Chapter 30: Old Enemies Surface
It was only nine o’clock.
By mid-June, the heat had already begun to settle in.
In those days, few households in the city could afford air conditioning. Many neighbors wandered outside their buildings to catch a bit of evening breeze. Hearing the commotion, they all drifted over, eager for a spectacle.
Xiao Xiao and Tian Wenli had been together for two or three years. They had practically reached the stage of discussing marriage, and he had visited her home often enough that most of the neighbors recognized him.
To them, Xiao Xiao was already the Tian family’s future son-in-law.
Now they stared at Tian Jianzhong and his daughter with strange expressions, unable to make sense of what was unfolding.
Xiao Liang had also visited this place often in the past. Recognizing a few familiar faces, he smiled and greeted them warmly, completely ignoring how grim Tian Jianzhong, Tian Wenli, and Yuan Tong looked.
“Uncle Chen, you still remember me? I’m Xiao Liang—Xiao Xiao’s younger brother. I used to come here all the time with him. You must’ve heard about what happened to me the other day, right? Bad luck, I tell you—when it rains, it pours. I work down in Shishan, auditing a village-run enterprise. Just when I uncovered a major case, someone turned around and accused me of rape. The bastard didn’t even know who he was messing with. He couldn’t get me locked up—instead, he got himself arrested today. Just wait, this is going to be one of the biggest stories in Dongzhou this year. My brother and I were just out for a walk to shake off the bad luck. I figured Uncle Tian might not even know the full story yet—maybe what he told you all was a little… different. So I thought I’d better show up in person and clear things up.”
He then stepped forward enthusiastically, grabbing Tian Jianzhong’s arm with a wide grin.
“Uncle Tian, you know now that you misunderstood me, right? What exactly did you tell Uncle Chen and the others about me before?”
“Well, I told everyone this boy couldn’t possibly do something like that,” the neighbor chimed in, clearly enjoying himself. “But you didn’t believe me, Tian Jianzhong—you kept insisting you’d misjudged him. Now look at him, standing here just fine. Doesn’t that make you look like a fool?”
The man tightened his grip on Tian Jianzhong’s arm, his tone dripping with mockery.
“I told you not to rush into replacing your son-in-law, didn’t I? But you wouldn’t listen. Now look—old and new sons-in-law bumping into each other. You’ve only got one daughter—how are you going to split her between them? Want me to lend you a knife?”
Tian Wenli had never faced anything like this before. Her eyes filled with tears as she turned and fled upstairs without another word.
Tian Jianzhong couldn’t very well leave Yuan Tong standing there alone. Forcing a laugh, he tried to smooth things over.
“Don’t listen to Xiao Liang’s nonsense. What do you mean ‘replacing a son-in-law’? Yuan Tong used to work with me, and he’s Wenli’s classmate. He was recently transferred to Shishan, so I invited him over for a drink and a chat. Don’t misunderstand!”
“Oh? So Secretary Yuan isn’t the new son-in-law? My mistake—what a huge misunderstanding,” Xiao Liang said, smiling without warmth as he stared at Tian Jianzhong. “The way you were chatting just now, Uncle Tian, I thought you couldn’t wait to send Sister Wenli straight to Secretary Yuan’s bed tonight. Guess I was wrong. Someone as measured as you wouldn’t be that impatient.”
If he could, Xiao Liang would’ve liked nothing more than to kick the old bastard twice. In his previous life, this man had been the quickest to distance himself from their family, the most eager to trample them while they were down.
“Let’s go,” Xiao Xiao said, tugging at Xiao Liang’s sleeve.
Even after seeing Tian Wenli juggling two men, he still wanted to maintain his dignity, to quietly lick his wounds. He didn’t want Xiao Liang to keep stirring things up.
Xiao Liang glanced at Yuan Tong, whose face had gone livid with anger, and gave a faint smile before reluctantly waving goodbye to Tian Jianzhong.
“Uncle Tian, my brother and Sister Wenli are officially done today. When your family decides to bring in a new son-in-law, do let us know in advance—so we don’t get the wrong idea again.”
If not for everything that had happened in Yunshe, Xiao Liang would have dragged his brother to an all-night bar and drunk until dawn.
But tonight, they could only walk home quietly.
It wasn’t even ten when they arrived. Their parents were still downstairs, chatting with neighbors who hadn’t gone to bed yet.
Some things needed to be cleared up. Just because Xiao Yujun had been taken down didn’t mean people should keep whispering behind their backs.
Seeing the brothers return, Xiao Changhua and Ge Minglan excused themselves and went upstairs with them.
“Did you see Wenli?” Ge Minglan asked, worry written all over her face.
“We didn’t go in. I just took him out for a walk,” Xiao Liang replied, avoiding the details in front of his brother.
“Maybe your father and I should visit her family tomorrow and talk things out? You were already talking about setting a wedding date… It’s normal for a girl to have a bit of a temper. You just have to coax her,” she suggested hesitantly.
“Mom, when a woman decides to cut ties, she can be even more ruthless than a man. There’s no fixing this. Don’t trouble yourself over it,” Xiao Liang said, stopping her.
Xiao Xiao looked like a wilted plant after frost, listless as he went back to his room.
Xiao Liang stayed in the living room, pulling the newspaper holder onto the table.
After his father had been transferred to the municipal office, they’d installed a phone at home, but never bought a television. In recent years, with more free time, his father had subscribed to several newspapers instead. Evenings were spent chatting, reading, or studying.
Several thick bundles of newspapers were neatly clipped together. Xiao Liang flipped through them for a long while before finding the report he was looking for—dated May 11—about Yuan Weishan’s transfer from the Education Bureau to become Secretary-General of the municipal government.
Yuan Weishan… Yuan Tong’s father.
If history followed its original course, Xiao Liang remembered that Yuan Weishan would retire ten years later as an executive vice mayor—and would play a crucial role in helping Xiao Yujun extend his influence from Shishan County into the entire Dongzhou region.
Though Xiao Yujun had already been arrested, and whatever collusion existed between him and Yuan Weishan would now be rewritten, Yuan Tong had already been assigned as secretary to County Magistrate Zhou Kangyuan. He had long coveted Tian Wenli—or perhaps they had been mutually interested from the start.
Xiao Liang couldn’t help but wonder: in his previous life, when he had been detained for half a year before being transferred to the procuratorate… had Yuan Tong played a part in that?
He had suspected as much before, but never found concrete proof.
His expression darkened as he stared at the newspaper.
Looking up, he saw his father watching him with confusion.
Xiao Liang slid the paper across the table.
“Dad… did you ever have any conflicts with Yuan Weishan?”
