Chapter 7.3

Qi Tianlei sympathetically touched her belly and sighed deeply. “Poor child, not even born yet and destined to be foolish, and the mother is also affected…”

She pushed his crow mouth away. If it weren’t for the fact that rough actions weren’t suitable for a pregnant woman, she would have kicked him out of the carriage.

“How dare you call my child stupid! Who’s the one who got me pregnant?”

“What? You don’t know? Then I have even less idea…”

“Qi Tianlei, go to hell!” Li Yuhu pounced on him, giving him a good beating!

Fortunately, the carriage was soundproof; otherwise, people might think there was a murder inside. The coachman, hearing some noise, sped up, hoping to get the poor Third Young Master to their destination quickly, praying he would still be alive for the doctor to treat.

The battle inside was intense!

Liu Ruoqian circled around Qi Tianlei, clicking his tongue. Of course, Qi’s face was unscathed, unlike Shu Dahong’s fate. But his sleeves and under his shirt were likely full of bruises and bite marks.

“It’s been a while, and it seems you and your wife are more affectionate than ever, almost rivaling the Shu couple!”

Qi Tianlei laughed indifferently, pulling Yuhu into his arms. The one who did the hitting was now hiding in his embrace, her fair face blushing shyly, unlike her usual healthy complexion, amusing everyone in the inn’s upper room.

“You don’t understand. Only a man with a lovely wife can appreciate this fun. Liu, you’re only seeing the surface from the outside. Isn’t that right, Shu?”

The two married men exchanged knowing glances and laughed deeply. How strong could a woman’s punches be? When she wants to hit the man she loves, it seems fierce, but the actual force is much less. Shu Lianhong never held back because she was weak, and her husband was tough, so even if she managed to bruise him, she would run out of strength. Yuhu, having learned martial arts, restrained herself when angry at her husband. If she accidentally killed him, she would be a young widow, which was too pitiful, especially since her unborn child hadn’t seen his father yet. He couldn’t die too early!

So Liu Ruoqian thought these two married men were incorrigible, unable to understand the sweetness behind the punches and kicks.

Ignoring the men, Aunt Shu pulled Yuhu into the bedroom to chat.

“Tianlei said you’re almost three months pregnant!”

Yuhu nodded, smiling at her slightly rounded belly. The baby was growing fast, and she could already feel some fetal movements. She thought it must be a boy.

“Yes, I am blessed because of the child.”

Shu Lianhong placed a hand on her own flat belly and sighed, “This trip to Fulin County almost didn’t happen. Even Shu Dahong came along, leaving Xiaoshan with the nurse.”

It sounded like a complaint, but the joy in her eyes was unmistakable. The straightforward and open-minded Aunt Shu couldn’t hide her feminine charm when it came to love.

“Why? Is there something wrong with Brother Shu coming with you? If I went out, Tianlei would insist on coming. You’re so beautiful; who would feel at ease letting you go alone?”

“What is there to worry about? He says I’m so fierce that no man would dare come within three feet of me. For three years, I’ve traveled for business without any incident. He only worries about our daughter being lonely. This time he’s sticking close because I’m also pregnant! Just a month, and I’m vomiting terribly. He’s worried I’ll miscarry, clinging to Brother Liu and not letting me out of his sight. He says if I lose this baby, I’ll be too old to have another!”

So, she was also pregnant! Yuhu teased quietly, “Secretly delighted, aren’t you?”

“Of course!” Shu Lianhong had no shame. It was rare for her rough, unromantic husband to focus all his attention on her.

“Wanting a son is just an excuse, isn’t it? Looks like Brother Shu is ready to settle down with you.”

Unexpectedly, Shu Lianhong laughed heartily, not agreeing at all.

“No, no, no! If he were to give up everything and stay with me all the time, he wouldn’t be Shu Dahong. If he could stay idle, he wouldn’t be a man of the world, nor would he have saved me four years ago! He’ll stay with me for a while, until he finds something else that needs his help. Honestly, I love him for that foolishness. Why else do you think I fell for him? He has neither talent nor money, looks like a lifelong drifter, like a bandit, and even ordinary, simple women look down on him.” She candidly criticized her husband. Especially since she was a wealthy young lady, the people she used to meet were either scholars or wealthy young men, all well-dressed and handsome, with a touch of elegance even in the most ordinary of men. Compared to them, it was no wonder that people who saw her and Shu Dahong together would sigh, saying it was like a flower placed in cow dung. Some self-proclaimed charming merchants even hinted at their admiration for her and expressed their willingness to marry her.

