Chapter 115 Chapter 115 The two walked on the street, and...
The two of them walked on the street. Compared to the quietness in the alley, the outside was full of life.
Although it is winter, there are many activities outside day and night. There are dragon and lion dances and temple fairs during the day. At night, many people come out to watch the fireworks and bring their children out to buy food and toys.
There were also people, perhaps because they had eaten too much dinner, walking aimlessly on the street.
The two of them were also walking aimlessly, and at this moment, they were like a pair of old friends, walking leisurely.
However, Jiang Dong didn't think so. If she knew that Xia Li regarded their current situation as a walk among old friends, she wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry.
There was a stove next to the door of the shop next door, and on top of it was a large iron basin with several kinds of bottled drinks boiling in it.
Jiang Dong asked, "Are you cold? Do you want something hot to drink?"
Xia Li took a look at what Jiang Dong said, shook her head, and said she didn't want to drink anything.
"Forget it, I won't drink anymore. I've been eating a lot at night lately!" Then she continued, "Why are you back so early? You should stay home longer during the New Year holiday."
It's not the time for people from other places to go back to work for the Spring Festival yet. Jiang Dong does his own work, so he should have more free time.
Jiang Dong walked beside them, waving his hands. "No, I can't sit still. Besides, there's work to do here. You know the early bird catches the worm."
Xia Li smiled at him and praised him, "Not bad, Boss Jiang. I'm counting on you to make a lot of money this year. I'll give you more living expenses then."
Jiang Dong nodded without hesitation, "They are all you and your son." He looked at Xia Li seriously.
In Jiang Dong's view, the responsibility of a man and a father is to work hard outside to earn money, and then spend the money he earns on his wife and children. This has always been his wish.
He turned his head and looked at the person beside him who he was thinking about. She didn't want to look at him, and didn't react to what he had just said. He was a little disappointed, but it was okay. After all, he knew how difficult Charlie was.
Because he had her before, Jiang Dong knew how charming Xia Li was, and how she had a fatal charm for him. Fortunately, he knew Xia Li's personality, so even though he felt disappointed, he knew that no one could snatch her away from him.
There were many people who coveted her before. Zhang Zhiyuan was an example. He even dared to do something behind his back. He had read those letters. They were not even plausible, but she was still willing to be kept hanging for such a long time.
She was smart and realized this early on. Jiang Dong didn't know whether to be sad or relieved.
Just across the sidewalk from me, there was a family of four walking by, talking and laughing. They were a mother and father with two children, a boy and a girl. They looked like a very happy family, making people envious.
Xia Li noticed Jiang Dong's gaze and followed his gaze. Then, she said with some emotion, "It's obvious that they come from a wealthy family. Having two children, they must have to pay a lot of fines."
After saying this, he shook his head with regret.
Jiang Dong withdrew his gaze from that side and looked at Xia Li with an indescribable expression. He really didn't know what was going on in her head.
But thinking about it, she was telling the truth. The family planning policy had such a profound impact. He could hear people discussing it everywhere, especially his peers back home. He only had one child, Jiang Zai, while other families already had two. It wasn't that they had to have a son, but they already had two sons and were still thinking about having a daughter. And when he went home for Chinese New Year this year, he heard that she was pregnant again.
Jiang Dong actually also wants to have another daughter. Who doesn’t love a sweet and soft girl? It would be even better if the child could look like her mother.
Suddenly, he was elbowed. Xia Li had noticed Jiang Dong's attention wandering, his eyes no longer on the road. She was about to warn him about the missing tile and warned him to avoid falling. But he seemed to be multitasking and simply stepped over it.
Then, the man looked at her in confusion. "What's wrong?"
Charlie snorted. He really should have been thrown down. "What are you thinking about? So serious?"
"I saw other people's daughters and thought that if we had a daughter, she would definitely be as beautiful as you!" Jiang Dong said.
Xia Li choked on her own saliva. Jiang Dong's words were so shocking that she coughed a few times, cleared her throat, and then pointed at the whimsical man and said, "You're overthinking it. Get out of here!" She even gave birth to a daughter.
