I Got Rich in Period Fiction
Chapter 514

Chapter 514: Chapter 514

After Little Chaoxuan had eaten his fill, Qiao Qingyu headed to the study.

He Xiuyu was also there; Professor Feng had left her with a hefty amount of homework, and she needed to buckle down to finish it.

During the day at the unit, there was also a mountain of tasks to handle. Once the grains were in the silo, the revenue naturally became evident, and overall, she had reached the goals set last year.

Next on the agenda was planning for the following year.

When Qiao Qingyu made plans, she always wanted He Xiuyu to be involved and give his opinions.

This time was no exception.

Fortunately, her Agricultural Group still had the original team members—presumably because people thought agriculture didn’t have much of a future.

After all, even though it was the 1980s, the gap between urban and rural areas still existed, and city dwellers still looked down on peasants. Why look down on them? Because the peasants were tillers of the soil.

It was unclear how such an idea came to exist.

But what could be said for certain was that it had been deeply ingrained for a long time.

Even decades later, it hadn’t improved much.

Qiao Qingyu handed the completed plan to He Xiuyu. Just as she was getting up, the telephone suddenly rang.

Unexpectedly, it was a call from Aunt Wang Guihua.

Her voice was somewhat hoarse and unlike her usual self; she didn’t inquire about Qiao Qingyu’s well-being but instead said directly, "Qingyu, where’s your mom? Have her come over to take the call."

"My mom’s in the west room. I’ll go call her now."

Wu Qianyun came to take the call, while He Xiuyu, with the report in hand, went to the west room.

He Xiuyu had always been like this.

He respected Wu Qianyun greatly and was also very filial to her.

But he wouldn’t meddle too much in the affairs of the Wu Family and the Qiao Family.

However, whenever his help was needed, he never hesitated.

Qiao Qingyu did not go out. She was curious—why would Aunt Guihua go to the team office to call her mother so late at night?

Then she heard Wang Guihua on the other end of the line speaking in a rushed voice, "Where’s Xianglan? Your brother said not to call you, but I thought you should know about this..."

The name Han Xianglan—everyone in the Qiao Family Team of this generation was used to calling her that. Even though her name had changed to Wu Qianyun, not a single person in the Qiao Family Team called her by that name.

Those older than her simply called her Xianglan, and those of the same age either called her Sister Xianglan or Miss Xianglan.

In their eyes, "Xianglan" simply rolled off the tongue more smoothly.

Now hearing Wang Guihua on the phone yelling out "Xianglan" loudly to her mother, Qiao Qingyu found it very normal, but then Guihua’s hoarse voice carried through the phone. Her voice was loud, the background was noisy, and it seemed like there were sounds of argument.

"...Wang Mei has gone mad, and Qiao Zhihai is no better. The couple has been making a ruckus about divorce for nearly a year now, but who would have thought that last night Wang Mei would set your house on fire and then went on to set our old residence ablaze..."

The words startled both Han Xianglan and Qiao Qingyu. Qiao Qingyu quickened her steps and stood beside Wu Qianyun in no time.

"Where is the person? How is he, my grandpa, my grandma, my dad?"

"Don’t panic, everybody’s fine, but your grandma and your grandpa were so scared they are now in the hospital..."

Wu Qianyun gritted her teeth, "Sister-in-law, why did they set my house on fire while fighting? What on earth is going on?"

The voice of Qiao Shengbao could still be heard on the phone, apparently in a bad temper too.

But whatever was being said wasn’t very clear, then Wang Guihua relayed the whole story to Wu Qianyun and Qiao Qingyu.

The matter wasn’t complicated; the couple had been bickering over divorce but hadn’t finalized it yet. Qiao Zhihai had made up his mind though, even stopped living with her, and moved directly to the construction team in town. Whenever he returned to the Qiao Family Team, he stayed at his eldest son’s house.

He also told everyone in the village not to lend her money. He didn’t care if his sons and daughters-in-law were willing to give her money, but to be honest, Wang Mei wasn’t a good mother-in-law, and not a single daughter-in-law liked her.

All the daughters-in-law couldn’t wait for the divorce to happen.

In some families, the old couple’s divorce is a matter of shame, but in Qiao Zhihai’s home, the daughters-in-law privately considered it a joyous occasion.

This mother-in-law was like a jinx; with her around, life was miserable.

Then, Wang Mei found herself increasingly strapped for cash and couldn’t provide for her family either. Old Lady Wang didn’t show her any kindness, her sons guarded against her in every house she visited, and without Qiao Zhihai’s backing, Wang Mei, no matter how much she screamed and rolled on the ground, nobody took her side, and she couldn’t stir up trouble.

Somehow, she developed a hatred for Qiao Zhicai, convinced that Qiao Qingyu was a jinx.

It was a point of contention she brought up more than once in arguments with the old lady.

It’s just that she didn’t discuss it with Qiao Qingyu.

However, Wang Mei felt that it was the Qiao Family’s financial situation that triggered this, thinking that if they were still living through the poor times, she’d still be the respected Wang Mei, who could bring anything from her family without anyone daring to provoke her. Now that everyone had grown capable and their wings strong, they even dared to stand up to her.

Yesterday the wind was strong. After ten o’clock, she wrapped cotton in bean oil and threw two balls on the roof of Qiao Zhicai’s house, then ran to the old house and threw another two.

Nowadays, the old houses of the Qiao Family Team have no tiles on the roof, just layers upon layers of wheat straw.

Despite the cold winter, in order to prevent the houses from collapsing, they generally tried to remove the snow soon after it fell. Moreover, from autumn to winter, the straw had become extremely dry and caught fire all at once.

Fortunately, as the houses of the Qiao Family Team were stand-alone, and with timely firefighting efforts, only the roof collapsed.

All the people inside managed to run out, but in the big freeze of winter, it was still a threat to life. Granny Qiao fainted out of rage upon hearing someone say that it was Wang Mei who had thrown two big cotton balls on their house.

Qiao Zhihai was called back by Qiao Zhiyuan, and Wang Mei, who probably didn’t expect the fire to get so big, turned and ran. Qiao Zhihai’s face turned ashen as he looked around and then went out to find people. So far neither of them has returned.

Toward the end, Wang Guihua, crying and bemoaning, cursed Qiao Zhihai and Wang Mei, before warning Wu Qianyun, "Xianglan, the reason I’m telling you this is to remind you that Wang Mei seems a bit mentally unstable now. She doesn’t even need an introduction letter to leave, and she has some money on her. I’m worried she might go to Xichuan to find you and Qingyu..."

Wu Qianyun trembled with rage, "Let her come. I want to see what she’s up to."

Qiao Qingyu took over the phone, asking urgently, "Auntie, now that the house is burned down, where are you all staying?"

"I was just about to tell you, your dad and your elder brother’s family of four were picked up by someone dispatched by your grandpa. The driver’s name is Wu Hong; he has been to our village before and has a house in the town. Your dad must be worried about you, so he hasn’t called you yet... Your grandparents are both in the hospital now. We all have places to stay, so you don’t need to worry. Take good care of your mom and keep her calm..."

How could one not be upset?

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