Reborn in the 1970s — Married a Proud Rough Man

”Sister-in-law, don’t try to kid me. He’s Zhang Haoyuan,” Ah Bing said firmly.

”He’s not some Zhang Haoyuan. He’s my uncle, Qin Haoyuan,” Qin Mei insisted stubbornly.

Ah Bing looked at Jie Jingchen, his gaze seeming to say, ’You’re the most upright person here. You be the judge. Is this man Zhang Haoyuan, or Qin Haoyuan?’ ”Brother Jie.”

”He’s my wife’s uncle. His name is Qin Haoyuan,” Jie Jingchen said without batting an eye.

Qin Mei breathed a sigh of relief, a faint sense of guilt rising in her heart. ’Dragging Jie Jingchen into her lie was a bit shameless of her.’

”Are you Qin Haoyuan?” Ah Bing reached out and nudged Zhang Haoyuan’s arm.

Zhang Haoyuan gritted his teeth. With an air of someone throwing caution to the wind, he looked up and met Ah Bing’s gaze. ”Sister Qin, Ah Bing is my cousin’s son.”

”?” Qin Mei.

”...” Jie Jingchen.

Qin Mei mentally tried to sort out the relationship between Ah Bing and Zhang Haoyuan. She asked tentatively, ”What do you call Ah Bing’s grandmother?”

”Aunt,” Zhang Haoyuan replied.

”A blood-relation?” Qin Mei asked again.

”Yes, by blood,” Zhang Haoyuan answered.

Qin Mei fell silent. ’Everyone avoided the Zhang family like the plague. Now that she knew Zhang Haoyuan and Ah Bing were relatives, were they the kind of relatives who helped each other in times of need, or the kind who would make a bad situation worse?’

”Did you know about the news of Zhang Haoyuan’s death?” Qin Mei asked Ah Bing.

”I knew,” Ah Bing nodded. He had been devastated to hear of Zhang Haoyuan’s death and hadn’t dared to tell his grandmother. Now, seeing Zhang Haoyuan standing right in front of him, alive and well, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t thrilled.

”Are you going to report him for faking his death?” Qin Mei asked.

Ah Bing froze for a second, then shook his head decisively. ”If I dared to report him, my grandma would definitely kick me out.”

Qin Mei nodded and said solemnly, ”Ah Bing, Zhang Haoyuan is dead. The person standing before you now is Qin Haoyuan, my uncle, a resident of Yangcheng City.”

Ah Bing nodded in understanding. He then clapped Zhang Haoyuan on the arm and teased, ”Not bad, Uncle. You even managed to get residency in Yangcheng City.”

”I’m not the impressive one, Sister Qin is,” Zhang Haoyuan said, not daring to take the credit.

Jie Jingchen took Zhang Haoyuan’s backpack from the car and tossed it to him. Ah Bing untied a large bag of herbs from the back of his bicycle. They were common herbs and not worth much, but out of gratitude for Qin Mei giving Zhang Haoyuan a new lease on life, Ah Bing absolutely refused to take any money for them.

On the way back, Qin Mei remarked with a sigh, ”I really didn’t expect Ah Bing and Zhang Haoyuan to be relatives.”

”It was unexpected,” Jie Jingchen agreed.

Qin Mei stared at Jie Jingchen without blinking, giving him the creeps. ”Jie Jingsi, fess up. Did you know all along?”

”I honestly didn’t know about this.” Jie Jingchen wasn’t lying; he truly had no idea. Given his relationship with Qin Mei, if he had known beforehand, he definitely would have shared it with her.

”Ah Bing was one of your soldiers. How could you not know about his family situation?” Qin Mei was skeptical.

”He was only under my command for a single day.” Jie Jingchen hadn’t had time to learn about Ah Bing’s family in-depth before he had him sent back to his hometown.

Qin Mei grumbled softly. The cool breeze made her drowsy, and before long, she had fallen asleep.

When she woke up, they were already home. Qin Mei got out of the car, stretched lazily, and seeing that Jie Jingchen was also getting out, she raised an eyebrow and said, ”We’re home.”

Jie Jingchen hummed in response. He locked the car, walked around the front to Qin Mei, took her hand, and led her into the courtyard.

”Jie Jingsi, we’re already home. You don’t have to escort me into the courtyard.” Qin Mei looked at Jie Jingchen with amusement, sarcastically praising his attitude of seeing things through to the very end.

’When they were escorting Zhang Haoyuan, they ran into Ah Bing halfway and just handed him over before turning back. But when it came to her? She had no doubt he wanted to walk her all the way into the house.’

