How I Tamed My Wolfish Husband Back in 80s-Chapter 172 - 174: Calmness_1

In the office lobby, there was only Xu Feng, "Why were you late today?"

Li Qiao was too embarrassed to say the real reason, so she made an excuse, "I had a flat tire and had to push the car for a while." Then she subtly changed the subject, "Where’s Ma Ling?"

Xu Feng, annoyed, said, "She’s gone on a blind date!"

Li Qiao then inquired about the child’s situation in their new home.

Xu Feng said, "Pretty good, I saw my cousin’s mother this morning, and she asked about the kid. Said the little one can eat and sleep well, doesn’t fuss much." Yesterday, after they left Li Qiao’s house, her cousin’s husband insisted on taking the child back to the hospital for a check-up because he was worried.

Apart from being underweight, the child was healthy in every other aspect.

They all felt relieved.

"Is your city house not fixed up yet? Is it hot living in an earthen house?" Xu Feng had not expected Li Qiao’s in-laws’ living conditions to be so poor before.

The two shabby rooms, a makeshift kitchen shack, and a simple courtyard - it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it the poorest in the village.

Yet, she seemed so cheerful living there.

Loser Qin might really have some magic tricks up his sleeve; otherwise, how could he have wooed Top Scholar so completely?

Li Qiao laughed, "It’s okay, sleeping with the door open at night is especially cool, it’s just there are quite a few bugs. We have to light some mosquito-repellent incense by the door when we sleep."

Xu Feng looked at her, "What does your partner usually feed you? Has he ever given you anything strange to eat?"

"Huh?" Li Qiao was puzzled, "I’m not a child, why would he need to feed me? What do you mean by strange things? Are we going crayfish fishing this weekend or not?"

Xu Feng couldn’t quite put his finger on it; he didn’t know what a magic spell looked like. He was willing to go crayfish fishing, but... "Shouldn’t it just be the two of us? At least invite your partner as well."

Li Qiao chuckled, "Of course he’ll be there, and we’ll invite Ma Ling too. Liao Fan and I have been getting along well recently. I’ll ask him if he wants to join us when I go to call him for work later."

"I feel like I heard my name, what are you guys talking about?" Ma Ling walked in from outside.

Li Qiao brought up the weekend fishing for crayfish.

"You guys go ahead, I have another blind date this weekend."

Li Qiao laughed, "Didn’t you just go on a blind date? Why another one so soon?"

Ma Ling sighed self-deprecatingly, "The last one ran off, and there’s another one waiting this weekend. I’m fed up; the next one’s bound to fall through as well. As soon as these young men hear that I perform autopsies, they run faster than rabbits. Sigh! If I really want to get married, either I need to shove Director Xun’s wife aside and marry him, or..." she glanced at Xu Feng, "I might as well stay single."

Li Qiao laughed until she cried.

Xu Feng was fuming, not lightly. How could she fancy Director Xun who already had a wife, and yet overlook him, a prime young man – what was wrong with him that he didn’t catch her eye?

"...."

....

Another day passed, and Li Qiao headed towards the exit after work.

Ma Ling asked, "Why aren’t you cycling home today?"

"I’m waiting for my partner to pick me up," Li Qiao said, though she felt uneasy inside and dared not go home. Qin Jin had been locked inside the house by her and was bound to get angry once he woke up; she was planning to stay at the courtyard house tonight.

Ma Ling was speechless, knowing full well Li Qiao didn’t have a partner but still flaunted it in front of her. At least she had a bus pass.

Li Qiao had a partner but no bus pass; if her partner didn’t turn up, she’d have to pay for a ride. By comparison, she was the winner.

She strode past Li Qiao, "Take your time waiting. See you tomorrow."

Li Qiao waved at her and headed straight for the courtyard house. Just past the crosswalk, she spotted Qin Jin’s figure entering her field of vision – she should run.

But it was only a few steps before he caught up with her and blocked her path with his bike.

Qin Jin asked, bewildered, "Why are you avoiding me?"

Li Qiao looked up, puzzled – he wasn’t holding a grudge about her locking the door? She smiled nonchalantly, "I wasn’t avoiding you. I just wanted to buy an ice pop."

Qin Jin glanced at the convenience store, "We’ll eat later, first accompany me to the hospital to see Fugui and Li Jianguo."

"All right." After Li Qiao got into the car, Qin Jin drove her in the direction of the hospital, trying to strike up a conversation, "I beat up Feng Hu today."

"Ah? Why did you hit him?"

Qin Jin replied, "Not only did he lock me in the room, but he also stole the eggs from our house and ate my breakfast. I caught him red-handed and gave him a good thrashing. If his family had anything worth taking, this wouldn’t be over."

Li Qiao was speechless, "..." So the stealing eggs part is true? The other two were my doing. "How did he know where the eggs were kept in the house? Didn’t your aunts remind you?"

"There were eggs in the chicken nest, and the aunts went home for lunch at noon." Qin Jin added, "You weren’t late this morning, were you?"

"I wasn’t, my biological clock is very punctual," said Li Qiao, clenching her fist. Damn, sleeping until noon before waking up, if your body is weak then don’t stay up late!

See, entirely drained.

Ah, I’ll buy some sheep kidneys to nourish you later on.

She thought to herself silently.

...

Inside the hospital ward, Feng Fugui’s mother and Li Jianguo’s mother were chatting together about domestic life.

One was praising her daughter-in-law, while the other was complaining about her daughter-in-law.

The latter, upon seeing Li Qiao and considering her sisterly relationship with Li Jinhua, immediately stopped her conversation with Feng Fugui’s mother. She politely said, "Why are you here? Qiaoqiao, have a seat." She offered the stool she was sitting on to Li Qiao.

Li Qiao waved her hand, "No need, Auntie, please sit yourself."

"You used to call me ’Aunt’." Mrs. Li said.

Li Qiao: "..." Ah? She stealthily glanced at Qin Jin.

Qin Jin wasn’t looking at her and probably hadn’t paid attention to the conversation as he was carrying two bags of apples with nowhere to put them, so he placed them directly on the ground.

Mrs. Feng took one bag and placed it at the foot of Feng Fugui’s bed, and handed the other to Mrs. Li.

Mrs. Li repeatedly said, "You are too kind."

She had only heard from others how much trouble Qin Jin could be and how nasty he was. Her son had said that after getting to know Qin Jin, none of it was true. Qin Jin was loyal and generous, and following him had earned her son over five hundred yuan.

She had originally planned to use four hundred yuan to repair the house and give the rest to Li Jinhua.

Thinking that his bad temper might have been due to the poor life he had since marrying into their family, she hoped that having money would settle him down.

Who could have imagined that Li Jinhua would run away overnight, and not even return to her parental home?

After she mentioned it to her son, he regretfully said that the remaining money could be kept for his brother to marry a wife.

Bearing the image of someone who was married in the eyes of the fellow villagers, he wouldn’t be able to find a nice girl, so he might as well remain single for now.

With Li Qiao present, she wanted to broach the subject of Li Jinhua but was hesitant to speak directly, considering they were family after all.

Even though there were frequent rumors in the village about the sisters not getting along, she had never witnessed it herself.

She had to first gauge Li Qiao’s attitude towards the fact that Li Jinhua had run away. She didn’t want Li Qiao to have an issue with it later on when Jianguo would remarry, influencing Qin Jin with pillow talk and preventing Qin Jin from helping her son earn money. What would she do then?

After some thought, she cautiously said, "Qiaoqiao, do you know where your sister has gone? She hasn’t been seen since she left your place yesterday, and her clothes were also gone. I went to your parents, and they said she didn’t return there."

Li Qiao was not surprised. Unless Li Jinhua found a promising suitor to give her parents some hope, returning to her parental home might result in her being remarried. "She’s not my real sister, how would I know her business? Probably felt Jianguo’s limp was too much of a burden and ran off. It’s best not to hold any hopes for her. This kind of woman, you can grab any from the street and she’d be better. Her leaving is your good fortune."

Mrs. Li felt secretly pleased within. With Li Qiao’s clear stance, she relaxed, "Eh, it’s also because we’re too poor to provide her with a good life."

Li Qiao thought to herself, Qin Jin wasn’t much better off than your family initially, yet Li Jinhua still had her eye on him.

It was either Li Jianguo’s lack of a promising future or Li Jinhua’s misunderstanding of him. She guessed that in this case, it probably was the latter.

...