Ming Qingfu

Chapter 48

Li Qingqing was beginning to understand why Wu Jie had become so arrogant. Having money in one’s own pocket and knowing how to keep it flowing in was truly a comfortable feeling.

Lately, she had swept away her past gloom, and her entire being was revitalized. It was only because the members of the Wu family were so preoccupied with their own affairs that they hadn’t noticed something was different about her.

This was the first time in her life that Li Qingqing had achieved such success. Unlike Wu Jie, her business was entirely legitimate, which gave her a sense of superiority whenever she faced him.

This sense of superiority even made her consider, just for a moment, whether she should simply kick Wu Jie to the curb…

But such thoughts only lasted a few days because her parents arrived again.

This time, when her mother came, she brought vegetables from their hometown.

“When I went back last time, everyone was so envious that I raised such a good daughter.”

Li Qingqing understood that when her mother spoke of raising a good daughter, she was referring to the fact that Wu Jie was making money in the city. After all, her mother used to say she had given birth to her for nothing, all because Li Qingqing had insisted on marrying Wu Jie, who was the same age as her, and refused to marry an Old Bachelor who could have offered a higher bride price.

“Don’t be too flashy back in the village,” Li Qingqing said. “Wu Jie’s money is his own.”

“What’s wrong with being flashy? He’s my son-in-law, and I’m his mother-in-law. Now that you’ve moved to the city and have money, your temper has become quite strange.”

“Look at you, I say a couple of words and you pull a face. This is medicinal wine I brought for him. Didn’t he like drinking this before? Your father went specifically to the cliffs to gather the herbs. Your brother wanted a taste, and your father even hit him for it.”

In the past, if Li Qingqing had seen her mother being so kind to her husband, she would have been happy. After all, her parents had always looked down on Wu Jie before.

But now, Li Qingqing looked at the meager vegetables her mother had brought and felt they didn’t compare to the value of the medicinal wine.

“He likes drinking those fancy outside liquors now. He might not even drink this,” Li Qingqing said.

Her mother sighed and said, “Men turn bad when they have money. You’re too naive. When he goes out to drink, why don’t you go with him? Your mother-in-law mentioned you to me last time.”

Li Qingqing remained silent.

Her mother continued, “Wu Jie has so much money now. If you don’t ask him for it, sooner or later that money will be spent on women outside. Your own belly is useless, too; you haven’t even produced a child.”

This was likely the real purpose of her mother’s visit.

Li Qingqing said nothing, waiting to see what else her mother would say.

Now that she was doing business and meeting more people, she naturally knew how to pressure someone into revealing their true motives.

If she spoke, her mother would adjust her direction based on the content of her words. By staying silent, she just had to wait for her mother to lose patience.

Sure enough, her mother began to wipe away tears. “You’re living the good life now, but your brother is growing up, and your father’s and my health is failing. It’s a good thing you married well and can help us out a bit.”

Li Qingqing had been watching coldly, but seeing her mother’s tears and her softening stance, she still felt a pang of guilt and was already thinking about giving her some money. Then, the woman continued—

“Your brother can’t find a wife in the village. He’ll have to settle for a Trafficked Bride.”

Li Qingqing stared at her mother. So this was the true goal. She remembered when she, Chunyan, and the others went to carry eggs. Every time the three of them encountered a stranger on the road, they felt an immense fear. Especially when someone was walking the same path as them, the three of them would instinctively grip their knives.

In the past, she had lived as if encased in a layer of plastic film, unable to see others and unable to see herself, living her days in a daze.

But now, she saw herself clearly, and she saw the bloodstains on the earth beneath her feet.

She looked at her mother and said, “Unless I’m dead, don’t even think about getting a single cent from me.”

Her mother didn’t understand why she had suddenly become so angry. Looking as if she had been deeply wronged, she didn’t even wait for Wu Jie to return.

“You’re heartless! Once you’re married, you forget your own family. I’m going to keep my eyes wide open to see just how long your glory lasts!” When her mother said this, the hatred in her eyes was deeper than any she might have for an outside enemy.

Li Qingqing saw it clearly. If she and Wu Jie separated and her parents found out she had money, they would definitely try to rob her. If they never knew she had money and she left Wu Jie, they might just kidnap her to sell her or use her to arrange an exchange marriage¹ for her brother.

At this stage, Li Qingqing hadn’t thought of a better way. Between her husband’s family and her own parents, it seemed she always had to choose one.

For now, maintaining the status quo seemed best.

Perhaps because her mother had wounded her heart again this time, Li Qingqing felt that living a proper life with Wu Jie was acceptable. He wasn’t collecting bicycles anymore; the Scrap Recycling Station was mostly handling scrap iron and the like.

Li Qingqing stopped resisting the idea of having a child. Now that she had money, she felt a slight desire to return home to a child connected to her by blood.

Li Qingqing soon became pregnant. They hired people for the egg business, and hiring others turned out to be even more profitable than doing it themselves.

This time, with money in hand, she planned to give birth in a hospital. Every time she thought of this, she wanted to slap herself twice. Her past self had been so foolish to actually give birth at home.

When she was eight months pregnant, something happened at Wu Jie’s Scrap Recycling Station.

The steel mill Wu Jie collaborated with—the one he sold his scrap iron to—had hired a new worker.

This new worker had previously been a worker at a manufacturing plant. On his first day on the job, he saw the name of his former employer on a set of iron bars on the ground.

Guangcheng was only so big, and workers in the industry often hopped between the same few factories.

The reason this worker had been fired from his previous factory was because a batch of newly arrived rare metals had been stolen.

