Take her as my wife

Tan Mei rushed from home to He Xiaoling's hardware store, and the two exclaimed in unison, "How did Xiao Zong end up with Jiang Ni?!"

The mother and daughter fell silent at the same time, then spoke simultaneously: "Do you think Xiaoyan knows?"

After another silence, their eyes met, and He Xiaoling said, "Are we overthinking things...? They used to have a pretty good relationship."

Tan Mei sighed, took out her phone, and opened the photo: "Mom, you and I aren't three-year-olds who don't understand anything. Look at how intimate they are. Look at Xiao Zong, how can you still fool yourself!"

"I knew it... Xiao Zong was special to her back then. This vixen seduced Xiao Yan and now she's seducing Xiao Zong!" Tan Mei said, while observing He Xiaoling's expression.

Strangely, He Xiaoling didn't join in the slander against Jiang Ni this time: "What seduction? Wasn't it Xiao Yan who pursued her back then? Xiao Zong had a lot of contact with her at that time. She's pretty, so it's normal for Xiao Zong to be attracted to her. At seventeen or eighteen, that's how it is."

Tan Mei was extremely unhappy—she knew this would happen.

Whenever Tan Wen is involved, He Xiaoling will perfectly demonstrate the phrase "love me, love my dog".

Before I've even gotten to the bottom of this, my mind has already started to wander.

"I'll call and ask later..." He Xiaoling said, "You go back and take care of the child first. Don't get involved in this, and especially don't let Xiaoyan know."

Tan Mei verbally agreed, but as soon as she walked away, she immediately dialed Tan Yan's number.

Tan Yan was shopping with Shen Yunqing, buying things they would need for her pregnancy, when he received her call. He was somewhat surprised and his attitude was noticeably cold: "What do you want?"

He hasn't contacted his family in a long time.

Tan Mei didn't care about any of that. She directly brought up Tan Wen and Jiang Ni's relationship, then asked him, "Did you know about this? When did they get together?"

Tan Yan didn't know they were dating, but since he had already noticed some clues, he wasn't very surprised: "I didn't know, so they're dating. I'm hanging up now."

Not long ago, thanks to the help of Shen's parents, Tan Yan made a lot of connections. Shen's father had subtly told him that in less than two years, he could be promoted to full professor. Two years later, he would only be thirty years old, making him the youngest professor at X University. There was still a lot of room for promotion in the future.

Jiang Ni's career is far more important to him.

Even for the sake of his future, he would choose to live a good life with Shen Yunqing.

Tan Mei shouted urgently, "Tan Yan, are you willing to accept this? Do you know how I treated Jiang Ni today? Just because she's dating Xiao Zong now, my heart is completely biased towards Jiang Ni! Let me tell you, our house is going to be demolished, and our land in our hometown will be taken away. The compensation will be at least two or three million yuan. I've earned quite a bit of money from my shops over the years—it will all go to Tan Wen, and you and I will get nothing! You may be willing, but I'm not!"

Tan Yan was also uncomfortable. His face was grim, and his eyes behind his glasses flashed with coldness and ruthlessness: "What do you want to do? He wasn't someone we could bully when he was ten or so, let alone now?"

Tan Mei made a firm decision: "Your brother-in-law has made some friends..."

After listening to her words, Tan Yan was silent for a while: "Let's talk about it during the New Year... This year, remember to have Mom persuade Tan Wen to bring Jiang Ni back for the New Year. As for the rest, we can discuss it later."

*

After getting off the cable car, Jiang Ni and the others followed the signs and hiked along a mountain path until they finally saw the tent cabins on the mountaintop.

The terrain here is flat and spacious, indicating that it was developed at great expense. The tents are spaced just right, providing good privacy. The tents themselves are spacious and well-equipped, with small blankets laid out.

Different tents have different prices.

Tan asked them all to choose the most expensive option, and Tan paid for it all.

"Is your younger brother actually a hidden rich kid? A noble young master from a wealthy family who has fallen on hard times in the county town?" Liu Jiaren asked Jiang Ni, pulling her along.

Jiang Ni explained simply: "Read fewer novels—he runs some businesses, so he's financially well-off."

Liu Jiaren thought it was probably because they were "relatively well-off," but this incident made her approve of Tan Wen a lot more: "It's good, at least he won't make you suffer, and he won't let you live off him."

After putting their backpacks away, they went to find something to eat; there were all sorts of food stalls up there.

Jiang Ni was the most picky eater, and Liu Jiaren was no less so. Moreover, she was pregnant, so Jiang Fengyu didn't dare to give her many snacks.

Tan glanced at his phone: "Go a little further ahead, there's a restaurant, the only one—shall we go check it out?"

They continued walking forward, hearing footsteps and voices behind them, presumably other tourists also heading to that restaurant. Jiang Ni and her group did not turn around.

After walking for more than ten minutes, they arrived at their destination. Jiang Ni and Liu Jiaren wanted to use the restroom, so Tan Wen and Jiang Fengyu prepared to queue up to order food first.

Jiang Fengyu instructed, "Baby, call me if anything happens. Be careful, the ground is slippery, go slowly."

"What could possibly happen if I go to the restroom?" Liu Jiaren said nonchalantly, linking arms with Jiang Ni as they walked toward the restroom.

The women's restroom was always crowded. Liu Jiaren was in front of Jiang Ni in line. After waiting for a while, it was her turn, but Jiang Ni still didn't have a stall available.

"Nini, I think I have a bit of diarrhea..." she pleaded from inside the bathroom. "I only had one tissue!"

Jiang Ni glanced at the tissues in her hand; she only had two left. "I'll go buy some. Wait for me a moment."

"Okay," Liu Jiaren replied.

Jiang Ni hurried out. The bathroom was separated from the living room, so Tan Wen didn't see her come out.

Jiang Ni remembered that there was a kiosk on the left side of the entrance when she came over, and she walked in that direction based on her memory.

She heard footsteps following her, getting closer and closer.

Jiang Ni cautiously turned around—and met a slightly aged face.

This man had a long scar running from the left corner of his eye to the corner of his mouth, and his voice was ghostly, hoarse and unpleasant.

"Nini..."

"I thought I had mistaken someone for someone else."

"It really is you... You've grown up, and you're even more beautiful than when you were little."

Jiang Ni clenched her fists, as those disgusting images flooded in like a raging torrent.

"You haven't changed," she said, looking directly at the man. "Just as repulsive and disgusting."