Jie Jingchen didn’t speak, just hummed again.

”Jie Jingsi, aren’t you going back to the factory to finish your shift?” Qin Mei asked.

Jie Jingchen glanced at his watch. ”It’s almost quitting time. There’s no point in going back.”

Qin Mei felt like punching him. ’She didn’t need to look at the time; she knew there were still several hours until the end of the workday. Jie Jingchen was rich, and the rich could afford to be willful. It didn’t matter to him whether he worked or not.’ ”Aren’t you going to return the car to your dad?”

”My bicycle and your bicycle are both parked at the factory. When he gets off work, he can ride either one of them home,” Jie Jingchen said.

Qin Mei looked up at the sky in exasperation. ’When Jie Jingjue used the car, he returned it to their dad immediately. When Jie Jingchen used the car, it never even crossed his mind to return it.’

”Jie Jingsi, if you want to borrow it again, you should be good about returning it,” Qin Mei reminded him.

”It’s not like I’m keeping his car and refusing to give it back.” Jie Jingchen pulled Qin Mei into the courtyard. Since Qin Mei had napped in the car, she probably wouldn’t sleep again right away, so they left the courtyard gate open.

Qin Mei’s mouth twitched. ’Shouldn’t you return something to the place you borrowed it from? They’d driven the car from the factory, but after using it, he wasn’t driving it back, making it inconvenient for his dad. If he kept doing this, would he really be able to borrow the car from his dad next time?’

Not far away, a figure stood in the shade of a tree. Lin Yaru’s already pale and unpleasant face became even uglier. Envy, jealousy, resentment, and hatred mingled on her features, twisting her entire face into a hideous expression.

She stood right there. Qin Mei didn’t see her, but Jie Jingchen did, and he acted as if she wasn’t there at all.

’Even if he couldn’t stand her, her current identity was his sister-in-law. She didn’t expect him to greet her warmly and ask how she was, but the least he could do was not be so cold as to completely ignore her.’

Lin Yaru bit her lower lip hard, her hands clenched into tight fists. A sharp, cold glint shot from her eyes.

’So he’s going to ignore her, is he? Fine. Just fine. The more he disregarded her, the more she would make sure to appear right in front of him.’

’If her life was going to be miserable, she would make them miserable too.’

Lin Yaru strode off in the direction of the Lin Family’s home. Just then, Li Axiu came out after finishing the dishes. She searched every room but couldn’t find her daughter, making her as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

Recalling how her daughter, in one of her fits, had even dared to harm Jing Er, Li Axiu was overcome with worry. ’If she hurt Jing Er, so be it. But what if she went out and someone provoked her, and she hurt someone else? They would have to pay compensation. And if her daughter was harmed by someone else, in a serious incident, it could mean the loss of two lives.’

”Honestly, not a single day of peace,” Li Axiu muttered, untying her apron. She stepped out under the scorching sun to look for her daughter.

Li Axiu hadn’t even left the courtyard gate when Lin Yaru returned.

”Yaru, where did you run off to in this heat? Did anything happen?” Li Axiu pulled her daughter close and checked her from top to bottom. Only after confirming she wasn’t hurt did Li Axiu finally let out a breath of relief.

”Mom, I just went for a walk. Do you have to be so nervous?” Lin Yaru said, her spirits low.

”Yaru, you’re pregnant. You have to be careful during the first three months; it’s easy to miscarry. The doctor explained your condition to you very clearly. If you go out alone and have an accident, our Lin Family will regret it forever.” Li Axiu was well aware that only their Lin Family truly cared about the child in her daughter’s belly.

Neither Jing Er nor the Jie Family placed much importance on the child. Even though his daughter was carrying a son, Director Jie didn’t seem to care much, only offering a perfunctory, ”That’s good.”

Lin Yaru caressed her abdomen. ’Why was she carrying Jing Er’s child? Why couldn’t it be Jing Si’s?’

”Yaru, listen to my advice. Don’t torment your own body. If something really happens, the Jie Family will just watch coldly without a care in the world. We’ll be the only ones left heartbroken,” Li Axiu pleaded earnestly.

Lin Yaru fell silent. ’She didn’t even care about the child in her belly herself, so it was unrealistic to expect the Jie Family to. Only her parents held any expectations for the baby.’

A thought surfaced in her mind. Lin Yaru stared fixedly at Li Axiu. ”Mom, tell me, if Qin Mei got pregnant, would the Jie Family care then?”