Qi Fenglian returned home, feeling more and more that something was wrong. She rushed to the bathroom and pushed the door open, catching Zhang Jisheng in a fluster as he hurriedly stuffed a book behind him.
"What are you doing? Don’t you know I’m in here?" Zhang Jisheng roared angrily.
"What are you sneakily hiding behind you?" Qi Fenglian spotted a corner of a book peeking out from behind him.
"What could it be, just a couple of books, now get out," Zhang Jisheng urged her.
"Then hurry up and come out, I have something to ask you," Qi Fenglian said, frowning.
Zhang Jisheng glared at her, waiting for her to leave and close the door again, thinking to himself how reckless she was to barge in like that.
After waiting for a while and confirming she wouldn’t come back in, he retrieved the book again and, full of interest, began to flip through it. It was a book he had bought from a street vendor, filled with captivating content.
Qi Fenglian urged him two more times before Zhang Jisheng finally came out sluggishly and asked, "What is it?"
"Were you about to fall in the toilet? You’ve been in there for half an hour," Qi Fenglian glared at him.
"Can’t I be constipated?" Zhang Jisheng’s face flushed red, asking, "What do you want to talk about?"
"I want to ask you, what’s going on with you and Taiguo? Are you hiding something from me?" Qi Fenglian stared intently at his expression.
Zhang Jisheng’s heart skipped a beat, his eyes a bit evasive, he said, "What could I be hiding from you? We eat and live together every day, what could I possibly keep from you?"
Qi Fenglian eyed him slowly and said, "But Taiguo said..."
"What did he say?" Zhang Jisheng immediately inquired.
Qi Fenglian squinted her eyes and said, "He didn’t say much, but why are you so nervous? Come on, tell me, do you have some unresolved issue that I’m not aware of?"
Zhang Jisheng stiffened his neck, his face red as he said, "What could it be, you know Taiguo’s temper well enough, don’t you? He’s always been dissatisfied with me, he looks down on me!" Thinking of Cheng Su’s coldness towards him today, he added, "Both of them look down on me, they think you married below your station by being with me!"
"Nonsense, they’re not like that!" Qi Fenglian defended, "There must be something you did wrong that made them dissatisfied with you!"
Hearing that, Zhang Jisheng spoke back more intensely, "What do you know about it? You just keep siding with those two, don’t you ever think that I’m your husband? You don’t even trust me!"
"Taiguo has said countless times to treat you better, saying you got a raw deal marrying me. You weren’t there, how would you know? You’ve been married into the family for over ten years, he’s looked down on me for over ten years, blaming me for not giving you a better life!"
Seeing his anger, Qi Fenglian said, "I’m just asking you, why are you getting so worked up? We’re all straightforward relatives, if there are misunderstandings, they should be cleared up, right? What’s the point in holding a grudge? Taiguo and the others are reasonable, they won’t make a fuss over nothing."
"It doesn’t matter how they see me. If you think being with me is no good, then just go!" Zhang Jisheng snorted and headed straight back to the room.
Hearing this disheartening comment, Qi Fenglian was really infuriated and shouted from behind him, "I’m just discussing an issue with you, where did you veer off to? If I didn’t still care for you, would I have stuck it out with you for all these years? You are so ungrateful."
Zhang Jisheng paused for a moment, grunted, and went into the room.
Fuming, Qi Fenglian thought about how unreasonable he was becoming, then she pondered for a moment and walked into the bathroom.
She rummaged through the whole room and finally retrieved a magazine from a hidden pipe. Upon seeing the cover of a flamboyant, scantily clad woman, she immediately exclaimed, then opened the magazine to find it filled with all sorts of trashy, erotic stories.
"This deadbeat, when did he start reading this kind of trash?" Qi Fenglian blushed deeply, hurriedly stuffing it back where it was.