Chapter 11
In the dilapidated courtyard, there were old brick houses, but no weeds around them, and even the chicken coop was cleaned up.
Even so, very few people visit this courtyard.
They were so poor that, looking across the entire Lijia Village, even the elderly living alone were not as destitute as this family.
But today, unusually, it welcomed visitors.
A woman with her hair tied up was hiding behind the courtyard wall, peeking into the house, accompanied by two teenagers.
The woman's back view was graceful; even after having given birth, she still retained her charm.
Holding one child in each hand, she carefully instructed the boy beside her, "Chengze, you must be sweet-talking later, okay?"
"Okay, Mom." Zhou Chengze's voice was obedient, but his eyes looked a little impatient.
He was playing football with the children when he was called home. His mother looked mysterious, and he wondered where they were going. But it turned out they were going to the house of that effeminate Chen Yan.
His eyes were full of reluctance. He didn't understand the source of his mother's tension. He only came over because he didn't want to upset his mother.
He clutched the comic book in his hand, turned around listlessly, and saw a girl dressed like a doll looking in their direction.
The moment Zhou Chengze saw the girl, he felt his heart skip a beat. Even though he had never seen her before, she felt incredibly familiar to him.
While he was still in a daze, Xiang Wan was observing them discreetly.
She had such a deep impression of Zhou Chengze's mother, the crown prince, that she recognized Li Taohua just from her back view.
She knew why she had come here.
They also knew that the tires were deflated by Li Taohua.
The things that couldn't be understood in her previous life have also been answered. In her previous life, Xiang Wan and the others lived in the village chief's house. After the driver fixed the tire, the tire suddenly leaked air again.
On the way, Uncle Zhang kept nagging about the tire, saying that he had clearly patched it and confirmed that there was no problem, so why was it leaking air again? Xiang Wan didn't take this small matter to heart at the time, but now that she thinks about it, who else could it be but Li Taohua?
She came to ask her for help, yet she dared to do such underhanded things behind her back. This kind of person is no pushover.
In her previous life, Li Taohua did countless similar things, such as living off a woman's money.
For example, even though she lived in the Xiang family's house, she demanded that Xiang Wan, who was not yet her daughter-in-law, greet her every morning.
There are many more such cases. Xiang Wan realized early on that her mother-in-law was difficult to please. The reason she didn't take her anger out on Zhou Chengze was because that ambitious woman was particularly good at maneuvering between them.
She didn't need to worry about it. As long as she casually told him what had happened, he would handle it well. This was one of the reasons why Xiang Wan chose Zhou Chengze. Although his family had a lot of problems, he was very useful.
She turned a blind eye in her previous life, but in this life they have no connection whatsoever, so she doesn't need to tolerate it anymore.
Xiang Wan looked at Li Taohua in front of her, then turned her head toward Chen Yan: "Kid, it seems you have guests at your house."
Although she was speaking to Chen Yan, her eyes remained fixed on Li Taohua. Her voice was indifferent, revealing no emotion, yet Chen Yan could keenly sense that she disliked them.
Knowing that she didn't like them, Chen Yan actually felt a little secretly pleased, because he didn't like Li Taohua's family either.
Once, he accompanied his mother-in-law to the river to wash clothes. A piece of clothing floated on the river. It was a floral shirt, which looked like it had been left behind by someone while they were washing clothes.
There was no one left by the river at that time, only him and his mother-in-law. Chen Yan had advised his mother-in-law not to meddle in other people's business, but she took the clothes, put them in the basket and washed them, and even scolded him for not being a proper person.
“We’re all from the same village, we see each other all the time. Why pretend you didn’t see something that was so easy to do? You can’t do that, Xiao Yan.”
'Nobody in Lijia Village treats us like family.' But Chen Yan didn't say this aloud. He knew his mother-in-law longed for the villagers' approval and didn't want to upset her.
He did whatever his mother-in-law told him to do, so when she finished washing and drying the floral shirt and asked him to take it to Li Taohua at the village entrance, he didn't refuse.
When he saw the clothes, he knew they were hers; no one in the entire village, except for Li Taohua, wore such brightly colored clothes.
He obediently went to deliver the clothes, and Li Taohua opened the door with a smile. When she saw him, she smiled and invited him to have dinner with them.
"Xiao Yan, come and have dinner with us."
"No, Aunt Peach Blossom, my mother-in-law has cooked and is calling me home for dinner."
"Alright then."
After delivering the clothes, Chen Yan breathed a sigh of relief and was about to go back when he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to bring the bamboo basket back, so he went back to get it.
Not wanting to disturb their meal, he didn't say hello, thinking he could just take the basket with him. As soon as he entered the yard, he heard Li Taohua cursing loudly.
"That old woman from Chen Yan's family is really something, she washed my shirt until it was a mess."
"Feeding animals all day long is filthy, why wash other people's clothes like that? It's such bad luck, what a waste of my nice clothes."
At that moment, Chen Yan's hand had just touched the bamboo basket when he heard these words. His hand was pricked by the splinters on the basket, but he didn't try to avoid them. Instead, he gripped the basket even tighter, letting the splinters prick his palm even more deeply.
Blood dripped down the bamboo basket, but he remained unmoved, carrying the basket as he walked home step by step.
Before going home that day, he stayed by the river for a long time until he felt that his mother-in-law would worry if he didn't go back, so he returned home.
Chen Yan originally thought he understood human nature well enough, but Li Taohua's cursing that night made him understand what hypocrisy was once again, and therefore he disliked Li Taohua very much.
Seeing that Xiang Wan didn't seem to like Li Taohua either, Chen Yan was happy, though he didn't know why.
