Chapter 36
On the way back, Xiaoming seemed lost in thought, while Jiang Lan occasionally stole glances at her expression, remaining as quiet as a chicken.
When I got home, Jiang's parents had just returned as well.
Xiao Ming asked Jiang Ma, "Auntie, are you on good terms with Yao Xue's parents?"
Upon hearing this name, Jiang's mother's expression changed, and she hurriedly waved her hand, saying, "We have no connection with her. Jiang's father, Jiang Lan, and I are not familiar with her family at all."
"Oh, that's good."
Jiang's mother breathed a sigh of relief, nodded with a forced smile, and glared at Jiang Lan while Xiaoming wasn't looking.
She realized that her son was all show and no substance. Xiaoming might not recognize Yao Xue, but didn't he? He should have avoided her from afar. Xiaoming had only come to visit once and already encountered a 'love rival'. Was he just a decoration?
That Yao Xue is outrageous. She must have shown something, otherwise Xiaoming wouldn't have come back specifically to ask about the relationship between the two families.
Headache.
After taking a shower, Xiaoming returned to the guest room that Jiang's mother had prepared for him. Jiang Lan tossed and turned in her room, unable to sleep. In the end, she got up and bravely went to knock on Xiaoming's door.
Xiao Ming opened the door and blocked the entrance: "What's wrong?"
Jiang Lan scratched her head and stammered, "Today... I can't swear. Last time you said you were coming to swear at her, I thought..."
"Did you think I was good at cursing and would make her so ashamed that she would run away with her face covered?"
"Um."
"Turns out I'm all talk and no action?"
"No, I want to apologize. It's all my fault that you've run into this mess."
"No need to apologize. There are always oddballs in this world. Cursing won't do any good. Just stay away from her."
After saying that, he tiptoed and kissed Jiang Lan. Jiang Lan took the opportunity to hug him tightly and kiss him deeply before letting him go and closing the door to go to sleep.
When she was a child, her grandmother taught her to settle scores on the spot and vent her anger immediately, and to avoid holding grudges overnight.
But today she was disgusted to the core; she could say she'd never been so disgusted in her entire life. If she were to confront them on the spot, not only would she become a laughingstock for the onlookers, but it wouldn't solve the underlying problem at all.
There's nothing I can do; I'll have to let this pent-up anger linger overnight.
Tonight's dream was vulgar. Xiaoming didn't even know what perspective he was in. He only saw a naked, long-haired woman standing in front of the bed. Judging from the white bedding, it must be a hotel.
A man was leaning against the headboard, smoking, his face completely obscured.
Before long, the two began their intimate activity. Xiaoming watched, and after a while, she became bored and observed the room's layout, finding nothing unusual except for a laptop on the table.
After they finished, the woman finally faced her, lifted her long hair, and put on a white dress.
[Hey, isn't that so-and-so? Who is it?] After a moment's thought, Xiaoming punched Yao Xue in the face.
The next moment, Yao Xue disappeared, and the man, wearing a white bathrobe, sat at the table with his laptop open and typing something on the keyboard.
Xiao Ming peeked over from behind and saw a computer screen with an English interface, blue and white color scheme, playing footage of the two of them having a passionate encounter in bed.
She stared intently for a moment, then realized that this was a social media app from outside the Great Firewall. Many of her abundant resources were brought back from this platform and shared on various websites.
Some people like to take pictures of these things and then post them outside the wall to share with others.
This person's account nickname, um, is 【@Q_*******09661】.
The scene changes, and the man sees Yao Xue, still dressed in a white dress, arguing and shoving with another woman. Suddenly, the woman falls backward, landing as if she is crying out in pain, and a large amount of red liquid slowly seeps out from beneath her.
The man and woman standing there watched the scene indifferently. After they had seen enough of the woman's miserable state, the man finally made a phone call.
As Yao Xue laughed, the light and shadow of the furniture, decorations, and various objects in the room began to distort and suddenly lunged at her.
As Yao Xue was engulfed by the shadows, her face contorted, and she screamed something silently.
Xiao Ming looked up at the swaying green branches and leaves outside the window and the light blue sky above the tree canopy, then closed his eyes.
After waking up, Xiaoming lay in bed quietly recalling what he had seen in his dream and wrote it down in his phone's notes app.
I drew back the curtains, looked at the already bright sky outside, and made a phone call.
"Old Wang, help me find someone, and give me her contact information after you find her."
After hanging up the phone, I sent the information about the other woman in my dream to Lao Wang, then got up and went downstairs.
Jiang Lan was helping her mother in the kitchen, while her father had already gone to work.
After washing up, they started eating breakfast. The table was full of food that Jiang's mother had prepared to take back with them.
"Auntie, if we take all these bags and packages, Jiang Lan and I can save money on meat for two months."
“You’re all busy at work, so I’ll save you the trouble of buying and chopping vegetables. When you want to eat, just take them out to thaw. They’re delicious whether you stir-fry or braise them. Jiang Lan knows how to cook, so you just eat.”
"Okay, I'll listen to you and just follow Jiang Lan and eat what's served to me."
After the family finished breakfast chatting and laughing, Jiang's mother started urging them to pack their things: "Go home early, or I'll have to cook lunch. I've been busy around the stove these past two days, so let me rest a bit."
Upon hearing this, Xiaoming and Jiang Lan exchanged a smile.
The two drove back, encountering some traffic, but arrived home just in time for dinner.
After packing her luggage, Jiang Lan went to cook, while Xiao Ming called home.
"Was it going smoothly? Are his family members easy to get along with?"
