Back To The 80s-Chapter 515 - 507: Doubt_1

Liao Qing looked at the dirt-faced Liao Zhe, who they were firmly holding. This was her son, the one she craved for even in her dreams. But in pursuit of a better life, she had no choice but to abandon him and was startled to see how much he had grown.

Chen Qiumei hurled insults at her: "Even animals are better than you, at least they rear their offspring. But you, just to delight your taste buds, discarded your child." Mid-insult, she noticed the gold earrings on Liao Qing and became even more agitated: "You owe us years of childcare expenses for Liao Zhe."

Liao Qing murmured, "I don’t have any money."

"Don’t you dare use that as an excuse. If you don’t pay today, I won’t leave," Chen Qiumei said, her throat parched from yelling. She pulled up a chair and sat down.

Liao Qing glanced at Liao Zhe several times before finally deciding to not admit she was his mother. The child in her arms now was her son with Zhan Hezhi. For the sake of the future, she couldn’t admit to being Liao Zhe’s mother.

The more Chen Qiumei looked at her, the angrier she became. "You can be shameless, but abandoning your son is going to far. Let me tell you, if you don’t repent, we’re going to court," she scolded.

Fearing the situation would worsen, Liao Qing said in a small voice, "It’s not that I don’t want to pay, I genuinely don’t have money. You see, I’m not working and my child is still young, where would I find the surplus cash?"

Chen Qiumei muttered, "Don’t play poor with me. You have gold earrings, how poor could you be?"

Liao Qing chose to remain silent, clutching her child in silence.

Seeing that a physical altercation wouldn’t erupt again, Gu Xiaobei turned to leave.

Eventually, Liao Qing had no choice but to give into Chen Qiumei’s demands and hand over a hundred dollars.

Chen Qiumei was shrewd, she feared that as soon as she left with Liao Zhe, Liao Qing would grab her son and run. In order to avoid this, she insisted that Liao Zhe stays, promising him daily meat and toys from this woman.

Liao Zhe decided to stay, considering that going back with Chen Qiumlei meant being beaten frequently, staying back to eat meat seemed like a good option.

Liao Qing watched helplessly as Chen Qiumei left the yard, vanishing as swiftly as if she had grease smeared on the soles of her shoes.

Liao Qing looked at Liao Zhe, contemplating how she would explain his presence to Zhan Hezhi if he happened to visit that night. Fortunately, Zhan Hezhi only came over for dinner, so she figured she could lie for a few days. Still, she feared her ruse would be exposed if he continued to visit over a long period.

Gu Xiaobei figured that Chen Qiumei would be preoccupied with Liao Qing for a while and wouldn’t bother her.

After their evening meal, in the west room, Gu Xiaobei revealed the relationship between Ou Ruoshui and Ou Tiannan to Lu Zhanguo and Ji Xiangdong.

Lu Zhanguo and Ji Xiangdong exchanged glances, with the same thought crossing both their minds -- there must be something wrong with Ou Tiannan!

Ji Xiangdong said to Lu Zhanguo, "Can we get Shen Heng to investigate if Ou Tiannan’s money is clean?"

Lu Zhanguo shook his head, "It would be difficult, even if he did have issues, we couldn’t obtain evidence immediately."

Gu Xiaobei was slightly clueless about why they suspected Ou Tiannan’s money might be tainted, but seeing the brothers talk seriously, she refrained from interrupting.

As Ji Xiangdong looked at Doudou, he said after a moment’s thought, "We need to come up with a scheme to force him into showing his true self, then Shen Heng can help."

Although Gu Xiaobei didn’t fully understand why they suspected Ou Tiannan’s money could be illicit, she knew it would be extremely difficult to prove it, "Even if his initial capital was the result of a loot-and-kill operation, after all this time, it would be white-washed by now."

A daring thought suddenly occurred to Lu Zhanguo, "Could Ou Tiannan be the Ma Wenfeng that Shen was speaking about? If that’s the case, then the cache of jewels was doubtless stolen. That would explain how he amassed such a large fortune."

Ji Xiangdong agreed, "Let’s speculate for now. If Ou Tiannan is indeed Ma Wenfeng, then him knowing Ma Xuerong is logical. Considering he insisted that he was Ma Xuerong’s cousin, presumably a descendant of the Ma family. If it had been a stranger who had saved her, they wouldn’t have given her a new identity but rather would have attempted to help her recover her memory."

Lu Zhanguo concurred, the fact that Ou Tiannan had given Ou Ruoshui a new identity suggested that they were old acquaintances.

"I’ll make some time tomorrow to speak with Shen, he could look into Ou Tiannan’s identity," Lu Zhanguo said.

Ji Xiangdong furrowed his brow, "Even if he is Ma Wenfeng, like Xiaobei said, all the stolen goods are probably gone making evidence hard to come by, we may have to remain patient."

Seeing Gu Xiaobei’s recurring fluctuations between hope and despair, Lu Zhanguo assured her, "Patience will undoubtedly pay off. He must have left traces; it’s only a matter of time."

Gu Xiaobei sighed, "I just hope we can hang on to our factory."

Ji Xiangdong suddenly announced, "I’m considering taking an unpaid leave."

That statement was definitely a shocker, leaving everyone stunned.

"Why?", Bai Xiaolan asked, bewildered.

Ji Xiangdong laughed and replied, "I want to try my hand at business."

Gu Xiaobei was shocked. Ji Xiangdong had a promising political career, having already ascended to such high ranks at such a young age.

Seeing everyone’s surprised reaction, Ji Xiangdong gave a calm smile, "I’m only contemplating it, I haven’t taken any action yet. Don’t worry, any decision I make will be based on finding the ideal position for me to maximize my value."

Bai Xiaolan remained silent, she had no idea what to say. Ji Xiangdong had a steady job right now, quitting would mean giving up a regular income and there was no guarantee of success in business, given how Gu Xiaobei always seemed to run into issues.

Gu Xiaobei thought more optimistically, if Ji Xiangdong had made this decision, he must be discontented with his current job. When he was an army commander, he wielded absolute power, only having to report to the higher-ups periodically. Life in the army was simpler, focusing solely on production and land management.

After the initial surprise, Lu Zhanguo also reacted calmly. If he had Ji Xiangdong’s interpersonal skills, he too would have considered retiring from the army to assist Gu Xiaobei in her business.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Ji Xiangdong broke the silence with a smile, "Enough, it’s just a thought for now, if I do decide to implement it, it’ll be after the Ou Tiannan situation."

As it was getting late, Gu Xiaobei suggested to Lu Zhanguo that they should take the child home and discuss further tomorrow.

Upon entering the east room to carry the child, Wen Xiuqing anxiously asked, "Are you guys hiding something from us?" She was worried that there were issues brewing, given how the adults were huddled up in the west room after dinner and whispering complicitly.

Gu Xiaobei laughed and replied, "No worries, we were discussing some of my business matters. I was undecided on some issues and wanted advice from my older brother and Zhanguo."

Wen Xiuqing sighed with relief, "That’s fine, it’s fine then. Just don’t hide anything from us if anything goes wrong."