Zhan Bei Jue hadn't expected to run into her again after only being apart for an hour or two.
How could she be so persistent? And how could she have pinned down a grown man like Zhou Jin Xiu on the ground?
"Let me go!" she tugged her hand back forcefully.
Upon realizing it was her, Zhan Bei Jue didn't want to get involved with her further and directly released his grip, asking Zhou Jin Xiu, "Do you know her?"
Zhou Jin Xiu didn't want to see Zhan Bei Jue, but now he had helped him.
"I don't know her, Second Brother. This woman is incredibly lawless. She came looking for me early this morning, insisting she had leverage over Zhou Jin Bei and demanding a million yuan from me. After I paid, she remained insatiably greedy and wanted me... You must help me teach her a good lesson!"
"Oh?"
A strange light flickered in Zhan Bei Jue's eyes. He glanced at Zhou Jin Xiu, then at his ex-wife, who was dressed exceptionally heroically today.
"You truly seek revenge for every grievance."
"Of course," Jiang Nan Fang rubbed her wrist, which was still sore from his grip. "Justice prevails."
"What leverage did you find against Zhou Jin Bei?"
"Ask him. He's most familiar with that sort of thing. Otherwise, why would he have obediently given me a million yuan?"
Zhan Bei Jue didn't ask Zhou Jin Xiu. He glanced at Jiang Nan Fang again and said meaningfully, "Quite the appetite. Is this how you've been making money all these years?"
Jiang Nan Fang naturally understood the implication of his words and retorted, "How I make money is none of your business. You have time, you should pay more attention to these foolish relatives of yours."
Zhan Bei Jue's gaze darkened.
Jiang Nan Fang placed a finger on her lips, "Shh, don't get agitated. I didn't expect to run into you, nor do I want to argue with you."
"Zhan Bei Jue, I'm heading to the Northwest soon. I'll help your electrical company expand its reach. I'll be back on schedule in a month, remember your promise."
After speaking, she turned her head, glared at Zhou Jin Xiu, who was still confused, and brushed past Zhan Bei Jue.
Lu Ming Zhe watched this scene clearly from the car. However, Jiang Nan Fang's aura was too strong, so he didn't dare to get out. It wasn't until she was gone that he ran down from the car, full of gossip.
Still savoring her receding figure, he exclaimed, "Damn, I remember she wasn't like this before. Her face... did she have plastic surgery?"
"The surgery is really good, so natural, and her figure is great too. No wonder you were healed by her, she's a gem of the human world."
"?"
Zhan Bei Jue shot him a cold glance, and Lu Ming Zhe quickly corrected himself.
"I didn't mean it like that. I meant, frankly, Ge'er and she really do look alike."
Zhou Jin Xiu was still bewildered. "What's going on, Second Brother? Who is this woman? Do you know her? How do you know such a scammer?"
"What did she scam you out of?" Zhan Bei Jue questioned him.
"...I told you, Jin Bei... a million yuan..."
"Since she knew she was scamming you, why did you give her the money? Why didn't you report it to the police?"
"..."
"Zhou Jin Xiu, don't think you're the only one with a brain in this world and everyone else is a fool."
"..."
"I'm very clear about what happened last night. Zhou Jin Bei was audacious and lawless. If you don't discipline him properly, don't blame me for being harsh."
With that, he suddenly lost the mood to visit the Zhou family and turned back to his car, "Back to the company."
Lu Ming Zhe followed him into the car, still reminiscing about the heroic Jiang Nan Fang.
"Women's figures go out of shape and their beauty fades after giving birth, but your ex-wife is amazing. She's getting more beautiful and younger as she lives, tsk tsk."
"For no good reason, why did you two get divorced back then?"
Zhan Bei Jue looked out the window, inexplicably wanting to find a trace of her.
Jiang Nan Fang hadn't driven. She had only walked a short distance, and now she could see that familiar figure.
"Shut up."
"You have no interest in women outside, so could it be that she dumped you back then? I say..."
"Say one more nonsensical word, and I'll throw you out of the car, believe it or not?"
The place Jiang Nan Fang was heading for this business trip was called Wangquan County, a name that perfectly described it.
Entering the county town, from the dusty cement roads and streets with so few cars that they were barely visible, it was evident how backward the economic conditions were due to severe water shortages.
After disembarking the plane, transferring to a train, and renting a van near the train station, the journey was a long and bumpy one.
Jiang Nan Fang, along with several technicians, took over twenty hours to reach their destination.
Twenty kilometers ahead of Shazi Gully was the famous vast desert that bordered Gansu Province and Xin City.
Due to this environment, the temperature difference between day and night was significant.
It was already past eight in the evening when Jiang Nan Fang arrived. As soon as she got out of the car, a fierce wind howled, and sand filled the air. If they hadn't been prepared and wearing masks, they would have ended up with a mouthful of sand.
After walking a few minutes further, someone was waiting in front of a low-lying cave dwelling, holding a flashlight.
It was late, and since there was no electricity, they couldn't see the person's face clearly. After introducing themselves, they followed him inside.
The village chief, with a strong local accent, invited them to sit down while saying they had worked hard and asked his wife to serve dinner.
"Our conditions here are poor, and the food is not like what you have in the city. Please bear with us. Come, come, eat while it's hot."
The village chief's wife brought out a large white porcelain basin. Inside was a dark, messy stew. Although it was steaming, it had no aroma, and everyone was startled.
Could it be that they would be eating this every day for the next month?
Jiang Nan Fang had always felt that her life was difficult before.
Her family had been in the building materials business since she was young. In the beginning, her father's business wasn't doing well, and her mother scrimped and saved with her every day.
Later, when she was five, the business finally started to pick up, and her family bought a house and a car. However, her father began to stay out all day and would argue with her mother as soon as he came home.
Then, he brought his new wife home to cohabit, which infuriated her mother to the point of depression. On her seventh birthday, her mother committed suicide by jumping off a building.
Before her mother's remains were even cold, her stepmother moved in with her stepbrother, and from then on, Jiang Nan Fang became a servant in the house. She did the laundry, cooking, cleaning, served tea and water, and occasionally endured her stepmother's unprovoked beatings.
Before she fell in love with Zhan Bei Jue, she had truly believed that she was the most miserable person in the world. However, she now realized how self-indulgent she had been.
In this world, there were too many people who couldn't eat enough or wear warm clothes and worried about their livelihood every day.
Looking at the mottled walls of the village chief's house, the broken windows, the children dressed in rags, with dirty faces, shyly looking at them from the corner, she felt a profound sense of emotion.
No wonder Deputy Director Gao was willing to invest so much effort to support this place. If she could change their living environment with her own hands, and let the children see things they had never seen before, and walk out of the desert, she would be willing and proud of it.
The chopsticks were already black, but Jiang Nan Fang didn't mind. She took the lead in picking up her bowl and started eating.
Perhaps seeing a young girl behaving like this, the male colleagues felt awkward about being picky and started eating as well.
After the meal, the wife led them outside.
"The west room of our house is empty, it has a kang bed where you can squeeze in. The rest can go borrow lodging at Old Li's house ahead."