"It went smoothly. His family is easy to get along with, and everything is settled here. I plan to move to a bigger house and buy a car. Otherwise, it's all Jiang Lan's RVs, which doesn't look good."
"You and Jiang Lan have discussed it, and I'll transfer some money to your account."
"Okay." Xiaoming didn't refuse. She had known for a long time that Zhou's father had been saving up a sum of money for her to find a son-in-law over the years. Although she couldn't quite explain the exact nature of the matter now, it was clear that Zhou's father was still subconsciously treating the marriage as a way to find a son-in-law.
After hanging up the phone, Xiaoming unpacked the suitcase that Jiang's mother had prepared and put the contents into the refrigerator. He finished tidying up the food and had just taken out their clothes and hung them up neatly when Jiang Lan called for dinner.
After lunch and a nap, Xiao Ming received a message from Lao Wang. He couldn't help but grin. "They're both lawyers. Lawyers are great."
Xiao Ming glanced at Jiang Lan, who was still asleep, gently pulled away his hand from her waist, and tiptoed out of the bedroom.
I dialed the phone number sent in the message, and the phone rang with a beeping sound, waiting for the call to be connected.
No one answered the phone, so Xiaoming dialed a second time.
This time it rang twice before the call was answered, and a slightly tired female voice came from the other end:
"Hello, who is this?"
Do you know Yao Xue?
"Who are you?!"
"You miscarried because she pushed you down, but your husband said it was an accident that he pushed you to the ground, so she didn't get any punishment, while your husband was accused of accidentally hurting you under the guise of a trivial marital argument, and he didn't suffer any real injury, is that right?"
"That's the truth, what are you trying to say?"
“I can provide you with what you want. There is evidence that Yao Xue pushed you down. There was a tall shelf opposite the large French window at the scene, and your cat's collar camera was on it. It was on at the time and recorded the whole process.”
Your husband has a hobby of filming his own adult videos. He has a dedicated sharing account on a social media platform outside the Great Firewall: [@Q_*******09661]. It should contain what you're looking for.
"......,Thanks!"
Looking at the phone that had just been hung up, Xiao Ming chuckled. He hoped that this woman would be more aggressive and make that self-proclaimed charming Miss Yao realize her own worth, so that she would give up. After all, it would be a waste of his emotions and energy to spend any more time on such a disgusting person.
That day after work, the deliveryman brought me a big package; the travel photos I had taken had arrived.
Jiang Lan opened the package and took out the photo album and frames inside.
The two were looking at a photo album together. Xiaoming got up to leave after looking at two pages, but Jiang Lan stopped her, saying, "Why are you running away?"
"This is so awkward. Besides, I already looked at the photos once before. Look, I'll go cook."
After finishing cooking and coming out of the kitchen, Xiaoming looked at the neatly put-away wedding photos and breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, Jiang Lan hadn't been in such a hurry to hang them up.
The next day at work, after sitting down for a while, I noticed that some of my female colleagues around me were whispering and gossiping.
After Xiaoming started dating Jiang Lan, she spent all her extra energy on her boyfriend, and she missed out on a lot of gossip at work.
Seeing that Sister Ying, who had been busy all day, finally stopped to drink water, Xiao Ming went over to ask what was going on. He said that the other colleagues didn't even know how many times the information had been passed down, so he should ask the person who processed the information.
"Sister Ying, I saw other colleagues talking about 'playing around' and 'abortion,' what's going on?"
“That Yueyue from the HR department, didn’t she take leave a few days ago? When she came back from leave, she came to me to ask about maternity allowance. She said she had an abortion a few days ago, and according to regulations, she is entitled to 15 days of maternity allowance. She said she wanted to apply for it.”
Xiao Ming exclaimed in surprise: "Huh? There's a maternity allowance for abortions?"
"Well, generally speaking, married female colleagues take more comprehensive contraceptive measures, and even if they get pregnant unexpectedly, most of them will choose to give birth."
Unmarried women, wanting to protect their reputation, generally won't tell anyone, let alone apply for maternity benefits. After all, such an application would have to go through at least several departments, meaning everyone in the company would know.
Therefore, applying for maternity benefits after an abortion is relatively uncommon; most people are unaware that this is an option.
Xiao Ming nodded and asked, "She has a boyfriend, so it's not surprising that she got pregnant unexpectedly. Why do you say she's promiscuous?"
Yingjie beckoned, and Xiaoming, seizing the opportunity, leaned closer. Yingjie whispered in her ear, "Her abortion application was approved this time, but she came to ask again if she could apply again in February. I'm not sure either, since it's only been a few months between the two applications. I went to ask the finance department, and they said yes, both applications have been approved."
The problem is that Xiaoyu accompanied her to the hospital this time, but not in February. Who is Xiaoyu? She seems to thrive on chaos.
Originally, Yueyue said her boyfriend was away on a business trip, which is why she asked Xiaoyu to take time off work to accompany her to the hospital. However, Yueyue revealed that her boyfriend had accompanied her to the hospital a few months earlier. Xiaoyu then texted Yueyue's boyfriend, criticizing him for not cherishing his girlfriend no matter how capable he was, and for causing her to have two miscarriages in just a few months. He replied that the two hadn't slept together for a while and that it wasn't his.
It turns out the last one belonged to her boyfriend, but she doesn't know whose this one is. Yueyue didn't dare let her boyfriend know, so she lied to Xiaoyu, saying her boyfriend was away on a business trip and she wanted Xiaoyu to come with her for the surgery.
Seeing Xiaoming's slightly open mouth and somewhat blank expression, Yingjie couldn't resist sharing: "When Yueyue asked me to apply for a second time, I criticized her and asked her why she was so careless. Guess what she said?"
"What did you say?"
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