Zhao ii accompanied Peng Hui standing by the roadside trying to hail a taxi.
Peng Hui urged her: "It’s freezing out here, don’t stay with , you should head ho!"
Zhao ii, feeling uneasy, shrank her neck: "I’m not cold, I’ll wait with you a bit longer."
Feeling touched, Peng Hui hugged her arm: "Thank you, ii."
Zhao ii kicked her: "Saying thanks to , are you looking for a beating!"
After that day, Peng Hui moved from her dorm to her sister’s place, and Qian Sing, feeling lonely alone in the dorm, started going to Zhao ii’s house every day as if reporting to school. The two kept each other company; Qian Sing reviewed the subjects she had flunked, while Zhao ii watched the original audio discs given by Zhang Jiahui with headphones on. Although she genuinely disliked Zhang Jiahui, she had to admit these discs were quite useful.
Shi Yang had been away for more than half a month now. A week after he left, he had told Zhao ii over the phone that there were so business matters at ho he couldn’t get away from and needed to handle.
But since that call, Zhao ii suddenly realized Shi Yang had gone missing; his phone was always busy, and it was a good day if he replied to one ssage, which only contained a simple line: "Will contact you when I have ti."
Shi Yang didn’t explain to Zhao ii in detail what was going on, partly because the situation was too complex to describe over the phone, and partly because he didn’t want Zhao ii to worry, nor did he want to alert people in the provincial city.
Shi Yang was indeed extrely busy now. Back ho, he first helped Qian Jinqiu arrange the formal opening of a store for sales, and once that was mostly done, he rembered to settle accounts with Third Brother, only to discover a problem had occurred.
Since Shi Yang relocated the company to the provincial city, the Naughty Castle installation business at ho had been partially entrusted to Third Brother for managent. He had planned to talk things over with Third Brother and fully transfer the business to him, deciding not to handle it anymore.
However, he hadn’t yet communicated this with Third Brother when a problem ca up with Third Brother.
In recent years, Third Brother, working under Shi Yang, accumulated substantial savings, and his family life started to beco more affluent, which slowly changed his mindset.
In pursuit of more money, Third Brother began to cut corners when leading workers to install the Naughty Castle at kindergartens. He privately hoarded the deducted parts, pieced together a half-set, and took on private business, earning the full set paynt for both selling toys and installation fees.
Shi Yang had always been extrely strict about the installation of the Naughty Castle, fearing accidents might happen while children were playing. Unfortunately, the kindergarten where Third Brother had cut corners indeed had an accident: two children were crossing the single-log bridge when the base used for stability suddenly broke, causing them to fall off; one broke a left leg, and the other had a flattened nose bridge.
The parents directly reported this to the police and contacted the TV station, accusing the kindergarten, which shifted the bla onto the installation of the Naughty Castle. Third Brother fled upon hearing the news, leaving Shi Yang to assu responsibility and assist the police in finding Third Brother.
Upon careful inspection of the kindergarten, Shi Yang imdiately identified the problem. He hurriedly had all the Naughty Castles recently handled by Third Brother reinstalled with workers, supplenting any missing parts and submitting the gathered evidence to the police station.
After soothing the kindergarten, Shi Yang had to bear the cost of dical expenses for the two injured children and handle the difficulties posed by the parents. He was so overwheld that he didn’t have the ti or mood to call or text Zhao ii.
In the morning, while brushing her teeth and looking in the bathroom mirror, Zhao ii suddenly heard her phone ring. She spat out the toothpaste foam, turned around, and bolted to her bedroom to answer the call, realizing it was from Peng Hui.
On the phone, Peng Hui complained to Zhao ii, furiously criticizing her brother-in-law as despicable.
Sun Yingyu had already mailed the divorce papers ho, just waiting for Peng Rui to sign them to finalize the procedure.
Peng Rui refused to sign, so Sun Yingyu didn’t answer calls or reply to ssages, completely disappearing. Today, suddenly soone ca over to look at the house, claiming it had been sold by Sun Yingyu, urging Peng Rui to promptly move out and make space.
Peng Hui never expected Sun Yingyu to be so heinous. Since the day he and Peng Rui had a massive argunt and trashed the house, he hadn’t shown his face again.
Previously, Peng Hui scouted around the community to block him, but with too many residents, she couldn’t find him and had to knock on doors one after another. Eventually, a lady living on a middle floor ntioned she saw a family move out a few days ago whose female owner closely resembled the person Peng Hui was seeking.
Peng Hui then gave up.
Peng Hui called Zhao ii purely to vent, as she didn’t dare express these grievances to her sister for fear of further distressing her.
Upon hearing this, Zhao ii cursed violently, using every word she had ever heard or used, until Peng Hui couldn’t help but say: "ii, you don’t really need to be so angry. The house is gone, and my sister said she’s going to sign the divorce papers this ti. She has already contacted the law firm and wants to hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit. My sister has started to gather evidence on Sun Yingyu selling the house and transferring family savings. If he hadn’t acted so ruthlessly, my sister wouldn’t have had the resolve to leave him."
Listening to Peng Hui prattle on over the phone, Zhao ii on the other end was silently fuming.
She’d been carrying a swirl of emotions for days, which now finally had an outlet for release.
Shi Yang had been gone for nearly a month, and every ti he contacted her, he just said he was busy. Zhao ii hadn’t noticed anything at first, but as days passed, she started to worry more and more. Whenever there was a spare mont, she couldn’t shake from her mind the thought: What is Shi Yang doing? Why hasn’t he returned?
By the twenty-fourth day, Zhao ii couldn’t take it any longer.
That noon, Zhao ii sat straight on the living room sofa, staring dead-eyed at an endlessly playing English audio disc on the TV screen. After sitting fixedly all afternoon, she abruptly leaped up from the sofa, ran to the bedroom, grabbed her phone, and sent a ssage to Shi Yang: "Brother, where did you say you were yesterday?"
When Shi Yang got Zhao ii’s ssage, he had just arrived by car in the county where the accident happened, planning to visit the children in the hospital and deliver the compensation money.
He glanced at the ssage and during a parking break, replied to Zhao ii with his address.
The parents of the injured children, after understanding the situation and seeing Shi Yang’s sincere attitude, were not as aggressive towards him as before. Shi Yang went to the hospital, inquired carefully about the children’s condition, and deposited so hospital fees into the accounts of the two children respectively.
Reviews
All reviews (0)