Chapter Ninety-Three: A Potful of Mixed Fare

Su Xue had clearly come here to make trouble, and Liu Xiaoli and Li Yong each had their own motives. Li Yong, especially, felt as though he had finally found a way out of his misery, like a drowning man clutching at a straw—except this was no straw, but a solid beam of timber.

With no other choice, Zhang Can pressed the doorbell. The one who came to open the door, as expected, was the delighted and eager Liu Xiaoqin.

But the instant she opened the door and saw the strikingly beautiful Su Xue, she froze. Then she noticed Liu Xiaoli in work clothes behind Zhang Can, and Li Yong, grinning so broadly his mouth nearly split open. In an instant, she stood there in stunned amazement, mouth agape.

“Come in, come in!” Zhang Can hurriedly took Liu Xiaoqin’s hand, while also greeting the people behind him. He introduced Su Xue to Liu Xiaoqin: “Xiaoqin, this is our neighbor, Miss Su Xue. Her water dispenser at home broke, so she came over to borrow some water.”

Then he turned to Su Xue and said, “This is my girlfriend, Liu Xiaoqin!”

He emphasized the words my girlfriend very heavily. Su Xue understood that Zhang Can was reminding her to be careful and not let Liu Xiaoqin misunderstand. Of course, she did not fully grasp what he meant, because she still did not know that Zhang Can already knew the truth about her identity, and so many things had not occurred to her at that level.

For example, right now Su Xue assumed Zhang Can was afraid she might do something that would make Liu Xiaoqin misunderstand. In truth, Zhang Can was worried she might hurt Liu Xiaoqin, because her parents were here as well.

This was the first time Zhang Can had seen Liu Xiaoqin’s father, Liu Dongsheng. In his younger years, he had been a teacher. Liu Xiaoqin’s mother, surnamed Chen and named Huiyu, had been seen before. Today, she seemed a little younger, perhaps because she was wearing newer clothes. As for Liu Dongsheng, his face was ghastly pale, his frame reduced to skin and bone, plainly worn down by long years of illness. He was bearded with stubble, but on closer look, there was still a faint resemblance to the delicate features of the two sisters.

Chen Huiyu hurried forward to greet the future son-in-law who had saved their family. “Xiao Zhang, you’re back?”

Liu Dongsheng was still able to move and struggled to stand. Zhang Can darted over in a few steps, pressing down on his shoulder and saying, “Uncle Liu, please don’t move. Just sit, just sit.”

After Chen Huiyu and Liu Dongsheng settled down, they looked up and saw another figure appear behind Zhang Can. With tears in her eyes, she looked at them and called out sorrowfully, “Mom, Dad!”

“Xia... Xiaoli?”

The old couple could hardly believe their eyes.

Liu Xiaoli could no longer hold herself back. She rushed forward at once, threw herself into her parents’ arms, and burst into loud, heartbroken sobs.

Su Xue had not expected the situation to turn out like this, so she had no chance to use any further tactics. Li Yong stood awkwardly to the side. In this setting, no matter how shameless he might be, he could not brazenly flirt with Su Xue in front of his wife’s parents. Besides, he still could not afford to offend Liu Xiaoli. His relationship with Zhang Can depended entirely on Liu Xiaoli and her sister. If he fell out with Liu Xiaoli, it would do him no good at all.

The most stunned of all was actually Liu Xiaoqin. She could not for the life of her understand how Zhang Can had brought her sister here, or where on earth he had found her.

The whole scene was in utter confusion.

After a long while, Chen Huiyu finally remembered that they were not at home but at Zhang Can’s place. She wiped her tears and said, “Xiaoli, how did you come here? You know Xiao Zhang... no, no, you know your brother-in-law?”

Hearing her mother say it with her own mouth, Liu Xiaoli truly understood that Zhang Can really did have a marriage bond with her younger sister now. For some reason, an odd feeling stirred in her heart. Back then, she had looked down on him, but now Zhang Can had risen to a height she could no longer even touch. Leaving aside anything else, just this place he lived in—the apartment was no small bachelor flat, but a large three-bedroom, two-living-room unit. In the area around Tianxin Square, the rent alone would be at least five thousand a month, and with management fees, water, electricity, and everything else added on, it might well come to seven or eight thousand. That was beyond anything she could imagine. And then there was the sixty thousand yuan he had casually given her and Li Yong to save face, so they could bring her father to Jincheng for treatment. These were all things she herself had never been able to do. A man like that, whom she had once dismissed, had now climbed to a place so high she could no longer reach him. How was she supposed to bear that?

In truth, it was all vanity at work. If she had not had such a strong sense of vanity, she would never have thought this way.

Zhang Can quickly explained, “I have a friend who knows Xiaoli. He told me he thought he had seen her in some village, so I went there to look. By chance, I ran into Xiaoli’s boyfriend, Li Yong, and then we all came back together.”

With tears choking her voice, Liu Xiaoli turned and clutched Liu Xiaoqin as well. “Xiaoqin, your sister is sorry... sorry for Mom and Dad, truly sorry...”

“It’s all right. Mom, Dad, and I all know that you’ve had a hard time out there. Today that Zhang Can found you—it’s truly heaven taking pity on us. Sister, don’t cry anymore. Now that you’re here, this is your home too. And Sister, we have guests.”

Liu Xiaoqin kept glancing at Su Xue with a wary sort of look. Su Xue was too beautiful, almost as beautiful as Zhou Nan. She had no idea what was going on, but the women who appeared around Zhang Can one after another were all so beautiful that it made her feel a little ashamed of herself.

Still, Liu Xiaoqin was not stupid. In her words, she also took on the role of hostess and held the situation together.

