Take her as my wife

After returning, Tan Wen first went to the county hospital to visit Tan Jianming.

The ward was a single room. He Xiaoling was feeding Tan Jianming, while Tan Mei was cleaning the bedpan. He Xiaoling noticed Tan Wen standing at the door first, and her face lit up with joy: "Xiao Zong is back!"

Tan asked as he walked in carrying the tonics and fruit, "Hmm, is Dad feeling better?"

As He Xiaoling took the things from his hands, she said, "Why did you buy so much stuff? It's such a waste of money. You should save that money for your future marriage."

She complained again with a worried look on her face: "I'm feeling better, but the doctor said I need to stay in the hospital for at least another week. I saw the hospital bill today, and it's almost two thousand a day. How can I afford that?"

Tan Yan was unwilling to spend money to get married, but now that it's Tan Yan's turn to ask, she has changed her tune. No wonder Tan Yan has a lot of complaints about her.

He Xiaoling's love was tinged with the narrow-mindedness and ignorance of a rural woman, but Tan Wen, as the favored one, naturally had no reason to criticize her. However, his relationship with He Xiaoling had never been close, even before Jiang Ni appeared.

Tan Jianming gave Tan Wen a subtle smile from the bed. He had a simple and honest face, a square face, and the only outstanding feature of his face was his high nose bridge.

Tan Yan and Tan Mei are actually somewhat similar to him, but they also inherited some of He Xiaoling's advantages, such as double eyelids and slightly fair skin.

However, when Tan Wen and Tan Jianming stand together, no stranger can ever mistake them for father and son.

"I said I transferred 50,000 to your card, but you didn't receive it?"

Still angry about the "68 yuan dowry" from last time, He Xiaoling said irritably, "Didn't he say last time that he wanted to cut ties with us? I don't want his money."

Tan knew she was just saying things in anger, and after explaining the money, she didn't say anything more. Instead, he asked, "Where is the labor contract that Dad signed with them back then?"

He Xiaoling was completely bewildered: "What labor contract? We didn't sign any contract. Liu Laosan said there was work, so we all went together."

Tan Mei, who had a high school education, knew a little more about this than He Xiaoling. She added, "Many of the construction workers in our county don't have contracts. They're usually brought in by acquaintances and paid weekly or monthly."

Tan wasn't too surprised by this, and asked again, "Cash or bank transfer?"

Tan Mei: "They're all from the check-in records."

"Send me a screenshot of the details," Tan Wen said to them before leaving after glancing at the time. "I had a friend find Liu Laosan. He ran back to his wife's hometown. I'll go and ask him what's going on."

He Xiaoling still remembered how he often got into fights outside during his middle school years, and quickly advised him, "Let's talk things out. Don't hurt anyone."

Tan hummed in response and left.

The ward was quiet for a moment.

Tan Mei packed her bag and broke the silence: "I made some soup at home, I'll go bring it to Dad."

He Xiaoling immediately instructed, "Leave some for Xiao Zong, he can have an extra meal when he comes back tonight."

Tan Mei's expression remained unchanged, but she wasn't entirely at ease inside: "Okay."

She was the eldest child in her family, and also a daughter. She wasn't as bright in school as Tan Yan, so if He Xiaoling were to rank her three children, she would definitely be last. It would be a lie to say she wasn't jealous. Tan Yan wasn't close to He Xiaoling and didn't listen to her, but He Xiaoling still loved her youngest child.

Tan Mei left too. Tan Jianming didn't have the energy to sit for long, so He Xiaoling helped him lie down. Then she sat on a stool next to him and started muttering to herself, "Your good son, even knowing you've had such a big problem, didn't come back to see you. Look at Xiao Zong, he's so busy but he still came back... Xiao Zong may look cold, but he's kind-hearted..."

Tan Jianming was not good at speaking and didn't really want to listen to her repeating the same old things over and over again, which were nothing more than saying that Tan Yan was bad and asking Tan Wenhao.

No matter how good Tan Wen is, he's not his son.

He's mute, but not blind or deaf.

But Tan Wen's father had been dead for almost ten years, so there was no point in him dwelling on these things. Tan Wen had called him "Dad" for over a decade, so he felt there was no need to argue with He Xiaoling about those old matters anymore.

When Tan Wen came out of the hospital, the Hu brothers had already parked their car and were waiting for him at the gate.