He now stared at these rare metals, which were being treated as scrap iron, feeling a sense of absurdity.

Two thoughts were currently battling in his mind—

Ignore it. He had been fired and scolded anyway, so he should just pretend he hadn’t seen this shipment.

The other thought was to tell his former boss about this to clear his own name.

At first, the former thought held the upper hand, as he had just been scolded after all. But soon, he spotted railway markings among the heap of scrap iron.

Because of the rare metal materials from before, he naturally deduced that these were also stolen.

And so, he called the police anyway.

When the police arrived and heard the situation, they conducted a search. It was a series of continuous surprises; they even found machinery belonging to a pharmaceutical factory from a neighboring city.

The owner of the steel plant was terrified by the large police presence and immediately confessed that his raw iron materials were supplied by a scrap recycling station.

The police arrived at the scrap recycling station on a particular afternoon. Because they came so suddenly, the family had no chance to hide the things that shouldn’t have been there.

Li Qingqing was also taken to the police station for questioning. Since she was heavily pregnant, the police were relatively gentle with her.

“Don’t be nervous. We just want to ask you a few questions. Do you know what your husband does?”

“Scrap collection.”

“Then did you know there were stolen goods involved?”

In that instant, Li Qingqing felt a sense of shame. She finally had to face the bicycle incident she had been unwilling to confront in the past. She didn’t dare look the officer in the eye as she said, “I knew they took in some bicycles. I didn’t participate. I’ve been selling eggs the whole time.”

She truly knew very little. She had no idea that the scrap iron was stolen. Combined with her pregnancy, the police did not make things difficult for her. They took her statement and let her go home.

When Li Qingqing came out, her heart was still filled with shame.

The first time the police went to the village to arrest people, she had watched from the side without fully understanding everything.

But now, she understood many things. She had developed a sense of honor and shame.

Sitting at home alone, she was very worried about Wu Jie. After all, the two of them had lived together for so long.

Fortunately, the Wu family members all returned the next day.

“A fine! A full twenty thousand!” Wu Jie began losing his temper the moment he walked through the door.

Li Qingqing found it strange. “Can’t you produce that much?”

“How could we have that much cash on hand? Besides, on what grounds are they fining us so much? We didn’t know that iron was stolen.”

Li Qingqing comforted him, “It’ll be fine once the fine is paid.” She was actually relieved; this outcome was much better than she had imagined.

“It’s not just the money. They’re going to be watching us constantly from now on. We can’t do business anymore.” Once this money was paid out, who knew when they would ever earn that much back.

Li Qingqing thought of her own money and said, “Sell what needs to be sold. In the future, everyone can work with me to earn money.”

“With those Beaded Flowers you glue? You’ll go blind before you earn even a few cents.”

Li Qingqing really wanted to throw her savings into their faces to let them see just how rich she was.

But such behavior didn’t seem like something Ming Wen would do, so naturally, Li Qingqing couldn’t do it either.

She simply said, “If you don’t have enough money, sell things first to scrape it together. Pay the fine before talking about anything else.”

Li Qingqing still felt a bit prickly inside. After all, she had quite a bit of money in her hands that she wasn’t planning to take out, which made her feel a little selfish.

After all, Wu Jie had been decent to her.

The next day, Li Qingqing received a piece of good news. She no longer had to feel guilty about her selfishness because Wu Jie and his family had run away!

She was left behind, heavily pregnant, to face the police alone.

The Wu family had fled with a very simple line of reasoning: Li Qingqing hadn’t participated in their business, and she was pregnant. Leaving her there would allow her to deal with the police while they wouldn’t have to worry about her being arrested. Once the heat died down, they would come back for her. They believed Li Qingqing would understand.

Li Qingqing could not understand. Not only could she not understand, she was furious.

Originally, she had been wondering if she was becoming a bad person, if she was starting to look down on the Wu family because she had money, and if she was being too selfish.

Now, she could only thank herself. Fortunately, the money was still there.

In the past, she would have felt that she couldn’t raise a child on her own, but now, she didn’t think that way at all.

This wouldn’t do. She also had to leave Guangcheng, otherwise her parents would come. The vulnerability she felt during her last childbirth had left her with a lingering fear.

She was truly afraid that her parents would stab her in the back as well.

Li Qingqing also packed her things and boarded a train to Ping City.

She already had experience with success, and this time she had grown bold. She wanted to break free from everything and succeed once more.

On the train, during the full six-hour journey, Li Qingqing had nothing to do, so she began picking names for the child in her womb.

What should it be?

Fugui? Wealthy? It felt too blunt.

It should be a bit more cultured. She was definitely going to be very rich.

Wait, a phrase suddenly popped into Li Qingqing’s mind that suited her perfectly.

“Dongshan zaiqi² – making a comeback.” She thought about it and said, “From now on, your name will be Dongqi.”

Having chosen a name, she thought of her daughter who had died. She had never given her a name. Perhaps she had been too cowardly back then, unwilling to even think too much about that child.

“You won’t be called Dongqi. Dongqi will be your older sister’s name. You will be called…”

Since one was Dongqi, it would be good if the other was also called “Dong” something.

She suddenly remembered a phrase she had heard in a play once: Ziqi donglai³ – the purple qi comes from the east.

“You’ll be called Donglai.”

Dongqi and Donglai.

Since she was picking names anyway, she might as well pick one for herself. Perhaps the previous two names had used up all her literary inspiration; she would decide on her own name by the time she got off the train.

When she boarded the train, she was still Li Qingqing.

After getting off, as she stood on the soil of Ping City, she was Ming Qingfu.

Translator’s Notes