What constitutes urgency?

Matters of life and death are urgent.

He definitely wouldn’t neglect the Stone family, and he would check on Mother Stone when he returned to Beijing.

While he could fulfill Stone Kai’s duty of caring for the Stone family, he had to view the Stone family and Wei Juan Hong separately. Being a son to Mother Stone was fine, but he couldn’t be a husband to Wei Juan Hong.

This might sound cruel, but this was the reality for families of people like them!

Especially for widows of martyrs.

If Wei Juan Hong couldn’t bear the hardships of being a martyr’s widow, she could find someone else while she was still young.

Zhou Cheng couldn’t accept someone receiving state compensation while having a man’s comfort and care. In fact, whenever he imagined something similar happening to himself – if something were to happen to him and his colleagues would take his place to care for Xiao Lan – Zhou Cheng would vow to stay alive at all costs.

Seeing Xia Xiao Lan listening attentively without responding, Zhou Cheng brought up Jiang Yan:

“You don’t like Jiang Yan, and neither do I. She wasn’t this annoying before. Let me tell you something – I suspect Jiang Yan has ulterior motives this time. She gave me some materials that could clear Pan Third Brother’s name, but it would be very damaging to her cousin Jiang Wu… What do you think her intentions are? I suspect she’s trying to lure Pan Third Brother out – it’s a trap, baiting us to make Pan Third Brother fall into it.”

Zhou Cheng couldn’t understand how Jiang Yan could go this far.

This wasn’t just about implicating Jiang Wu – if the materials were genuine, it meant the Jiang family had helped cover up crucial evidence, potentially bringing down the entire Jiang family.

Could Jiang Yan sacrifice her cousin for justice, and even bring down her whole family?

Xia Xiao Lan pondered thoughtfully.

This wasn’t the time for jealousy; the situation was indeed strange:

“Women can stand for justice too, but people naturally want to protect their own. It’s already remarkable not to be complicit when you know your relatives have done wrong – actively exposing them is truly rare. Either Jiang Yan is extremely fond of you, or she’s extremely fond of Pan Third Brother. Besides ‘true love,’ I can’t think of any other motivation strong enough to drive her to do this.”

How could friends, no matter how close, be dearer than parents and relatives?

Only some foolish people would consider lovers more important than parents.

Those who can’t live without romance, whether men or women treat their parents as if they merely gave birth to a piece of meat!

Xia Xiao Lan hadn’t noticed Jiang Yan being like that, or perhaps Jiang Yan concealed it well.

Unless, as Zhou Cheng suggested, it was indeed a “trap.” If so, the Jiang family was ruthless – Pan Third Brother had already left his position, yet they still wanted to destroy him completely.

Or perhaps Jiang Yan truly was choosing justice over family.

Xia Xiao Lan looked at Zhou Cheng meaningfully: “You haven’t given her any unrealistic hints, have you?”

Zhou Cheng ignored her.

He could tolerate anything she said, but questioning his sincerity made him uncomfortable.

Whoever Jiang Yan liked was her business; Zhou Cheng could only guarantee that he didn’t like Jiang Yan.

“The materials Jiang Yan gave me – I had Kang Wei pass them to my father for investigation. They’ve already found some clues. Jiang Yan gave me photocopies; she still has the originals.”

Xia Xiao Lan was speechless – the way Zhou Cheng described it made him sound like an undercover narcotics officer.

“Is Pan Third Brother still in Min Province?”

“I don’t know. Why do you ask? I haven’t told Pan Third Brother about this yet.”

Xia Xiao Lan shook her head, “Then maybe I’m overthinking it. When Kang Wei came to Peng City earlier, he didn’t leave with Shao Guang Rong – he went to Min Province first.”

Zhou Cheng started getting a headache.

Why would Kang Wei go to Min Province for no reason? He’d already been told not to get involved – could Kang Wei not resist investigating on his own?

“I’ll handle things with Kang Wei. Xiao Lan, let’s get back to us. You said you needed time to cool down – haven’t we cooled down long enough? I called you several times with no answer. Even Grandmother Yu felt sorry for me, yet you remained unmoved!”

Zhou Cheng was truly frustrated.

When Xia Xiao Lan said she needed to cool down, she completely cut off contact.

Her reasons were plentiful – exam week was busy, then she went straight to Peng City after exams – somehow she just couldn’t find time to deal with him.

Was this cooling down?

This was a cold war!

Just like West Germany and East Germany, separated by the Berlin Wall, cut off from each other.

“What about when similar situations happen in the future? Will we have another fight?”

Xia Xiao Lan wouldn’t let Zhou Cheng off easily.

Zhou Cheng made a bitter face, “If we encounter another situation like the Stone family’s, we’ll handle it like we are now – help in emergencies but not poverty, care for the elderly and young but not the middle-aged. Especially regarding female family members, I’ll keep my distance. Whatever my wife can handle, I won’t interfere with it. My wife might have to work harder, but I can only serve dutifully, listen to her in all matters big and small, respect her, love her, and keep her closest to my heart!”

Xia Xiao Lan blushed and spat out: “You’ve certainly learned to be quite the sweet talker!”

“Please forgive me. I wasn’t thinking before. I didn’t handle the Stone family situation well, making both you and my mother angry. When I call your house, only Grandmother Yu answers; when I call home, only Aunt Zeng answers… Can you imagine how miserable I am?”

It was indeed miserable.

For a man, having his wife and mother at odds made him like double-sided tape, making life uncomfortable.

If his wife and mother united to teach him a lesson, it would be beyond uncomfortable – he’d probably have to sing “Conquest” on his knees.

Xia Xiao Lan finally couldn’t help but smile:

“I never coordinated with Aunt Guan; you brought this on yourself. Do you even realize what state you were in recently? You were depressed and distracted. When Aunt Guan sees how you are now, she’ll probably stop being angry… Zhou Cheng, what’s happened in the past can’t be changed. You need to move forward and face the world again.”

Commemorating someone shouldn’t mean torturing yourself.

Caring for others shouldn’t mean unlimited compromise and sacrifice.

If someone can’t be good to themselves, how can they have the capacity to care for their family? Xia Xiao Lan believed that loving oneself was a prerequisite for loving others.

Zhou Cheng realized he had been obsessed.

After Stone Kai’s incident, he had indeed fallen into negative emotions.

Though he had left the frontlines, he hadn’t completely emerged from that life of constant danger. Xiao Lan’s wake-up call helped him see not only the Stone family situation from a different perspective but also himself.

“Let’s not talk about that anymore. Tell me about you – weren’t you here for an academic conference? How did you end up with police officers coming to find you? If I hadn’t come, what would you have done if they had taken you to the station!”

Zhou Cheng’s arrival in Jiang City was a real surprise for Xia Xiao Lan.

He had found out when her conference would end and timed his arrival at Jiang City University perfectly.

This architectural creation conference was quite prestigious, and Zhou Cheng was proud that Xia Xiao Lan qualified to participate.

But from what he’d just heard, someone was causing trouble for his wife.

Zhou Cheng couldn’t understand – he wouldn’t even hurt a hair on her head, yet why did so many people want to bully her?

Was his wife that easy to bully?