Chapter 34 Liu Qingwen Is a Villain

"Leave Yuanli County?"

Wang Liangang and his wife were stunned for a moment, instinctively glancing at their daughter, Wang Xiaoli.

Wang Xiaoli felt her heart skip a beat, but she kept her head down, eating in silence.

"But the distillery is developing so well right now. I hear you can't even keep up with market demand. At such a crucial moment, why would you want to leave the factory?" Wang Liangang couldn't understand.

Chai Jin smiled. "A man’s ambitions reach far and wide. Born in such a great era, at the best age, if I don’t go out and experience some hardships, my heart will never be at peace."

"After the New Year, I'll go into business for myself."

Wang Liangang was silent for a while, then took a deep breath.

"I can understand. Back then, I came to the county because I was unwilling to settle too. So, what do you plan to do?"

Chai Jin thought for a moment but refrained from being too specific. If he shared the ideas in his head, the couple would either not understand or think that Chai Minguo’s youngest son had lost his mind.

Speculating on subscription certificates? Smuggling airplanes? Trading stocks?

All these wealth opportunities that would become the talk of the future were still understood by very few people in this era. Otherwise, the land would be filled with the likes of Mou Qizhong.

After this topic was brushed aside, Bai Chunyan, who had been mostly silent, suddenly looked conflicted. She hesitated before speaking, "Jin, have you seen your mother lately?"

Chai Jin’s face was expressionless. "No."

"Well... what are your thoughts about your mother? She’s actually been in Yuanli County all these years, did you know that?"

"I’ve heard. Why do you ask, is she alright?"

Bai Chunyan sighed. "Rufeng just wouldn't listen to reason. If she hadn't gotten involved with that man back then, she wouldn't be in her current situation."

"I told her that man was unreliable, but she wouldn't listen."

Chai Jin frowned slightly. "Aunt Bai, is there something you want to say to me?"

At that moment, Chai Jin realized that this dinner was far from ordinary.

The couple exchanged glances. Wang Liangang spoke with some anger, "Why meddle in other people's affairs? I told you to let it be. She abandoned her family so resolutely back then. If this is her fate, she brought it upon herself!"

Wang Liangang, being close to Chai Minguo, couldn’t help but feel indignant on his behalf.

Bai Chunyan looked aggrieved. "She’s been coming to my workplace so many times—I couldn’t refuse."

"Jin, your mother has always wanted to see you, but your father wouldn't allow it."

"Strictly speaking, I shouldn’t interfere in your family’s matters, but as a mother myself, I can’t help but feel soft-hearted for her."

Bai Chunyan was filled with self-reproach.

She hadn’t expected Chai Jin to agree so easily, but he looked up and said, "Alright, please arrange a time for me, Aunt Bai."

The couple were taken aback.

Bai Chunyan quickly responded, "Alright, I’ll have Xiaoli let you know tomorrow."

Because the topic of Chai Jin’s mother had come up, the rest of the meal was clouded with awkwardness.

By the time dinner ended, night had fallen outside.

Wang Xiaoli walked Chai Jin out, feeling a bit guilty and wronged. "I’m sorry, Chai Jin, I didn’t expect my mother to bring this up. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have invited you."

Chai Jin turned back to look at Wang Xiaoli’s pretty face.

He smiled. "It’s alright. I just want to see for myself how shameless she can be. It’s not right for her to keep harassing my family."

"Oh," Wang Xiaoli followed behind him.

She was about one meter seventy, and standing next to Chai Jin, the pair made people think of the phrase 'a talented man and a beautiful woman.'

The thought that Chai Jin would be leaving Yuanli County after the New Year filled Wang Xiaoli with an unspoken melancholy.

After a long time, she mustered the courage to say, "Chai Jin, where do you plan to go after the New Year?"

"Could you... could you take me with you?"

As soon as these words left her lips, Wang Xiaoli’s face turned bright red.

Though the mindset of the nineties was becoming more open, for a girl to ask a man to take her away was still a difficult subject to broach.

Chai Jin turned his head to look at her. "Why would you want to run off with me?"

"Uncle only has one daughter, and after I leave the factory, they’ll still need your help. You can’t leave."

Suddenly, Wang Xiaoli grew indignant and said sulkily, "Then why are you taking Liu Qingwen?"

"Don’t let Liu Qingwen lead you astray! He’s not a good person!"

That was what Wang Xiaoli truly worried about.

She’d heard plenty of stories about Liu Qingwen’s escapades at the hair salon. Chai Jin was so reserved; if he went south, wouldn’t Liu Qingwen corrupt him?

The more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt. The more uncomfortable, the more she spoke, chattering away like a lark in front of Chai Jin.

Chai Jin looked at her oddly. "Sister Li, do you dislike Liu Qingwen that much?"

Only then did Wang Xiaoli realize she’d lost her composure. Her big apricot eyes were flustered; at eighteen or nineteen, it was easy for a girl to lose her bearings.

"I... I just think he’s too much. It’s one thing for him to go to the salon himself, but he likes to drag everyone along at the factory. Your sister isn’t around you anymore—won’t you be led astray by him?"

"If you start going to salons with Liu Qingwen, and word gets out, what girl in Yuanli County would want anything to do with you?"

"I’m just thinking of Fangfang, alright?"

Her explanation was dry and forced. Afraid that Chai Jin would see through her, she turned and dashed back to her apartment building.

Chai Jin scratched his head in confusion.

He finally shook his head and left.

...

Guo Rufeng was Chai Jin’s biological mother.

Not long after Chai Xiaoshan was born, she left the family.

Back then, Chai Minguo and Guo Rufeng hadn’t even bothered to register their marriage. Usually, both families would bear witness, throw a banquet, and consider the marriage settled.

So many people didn’t have marriage certificates.

After leaving the Chai family, Guo Rufeng married a worker from the county chemical plant.

She was assigned housing and had a stable income.

Compared to the dire poverty her children faced, this woman lived better than anyone.

Afraid that Chai Minguo would cause trouble for her, and unwilling to let her children burden her new life, she never once went back to see them, nor did she acknowledge them to others.

But fate has its cycles.

When the wave of enterprise reform swept through, the chemical plant closed.

Her husband became an unemployed worker, and the family fell into hardship.

She and her husband had a son, now five years old.

Her husband also had a twenty-year-old son from his previous marriage, who was dating and preparing to marry.

Marriage brought with it the pressure of a bride price. Somehow, word reached them that Guo Rufeng’s son, Chai Jin, had contracted a distillery and become wealthy.

So, they began to urge Guo Rufeng to seek money from Chai Jin, to buy a house and pay a bride price for her stepson.

That day, Guo Rufeng dressed herself up carefully and, taking her young son by the hand, left home.