Chapter 188: Chapter 184: You’ve Come to the Wrong Door

Li Jing sat in the car with a grim face. She thought for a moment, glanced at the time, and said to the driver, “Take me to my parents’ house first.”

“Alright!” The driver agreed and drove toward the commune.

About ten minutes later, the car arrived at the entrance to the alley beside the commune. Li Jing got out, walked down the alley to her family’s home, and glanced at the ajar courtyard gate. Then she walked to Xu Dong’s front door and knocked.

“Who is it? The door’s unlocked.” Yao Xiuyun walked over and opened the courtyard gate. She froze for a moment when she saw Li Jing. “What are you doing here?”

Li Jing gave a faint smile. “I’m looking for Dongzi. I just want to say a few words.”

Yao Xiuyun expressionlessly stepped aside. “Come in.”

Xu Dong was standing at the entrance to the main room, holding a bowl. When he saw Li Jing enter, he frowned, a sarcastic smile touching his lips. “Li Jing, Uncle Li’s house is across the way. You must be at the wrong door.”

Yao Xiuyun went straight into the main room and said to her two children, who were staring curiously at Li Jing, “Hurry up and do your homework. Mommy is going to cook.”

“Okay!” The two children picked up their pens and continued writing.

Completely unfazed by Xu Dong and Yao Xiuyun’s attitude, Li Jing said to Xu Dong, “Dongzi, I’d like to speak with you alone for a moment.”

Xu Dong led her to the adjacent living room and gestured to the sofa. “Sit.” He then sat down himself.

Li Jing sat on the sofa opposite Xu Dong, glanced at the room’s furnishings, and smiled. “Are you still working for the joint defense team?”

“Yes,” Xu Dong said, looking at her. “You didn’t come here just to discuss my job, did you?”

Li Jing shook her head, her expression turning sorrowful. “Dongzi, look, you and Ding Bang both have proper jobs, but Xiangyang still hasn’t found his footing. What kind of future can he have, hanging around a bunch of dealers all day? Help me convince Xiangyang to join the army. After he gets out, I’ll find him a job in a work unit. He can build a real career for himself while he’s still young.”

Xu Dong stared at her, speechless. He’d thought that after more than a decade, she might have changed, but she was still the same as ever. “Li Jing, you’ve got to be kidding me. What right do you have to look down on him for dealing in pigs? Weren’t you also raised on the money Uncle Li made from butchering them?”

“I’m not looking down on him for being a butcher!” Li Jing sighed. “I know you’re all biased against me! Xiangyang is my only brother. I’m genuinely thinking about his future. I don’t want to watch him throw his life away and wander further down the wrong path…”

“Li Jing!” Xu Dong cut her off. “You have no right to criticize Xiangyang. We’ve known each other for a long time. Just say what you came to say instead of beating around the bush!”

Hearing this, Li Jing sat up straight. “Fine. Let me ask you this. You’re Xiangyang’s best friend, his brother. Are you really just going to stand by and watch him get involved with a widow? Watch him become a laughingstock and ruin his own future?”

“Li Jing, don’t you dare judge others by your standards!” Xu Dong scoffed, standing up to look down on her. “I’m telling you, we all support Xiangyang and Sister Lin. He’s a hundred times better off with a simple, kind-hearted woman than with some two-faced, backstabbing type!”

Li Jing said angrily, “I’m his sister! You think I’d try to harm him?”

“Oh, give me a break!” Xu Dong looked at her with a scornful expression. “You know damn well why you’re interfering in Xiangyang’s love life. After all these years, you’re still the same—always so self-righteous, always thinking you’re the smartest one in the room.”

“That’s right!” Li Xiangyang strode in from the courtyard.

“Xiangyang!” Li Jing cried out, flustered.

Li Xiangyang looked at her coldly. “Dongzi’s right. You’re still the same as you’ve always been, thinking you’re the smartest person alive and everyone else is an idiot. You’ll use or sacrifice anyone to get what you want. You did it back then, and you’re still doing it now.”

