The next morning, Jiang Rou woke up, and the sky outside was already bright.
She lay in bed for a while, then slowly realized that there was one less person in bed.
Getting up, she initially thought the person had left. However, upon leaving the room, she smelled the aroma of a meal coming from the kitchen, which surprised her.
Jiang Rou grabbed a towel and entered the kitchen. The meal was already prepared, with the cooked dishes covered by a bamboo woven cover on the pot lid, presumably to prevent flies.
She didn’t see Li Xiao’s figure.
Jiang Rou walked to the small table in the corner of the kitchen, where there were a washbasin and toothbrush with toothpaste. She squeezed half a tube of toothpaste onto her toothbrush, took a somewhat old ceramic basin, skillfully filled it with water, and carried it outside to the courtyard for washing.
In the corner of the courtyard’s western wall, there was a small trough with a hole for draining dirty water.
Just as Jiang Rou stepped out of the main gate, she saw a man washing clothes by the well, and her steps came to a halt.
The man had his back turned to her, bare-chested, wearing only a pair of camouflage pants. His well-defined and attractive back, a strong and slender waist, and wheat-colored skin reflected a healthy and appealing beauty in the sunlight.
Jiang Rou couldn’t help but glance at him a few more times. It wasn’t that she was lecherous; she had seen her dad and her brother shirtless in the summer. Her dad, with his beer belly resembling a pregnant woman, was a sight to behold. As for her brother, he was the typical skinny and pale type, far from what one might consider manly.
However, it had to be said that whether it was his face or his physique, Li Xiao was a top-notch specimen.
Not sure if her gaze was too intense, but the man who was bending over to wring out clothes suddenly turned his head. Half of his long hair was tied from behind, with some stray strands at his temples, revealing a beautiful forehead with a charming pointed shape. He had a cigarette in his mouth but wasn’t smoking.
He gave a casual glance and then turned his head back. However, Jiang Rou noticed that he was wringing out the clothes she had taken off the night before.
It had to be said that Li Xiao, in this moment, shattered her longstanding preconceived impressions of him.
Li Xiao was her first case, and even though she initially harbored thoughts of changing careers, during her internship, she didn’t dare to cut corners. She had an in-depth knowledge of his information, not only being able to recall it effortlessly but also understanding it thoroughly.
From those written records, she got to know a man who was bold yet meticulous, cunning and ruthless, but also loving towards his daughter.
Despite dropping out of school early, he had once ranked first in his class and attended the best local high school.
He had been involved with gangs and police since childhood, learning a variety of skills from different walks of life. He even acquired exceptional anti-surveillance capabilities, allowing him to evade capture for eleven years while on the run.
Yet, paradoxically, he was also a great father, providing for his daughter everything other children had.
In the extensive records, Jiang Rou came across several essays with a tender touch, chronicling the perspective of a little girl who saw her father as a gentle and loving figure. Her dad would make unique little carriages for her, climb mountains in the middle of the night with her on his back just because she expressed a desire to see the sunrise, and even secretly learn how to braid hair to create many beautiful braids for her.
He was a very complex person, and Jiang Rou suddenly realized that her understanding of him might not be comprehensive enough. At least, most of the men she had encountered in her impression were lazy and indifferent, similar to her dad and brother.
She had once fantasized about the appearance of her future partner, with the most basic requirement being the ability to do household chores.
Unexpectedly, it seemed to have inexplicably come true now.
Jiang Rou chuckled to herself and obediently carried the basin to the corner.
…
For breakfast, there were three dishes: stir-fried eggplant with chili, bok choy and tofu meat soup.
The taste wasn’t exceptional; it was just cooked. Jiang Rou ate two bowls of rice with her head down. After finishing, it was still the man who got up to clean up.
Seeing him efficiently at work, Jiang Rou accepted it calmly. She walked around the living room holding her stomach, then returned to her room to make little clothes.
Before making the small clothes, she had to sketch the patterns. After struggling for a while, she managed to find a pencil that was only half left and a broken notebook without a cover from the corner of a drawer.
She was very familiar with the style of clothes for her nephew. In the future, newborns often wore those one-piece outfits for easy changing, usually in sizes around fifty to sixty centimeters.
Jiang Rou sat at the table, earnestly sketching and noting important details on the paper.
The courtyard door outside was knocked on several times, but Jiang Rou didn’t hear it.
When she finally heard it and stood up, she saw that Li Xiao had gone out ahead of her.
Seeing him go to open the door, Jiang Rou sat back down.
However, she didn’t continue with what she was doing earlier. The room’s window faced the courtyard, and she could easily see everything by slightly stretching her neck.
Outside, Li Xiao opened the courtyard gate, and the visitor was Zhu Qiang.
Upon seeing Li Xiao, Zhu Qiang smiled somewhat awkwardly, “Bro, I heard you were out, so I came over to check on you.”[of prison]
He was holding two palm-sized crucian carp, which he had caught in the river on his way back from visiting the Mei Zi yesterday.
