Chapter 237: Split Early To Untangle Things Early
Even if they discovered a gold mine, it would still be classified information, and it definitely wouldn’t be announced to the outside for the time being.
Xiao Cangcang has a natural sensitivity to metals. Lu Qiaoge believed it when it said it could help her find the gold mine.
So when Xiao Cangcang said there was still a gold vein beneath the old gold mine, Lu Qiaoge believed it too.
After appropriately reminding Qin Hengzhi, she stopped paying attention to it.
She was still a Neighborhood Committee Mediator now. Even if the authorities wanted to promote her, it wouldn’t comply with regulations. Filling out the application form to become a cadre was already a special case.
Lu Qiaoge also wrote another application to continue downward; this identity was a must.
So Lu Qiaoge wasn’t anxious.
She followed Sister Qiao to screen households with dogs; small ones were fine, but for large ones, they notified the owners to tie them up.
In one morning, they visited two-thirds of the bungalow area.
Seeing it was almost noon, Sister Qiao and Lu Qiaoge prepared to get off work, agreed on a meeting place for the afternoon, and were about to part ways when they heard noisy arguing ahead.
Sister Qiao and Lu Qiaoge exchanged a glance and reflexively rode their bicycles toward the front without even thinking.
When they arrived at the place, they saw a man grabbing another man, shouting sternly: “Meng Liben, what’s the point of this? The children you’re raising are all my seed. When they grow up, they’ll be filial to me, their biological father. You’re putting in effort for no reward. Why not divorce Xiaoxia?”
The man called Meng Liben had a scar on his face. He clenched his fists, forcibly suppressing the anger in his heart, and said in a deep voice: “Let go!”
Lu Qiaoge saw that one of them was Ding Zichuan, the one who had sold thirty-six yuan and eighty-nine cents plus eighteen jin of grain ration tickets and one jin of meat tickets hidden in a book, then framed Wu Xiaoxia, right?
And the other man with the scar on his face was known to both Sister Qiao and Lu Qiaoge.
He was the man Wu Xiaoxia later married.
So his name was Meng Liben.
More and more people gathered around, then Wu Xiaoxia squeezed into the crowd and grabbed Meng Liben’s hand: “Let’s go, go home.”
But if you listened carefully, you could hear the trembling she was forcibly holding back.
Meng Liben was about to follow Wu Xiaoxia, but his face was grim and quite intimidating.
No one knew if it was toward Wu Xiaoxia or Ding Zichuan.
They naturally couldn’t just walk away after watching the spectacle upon encountering such a matter, but they also couldn’t rashly step forward and meddle.
Sister Qiao and Lu Qiaoge said: “Let’s watch first; maybe it’ll disperse if nothing happens.”
In this world, people with upright values still made up the majority.
Someone criticized Ding Zichuan: “Don’t be unreasonable. How can you speak so harshly? I even advised you during the divorce, but you wouldn’t listen. You didn’t want any of the children. Now you’re regretting it and making trouble for Meng Liben. You’re really clueless. Let go quickly.”
“Exactly, in the middle of the day, pulling and tugging like this doesn’t look good.”
Ding Zichuan’s face darkened, and he had no choice but to let go.
But the next moment, he went to grab Wu Xiaoxia instead.
He was stopped by the quick-eyed and quick-handed Meng Liben, who roared: “Ding Zichuan, if you dare entangle again, I’ll go to the Security Department.”
Ding Zichuan seemed to be desperate: “Go ahead, go find them. Do you have any say if I come to see my son? Which law in this world says that after divorce, a biological father can’t go see his son?”
There really wasn’t one.
Meng Liben said nothing, his face grim.
He couldn’t speak harshly to Wu Xiaoxia either; what if this bastard said something unpleasant?
Suddenly, Ding Zichuan faced Wu Xiaoxia and burst into loud sobs: “Xiaoxia, I was wrong, I was wrong. Forgive me. I really regret it. I’ve regretted it for a long time. I regret it so much I want to kill myself, wuwuwu…”
This outburst from Ding Zichuan startled everyone around.
They say a man’s tears aren’t shed lightly, only at the saddest moment.
It was truly the first time seeing a grown man cry so heartbrokenly.
Wu Xiaoxia’s face immediately paled.
For some reason, her eyes reddened too; it was the first time she had seen Ding Zichuan shed tears.
She even seemed a bit at a loss.
This wouldn’t do.
Lu Qiaoge wanted to step forward and interrupt, but then thought better of it. No, it wasn’t to test Wu Xiaoxia and Meng Liben’s emotions. If Ding Zichuan kept entangling like this and Wu Xiaoxia softened, it might not be fair to Meng Liben, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It was the kind where separating sooner made it cleaner.
Otherwise, the dragging on would never end, and no one could live peacefully.
Lu Qiaoge saw Meng Liben glance at Wu Xiaoxia’s expression, then slowly release her hand.
His expression also turned cold.
From the outside, the handsome Ding Zichuan and the beautiful Wu Xiaoxia actually matched well.
As for Meng Liben, he had scars on his face, several crisscrossing ones at that. If not for his upright and resolute demeanor, he indeed couldn’t compare to the handsome Ding Zichuan.
Someone whispered in discussion: “Sigh, actually, a couple is still best as the original pair. No matter what, there are two children, all biological father and biological mother.”
“Yeah, Ding Zichuan regrets it now big time. Look how wretched he cries. Sigh, he looks quite pitiful.”
“Who says otherwise? I saw him buying treats for the two kids; the father and sons were chatting and laughing, so close.”
“Actually, Ding Zichuan isn’t wrong. They’re all in one family courtyard. The two kids aren’t young anymore. Meng Liben acting as stepfather is so pointless; isn’t he just raising kids for Ding Zichuan’s family?”
“I say Meng Liben might as well find a widow with kids; that way the children can bond properly.”
Lu Qiaoge frowned. Could it be that Ding Zichuan and Chen Dafeng had divorced?
She turned to Sister Qiao: “Did Ding Zichuan divorce?”
Sister Qiao shook her head: “This… I’m not sure.”
Then Sister Qiao lowered her voice: “Matters between men and women are inherently hard to resolve. You can’t just blame Ding Zichuan now; you have to look at Wu Xiaoxia’s attitude too. Oh, and Meng Liben—if he has a knot in his heart, he and Xiaoxia won’t be able to live well either.”
She paused, then added: “What they say isn’t wrong either. Living in one family courtyard, who can stop Ding Zichuan from seeing the kids? You can’t make the children not recognize their biological father, right?”
Lu Qiaoge frowned and said bluntly: “If the two get back together, given Ding Zichuan’s petty nature, can they really be the same as before without resentment?”
That’s how the world was.
The standards for women had always been harsh.
A cheating man had merely committed a mistake all men in the world would make, but a cheating woman had so many disgusting labels attached to her.
A man divorced several times could still find a little girl, but a woman divorced once was basically seen as a problematic divorcee.
Just like Wu Xiaoxia.
She was remarrying, married to another man, and had been together for almost a year. Of course Ding Zichuan would mind.
Sister Qiao thought carefully and realized it made sense.
But just then, a woman rushed in from outside the crowd.
It was Ding Zichuan’s current wife, Chen Dafeng.
She charged into the crowd, ignored the sobbing Ding Zichuan, and lunged straight at Wu Xiaoxia.
