Chapter 42: On the Road Back to the Northeast

Cars streamed back and forth on the road; Shen Mo sat by the roadside and, almost on instinct, lit a cigarette.

After lighting it, he hesitated, then stubbed it out again—he'd been smoking a bit too often lately; he really should quit.

Although last time Liu Yue saw him, she sat with him and smoked along, which was rather nice.

But Shen Mo figured he should quit—couldn't let his wife indulge him without limit; marriage, after all, has to go both ways.

Zhou Xiaocao glanced at Shen Mo and said softly, "I really will treat Xiaohua well. I've changed."

"Call her Mengli—she changed her name." Shen Mo calmly corrected her.

"Okay." Zhou Xiaocao said softly.

Looking at Zhou Xiaocao, whose eyes were red-rimmed and didn't seem faked, Shen Mo sighed and said helplessly, "I've heard that before Shen Jiafeng came back to the country, you weren't good to Mengli at all. How did you suddenly change?"

Shen Mo found it very hard to believe a dog could kick the habit of eating shit.

Back in the day, his grandmother had raised a dog, feeding it every day the leftover meat skewers from a barbecue shop—quite a rich diet, you could say—but whenever that big dog came across excrement, it still went for it.

Even if it was only rarely.

So much so that for a while his grandmother tried to correct it every day, even bought dog food, but it was still no use.

Zhou Xiaocao forced out an awkward smile and said in anguish, "Because the old me was a beast."

"I hated heaven and earth, blamed all kinds of people."

"I hated Shen Jiafeng for going abroad, so I wasn't good to Mengli either."

Shen Mo nodded. Very normal.

"But when I learned yesterday that Jiafeng was dying, I suddenly felt so much regret."

"I actually pushed away the only light in my life."

Zhou Xiaocao burst into loud wailing.

Shen Mo's mouth twitched uncontrollably—seriously, are you sick?

You treat reality like a novel, really pulling the 'chase her to the crematorium' bit—only regret it once someone's dead, huh?

Shen Mo regretted staying.

In the end, Shen Mo could only force out a single line of comfort.

"In your situation, if you truly love Mengli, you should give her a good life."

"Let her grow up in a loving environment."

"And incidentally leave her a large sum of money."

Shen Mo felt that last line was the most important.

A large sum of money.

Grandma said everyone will betray you—only money won't.

And if you want others to look up to you, the best way is to have money, and to keep making it.

Shen Mo would forever remember what his grandmother said to him before she died. She said, "Grandson, Grandma is leaving you her house and savings. Remember, this is what you deserve, because all this money Grandma earned herself. Grandma gave it generously, and you can take it generously—no need to feel you owe anyone."

The old lady's values were plain and unadorned.

One line—"earned by my own hands, given generously"—made Shen Mo understand that labor is the most glorious thing.

So now Shen Mo felt it perfectly fine spending Liu Yue's money, because he had put in "physical" labor.

Liu Yue's daily glowing, wonderfully cheerful state was all nourished by Shen Mo's physical labor.

Zhou Xiaocao looked at Shen Mo in disbelief and stammered, "What do you mean?"

Zhou Xiaocao hadn't quite caught on.

Shen Mo sighed and explained earnestly, "It's very simple—make money."

Zhou Xiaocao pointed at herself—me, make money?

It wasn't that Zhou Xiaocao looked down on herself; she could honestly say that apart from her face, she was good for nothing.

Zhou Xiaocao had been raised since childhood to believe that apart from her face she was good for nothing. If she hadn't been pretty enough to fetch a high bride price, she would have been given away long ago.

Shen Mo looked at Zhou Xiaocao and kept going: "Don't look down on yourself. First, you're very good-looking—that's an advantage. Second, you have money now, so you can work hard to study and improve yourself a second time."

As if something had occurred to him, Shen Mo shrugged and said helplessly, "If you keep being a brother-sucker, letting your family bleed you dry, then I'd really suggest you let Mengli go."

