Jiang Qiao smiled at the other man without saying a word, only raising her eyebrows. The man was about to curse, but when he saw the sharp knife peeking out from Jiang Qiao's sleeve, he didn't dare to utter a sound. He got up and left briskly.

This scene left Chunming and Zhao Jianjun dumbfounded. "He stopped cursing, so why did he just leave like that?"

Jiang Qiao shrugged. "Who knows? Let's go, it's time for school."

The elderly couple from inside the house saw everything clearly. They were grateful for Chunming and the others' help, but their hearts were filled with fear and disgust towards their son-in-law.

“Eileen, you see? You still want to live like this? I can’t afford to waste any more time with you. If you still want to live like this, no matter how much he beats you, don’t come back to your parents’ house. We’re so old, we can’t beat him or argue with him. If you still have any filial piety, just let us old folks live a few more days.”

Ning Ailin bit her lip and remained silent. Zhu Lin felt a surge of hatred when she saw her daughter; how could she have given birth to such a dull and lifeless girl?

Ning Zhengtao finally spoke up, "Alright, she's a grown woman, she knows her place. Forget about it, she's our daughter. You should rest now, sigh—"

The old lady was really exhausted. She couldn't bear the pressure of having a child with her daughter, so she decided to wait for her son to come back and let the eldest son speak up.

When Jiang Qiao got out of school, she found that Chunming was the only one waiting for her.

"Where's Zhao Jianjun? Did he go back?"

Chunming shook his head. "He said he had something to do and then left. Who cares? He's such a mysterious person. Let's hurry back."

Jiang Qiao remembered that she needed to buy some meat to take back, and she figured she couldn't have anything else right now, but with Chunming around, it was inconvenient for her to do things.

“Brother Chunming, I just remembered that I need to go see a friend to take care of some things. You go back first and tell Grandpa Qiao that I will be back soon and that he shouldn’t worry.”

Chunming sighed, "Alright, take care of yourself. I'll be going now."

Jiang Qiao was going to visit a friend, and even if Chunming wanted to go with her, he felt embarrassed. After all, he wasn't a child anymore, and even if he was worried about Jiang Qiao, he wouldn't force himself to go if she hadn't invited him.

However, he still felt a little sad. He could no longer understand Jiang Qiao's thoughts. Most of the time, she was alone. He had no idea what she had been doing or where she had been in the past two years.

He only knew that Jiang Qiao had become more and more powerful after returning, and sometimes he felt that he could not even catch up with her.

With a gloomy expression, Chunming walked home alone, but on the way he encountered an old man lying on the ground. Some passersby wanted to help the old man, but when they learned that he had fainted from hunger, they realized that they themselves were hungry and had no extra food to feed an old man who was about to die. The elderly in their own families were saving food for them, and they were truly powerless to help.

Chunming arrived at that moment and learned that the old man had fainted from hunger. Without hesitation, he took out the biscuits from his bag, which Jiang Qiao had secretly given him because she was afraid he would be hungry.

Jiang Qiao didn't expect that something like this would happen after she separated from Chunming. She was in a hurry to go to the school to find Gu Zhixuan. There was braised pork and rice in her space. She was too lazy to go there late at night. She might as well take it over before it got dark so that her cousin could have a full meal.

Gu Zhixuan really didn't expect that his cousin would come to visit him and even bring him some delicious food.

"Brother, let's go eat somewhere else—"

It would be inconvenient to eat in the dormitory, and the whole room would smell of meat, which is inexplicable. She couldn't possibly prepare braised pork for everyone in the dormitory.

He pulled Gu Zhixuan to the small woods at school and handed him a lunchbox.

"Eat quickly, I'll keep watch for you."

Gu Zhixuan touched the lunchbox and found it was still warm. He couldn't imagine how his sister had managed to get there in time and still keep it at that temperature.

However, he really treated her well, saying to Jiang Qiao while eating, "Little sister, have you eaten yet? If not, let's eat together. This is a big lunchbox, enough for both of us."

Jiang Qiao shook her head while staring outside. "No need, I'll eat when I get back. You take care of yourself first. I can guess what you're eating in your cafeteria even without going there."

"Brother, I still have a bag of biscuits, a few packets of fried salted fish, and some pickled vegetables in my pocket. Keep the biscuits for yourself, and you can share the pickled vegetables with your roommates when you get back."

Gu Zhixuan nodded, not having time to speak. The food was too delicious. Actually, Jiang Qiao didn't want her older cousin to eat outside in the howling north wind, but she couldn't find a suitable place.

Seeing that Gu Zhixuan was choking, they quickly handed him a water bottle. "Drink some water—"

After Gu Zhixuan finished eating everything in the lunchbox, it was time for Jiang Qiao to leave.

"Take good care of yourself. If anyone bullies you, come back and tell me, and I'll bring some people to make a scene."

Gu Zhixuan chuckled and patted his sister's head. "Your older brother isn't that useless. Don't worry. You should hurry back. It's getting dark, so be careful on the way."

Jiang Qiao asked him if he would like to come and stay with her, but Gu Zhixuan shook his head. "It's better not to go. If you make up too many lies, they'll easily slip up. This is fine. Qiao'er, be careful."

He wasn't too worried about his sister. She was a capable person, and he still vividly remembered the skill she had shown back then.

Jiang Qiao left the school gate, found a secluded spot, and took out a piece of meat from her spatial storage.

Just as she was about to go home, she turned her head and saw Zhao Jianjun. He also came from the high school area, which she guessed was the residential building. She just didn't know how Zhao Jianjun ended up here. Did he have relatives here?

However, she didn't want to talk to this person. Zhao Jianjun was different from Chunming. This person was cunning and scheming. Such a person was only suitable to be a neighbor.

To avoid Zhao Jianjun, Jiang Qiao had to choose another route back. Coincidentally, she ran into the people from the black market being chased. A person ran towards her, and upon closer inspection, Jiang Qiao realized it was Fu Lin.

Judging from the bag the guy was carrying, he had clearly traded for something on the black market.

"Brother Fu, quick, this way—"

Fu Lin was being chased to the point of desperation when he unexpectedly ran into Jiang Qiao.

However, he didn't have time to greet Jiang Qiao at the moment. Following Jiang Qiao's instructions, he jumped into a courtyard. Jiang Qiao then walked towards the police team chasing after him.

"Young man, have you seen a man carrying a bag?"

These people looked around but couldn't find the person they had been chasing, so they could only ask Jiang Qiao.

Jiang Qiao pointed to another road with a serious expression, "He ran that way, you guys hurry up and chase after him, maybe you can catch up."

The group ran out following the route Jiang Qiao had indicated.