Reborn in the 1970s — Married a Proud Rough Man

Qin Xiang shot Jie Jingchen a look. ’He’s not an idiot, so of course he knows what his little sister means.’ He was more than happy to give his sister money. ”How much?” he asked magnanimously.

”Whatever,” Qin Mei said, then added, ”The more, the better.”

Qin Xiang didn’t hesitate, pulling a ”Great Unity” ten-yuan bill straight from his pocket. ”Is ten yuan enough?”

Qin Mei’s eyelid twitched. Compared to her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, Qin Xiang was being pretty stingy. But then she thought about it. ’Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law are loaded, while Qin Xiang is just a soldier. He’s not married yet, so he can still spend his money freely. Once he gets married and has to hand over his salary, forget about him giving her money—it’ll be a miracle if he doesn’t ask her for some.’

’If a sister wanted to get along with her brother’s wife, she had to slip her some money every now and then. She and her sister-in-law, Jing Qi, were a prime example.’

’She wasn’t earning money yet. Once she was, she would be just as generous as Jing Qi.’

”It’s enough.” Qin Mei happily took the ten yuan from Qin Xiang and stuffed it into her pocket.

”Oh, you...” Jie Jingchen sighed helplessly, tracing his index finger down the tip of Qin Mei’s nose. Beneath his lowered lashes was unconcealed affection.

Qin Mei touched her nose. ’She didn’t want to talk about money with Jie Jingchen; it would hurt their relationship. It was bad enough that he didn’t voluntarily hand over his salary, but he also hadn’t delivered on the medical fees he’d promised for Jing Qi’s leg treatment.’

’Her mother-in-law had paid for the new kitchen and bathroom, and she herself had paid for the renovations. Fortunately, while Jie Jingchen hadn’t contributed any money, he had contributed his labor—with all his heart and soul! She was quite satisfied with that, at least.’

’If Jie Jingchen’s surname weren’t Jie and hers weren’t Qin, Qin Mei would have thought he was a live-in son-in-law.’

”Are you hungry?” Jie Jingchen asked. It was almost lunchtime, and he wanted to take them to the hospital cafeteria. He had money and ration tickets on him.

”I’m starving. Big Bro, let’s go home.” Qin Mei rubbed her stomach. She had eaten a late breakfast and wasn’t actually hungry yet.

”You got it.” Qin Xiang couldn’t be happier. The bicycle was right there.

Jie Jingchen’s face darkened. Qin Mei had only told Qin Xiang to go home, not him. He was not pleased. He grabbed Qin Xiang and reminded him in a cold voice, ”A bicycle can’t fit three people.”

Two men and one woman crammed onto a ladies’ bicycle—just imagining the scene was a little horrifying.

”Jie Jingsi, what I mean is, you should go back to work at the machinery factory, and Big Bro and I will go home,” Qin Mei said.

”I’m not going back to the factory.” Jie Jingchen domineeringly pushed Qin Xiang aside, swung a long leg over the bicycle, and sat down, steadying it as he waited for Qin Mei to get on.

Qin Xiang didn’t argue with him and just stood silently to the side.

”Jie Jingsi, the machinery factory isn’t owned by your family. You can’t just skip work whenever you feel like it,” Qin Mei reminded him.

”My dad’s the factory director,” Jie Jingchen said, arrogant and defiant.

Qin Mei fell silent. ’Jie Jingchen was acting so punchable right now. Screwing over his dad like this, sooner or later he was going to get him kicked out of his position.’

’The guy’s family was rich. Forget skipping work, it was probably normal for him to just not show up at all.’

’At first, she’d gotten the impression that Jie Jingjue didn’t love his job, wasn’t motivated at work, and was always slacking off. Now, her impression of Jie Jingchen was that he didn’t go to work to earn money, but purely to coast.’

’Nothing to be done about it. When you’re rich, you can be willful.’

’To say Jie Jingchen was rich... he had never given her any money. To say he was poor... he never seemed to be short on cash.’

”Meimei, hurry up,” Jie Jingchen urged.

Qin Mei didn’t rush to get on the bike. She looked at Qin Xiang. ”What about my big bro?”

Hearing this, Qin Xiang was deeply moved. ’His little sister was still his little sister, her concern for him hadn’t diminished in the slightest.’ Qin Xiang was the type to forget the pain once the wound healed; he’d already cast aside the memory of Qin Mei scaring him and swindling his money.

Qin Xiang moved closer to Qin Mei, leaned over, and rested his head on her slender shoulder. ”Little Sis, you’re still the one who treats me best.”

”Qin Xiang, get your head off my wife’s shoulder.” A layer of frost seemed to coat Jie Jingchen’s amber eyes, and anger slowly rose on his face.

