Liu Yong found it strange – Xiao Rou, no, her name was Fan Yu. How could Fan Yu, Liu Tianquan’s bargirl, end up marrying Xia Dajun? According to Xiaolan, Xia Dajun had been fired by Du Zhaohui, but Fan Yu must have married him before the firing. Weren’t Liu Tianquan and Du Zhaohui mortal enemies?

Liu Yong sensed a conspiracy!

Li Fengmei pinched him, “Didn’t that Hong Kong man run away? He couldn’t have taken his bar girls with him. She was probably left behind in Pengcheng and happened to catch a fool like Xia Dajun – she must have desperately grabbed onto him!”

Li Fengmei grew increasingly disgusted. This Fan Yu was repulsive – first wanting to “share a husband” with Xiaolan, then trying to seduce Xiaolan’s uncle, and now marrying Xia Dajun… Was this woman’s spirit determined to haunt them, always trying to connect with the Liu family?

No, no, no – she corrected herself – Xia Dajun wasn’t part of the Liu family!

Liu Yong’s thoughts differed from Li Fengmei’s. He didn’t believe in such coincidences – Fan Yu marrying Xia Dajun couldn’t be a chance. He needed to tell Xiaolan about this when she came to Pengcheng.

Fearing an argument with Li Fengmei, Liu Yong coughed twice. “Let’s keep distributing flyers. The sooner we hire people, the sooner your store can open. This brand seems good – you just invest, and Luna handles the inventory and promotion.”

That would make things much easier. If profits from one store weren’t enough, they could always franchise more locations.

Meanwhile, Fan Yu, six months pregnant, felt no joy, only distress. Xia Dajun had lost his job. Instead of earning 3,000 yuan monthly, he now couldn’t even make 300!

Ke Yixiong had fired all three Xia family members at once. When Xia Dajun sought Young Master Du, he couldn’t even get an audience… Fan Yu belatedly realized that Xia Dajun hadn’t just fallen from favor with Du Zhaohui – he’d likely been despised for a while. Only because Xia Dajun had once saved Du Zhaohui’s life was he not immediately fired, instead being gradually distanced before being dismissed over some mistake!

Fan Zhenchuan had handled his errant subordinates the same way.

Fan Yu broke into a cold sweat, terrified that Du Zhaohui might discover she was Liu Tianquan’s spy. She was too scared to leave the house for days.

After Xia Dajun’s dismissal, Liu Tianquan’s contact man never appeared again. With Xia Dajun now worthless, they seemed to have abandoned this connection entirely. Now heavily pregnant, Fan Yu had no one but Xia Dajun. Even with a few thousand yuan saved, life felt exceptionally difficult.

After losing his job, Xia Dajun spent half a month at home, constantly drunk. Fan Yu let him drink his fill – she still had money, and if the Xia family wasn’t worried, why should she be?

But Xia Dajun had many mouths to feed besides Fan Yu: Old Mrs. Xia, three nephews, Xia Hongbing, Wang Jingui, and Xia Hongxia. When these people ran out of money, they all turned to Xia Dajun for solutions.

What solutions could Xia Dajun offer?

After half a month of drinking, he hurried to find work. A monthly salary of 3,000 yuan had become a mere dream. Even jobs paying 300 yuan were hard to find. His only fortune was learning to drive while working for Du Zhaohui – perhaps Xia Dajun’s only skill.

Drivers were still rare then. While he couldn’t become an official chauffeur for organization leaders, he found work driving trucks. The monthly pay varied based on work volume, but his previous spine injury made long drives torture. This job was just to earn money to repay debts… The difficult work humbled the once-arrogant Xia Dajun.

He could earn two to three hundred yuan monthly. If they weren’t wasteful, this money could provide a comfortable daily life. But Xia Dajun had too many dependents. Except for Xia Hongxia, who found restaurant work, all other Xia family members relied on him, including Xia Hongbing, a grown man who claimed construction work was too tiring and stopped working after being fired.

Fan Yu returned home preoccupied, stroking her belly, and found Old Mrs. Xia and Xia Hongbing huddled together whispering. She sneered, “Uncle, when are you finding your place?”

“What?”

When Xia Hongbing didn’t react, Fan Yu repeated, “Find a place and move out soon. We won’t be renting this courtyard much longer. His current salary is nowhere near what it used to be – we can’t afford such a big house!”

Fan Yu grew angry thinking about housing – they’d planned to buy a house, but now even choosing rental locations was difficult.

Xia Hongbing exploded, “Sister-in-law, what do you mean, trying to drive me out? Does Second Brother know about this?”

Old Mrs. Xia trembled, “You, you little wh-“

“Mother, seems like you want to move out with Uncle’s family. Think carefully before you insult me – I’m carrying your grandchild. If I’m a whore, what does that make your grandchild? What does that make your son Dajun? I know you favor Uncle, so I won’t stop you from living with him – perfect chance for him to show his filial piety!”

Fan Yu’s words left Old Mrs. Xia speechless.

Live with her third son?

While Old Mrs. Xia favored him, she didn’t expect Xia Hongbing to care for her in old age. His family of five, with two young grandsons and the lazy Wang Jingui, both avoiding hard work – how could they afford to support her?

Old Mrs. Xia trembled with anger but dared not confront Fan Yu directly.

“When Dajun returns, I’ll have him deal with you…”

Fan Yu smirked contemptuously – Xia Dajun was under her control, who would deal with whom?

“Mother, surely you haven’t forgotten how Dajun and Uncle lost their jobs? All thanks to your former granddaughter Xia Xiaolan. If you hadn’t bullied those mother and daughter, would they hate Dajun so much? Our family’s declining situation is largely your fault! If you keep bullying me, I’ll grant your wish and divorce Brother Dajun – I’m only in my twenties, surely I can find someone else to marry!”

Fan Yu wasn’t joking – if her pregnancy wasn’t so advanced, she would have already left.

Thinking about encountering Liu Yong on the street today, Fan Yu found everything about Xia Dajun irritating, and the Xia family even more so. Liu Yong’s wife had given her a flyer advertising job openings at a clothing store – they were opening another location.

Look at how well they were doing!

Fan Yu couldn’t stand the Xia family’s laziness and parasitic behavior for another moment – they had to be driven out immediately! She had deeply hated Xia Xiaolan, but with no way to contact or vent her anger at her, these Xia family members became her target – every yuan they took from Xia Dajun was one less for her, creating a direct conflict of interest.

After her outburst, Fan Yu retired to her room, cradling her belly. When Xia Dajun returned from his shift that night, Xia Hongbing sighed heavily while Wang Jingui tearfully complained about their sister-in-law wanting to drive them out.

Xia Dajun naturally wanted to care for all his family members but in the current situation…

He rubbed his aching lower back, “Your sister-in-law’s words were harsh, but she’s not wrong. Third Brother, when are you going to find work?”

Xia Hongbing was dumbfounded.

Xia Dajun ignored his dark expression.

At 3,000 yuan monthly, Xia Dajun could support ten family members without issue!

But with less than 300 yuan monthly, how many mouths could he feed? Xia Dajun knew the math all too well.