Chapter 494: Rebuking Bangeng

Having heard that Jia Zhangshi had arranged a match for him, the girl being a capable person from the Siheyuan and a distant relative of Shazhu, although he had never met You Fengxia, Bangeng, based on his understanding of Jia Zhangshi, was convinced that the girl Jia Zhangshi had taken a liking to was flawless in every way.

Because in Jia Zhangshi's mind, their Jia family men are excellent; only women who have a job, education, proper appearance, and clean background are worthy of their Jia family men.

He involuntarily let out a few faint laughs from his mouth.

His gaze upon Qin Huairu became eager, showing the urgency to leave here, return to the capital, and marry You Fengxia.

Qin Huairu saw Bangeng's face reveal a lecherous expression, and his eyes also showed an endless fantasy of the happy life he would have with You Fengxia after marriage.

A surge of depression suddenly welled up in his heart.

Unlucky kid Bangeng.

Since Shi Jiahong's matter hadn't been settled, Qin Huairu merely mentioned it in passing, and Bangeng became so anxious he wished he could fly to the capital to marry her.

Nothing else to say.

Just the widower's hat Bangeng wears on his head is enough for people to say no.

If he wants to marry You Fengxia, his primary task is not to follow Qin Huairu back to the capital, but to divorce Shi Jiahong.

Deputy Factory Director Li had already promised Bangeng a factory placement quota; returning to the city would make him a regular worker at Yagangchang, and marrying a widow with three children would let those three children freely enjoy the Jia family's benefits.

A widow is out of the question.

The widow's children are also out of the question.

Qin Huairu gave Bangeng a two‑to‑zero defeat, as if pouring a basin of cold water over him.

"Bangeng, if you want to go back and marry Dang Xianghong, you must first divorce Shi Jiahong; you can't possibly bring Shi Jiahong back to the city with you. Right now, inside our courtyard, they're still hiding the fact that you married a widow in the countryside."

Bangeng's complexion.

It instantly turned ugly.

Easy to say.

But hard to do.

Divorce Shi Jiahong!

It's not that anyone thinks Bangeng doesn't want to divorce Shi Jiahong; rather, because he is no match for the Shi Jiahong family's influence, his application to return to the city was rejected on the grounds that he had married and had children, and Bangeng had also deceived Shi Jiahong with lies.

"I'll go back to the city first, you wait with the kids in the village; once I'm settled in the city with a job and a place to live, I'll definitely bring you and the children back to enjoy prosperity. If I break my word and ignore you and the kids in the city, then I, Bangeng, am a modern Chen Shimei, and Bangeng will die without a place to be buried."

He swore oath after oath, saying sweet words over and over. If it were an ordinary girl, she might have believed Bangeng's lies, but Shi Jiahong did not; knowing full well what kind of person Bangeng was, she would not believe a single word or character he said.

As a well‑known widow in the village, how could Shi Jiahong not know what Bangeng was up to? His intention was simply to never return, leaving her mother and siblings in the village to fend for themselves while he enjoyed prosperity in the city.

Nice thought.

His only demand of Bangeng is either to bring Shi Jiahong's mother and the four of them back to the city together, or to spend his whole life in the village living with Shi Jiahong.

Shi Jiahong even openly expressed her thoughts about Bangeng, saying that her earlier scheming against him was precisely because he was stupid and easy to manipulate; she wanted to use marriage to follow Bangeng back to the city to enjoy prosperity, to kill his idea of divorcing her, saying that a broken net hurts nobody, she could afford to let go, but Bangeng dared not gamble on that slim chance of escape.

Qin Huairu's suggestion that Bangeng divorce Shi Jiahong and then remarry You Fengxia in the city was just idle talk, with no real chance of being carried out.

Bangeng let his face droop, glanced at Qin Huairu with a bright look, appearing as if he had done something wrong.

Qin Huairu was so angry she wanted to slap Bangeng several times, but after thinking she couldn't bring herself to hit him; since the deed was done and the situation had already happened, even if she gave Bangeng a hundred and eight slaps and killed him, it would be useless—Bangeng still couldn't divorce Shi Jiahong.

With this time and energy, wouldn't it be better to give Bangeng more chances to think of a solution?

"I really don't know how to talk to you; several people came with you, and in our Dayuan there are three—Yan Jiekuang and Liu Guangfu. They're fine, they don't sleep with widows or marry widows, they've returned to the city, but you've stayed here—you make me furious."

Qin Huairu fiercely poked Bangeng's forehead with her finger.

