Reborn in the 1980s: Recapture My Devoted Husband-Chapter 973 - 790: Theft
"Oh dear, what’s going on here, the elderly are sick, the young ones are too, after you left today, something happened to Hua Hua at home as well, accidentally bumped his head, got several stitches. Cried all afternoon, and started having a fever after dinner. Right now, he’s probably getting an IV." Liang Qian felt something was off, everyone in the family having problems recently, it’s truly worrying.
"Hua Hua injured his head?" What’s going on?
"These past few days everyone has been in the hospital, so we left Aunt Wu at home to watch the kid, who knew while playing with kids in the courtyard, Hua Hua accidentally fell on the ground and hit his head on a rock. Got a big cut on the head, needed several stitches. We went to see him, the child suffered, cried continuously in pain."
Liang Qian went with them to pediatrics to let the doctor on duty take a look, it was just a throat infection, a few days of antibiotics would do.
No need for hospitalization, just go to the infusion room to get the child on an IV.
The three of them fussed around for a good half hour, the child finally got on the IV. Also took some fever-reducing medicine.
Now it’s just waiting with the child through this.
"It’s not as warm here as in the ward, wait for me to bring your godfather’s coat from the ward."
"Godmother, let me go." Han Yi is holding the child for the IV, can’t move, Lin Wan with her big belly can only sit aside, doing nothing.
"No need, no need, I’ll be right back." Liang Qian said, already a few steps away. Not giving Lin Wan a chance to stand up.
Liang Qian went to the ward to get Mei Shuqing’s coat, did not wake him up, feeling sorry for her husband who hadn’t slept for a day and a night, knowing Little Star wasn’t seriously ill anyway.
When Liang Qian came out, she saw Chen Haichang in the corridor whom she hadn’t seen for several days.
"Hai Chang. What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
"Oh, it’s Second Sis-in-law, I came to see if Old Man is dead or not yet."
Liang Qian was no longer surprised by Chen Haichang’s way of speaking, teasing back, "He won’t die."
"Second Sis-in-law, why are you still up in the middle of the night?"
"Little Star has a fever, Han Yi and Lin Wan are in the infusion room downstairs, I’m bringing some clothes for the child."
When Mr. Mei was injured and hospitalized, Chen Haichang hadn’t frowned, but now hearing Little Star was sick, he frowned with worry.
"I’ll go down with you to take a look. How did she suddenly fall ill?"
"Who knows, this morning in the hospital, she was still fine, maybe being in the hospital earlier in the day, there’s quite a bit of flu going around now, quite possibly caught something."
Chen Haichang frowned; "Elder Nephew is careless too, Lin Wan being heavily pregnant, and Little Star so small, how could he let them come."
Speaking of which, Liang Qian got angry, recounted the old lady’s actions these days to Chen Haichang, "If your second brother didn’t insist on letting Han Yi and them go back today, who knows what trouble she would still cause."
Chen Haichang didn’t look well, showing he was angry at the moment, but he didn’t say anything, clearly having a plan in mind.
On the way, Liang Qian also mentioned to Chen Haichang about Hua Hua’s head injury in the afternoon. Complained about the constant troubles in the Mei Family recently.
"Can’t blame others, the eldest guy’s family, so many people, all come over to serve the old lady to show filial piety, so busy they don’t care about their kids, they deserve it." Chen Haichang couldn’t stand the hypocrisy of the eldest’s family.
"Old Three, what you said I like to hear, all these years, the eldest daughter-in-law always buttering up to the elders, pretending to be filial, all for the moment Mr. Mei and the old lady pass away, to secretly get something good."
Chen Haichang listened, raised an eyebrow, teasingly said, "Who doesn’t want good stuff, Second Sis-in-law, you really don’t care for the old man’s things?"
"I’m not the type to live wronged because of those things, I’d rather live my own life, plus our family isn’t so poor we can’t afford a meal, no need to envy their stuff. If the elders are willing to give us the second son’s share, fine, if not, we won’t fight. Right now, my husband and son are all doing well, we can live well on our own. We have food, money to spend, and extra savings, chasing after those items would only make life uncomfortable, and living unhappily, shaving off a few years, it’s not worth it." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
Chen Haichang, hearing this, laughed heartily "Second Sis-in-law, you’re so easily satisfied, it’s because Second Brother has a good eye, marrying such a good woman like you."
Liang Qian glanced at him, feeling a bit out of place with his teasing at her age, "You’re wrong there, it’s not that your second brother has a good eye, but that I have a good eye for choosing your second brother."
"Oh, a girl chasing a guy, shamelessly relentless?"