Li Jing looked at him with an aggrieved expression. “How can you say that about me? We’re brother and sister! Isn’t everything I do for your own good? It’s not like you can’t find a wife. Why do you have to marry a widow who already has a child? Go out and listen to how everyone is laughing at you!”

“So what if Lin Lan is a widow? She’s hardworking, kind, and grateful. Even if the whole world says she’s no good, as long as I love her, she is the best.” Li Xiangyang took a step forward and stared at her. “But you—you always pretend you’re doing things for your family’s good, but you’re just scheming for your own benefit, even using the parents who raised you. Having a relative like you is our family’s greatest misfortune.”

“Fine, fine, fine!” Li Jing flew into a humiliated rage, jumping to her feet and pointing at him. She screamed hysterically, “So I’m the bad guy! I’m the schemer! If you want to be with that widow so badly, then go! If I ever meddle in your business again, then I’m not fit to be called human!” With that, she grabbed her small handbag from the sofa and stormed out of Xu Dong’s house.

Xu Dong had never seen Li Jing lose her composure like that. He turned to Li Xiangyang. “Were we too harsh on her? You don’t think she’ll do something stupid, do you?”

Li Xiangyang said nonchalantly, “She wouldn’t, even if we did.”

Thinking about it, Xu Dong realized it was true. ’Li Jing is no ordinary woman. After all, how many people would go so far as to take out a newspaper ad to disown their own parents!’

“Weren’t you taking Ding Bang to the hospital to get his bandages changed? What are you doing here?”

“I was on my way back and happened to see her at Lin Lan’s door. I thought she was there to see the old man, so I followed.”

“Right after you left this morning, Uncle Li took some mutton and rode his bike to the pig farm.” Xu Dong remembered something and looked at him with concern. “What you said just now was pretty harsh. Aren’t you afraid you’ve pushed her too far? What if she has Chen Jingsheng stop looking out for you and settle the score later?”

Li Xiangyang turned to look at him. “Do you guys really think Li Jing had Chen Jingsheng look out for me at the black market? He doesn’t have that kind of power.”

Xu Dong looked at him in surprise. “If it wasn’t him, who was it? Back then, you and I were both away in the army. Other than him, who else could it have been?”

Li Xiangyang leaned closer to Xu Dong. “The black market is about to be shut down, so I won’t hide it from you any longer. You know that courtyard house behind the clothing factory? I bought it. My original plan was to set up my own black market there.”

“But before I could even start, I got busted while selling meat at Dongzikou. The guy who caught me was an ’uncle’—someone my dad had helped out before. He gave me a choice: either help them manage the black market, or go for ’reform through labor.’”

“I had no choice but to help them manage it. For all these years, I’ve just been a free errand boy for those two black markets. The only perks were that I could collect some rent and sell my own meat at a stall for free. All my money comes from my pig farm and from selling meat; I’ve never taken a single cent from the black market operations.”

Xu Dong finally understood how he could manage several black markets without anyone daring to mess with him. “No wonder you were closed during those few surprise raids. The higher-ups must have tipped you off, right?”

“Mhm,” Li Xiangyang nodded with a smile. “When the black market closes at the end of the year, things will be easier for me. I can finally just focus on my pig farm.”

Xu Dong laughed and teased, “And make things official with Lin Lan sooner rather than later.”

Li Xiangyang grinned. “Next year. You guys better get your red envelopes ready!”

Yao Xiuyun came out of the kitchen, smiling, and said to Li Xiangyang, “I’m stewing that mutton you brought. Stay and eat with us!”

Li Xiangyang shook his head. “I can’t, I still need to head over to Lin Lan’s.”

Yao Xiuyun smiled and waved him off. “Oh, go eat at Sister Lin’s, then. I won’t keep you.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep