Lu Chen reached out a hand with an air of aloof nobility, pinched her arm, and yanked her off the car with a sharp tug. It was a stark contrast to the gentleness he had shown when holding Doudou. The moment Jiang Hanyan’s feet touched the ground, he let go, as if she were covered in something filthy.
Jiang Hanyan’s legs were still numb, and lacking support, she tipped toward Lu Chen. She unceremoniously grabbed onto him, and the two stood in a tight embrace, drawing countless gazes.
“A-Chen, you two lovebirds are out shopping!”
“You should take your wife out more often, buy her some more pretty clothes!”
Several middle-aged women walked over, greeting Lu Chen with practiced familiarity and casting meaningful glances at Jiang Hanyan. Lu Chen remained expressionless; the women knew his temper, so they left after exchanging pleasantries.
However, their gossip drifted over, word for word.
“Those people are talking nonsense, saying Lu Chen doesn’t like his wife. Would he hold her that tight in broad daylight if he didn’t? He’s clearly head over heels for her!”
“His wife is a beauty; any man would be tempted.”
“No wonder he didn’t take a fancy to any of the girls we introduced to him before. Turns out he was holding out for a pretty one!”
“Duh, what man doesn’t want a pretty one? Lu Chen is good-looking himself, he certainly couldn’t settle for an ugly woman!”
“What’s the use of a man being good-looking? Lu Chen owes hundreds of thousands in debt, has no proper job, and no one to rely on. Whoever married him is just plain unlucky!”
As the women’s voices faded, Jiang Hanyan looked at the man in question, surprised, and whispered, “You owe hundreds of thousands in debt?”
“Mm.”
Lu Chen pushed her away and led Doudou into the vegetable market. He had to keep a close eye on the grocery shopping, otherwise, this spendthrift woman would buy a pile of flashy but useless vegetables again.
“Is this debt from your father?”
Jiang Hanyan remembered the book mentioning that Lu Chen had an incredibly unreliable, eccentric father who ran off when Lu Chen was thirteen and had been unheard of since. He was raised by his grandfather, a very kind old man; the debt certainly couldn’t have been the old man’s.
It had to be Lu Chen’s father.
“Mm.”
A cold aura radiated from Lu Chen. He didn’t want to talk about that man; it was annoying, so he strode forward, putting a significant distance between them.
Jiang Hanyan trotted to keep up, asking with concern, “Have you finished paying off the debt?”
“Are you going to help me pay it?”
Lu Chen turned his head, his cold eyes tinged with mockery.
“That’s impossible. After all, we’re just a ‘dew-drop’ couple. I’m just asking out of concern. Don’t worry, once I earn some money, I’ll definitely pay my share of the rent.” Jiang Hanyan gave a dry laugh. Although she sympathized with the guy, paying off his debt was out of the question.
Besides, Lu Chen would strike it rich in a few years, so he wouldn’t need her help anyway.
It was just that he looked so pitiful right now, not even willing to eat an egg. Oh well, once she made some money, she would pay a little rent.
Lu Chen hummed softly and walked up to a meat stall. The owner was a short, stout man with a ruddy complexion. He looked at Jiang Hanyan and said with a grin, “Zhaodi, here to buy meat?”
Jiang Hanyan’s father was a butcher. Although he didn’t have a stall in this market, all the butchers in Fucheng knew each other, and naturally, they knew Jiang Hanyan.
“Mm, weigh me some pork belly, some pork bones, and a few pounds of this lard.”
As she spoke, Jiang Hanyan gestured at the stall. As a butcher’s daughter, she had been immersed in the trade since childhood; she knew at a glance which cuts were the best. This was an instinct belonging to the original owner of the body.
Lu Chen opened his mouth, wanting to say there was no need to buy so much, but seeing Doudou’s happy expression, he closed it again. Children needed to eat well to grow tall; the woman was right about that.
“Zhaodi, did you really hack your brother’s dog to death a few days ago? Is that true?” the pork seller asked curiously.
He thought it was fake. Jiang Hanyan didn’t even dare to kill a chicken, let alone a dog; it had to be a rumor.
“It’s true. I smashed that dog’s skull and hacked its belly open. How much for all this?”
Jiang Hanyan remained expressionless. Every time the owner called her “Zhaodi,” she felt a sense of revulsion—it must have been the original owner’s lingering feeling—but she also hated the name Jiang Zhaodi herself.
“Pork belly is eight-fifty, lard is ten, bones are six—twenty-four fifty in total.” The owner tallied the bill and, thinking he was being kind, advised, “How much of a grudge can there be between siblings? You’re a married woman, your brother at your maiden home is your backing. Your father is furious this time. Zhaodi, you should buy some good wine and food and go home to apologize to your father and brother. What grudge between family can’t be settled overnight?”
“My name is Jiang Hanyan!” Jiang Hanyan said impatiently.
The smile on the owner’s fat face faltered, and he said sheepishly, “Your father calls you Zhaodi.”
“That’s his business, none of my concern. My name is Jiang Hanyan. And my family affairs are none of your business either. That coward Jiang Tianbao, who could he possibly be a backing for? I hacked his dog to death to uphold justice; that dog bit several people and deserved to die. I should apologize to him? He can keep dreaming!”
Jiang Hanyan’s face turned cold as frost, and her words were sharper than ice shards. The pork seller stood there awkwardly, losing face and feeling quite annoyed. After all, he was a friend of Jiang Hanyan’s father and considered her elder. This girl was being disrespectful, and her words were downright rebellious.
“I was just saying, if you don’t want to hear it, fine. It’s your family’s business anyway, it has nothing to do with me!” the pork seller said sarcastically.
“If it has nothing to do with you, why did you say so much just now? Telling me to go apologize—where do you get the nerve? Is Jiang Tianbao your son? Are you heartbroken that I beat him?”
Jiang Hanyan was intentionally trying to anger him. This pork seller often hung around the Jiang house, speaking without restraint and sometimes even making lewd comments toward the original owner; he had no sense of being an elder at all.
“What nonsense are you spouting? What relationship could I possibly have with Jiang Tianbao? Go, go, go! I’ll never be a busybody again!”
The pork seller’s face turned red with rage. His own son was a good student and handsome; Jiang Tianbao wasn’t even worth his son’s toenail. How could he have any connection to Jiang Tianbao? He was afraid Jiang Hanyan would keep spouting nonsense and arouse the suspicions of those around them.
The owner felt guilty and shooed them away with a dark face.
“Fine, we’re leaving!”
Jiang Hanyan picked up the pork and strode away. Lu Chen blinked and decisively followed.
After they had walked a distance, the pork seller finally reacted and chased after them, “You haven’t paid yet!”
“Ask my father for it!”
Jiang Hanyan retorted. The original owner had subsidized her maiden home with so much money; what was wrong with eating a little pork?
The pork seller didn’t dare to force the issue with Lu Chen still there, so he had to return, sullen, and put it on the tab, adding an extra two yuan to collect from Jiang’s father later.
Lu Chen curled his lips, a hint of a smile in his eyes. He felt no guilt about taking advantage of his father-in-law; in fact, he wanted to take even more.
They went on to buy some vegetables and needed to buy clothes for Doudou. There were several clothing stores in the market, some selling children’s wear. Jiang Hanyan went into one. The proprietress was a woman in her forties who looked a bit like Xu Donghua—she was, in fact, Xu Donghua’s younger sister.
“Zhaodi, here to buy clothes? These few outfits are the trendiest this year. I’ll give them to you at cost, not making a penny,” Xu Dongmei said with a beaming smile, pulling out some old stock.