The next day, at the Li family's breakfast, Li Jianguo rushed over to find Li Zhengguo.
"Zhengguo, Brother Chen's bodyguard has developed some strange symptoms. He wants to call the police."
Li Zhengguo frowned. Call the police? An excuse for a search? "What symptoms?"
Li Jianguo shook his head, "He can't figure it out. He just says he's weak all over. He suspects he was poisoned, and also suspects the vegetables and dried wild game are problematic."
Li Zhengguo chuckled. The target is his family? This must be suspicion from that brief moment they lingered outside his house last night.
"Suspects the vegetables and dried wild game are problematic? Then he hasn't suspected your water, grain, or even seasonings?"
Li Jianguo looked a bit troubled, "He did say it, but he also said I'm Brother Chen's savior, so I definitely wouldn't harm him."
Harm him? Why would anyone want to harm a bodyguard?
"I'll be right there. You quickly go find Doctor Yang and the captain and secretary, and go to your house together."
"Okay."
Li Jianguo left in a hurry.
Tian Jing finished packing all the seeds into jars and buried them behind the house.
After returning to the room to tidy herself up, she asked her mother-in-law and sister-in-law to watch the children, then went with her husband to Li Jianguo's house. She was curious to see what Chen Yaoming and Guo Xiaoli were up to.
The poison in the bodyguard's system couldn't possibly still be there, and even if it was, he shouldn't be so weak.
At the entrance to Li Jianguo's house, Tian Jing saw Ouyang Meihua and quietly beckoned her over.
Ouyang Meihua immediately floated over gracefully, "What are you dressed like this for?"
Tian Jing whispered something in her ear.
Ouyang Meihua nodded excitedly, "Don't worry, I guarantee he'll be provoked to his fullest."
The three entered Li Jianguo's courtyard. Li Zhengguo shouted loudly, "Brother Chen, I heard your bodyguard isn't feeling well. I've come to take a look."
Brother Chen?
Tian Jing felt like laughing. Chen Yaoming was pretending to be younger than his own son-in-law.
A sharp female voice came from the house, "Bah! Crocodile tears! Those ingredients were from your house."
Another male voice finally spoke to stop her, "Xiaoli, don't speak like that. There's no evidence pointing to Brother Zhengguo."
Ouyang Meihua nudged Tian Jing with her elbow, "Sister-in-law, where are they from?"
"From the provincial capital," Tian Jing said, not quietly.
Ouyang Meihua understood and played along, "Such a precious body, why has it come to our poor, remote village?"
"I don't know. I heard they came to see their savior from three years ago."
"Wow~ Saving a life from three years ago, and they're only coming to repay it now? That's not right. I hear the voice coming from the east room. Did they come to repay a debt? Or to usurp the nest?"
"Who told them they're superior beings? Should the esteemed guests from the provincial capital stay in the west room?"
"So, are they here to thank Li Jianguo, or to scorn him? Are they here to repay a debt, or to seek revenge?"
"I think they're not here to repay a debt or to seek revenge. They're probably here to escape disaster in our humble village. Think about it, if even a bodyguard is being targeted, then the bodyguard's master must be royalty."
"Wow~ Royalty? From which dynasty? Did they come to the wrong place?"
"Who knows?"
The sisters-in-law's back-and-forth banter made Guo Xiaoli impatient.
Their words not only provoked them at every turn but also looked down on them. Why? Why should two peasant women look down on them?
"You two bitches, shut up."
Guo Xiaoli cursed and came out.
"Xiaoli."
Chen Yaoming hurriedly followed her out.
The couple, one after the other, emerged from the main hall and were startled by the appearance of the woman standing between the three people in the courtyard.
"Mother-in-law?"
"Mom?"
Called her mother-in-law, called her mom?
If they dared to call, she dared to answer.
"Eh, eh eh."
Li Zhengguo finally understood why his wife had dressed herself so formally and maturely.
"Hahaha..." Ouyang Meihua burst into laughter. She also understood why Tian Jing was dressed like this, but how did Big Hero Tian know what the mothers of these two looked like?
No, the appearance hadn't changed...
Before she could react, Guo Xiaoli realized she had been tricked, "You? You little bitch, who exactly are you?"
Tian Jing raised her hand and touched her hair, which was about to come undone, "I am who I am. I wouldn't randomly call people mother-in-law or mom."