"But I won't have any more children," she said, then looked at Jiang Dong with a playful expression. She turned around, walked backwards and said with a smile: "I think you can have children with others. You can learn from the boss here. As long as you can spend money, many women are willing to bear children for you. Not to mention one daughter, even ten wouldn't be a problem!"
Although Xia Li said it with a smile, it looked like a joke. But Jiang Dong's hair stood on end the moment he heard it. What kind of lewd words were these? He smiled bitterly and said, "Don't shiver at me. I'm a loyal person. Once I make up my mind, it's for life. Besides, if I have money and don't spend it on you, what's the point of spending it on others? Spending it on my wife and children is the real deal."
Xia Li snorted again, but was quite satisfied with Jiang Dong's words. The atmosphere here is really bad now. Men become bad when they have money. They go out and flirt as soon as they make a little money. This kind of thing is really too common.
Sometimes you really can't blame women, just like Wang Fang from the factory before. She was such a simple girl when she first came here, but in the end she was changed into something else by a man.
But she's an adult now, too, and she won't be tempted by the notion that good deeds are watched by God and that good deeds are rewarded. Wang Fang isn't a bad person, just morally flawed. Xia Li can't say the path she ultimately took was necessarily bad. Perhaps with a bit of luck, she could have had a child and lived a life of luxury. Compared to others who have lived a life of hard work and frugality, this was her own choice.
Just watching the changes in a person before and after makes people feel sad.
This is what a man is, able to turn a beautiful and fragrant flower into dust and mud.
Xia Li glanced at Jiang Dong and thought to herself, "Don't become a man like that, otherwise it will only prove that my previous vision was really too poor."
Jiang Dong was puzzled by Xia Li's gaze. He just couldn't help but say that he wanted to have a daughter like her. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with this sentence. Why was she looking at him like this?
He asked Charlie what was wrong.
Xia Li said it was nothing, but she just suddenly seemed to be less interested and was not as careful when walking.
With a cry of "Ouch!", Xia Li suddenly tilted to the side and her body fell to one side.
Jiang Dong had been looking at her, and at this moment he walked forward, supported her, and held her in his arms.
Xia Li felt as if she had missed a step, and then her foot tilted, and a wave of pain instantly hit her heart. She was held in Jiang Dong's arms, burying her head in his chest, and she no longer cared about the expression on her face.
It hurt so much that she grimaced and frowned.
But he didn't scream out.
But even if she didn't scream, Jiang Dong could feel Xia Li's pain, because the hands on him were grabbing his clothes so hard that they were almost grabbing his flesh.
Jiang Dong knew what kind of injury she was in, and asked hurriedly with concern: "What's wrong? Did you sprain your ankle?" At this moment, Xia Li was holding him tightly, and Jiang Dong couldn't pull her away to check. He could only wait for her to recover.
A woman who was out playing with her child walked by and could hear the child asking her mother, "Mom, what are those two uncles and aunts doing together?" The child's tone was full of curiosity, and the child's innocent voice was not concealed at all, and it was clearly heard by the two people behind.
Jiang Dong turned his head to look, and Xia Li buried herself deeper into Jiang Dong's body, exerting more force with her hands, reaching into his coat and pinching hard.
Now it was Jiang Dong's turn to look ferocious. He happened to see the woman with the child turning her head to look at them with disgust. She was startled by Jiang Dong's ferocious expression and left with a whisper of "Psycho!" before hurried away.
Jiang Dong was stunned for a moment, then turned his head and looked at the black head on his chest.
I even had the energy to pinch him, and it seems the pain has passed.
So he pulled the people away, squatted down, and looked at Charlie's foot which was obviously the same.
Charlie stood with her hand on his head, feeling him checking her feet.
"How is it?" she asked in a trembling voice, not daring to look at her ankle. It was such bad luck! She had to hope she didn't break any bones. She was going to go back to work soon. Was she going to wear it for the New Year? That would be great.
