The Delicate Darling with Her Rough Man

Chapter 184: Chapter 183: Knowing the Face but Not the Heart

In the back room.

A small, elderly woman was mending clothes with a needle and thread.

This was Lin Jiandong’s mother, Jin Meifeng.

The old woman had a sharp chin and a gaunt face. When she glared at people, she exuded a fierce energy, looking like she wasn’t easy to get along with.

Lin Jiandong entered the room, walked up to Jin Meifeng, and spoke in a low voice.

”Ma, Leng Yuan is over at the neighbor’s shoveling snow!”

Jin Meifeng glanced at her son and replied nonchalantly, ”So he’s shoveling snow. What’s the big deal?”

The man grew anxious at once.

”For crying out loud, Ma, Leng Yuan is over there shoveling snow. Don’t you think he’s after Sweet Girl’s house?”

At these words, Jin Meifeng’s hand, holding the needle and thread, paused. ”No way!”

”Leng Yuan is a teacher, after all. How could he be after Sweet Girl’s house!”

”Why not? If he wasn’t scheming for the courtyard, why would he be so kind as to shovel it for those two stinking beggars?” The more the man thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

’If Leng Yuan isn’t scheming, why is he helping them shovel the courtyard?’

’What’s he getting out of it?’

”This won’t do, Ma. We can’t just sit here and wait. I need to go find the village chief as soon as possible and finalize Sweet Girl’s adoption. Only then can I rest easy!”

He absolutely could not let the house fall into Leng Yuan’s hands.

Back when Sweet Girl’s parents were still alive, the house they built was a good one, and he had been incredibly envious of it even then.

After Sweet Girl’s parents passed away, he began to covet the house.

But he was unwilling to raise Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang, yet he still wanted their property.

So he coaxed Sweet Girl into giving him all her things, and in return, he would give her some grain.

Over the years, most of the furniture from Sweet Girl’s house had ended up in his.

As for the courtyard, he already considered it his.

He was just waiting for Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang to get a little older, old enough to work, and then he would just adopt them outright.

That way, they could earn their own work points and food, and he would get a courtyard for free.

He had been planning this perfect, best-of-both-worlds scheme for years.

But Leng Yuan’s sudden closeness to Sweet Girl had made him anxious.

’What if he’s after the courtyard too?’

The old woman thought for a moment and decided her son was right.

”That Sweet Girl is already twelve. She earns a decent amount of work points, and in a few years, we can demand a bride price for her. No matter how you look at it, it’s not a losing deal, especially with a courtyard on top of it all.”

”It’s just that Xiao Yang is a bit of a problem. He’s a boy, so we’ll have to get him a wife in the future.”

This was what the man was worried about too.

Once they adopted him, they would have to find Xiao Yang a wife.

He ran a hand through his hair, thinking of a solution.

”Ma, how about this? We adopt them first. We keep Sweet Girl until she’s grown and collect a bride price for her. As for Xiao Yang, he’s still young, so we can just find a family with no sons and sell him for a good sum.”

The old woman’s eyes lit up.

”That’s a great idea.”

”Then hurry up and go talk to the village chief. Don’t let Leng Yuan beat you to it.”

Lin Jiandong wished he could go right now, but it was useless for him to go alone.

He had to wait for Leng Yuan to leave and take Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang with him.

But Leng Yuan just wouldn’t leave.

It wasn’t enough that he helped shovel the snow; he even let Gu Jiaojiao help light the firewood and heat the kang.

This whole ordeal took half the day, and Lin Jiandong waited anxiously the entire time.

Gu Jiaojiao, unaware of her neighbors’ plans, felt that the room was warm enough and sealed the opening of the kang.

It shouldn’t be heated too much all at once, or it could get stuffy.

Seeing that it was already noon, Gu Jiaojiao wanted to call the two children over to eat.

But when she saw their thin clothes and their worn-out, hole-ridden shoes, she changed her mind.

’It would be better to cook the food and bring it over to them!’

Gu Jiaojiao told Sweet Girl about her plan for lunch, but Sweet Girl shook her head.

”Big Sister, we have food at home, enough to eat. You don’t have to worry about us. I can cook myself.”

As she spoke, Sweet Girl took out some coarse grains to show Gu Jiaojiao.

There was some cornmeal and some dried sweet potatoes.

People ate these things nowadays, so it wasn’t strange.

Seeing that they had food, Gu Jiaojiao didn’t insist.