Chapter 104: The Aftermath of the Liu Family Incident

Chapter 104: The Aftermath of the Liu Family Incident

Although Huang Ximei didn’t say much, Da Bao’s grandma still gleaned a lot from her words and actions.

And these stories, embellished with various exaggerations, quickly spread throughout Fuqing Street. Many folks happily sat on their doorsteps, chatting about the matter.

Su An used these days to get to know her neighbors better, and now about 70% of the residents on Fuqing Street could call out the names of her and her siblings.

The diverse gossip kept her outside most of the time, only returning home for meals. She even forgot about returning to the Zhao family and trying to quickly attend Zhao Daxing and Xiao Jiliang's feast.

Meanwhile, Su Jianjun hurried to the Wuzhen mine, only to find out that Su Ping had resigned and left at the end of last month.

He handed out several packs of cigarettes, trying to pry information, but from the old man guarding the mine to the mine manager Liu Qingping, no one knew where Su Ping had gone.

All they knew was that Su Ping's sister had personally come to pick him up on the day he left, and Su Ping had said he would never work in the mines again.

Su Jianjun felt half-dead, trudging home in a daze.

What’s going on this year? Why is everything going so wrong?

On the bus ride home, he replayed everything that had happened recently, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was off.

Not only was Su An acting weird, but Su Lei was too, and the second branch of the family was acting strange as well. Even the Zhao family was acting strange. Everything was off.

Su Lei used to be obedient and a good kid.

His relationship with the second branch wasn’t this strained before. Although Lin Zhaodi leaned more towards the second branch, she wasn’t harsh towards him. Despite some underlying tensions, at least on the surface, everything was peaceful. How did it come to this?

As soon as he got home, Ji Qingqing anxiously rushed up to him, "Jianjun, how did it go? Did you find Su Ping?"

Facing Ji Qingqing’s eager look, Su Jianjun weakly turned and shuffled into the house.

Ji Qingqing’s heart sank, and her voice shot up, "Jianjun, I’m talking to you! Where’s Su Ping? Did you bring back last month’s salary?"

"Oh, I get it. Su An went to see him last time; she must have said something to him, right? Did he find out that Su An got married and now refuses to contribute to the household?"

"Why should he get to decide? You’re his father; can’t you make him chip in?"

Ji Qingqing grew more and more frantic, "If we’re short fifty yuan every month, how are we supposed to get by? Lei and Jiao Jiao are still in school, what about their tuition? And your mother’s medical expenses and support? What are we supposed to do?"

"When I borrowed money from my brother and sister-in-law, I promised to pay them back fifty yuan at the start of each month. How am I supposed to explain this to them now? Tell me, tell me!"

Su Jianjun, shoved and shaken by Ji Qingqing, couldn’t help but snap at her, "Enough! Stop it, you’re driving me crazy, like a nagging shrew. Can you just let me have some peace?"

Ji Qingqing gaped at the furious Su Jianjun.

Remembering that she was late to the hospital today and was scolded by the nurse for not caring enough for the elderly, and now Su Jianjun treating her like this, her anger exploded.

She felt so wronged, completely and utterly wronged.

"Fine, Su Jianjun, you heartless jerk, now you’re taking your anger out on me, huh? I’ve been slaving away managing the house, and during the day, I’m running around at the hospital for your old mother. Who am I doing all this for?"

"If you’ve got the guts to yell at me, why don’t you bring home some money? The most basic duty of a man is to support his family, and you can’t even do that. If it weren’t for Su Ping sending money home every month these past few years, and if it weren’t for me making matchboxes with the kids, would you even have a decent life? You’re just a useless coward. I, Ji Qingqing, must have been blind to marry a loser like you, raising someone else’s kids, and now I’m stuck like this~ wuwuwu, I don’t want to live anymore, I don’t want to live anymore~"

Su Jianjun’s veins popped on his forehead, his chest heaving with rage. Soon, he couldn’t take it anymore and slapped Ji Qingqing hard.

"I’ll beat you to death, you shrew! You eat my food, drink my drinks, wear my clothes, use my things, and now you’re complaining that I don’t earn enough?"

"Let me tell you, the reason my children have turned against me like this is all because of you. If you had shown them even a little bit of love over the years, they wouldn’t have left without a second thought!"

"The old woman from the Zhao family wasn't wrong, and Su An wasn't wrong either. You're just a heartless monster. You've driven my good children away from me!"

"You say you were blind to choose me? I was the blind one to pick a viper like you!!!"

Ji Qingqing only came to her senses after the second slap.

"Su Jianjun, how dare you hit me? I'll fight you to the death~ ahhhh...."

The disparity in physical strength between men and women was clear. After scratching Su Jianjun a couple of times, Ji Qingqing was swiftly knocked to the ground by him. After two more kicks, she instantly curled up and started pleading for mercy.

"Ahhh, stop hitting me, stop hitting me, Jianjun, I was wrong, I was wrong, please stop!"

"Wuwuwu, I truly was wrong. I was just too anxious, I lost my mind, please don't be mad~"

Seeing Su Jianjun hesitate, Ji Qingqing quickly grabbed his leg, tears streaming down her face as she begged, "Wuwuwu, I was just worried about our family, about you, that's why I spoke without thinking."

"Don't be angry, it's bad for your health. Our family is already in such a state; if you get sick from anger too, then our family is done for, wuwuwu~"

"Jianjun, Su Ping and Su An have run off, but we still have Su Jiao. Su Jiao and Lei'er are our hope. Those two ungrateful brats, I always said they were two white-eyed wolves, but you still held out hope for them......"

After all, she was a woman he had genuinely loved. Su Jianjun's anger slowly faded under Ji Qingqing's gentle and apologetic manner, but her earlier words stuck in his heart like a thorn, making him deeply uncomfortable.

A few days ago, Su An was all over Fuqing Street, having a blast with her brother. Then she dutifully studied for two days, got the house in order, and prepared to return to the Zhao family. But then she heard that Liu Guojun from the Liu family had brought his two kids back, and the missing Liu Guoxing and Liu Guoqian had also returned.

During the chaos that day, Liu Guoxing had gone to his girlfriend's place and didn't return, thus dodging the fight.

And Liu Guojun, who usually spent most of his time at the factory, wasn't heavily involved in Cui Yuanfeng's oppression of the neighborhood.

Moreover, having just returned from work that day, Cui Yuanfeng had cleared him of any involvement in the instigation of theft, and since he was the one injured in the fight, he was let go.

The two children, one under eight and the other under nine, were detained for a few days of educational classes and were then picked up by Liu Guojun.

As for the fourth child, Liu Guobing, and Zhang Manyu, who usually followed Cui Yuanfeng around a lot, even though Cui Yuanfeng bravely took all the blame upon herself, it's likely they won't be out for a few years.

Su An was about to leave with her bag when she heard Da Bao’s grandma chattering at her doorstep with a bowl in hand, looking quite indignant, so she put her bag down again.

"Come on, brother, let's go to the Liu family."

Su Ping didn't know what was going on, but he instinctively followed Su An.

Da Bao’s grandma was excited, "Xiao Su, what are you going to do?"

Su An turned back, "Da Bao’s grandma, you said Liu Guojun's mother, his wife, his second uncle, and his two brothers are all in. If you were him, would you let us siblings off?"

Da Bao’s grandma shook her head, "Do you think I'm a Bodhisattva?"

Su An sneered, "So, he's definitely going to target us, to cause us trouble. Rather than waiting for him to constantly think about how to kill us, I'd rather leave a shadow in his heart first, so that he'll always be thinking about how to guard against us!"