Liu Xiaoli then noticed that Li Yong was still standing there with her bag in his arms, sneaking glances at Su Xue from time to time. She grew furious at once. “Li Yong, bring the bag over and give the money to my father for his treatment!”

Li Yong froze. Only then did he remember that there was still such a matter. After a brief daze, he hurriedly said, “Uncle, Auntie, I... Xiaoli and I have worked and saved up... saved up twenty thousand yuan. Use that for your treatment first.”

Liu Xiaoli’s face darkened. She snatched the bag away, took out all six bundles of money inside, and handed them all to Chen Huiyu. “Mom, take this money...”

Originally she had wanted to explain the reason, but Zhang Can gave her a look, and in the end she swallowed the words back down, sparing both herself and Li Yong some face. But Li Yong was simply too greedy. Clearly Zhang Can had just given them the money, yet he only mentioned twenty thousand. The man truly made her furious. Back when she had obeyed him in everything, that was because she had been back home then, and in her heart she had only wanted to marry into the Li family as quickly as possible. But when his parents refused to agree, she had no choice but to go out and work. After arriving in Jincheng, Li Yong’s true nature had gradually been exposed, one layer at a time. Liu Xiaoli grew sadder by the day, more hopeless by the day, yet there was nothing she could do but endure.

Only now that Li Yong had swallowed forty thousand yuan had she truly been hurt to the core. She had already failed in her filial duty toward her parents because of him. Zhang Can had clearly handed her sixty thousand yuan, specifically so she could give it to her parents and make them and her sister happy. Yet Li Yong had directly pocketed forty thousand of it, and Zhang Can was standing right there watching!

Li Yong showed no shame at all. He was still muttering, “Xiaoli... we... we still have to eat and live ourselves...”

Liu Xiaoli was furious, but Liu Xiaoqin and her parents all felt a little embarrassed. Chen Huiyu pushed the money back toward Li Yong and said, “Xiaoli, this was saved from the hard work the two of you did together. You should keep it for yourselves as a backup. We have the money from your brother-in-law, and that’s enough. As long as there’s enough for the treatment, that will do!”

They all thought the money had been saved by Li Yong and Liu Xiaoli working together, so they truly did not want to take it. Only Liu Xiaoli was extremely angry. She glared at Li Yong and, at that moment, realized she hated him more than ever. She had once thought he was rather handsome, but now even his face looked vicious to her, ugly in every respect. She could not understand why she had ever been so taken with him.

“Mom, Dad, just take the money properly. If I say take it, then take it!” Liu Xiaoli said, shoving the cash hard back toward her mother, frightening both Liu Xiaoqin and Chen Huiyu into a daze. Liu Xiaoli’s expression had become far too fierce.

Zhang Can had remained silent the entire time. With Li Yong, though he had only known him for a short while, he had already seen through his true nature completely. To be honest, he despised the man. It was not strange for a man to be crushed by poverty, but to sink into such shamelessness was another matter entirely. If it were not for Liu Xiaoli, he would have practically thrown the man out on the spot.

Liu Xiaoli and he were not yet truly husband and wife in the legal sense; they were only living together as boyfriend and girlfriend, so a breakup would have been normal enough. But Zhang Can did not want to interfere in Liu Xiaoli’s life. How she chose to live was her own business. Even if, the last time they met, he had seen through Li Yong’s true face, so what? She had been beaten, scolded, run away, and yet before long, wasn’t she still secretly texting Li Yong?

Everyone has their own life, their own thoughts. You cannot control others. Just take care of yourself.

Zhang Can sighed, then noticed Su Xue sitting cold-faced on the edge of the sofa. He guessed she probably no longer had the heart to make things difficult for him. He might as well go stand on the balcony for a bit and enjoy some peace and quiet.

“Xiaoli, you stay here and talk with Uncle and Auntie for a while. Rest a little. And Uncle, if your body feels tired, you can lie down in my room for a bit. I’ll go sit on the balcony for a while. Take your time and talk.”

Normally, Zhang Can would not have slipped away at a time like this, but Su Xue was irritating him, and besides, Liu Xiaoli meeting her family again was a good chance for everyone to talk more. It was obvious that Liu Dongsheng and Chen Huiyu were far happier after seeing Liu Xiaoli.

Zhang Can caught a flash of annoyance in Su Xue’s eyes and simply quickened his pace to the balcony off the inner master bedroom. He pushed open the glass window, looked out at the scenery beyond, and let out a long breath.

The situation was a little chaotic, but apart from Su Xue, everything else was still under control. Other problems could be solved with money. Only Su Xue’s matter could not be settled with money. This woman was the most troublesome of all. Zhang Can truly had no way to handle her. He could not beat her, could not outtalk her, and calling the police would be useless—she was a police officer herself, and from the look of things, probably one with some real rank and authority. Even less could he hope to deal with her that way.

He had no cigarette. If he had one in hand, he would really have wanted to light it and take a drag.

Just as he sighed, there was a soft sound from the door behind him. Zhang Can turned around and saw Liu Xiaoli’s face through the glass door. Her expression was cold, as if she were in a very bad mood.

“It wasn’t locked!” Zhang Can said, pointing to the balcony door.

Liu Xiaoli pushed it open and stepped out onto the balcony. Her face was dark as water, and for a long while she said nothing.

Her silence, however, made Zhang Can feel a little uneasy. He looked at her and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“So you’re pleased with yourself now, aren’t you?” Liu Xiaoli bit her lip, then said with a bitter little hum, “I’m just a supermarket girl making two thousand a month, and my boyfriend earns even less than I do. Then you suddenly show up today, put on airs, eat the good food, and toss out sixty thousand yuan. You got plenty of face and embarrassed us enough. Are you satisfied now?”

“This... how did that become a problem?” Zhang Can asked in astonishment.