Hear this life

It was already past eight when I got home.

Wen Tingli jumped off the tram and walked into the alley with a pair of red eyes from crying.

The Wen family rented a house. The first floor was used as a tailor shop and the master bedroom. Xiao Taozi and Zhou Sao lived in the pavilion on the second floor. Wen Tingli lived alone in the bedroom on the third floor.

By this time, the tailor shop had already closed, so she went straight to the back to look for her father, but there was no one in the room. She stood in the corridor for a while, then heard a sound coming from the door, and saw her father walk in humming a triumphant tune.

Wen Desheng was caught off guard when he saw his daughter coming out from behind. He burped in surprise: "You're back so early?"

Wen Tingli said nothing.

Wen Desheng just thought that his daughter was angry about him going out drinking, and didn't take it seriously.

Not long ago, he went to the hospital because he was not feeling well. The Western doctor said that his liver was a little inflamed and asked him to stop drinking. He was always afraid of death, so he quit drinking immediately. For three months, he had hardly touched a drop of alcohol. But who asked Qiao Xingchu to take his daughter to the Qiao family to meet the elders in a grand manner tonight? Isn't this a good thing coming?

He sat at home alone, feeling more and more proud the more he thought about it. He didn't care about the doctor's instructions and happily went out to have a drink with his friends. He came back early on time, fearing that his daughter would get angry when she came back.

Seeing his daughter approaching him quickly, Wen Desheng suddenly opened his eyes wide and said, "Hey, why are you crying like this?"

My daughter's hair was disheveled and her eyes were red and swollen like peaches.

"What happened? Did Qiao Xingchu bully you?"

When Wen Tingli heard the name, she felt a lump in her throat, but she quickly wiped away her tears and pretended to be calm and asked, "Dad, did mom call me 'Arou'?"

Wen Desheng's expression changed instantly, and he said angrily, "What Ah Rou? Who told you that?"

"Dad, you said it yourself! A few years ago, you were drunk and arguing with mom, and I heard it with my own ears outside the door."

Wen Desheng stammered a few words, then jumped up and said angrily, "So what? Isn't that just a nickname? Did someone say something nonsense in front of you?"

Wen Tingli recalled how Mrs. Qiao had humiliated her both openly and secretly tonight at the Qiao family's house. She felt so aggrieved that she had nowhere to turn to, so she simply lay down on the table beside her and burst into tears.

Wen Desheng was so anxious that he kept jumping up and down. After finally getting the truth out of his daughter, he sat on the chair with a yellow face, swaying and asking, "How did Mrs. Qiao know about this?"

Wen Tingli continued to ask in a crying voice: "How did you get the scar on your face?"

"Your mother..."

Wen Desheng gritted his teeth and admitted, "Your mother was originally a rich lady, but unfortunately she had a bad fate. Her family fell into poverty when she was only a teenager. Family members fell ill and died one after another. Your mother was left alone and was sold to a brothel by a relative... Later, in order to get out of the brothel, she suffered a lot. She was disfigured, but fortunately she escaped unscathed... Alas, it's better not to mention these things."

The more Wen Tingli listened, the more distressed she felt. After thinking for a moment, she asked coldly, "Did Qiu Dapeng know my mother in Nanjing?"

She saw no one else. There were so many dignitaries in the Qiao family tonight, but Qiu Dapeng only showed up once and left. With his scheming personality, why would he not make some familiar faces before leaving if he didn't feel guilty?
Wen Desheng jumped up like a frog: "It was him?! I was wondering, it's been such a long time, how could Mrs. Qiao know? It turns out that it was Qiu who was gossiping. He just can't stand us getting along!"

It is said that when he met Qiu Dapeng, he was just a small tailor and Qiu Dapeng worked as a bodyguard in Hongfen Hualou. The two families happened to live across the street from each other and they often saw each other. After a few visits, the two people of the same age became familiar with each other.

The Nichang Tailor Shop where Wen Desheng worked was well-known far and wide. He was the best skilled among all the apprentices and was always highly valued by his master. Qiu Dapeng probably saw that he had quite a lot of money, so he would come to him to borrow money from time to time.

There is one good thing about Qiu Dapeng. If he says he will pay back the money within three days, he will never delay until the fourth day. He is also very loyal. No matter what trouble Wen Desheng encounters, he is always the first to help. Before long, Wen Desheng and Qiu Dapeng officially become sworn brothers.

At this time, Arou was sold to Hongfenhualou. When they saw Arou for the first time, Wen Desheng and Qiu Dapeng were both stunned. Perhaps because she had learned music, chess, calligraphy and painting since she was a child, Arou had a unique temperament. Not long after she came, she became the top girl in Hongfenhualou.

Once, Arou and her madam went to the tailor shop to make clothes. It was Wen Desheng who received Arou. He treated her with great respect and spoke softly. When she left that day, Arou looked at him several times.

Later, Wen Desheng found out that Arou thought the young tailor had a handsome appearance and, what was rare, he never showed any frivolous attitude in front of her, so she had a good impression of him.

Later, Arou often came to him to make clothes, and slowly, the two of them secretly fell in love.

