Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 847 - 837: Utterly Disheartened

The farm was bustling at its busiest time when Li Hongjun returned from R Province with an icy expression on his face.

"Back already? Why didn’t you call ahead so I could pick you up?" Shen Yunfang came home to make lunch and saw Li Hongjun sitting on the sofa as soon as she opened the door.

Li Hongjun acted as if he hadn’t heard, sitting still and silent, like a door god.

Shen Yunfang immediately sensed that something was off, "What’s the matter? Who’s upset you to make your face look like that?"

Li Hongjun remained mute, still sitting there.

Shen Yunfang took off her shoes, slipped on her slippers, and sat down next to him, "Could it be Li Xianghe is getting a divorce? Or is something wrong with Niuniu?"

Only those two reasons could probably cause Li Hongjun to wear that expression.

Li Hongjun’s face darkened even more.

"Hey, don’t just give me the cold treatment here, hurry up and tell me what exactly happened to Niuniu. Do the police have any leads? Can the child still be found?" To be frank, Shen Yunfang couldn’t care less about Li Xianghe’s fate; if she really divorced, that would mostly be her own doing. She was only interested in the child’s wellbeing.

"From now on, don’t you mention Li Xianghe to me again, even if she dies I won’t bother with her," Li Hongjun suddenly exclaimed, his tone icy.

"Oh my goodness, you scared me to death! What are you raving about, why suddenly shout like that?" Shen Yunfang’s heart skipped a beat at his sudden outburst. She quickly pressed her hands against her chest, calming her small heart before she reacted indignantly and gave his back a few whacks.

Li Hongjun, on the receiving end of the hits, seemed to cheer up a bit. No longer ignoring her, he reached out to grab his wife’s hand and, despite her resistance, pulled her into his embrace.

"Feeling better? It’s all my fault," he said, and soon buried his head in the nape of her neck.

Shen Yunfang felt dampness on her neck.

Don’t get it wrong; it wasn’t Li Hongjun shedding tears, rather the ’wolf’ feeling merry again, licking his wife’s neck with his tongue.

"At your age, you’re still acting like a sudden downpour, not even as steady as your daughter. Cut it out already and tell me what’s going on," Shen Yunfang had no patience for indulging him, grabbing his large head and pushing it backward.

Li Hongjun didn’t persist in his antics and, giving in, sat upright.

He didn’t want to use his wife’s body to comfort his injured soul, but he knew his wife’s temperament all too well, despite her harsh words, her heart was softer than anyone else’s, and she must have still been thinking about Niuniu.

"When I got there, Li Xianghe was clutching me and crying, refusing to divorce no matter what. Sun Chengbin also came home specifically to talk to me, denying that he had someone else on the side. Li Xianghe’s accusations were baseless, he said. He wanted to divorce Li Xianghe purely because she had sold Niuniu, which left him feeling cold-hearted, and that was the only reason he had suggested divorce."

Li Hongjun still remembered how, back then, Sun Chengbin was not his usual gentle self in front of him but was so angry that his veins were bulging as he confronted him, leaving him utterly dumbfounded with what he said.

"What, Li Xianghe sold Niuniu? How can that be? Didn’t Li Xianghe say that Niuniu was just lost at the market?" Shen Yunfang was shocked. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

Her intuition screamed that it couldn’t be true, how could any mother be so heartless? Even if the child was a burden due to her condition, she was still her own flesh and blood, born after carrying her for ten months. How could she possibly sell her child to traffickers? Everyone knows what fate befalls children who end up in the hands of traffickers. Even healthy children don’t end up well, let alone a sick child like Niuniu.

"Yeah, I asked Li Xianghe the same thing, but do you know her reaction? She dodged the question and gave evasive answers instead," Li Hongjun said, so furious at the detestable Li Xianghe that his fists were clenched tight.

Both Shen Yunfang and her husband knew what kind of person Li Xianghe was—irrational and always stirring trouble. Her demeanor now indicated that she was guilt-ridden. It was a dead giveaway.

Shen Yunfang thought about how Li Xianghe usually treated Niuniu and felt she might really be capable of doing such a thing. "Did she confess? Did she tell the truth? Have you found out where Niuniu is now?"

Li Hongjun wiped his face, "No matter what I said, Li Xianghe didn’t confess. She certainly didn’t say who she sold Niuniu to. Later I went to the police station, and it was only there I found out that after the child went missing, Li Xianghe had cried and begged people to search for a few days. Then she specifically told them not to bother looking anymore, saying the child wasn’t a good one anyway, and if they really couldn’t find her, she would just have another one." These were the concise words of the officer, and just by looking at the officer’s expression when he talked to him, it was clear that what Li Xianghe had said at the time was far more appalling.

As you can imagine, with parents pushing from behind, it’s hard to solve cases of missing or trafficked children, let alone for someone like Li Xianghe. Up to now, the police station still has only the initial information, with no new progress.

But they had investigated, and at that large market, besides Niuniu, no other parents reported their children missing. This proved that only Niuniu was taken, suggesting it was likely a targeted action against her.

Sun Chengbin also said that after the child had gone missing, he had gone to that large market to look for leads. He heard from someone that they had seen Li Xianghe with a child speaking to a man, after which they didn’t see whether the child was taken away by that man. However, when Sun Chengbin confronted Li Xianghe at home about who that man was, she denied ever seeing such a person, insisting that the child was lost.

It was for this reason that Sun Chengbin was convinced that it wasn’t just a loss, but that his heartless mother, Li Xianghe, had sold the child. He was adamant about divorcing this venomous woman.

As Sun Chengbin put it, the fact that he only divorced Li Xianghe instead of sending her to jail was already merciful considering the many years they had spent together as husband and wife. If Li Xianghe kept pestering him, he wouldn’t care about their past relationship. Whatever needed to be done would be done, and no one’s intercession would work in this matter.

"Your sister is nothing but trouble—selfish and greedy. I thought she was at least dutiful, but when your mom passed away, she knew and yet didn’t even come back for a last look. I thought at least as a mother... but she ended up being a heartless wretch who sold her own daughter. Such a person deserves to be struck by lightning five times for it not to be enough!" Shen Yunfang angrily slapped the sofa. "And to think she could have another child after losing this one, she must be dreaming. I think Sun Chengbin did the right thing by divorcing her, no man would dare to have her now."

Listening to his wife curse his own sister, Li Hongjun simply reached out and pulled his wife into his embrace, "Enough, don’t be angry. What’s done is done, and no matter how angry we get here, Li Xianghe will continue being herself."

"Before I came back, I made it very clear to Li Xianghe. If Niuniu can’t be found, then I have no sister. Whether she lives or dies, she should not come looking for me, it won’t do her any good," Li Hongjun had become utterly disillusioned and decided no longer to indulge Li Xianghe.