The Little Life of a Big Landlord

Chapter 134 Theft

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"Qingqing, Liu Sao and Yang Ming seem to be getting quite passionate, don't they?" Zhang Fenghuang was a particularly wicked person. She was tending the fire when she heard the sounds coming from inside the house. She immediately leaned close to Wei Qingqing's ear, who was kneading dough, and whispered to stir up Wei Qingqing's jealousy.

"Really? They do this all the time..." Wei Qingqing knew Yang Ming well and knew that Yang Ming couldn't possibly have anything going on with Aunt Liu, so she seemed a little indifferent, which made Zhang Fenghuang extremely bored.

"Phoenix, you'd better change your ways. You're always so cunning. Be careful you never get married. You're not allowed to write palace novels anymore. You can write something rural, fantasy, or martial arts novels, just don't write palace novels. I'm starting to get confused. Is it you who wrote the novel, or the novel that wrote you...?" Liu Lili was washing vegetables when she heard Phoenix's words and immediately began to advise her.

"Hmph..." Zhang Fenghuang hummed twice and sat back down at the stove to tend the fire. Clearly, she hadn't taken a word of Liu Lili's advice to heart.

"Second brother, you're just being a villain for nothing. Yang Ming and his wife have a great relationship. You can't break them up..." Zhang Yue was peeling garlic when she smiled at Zhang Fenghuang.

"Who's trying to break them up? I'm just reminding Qingqing to keep an eye on her husband, and it's best to keep him tied to her waist..." Zhang Fenghuang said.

"Alright, alright, stop talking nonsense, let's hurry up and cook..." Wei Qingqing said, placing the kneaded dough on the board and then rolling it into a thin pancake.

Spread a layer of cornmeal on both sides of the flatbread to prevent it from sticking together. Then fold the flatbread in a wavy shape into a strip about four fingers wide. Cut it in half with a knife, then stack it up and cut it into narrow strips about two millimeters wide. Shake them out to make chewy noodles.

Once the water in the pot boiled, I blanched the washed vegetables in the hot water, then took them out and put the noodles into the pot. I tumbled them a few times, then took them out and put them into a large earthenware basin filled with cold water.

Zhang Yue peeled the garlic and mashed it into garlic paste. She also took a piece of cooked meat and sliced ​​it thinly, mixed the sesame paste, and shredded the cucumber... Dinner was the legendary cold noodles, a very famous home-style dish.

Oh, and there's also tomato and egg sauce, which is the most classic sauce for cold noodles.

"Hey, are we eating cold noodles this late at night?" Yang Ming frowned as he looked at the bowl of cold noodles that had been served. Eating cold noodles so late at night, he was worried about catching a chill, as the weather was getting rather cold.

"Leng Yao?" Wei Qingqing asked, somewhat surprised.

"You're a grown man, and you're afraid of the cold? Why are you so delicate?" Zhang Fenghuang mocked Yang Ming without any politeness.

"He's just weak..." Liu Lili chimed in.

"Why are you so weak?" Zhang Yue was a bit of a scatterbrain, so she would ask directly if she didn't understand something.

"If it's too frequent, you'll become weak. Just ask Qingqing and you'll know..." Zhang Fenghuang smiled mischievously.

Yang Ming immediately fell silent, while Wei Qingqing's face turned as red as an apple. It was Aunt Liu who spoke up for them: "Watch your words, there are children here..."

Zhang Fenghuang and Liu Lili exchanged a glance, stuck out their tongues, and fell silent.

Before long, Yang Zhengfang, Zhang Shufang, Zhang Yang, and Sun Fangfang returned. However, Lao Huang, Lao Liu, Zhao Yunfeng, and Gu Yu had already left Zhengjia Village. Lao Huang and Lao Liu were alright; they had been living in the village for over a month and didn't seem to miss home. But Zhao Yunfeng and Gu Yu were different... Men go crazy after leaving home; they won't want to go back unless they encounter some setbacks. But women are different; they always remember their little home, and this becomes more pronounced as they get older.

