After Wei Dachuan found out that Wei Jinning was not his biological daughter, he was filled with deep regret. He wished he could turn back time and marry her off early.
But now, look at what happened—he not only had to return Li Weiguo’s betrothal gift, but it felt like cutting a piece of flesh from his own body!
In fact, even if she didn’t marry Li Weiguo, letting her stay at home and become his daughter-in-law wouldn’t have been a bad idea.
That way, he could save the cost of a dowry for his son’s marriage while still having her labor at home. It would be killing two birds with one stone.
Unfortunately, all this was because of Li Xiaohua, that useless woman who didn’t know how to manage a household—she kept such an important secret to herself for so long.
When Wei Dachuan walked out of the law enforcement office, he didn’t even glance in the direction where Li Xiaohua was.
“Dad, where’s Mom? My stomach’s growling. Why isn’t she back home cooking yet?” Wei Chenglong looked around behind Wei Dachuan but didn’t see any sign of Li Xiaohua.
“Your mom can’t come out for now. That damned girl was actually someone your mom stole. The law enforcers have already taken her away,” Wei Dachuan said angrily.
However, Wei Chenglong showed no concern at all about his mother being taken away—his only worry was who would cook for him in the future.
“Then who’s going to cook from now on? I’m so hungry my chest is stuck to my back!” He didn’t say a single word about Li Xiaohua, only cared about whether he could fill his belly.
“In a bit, the two of us will go into town to eat something. Sigh, look at how cold and empty the house feels—we really need a woman around,” Wei Dachuan said as he walked into the house, sat down heavily on the couch, and poured himself a cup of hot tea.
“Yeah, sounds good. I’ve been craving braised pork and sweet-and-sour pork for a while now, but Mom’s cooking never tasted quite right,” Wei Chenglong replied, fully supporting his father’s idea and impatient to enjoy a good meal.
“Dad, let’s go now. Cooking takes time anyway. Might as well drive there.” Wei Chenglong turned excitedly back to his room to get the car keys.
“Alright, sounds good. I want to get rid of this bad luck anyway. These past days have been nothing but trouble—not a single peaceful thing has happened.” Wei Dachuan shook his head helplessly, gently placed the teacup on the table, stood up, and headed out the door with Wei Chenglong.
After thoroughly enjoying their meal, the father and son drove back to the village, completely forgetting there was still someone named Li Xiaohua back at home.
But just then, something completely unexpected happened—both Wei Dachuan and Li Xiaohua were taken away by law enforcement officers!
The sudden turn of events threw the whole village into an uproar, and the villagers began speculating about what had happened.
Some said maybe Wei Dachuan had committed a crime, while others found it hard to believe—after all, Li Xiaohua had always seemed so honest and well-behaved. How could she have done anything illegal?
Later, someone from the village who worked in the city brought back some insider news:
“You’d never believe it—Li Xiaohua, who always looked so honest and quiet, actually stole someone else’s child!”
Everyone was shocked. Who would have guessed that someone as seemingly ordinary as Li Xiaohua could commit such a crime?
At first, everyone thought it was Wei Dachuan who had broken the law, but it turned out the real criminal was her…
“Yeah, poor little Jinning. She was always such a good girl. I still remember when she was just five years old—already doing laundry, cooking, and even feeding pigs at home.”
“Exactly! Jinning went out to cut pig grass and almost drowned. It was my husband who saved her and brought her back home. But Wei Dachuan scolded her, asking why she didn’t just drown. Li Xiaohua even blamed her, saying the pigs had nothing to eat and told her to hurry and cut more grass. Neither of them asked how the girl was doing—not even a change of clothes. Such cruelty!”
“Looks like Li Xiaohua actually knew all along that Jinning wasn’t her biological daughter. That’s probably why she treated her so harshly. And to think I used to naively believe it was just a case of extreme favoritism towards boys in that family.”
“Yesterday I happened to see Wei Dachuan come home and then drive off with Wei Chenglong. When they came back, they were both completely drunk. If it weren’t for the fact that our traffic police are so understaffed, Wei Chenglong’s driver’s license would’ve been revoked already.”
“I really don’t know which poor soul is going to be unlucky enough to get hit by Wei Chenglong one day. What terrible luck that would be.”
“Just wait and see! There’s going to be a real show now. With Li Xiaohua gone, who’s going to cook? Who’s going to do the laundry? Who’s going to manage the household?”
“I even heard that Jinning’s biological parents are from Beijing, a very wealthy family. They came all the way in a private jet to take her home. Can you imagine how rich they must be?”
“Is that true? Then that poor girl really deserves our sympathy. If she had grown up with her real parents, she wouldn’t have suffered all this hardship.”
“Well, now it’s all turning around—Jinning has finally made it out of her misery and turned into a golden phoenix.”
“She was a phoenix all along. It’s all Li Xiaohua’s fault.”