He also had his reasons for their fight this time. If it weren’t for venting anger on his behalf, they wouldn’t have ended up in the police station.
In the end, only he managed to escape unscathed.
He quickly added, “By the way, I heard they’re building a factory in the neighboring city, and they need workers at the construction site. They pay fifteen yuan a day. Are you interested?”
Finding a job in the second half of the year wasn’t easy. Zhu Qiang and Mei Zi’s matter had been settled, and it was already at the end of the year. They were planning to earn some money in the next six months.
Thinking about getting married, Zhu Qiang’s smile deepened, “Bro, the big hotel in our county is almost finished. My uncle will be the chef, and he said he’d take me along. I heard places like that will need all sorts of staff. You can try to get my sister-in-law a job there.”
Because of this, Mei Zi’s family agreed to the marriage.
The fight this time cost Li Xiao and his friends their jobs, and Zhu Qiang felt uneasy about it. He was fine himself—back when he was immature, he used to hang out with Li Xiao and the others, but he always had a way out. Now, he was learning cooking from his uncle, and once he mastered it, he could open his own restaurant.
However, it was a different story for Li Xiao and the others. Li Xiao, Zhou Jian, and others were kids without parents or with neglectful parents. With little family support, they had managed to start a small business in transportation, but now they had clashed with Qin Laoda and Zhang Ge, risking their livelihoods.
His mother and Mei Zi currently forbid him from associating with Li Xiao, and Zhu Qiang knows he can’t continue down the same path. However, he still remembers Li Xiao taking care of him when they were kids, so he comes by to let him know.
Working as a waiter in a big hotel is a good job. Nowadays, the number of laid-off factory workers increases every year, and it might be difficult to get in later.
In recent years, there has been a change in leadership in the county. They are focusing on developing tourism and turning the county into a tourist destination. There are efforts for investment attraction, and a wealthy boss from Haicheng has built a four-star hotel here, making the city looks quite impressive.
Li Xiao didn’t pay much attention to the past incident. Zhu Qiang looked as thin as a monkey, and if he got involved in fights, he’d end up getting beaten to death.
When he heard about the job opportunity at the construction site in the neighboring city, Li Xiao responded vaguely, his attitude unclear. However, when Zhu Qiang suggested Jiang Rou to work as a waitress in the hotel, Li Xiao unconsciously furrowed his brows, seeming to dislike the idea.
“Let’s talk about this later. How long do you need to work at the construction site?”
The transportation business was not doing well, and Li Xiao didn’t want to bow down to Old Qin. While he was involved in the underworld, he also understood there were certain things he shouldn’t do, lines he shouldn’t cross. Getting involved in those things could stain him for a lifetime.
With Jiang Rou carrying his child, he had to think about the future.
This time, going to the police station, he had his own considerations. Old Qin had a hot temper, and he tended to be unpredictable. Li Xiao believed that sooner or later, something would go wrong with Old Qin’s ventures. He didn’t want to be burdened by his brothers when that happened. So, he decided to seize an opportunity to break away. Now, it seemed like they had reached a point of irreconcilability.
Zhu Qiang wasn’t sure what Li Xiao was thinking and replied, “About four or five months.”
Li Xiao’s expression didn’t ease. He felt it was a bit too long, considering that Jiang Rou would have given birth by then.
He was indeed in need of money, but he knew he had to be present when his son was born. His mother couldn’t assist, and Jiang Rou’s parents were even less reliable.
Without saying anything, Zhu Qiang quickly added, “The construction site pays daily, and you can work as long as you want. I plan to work until the end of the year and come back to celebrate the New Year.”
Mei Zi’s parents demanded a hefty dowry, almost emptying his family’s savings. That’s why he was considering earning some money at the construction site. Working as an apprentice under his uncle at the state-owned hotel only paid three yuan a day, and the work was both dirty and exhausting – not even enough to buy a pound of meat.
Li Xiao thought about Jiang Rou’s words from the night before – the child was about to be born, and there were things that needed preparation.
He didn’t fully understand it, but money was needed.
Nodding, he said, “Okay, I’ll think about it.”
Zhu Qiang left the fish and walked away. Li Xiao took the two small fish back into the house, intending to keep them in a basin of water. When he turned around, his gaze casually glanced towards the window, startling Jiang Rou, who quickly pulled her neck back.
Though there was some distance between them, Jiang Rou couldn’t hear very clearly. However, Zhu Qiang’s voice was occasionally loud, and she caught phrases like “construction site,” “big hotel waitress,” and “big sister-in-law.”
Due to her familiarity with Li Xiao’s experiences, she quickly pieced together the story. If she remembered correctly, this year Li Xiao had a falling out with a local gangster named Qin Wenguo. Qin Wenguo’s subordinates caused trouble for Li Xiao’s men, leading to a confrontation where Li Xiao ended up in the police station. After getting out, he even beat up Qin Wenguo’s men, irreparably damaging their relationship.