"Hehe, after Uncle and Second Uncle go back, most of the time the neighbors won't recognize them anymore..." Yang Ming chuckled. Old Huang, Old Liu and Yang Zhengfang had become sworn brothers, so Yang Ming naturally had to change his address. He couldn't keep calling them Uncle Huang and Uncle Liu anymore.

It is said that after eating the dragon eggs, Lao Huang, Lao Liu, Zhao Yunfeng, and Gu Yu did not return to their youthful appearance of twenty or thirty years old like Yang Zhengfang and Zhang Shufang, but they looked about the same as middle-aged people in their forties or fifties, quite shrewd and capable.

The four men, still warm from the construction site, wholeheartedly agreed to have cold noodles for dinner, and so dinner began.

After dinner, Yang Ming and Wei Qingqing went to the cabin in the hot spring valley again. This time, Zhang Yue begged and pleaded to come along, but Yang Ming was determined not to be a third wheel and locked the iron fence of the hot spring valley. There was no way she could come in.

Inside the cabin, a wolfskin rug was laid out on the floor, with thick quilts piled on top. Yang Ming and Wei Qingqing nestled together, whispering to each other.

"Based on our test today, I can say with 100% certainty that Aunt Liu is pregnant..." Wei Qingqing said.

"When I bought the kiwis, I told the shopkeeper I wanted the sourest ones. I took a bite, and they were so sour I could hardly stand it. But what about Aunt Liu? She was still happy about it..." Just thinking about that sour taste made Yang Ming's tongue water.

"Sour for a boy, spicy for a girl, so it's very likely that Aunt Liu's baby is a son..." Wei Qingqing said, looking up at Yang Ming with her little face. "Do you think Aunt Liu's pregnancy might be related to her mother-in-law? I've heard that in some backward mountain villages, they'll do all sorts of outrageous things..."

"What...what do you mean by that???" Yang Ming raised an eyebrow and said.

"You know, a while ago, Bao'er's grandma even tried to take Bao'er away from Liu Sao. Why was that? You know, in the mountain village, daughters are considered a money-losing commodity..." Wei Qingqing said.

"Your parents have such a good daughter! She's made a fortune, with mansions and luxury cars..." Yang Ming said with a wicked smile.

Wei Qingqing's eyes changed, her big eyes shooting out knives: "Hmph, if you feel you've been taken advantage of, then we'll get a divorce. What benefits my parents got from you, I'll make them return to you every single penny..." As she spoke, she was about to leave Yang Ming's embrace.

"Look at you, look at you, you don't know how to joke around... I was just teasing you. Do you think I'm the kind of person who's petty? Your parents are my parents too. Even if they really wanted my money, would I refuse? They've given me all their treasures..." Yang Ming quickly pulled Wei Qingqing into his arms and hugged her tightly.

"Hmph..." Wei Qingqing felt secretly pleased after hearing Yang Ming's words, but she didn't relax on the surface and remained sullen.

"Okay! Let's get back to the main topic, about Aunt Liu's matter... Go on..." Yang Ming quickly changed the subject.

"I forgot where I left off..." Wei Qingqing said, puffing out her cheeks.

"You're saying daughters are all a waste of money..." Yang Ming said.

"Hmph..." Wei Qingqing snorted twice, deciding not to argue with Yang Ming anymore. "Grandma Bao'er wants to take Bao'er away. Could it be that she wants to use Bao'er to threaten Aunt Liu into having another child?" It has to be said that Wei Qingqing's guess was very close to the truth.

"Borrowing sperm?" Yang Ming raised an eyebrow, pondering for a moment. "It's certainly possible, but it depends on the person. Is Aunt Liu the kind of person who can be manipulated like that? If she's unwilling, even if the sky falls, you can't change her mind..."

"That's not necessarily true. Bao'er is Liu Sao's lifeblood. Maybe Liu Sao compromised for Bao'er's sake?" Wei Qingqing said.

