Chapter 593: Xiao Dang Meets Bangeng, Mutual Scheming

Liu Haizhong successfully swindled Bangeng with a nonexistent piece of jewelry.

Having believed Liu Haizhong's lies, Bangeng, whose mind was controlled by greed, thought only of pleasing Liu Haizhong, getting his wealth, and living a good life.

He asked the warden to tell Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu that he wanted to see them, and that they had to come no matter what, or else the Jia family's incense would be extinguished.

Knowing what place he held in Jia Zhangshi's heart.

Bangeng's first move was a killing strike.

He treated himself as a weapon.

Everything had been considered, except that Xiao Dang would return to the Jia family at this critical moment; furthermore, he harbored strong resentment toward the Jia family, hating Jia Zhangshi, Qin Huairu, and Bangeng.

Faced with Bangeng's request to see his relatives, Jia Zhangshi wanted to go, but having no money and being truly penniless, she hoped Qin Huairu would go with her.

Yet Qin Huairu blamed Huaihua's running away on Bangeng, and imagining Huaihua's hard life from Xiao Dang's miserable state, her disappointment in Bangeng grew.

If the two daughters were to support her in her old age, Qin Huairu would have them help with that.

Otherwise, she would just find a good man to marry.

She no longer hoped for Bangeng.

She made up an excuse of having no time, and then stopped bothering with it.

Jia Zhangshi, with no alternative, could only scheme against Xiao Dang.

She earnestly schemed Xiao Dang, saying that broken bones still connect to flesh, that they were always family, that Bangeng and Xiao Dang shared the Jia surname, that the past should stay in the past, and that Xiao Dang would still need to rely on Bangeng.

Xiao Dang was persuaded and agreed to go with Jia Zhangshi to see Bangeng.

Jia Zhangshi, however, had a thought, feeling that Xiao Dang's rural life was tough, that he had snuck back from the countryside, but as a Jia family daughter, how could she have no money? She must have hidden it somewhere.

She secretly wondered whether, if she went along, the money would come from her or from Xiao Dang.

She simply decided not to go herself, but to have Xiao Dang go and have a look, thereby bringing Xiao Dang closer to Bangeng while also forcing Xiao Dang to spend money.

Jia Zhangshi found an excuse and let Xiao Dang go alone to see Bangeng.

Drowsiness met the pillow.

While Jia Zhangshi schemed against Xiao Dang, Xiao Dang was also scheming against Jia Zhangshi.

She, by retreating to advance, had Jia Zhangshi entrust her with visiting Bangeng, deliberately showing a reluctant expression and uttering a few displeased words, until Xiao Dang was pushed out of the Siheyuan by Jia Zhangshi, at which point a hint of satisfied strangeness flashed across her face.

Watching Jia Zhangshi hurry away, Xiao Dang's face once again welled up with resentment.

Saying over and over that they are all Jia family blood, but the ingrained preference for sons over daughters cannot be changed; she gave a cold snort and walked toward the prison.

……

Xiao Dang managed to see Bangeng quite smoothly.

At the moment she saw Bangeng.

A resentful heart.

Suddenly she felt bright and cheerful.

Before seeing Bangeng, Xiao Dang had imagined his appearance many times, but when his true figure actually appeared before her eyes, she realized that her imagined scene and reality were clearly two different things.

Bangeng wore a gray-cloth prisoner uniform, his hair kicked until it shone like a bald lightbulb, making him look almost like a large lightbulb.

On his cheek, if you don't look closely, you wouldn't notice the slight bruise-like scar at the left corner of his eye, suggesting Bangeng had been beaten.

Serves him right.

Do you really think everyone will indulge you?

Jia Zhangshi doesn't educate, Qin Huairu doesn't educate, so someone else steps in to educate.

Xiao Dang silently sized up Bangeng.

Bangeng also looked at Xiao Dang.

The two siblings more or less thought the same thing, looking at each other with minds full of astonishment; Bangeng wondered how Xiao Dang had come back, and why Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu hadn't come along.

About the cigarette matter.

Telling Xiao Dang about it might not actually be accomplishable.

After returning to the city from Dongbei, seeing only Huaihua in the house, Bangeng asked about Xiao Dang's whereabouts, and was rebuked repeatedly by Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu; in the account given by the Jia family widows, Xiao Dang became someone who forgot the Jia family's kindness, cold-bloodedly watching his own brother Bangeng die without lifting a finger, a white-eyed wolf; they said Xiao Dang left home to make a living because Bangeng had slept with a widow for money.

