Stubborn people don’t change their minds easily. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Take Mr. Qin, for example. He could regret having neglected his second son in the past, but he remained firm in his belief that only a grandson could carry on the Old Qin Family’s line.

But that didn’t stop him from making a small gesture of goodwill, hoping it would make that girl, Jiao, treat Xiao Tao well in the future.

As if he’d found the perfect excuse, Mr. Qin said earnestly, "There’s been some distance between us and your second brother because of that misunderstanding. But the incident where Xiao Shi almost got lost was an accident, after all. Right now, among you three brothers’ children, Xiao Tao is the only boy. In the future, if his older and younger sisters need anything, won’t they have to rely on their brother, Xiao Tao?"

Qin Jiqun snapped out of it. He was actually willing to visit his second brother’s house. If he brought a gift, his brother’s family definitely wouldn’t kick him out, and he could certainly get a feast out of it. After all, his second brother and sister-in-law were the best cooks.

But since it was already getting dark, the lazy Qin Jiqun said, "Dad, I’ll go to town tomorrow. I’m afraid I won’t be able to catch the bus today."

"Alright, go tomorrow. And after you leave your second brother’s place, remember to bring your wife back home. She’s been away for so many days. We can’t have anything... else... happening."

There were quite a few stories in the village about restless young wives running off with other men. Mr. Qin didn’t want Xiao Tao to lose his mother, and besides, they had spent a lot of money on this daughter-in-law’s bride price.

Qin Jiqun agreed. ’I should get my wife back quickly,’ he thought. ’Hopefully, they’ll stop bothering my second brother’s family.’

Meanwhile, after sharing the good news with everyone, Qin Zhonghui specially invited his older brother’s and younger sister’s families over for a meal. Besides celebrating Qin Jiao getting into a prestigious university, there was another reason: they were moving away.

While they were busy in the kitchen, his sister-in-law Sun Li whispered to Su Yun, "Xiao Yun, I saw Feng Lan the other day. It turns out she’s been in Ping’an Town this whole time. Has she come to your house?"

Su Yun replied, "She came by before. It was about her brother wanting to live in this house. You heard about it from Big Brother, right?"

Sun Li said, "Your big brother was the one who passed on the message in the first place, and I chewed him out for it. That Feng Dayong is obviously no good. He doesn’t have a real job and just loafs around all day. What does he want with this house?! He’d just end up trashing a perfectly good place! You absolutely can’t rent it to him. Your big brother never should have gotten involved in this!"

Su Yun said, "The landlord has been very kind to us. Besides, they weren’t even planning to rent it out in the first place. Our next-door neighbor, Mr. Du, had to put in a good word for us. We can’t just let someone ruin this nice house."

"That’s right. But as long as that Feng Lan is still around, you guys need to be careful. She’s bad news." From the very beginning, Sun Li had never liked the gluttonous and lazy Feng Lan.

’Of course we’ll be careful,’ Su Yun thought. ’She’s probably planning to come by tonight and pilfer something.’ But she was worried about tipping her hand, so she didn’t say anything to Sun Li and changed the subject instead.

After dinner, Qin Bogang’s and Qin Na’s families left. Then, just like any other night, Qin Jiao’s family washed the dishes and cleaned up. Su Yun loudly told her two daughters to get to bed early, reminding them they would be moving in a couple of days. About an hour later, the upstairs lights went out.

Another half hour or so passed, and the downstairs lights went out too.

By this time, Feng Dayong and Feng Lan were already hiding furtively behind a tree near the entrance to Qin Jiao’s house. From a distance, they could see that the lights had gone out.

It was Feng Lan’s first time doing something like this, and she was a little nervous. She whispered, "Dayong, why don’t we wait until after they’ve moved out to steal something?"