"Oh, come on, it wasn’t like that. When I was young, I was quite the catch, didn’t need to be shamelessly relentless. When I said I wanted to date him, your second brother was over the moon. With his clumsy mouth, if women weren’t proactive, he’d have a hard time finding a wife his whole life."
When Chen Haichang followed Liang Qian to the infusion room, Little Star was already asleep.
"How is it going?"
Han Yi and Lin Wan didn’t expect Chen Haichang to be here at this time, "The fever’s gone, just fell asleep? How come you’re here?" Lin Wan responded.
After covering the child with a coat, Liang Qian sat beside them and chatted in a low voice.
With not many people needed to accompany the child on the IV drip, Lin Wan quickly urged the godmother to go back to the ward to sleep. Liang Qian was worried that Mei Shuqing would wake up and not find her, so after seeing that Xingxing’s fever had subsided, she explained to them and went upstairs.
Leaving Chen Haichang to accompany the couple, he didn’t seem inclined to leave.
"Uncle San, where have you been these days?" Lin Wan thought that with Mr. Mei sick, he would come to add to his troubles now.
"Nowhere, just dealing with some business matters. It’s the end of the year, many things need to be arranged. The city has a trade fair these days. So, I took a look. Originally, I wanted to get a stall, but it was all booked out. Speaking of which, Xiao Wan, I think your factory should participate in more of these fairs. You don’t know, the crowds are huge, mostly consumers. Participating a few times a year wouldn’t be bad. Not for the sales volume, but mainly to promote your brand."
Lin Wan, of course, knew about the trade fairs of these times, but she hadn’t expected them to have started already. This piqued her interest, "This is a good idea, thanks for the reminder, Uncle San. I’ll call Su when I return and tell them to watch out for such large fairs. Talk to our distributors, we can encourage them to attend more."
"That’s a good strategy, letting the distributors go. It gives them a way to make money and increases your brand’s visibility and sales. And it saves you the trouble of traveling around each city, which can cut costs," Chen Haichang said while stroking his chin, quite agreeing. He, too, could mention this to his old clients in the fabric business.
"We’re not going to participate in regular city fairs from our factory. Uncle San, you’re at the port side, surely there are major brand clothing fairs every year. Keep an eye out for us for those; we’d like to join."
"No problem. There was one last year, some foreign merchants also participated, but we weren’t familiar back then. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for this year’s fair for you."
"That’s great." It’s good to have someone familiar in the coastal city, keeps the information flowing.
After returning, she really needed to call Su Ling to set a rule that every year they must visit Guangdong and the coastal areas. The development there is so fast, changing every year. They must always understand the market trends, stay ahead, and not fall behind.
To make the factory thrive, researching market trends, and capturing firsthand information is most important.
....
On Ye Qing’s end, today, as she wished, all the Mei Family members were in the hospital. Mei Shuping was with Old Mrs. Mei, while Xie Lingzhi, Mei Langchi, and Ye Qing were watching the children.
The Mei Family had only Aunt Wu at home today. Initially, she intended to add some medicine to the water when she returned in the afternoon. But who knew her son’s matter would erupt so suddenly, she didn’t have the chance to give it to Aunt Wu, and she didn’t know if the person moved yet.
Speaking of the person Ye Qing mentioned, he’s someone from the old yard, his surname is Qu. His dad is a soldier, but he’s a disappointment, unwilling to join the army, and he fishes for three days and suns his nets for two days as a worker. He doesn’t work properly, has no money, so he has to resort to stealing and petty crimes in the factory. His family has changed countless jobs for him because of this. But he never reforms, always due to his sticky fingers. That’s why the people in the yard like to call him Qu Liushou.
His family is also helpless with him, unable to teach him, the older he gets, the less control they have, and eventually, they just gave up, and he severed ties with the family.
Though he no longer lives in the courtyard and has some tension with his family, he occasionally sneaks back to eat and drink for free. The yard guards know him; they couldn’t stop him after a while, and the family never said not to let him in, so later it just became allowed for him to come and go.
Ye Qing noticed him once when she was coming to the courtyard and saw him slyly stealing at the gate.
When Ye Qing approached him, she was straightforward, asking him to steal from the Mei Family, and she would, of course, inform him when the Mei Family wouldn’t be home.
The matter tonight was prearranged between Ye Qing and him. Ye Qing even drew him a map of Mr. Mei’s study, telling him to head straight there.
Since the cabinet lock’s key wasn’t found, she instructed him to bring tools to break it open and take the items directly to the agreed-upon spot. As a reward, Ye Qing promised to give him a couple of things. Qu Liushou, considering his tight financial situation, thought if this worked out, then selling those treasures at a high price could earn him a good amount, easing his urgent needs and potentially providing for his future.