Later, over the house and work matters, Huaihua scolded Bangeng to his face, saying that if it weren't for Bangeng's indiscriminate sleeping with widows, Xiao Dang wouldn't have married a man over ten years older than her, living a life worse than death.

Bangeng does not consider this his fault.

Even now, he still thinks Xiao Dang is cold-blooded.

Seeing Xiao Dang, he subconsciously felt that Xiao Dang should not appear before him.

Moreover, an important point.

It is that Xiao Dang's appearance frightened Bangeng.

In Bangeng's memory, Xiao Dang was a beautiful young woman in her prime, always giggling and laughing, the kind with a perpetually smiling mouth, a renowned blossom of the Siheyuan, as if someone had pre-booked Xiao Dang to become their daughter-in-law.

Looking at Xiao Dang now, her face shows the vicissitudes of life, full of wrinkles, ill-fitting clothes, an aura of utter destitution.

Bangeng felt a sense of loss.

No matter whom Xiao Dang married, she married someone of her grandfather's generation; as long as he had money, Bangeng didn't care.

During this time inside, Bangeng realized that having money gives one confidence.

He hopes Xiao Dang's husband is a wealthy person who can help him.

Looking at Xiao Dang's attire, she looks exactly like a beggar woman; thinking her pockets surely have no money, naturally she can't help Bangeng.

Bangeng pondered that the cigarette matter still needs to be approached through Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu.

He steadied his mind.

He opened his mouth.

"Xiao Dang, how did you come? When did you come back? Alone?"

In his tone.

No surprise.

Only loss.

Xiao Dang, who had already anticipated Bangeng's expression, flashed a hint of mockery on her face.

In her mind she recalled the brother who once led them to steal Xu Damu's old hen, then looked at the bald-headed Bangeng before her, his face icy cold.

Clearly two different people.

"Are you not sending word through someone, asking your family to come see you? If they don't come, the Jia Family will have no incense; I came to see how you're doing."

In Xiao Dang's icy tone lay a stranger's aloofness that kept people at bay.

She could not muster the slightest joy for Bangeng; the sibling affection of days past had been exhausted in the trivial hardships of daily life.

Only hatred remained.

"Grandma? Mom? Why aren't they here? Why are you the only one who came?"

A rapid-fire series of questions.

It flew out of Bangeng's mouth.

Without cigarettes, how could Liu Haizhong give him gold, silver, and treasures?

Moreover, Bangeng did not want to share this matter with Xiao Dang.

This was his alone secret.

"Grandma is unwell and cannot walk far; as for Mom, today isn't Sunday, she has work at Yagangchang, the leader won't give leave, so she can't come; she entrusted me to check on you—seeing you well puts my mind at ease, and I believe Grandma and Mom would feel relieved too."

Bangeng pondered:

Am I doing well?

Where the hell did you see me doing well?

I've been living a life worse than death.

I can't eat well, drink well, sleep well, and every few days I get beaten; besides, you haven't seen the scar left on my eye corner from a beating—it still aches to this day.

"Xiao Dang, regarding your matter, after I returned I heard about it—everything is my fault, I ruined your life; I know you resent me, hate the Jia Family, but what's done is done and much time has passed. I hope you let go of hatred, that we both live peacefully. In my absence, please look after Grandma more—she's old and doesn't have much time left—and Mom, who has also suffered all her life. I thought that once I grew up I could give her a good life, but..."

Bangeng gave a bitter smile.

He pointed to his prison uniform.

The meaning could not be clearer.

Saying he was in prison.

These words.

To others' ears it might sound like a penitent older brother admitting fault, but to Xiao Dang it sounded like an excuse to shirk responsibility.

When does a dog stop eating feces?

As Bangeng's sister, Xiao Dang knows his character all too well.

Even now he's still trying to fool her as if she were stupid.

No wonder he fell for the widow's honey trap.

Xiao Dang couldn't fathom why, knowing Bangeng was hopeless, she still had him brought back from Dongbei to the Capital City merely because he was the Jia Family's sole male heir.

Say something that shouldn't be said.

If it weren't for Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu bringing Bangeng to the city, he wouldn't have ended up in prison, serving a ten-year sentence.

"Brother!"

Xiao Dang swept away her mockery and coldness toward Bangeng, replacing it with boundless enthusiasm as she earnestly cried out "brother."

Amid Bangeng's bewilderment.