She let out a sigh.

"Liu Guangfu has married; his wife is a regular worker at the slaughterhouse."

Bangeng's complexion looked bad.

People have a comparative mindset.

"Yan Jiekuang now works in the Yegang chang baowei ke and is also a regular employee; I heard from your grandmother that Yan Fugui took Shazhu's back door."

Bangeng's complexion.

It became even uglier.

Qin Huairu's words were like the last straw that broke the camel's back, crushing Bangeng's last sliver of hope in reality; the Liu Guangfu and Yan Jiekuang whom Bangeng looked down on are now stronger than him.

Look at them.

Then take a look at Bangeng.

All that's left is misery.

"This is also why your grandmother wants you to return to the city and marry Shazhu's distant younger sister; she's already arranged everything for you—Shazhu's family provides a dowry room, and in the Siheyuan our Jia family already has two rooms. Once married, you'll be Shazhu's distant brother‑in‑law; as a brother‑in‑law, he'll surely see you unemployed and give you a leg up, and by then you'll also be a regular worker at Yagangchang; after some connections, you'll become a minor leader specifically tasked with managing Yan Jiekuang."

Seeing a smile appear on Bangeng's face.

Qin Huairu shifted her tone.

"Think about it: if you bring Shi Jiahong back with you, you'd be a married couple; could Shazhu's sister still marry you? Even if she dared, would you, Bangeng, dare to take her? Do you understand what I mean?"

"I understand." Bangeng said helplessly: "Divorce Shi Jiahong! Mother, I'll tell you the truth—I've brought up divorce with Shi Jiahong several times, but she won't agree."

"Nonsense, I wouldn't agree either. Bangeng, when you do things, can't you use your brain? Can't you just sneak off?" Qin Huairu complained bitterly: "Why don't you run away? If you did, we wouldn't have all these troubles!"

Back then, when Liu Guangtian and his group had just returned to the city, supervision over Bangeng wasn't strict yet; if Bangeng really tried to run, he would have had a chance to get into the city.

As long as he didn't show up in front of the people in the Siheyuan, even if Shi Jiahong came knocking with the children, Qin Huairu would deny it and, in her anxiety, even turn around and demand the person from Shi Jiahong.

One misstep.

Misstep after misstep.

Back then he didn't run; now he wants to, but the chance is gone—everyone has put Bangeng under control, so how could he escape?

Bangeng lifted his head to look at Qin Huairu, whose face was dark as iron, then, embarrassed, lowered his head; there was something he couldn't bring himself to say to Qin Huairu.

Bangeng wasn't someone who had never run away; he had sneaked off and actually made it about thirty li before, but because it was dark, the weather was poor, and he was timid, he thought he could wait for a nice sunny day to sneak off again, then retraced his original route back, where Shi Jiahong slapped him twice, and he made up a lame excuse about losing his way home.

Although Shi Jiahong believed Bangeng's nonsense, she also tightened her supervision over him.

The next day she dragged Bangeng to live in Shi Jiahong's former husband's home, and even let several of her younger siblings share the same Dayuan with her, completely eliminating Bangeng's thought of sneaking away.

Every time I think of these things.

Bangeng regrets it deeply.

Why not keep persisting?

Now I want to run away.

No chance left.

"You." Qin Huairu, who didn't know Bangeng's thoughts, continued to complain about Bangeng, "You're a pretty smart kid, but how did you get so muddle-headed in the countryside? Back when you stole the old hen from Xu Daming's house with your two sisters, you even knew there was no soy sauce, so that old hen wasn't tasty, and you managed to snag soy sauce from the Yagangchang cafeteria; the neighbors in the compound have all been messed with by you, yet no one ever caught you, showing you're a capable kid, but now you've done such a muddle-headed thing."

Mom, don't say it.

Knowing you've lost face? Bangeng, your grandma and I said you must go back alone; of course you could also bring the widow along, just the widow herself, the widow's child—your grandma won't let you bring, saying our Jia family's money can't be used to raise a widow's child for free. Mom put her foot down: it's not your own child, so you'll definitely feel distant.

This matter isn't easy; they told me straight: either I bring her back with me, or I stay in the village for life.

You know our family's situation: I'm just a toilet cleaner at the Yagangchang factory, the Siheyuan has only one room, and we might not even keep that room. If you bring the widow back, our whole family would be crammed into one room—how old are you, how old is the widow, could that work?

Qin Huairu spoke earnestly.

