Chapter 95 The Truth Revealed...
Back home, Xiao Cheng boiled water, scooped it into a bucket as usual, and carried it to the bathroom.
After rinsing with some cool water and checking that it was the temperature commonly used during the White Dew season, I decided to let White Dew take a bath.
After Bai Lu finished her bath, Xiao Cheng took a bath.
After a trip to the hospital, the child's condition became quite clear. When Bai Lu saw Xiao Cheng washing clothes again, she felt a pang of sadness. He didn't need to do this for the child anymore.
"Let me do the washing." Bai Lu walked to the well and the washbasin, wanting to take over the task of washing clothes.
Xiao Cheng didn't even look up, continuing to wash his clothes, and said indifferently, "Go back to sleep."
His voice was flat and devoid of any emotion.
In the broken jar where ginger, scallions, and garlic are planted, the chirping of crickets rises merrily, and fireflies flutter their wings, flying back and forth in the yard, as if trying to break the tranquility of the night with their joy.
The vanished moon reappeared at some unknown time, its silvery light casting a long, aloof shadow over the man's back. He sat on a small stool, expertly scrubbing clothes, his voice as cold and rhythmic as a machine.
Bai Lu squatted down and reached for the washbasin to wash her clothes, but the man brushed her away.
He spoke coldly, "I told you to go back to sleep."
Xiao Cheng led his men to collect debts. He was used to giving orders and didn't like anyone disobeying him.
Repeating it again and again is suicidal.
Knowing this, Bai Lu stopped insisting, silently withdrew her hand, got up, and walked across the courtyard back to the main house.
He went back to his room, opened the rightmost drawer of the wooden table, and took out all the money he had earned during this period.
Count them carefully and place them on the table.
The original owner was not favored in her family of origin, wore old clothes, and didn't bring much with her.
After Bailu arrived, she was so busy making money that she didn't have the mind to buy new clothes. All she managed to pack was a cloth bag.
After adding the books and papers given by Lin Jinfan, the cloth bag bulged slightly, but nothing leaked out.
The bag is neither too big nor too small, with a long, thick cloth shoulder strap sewn to both ends, so it can only be carried on one shoulder.
Bai Lu also compiled a record book of the purchase and sale of roasted chestnuts and placed it on the table with money on top of it.
After tidying everything up, Bailu took the cloth bag and sat down on the wooden chair by the bed, placing the bag at her feet.
Things always need to be made clear. The idea of leaving without saying goodbye is not something that Bai Lu has ingrained in her family rules and etiquette.
They remained silent on the way back, and just now in the courtyard... Bai Lu could sense that Xiao Cheng was angry. He was angry that she and Li Xuelan had used a fake pregnancy to cheat him out of 30,000 yuan, and angry that she knew the truth but hadn't told him.
Ultimately, she was in the wrong. After all, she had taken over this body, and she had to bear the consequences, whether good or bad.
Bai Lu was mentally prepared for whatever Xiao Cheng might do—whether to retaliate or let him go, the best or the worst outcome.
Bai Lu sat on the wooden chair, naturally resuming her usual upright sitting posture. Her upper body was straight, her shoulders were level, her knees were together, her calves were perpendicular to the ground, her arms were naturally bent, and her hands were crossed and placed on the middle of her legs.
Silent waiting.
Xiao Cheng took much, much, much longer than usual to do his laundry tonight before returning home.
When he returned, he saw Bai Lu sitting upright on a wooden chair by the bed with a smile on her face. It was a sitting posture he had never seen before, whether he was collecting debts from wealthy people in the city or the city. Her coarse linen clothes could not hide her unique temperament, which was different from ordinary people and he had never seen it on anyone else.
Her smile was standard, not a sweet smile.
Her posture was dignified and elegant, something Bai Lu had never done before, not even once.
She rose and walked towards the wooden table, her steps graceful and poised, her movements with the notebook and money in her hands measured and controlled.
When I approached him and met his gaze, his clean and clear eyes showed no trace of fear or weakness.
Even his voice, when he spoke, lacked its former lively and varied intonation.
Instead, she said calmly, "The money you made from selling roasted chestnuts during this period is all here, a total of 6,080 yuan. The 100 yuan you put on the table on the first day you sold roasted chestnuts is also in here, the one on top."
“Wang Cuihua, Yu Fugui, and Wen Xiuyun now settle accounts every three days after selling roasted chestnuts. The last account was the day before yesterday. The accounts for yesterday and today haven’t been settled yet, but the amounts are all recorded in a notebook. Everyone knows exactly who took how many kilograms of chestnuts and how much they can sell for.”
"The chestnuts you bought from Xiaojia Village yesterday totaled 9,350 jin, costing 1,870 yuan. The chestnuts that weren't processed were worth 1,870 yuan, plus the net profit of 6,080 yuan from the roasted chestnuts that were already sold, for a total value of 7,950 yuan."
The notebook and money were presented to him by slender, fair hands, but Xiao Cheng didn't take them or even glance at them.
His deep, dark eyes were fixed on Bai Lu.
Bai Lu remained calm and composed, continuing, "When I went to the hospital for a checkup just now, the female doctor said things to you that you probably already know. Pregnancy doesn't involve menstruation, and I am indeed not pregnant."
Xiao Cheng's expression remained unchanged, calm and indifferent, his deep eyes fixed on Bai Lu, as if waiting for her to continue.
The memories of the drunken night were perfectly preserved in the original owner's mind. Bai Lu had witnessed the entire process and was fully aware of the truth of the matter.
She spoke slowly and deliberately: "That night, I was drunk and my head was spinning. I was going to the bathroom, but I went into your room by mistake. When I came out of the bathroom, I saw a bed in the room, so I went to sleep."
Her tone was natural and frank, as if she were talking about her own experiences.
Xiao Cheng's deep eyes narrowed slightly.
Fragments of thoughts flashed through my mind.
That night, he, Luo Shiliu, Xiao Dazhuang, and Wang Hao went to a nightclub in the city to collect debts.
The nightclub was experiencing cash flow problems, and the owner, Hong Wanfu, asked him for a one-week extension, which he agreed to.
Hong Wanfu treated them to dinner, karaoke, and drinks at the nightclub... and even booked a private room for them to sleep in.
Baijiu, red wine, foreign liquor, whiskey... Hong Wanfu tried every slightly upscale drink in the nightclub, round after round... He got drunk.
Luo Shiliu and Xiao Dazhuang helped him to his room, where he took off his shoes, lay down on the bed, and covered himself with a blanket.
Luo Shiliu and Xiao Dazhuang then went back to their respective rooms.
Not long after, the door opened, the light was off, and stumbling footsteps came in.
He assumed it was Luo Shiliu or Xiao Dazhuang who had forgotten to bring something back, so he didn't pay any attention.
His drunken mind was filled with a jumble of incoherent thoughts, making it impossible for him to think. His heavy limbs, limp on the bed, were also unresponsive, and he couldn't even get up.
In a daze, I heard slightly dragging and messy footsteps stumbling toward the bedside.
Then, a dark figure fell onto the bed.
He mustered his last shred of consciousness and called out "Luo Shiliu," and the shadowy figure stirred.
He didn't respond. He called out "Xiao Dazhuang" again, and the shadowy figure moved again, but still there was no response.
He tried to open his eyes, but his heavy eyelids wouldn't budge. The air was thick with the smell of alcohol, both on his side and on the other side of the bed.
I can't smell any familiar scents.
(End of this chapter)
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