cases in recent years, and none of them ever went anywhere. He didn’t think Jiaxin’s case would lead to anything either.
Jiaxin had been so busy these past couple of days she’d completely forgotten about this. “I’ll go first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Then I’ll take the day off to go with you.”
Jiaxin didn’t want to trouble him further. “Fifth Brother, you still have work. Taking time off too often looks bad. Xue Mao will go with me tomorrow, so don’t worry.”
“All right then. If anything comes up, call me or Big Brother.”
As the couple headed out, Ma Lili waved the little snacks Jiaxin had insisted on giving her. “I always heard hardship makes people grow up fast, seems that old saying really is true.”
In the past, whenever they visited Third Uncle’s house, this child would just give her a quick greeting and nothing more. Today she’d not only welcomed them warmly but had even thought to bring things for the two children.
Lu Jiajie sighed. “I’d rather she stayed the way she used to be.”
Ma Lili shot him a look. “Stay the way she used to be? She’d have been eaten alive by that mother and daughter sooner or later. Now that she’s become tougher and knows how to fight for her own interests, that pair won’t be able to scheme against her anymore.”
Lu Jiajie thought that made sense.
The next day, the two siblings went to the police station to file the report, and headed home once the statement was taken. They’d just walked through the door and were about to keep cleaning when a furious pounding started at the door outside.
Just from the sound of that knocking, it was clear whoever was there meant trouble.
Before Jiaxin could even guess who it was, a voice from her memory rang out from outside. “Lu Jiaxin, get out here! You ran away from home yourself and got targeted by a trafficker, and now you’re smearing me, saying it was my fault. Lu Jiaxin, how can you be so vicious?”
Jiaxin nearly laughed out of sheer anger. She’d been so busy these past few days she hadn’t had time to deal with anything else, and here Zhao Siyi had actually come knocking on her own. She grabbed a stick as thick as a baby’s arm from by the door, and the moment Xue Mao opened it, she swung it straight at the person standing outside.
“Aah…!”
After the scream, Zhao Siyi had still wanted to shout more curses, but seeing Jiaxin’s murderous expression, she turned and fled in terror.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t fast enough, and quickly took another blow across her back.
Jiaxin hadn’t even fully decided how to deal with her yet, but since she’d come knocking herself, there was no way to let this chance slip by. Murder was illegal, but a beating with a bit of interest owed was perfectly fine.
As long as it didn’t end in death, even if Zhao Siyi reported this to the police, it would just be treated as a family dispute at the station and eventually fizzle out.
After three strikes of the stick, Zhao Siyi was scared out of her wits, running while screaming, “Murder! Help, somebody help…”
At this hour the young people were at work and the elderly were out buying groceries, so the alley was empty. But her screaming did work, after another blow landed, several people came around the corner from the alley mouth.
Zhao Siyi ran to them and hid behind a woman carrying a grocery basket, pointing at Lu Jiaxin through her tears. “Big Sister, she’s trying to kill me, please save me.”
A middle-aged man stepped in front of Lu Jiaxin, urging kindly, “Miss, whatever the problem is, sit down and talk it through. If someone dies, the police will haul you off for execution.”
Jiaxin pointed the stick at Zhao Siyi and said, her face grim, “She’s my stepsister. Not long ago she stole my fiancé, and her mother drugged my food to make me fail my college entrance exam. Not satisfied with ruining me like that, she also arranged for a trafficker to kidnap me. It’s only thanks to good luck that I made it back, otherwise I’d have no idea what filthy corner of the country I’d be trapped in right now. I escaped death and came back, and my father won’t even take my side, so I had no choice but to move out of the house. And even after all that, she’s still not satisfied and comes here to make a scene…”
The woman despised home-wreckers more than anything, and before Jiaxin could even finish, she grabbed Zhao Siyi’s shoulder and shoved her forward. “Hit her! Hit her hard, just don’t kill her!”
Zhao Siyi was terrified out of her mind. “Auntie, I never did any of those things, she’s slandering me.”
Jiaxin wasn’t about to waste such a golden opportunity, and swung the stick hard against Zhao Siyi’s body again, beating out a wail of agony from her.
The uncle next to them, caught off guard by the woman’s unexpected reaction, didn’t react in time, but once Jiaxin raised the stick to strike again, he hurried forward to stop her.
Seeing she couldn’t land another hit, Jiaxin said through tears, “She’s been hugging and kissing Fan Yinuo, practically sharing a bed with him, how dare she claim I’m slandering her!”
The woman spat at Zhao Siyi. “Dolled up so seductively, clearly not from a proper family. Seducing men at such a young age, must run in the family.”
Spat right in the face, Zhao Siyi fainted from shock and fury.
Seeing her like this, the uncle said to Lu Jiaxin, “You’ve beaten her this badly, come with me and let’s get her to a hospital.”
The woman, surnamed Wang, called out at this, “Why send her to the hospital? A home-wrecker like her deserves to be beaten to death. Old Pan, I’d advise you to just stay out of it.”
Old Pan said, exasperated, “Sister Wang, if someone actually dies in this alley, would you even dare go out at night?”
With that, he looked at Lu Jiaxin and said, “No matter how wrong she was, you shouldn’t have gone this far. If something serious happens to her, you’ll have to pay with your own life.”
Jiaxin said flatly, “If she really dies, I’ll pay with my life. When she wakes up, tell her, if she ever dares show up here again, I’ll beat her so badly her own mother won’t recognize her.”
With that, she called Xue Mao and headed home.
Old Pan called after her retreating figure, “If you don’t take her to the hospital, when the police come, you’ll be charged even more severely!”
Jiaxin wasn’t the least bit afraid, and called back, “Then go report it to the police! Perfect, let the officers judge whether she deserved this beating or not.”
With that, she went home humming a little tune.
Old Pan had originally hoped Sister Wang would help carry Zhao Siyi to the hospital, but she just scoffed and walked off with her grocery basket. He had no choice but to take Zhao Siyi to the hospital alone.
Back at home, Xue Mao worried Ding Jing might come looking for trouble. “Sis, we should call Big Brother and Fifth Brother right away. If she shows up here, we’ll have backup.”
Jiaxin wasn’t the least bit afraid of Ding Jing. “Let her come, I’d love to make our reputation known throughout this alley.”
She’d studied sanda since childhood and knew exactly which spots wouldn’t cause serious harm. Today’s beating would leave Zhao Siyi in a lot of pain, but nothing crippling. Compared to everything the original owner had suffered, this was mere child’s play.