His possessiveness was extreme. Even though the man was Qin Mei’s big brother, he couldn’t stand seeing Qin Xiang so close to her.

”What’s there to be jealous about? I even gave my little sister baths when she was little.” Qin Xiang’s words were enough to kill someone with pure aggravation.

He was seven years older than Qin Mei. A few days after she was born, she’d had an accident in her diaper that the adults hadn’t noticed, and it got everywhere. Without calling for a grown-up, and not at all grossed out by his little sister’s mess, he had tried to mimic how his mom bathed her and give her a bath himself. He nearly drowned her. Thankfully, his mom discovered him in time and averted a tragedy.

The consequence for him was a savage beating from his dad and older brothers. After that, they never let him be alone with his little sister again.

Jie Jingchen’s thin lips pressed into a tight line. A storm brewed in his eyes, his displeasure ready to erupt at any moment.

Qin Mei was a bit mortified. She nudged him with her elbow and gave him a light kick for good measure. ”Get away from me.”

”Little Sis.” Qin Xiang was wounded. ’Between kinship and romance, his little sister had chosen romance.’

Qin Mei got on the bicycle, her slender arms wrapping around his lean waist. Only then was the fire of Jie Jingchen’s anger extinguished.

”Hold on tight,” Jie Jingchen said, his voice deep but not without a trace of gentleness.

”Okay, let’s go.” Qin Mei hugged him tightly, habitually resting her cheek against his back.

Jie Jingchen was very satisfied. As he rode the bicycle away, he deliberately grazed the tips of Qin Xiang’s shoes.

Qin Xiang froze for a second. ’That guy is provoking me. So childish.’ He, more than anyone, hoped the couple would have a deep and loving relationship.

”What about me? What am I supposed to do?” Qin Xiang deliberately shouted after them.

”Take the bus,” Jie Jingchen replied coldly.

Qin Xiang was left fuming. He had brought his little sister to the hospital on his bicycle, and now he had to take the bus back alone. Just the thought of it was infuriating, but he could only resign himself to his fate and walk toward the bus stop.

Jie Jingchen was giving Qin Mei a ride when they passed by the department store. Qin Mei saw Shen Qing laughing and chatting with a man as they entered the building.

”Jie Jingsi, Jie Jingsi, look over there, quick!” Qin Mei patted Jie Jingchen’s back, pointing toward the department store. Realizing he was riding the bike, she pulled her hand back. ”Over by the department store.”

Jie Jingchen steadied the handlebars and put a foot on the ground. He looked toward the department store, his gaze deepening. His complex feelings ultimately dissolved into a quiet sigh. ”Let’s go.”

”Wait a second.” Qin Mei jumped right off the bicycle.

Jie Jingchen’s brow furrowed deeply, his voice sinking a few degrees. ”Meimei.”

”Come on, let’s... go shopping.” Qin Mei had wanted to say ’let’s go follow them,’ but she forced herself to change the words to ’go shopping’ as they reached her lips.

Jie Jingchen knew perfectly well that shopping was a pretense; tailing someone was the real goal. A flicker of light crossed his eyes. ”Meimei, it’s better to not get involved. Let’s not meddle in this.”

”Are you hoping to get a new third sister-in-law?” Qin Mei asked, a smile in her eyes. ’Although Shen Qing was as cold as ice, she wasn’t unlikable. She was genuinely good to Jing Qi, not insincere and hypocritical like Xu Chunyan. Qin Mei actually quite liked Shen Qing as a sister-in-law.’

”Don’t be ridiculous.” Jie Jingchen’s eyes darkened slightly. ’Are we addicted to swapping out sisters-in-law now? First the second, now the third?’

”Jie Jingsi, this is the second time we’ve run into them. If things keep going at this rate, your third sister-in-law and third brother are really going to get a divorce. When your second brother got divorced, he had Lin Yaru to seamlessly step in. It’s hard to say what will happen if your third brother gets divorced.” Qin Mei wasn’t a nosy person, but she really did want to try and mend Shen Qing and Jie Jinghun’s marriage.

’Being sisters-in-law with Shen Qing was pretty easygoing. It would be a huge hassle if Jie Jinghun remarried and found someone like Xu Chunyan. Jie Jingwei’s new wife was Lin Yaru, but the person Lin Yaru really wanted to marry was Jie Jingchen. It would be an all-out war between the sisters-in-law!’

”If they want a divorce, none of us can stop them,” Jie Jingchen said, looking helplessly at Qin Mei.

”How do you know we can’t stop them if we don’t even try? What if our meddling makes Shen Qing pull back from the brink?” Seeing that Jie Jingchen wasn’t cooperating, Qin Mei went and pulled him off the bicycle.