Jiang Dong lifted her trouser legs, pulled down her socks and took a look, then reached out to touch them and felt Xia Li shiver.
He felt that he hadn't touched her much, so he asked, "Does it hurt?"
Xia Li took a deep breath, felt it, and then told Jiang Dong about her feelings: "Well, it's okay!" It seemed not so painful anymore.
After hearing this, Jiang Dong touched her ankle bone carefully, then observed the joints and skin on the surface, and felt relieved.
He comforted Charlie, "It's probably just a sprain. I don't think any bones are broken. Don't worry." After that, he continued to straighten Charlie's socks and trouser legs, then stood up and supported her. "It's not a big deal. If I had known you were going to walk backwards at first, I would have just pulled you to save you from stepping on empty air."
After Jiang Dong finished speaking, he seemed to remember something, looked around, and then walked towards the green belt. He picked up a floor tile of the same size there, and placed it on the empty space where Xia Li stepped, filling it in, and then flattened it with his feet.
Charlie watched the whole process from the side, carefully tiptoeing on her injured foot.
After finishing it, Jiang Dong dusted off his hands, walked over and said, "Okay, this place won't hurt you anymore."
After saying that, he squatted down and waited for a long time, but no one came up.
Just as he was about to call for help, he felt a change in the force on his back. A soft body pressed up against him, and a pair of arms were wrapped around his neck.
Jiang Dong glanced behind him. Although he couldn't see anything, he adjusted Xia Li's position and said, "Hold on to me!"
On the streets during the New Year, even though Guangzhou was a relatively open city, it was still rare to see a man carrying a woman on his back. Passersby would often stare at them, but since she had someone she could trust by her side, Xia Li didn't think much of it. She let them look; it wouldn't hurt her anyway.
Seeing that this direction was not the way home, Xia Li reached out and patted Jiang Dong, who was carrying her on his back, and asked him, "Where are you going?"
Jiang Dong: "Of course, I'll find a doctor to check your ankle so that you don't delay important matters."
Charlie nodded in agreement. "Indeed," she thought. Her foot had almost stopped hurting, and she'd thought he was going to take her home, but it was safer to just check it out.
By the time Jiang Dong carried Xia Li back again, half an hour had passed. Jiang Dong's earlier diagnosis was consistent with the doctor's: it was indeed just a slight sprain, but no bone damage, so it wasn't a serious problem. They bought the doctor's recommended medicated oil at the pharmacy and took it home to apply.
On the way, Jiang Dong carefully discussed Xia Li's mother's situation behind her back. He had delayed telling her until he was sending her home because he knew her feelings about it. She was very displeased with her mother, and speaking about it earlier would definitely affect her mood. This was their first meeting since the new year, and Jiang Dong didn't want to let irrelevant things ruin it.
Xia Li suddenly propped herself up on Jiang Dong's back, even ignoring her foot injury, and wanted to jump down.
Jiang Dong thought to himself that this was not good, and quickly used his hands to restrain her, stopping her from jumping down. His tone couldn't help but become stern: "What are you doing? You don't even know that your foot is injured, and you still want to jump down."
Xia Li hadn't heard Jiang Dong speak to her in this tone for a long time, and she was stunned for a moment. After a while, she reacted and said a little aggrievedly, "It's what you said!"
She is now both angry and aggrieved, feeling that the person next to her does not understand her feelings at all.
The moment Xia Li heard the news about her mother, she felt like a completely different person, her temper flaring up. She said, "Why is she so annoying? Didn't I make it clear beforehand? Doesn't she know I don't want to see her? How can she be so shameless? If she wants to come, she can. Why is she planning on sending a sedan chair to pick her up? If she wants to, she can come. What does it have to do with me?"
Jiang Dong listened to Xia Li lying on his back and venting her emotions. He didn't need to look to know that her brows must be tightly furrowed and her face must be full of anger.
Jiang Dong naturally didn't want to let this kind of thing really bother her, but since this matter involved her mother after all, he had to tell her so that she could be mentally prepared.