Not long after, Qiu Dapeng was nearly beaten to death because he offended another gang, and Ah Rou came to save him. Afterwards, Qiu Dapeng recognized Ah Rou as his adopted sister, and kept saying that Ah Rou's affairs would be his business in the future.

It was also during that period that Qiu Dapeng accidentally discovered that Arou and Wen Desheng were together. He became very depressed and once half-jokingly asked Arou why she looked down on him.

But he had no choice. One was his adopted sister and the other was his sworn brother. He was depressed for a while and finally let go. Later, Ah Rou was favored by a warlord. In order to get rid of the man's entanglement, she was willing to destroy her own appearance. However, she could not stay in Nanjing any longer. It happened that both of them had saved some money, so they fled to Shanghai under different names.

Qiu Dapeng had long felt that being a bodyguard was boring, so he came out with them.

The three of them had been through hardships together in Nanjing, and since Ah Rou had saved Qiu Dapeng's life, the couple didn't worry about Qiu Dapeng talking nonsense outside. In fact, their family had indeed lived a stable life over the years.

Who knows, people can change.

Or maybe they misjudged the person from the beginning.

After hearing the whole story, Wen De was so angry that he trembled all over: "When your mother was alive, she saw that Qiu Dapeng was narrow-minded and advised me to have less contact with him. I didn't take it seriously at first, but after Qiu Dapeng came to Shanghai, he was willing to do anything against his conscience. Although he became rich soon, my friendship with him had long faded. I know why he wanted to harm you-"

He clenched his teeth and said, "It's just that his son got bullied by you and is so angry that he wants to break up you and the young master of the Qiao family. He thinks that if he ruins your relationship with Qiao Xingchu, it will be his bald-headed son's turn? He's dreaming!"

As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeves angrily: "I'm going to find this bastard and ask him about it!"

Wen Tingli tried to stop her father, but Wen Desheng had already opened the door and left. She chased him for a few steps but failed to catch up. Seeing that the alley was pitch dark, she had to go back to the house anxiously and wait.

But even if Qiu Dapeng admitted it, what would happen? Beat Qiu Dapeng to pieces to vent his anger? My father was so thin, it was not certain who would suffer the loss.

Suddenly he thought of Qiao Xingchu again. He knew that her family had just installed a telephone, and she had been away from the Qiao family for such a long time, under normal circumstances he would have called her long ago.

Doesn't he worry about her at all?
Wen Tingli was so angry that she was upset. She was worried and sad at the same time. She sat there all night without realizing it.

Wen Desheng finally came back at dawn. As soon as he entered the door, he sighed with a gloomy face. Unexpectedly, he saw his daughter sitting in the store in a daze. He asked in surprise, "Why didn't you go upstairs to sleep?"

Guessing that his daughter was probably worried about him and didn't dare to sleep, he hurriedly said, "That old jerk is not here. He probably guessed that I would settle the score with him, so he was scared and didn't dare to go back to the Qiu Mansion all night."

Perhaps he was extremely thirsty and angry, as he was busy pouring himself some tea, he said, "This bastard! How can he still have the face to do such a thing? From today on, I will go to the Qiu Mansion every day to cause trouble for him. I wonder how long he can hide."

Hearing the doorbell ringing, Wen Desheng went to open it.

"Mr. Qiao..."

Wen Tingli was stunned. The tall figure in the morning light was none other than Qiao Xingchu. After just one night, Qiao Xingchu looked much more haggard. He probably didn't expect the Wen family to open the door so quickly, and was also stunned.

Wen Tingli felt a pang in her heart, and she turned around and ran upstairs. Then she heard Qiao Xingchu say to her father, "I'm worried about Tingli, so I came to see her."

The father's voice could not hide his surprise: "Okay, okay, she is very sad, you should have a good talk with her."

Upstairs, Mrs. Zhou was wiping Xiao Taozi's face with a wet towel. Xiao Taozi grabbed a corner of the towel with both hands and played with it. She turned her head and saw her sister, and quickly raised her little arm: "Sister."

Wen Tingli said vaguely: "Eat your breakfast first, and I'll take you out to play later."

He went upstairs, entered his room, closed the door, and threw himself on the bed. Although his head was buried in the quilt, his ears were always paying attention to the movements downstairs.

Remembering that she hadn't washed herself all night, she got up on tiptoe. Fortunately, there was a thermos in the room, and the water inside had already cooled down. She hurriedly poured tooth powder, twisted the towel, combed her hair, and made herself look neat in front of the mirror.

The stairwell was quiet for a moment, and soon someone came upstairs, two people.

After a while, I heard my father knocking on the door: "Tingli, Xingchu wants to talk to you."

Wen Tingli said nothing.

"What's the point of staying in your room all by yourself? If you have any grievances, you have to talk about them face to face. You didn't sleep last night, so let's do this. The store won't be open for business today. You two can chat first. Dad will go downstairs and call the school to ask for half a day off for you."

After saying that, he went downstairs by himself.

Qiao Xingchu stood silently at the door with his head down for a while. Just as he was about to raise his hand to knock on the door, the door was suddenly opened. After opening the door, Wen Tingli didn't even look at him, but walked to the window and stood there.

(End of this chapter)