Those who didn’t understand the journey of this couple might feel such sympathy, but it was true that only Shu Dahong could handle a wife like her! Yuhu smiled and asked the question she had been suppressing, “Why did you come here? Especially when you’re pregnant and it’s inconvenient, what’s so important that you had to come?”

After a moment of silence, Shu Lianhong looked at the steaming teapot on the table. The joyful atmosphere disappeared in an instant, and Yuhu quietly waited for her to speak.

“I—came to seek justice.” Shu Lianhong bit her pink lower lip, her eyes flashing with cold light. “The Qi family owes me justice!”

“What do you mean?” Yuhu was surprised but not entirely shocked. There was something unclear about Aunt Shu’s situation. Why had Tianlei sent Liu Ruoqian to redeem her back then? There had to be more to it.

“Do you remember that young man, Huang Jingtang, from over a month ago?”

How could she forget? He was the one tricked by Ke Shizhao into gambling, leading his father to mortgage the family’s property at a low price to the Qi family, hoping to turn things around but ending up losing everything. A good family was ruined, leaving only a sixteen-year-old to survive far away at school. When he returned, everything had changed, leading him to impulsively attempt to assassinate Ke Shizhao. Tianlei had explained this backstory to her later.

“I remember, but what does that have to do with you?”

“Four years ago, my family was similarly destroyed. This debt should have been settled with Qi Tianzhu—Tianlei’s second brother. But he died, so the debt falls on the Old Madam. The Qi family’s current predicament means they have no choice but to bow and seek help. She has to give me justice.”

There’s an old saying—wealth doesn’t last beyond three generations; the third generation often grows up in luxury, spoiled and picking up bad habits, becoming masters of squandering wealth but knowing nothing about business. They are complete wastrels!

Unfortunately, the Qi family’s third generation was already a single heir who died young, not having the chance to squander the family fortune, but the fourth generation was even more “outstanding.” Qi Tianlei’s two older brothers, the eldest, Qi Tianxu, died in a conflict over a courtesan. Qi Tianzhu, though dying from a snakebite, wasn’t much of a figure in life either. Indulged by the Old Madam, he got whatever he wanted. On a trip, he happened to see Ji Lianlian, an unmarried daughter of the Ji family, and was captivated. On the spot, he and his servants went up to harass her; Ji Lianlian, with her fiery temper, gave him a slap right then and there! But the matter didn’t end there. Qi Tianzhu insisted on marrying her, even pretending to be sick to get his way. The Old Madam immediately sent people to propose, only to be flatly refused, enraging her. Qi Tianzhu refused food and drink, making the Old Madam both anxious and furious, deciding to ruin the Ji family in Quanzhou, forcing them to agree.

However, people who could raise a fiery woman like Ji Lianlian probably had equally strong tempers. The Ji couple held their ground. Half a year later, they withdrew from the business world. Long-term worry and anger caused the Ji couple to fall ill, and despite treatments, the cost of the medical bills bankrupted them, and they both died. The shameful Qi Tianzhu then paid off their debts, becoming her creditor, intending to take her as a concubine and support her for three years. But she not only slapped him but almost made him a eunuch.

In his rage, Qi Tianzhu sold her to a brothel! He thought, having almost been castrated by her, he didn’t dare risk her temper again. It was safer to sell her.

When Qi Tianlei found out about this a year later, he learned through casual conversation that his second brother had died. He finally understood the unscrupulous methods the Qi family used in business, feeling both heartbroken and helpless. Fortunately, he met Liu Ruoqian and started planning. To avoid the Old Madam’s suspicion, Ji Lianlian took her husband’s surname and became known as Aunt Shu in the business world, eventually reaching the point of being able to stand against the Qi family today.

Yuhu was stunned, unable to speak for a while due to the twists and turns of the story. She had no position to comment and finally sighed, “Tianlei’s brother was really a bastard.”

“And yet he is a good man, a rare one indeed!”