Seeing Tian Jing's movement, Ouyang Meihua reached out to help.
But she wasn't as fast as Li Zhengguo.
Li Zhengguo raised his hand, loosened his wife's hair, and with nimble fingers, quickly braided it into a pigtail, letting it rest on his right shoulder.
A younger version of Old Mrs. Chen appeared before Chen Yaoming and his wife.
"So much alike, so very much alike."
Guo Xiaoli wouldn't mistake her now.
Chen Yaoming also guessed Tian Jing's identity, "Jingjing?"
"Jingjing?"
Guo Xiaoli's sharp voice became even sharper, "Your daughter who you abandoned in the countryside? You didn't say this was the place where you went to the countryside back then!"
"Shut up!"
Chen Yaoming roared at his wife and walked towards Tian Jing with a look of joy, "Jingjing, if my bodyguard hadn't had problems, I would have come to see you today. You, why are you in Kūshān?"
"Stop right there," Tian Jing pointed at Chen Yaoming. "I don't care who you are, and I don't want to know who you think I am."
"I only know that you and I are complete strangers. Please respect yourself. I am a married woman."
Being treated as a hooligan by his own daughter made Chen Yaoming angry, "Jingjing, I'm your father."
"I'm your father!"
Tian Jing retorted back, pretending to be very angry, "I have parents, who are you, an old hooligan, and where did you come from? If you dare to spout nonsense again, I'll call the police and report you for indecent behavior."
The crime of hooliganism, if severe, could lead to execution by firing squad.
Chen Yaoming could feel the blood in his veins accelerating.
Not only because his own daughter threatened to report him for hooliganism, making his blood race.
But also because his daughter's retort of 'I'm your father' made his blood surge.
And then, thinking of the initial 'Mom' and 'Mother-in-law' that his own daughter had accepted, his blood roared and raged, wanting to break free and be free.
"You, dare!"
The two words, gritted through his teeth, used almost all of Chen Yaoming's strength.
Guo Xiaoli heard her husband's voice was not right and quickly went to pat his chest, "Yaoming, Yaoming, take a deep breath and calm yourself."
After comforting her husband, and before he could calm down, Guo Xiaoli turned to confront Tian Jing.
"Jingjing, how could you treat your father like this? He is your biological father."
Tian Jing curled her lips, "Madam, you say he is my biological father, so are you my biological mother? Did you dislike me for being a girl and abandon me?"
"Bah!" Guo Xiaoli spat dismissively, "I am not your biological mother. Your biological mother ran off with someone else."
"Oh? So your husband is remarried? Then what marriage is this? When Li Jianguo saved you, you were pregnant. Looking at your age and your husband's, they are not far apart. Are you on your third marriage?"
"Otherwise, who would give birth to a child desperately in their thirties or forties to secure their position? Right?"
Guo Xiaoli, driven to distraction, blurted out, "Right, my ass! This is my first marriage. I've had five children. I'm eight years younger than your father!"
"Oh~" Tian Jing drew out her words, saying meaningfully, "Such a big age gap? Generally, when the age difference is too large, it's due to a lack of love."
"Like me, my husband is also eight years older than me, and he dotes on me like a daughter."
"As you saw just now, because I don't know how to do my hair, my husband specifically learned braiding and hairstyling from my mother-in-law."
"Has your husband ever doted on you like this? If not, then he is not a qualified husband. No wonder his first wife left?"
"What do women look for when they get married? One, for money; two, for looks. If they don't have either, they can only hope for his temper."
"He just yelled at you earlier, which shows he can get angry with you sometimes. What are you looking for in him?"
"I think his first wife's actions were quite right. What's the point of having a man like that?"
"You even bore him five children, and those five children turned you into a haggard old woman. His eyes can no longer see you."
"See, as soon as he saw me, young and beautiful, he came to flirt with me."
"And he said he's my biological father. Does he think he can just make up a story and trick me, an ignorant peasant woman, into going to your provincial capital so he can do as he pleases?"
*Bang*
Chen Yaoming was successfully angered into fainting by his own daughter.
Guo Xiaoli, confused by Tian Jing's rambling, forgot her original intention. Without paying attention, she couldn't support her husband and fell with him.
*Crack,* her ankle twisted.