"Bao Guo, I'll marry you. We'll get married as soon as we get back. You can't treat me like this..."
"Lei Bao Guo, you can't treat me like this! You bastard! You've been gone for two years. What if I find another man? I..."
Zhao Shufang started by begging for mercy, but seeing Lei Bao Guo's indifference, she turned to curses.
Chen Yang and Lei Bao Guo couldn't even be bothered to look at her face. They pushed the wheelchair and turned to leave.
"Officers, please don't arrest me. I didn't do anything."
"It's all this woman's fault for tricking me! It's all her fault!"
Hearing Zhao Shufang and Wu Cheng's pleas from behind, Chen Yang and Lei Bao Guo felt no sympathy.
People like them didn't deserve it.
"Bao Guo, I'm so sorry about this. Who knew Zhao Shufang was such a person."
Lei Chunping blamed herself. If she had known about Zhao Shufang's moral failings earlier, she would never have introduced her to Lei Bao Guo.
"Grand Aunt, it's not your fault. The police are here, and I believe they will give me justice."
Lei Bao Guo didn't say much more. Now that things had come to this, even if he got his money back, he couldn't go back to the army.
His once bright future was now ruined, discharged and unemployed. Once his injuries healed, he would have to go back to farming. Perhaps this was fate.
"Brother Lei, if you trust me, when your injuries heal, come work with me."
"I guarantee your income won't be lower than any state-owned enterprise worker."
Chen Yang could see Lei Bao Guo's distress. He happened to need someone capable and reliable to start a business with.
"Younger brother, you?"
After these two encounters, Lei Bao Guo genuinely considered Chen Yang a brother who had saved his life. He wouldn't think Chen Yang was trying to trick him with these words.
"Brother Lei, go back and read the newspapers. The first private business in the country, that shop, I opened it. I need people."
"Brother Lei, when your injuries heal, we'll discuss this. For now, my mission is to get you back to the hospital to recover from your wounds."
Chen Yang wasn't in a hurry for Lei Bao Guo's answer. He wasn't in a rush anyway, and Lei Bao Guo would need time to recover.
"Younger brother, no need to discuss. I'm just a rough fellow. After retiring, besides going home to farm, I have no other path. If you're willing to give me a job, at the very least, I'll have food on my table."
"I, Lei Bao Guo, may not have other skills, but I have this strength."
Lei Bao Guo didn't hesitate at all. If Chen Yang hadn't been there today, he wouldn't have been able to deal with someone like Zhao Shufang.
"Comrade Lei, please wait."
Just then, the police officers who had apprehended Zhao Shufang and Wu Cheng ran over.
"Comrade Lei, we have reported this matter to our superiors and will handle it as soon as possible. Please rest assured, the Jinling City Public Security Bureau will definitely help you reclaim the defrauded betrothal gifts. We will never let a hero bleed and then shed tears."
The police officer surnamed Zheng gave a solemn salute. Lei Bao Guo, leaning on the wheelchair, gritted his teeth and stood up, returning the salute just as solemnly.
Lei Bao Guo, a grown man, had tears in his eyes. From Chen Yang and this police officer, he felt the warmth of the people and the nation.
Chen Yang took Lei Bao Guo back to the hospital. It was almost noon. This trip to the hospital was a complete success. Not only did he help Lei Bao Guo punish Zhao Shufang and Wu Cheng, but Lei Bao Guo also agreed to work with him after his recovery.
With Lei Bao Guo working with him, Chen Yang's safety coefficient would greatly increase.
Chen Yang rode his father's old bike leisurely towards Jiming Temple. Although he didn't know where his parents, the two little ones, and Shen Xue had gone,
He was sure they would be at Jiming Temple. His mother didn't believe in Buddhism, but she loved the vegetarian meals at Jiming Temple. Around mealtime, it was most likely they'd go to Jiming Temple for vegetarian food with their ration coupons.
Temple vegetarian meals didn't charge money back then, but they required ration coupons. Of course, the price of the ration coupons was always higher than the actual cost of the vegetarian meal.
It wasn't a new thing for monks to make money. In later generations, the abbot of Shaolin Temple was a billionaire with assets in the tens of billions.
There were true devout Buddhists, but not many. At least, Chen Yang never believed in such things, but that didn't stop him from eating vegetarian meals at Jiming Temple.
Everyone said Jiming Temple was efficacious, but Chen Yang didn't care whether it was or not. The vegetarian meals made by those monks were truly delicious, especially in this era of meat scarcity.
They could make vegetarian dishes taste like meat, a skill that would ensure they never went hungry.
Chen Yang arrived at Jiming Temple and found Baiwei Zhai. He locked his bicycle in a conspicuous spot and then leisurely strolled inside.
As he expected, after looking around for a few circles, he saw his parents, elder sister, younger sister, Shen Xue, and the two little ones.
He didn't know what had happened in the past few hours, but the little girl's hair was now tied into two pigtails that stood straight up, using two bright red hair ties.
Chen Yang almost didn't recognize his own child at first glance. It looked like Nezha had escaped.
"Daddy."
The little girl, however, saw Chen Yang and wobbled her short legs, running over for a hug.
"Daddy's little padded jacket, what happened? Who tied your braids?"
Chen Yang fiddled with the little girl's pigtails. They were so stiff, when he pushed them down, they sprang back up as soon as he let go.
The little one giggled at his teasing, making Chen Yang glance at Shen Xue.
"Her aunt tied them for her. She said my little niece was born in the Year of the Dragon, so she gave her two dragon horns."
Shen Xue shrugged. She had no solution for her eccentric aunt.
The old father pinched his daughter's chubby cheeks and thought to himself, Nezha pulled out the dragon sinews of the Third Prince of the East Sea Dragon King, so why was his daughter getting Nezha's hairstyle?
"Auntie said she'd bring me to eat delicious things that aren't meat today, so I agreed to let Auntie tie my hair."
"Daddy, what are delicious things that aren't meat?"
The little girl looked at Chen Yang expectantly, and Chen Yang's face darkened.
"Chen Yu, don't run."
Seeing Chen Yu, who was about to slip away, Chen Yang glared at her fiercely.
This was clearly deceiving a child.
"Since you're treating, you'll be responsible for all the vegetarian meals today. If we're not satisfied, you won't be at the Mid-Autumn Festival family banquet tonight."
Chen Yang glanced at the queue for vegetarian meals. This girl was always tricking his little padded jacket.
"It's just tying braids. Look how cute these horns are."
Chen Yu pouted. It was the first time in a long time they had a little one in the family, and she wasn't allowed to play with her.
"Then I'll give you horns too."
Chen Yang hugged the little girl. Tying braids was fine, but what bothered him was that Chen Yu's eccentric nature and her constant use of food to trick the child set a bad precedent.
Both of these little ones were foodies. If others could trick them with good food, wouldn't it be a problem? Right now, it was just strange braids for fun.
When the little ones went to school and met more people, if they were tricked, they would suffer. Chen Yang couldn't bear to see his precious daughter and son lose out.
"From now on, don't listen to people just because they say there's good food and do whatever they ask, understand?"
Chen Yang tapped the little girl's head and then nudged Chen Hao. He, as their father, was constantly worried about these two foodies.