The quiet village suddenly became lively, as the villagers gathered together, chattering and gossiping about Wei Dachuan’s family.
“Come on! Let’s go see what’s going on!” someone shouted as they rushed past.
“What happened?” someone asked curiously.
“Li Weiguo from the neighboring village came here to ask for his betrothal money back!”
“Betrothal money? What betrothal money?” the crowd looked puzzled.
“Oh, I just heard someone say that Wei Dachuan accepted Li Weiguo’s betrothal gift and was planning to marry Wei Jinning off to him!”
“Can you believe it? Isn’t that just evil? Li Weiguo is about the same age as Wei Dachuan! His ex-wife ran away because she couldn’t take his beatings anymore. Thank goodness Jinning’s real parents found her in time—otherwise, she would’ve ended up in a living hell!”
“Let’s go, let’s go! We’ve got to see this!” the crowd chattered excitedly as they hurried off toward Wei Dachuan’s house.
Not long after, a large crowd gathered outside Wei Dachuan’s house.
There in the courtyard stood Li Weiguo, yelling at the top of his lungs without any regard for the onlookers:
“Wei Dachuan, if you know what’s good for you, hand over the money right now—or else you’ll regret it!”
Wei Dachuan, stealing glances at the growing crowd outside, tried to calm the situation:
“Brother Li, let’s go inside and talk—no need to let the villagers see us like this.”
But Li Weiguo wasn’t having it. He flatly refused:
“No need. Whatever needs to be said, say it here! I don’t have time to waste. Hand over my money—I’ve got a pile of things to deal with back home. Wasting time on you is a luxury I don’t have.”
His attitude was firm and left no room for negotiation.
Seeing this, Wei Dachuan could only try to reason with him:
“Brother Li, don’t be in such a rush. You came to me in the first place saying you wanted to marry Wei Jinning.”
“Who could have known that it would later come out that she’s not even my biological daughter?”
“Even I was kept in the dark—it was all Li Xiaohua’s doing. Besides, you’re not entirely blameless either…”
Before he could finish, Li Weiguo interrupted him roughly.
His face full of anger, he glared at Wei Dachuan and shouted even louder than before:
“Wei Dachuan, stop trying to twist things! I don’t want to hear any of your nonsense.”
“If you don’t hand over the money today, don’t blame me for using force! I’m still being civil with you—so be smart and give me the money now. Otherwise… hmph… you’ll deal with the consequences!”
As luck would have it, right at that moment, three or four shady-looking men swaggered over.
They were dressed flamboyantly, oozing a delinquent air—it was obvious at a glance that they weren’t decent folk.
The villagers immediately stepped aside to make way for them.
“Big Brother Li, we finally made it!” the man leading the group called out with a big grin the moment he saw Li Weiguo.
“Don’t worry, once this is settled, we’ll grab a few drinks,” Li Weiguo turned and told him casually.
As it turned out, these men were brought along by Li Weiguo to back him up and intimidate Wei Dachuan.
Truth be told, he wouldn’t dare to actually use force himself.
“No problem! We’re right here, just say the word, Brother Li!” the leader replied eagerly.
“Wei Dachuan, hurry up! My boys are still waiting!” Li Weiguo pressured again.
“Alright, alright, I’ll get it now,” Wei Dachuan said, visibly unnerved by the threatening group before him.
“If you’d done this from the start, we wouldn’t have wasted all this breath,” Li Weiguo sneered with contempt, thinking to himself:
As expected, this guy’s nothing but a coward.
After receiving the wad of cash, Li Weiguo left with his crew.
The villagers gradually dispersed as well, though some lingered, gossiping in low voices.
Wei Dachuan’s family had become the center of attention.
It was said that the Wei family had some money. Years ago, the grandparents had died in a construction accident and received compensation.
Not long after, Wei Dachuan brought home a woman from out of town—about forty years old and quite beautiful.
They began living together, and the woman was elegant, capable in every way—cooking, laundry, cleaning—she handled it all with ease.
But the good times didn’t last. Within half a year, the woman swindled all of Wei Dachuan’s money and vanished without a trace.
He panicked and reported it to the police, only to find out the name she gave was fake. The matter ended unresolved.
Only a few thousand yuan were left at home, and that too was quickly squandered by the father and son.
Now the house was a complete mess, no better than a pigsty. Whenever the two stepped outside, villagers would avoid them because of the unbearable smell they carried.
One day, Wei Chenglong got drunk and blamed his father for bringing home a dubious woman who’d tricked them out of their savings.
In their argument, things got out of hand—and Wei Chenglong accidentally killed his father.
He fled, but was eventually caught and sentenced to life in prison for intentional homicide.
The tragic ending of the Wei family—father dead, son imprisoned, and reputation ruined—was the ultimate consequence of their own actions.
Of course, that was a story for later.
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