.....

Chen Haichang slept until noon and then went out to buy over a dozen pig trotters for his younger brothers. He took advantage of the noontime to head to Han Yi’s house to find Liang Hongmei to help him make some braised pig trotters.

Seeing that he had brought the ingredients, Liang Hongmei conceded to helping him.

"Mom says that Third Grandpa is a foodie. Auntie, a foodie is someone who loves good food. Mom says it’s not an insult but a compliment on his taste. With Third Grandpa around, we’ll get a treat in a bit. I’ll ask Third Grandpa for a couple of pig trotters, and we can gnaw on them later."

Hu Lijuan listened to Little Star’s quirky explanation and glanced at her amusedly, "I think you’re a little foodie too."

"Uh-huh, Mom says life is short, and we should enjoy it while we can. Auntie, do you understand?"

Little Star has become so articulate in just a few months, talking like a little adult. Hu Lijuan now finds herself led by this little one when they’re together.

"You understand, you understand, okay? Let’s go help your grandma."

"Alrighty."

"Xingxing, who is this? How come she’s at your home?" Chen Haichang stood in the kitchen with his arms folded, discussing something with Liang Hongmei when he saw Little Star and a female companion walk in. Seeing how close Little Star was with this woman, he asked curiously.

"Third Grandpa, this is my auntie. My auntie!"

"Oh... got it. Hello, Xingxing’s aunt. What’s your name?" Chen Haichang immediately understood who the little girl was and greeted politely.

"Hu Lijuan, nice to meet you." Hu Lijuan greeted back courteously.

Chen Haichang saw that she wasn’t at all scared by his appearance and laughed surprisingly, "Wow, this little girl isn’t afraid of me."

Next to them, Liang Hongmei laughed, "What’s there to be afraid of? Lijuan’s a lawyer now; she deals with criminals every day. Those criminals are much scarier than you."

"Oh... a lawyer, huh?" he said, giving Hu Lijuan a thumbs up, "Impressive, impressive."

The compliment made Hu Lijuan blush, and she smiled shyly.

"Third Grandpa, compliments deserve rewards! Two pig trotters," Little Star reminded, holding up two fingers gratefully.

"I was praising your auntie’s skills, not you. At most, you get one pig trotter. You tell me why I should compliment you, and if it’s convincing, I’ll give you another one," Chen Haichang teased her deliberately.

Little Star was momentarily stumped, thought for a while, and then her eyes lit up, "I complimented Third Grandpa for being a foodie! Does that count?"

Everyone in the kitchen burst into laughter at Little Star’s words, much to Chen Haichang’s exasperation. He didn’t quite think of "foodie" as a compliment.

Even though the choice of words was off, he reluctantly spared her one because she attempted a compliment.

Liang Hongmei had originally come home at noon to cook for her daughter but got roped into making pig trotters for Chen Haichang, so delivering lunch fell to him.

However, just as he arrived at the hospital, he heard about Ye Qing: "See? They work so fast. Overnight, they figured out a way to cover up the crime. You’ve lost a step. They made Ye Qing the scapegoat. If we had known, we wouldn’t have released Ye Qing or driven her mad. Now Mei Langchi benefits for nothing."

"This was the old man’s idea," Han Yi said grimly.

"How do you know?"

"He called me back this morning."

"Hmph, I knew it, that old guy’s full of bad ideas. Look at that, he’s ruthless for his grandson’s sake! After all this time, it’s all been a wasted effort. With Ye Qing like this, there’s no way to convict her."

Han Yi felt very helpless. He originally wanted to put Mei Langchi in jail for three to five years. Mr. Mei wanted to persuade him to drop the charges against Mei Langchi, promising that he’d get a significant portion of the Mei family assets in the future.

Han Yi found it quite amusing!

He didn’t expect that since he didn’t agree, they’d handle things so quickly, having planned all along.

"Mei Langchi must be secretly delighted now, huh?" Chen Haichang said sarcastically.

After leaving the hospital, Chen Haichang returned, carrying the pig trotters that Liang Hongmei had made, and went straight to the old house.

Mr. Mei and Old Mrs. Mei were having soft rice, stir-fried cabbage, and chicken breast for lunch, all cooked to softness, which they were initially enjoying.

Now, watching Chen Haichang sitting in front of them, gnawing on pig trotters with gusto, leaving his hands all greasy, they each had an acidic taste in their mouths. Their expressions were not good.

"Old man, I heard that Third Nephew’s wife went mad? And she stole Xiao Chi’s money and ran away? Tsk tsk, Third Nephew’s a grown man and yet has no discipline. Now she’s committed a crime and gone mad like this, the police can’t convict her. There’s nothing we can do. I think, for Hua Hua’s sake, we should help as good people, spend less money to treat her, so she can eventually earn money to pay back what she stole from Xiao Chi. Don’t you think so?"

"Hmph, how can such a woman still enter our family? She’s a murderer. Our family can’t accommodate her. Your eldest sister-in-law said she’s arranging a divorce for them. Once it’s done, that woman will have nothing to do with our family," Old Mrs. Mei said, with others in the Mei family sharing her sentiment.

"Mrs. Mei, one shouldn’t be so heartless. Be careful of karma," Chen Haichang slurped on a pig trotter that melted in his mouth, murmuring.

Old Mrs. Mei got agitated upon hearing this, "How am I heartless? If there’s anyone heartless, it’s Ye Qing, stirring up discord between Xiao Chi and Xiao Yi, using Xiao Chi’s name to do such vicious things to Xiao Yi. Even if it wasn’t about the Mei family, no family could tolerate her. There’s no room for discussion on this, and you, as an uncle, shouldn’t meddle in the affairs of the eldest family all day. Just mind your own business."