"That's even more impossible..." Yang Ming shook his head. "Didn't Bao'er not let her grandma take her away? She can leave Bao'er at Bao'er's maternal grandma's house. Would Bao'er's grandma dare to go to Liujia Village to snatch her away? Aunt Liu can also hand Bao'er over to us and let us take her to the city. We are Bao'er's godparents. Although legally our guardianship is relatively weak, in the community, we are Bao'er's second guardian... Living in the city can also allow Bao'er to receive a better education."

"Nonsense! How could Aunt Liu live without Bao'er? Bao'er can't live without Aunt Liu either..." Wei Qingqing rolled her eyes.

"If Aunt Liu doesn't want to separate from Bao'er, then as long as Aunt Liu makes things public, Uncle Bao will definitely back her up, and Bao'er's grandma won't dare to say anything..." Yang Ming said.

"Don't wash your dirty linen in public..." Wei Qingqing said.

"Don't you understand what kind of person Aunt Liu is? If you anger her, she might drag you down to hell with her..." Yang Ming rolled his eyes repeatedly when he mentioned Aunt Liu's character...

"That's right, Grandma Bao'er's attempt to take Bao'er away has definitely crossed Aunt Liu's bottom line..." Wei Qingqing's brows furrowed as well.

"Yes, given Aunt Liu's personality, she will definitely not let this go..." Yang Ming said.

"Well..." Wei Qingqing felt that things were complicated. It wasn't as she had initially thought, that Aunt Liu was forced to accept Grandma Bao'er's persecution. Rather, it seemed that Aunt Liu definitely had an element of free will involved; otherwise, she would have fought to the death...

"Hehe, let's not think about it anymore..." Yang Ming put his arm around Wei Qingqing and rubbed his face against her forehead. "You ate a lot of dragon eggs today, you must be feeling feverish, right? Do you want me to help you cool down?"

"Ugh...who cares..." Wei Qingqing's face flushed. "Let's finish talking about business first...then we can think about personal matters..."

"Okay, okay... Go ahead and say it..." Yang Ming replied, but his hands didn't stop moving, his large hand caressing Wei Qingqing's waist.

"We're just guessing whether Aunt Liu is pregnant or not. We haven't had her tested at the hospital. How about I collect some of Aunt Liu's urine and take it to the hospital for testing?" Wei Qingqing felt hot and was a little out of breath as she spoke.

"This... I just don't feel right. Why don't you ask your mom first? She might have some experience with how to determine if someone is pregnant..." Yang Ming was always a bit hesitant to do urine tests for people in private.

"Okay, I'll ask Mom first. If she's sure Liu is pregnant, I'll secretly collect her urine and take it to the hospital for testing. You shouldn't get involved. You're a man. If Liu finds out, she'll be both ashamed and angry, and she'll cut ties with us. I'll handle the whole process. I'm a woman. Even if Liu finds out, she can't do anything to me. At most, she'll be angry with me for a couple of days, and then she'll be fine..." Wei Qingqing said.

Yang Ming thought for a moment but couldn't come up with a better solution. In the end, he could only nod and say, "This will work too. If we're completely sure, we'll confront Aunt Liu. If she's been wronged, we'll help her get revenge. If she was willing, we'll pretend nothing happened. After the child is born, we'll tell everyone it's ours and let the child take our surname. We can't let Aunt Liu ruin our reputation..."

"If Aunt Liu did it voluntarily, she must have had a purpose. Her family line has ended, so the child will most likely be given to her family to raise and carry on their lineage. How could she possibly let him take our surname?" Wei Qingqing said.

"But Aunt Liu's parents bought some dragon eggs from us and they've become younger. They might have a second child. If it's a boy, then Aunt Liu's child will be superfluous," Yang Ming said.

"Hmm... what you said makes sense. Let's play it by ear. If Aunt Liu really has a little brother, then we'll let Aunt Liu's son take our surname. If Aunt Liu doesn't have a little brother, then we'll pretend we don't know anything..." Wei Qingqing said.

"This is all we can do..." Yang Ming sighed softly.