If it weren’t for this incident, Li Xiao should have become successful a long time ago. The large trucks he used for transportation laid the foundation for what would resemble a modern freight company.
However, perhaps due to his good luck, the guy named Qin Wenguo met a violent end a few years later, shot because of involvement in drug trafficking. He died more than a decade earlier than Li Xiao.
After the falling out, Li Xiao took a detour in his life. He and some friends went to a construction site in the neighboring city to load bricks, but unexpectedly ended up joining a pyramid scheme [is a fraudulent system of making money based on recruiting an ever-increasing number of “investors.”], leading to a significant setback.
Fortunately, Li Xiao was not an ordinary person. In the end, he exposed the pyramid scheme headquarters, even befriending someone named Brother Feng.
He brought back a sum of money, which became the capital for his adventures in the south the following year.
As for “Jiang Rou,” she had worked as a waitress at a four-star hotel in the local county for several years. It was there that she met a wealthy businessman from Hong Kong who eventually abandoned her daughter and ran away with him.
Jiang Rou felt conflicted, unsure whether to give Li Xiao a heads-up. After all, anyone involved in a pyramid scheme would likely face significant troubles, even if they managed to escape.
However, as a former police academy student, Jiang Rou couldn’t help but secretly think that by getting involved, he might be helping society root out harmful elements.
It was a difficult decision.
Jiang Rou hadn’t figured out a solution that would benefit everyone when, in the afternoon, the sky suddenly darkened, and a heavy rainstorm began.
The old house had only a single layer of tiles on the roof, and there were many leaky spots throughout, even inside the rooms.
This was Jiang Rou’s first experience with such a situation, and there weren’t enough containers at home to catch the leaks.
The rain was too heavy, and water started to accumulate in the low areas of the house.
Eventually, the man grabbed a ladder and went outside. He said to Jiang Rou, who was standing near the doorway, “You stay inside and watch.”
At the front door, he took off his shirt, positioned a tall ladder against the outer wall of the house, and, braving the rain, climbed onto the roof. The sound of stepping and moving tiles reached Jiang Rou’s ears, followed by the man’s muffled and deep voice asking, “Is it still leaking?”
Jiang Rou walked to the place where the basin was catching water. The leak had become smaller, but it was still there. She then shouted loudly, “It’s still leaking! The left side was leaking just now.”
She wasn’t sure if she had expressed herself clearly and wanted to explain further, “It should be on the east… no, it’s the west. Yes, it’s the west…”
After speaking, she felt something was off. She gestured with her hands, realizing that the man’s left and her left were not the same, and this house faced south. Jiang Rou felt a headache coming on, firmly refusing to admit that she might be getting confused. She was pregnant, and her brain was reacting slowly.
Before she could figure things out, a mocking sound came from above. The man had already fixed the tiles and moved to another spot. After a moment, he asked, “How about here?”
Jiang Rou hurriedly entered the room, following the sound. She looked up and down for a while and said, “No leaks.”
But after the man left, she noticed it was leaking again. She quickly shouted, “Wait, it’s leaking again!”
The man seemed to make a disapproving sound, showing some impatience.
But he turned back, flipping a few tiles. “How about now?”
“It’s still leaking.”
“And this?”
“It’s still leaking.”
“…”
Sensing that his mood was getting a bit sour, Jiang Rou quietly added, “Why don’t you try the right side towards the front door?”
Whether it was her imagination or not, she seemed to hear a light chuckle.
There were over a dozen leaking spots in total, and it took nearly forty minutes to fix them all. When Li Xiao returned, he was completely soaked.
Jiang Rou urged him to go wash his hair and even took the initiative to find a towel for him.
Taking the towel she handed him, Li Xiao dried his head. Without moving, he watched as she busily poured out the dirty water from the basin, rinsed it at the door with rainwater, and even brought the hot water bottle from the big table.
For the hero who had done the work, Jiang Rou was considerate. She had learned this from her sister-in-law. Her brother used to be incredibly lazy, impervious to scolding from their mother. However, ever since he married her sister-in-law, their household chores were done more diligently than anyone else.
There wasn’t much of a secret to it. Every time her brother did something, her sister-in-law would go out of her way to please him, satisfying his vain male chauvinistic tendencies.
Following the same principle, Jiang Rou grabbed some soap, dragged a chair to the doorway, and brought a small basin of cold water for him. After pouring the water from the hot water bottle into the basin, she tested the temperature with her hand and found it just right.
Then, turning her head, she sweetly smiled at the man standing nearby, “You can start washing. I’ll go heat water for your bath.”
The man glanced at her but didn’t say anything. After she left, he tossed the towel into the washbasin, then bent down and dipped his head into the hot water.
“…”
This was probably the hottest shower Li Xiao had ever taken.