She steered the conversation to Bangeng's imprisonment.

"Do you hate Grandma? Do you hate Mom?"

Bangeng's face stiffened; he stood there stunned, his gaze locked on Xiao Dang's face, trying to read her expression clearly.

He hadn't expected Xiao Dang to ask such a question.

He asked himself inwardly.

Bangeng truly had not considered whether he hated them or not.

Some things really need not be spoken.

In Bangeng's heart, those who should hate Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu are Xiao Dang and Huaihua, not him—the Jia Family's sole male heir who was pampered since childhood by Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu.

Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu may be sorry to everyone, but they have done right by Bangeng; he doesn't know how to answer Xiao Dang's question.

"Do you know Li Erdan? The one you've looked down on since childhood, whom you called a fool—I heard from Mom that Li Erdan got promoted in the army; even if he hadn't, returning to the Siheyuan he wouldn't have to live under the stigma of being a convict."

Bangeng lowered his head.

Xiao Dang's words pierced him deeply.

Even those who enter and later leave are looked down upon, unable to find work or marry; this is also why Bangeng regards Liu Haizhong's gold, silver, and treasures as a lifeline—he needs that wealth to turn his life around.

"What do you want to say?"

"I'm just asking whether you hate Grandma or Mom." Xiao Dang stared at Bangeng, enunciating each word: "It seems you still don't understand why you're in prison."

"Because I ate white rice—what other reason could there be?"

"Do you really think that?" Xiao Dang snorted, tapping her own head: "Use your brain, think about the truth—no wonder you fell for the widow's scheme, spending a thousand bucks to sleep with her for two years."

"Xiao Dang."

"Don't call me Xiao Dang; we're not that close. The brother who once treated me and Huaihua like sisters has been dead for years."

Xiao Dang's icy voice echoed in Bangeng's ears, making his heart—never truly set on his sister—feel an inexplicable sadness.

Overcome by sentiment, Bangeng slowly closed his eyes.

After more than ten seconds.

He opened his eyes again, his complex gaze falling on Xiao Dang; first he shook his head and gave a wry smile, then he spoke to Xiao Dang.

"I understand what you mean; you simply want to tell me that my imprisonment was caused by Grandma and Mom."

This time.

It was Xiao Dang's turn to be stunned.

I never expected Bangeng to know.

"The matter is simple; if I had stayed properly in Dongbei and not returned to the Capital City, I wouldn't have ended up in jail. The person who dragged me back from Dongbei to here is Grandma, it's Mom. Your meaning is that the culprit behind my imprisonment is our Grandma and our Mom. You say I should hate them; whether you believe it or not, I truly never thought that way."

"I understand what you mean; I truly feel it's not worth it for you—serving ten years, is it worth it?"

Bangeng opened his mouth, wanting to explain himself, but the words reached his lips and he swallowed them back.

Some things, rather than say.

It's better not to say them.

One's own wrongdoings.

Even in tears, one must accept it.

Past cause.

Present result.

"Perhaps you don't believe it, but I truly don't know whether it's worth it."

"You don't even know the answer, why don't you hate? You probably don't even realize—our mother, Qin Huairu of Yagangchang, already has the thought of finding a new husband!"

Speaking of this matter.

Xiao Dang is also seething with anger.

From the time she could remember, the deepest memory was that Jia Zhangshi would occasionally hold up Jia Dongxu's posthumous photo to warn Qin Huairu, saying that Qin Huairu, while alive, is a member of the Jia Family, and in death, a ghost of the Jia Family; saying that Qin Huairu can now enter the city to eat government rations, thanks to the Jia Family's glory, and now she has taken a position at the Jia Family, becoming a worker—all these are things the Jia Family gave Qin Huairu, so Qin Huairu cannot remarry no matter what.

Almost in the coffin.

Want to remarry.

Jia Zhangshi also had the attitude: if you want to remarry, go ahead; if you don't, then don't.

Seeing this, Xiao Dang was somewhat shocked.

In front of Bangeng, she deliberately brought this up, just to poke at Bangeng's heart.

Yet she didn't expect Bangeng to be nonchalant the whole time, and he even went along with Xiao Dang's cue, starting to talk about cigarettes.

"Xiao Dang, go back and tell Grandma, and tell Mom as well, to come see me again as soon as possible; when they come, bring two packs of cigarettes—Big Front Gate or Three Gun Platforms are fine; this concerns the Jia Family's incense."