Once in the car, Hu Jiarong turned to Tan Wen in the passenger seat and said, "Brother Wen, I asked around about Uncle's matter, and that Boss Niu is really something. He's from J City. Guess how he ended up in our little town?"

Tan Wen's attention was on his phone; he was texting Jiang Ni and replied with two words without looking up: "Run for your life."

Hu Jiarong slapped his hand: "How come you're so smart, bro? Right, it's about escaping for your life. That bastard has someone's dead on his hands. It's said he used to run a coal mine business in J City, and the mine was operating illegally, killing more than a dozen workers... But that happened too long ago. Back then, real-name authentication wasn't so widespread. His original name was Niu Chunyang, and he later changed it to Niu Yifan. The construction sites he took over had a lot of problems, but he just kept getting away with it because he paid a lot of money."

It is said that it doesn't matter how high an official's rank is, as long as they know how to be corrupt.

Even in a small county like Ning County, there's plenty of money to be made; corruption is perfectly normal.

The Hu brothers have dealt with the government many times; they've encountered all sorts of shady characters. They've also given away quite a bit of money.

"Since they can't get anything done, let them come down sooner rather than later," Tan Wen suddenly concluded.

The Hu brothers exchanged a glance, knowing that their question to their brother wasn't a "pipe dream."

When they were developing tourism projects, Tan Wen had already made them keep evidence of the money and gifts they were forced to hand over, both openly and secretly. Now, by using Niu Yifan's case, he could expose all the mess, clear their names, and bring down all those corrupt officials—killing two birds with one stone.

Tan Wen always plans three steps ahead and ten steps ahead when doing things.

Pursuing a wife was the most difficult problem he encountered.

Tan Wen was relieved to learn that Jiang Ni was preparing to go home.

After living with her for more than a month, Tan Wen couldn't bear not seeing her for even half a day.

He could only seek some solace by digging out the photos he had saved in his private album.

This album contains not only the pajamas photos of Jiang Ni hugging a teddy bear that Jiang Ni sent him last time, but also many other photos of Jiang Ni.

There are photos of her life when she was still in Ning County, as well as photos of her after she returned to Yicheng. Some photos show obvious signs of cropping, because Tan Wen didn't want to see a certain extra person.

Jiang Ni thought that their chance encounter at the hospital was a reunion, but in fact, he had already found her long ago.

"Brother Wen, we've arrived." Hu Jiarong unbuckled his seatbelt and called out to Tan Wen.

Tan Wen snapped out of his daze, put away his phone, and said, "Let's go."

The Hu brothers didn't lay a hand on Liu Laosan. Considering that there were still children and elderly people at his home, they sent their younger brother to find him with gifts and politely "invited" him to a hotel in the county town.

Upon seeing Tan Wen, Liu Laosan felt extremely uneasy and stammered a greeting: "Xiao Zong, it's been...it's been a long time."

Hu Jiaguang brought Tan Wen a chair and asked him to sit down. Tan Wen got straight to the point: "Uncle Liu, when do you think my dad and the other workers' wages will be paid?"

Liu Laosan licked his dry lips, rubbed his hands between his legs, and stammered, "This... Xiao Zong, you know... Boss Niu ran away, and I'm just a small contractor, I... I don't have that much money to pay wages..."

Tan asked, "Uncle Liu, please open your mobile banking app so we can check your recent transaction history."

Upon hearing this, Liu Laosan instinctively clutched his pocket: "I really have no money..."

Tan Wen was too lazy to waste words with him. He gave the two brothers a look, and Hu Jiaguang grabbed Liu Laosan by the collar: "Give it to me!"

The Hu brothers were both tall and burly, with tattoos covering their arms; they looked menacing. Liu Laosan could only nervously pull out his phone: "Here...here..."

Upon checking the records, it was found that Liu Laosan's account did indeed have a deposit of over 70,000 yuan, and the payer was Niu Yifan's company.

Tan handed the phone back to him: "Deduct the wages you're owed and give the rest to the workers."

Liu Laosan's face turned ashen. He murmured a couple of times, but finally nodded and said, "I understand."

The money is gone... then...

"You've taken my dad to many construction sites, and you've never embezzled any of the workers' money. I know your daughter has kidney disease and urgently needs money for surgery."

Liu Laosan looked up at Tan Wen, a bitter expression on his weathered face: "Yes..."

Tan Wen stood up and patted him on the shoulder: "We'll cover the child's treatment costs. The medical resources in the county are limited; it would be better to treat him in Yicheng."