"That's Aunt Peach Blossom from Lijia Village. Next to her are her son, Zhou Chengze, and her daughter, Zhou Xinyi." Because of his disgust, Chen Yan spoke very quickly when talking about Aunt Peach Blossom.
Although neither of them spoke very loudly, they didn't deliberately lower their voices either, so Li Taohua heard them quickly and turned to look in their direction.
Upon seeing her, a flash of jealousy crossed Li Taohua's eyes. Although she quickly concealed it, it was still noticed by Xiang Wan, who was perceptive enough to see through people's hearts.
Realizing that Li Taohua was jealous of her, she wanted to sneer for a moment, because it was truly ridiculous.
But Xiang Wan neither sneered nor cursed at her, which was really inconsistent with her upbringing. She simply observed Li Taohua silently, waiting for her next move.
Sure enough, in front of the children, she knelt down before her, who was also a child.
That was how it was in her previous life. Back then, Xiang Wan was just a twelve-year-old child, well protected by the Xiang family. She had never seen anyone kneel before her. Even if a maid in the Xiang family manor made a mistake, she would only have her salary deducted. She would never kneel down so easily.
That's why she was so easily startled by the peasant woman's kneeling, and thus brought Zhou Chengze back to Beiyi.
As for how she will respond to Li Taohua's kneeling in this life...
Xiang Wan felt that she was truly worthy of Li Taohua's kneeling, as the scheming between Li Taohua and her son in their past lives could not be offset by her kneeling.
Therefore, when she saw her kneeling, she made no move to help her up, and didn't even frown.
Compared to her indifferent attitude, Zhou Chengze was clearly startled by his mother's sudden kneeling. He desperately tried to pull his mother up, his voice filled with confusion and embarrassment: "Mom, what are you doing???"
Li Taohua ignored her son's tugging and instead pulled him to kneel down beside her: "Chengze, come and kneel down to your benefactor."
"???"
Under Zhou Chengze's puzzled gaze, Li Taohua's eyes remained fixed on Xiang Wan: "Miss, I know you usually like to do charity work, please take Chengze to the city as well."
Upon hearing the word "charity," Xiang Wan understood. The Xiang family had done a lot of charity work in her name when she was a child. Driver Uncle Zhang probably let it slip when he was negotiating with the village chief.
Recalling the farce I witnessed by the river, since the village chief Li Shengde named his daughter Xiaohua in memory of Li Taohua, their relationship must have been extraordinary. I guess Li Taohua heard about it from the village chief, and their situation must have been similar in their past life.
But Xiang Wan has done so much charity work, and I've never seen anyone deflate the tires of a donor's car first. Li Taohua is the first person to do so.
Since she already knew about her scheme, it would be incredibly foolish for Xiang Wan to still get involved. She remained unmoved, simply asking indifferently, "Aren't you afraid I'm a human trafficker?"
This question actually touched on Li Taohua's concerns, so she hesitated for a moment.
In the moment of her hesitation, Xiang Wan glanced at Zhou Chengze beside her, not even giving him a proper look: "You should help your mother up and walk away."
Li Taohua refused to get up and tried to coax her, but Xiang Wan was too lazy to care. She let her kneel if she wanted to. She looked at Chen Yan behind her and told him to pack his luggage and come with her later.
Xiang Wan originally only wanted to sponsor Chen Yan and leave him to Li Xia, but Li Taohua's kneeling really brought out her rebellious side.
She wanted to see if she could truly control her own life by keeping the kid by her side.
Having made her decision, she was about to go back to her room, but before leaving, she glanced at Zhou Xinyi, who was standing silently to the side.
She could feel Zhou Chengze's burning gaze, but she was too lazy to look at that stupid Zhu who had been involved with her sister in her previous life. As if she had thought of something, Xiang Wan stopped and looked at her sister-in-law from her previous life, Zhou Xinyi, with great interest.
Zhou Xinyi was being led by Li Taohua, but her eyes seemed glued to Zhou Chengze beside her.
Thinking of the way her sister-in-law looked at Zhou Chengze before she died in her previous life, Xiang Wan looked at her with a hint of interest and asked her a question she had also asked in her previous life: "Is he your biological brother?"
Realizing that the seemingly noble girl was speaking to her, Zhou Xinyi was somewhat stunned and subconsciously said, "No, I'm just an adopted daughter."
They're definitely not blood-related siblings.
Having received a definite answer, Xiang Wan didn't linger any longer and walked into the courtyard without looking back: "Kid, close the gate."
"good."
The wooden door kept them outside, and in the dim light, Xiang Wan felt somewhat dazed. She had asked this question in her previous life, but no one in Li Family Village had told her the truth.
They had all received her financial assistance, yet they banded together to keep her in the dark.
She found it strange. In her previous life, she had been so good to Zhou Chengze, helping him grow from a small mountain village to an entrepreneur, and giving him connections and resources. When he lied to her like this, did he ever feel even a little bit guilty?
When she was choosing her wedding dress and he was flirting with his sister-in-law, did he ever feel any remorse towards her?
Xiang Wan was somewhat confused, but not troubled by it.
Because only the weak would dwell on things, while she is strong, she only needs to discard Zhou Chengze, this useless piece.
The fact that the heir of the Xiang family is troubled by love is something outsiders would laugh their heads off.
*
In the other courtyard, behind the dilapidated wooden door, Li Taohua was still kneeling persistently, while Zhou Chengze was staring blankly at the wooden door.
He tugged at his mother's sleeve, trying to pull her up, but his mind was replaying the glance Xiang Wan had given him earlier.
She's as beautiful as a porcelain doll.
'No, she's prettier than the doll Mom bought for Xinyi.'
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