We need to give Bangeng the confidence to divorce the widow.

Only if you go back alone can you marry Shazhu's distant relative, giving our Jia family an extra room. Weigh the pros and cons: either you go back with the widow, cramming our whole family into one room, or you live with Shazhu's distant sister while I sleep with your grandma. Think it over—there's no regret medicine in the world.

Bangeng glanced at Qin Huairu.

He didn't dare to talk back.

After all, she's his mother.

All his current misfortunes aren't just because of Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi's overindulgence, right?

Worried Bangeng would go hungry or freeze in the countryside, Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi secretly slipped him over a hundred yuan each when he was about to leave; with average monthly wages of thirty yuan then, Bangeng essentially had a year's wages of an adult in his pocket.

The Jia family widow also repeatedly told Bangeng to spend freely, saying if he ran out of money he should write back, and Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi would send him money upon seeing his letter.

Precisely because of this instruction.

Bangeng, upon arriving in the countryside, experienced what it felt like to be a big shot by spending money.

No food? Buy it with money.

Not keen on working? Hire people with money to do the work.

Shi Jiahong, seeing Bangeng spend money lavishly, mistakenly thought his family was well-off, deliberately cozied up to him, saying she could wash his clothes for however much he paid, cook his meals for however much he paid, and speak up for him for however much he paid.

Within a month, Shi Jiahong had Bangeng under her thumb; the over two hundred yuan Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi had saved for him became her private stash, and under some pretext she demanded a thousand yuan from him.

That's how it can be said.

Without Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu's money, Bangeng wouldn't have married the widow; the ones truly putting him in this dilemma are Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu.

"Bangeng, first go back and sound out Shi Jiahong's intentions, then explain our family's situation properly: if you return, we could only squeeze seven or eight people into a twenty-square-meter hut—Shi Jiahong has no hukou, what would she eat? If you go back, not to mention her, even her children would suffer; explain all this to Shi Jiahong, and as long as she divorces you, our Jia family can give her money."

Qin Huairu gave Bangeng a few instructions.

Spend money to buy peace.

A last resort.

Not doing it is impossible either; if Bangeng really brought Shi Jiahong and her three kids back to the city, let alone marrying You Fengxia, the Jia family would become a huge laughingstock—a widow lineage, grandma a widow, mom a widow, marrying another widow—this just won't do.

As long as Shi Jiahong agrees to divorce Bangeng, any amount of money is fine.

Do we have money?

Not saying.

First, persuade Shi Jiahong to divorce Bangeng.

Qin Huairu doesn't think this is the least bit immoral; standing there, she repeatedly instructs Bangeng on exactly what to say and do when he sees Shi Jiahong.

Hope Shi Jiahong, seeing that Bangeng contributed over a thousand yuan to her family, will give him a way out.

Bangeng stayed.

He figured he'd be bullied to death by Shi Jiahong.

Not returning to the city.

How to stand in for the post?

Deputy Factory Director Li promised Bangeng a factory admission quota.

This also gives Qin Huairu the confidence to tell Bangeng to go talk money with Shi Jiahong; worst case, he goes back to ask Deputy Factory Director Li for another quota, sells it, and gets money.

She strode over to the production team.

At the production team headquarters, she met Shi Jiahong's former father-in-law, Old Ma Tou.

Qin Huairu believed Shi Jiahong's three children were all Old Ma Tou's bloodline; Old Ma Tou would never let Shi Jiahong bring the kids to the city to call Bangeng 'stepdad'.

Why does Jia Zhangshi disagree with Qin Huairu remarrying with the kids? Isn't she just worried Bangeng's side would change their surname? She projects Jia Zhangshi onto Old Ma Tou.

He knocked twice on the door.

After entering.

He found only Old Ma Tou inside.

He smiled and gave a greeting.

Team Captain Ma.

"You are?" Old Ma Tou stared dubiously at Qin Huairu for over ten seconds before recognizing her as Bangeng's mom, the woman named Huairu: "Oh, it's you. When did you get here? Hurry and sit."

He warmly ushered Qin Huairu to a seat and poured her a cup of water.

He had guessed Qin Huairu would come.

Bangeng had applied several times to return to the city, and also received a telegram from Qin Huairu to him, containing just a few characters.

Something urgent, return to the city quickly.

If it weren't for Bangeng marrying Shi Jiahong, Old Ma Tou wouldn't have repeatedly deliberately blocked him.

In Old Ma Tou's eyes, Qin Huairu is synonymous with a sucker.