Wu Cuicui sighed upon hearing this, “Xiaorui is actually quite pitiful. She worked hard to get into university back then, but ended up getting pregnant and staying home to raise children after being ruined by your cousin.”
“Sigh, the children have some issues, and her husband was cheating on her with other women. Her bright future was gone, she was driven away from her home, and in the end… well, regardless, the fact that Xiaorui can still take care of those two children now proves she is a good woman.”
Yang Jianguo nodded. “That’s right, Jianguo is a piece of trash! But he is my cousin, so I can’t just cut ties with him. In the future, you should put in a good word for Xiaorui in the village. After all, she is Pingping and An’an’s mother; we should treat her like family.”
Wu Cuicui agreed, gesturing toward the fish. “Just the fact that she caught such good fish and still thought of us shows she is someone we can get along with. Don’t worry, I’ll look after her in the village.”
The next morning, Yang Jianguo got up early and cleaned the fish, ensuring the organs were washed thoroughly.
He set aside three jin of fish meat for Secretary Liu and another three jin for his second uncle. He told Wu Cuicui to deliver the rest to Han Xiaorui.
Early in the morning, Han Xiaorui heard a knock at the door. Seeing it was Wu Cuicui, she smiled quickly. “Sister Cuicui, please come in. You cleaned the fish so early; you and Brother must have woken up at five, right?”
Hearing Han Xiaorui call her “Sister” touched Wu Cuicui, and she took Han Xiaorui’s hand. “Xiaorui, since you call me Sister, you are my sister. If anything happens in the village, just say the word.”
“Thank you, Sister Cuicui. I told Brother the same thing. Yang Jianguo is trash, but the rest of the Yang family is decent. I will still need your and Brother’s help in the future.”
At that moment, Song Laoliu’s minibus pulled up at the door, and Han Xiaojing came out of the room with her nieces, Pingping and An’an.
Han Xiaorui crouched down, looked into her two daughters’ eyes, and said softly, “Pingping, An’an, this is your Big Auntie.”
Wu Cuicui also looked at Pingping and An’an with hopeful eyes; as their Big Auntie, she naturally wanted the best for her nieces.
She and her husband had only one daughter, and after they were gone, the only people close to her daughter in this world would be these two cousins.
Feeling Wu Cuicui’s kindness, Pingping and An’an mustered their courage. “Big… Auntie!”
Wu Cuicui was genuinely happy for these two children. Her nose tingled, and she touched Pingping and An’an’s heads. “Good girls. Big Auntie is making puffed rice candy today. Would you like to come to Big Auntie’s house to eat some this afternoon?”
“Yes!” Pingping and An’an both nodded. Although they didn’t know what “puffed rice candy” was, they were used to saying “yes” whenever they were asked if they wanted something good.
“Uncle Song, please drive slowly and be safe,” Han Xiaorui instructed, waving goodbye to her sister and daughters.
Song Laoliu laughed. “Don’t you worry, I’m driving.”
The two children leaned against the car window. “Goodbye, Mommy!”
Watching the minibus leave, Wu Cuicui wiped her eyes. “Xiaorui, Pingping and An’an will be fine.”
“I believe so, too,” Han Xiaorui smiled. “Sister Cuicui, I have to lead the public security officers to where I found the device, so I won’t ask you to stay. I’ll bring the girls over to play with Nannan this afternoon.”
“Okay!” Wu Cuicui smiled. “I won’t keep you any longer. Put these fish in the refrigerator to keep them fresh; it won’t affect the taste.”
Han Xiaorui tidied up her things and hurried to the pier with her bucket.
Ye Feng and the young comrade from yesterday were already waiting there, but it was already 7:15 AM.
“I’m sorry, I had guests at home,” Han Xiaorui said, panting as she apologized to Ye Feng.
Han Xiaorui’s hair was a bit messy, her face was pale, and with her breathless state, Ye Feng worried whether such a thin woman could handle the turbulence of the sea.
Wang Liang frowned. “Comrade Han, you need to be on time from now on!”
Han Xiaorui rolled her eyes; she wasn’t going to pamper him. “Young comrade, if you don’t know how to speak properly, don’t speak at all. You offend people the moment you open your mouth. Are you getting on the boat or not?”
She jumped onto the boat and entered the cabin.
Stung by her words, Wang Liang shot back, “Comrade Han Xiaorui, it is your duty to cooperate with our work.”
“Heh. If I had known you would treat me like a criminal, I wouldn’t have bothered to salvage the device even if I had seen it.”
“Where is your civic consciousness?” Wang Liang demanded impatiently. Having just started his job, he was mixing in personal grudges and was desperate to make a merit. He had wanted to stay up all night looking for the location of the device.
Ye Feng frowned. How did the local authorities assign such an inexperienced, tactless rookie to work with him?
“Wang Liang, shut up.”
“You ask the common people to have civic consciousness, but you need to pay attention to your own attitude.”
Wang Liang dared to glare at Han Xiaorui, but he didn’t dare to cross Ye Feng.
Ye Feng apologized to Han Xiaorui. “Comrade Han, my colleague is just too anxious. Please don’t take it to heart.”
Han Xiaorui’s expression remained serious. She was fulfilling her civic duty, which was the right thing to do. But she was doing a good deed—not only was she not being praised, but she was being bullied by someone posturing in front of her with an appalling attitude.
“I do take it to heart. If I find any reconnaissance devices or similar items in the future, I demand that he is not the one assigned to coordinate with me.”
“This is my job, you can’t—” Wang Liang began, sweating on his forehead. He hadn’t expected an ordinary woman like Han Xiaorui to have such a tough temper.
If he had known this, he wouldn’t have tried to stand up for his cousin.
“I can!” Han Xiaorui squinted, the sharpness in her eyes seemingly piercing right through Wang Liang. “I’m sure I don’t know you, but I can feel your disdain, and even disgust, toward me.”
“I have no grievance against you, yet you target me like this. If you aren’t a foreign spy, then one of your relatives must have a personal vendetta against me.”
“Let me think, who could it be?”
“I’m a woman from out of town who married into this village; I can count the people who harbor malice toward me on one hand. My ex-husband, Yang Jianguo, is trash, but even he is too arrogant to think of targeting me through you.”
“That leaves my ex-mother-in-law, but she doesn’t have any relatives surnamed Wang, and she isn’t that capable. So that leaves… Zhang Lili. What is your relationship to Zhang Lili?”
As Han Xiaorui spoke, Wang Liang’s expression grew increasingly awkward.
Ye Feng had been transferred from elsewhere. Thinking back to Wang Liang’s strange behavior the previous evening, he had assumed the young man just had a poor attitude or was ineffective in his work methods.
If it were just a personal grudge, that would be one thing, but if he were a foreign spy, it could jeopardize a major mission!
“Wang Liang, give me a reasonable explanation, or I will report you for investigation.”
Wang Liang’s eyes darted around. Fearing being suspected as a spy, he figured the charge of mixing public and private affairs might be lighter. “Zhang Lili is my cousin!”
“Pfft!” Han Xiaorui rolled her eyes, scoffing as she steered the boat. “With an attitude like that, can you do your job well? You’re trying to stand up for your cousin, but do you even know that she is Yang Jianguo’s mistress? She specializes in breaking up other people’s families and got pregnant before marriage!”
“Of course, flies don’t land on seamless eggs. Yang Jianguo is no prize either, but I’ve already divorced him and kicked him to the curb. One is despicable and the other is shameless; are they really worth you standing up for them?”