She won't clear her name; she'll throw away all the scum.

"You know that too?" Old Mrs. Xia pulled him into the living room, demanding a proper answer.

Chen Xiangbei felt a little shy as the three old ladies stared at him. "They're female classmates. I saw them holding hands. There's definitely something going on."

Grandma Wang immediately pressed on, asking, "What's your name, girl? Where do you live? How many people are in your family? How many siblings do you have? What do your parents do?"

Chen Xiangbei: "Aunt Wang, you can ask him yourself. That girl's family isn't well-off, so they probably won't let him be their son-in-law. I won't say anything else, lest Dahe get angry with me."

Grandma Xia: ...Wang Dahe would have been angry with you when you brought this up, but it's too late to worry about it now.

"Oh, right, I also saw that Brother Hu Jie came back today, and there was a woman sitting in his truck."

The three old women were shocked: "What?"

This is even more unbelievable than Wang Dahe getting a girlfriend. Xiao Hu has been single for so many years. His parents have pressured him to remarry countless times, but he has never agreed. He is more distant from single women of marriageable age than other men. People in his compound all think that he has decided to be a bachelor for life.

Moreover, Yingying's mind is still not right. He used to say that he wanted to save more money for Yingying so that he could find an opportunity to take her to a good hospital in a big city. Why did he suddenly bring back a woman?

"Does this woman look familiar? Is she really not from around here? Could it be that she was brought back along by someone else, and she's someone else's relative?" Old Mrs. Xia asked several questions in a row. Chen Xiangbei's eyes darted around, and he suddenly reached out his hand.

"Give me money and I'll answer. You haven't given me pocket money in ages."

Old Mrs. Xia yelled, "Do you want a slap?"

Chen Xiangbei immediately withdrew his hand, darted out, and ran away, saying, "I'm not telling you."

Grandma Xia was furious. "That child, I'll beat him to death when he gets back."

"Who exactly is the person that Xiao Hu brought back?"

The three old ladies looked on with questions.

As evening fell, Hu Jie indeed brought a woman to the compound, which caused quite a stir in the compound.

"Xiao Hu, who is this person...?"

Upon hearing this, the woman suddenly took Hu Jie's arm.

Everyone gasped in shock. Was this really their relationship?

Hu Jie said with a smile, "This is my wife, Bai Yun. We just got our marriage certificate."

"Hiss, Xiao Hu, you've finally seen the light?"

Hu Jie nodded without explaining. His relationship with Bai Yun was complicated, but the only certainty was that they were husband and wife in name only, a arrangement they both agreed was in their best interest.

Thinking of this, he remembered his mother back home who kept sending him telegrams, saying that he was the last bloodline of the Hu family and that if he couldn't leave a continuation of the Hu family line, she would not let him and Yingying have a good life.

The original words were much harsher: Hu Jie was always terrified when he got out of the car, afraid that his mother would suddenly come over and do something to Yingying.

If I had known, I would have let her end up like Hu Bin...

But there are no ifs. Ever since her eldest grandson died, the old lady has become extremely irritable and hard to fool. All she does every day is urge him to have a son, so he has no chance to make a move.

Hu Jie led the woman into the house, gave her a few instructions, and then went out to keep Hu Yingying company. Afterward, he went to the post office to mail two letters: one to his mother and one to his father, who was still undergoing reform at the farm. He had a big plan in mind.

When I went to see Hu Yingying at Grandma Yin's house, she was still in a daze, but Grandma Yin had taken good care of her, making her rosy-cheeked and fair-skinned, and she had even gained some weight.

Grandma Yin grabbed him, avoiding Yingying, and asked, "Is it because you think Yingying is mentally challenged that you got married? Don't you want to support her anymore?"

Hu Jie shook his head. "Aunt Yin, it's not like that. My relationship with her is different from what you think. I can tell you, but you shouldn't tell anyone else."

After Grandma Yin nodded, Hu Jie gave a rough outline of his plan, but it was this outline that shocked Grandma Yin so much that she clutched her chest.

Who would have thought that Xiao Hu was so good at killing someone by destroying their spirit?

Grandma Yin put herself in Hu's shoes; once she knew the truth, she would definitely die of anger—truly die of anger.

"Xiao Hu, are you really going to do this?"

Hu Jie said viciously, "She wants to use Yingying to threaten me, so I absolutely won't let her get away with it! She can do whatever she wants to me, but she can't take it out on the child."

Grandma Yin agreed, "It was really too cruel to hurt the child. It was just like the behavior of the Japanese devils. They should go to hell!"

The courtyard was exceptionally quiet on this late autumn night.

But what came from Hu Jie's house was a woman's sharp cursing.

"You good-for-nothing, can't you even handle this simple task?"

"I didn't marry you to be your maid. If I had known you were like this, I definitely wouldn't have married you."

"I'd rather marry that old bachelor in my village than be with you."

"What? You don't even have any money? Why should I live with you?"

"You didn't even have a wedding? Why shouldn't you? Your previous wife had one, so why shouldn't I?"

"Are you still thinking about your ex? Get this straight, it's me marrying you now."

"Other women get help from their mothers-in-law as soon as they marry into a family, but I only have this empty house. And you have to drive out every day. Why is my life so miserable?"

"What? Your father is a convict? My God! Why didn't you tell me before you got married? If I had known you were this kind of person, I would have died rather than marry you."

"And your daughter, I won't help you raise her. If I raise her well, people will say I'm just putting on an act; if I raise her poorly, people will say I'm wicked. I'll be caught in the middle!"

"What? You'll ask whoever you used to take care of you to take care of you in the future? I'm not taking care of you, so forget about it."

The neighbors in the compound all peeked out, and Old Mrs. Xia even rushed over and banged on the door, "Xiao Hu, what's wrong? What happened? You can't be arguing like this right after you got married."

The room was quiet for a moment, then Hu Jie's muffled voice came out, "Aunt Xia, don't worry about it. I made Bai Yun angry, it's okay."

Grandma Xia walked back with some worry. How could they quarrel like this on the first day of their marriage? Even when she married Old Chen, they didn't quarrel like this.

Grandma Wang also ran out, and after hearing Hu Jie's answer, she went up to Grandma Xia and said, "It seems that Hu Jie's second wife has a bad temper."

“I think so too. What if she treats Yingying badly? They are a legally married couple. If she tries to discipline Yingying, we can only scold her and there’s nothing we can do.” Grandma Xia immediately felt sorry for Yingying.