"Don't worry, so far only Mom and I know your address. You don't know Mom and I yet, so we definitely won't tell anyone else your address. So, even if you, um, that person really goes to Guangcheng, he will definitely not be able to find you."
Xia Li felt a lot better after hearing what Jiang Dong said. It was indeed the case. She thought it unlikely that someone, someone who had never left the province, would actually travel thousands of miles to find her daughter, with whom she had long since severed ties. Even if she did come, Guangcheng was so big, and that person didn't know her address, how could she find her in such a vast sea of people?
She had changed her previous job long ago. Even Zhao Qingqing didn't know her home address, so it was impossible for her to find her home. However, she still had a job, so she had to remind Zhao Qingqing that this girl didn't know whether she knew about her family's affairs or not, so she didn't let it slip.
After figuring out the key points of the matter, although it was a bit complicated to deal with, Charlie was no longer afraid. She just hoped that things wouldn't take the worst possible turn.
But sometimes, the things you least want to happen are the ones that are most likely to happen.
It had been almost a month since the start of work after the New Year, and Xia Li had already met with Zhao Qingqing and Zhao Haiyan, asking them to keep her current workplace a secret and to share it with everyone else. From them, Xia Li learned that no one had ever specifically inquired about her situation, including where she lived or worked.
Of course, the people around them are curious, but their minds are very straightforward: how much money these people make out there, what the world is like out there, and whether they can bring themselves or their children over there. Those are the only topics they're interested in.
Xia Li felt relieved, and gradually, she began to find her previous worries somewhat amusing. It had been a month now, her sprained ankle had healed, and there was still no news about her mother, and she probably wouldn't come back. She had to admit, even after being gone for so long, her biological mother still held a place in her heart, and her presence still made her feel upset and scared.
But soon, Xia Li once again felt that she was the one who was ridiculous. How could she have such a mother?
She had just come back from outside and sat down on her chair in the office, picking up the cup of cold water and preparing to take a sip.
A burst of rapid footsteps sounded in the corridor outside the door. Liu Fen, who was also sitting in the room, raised her head, frowned and said, "Who is this? Running so fast and so impatient."
Soon everyone knew who it was, as they saw this person running into their shared office. Obviously, he ran too fast, and now he was panting and unable to speak.
Old Peng in the office saw that it was a young girl who looked exhausted. He thought it was something urgent and quickly called out, "Quick, Xiaoling, go see what's wrong with her."
Wang Yiling didn't say anything and just got up and prepared to go over.
Xia Li quickly stopped her and said, "It's okay, Yiling, just sit down. I know her."
Zhao Qingqing, who had been catching her breath at the door for a while, heard Xia Li's words, looked into the office, and nodded.
Xia Li walked over with her cup and handed it to Zhao Qingqing, asking Zhao Qingqing to drink some water first and take a break. There was no need to be so anxious about anything!
However, Zhao Qingqing pushed away the cup that Xia Li handed over. She was not thirsty, but very anxious. "Sister Xia Li, I'm not thirsty. I have something urgent to tell you." After saying that, she looked at the people in the room who were obviously very concerned about what happened. She felt that it was not convenient to talk about this matter here, so she pulled Xia Li's sleeve.
"Sister Xia Li, let's go talk outside."
Xia Li was puzzled, but still followed Zhao Qingqing and the other person into the corridor.
At this moment, in the office, Liu Fen curiously asked Wang Yiling who was sitting in front of her: "Xiao Wang, that girl just now knows Xiao Xia. Do you know who she is?"
Wang Yiling shook her head good-naturedly, then smiled and said to Liu Fen, "Sister Liu, I don't know that person either. He might be reporting to Sister Xia Li about some work."
Liu Fen said "Oh" and didn't think much about it. She thought that Xiao Xia was becoming more and more powerful. So many people came to her every day. Why didn't she just open an office for her?
Wang Yiling had actually seen that girl before; she was a factory worker. She knew Xia Li knew her, and she had even seen the two of them eating together in the cafeteria. However, there seemed no need to tell Liu Fen about these things.
