He had always been living on the boat, but it didn’t mean he didn’t yearn for a life like those who lived on the shore. In fact, he had always thought of earning money to buy a piece of land on the shore and settle down.

But how could it be that simple?

Not to mention that he couldn’t save enough money, even if he did, the vast majority of the villages rejected outsiders like him. The only thing he dared to think about was to marry his ger son to parents-in-law on the shore.

Although Jiang Zhen only asked him to stay temporarily, Wang Haisheng was still extremely grateful. 

Because Sun Xiaoshan was still ill and couldn’t walk, Wang Haisheng carried him on his back. Then they went in a group to Jiang Zhen’s house.

Along the way, they also met some villagers from Hexi Village.

Wang Haisheng had lived here for a long time, so he also knew some people here. But those people came to his life quickly and were very indifferent to him. Because of this, he was worried that after following Jiang Zhen back, someone would come and tell Jiang Zhen to drive him away.

As a result . . .

Wang Haisheng looked around blankly and couldn’t understand why the villagers in Hexi Village ran away so fast when they saw them.

Was he that terrible?

Wang Haisheng didn’t understand what was going on, and the two children near him were also very confused. The children in the village didn’t like playing with them and had often bullied them before, but they were never afraid of them. 

“Jiang. . . Jiang Zhen, what on earth is going on?” Wang Haisheng looked at Jiang Zhen puzzled.

“Nothing,” Jiang Zhen said.

Hearing that Jiang Zhen said it was nothing, Wang Haisheng was relieved. When he started to look at the people around him again, he suddenly found that these people looked at him with sympathy in their eyes.

This . . . What’s going on?

People in Hexi Village really sympathized with Wang Haisheng. They believed that Jiang Zhen was a madman now. When they saw Wang Haisheng walking with Jiang Zhen, trembling, they even thought that he had been intimidated by Jiang Zhen, and even that Sun Xiaoshan, who was being carried by him, was beaten by Jiang Zhen.

After all, this was the guy that dared to fight even with a yamen officer!

Jiang Zhen put all the valuable things and food in his house. The other house was almost empty, and he asked Wang Haisheng’s family to live there. Then he said, “You should clean up your house first before living there. You should also start a fire yourself. Don’t come in my house.”

“Yes, yes.” Wang Haisheng nodded repeatedly as he looked at the mud house, which was actually very simple.

Wang Haisheng had some useful things on his boat but not too many. After going back several times, he brought them all in and soon settled down. By that time, it was almost dark.

Seeing that it was almost time for Zhao Jinge to return home, Jiang Zhen simply tidied himself up and went to the intersection to sit down and wait for Zhao Jinge.

As a result, it was Zhao Fugui, Zhao Jinge’s father, who came back first.

It had been raining in the past few days. Zhao Fugui, who was working outside as a short-time worker, didn’t go back home. When he came back today, he had been walking with his head lowered, but when he saw Jiang Zhen sitting on the side of the road, he was startled and quickened his pace. 

Jiang Zhen touched his nose and continued waiting.

Later, it was Zhao Jinge’s turn. He was carrying a rabbit in his hand. When he saw Jiang Zhen, he first paused, then lowered his head to avoid Jiang Zhen’s eyes and accelerated his steps like his father.

After a while, Zhao Jinge returned home.

“Where did you get the rabbit from?” Zhao Liu immediately asked in surprise when she saw the rabbit in Zhao Jinge’s hand. 

“Caught it in the field.” Zhao Jinge bowed his head awkwardly. Although he did a good job in farming, he was not good at catching things. In fact, he couldn’t catch rabbits at all . . .

However, Zhao Liu didn’t doubt it. She always thought her son was the best. In this case, it was normal to her that her son was able to catch a rabbit.

“There are many good things at home recently. I’m very happy!” Zhao Liu said with a smile, looking at the five ducklings at her feet and the rabbit in his hand, and then talked about Li Zugen’s family. “Today Xiu came and told me about the Li family. Their family suffered retribution from annulling the engagement. What happened? Their daughter-in-law is gone!“

Zhao Liu soon told the story of Li Zugen’s family and criticized them.

Zhao Fugui had been listening silently, not expressing his own opinions but still nodding from time to time.

Zhao Liu was very excited when she talked about it, but when she finished, she got depressed again.

Although Li Zugen’s wife ran away with another person, she also had four sons. No matter how poor their days were now, someone would support them in old age. What about her family’s Jinge?

Now there are the two of them. Jinge was at least surrounded by some help. What when we are gone one day? 

Jinge didn’t even have a child, and when he got old, there would be no one to take care of him. This . . .

Zhao Liu stopped talking, and Zhao Fugui was even more silent. At the beginning, he still wanted to find a husband for Zhao Jinge, but he gave up on this idea two years ago. He just wanted to find a mother-in-law for Zhao Jinge to let him have a family.

But their family was too poor, and there were even two old drags, so no one was willing to marry Zhao Jinge at all.

“Don’t worry about me, Mom, Dad,” Zhao Jinge said. He wanted to tell them about himself and Jiang Zhen, but his words wouldn’t come out.

Jiang Zhen had offended many people. If his parents knew about them, they would be even more worried.

Fearing that his son would be sad, Zhao Liu didn’t talk about this any longer but mentioned something else. “My Jinge will be fine. There’s nothing to worry about. But when I look at Jiang Zhen, I feel very scared. Fugui, you don’t know this, but he is always staring at our house. I got up in the middle of the night last night and saw him hanging around our house!”  

“What?” Zhao Fugui was surprised. Zhao Jinge’s heart also skipped.

Zhao Fugui’s brows wrinkled tightly. “He was hanging around our house at night? He isn’t thinking about robbing our house, is he?”

“Robbing?” Zhao Liu was also frightened. “What are we going to do? Our Jinge can’t beat him!“ 

“Mother, he wouldn’t. I saved his life. And . . . there is nothing worth robbing in our house,” Zhao Jinge said, his eyes looking at the rabbit. Jiang Zhen wouldn’t rob their house; the rabbit was sent by Jiang Zhen. 

And . . . Jiang Zhen had come to see him last night? 

He actually fell asleep without knowing it . . .

Edited by : Faro

Proofreader: Taalia

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