Chapter 40 A Letter from My Mother's Family: My Vampire Family Comes Knocking!

"Qin Lie, I love you too."

Jiang Wu's response was like a fire, completely igniting Qin Lie's entire chest.

On the vast sea, ignoring the swaying of the ship, he held Jiang Wu tightly in his arms and responded to her affection with a hot and lingering kiss.

The sea breeze was salty, the sunshine was warm, but this kiss was sweet, sweet to the core of my heart.

Only when they were both out of breath did Qin Lie reluctantly release her, his forehead pressed against hers, the fire in his eyes almost melting her.

"Wife, remember this, you belong to me, Qin Lie, and only to me."

"Okay, I'll remember that. I, Qin Lie, am only mine." Jiang Wu mimicked his tone, stood on tiptoe, and gently bit his chin.

Qin Lie winced in pain, but smiled like a child who had just received candy.

The two returned to their residential compound in the evening, laden with their catch and overflowing with sweet nothings.

Just as I put the fish into the basin, the postman's clear voice rang out from outside the gate.

"A letter from Commander Qin's family!"

In those days, telephones were not widespread, and letters were the primary means of communication.

Qin Lie went out to get the letter, and when Jiang Wu saw the crooked handwriting and the familiar address—Jiangjia Village—on the envelope, her heart skipped a beat.

The heart that had just been filled with sweetness was instantly doused with a bucket of cold water.

It was a letter from the original owner's family.

"Wife, this is from your family." Qin Lie handed her the letter with a smile on his face.

In his view, this was just an ordinary family letter.

Jiang Wu forced a somewhat stiff smile and accepted it.

She didn't open it immediately, but took the letter and went into the house.

Qin Lie followed her in and, noticing her unusual expression, asked with concern, "What's wrong? Are you homesick?"

Jiang Wu shook her head, sat down at the table, and rubbed her fingers along the edge of the envelope for a long time before finally deciding to tear it open.

The letter paper was the cheapest kind of hemp paper, covered with dense, pencil-written words that were a headache to look at.

Jiang Wu immediately grasped the core message of the letter.

The letter was written by the original owner's mother. There wasn't a single word in the letter showing any concern for whether she was doing well after getting married. The whole letter was just complaining about being poor and making demands.

"...Your family is trying to find a wife for your brother, but they're still short two hundred yuan for the bride price. Now that you're the regimental commander's wife, this amount of money is nothing to you. Hurry up and send it back to your father, lest the girl run away..."

“…Your husband is a high-ranking official, we’ve heard. He has a lot of people under him. Your younger brother, Erniu, has had enough of the village and doesn’t want to farm anymore. Try talking to your husband and ask him to arrange for him to join the army. He doesn’t need to be a high-ranking official, just someone in charge of a hundred or so people will do, so your parents can make a name for themselves in the village…”

The letter ended with an unquestionable, commanding tone.

"...That's settled then. You'd better get on with it. If you don't, you've forgotten your roots, forgotten how your parents raised you with such care, you're a complete ingrate!"

Jiang Wu felt a chill run down her spine as she looked at the harsh yet self-righteous words on the letter.

She had no feelings for the original owner's family to begin with, and now she loathed them to the extreme.

These aren't family members! They're clearly a swarm of leeches sucking blood from people!

Two hundred yuan? In this day and age, that's several months' wages for an average worker!

He even wants Qin Lie to arrange an official position for his younger brother? To manage a hundred or eighty people? Does he think this is like buying cabbages at the market?

If this gets out, what will become of Qin Lie's future?

"What did you write?"

Qin Lie saw her face grow increasingly pale, turning ashen, and reached out to take the letter.

He glanced at it only once, and his aura suddenly turned icy cold.

That murderous aura, honed on the battlefield and tinged with the smell of blood, spread uncontrollably.

"Bang!"

Qin Lie slammed his fist on the table, the sturdy wooden table making a loud noise, and the teacups on it jumped up.

"Damn it! What are these things?!"

Qin Lie was so angry that the veins on his forehead bulged.

He wasn't angry with Jiang Wu; he was heartbroken for her!

His wife, whom he cherished like a treasure, was treated like this in her own family?

This group of people not only treats her as a cash cow to be exploited at will, but now they're even setting their sights on him! Trying to take advantage of his power? They're dreaming!

This isn't just greed, this is folly! This is pushing him and Jiang Wu into a fire pit together!

"Honey, don't be angry. It's not worth getting angry over these people." Qin Lie took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, walked to Jiang Wu's side, and awkwardly comforted her.

He noticed that Jiang Wu's eyes were red and assumed she was heartbroken.

"They..." Qin Lie gritted his teeth, a dangerous glint in his eyes, "Did they always treat you like this before?"

Jiang Wu looked up at his murderous expression, and the anger in her heart suddenly turned into a warm feeling that made her both laugh and cry.

This man was genuinely heartbroken for her and angry for her.

She shook her head, but her voice trembled slightly, from anger.

"I don't want to talk about what happened before."

She gripped Qin Lie's large hand, whose knuckles had turned white from the force, and spoke slowly, word by word.

"Qin Lie, I don't want to have anything to do with this family anymore."

Upon hearing this, Qin Lie did not hesitate at all; instead, the cold light in his eyes intensified.

He grabbed Jiang Wu's hand in return, with a force that seemed to want to meld her into his very bones.

"Okay!" he squeezed out the word through gritted teeth.

"Wife, how do you want to handle this? Tell me, and I'll take care of it!"

Qin Lie's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a sense of impending doom.

"Even if it's the King of Heaven himself, he shouldn't think he can bully my woman like this!"

He looked into Jiang Wu's eyes, and the ruthlessness and determination in his gaze made Jiang Wu's heart tremble violently.

She knew he wasn't just talking nonsense.

If she were to say "no," this man might actually find a way to silence the distant Jiangjia Village completely.

P.S.: Three chapters tomorrow, be prepared!