The color drained from Zhou Xiaocao's face in an instant.

Her family of origin was a source of pain.

This was something she'd only come to understand after awakening following Shen Jiafeng's death.

What she'd thought was normal was the most abnormal thing in this society.

In Shen Jiafeng's words, she had lived long in a fish market and no longer smelled the stench.

"I… I understand. I'll create a good environment for Mengli." A flash of madness crossed Zhou Xiaocao's eyes, and then she strode away.

Shen Mo scratched his head, understanding what had caused her sudden transformation.

But it didn't matter anymore.

A month later, just as Shen Mo and Liu Yue were preparing to leave Jinghai and head back to the Northeast, they suddenly received news.

Something had happened at Zhou Xiaocao's home.

Zhou Xiaocao's brother had gotten into something bad; debt collectors had come to the house; Zhou Xiaocao's parents had been so angry they suffered cerebral hemorrhages and were rushed to the hospital, but because they arrived too late, they couldn't be saved.

Zhou Xiaocao's brother had suddenly gone berserk and fought the debt collectors, ultimately killing three of them; he was sued by the debt collectors and ended up in prison.

Zhou Xiaocao had no choice but to sell the apartment Shen Jiafeng had bought for her brother to pay off the debts.

But Zhou Xiaocao was completely free now.

Shen Mo and Liu Yue exchanged a glance at the news, truly at a loss for words.

This time Shen Yilong and Zhu Kailan didn't choose to go abroad again.

Although their son's death had been a tremendous blow, they still had their granddaughter, which could ease some of the pain.

【Fortunate that the Shen Family aren't the kind of people who can't tell right from wrong. If they had pulled a stunt like "It's all your fault, Shen Mengli, you got my son killed, I hate you," and then adopted a fake granddaughter to comfort themselves, in the future the Shen Family might even end up with a "chasing after relatives then crematorium" scene.】

On the plane back to the Northeast, Shen Mo learned that the Shen Family was treating Shen Mengli like a princess, and he couldn't help feeling relieved.

Liu Yue rolled her eyes at this — really, overthinking it.

At the same time, Liu Yue began to wonder what books were on the novel bookshelf in Shen Mo's phone, how he could have such strange ideas.

Thinking of this, Liu Yue couldn't help reaching for Shen Mo's phone.

Shen Mo didn't mind — go ahead and look, be open about it, he'd uninstalled the browser anyway.

Shen Mo's confidence made Liu Yue very happy — good, her husband wasn't a petty person.

A refined lady once said that whether a man loves a woman or not can be reflected in the details; the most obvious sign is checking his phone.

When a man won't let a woman look at his phone, eighty percent of the time it's because he's hiding something — either his browser history is too wild, or the man is cheating.

Otherwise, given a man's lifelong competitive nature, he would definitely let you look openly, to show he's more outstanding than others and earn praise.

Liu Yue picked up the phone and went straight into Shen Mo's bookshelf.

Stunned.

"After My Wife Overheard My Inner Thoughts, She Refused to Divorce," "The Beautiful Childhood Sweetheart Chases Her Husband into Crematorium," "After the Divorce, the Ex-Wife Regretted It," "After My Death, My Whole Family Regretted It," "A Leisurely Man of the Zhenguan Era," "A Paper-Selling Man of the Zhenguan Era," "After the Divorce, the Beautiful Mother-in-Law Fell in Love with Me," "After the Fiancée Ran from the Wedding, the Mother-in-Law Married in Her Place."

Liu Yue stiffly turned her head and stared at her husband in shock.

Wait — I treat you as my dear husband, and you've got your eye on my mom?

Shen Mo gave the phone a suspicious glance, then looked at Liu Yue with puzzlement.

【What's gotten into my wife?】

【My bookshelf is perfectly normal.】

Liu Yue fell silent, unable to fathom where her husband had gotten the conclusion that "normal" applied.

(End of this chapter)