RYEY – Chapter 174 Keep Her Under Watch

The children were extremely alert. At the sight of a stranger, their first reaction was that a human trafficker had arrived. This was especially true for Gousheng, who had been tricked by traffickers before and now had an astonishingly high level of vigilance.

“Uncle Huan! Human traffickers are here! Dad! Mom! Human traffickers are here!”

“Help! Human traffickers are here!”

The children all ran toward the drying ground, shouting loudly for help. Chen Tiezhu, who was closest to them, was startled and quickly ran along.

Hearing the mention of traffickers, Li Huan immediately had the granary on his back appear in his hands. Behind him were members of the local security team. Handing over the grain to their families for safekeeping, they also ran alongside Li Huan.

But when they reached the village entrance and saw a middle-aged woman, they froze for a moment. This person didn’t look like a trafficker at all—she looked more like a beggar.

“Who are you? Where did you come from? What are you doing here? Do you have an introduction letter?”

“I… I came from Huizhou. I… I have an introduction letter. I… I’m here to find my daughter.”

Hearing she came to find her daughter, Li Huan’s heart lifted. The person his wife was looking for had arrived—heh, he had been waiting for her all along.

“Who is your daughter?”

“Cheng Qin. She’s a sent-down youth from Huizhou, not yet twenty and a half this year.”

“We don’t have a Cheng Qin here, only Cheng Qiao.”

“Oh, Cheng Qiao is also my daughter—my younger daughter. My older daughter is Wang Qin.”

“Who exactly are you? First Cheng Qin, then Wang Qin. We said Cheng Qiao, and you also say Cheng Qiao. You’re not a spy, are you?”

Wang Xiangyang’s eyes widened, and he immediately bristled with authority.

“No, no, no! Cheng Qiao really is my daughter. I’m her stepmother. Wang Qin is my biological daughter who was sent down here.”

Xia Fen, frightened by Wang Xiangyang’s suspicion that she might be a spy, waved her hands frantically and quickly told the truth, even revealing that she was Cheng Qiao’s stepmother.

Hearing that she was Cheng Qiao’s stepmother, Cuihua, standing behind, felt a surge of anger. After all, it had been her who had exposed the scheme to send Cheng Qiao down while Wang Qin and her mother deceived her.

Just as she was about to confront her, Li Huan stopped her. Smiling, he fixed Xia Fen with a penetrating gaze and interrogated her:

“You are Xia Fen, right? Cheng Liguo has been looking for you. Where did you go?”

“What? Cheng Liguo is looking for me? He… wasn’t…”

Xia Fen immediately shut her mouth. She was still Cheng Liguo’s wife, and if he had been captured, she would inevitably be arrested as well.

“Yes. Cheng Liguo has been looking for you because your biological daughter has been thrown in prison.”

“What? Wang Qin is in jail? Why?”

“For… promiscuity.”

Cuihua could no longer contain herself, looking at her with a smirk. Like mother, like daughter—the mother is not a good person, so the daughter is not either.

“Ah… impossible! Did Cheng Qiao frame her? No… Cheng Qiao is so…”

Li Huan snorted coldly in his heart. She wanted to say “Cheng Qiao is so naive,” didn’t she? Indeed, Cheng Qiao was naive enough to allow you to be tricked here.

“Xiangyang, keep her under watch. She’s the mother of a promiscuous woman, her real mother, and Cheng Qiao’s father is looking to divorce her.”

“Yes.”

At first, Wang Xiangyang thought Li Huan was restraining Cuihua because she was Cheng Qiao’s stepmother, and if Li Huan wanted to treat her well, they could do nothing.

But Li Huan was Li Huan. First, he extracted her name and background, then put her under watch, and finally pressured her to get a divorce.

Cheng Qiao had just put little Cheng Li to sleep when Goudan ran in excitedly. Seeing Mother Li, he shouted: “Grandma Li! Is Auntie Cheng Qiao here?”

“Shh, little Cheng Li just fell asleep. Goudan, be quiet.”

“Oh, there’s a beggar at the village entrance. They say she’s Cheng Qiao’s stepmother.”

“What? That bad woman is here? I’ll go get Cheng Qiao.”

Cheng Qiao, having heard this, quickly opened the door and went out. Seeing her, Goudan ran over, tilting his head happily: “Auntie Cheng Qiao, is little Cheng Li asleep?”

“Yes, just now.”

“Can I go in and watch him sleep?”

“Why do you want to watch him sleep?”

“Little Cheng Li is so cute. I like looking at him.”

“Hmm, then tell me a corresponding idiom. If you get it right, you can watch him.”

“Okay… cute… 百看不厭 (never tire of looking).”

“Smart boy. Go ahead, but don’t wake little Cheng Li.”

“Got it, Auntie. Oh, by the way, your stepmother is here. Auntie, stepmothers are all bad, so don’t pay attention to her.”

“Mom, watch little Cheng Li. I’ll go take a look.”

Cheng Qiao had originally intended to put little Cheng Li into the space, but Goudan had already jumped onto the kang and stared unblinkingly at him. She felt a little embarrassed to shoo him away, so she just instructed Mother Li.

Mother Li looked at Cheng Qiao worriedly. She liked her daughter-in-law very much and hoped the stepmother wouldn’t bully her. But thinking that Li Huan was also there, her worries eased slightly.

“Goudan, I’ll close the door. Watch little Cheng Li carefully. I’ll cook him some egg custard in the kitchen. If anything happens, call Grandma Li.”

“Okay, Grandma Li.”

Hearing that little Cheng Li would get egg custard when he woke up, Goudan swallowed hard. Little Cheng Li was so lucky—and so was he. Although his parents had sacrificed themselves, he had his grandmother.

Before Cheng Qiao reached the village entrance, someone informed her that Li Huan had locked the woman in the village committee’s woodshed, with the Xiangyang brothers watching.

Cheng Qiao quickly ran toward the village committee but didn’t notice Xu Laidi’s sly smile as she watched her. She was always looking for an opportunity, and this one had arrived sooner than expected.

Zhaodi also kept her eyes on Xu Laidi. Seeing Cheng Qiao running to her home, she smiled and called the idle villagers to the committee to watch the show—because Cheng Qiao had arrived.

Hearing Cheng Qiao was also coming, everyone wanted to see the commotion. Soon, the area outside the village committee was crowded. Li Huan looked at Cheng Qiao, nodded, and opened the woodshed door.

“Cheng Qiao, daughter, you finally came. Do you know what happened to your sister?”

“Wang Qin isn’t my sister. She got involved with Xu Laidi’s man, so she was arrested.”

“Xu Laidi…”

“Yes. Xu Laidi’s man, Chen Dazhu, was caught in the mountains with Wang Qin. That’s why she ended up in prison.”

“Cheng Qiao, you have to help your sister. She’s your sister!”

“How can I help her? I’m just a sent-down youth. Besides, I’m cutting ties with you. You’re the mother of a promiscuous woman—I can’t have anything to do with you.”

“That’s impossible. If you don’t save my daughter, I won’t cut ties with you.”

“I can’t help. Why don’t you beg my dad? He’s now working as a factory director somewhere else.”

“What? This…”

“Some scoundrel framed my dad, claiming he had overseas connections and even used an English book as proof. But upon investigation, the book had someone else’s name. It had nothing to do with my dad.”