After she finished speaking, she continued to work.
After a while, Xia Li came back, her face expressionless. She placed the cup on her desk, then walked over to Wang Yiling, said a few words to her, and left.
Zhao Qingqing followed Xia Li downstairs, watching her sister Xia Li's face as she walked around the corner. She had never seen Xia Li look so serious before, and she felt a little uneasy.
This matter was definitely their fault. She had heard about Sister Xia Li's situation before, even during Chinese New Year when she was home. It was said that Sister Xia Li's father had passed away long ago, and her relationship with her mother was quite bad, the kind of thing where they never spoke to each other. She had heard gossip from others, saying that Sister Xia Li was cruel, not even contacting her own mother after becoming rich, and that her own mother was a bad person and treated her daughter badly, so it was no wonder that her daughter didn't get close to her. In short, they were saying all sorts of things, both good and bad.
However, she did have a general idea of the situation. In short, combined with what Sister Xia Li had told her, she quickly understood what Sister Xia Li meant. That was that she didn't want to have any contact with her biological mother anymore, and she didn't want her biological mother back home to get any news about her from them.
In fact, Zhao Qingqing took these matters very seriously, and she and Zhao Haiyan quickly told their friends about it. Everyone reassured them, saying that they knew the seriousness of the matter.
But they never expected that things would go wrong on their side.
Today Haiyan hurriedly took leave and came here. She didn't dare to find Sister Xia Li directly, but asked the guard to notify her to come out first, and then told herself this bolt from the blue.
It turned out that Sister Xia Li's biological mother had already found the entrance of their factory.
Haiyan looked anxious when she said this. Zhao Qingqing almost thought there was something wrong with her ears. How did she get here? Sister Xia Li had specifically told her to get here before, so how did she find her way to their door?
How can they face Sister Xia Li?
However, she also knew that things couldn't be delayed, so she had to quickly tell Sister Xia Li so that she would have time to deal with it. Therefore, this scene appeared.
When Zhao Qingqing and Xia Li arrived at the door together, they saw Zhao Haiyan waiting there. As soon as she saw them coming, she quickly took two steps forward.
Zhao Haiyan didn't know how to face Xia Li. The cheerful girl before had become hesitant. She said, "Sister Xia Li..."
Xia Li approached, but she didn't mean to blame her. She also knew that this matter definitely had nothing to do with Zhao Haiyan or Zhao Qingqing. "It's okay, don't blame yourself. Tell me what's going on there now!" Qingqing didn't know much about it, so she didn't explain it clearly.
Zhao Haiyan nodded and said, "It's like this, Sister Xia Li..."
Xia Li listened carefully and soon understood. In other words, her fellow workers hadn't done anything to wrong her despite knowing her grudge. Instead, their relatives had leaked her information.
Charlie sighed helplessly. She knew some things were impossible to completely conceal. Nothing is difficult in this world if you're willing to ask.
If her mother really wanted to find her, she would definitely find a way to do it by all means.
By the way, isn’t this how Jiang Dong got here before?
She rubbed her forehead with a headache, her eyes dull.
The two people who had been paying attention to Xia Li looked worried at this moment, "Sister Xia Li, are you okay?"
Charlie pulled herself together and nodded, saying, "Don't worry, I'm fine. I can handle it." However, seeing the guilt and worry on the two people's faces, Charlie said a few more words to comfort them, "Actually, this isn't your fault at all. This is my personal matter. Besides, I had a premonition about this. What's coming will eventually come."
But it doesn't matter. As I said, since some things make her worry and anxious, it is better to solve them as soon as possible and let them come to an end as soon as possible.
Zhao Haiyan seemed to consider it for a moment, then raised her head and said to Xia Li, "Sister Xia Li, why don't we go out and ask her to go back? Since she can only find our factory now, it means she doesn't know where you are now, so there's no need for you to come forward."
There were some things she couldn't say, after all, it concerned Sister Xia Li's mother.
Charlie declined her kindness. She knew her mother's character very well. Now that she was here, it would be difficult for others to get rid of her.
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