"No matter what, we can’t fall out with the Fong Family! You just push the blame onto Meng Xinian!"
"But what if Meng Xinian tells the truth?" Gao Wei was still somewhat scared.
"That’s why I told you to hurry and bring the Fong Family’s people to the scene! Are you stupid or what? What good is running back home now? Check on Jianye’s condition first! What if he’s got no injuries at all?"
"No, that’s impossible, there’s no way he’s unharmed. I saw him collapse in an instant, blood streaming from his head..." Thinking back to that scene made Gao Wei tremble again.
In his view, there was really a strong likelihood that Fong Jianye might not even have a chance of surviving.
Gao’s Father kicked him in the foot and barked, "That’s why I’m telling you to go now! Go with the Fong Family’s people! Act according to the situation! If Jianye is fine, you two can talk it out and there’ll be no issue, and if something did happen to Jianye... do as I just instructed! Do you understand?"
Gao Wei nodded with a pale face, "Dad, I’ll go, I’ll go right now."
He stumbled out of the front door.
Chiang Xiao returned home after school, feeling a weight on her heart, uneasy no matter what she did.
The day after tomorrow was the weekend, and after some thought, she still felt she should make a trip to the provincial city. Now with about eighteen hundred yuan on her, she planned to first give Chu Liang twelve hundred yuan to start repairing the floors, walls, and stairs.
The two rooms downstairs were very large, and Chiang Xiao thought they could be separated to make four rooms.
Two days ago, Chu Liang had written to her, saying he found a small pottery workshop, where the owner’s family had been craftsmen for four generations. He pestered the owner for a long time before he agreed to help fire any pieces he deemed passable.
Chiang Xiao wanted to see for herself.
Chiang Songhai and Ge Liutao were still exhilarated by the previous order and did not want to join her in going to the provincial city.
"If you receive an order in the city, someone wanting tea snacks, your grandmother and I could make them right at home," Chiang Songhai was hopeful for more orders.
Ge Liutao agreed, "Yeah, otherwise we’ll have to carry tea powder and honey with us, which is such a hassle. We’ve already shipped half of the boxes here; surely we can’t be schlepping boxes around again, can we?"
No matter what, they just wanted to stay and wait for orders.
Chiang Xiao had intended for them to participate in the house’s renovation in the provincial city, but seeing their attitude, she was somewhat torn between laughter and frustration, with no other choice.
"You’re not worried now about my safety going to the city alone?" she said, jokingly.
Ge Liutao looked at Chiang Songhai, who was quite composed, "Xinian even taught you some boxing technique, we are at ease, very much so."
Thinking about it, without knowing exactly when, their worry for her and reluctance to let her out alone had turned into this level of comfort and confidence.
Was everything related to him?
Chiang Xiao, having no choice, asked for a couple of days off the next morning and rushed to the county town to catch the train to the provincial city.
But hardly had she arrived at the house when Chu Liang, with a darkened face and anxious, broke the news to her, "Captain Meng had an accident!"
Chiang Xiao was still carrying some items, which crashed to the floor with a clatter.
Chu Liang had always been in touch with Meng Xinian; recently, he had moved into this house, to which Meng Xinian had provided some money and people to install a telephone.
Therefore, Chu Liang was one of the first to receive a call from Chen Yin.
"Chen Yin, Xinian’s childhood friend?" Chiang Xiao had seen the name Chen Yin in Meng Xinian’s letters three or four times before.