"We've already done our part for Aunt Liu..." Wei Qingqing nodded and sighed softly. If Aunt Liu was really pregnant, she could forget about ever marrying into a good family again.

"Now, have we finished discussing the important matters? Let's hurry up, I'll help you cool down..." Yang Ming grinned mischievously, pressing Wei Qingqing down beneath him and pulling over a thick quilt to cover them both tightly.

Nothing happened that night. The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Old Yang drove his delivery truck to Yang Ming's front door. Today was the 30th, the day to supply vegetables and agricultural products to the hotel.

This time, in addition to the vegetables and agricultural products ordered by various hotels, there were also boxes of fresh milk.

After Yang Ming saw Old Yang off, Wei Qingqing sneaked into the house and called Zhang Shufang, who was making breakfast, out.

"Qingqing, what's going on? Why are you acting so sneaky..." Zhang Shufang clapped her hands, brushing off the dirt that had stuck to them while she was tending the fire.

"Mom, what kind of reactions do women experience when they get pregnant?" Wei Qingqing asked softly.

When Zhang Shufang heard her daughter-in-law's question, her heart started pounding, quickly exceeding 180 beats per minute. Fortunately, she had eaten dragon eggs and was in excellent physical condition; otherwise, with her heart beating so fast, she would have either died suddenly or gone into shock.

Zhang Shufang swallowed hard and said, "Irritability, short temper, missed periods, changed tastes, sour for a boy, spicy for a girl—if these conditions are met, it's basically a sure sign of pregnancy..."

"Irritability, amenorrhea, craving sour and spicy food..." Wei Qingqing muttered softly, "Oh... I've been quite irritable lately. It seems my period was supposed to start the day before yesterday, but yesterday... even those sour kiwis didn't taste like anything..."

Wei Qingqing was certain. Aunt Liu had been in a bad mood lately and also craved sour foods. When she took a bath with Aunt Liu yesterday, she didn't seem to be having any problems.

"..." Zhang Shufang listened to her daughter-in-law's mutterings and felt as if a huge pie had fallen from the sky and hit her on the head, knocking her unconscious.

"I'm going to be a grandma? I'm going to be a grandma?" Zhang Shufang asked herself over and over again, not even knowing when her daughter-in-law had left.

Zhang Shufang stumbled into the room and yanked the blanket off Yang Zhengfang.

"Are you crazy? What's gotten into you???" Yang Zhengfang felt a chill and suddenly woke up from his sleep, only to see Zhang Shufang acting like a madwoman. He couldn't help but feel worried.

"Old man, I'm going to be a grandma, I'm going to be a grandma..." Zhang Shufang whispered to Yang Zhengfang with great joy.

"What?" Yang Zhengfang's eyebrows twitched, clearly his mind was in turmoil.

"Just now, Qingqing asked me what kind of reactions a pregnant woman would have. She also said that she's been quite irritable lately, her period hasn't come this month, and she craves sour foods..." Zhang Shufang was almost incoherent.

"Really?" Yang Zhengfang's eyes were like two small suns, emitting light that revealed everything and heat that melted anything.

"Of course it's true..." Zhang Shufang nodded repeatedly with absolute certainty, her eyes filled with tears of joy.

"Hurry, let's take Qingqing to the hospital for a check-up..." Yang Zhengfang said, starting to put on his clothes.

"Nonsense! We'll scare the baby!" Zhang Shufang quickly pulled Yang Zhengfang back. "First-time pregnancies usually require an adjustment period. If we're too abrupt, won't we frighten her?"

"You're right, but what should we do? I'm not at ease if we don't go to the hospital for a checkup..." Yang Zhengfang said.

"I'll go get some of Qingqing's urine, and then we'll go to the hospital for testing..." Zhang Shufang said.

"Is this... okay?" Yang Zhengfang hesitated.

"What's wrong with that? I'm her mother-in-law..." Zhang Shufang said, getting up and slipping away to go to the cabin to see if Wei Qingqing had relieved herself last night. If she had, she would have to collect the urine quickly, otherwise, people would have to throw it away.

