Chapter 180 - 177: Cannon Fodder Liu Wenjing

Chapter 180: Chapter 177: Cannon Fodder Liu Wenjing

Li Xiu whipped his head around and glared at Ping’an, his voice dangerously low. "Young Master Ping, do you find what I said so amusing?"

Ping’an was clutching his stomach, roaring with laughter. He wasn’t afraid of Li Jincheng! The worst he could do was pile on more assignments. Stifling his laughter slightly, he taunted, "Li Jincheng, oh, Li Jincheng, to think you’d have a day like this! Only my sister-in-law can keep you in line!"

Ignoring her son, who had yet to grasp the severity of the situation, Mrs. Ping’s face hardened. "What exactly is going on here? Perhaps Madam Liu would care to explain!"

"This... this..." Mrs. Liu stammered, unable to get the words out. How was she supposed to explain that her daughter had fallen for a married man? She had brought her daughter here for a formal introduction to Mrs. Ping’s son!

"Mrs. Ping, Mr. Li saved me the other day, and I fell for him. I came here today to make things clear. I don’t like Ping’an!" Liu Wenjing said, glancing at her own mother before turning to Mrs. Ping with determination.

"Are you insane?! When did I ever save you? How come I don’t know anything about it!" Li Xiu snapped, looking impatiently at this woman who clearly had a few screws loose. ’I saved someone? Since when?’

"It was a couple of days ago, in the alley next to your shop! I like you so much, why are you denying it!" Liu Wenjing stared at Li Xiu in disbelief, her voice full of accusation.

Li Xiu shot her an impatient glance. "If you’re sick, go to a hospital. I haven’t even left the house in a damn week. Who the hell did I save? You?"

"It was you! I asked around, and everyone said that’s your shop!" Liu Wenjing cried. ’How could he be like this? Why wouldn’t he admit to saving me?’

"The person who saved you, was he wearing a woolen overcoat? And was it the afternoon three days ago?" Zhou Lian suddenly asked.

"How did you know?" Liu Wenjing asked, staring at Zhou Lian in surprise.

Zhou Lian smiled at her. "Miss Liu, you’ve got the wrong person. The one who saved you was my younger brother. He was probably on his way back to the shop from my place when he ran into you and helped you out. But unfortunately for you, my brother is also married. Or does Miss Liu simply have a habit of going after other people’s husbands? He saves you, so he must marry you? The Liu family certainly has an interesting idea of a good upbringing!"

Seeing Liu Wenjing’s eyes wide with disbelief, Zhou Lian’s smile never faltered. "I was just wondering. We’ve never met, so where did that deep-seated animosity you showed me on sight come from? So it turns out you’ve set your sights on my man, and that’s why you couldn’t stand the sight of me, his actual wife. Miss Liu, a young woman should have some modesty. It’s one thing to be so desperate to find a man, but to go after someone else’s husband and still act so high and mighty, so completely shameless about it... Does the Liu family’s teaching differ from the rest of our country, our people? Did the Liu family not teach you the meaning of shame?"

"You... you..."

"’You’ what? Was my sister-in-law wrong? Repaying a life-saving debt with your body—is Miss Liu living in the feudal era? You know your supposed savior has a wife, yet you still brazenly try to steal him. Is this how you repay a debt, or are you trying to start a feud?!" Ping’an cut Mrs. Liu off, firing back at her.

"Madam Liu, please take your precious daughter and leave. My Ping’an is clearly not good enough for a fine lady from the Liu family! Go home and ask around carefully. There are some people you can’t afford to offend. Show them out!" Mrs. Ping said, her face devoid of expression. After watching the guard escort the Liu mother and daughter out, she sank onto the sofa as if all the air had been let out of her.

"Mom, is it really worth getting angry over them? The Liu family is truly ridiculous! It takes a special kind of talent to raise a daughter like that! I’m sure she won’t have any trouble finding a man!" Ping’an said dismissively. When his tongue got sharp, he was second to none.

Looking at Li Xiu and Zhou Lian on the sofa, Mrs. Ping said apologetically, "This was my oversight today. I’m sorry you were wronged, Xiao Zhou."

"Aunt Zhou, what are you saying? This has nothing to do with you. You can know a person’s face, but you can’t know their heart. After all, she comes from a prominent family. Who would have thought she’d be... something like that!" Zhou Lian said nonchalantly. ’With Li Xiu’s looks, this kind of thing will probably happen plenty of times in the next ten or twenty years. Is it really worth arguing with these brainless, love-struck girls?’

Hearing the disdain in Zhou Lian’s voice, Mrs. Ping chuckled and said, "You have a point. The Liu family seemed decent enough. Who knew they’d produce someone like that!"

Li Xiu turned to Mrs. Ping with a deadpan expression. "Aunt Zhou, maybe you should let Ping’an handle his own marriage affairs from now on. Your taste in people is truly something else."

Mrs. Ping didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. His tongue was as sharp as ever. ’So my wife was slightly wronged, and now he’s coming after me too? Besides, isn’t it this handsome brat’s face that caused all the trouble in the first place?’ She turned to Zhou Lian teasingly. "Xiao Zhou, Jin Chen’s face is just too striking. You’re going to have your work cut out for you in the future. If it weren’t for that face, I doubt Liu Wenjing would have been so brazen."

Zhou Lian smiled and threw a glance at Li Xiu. "It’s fine. This face is rather easy on the eyes. A little trouble is a small price to pay. It’s a superficial world, after all."

Li Xiu looked at Zhou Lian with gentle eyes, a hint of helplessness in his voice. "Bao’er, is my face the only good thing about me?"

"Li Jincheng, can you tone it down a little?" Ping’an grumbled at Li Xiu. ’At home, I have to watch them be lovey-dovey all the time. Now we’re at the Imperial Palace—can they have some decency?’

Li Xiu shot Ping’an a side-eye. "Single dog."

"Hey, I’m single, so what? What’s with adding ’dog’ to it?!" Ping’an shouted, looking at Li Xiu in confusion.

Li Xiu grinned mischievously. "Older bachelors have no human rights. They live a life worse than a dog’s. So, ’single dog’ is perfectly accurate!"

"I’m younger than you! How am I an ’older’ bachelor?!" Ping’an shot back, annoyed.

Li Xiu said with an air of casual indifference, "Oh? By the time I was your age, I had already brought my wife home. Your future wife is probably still being raised by her mother. If you’ve got the guts, go bring her home and raise her yourself now!"

Staring at Li Xiu’s handsome face, Ping’an had the urge to march right over and punch it in. "For a grown man, your mouth is as venomous as a woman’s!" he said, fuming.

"And what’s wrong with that?"

"Gossipy women! Only a woman’s mouth is as nasty as yours!" Ping’an blurted out, failing to sense the trap. He followed Li Xiu’s lead, but when he saw the wicked grin spreading across Li Xiu’s face, he suddenly realized his mistake. A glance at Mrs. Ping and Zhou Lian made him want to beat himself up. With that one sentence, he had offended both his mother and his sister-in-law. ’Am I trying to get myself killed, or am I trying to get myself killed?!’

"Young Master Ping, it seems you have quite a few opinions about ’women.’ Why don’t you elaborate?" Zhou Lian said, beaming at a despondent Ping’an, her voice deceptively soft and sweet.

’I’m done for.’ The moment Ping’an heard Zhou Lian’s words and saw her beaming face, that single thought flashed through his mind. Having spent so much time with the Li family, he might not know the couple completely, but he knew them well enough. And right now, Zhou Lian’s smiling expression was a dead ringer for Li Jincheng’s whenever he was about to set a trap. ’They really are two of a kind!’