Zhang Shufang was very lucky. When she arrived at the wooden house, she saw a chamber pot in the outer room, with a little bit of urine still in it.

Meanwhile, Wei Qingqing, who was also quite lucky, also managed to collect Liu Sao's urine. However, she never expected that while she was stealing Liu Sao's urine, a raging fire had already broken out in her backyard.

Yang Zhengfang and Zhang Shufang didn't even have breakfast before driving straight to the county hospital. Wei Qingqing also drove there secretly. The supervision work naturally fell to Yang Ming, Zhang Yang, and Sun Fangfang. Fortunately, with construction starting at three locations, the three of them could keep an eye on things. In addition, with Foreman Huang overseeing the overall situation, manpower wasn't too tight.

Construction in Zhengjia Village is in full swing, while in the city...

In a mid-range residential building in the western part of the city, there lived a family of three: the male head of the household, the husband, Zhao Tongsuo; the female head of the household, the wife, Zhang Caixia; and the young master, Zhao Xiaolei.

Zhao Xiaolei is eighteen years old this year and is a senior in high school at the No. 1 Middle School in the western part of the city. It's already November, and in just over seven months, it will be time for the college entrance examination. Zhao Tongsuo and Zhang Caixia are worried about their son's future.

Zhao Xiaolei wasn't exactly a top student at school, but he wasn't bad either; he was just average. Given the high school's college entrance rate, Zhao Xiaolei could basically get into a pretty good second-tier university. However, everyone has aspirations, and Zhao Tongsuo and Zhang Caixia naturally hoped that their son could get into a better university, preferably Tsinghua or Peking University.

And so, pressure arose. These parents, who had high hopes for their son, hardened their hearts at the beginning of this semester and made their son squeeze every last drop of energy during this final year, hoping to produce as much as possible for the college entrance examination.

"I always feel that our Xiaolei is listless all the time. Is it because we're squeezing him too much? Maybe we shouldn't let him study until 3 a.m., just until midnight..." Zhang Caixia said to Zhao Tongsuo with some heartache after her son left for school.

"I know my son's limits very well. As long as we provide him with enough nutrition, he'll be fine..." Zhao Tongsuo said, waving his hand.

"I always felt this was unreliable. Our Xiaolei has to go to school at seven o'clock every morning, and then he comes back at night and studies until three in the morning. He only gets four hours of sleep a day. It's so pitiful." Zhang Caixia looked distressed; after all, her son was her own flesh and blood...

"No pain, no gain. Aren't we here with him? We go to sleep whenever he goes to sleep..." Zhao Tongsuo didn't care at all, waving his hand, "Life is like building a skyscraper. To become a skyscraper, you have to lay a solid foundation. The college entrance examination is the foundation of Xiao Lei's life. Only when it is solid can his life's edifice be built higher..."

Zhao Tongsuo is a small real estate developer with a small company. His annual income is around ten million yuan, which is quite good. Of course, it cannot be compared with giants like Longteng.

Zhao Tongsuo's biggest regret in life is that he never went to university; otherwise, he believes his company would be no less successful than Longteng.

"What you said makes sense. Isn't it precisely because we lack education that we suffer?" Zhang Caixia was somewhat hesitant about loving her son and his future.

"Go buy some good food, pig brains, walnuts, almonds... anything that's good for the brain, buy more of it. Tonight's meal is the most important; we need to make sure he gets enough nutrition, otherwise he won't be able to keep going..." Zhao Tongsuo said.

"Okay..." Zhang Caixia quickly agreed. Since she couldn't let her son relax, she couldn't let him suffer any more.

After giving his wife some instructions, Zhao Tongsuo drove to the company. Zhang Caixia also put on her coat, picked up her shopping basket, and went to the market to buy groceries.

Just as Zhang Caixia was about to lock the door, the phone suddenly rang.

"This call came just in time. If it had been any later, no one would have been home..." Zhang Caixia quickly went back inside and picked up the phone.

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(End of this chapter)