Siheyuan came through and sent Jia Zhang to prison

Chapter 705 Jia Dongxu Pretends to Faint

Caught off guard by someone behind her, Jia Dongxu's aunt stumbled and nearly fell to the ground. Her hair was pulled painfully, and her scalp felt like it was about to split open. She immediately screamed, her voice shrill and piercing: "Outrageous! This little hussy dares to lay a hand on me! The Jia family has truly raised an ingrate!"

With help from others, Qin Huairu felt even more confident. Taking advantage of the moment when the other woman was being held back by Xiao Dang, she snatched the cloth bag from her arms and dumped it on the ground with a "clatter." Inside, besides a few patched old clothes, the familiar set of copper keys and several crumpled grain coupons rolled out, lying on the ground as if silently accusing her.

"What else do you have to say!" Qin Huairu picked up the key and food coupons, clutching them tightly in her hand. Her fingertips rubbed the cold key, and tears streamed down her face, mingling with her anger and grievances. She cried so hard that her shoulders trembled.

When Jia Dongxu's aunt saw the stolen goods being found, her face turned as red as a pig's liver, alternating between red and purple. But she still spoke defiantly, sticking her neck out and shouting, "So what if it is? All the food and drinks I've had at your house these past few days, I paid for them all myself. What's wrong with taking a little something from you? Consider it payment for the food!"

"Get out of here! Get out now!" Qin Huairu pointed at the door, her voice trembling, her anger about to explode. "My home doesn't welcome scum like you!"

Jia Dongxu lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), looking at the clothes scattered on the floor, the weeping Qin Huairu, and his aunt still cursing. He felt a wave of dizziness and his vision blurred. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but only managed indistinct breaths, like a leaky bellows. This family was already in complete chaos; it was falling apart, and it seemed it really was going to fall apart. The wind howled in through the window, swirling up scraps of paper and dust, as if mocking the absurdity and disarray within the house.

Jia Dongxu knew exactly what was going on. With everyone in the courtyard watching, he knew that if he spoke too softly, he wouldn't be able to quell Qin Huairu's anger; if he spoke too harshly, he'd only get entangled with her and get himself burned. So, he steeled himself, gritted his teeth, and suddenly his body went limp, collapsing straight to the ground with a dull thud as his head hit the blue brick floor. His eyes were tightly closed, his breathing deliberately slowed, and his chest rose and fell weakly, making him look exactly like someone who had fainted.

Qin Huairu wanted to take a few more steps closer to Jia Dongxu's aunt, throw a tantrum, and escalate the situation—she knew perfectly well that the bigger the scene, the clearer things would be for everyone in the courtyard. However, Xiao Dang, with her sharp eyes, noticed something was wrong first. She tugged at Qin Huairu's clothes, her voice trembling with fear and panic: "Mom, my dad… my dad fainted! Look! His face is pale, his lips are blue, I don't know what's wrong with him!"

Qin Huairu followed her daughter's gaze and looked down, seeing Jia Dongxu lying stiffly on the ground, motionless like a fish out of water. She wasn't particularly concerned—she knew this man too well; he loved to play dead to avoid trouble, like when the factory docked his work points years ago, he used this trick to lie in bed for a whole day—but she couldn't go too far in front of her child. She merely glanced at Jia Dongxu indifferently, her tone devoid of warmth: "Making a fuss over nothing."

Then she turned to look at Xiaodang and patted her daughter's little hands, which were red from the cold: "Your dad is fine. He probably just hasn't been sleeping well these past few days and is tired. Alright, leave this place to his aunt. She'll keep an eye on things. You come back to the room with me to rest. We have to get up early tomorrow to find your brother Jia Cai. That's the most important thing, so we can't delay it, understand?"

Xiao Dang pursed her lips, which were turning purple from the cold, and wanted to say, "Should we call a doctor?" But looking at her father lying motionless on the ground, and remembering her mother's unquestionable tone, she swallowed her words. In her mind, her father never had any ideas; her mother always made the decisions at home, and listening to her mother was always the right thing to do. So she nodded, her little voice tinged with grievance: "Okay, Mom."

After saying that, Xiao Dang grabbed Qin Huairu's clothes and followed her into the house. Her little steps were a little heavy, and after taking a few steps, she couldn't help but look back at her father on the ground, her eyes full of confusion—her father was usually quiet, but he had never fallen to the ground like this before. Was he really okay?

Jia Dongxu's aunt, watching from the side, was terrified. She quickly tiptoed forward and squatted down to look at her nephew lying on the ground. After all, he was her own sister's only son, and her heart was still a little pounding. She tremblingly reached out and first checked Jia Dongxu's breath. Feeling the faint airflow, she gently nudged his arm: "Dongxu? Dongxu, wake up! Don't scare your aunt! If anything happens to you, how can I face your mother in the afterlife?"

Jia Dongxu suddenly opened his eyes, grabbed his aunt's wrist with such force that he almost crushed her bones, and lowered his voice, his tone tinged with impatience: "I'm fine! I'm faking it! And you, you can't even keep an eye on the kids, letting Qin Huairu run wild here! She's a madwoman now, driven to desperation by Bang Geng and Jia Cai's affair, she only cares about those two boys, she's capable of anything. You'd better not provoke her, lest you get yourself into trouble!"

Jia Dongxu's aunt blushed at his words, as if she had been slapped. She pulled her hand away, sighed, and lowered her voice: "Sigh, I never expected this... We see each other every day in this courtyard, and yet a child abduction still happens. It's all my fault. Yesterday afternoon, I just turned around to pour her a glass of water, and Jia Cai disappeared. It's definitely my fault..."

Jia Dongxu frowned, sat up from the ground, and patted the dirt off his clothes. The chill from the blue bricks seeped through his thin trousers, making him shiver. "Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Let Qin Huairu make a scene for the next couple of days. She's been holding back her anger, and she needs to find a place to vent. After a couple of days, once her anger subsides, she'll naturally calm down." He knew perfectly well that the more Qin Huairu made a scene, the more likely the people in the courtyard would focus on "finding the child," and who would be paying attention to his little affair with Yi Zhonghai?

Jia Dongxu's aunt nodded, but her heart was pounding. She knew perfectly well what Jia Dongxu was thinking; he was just using Qin Huairu's antics to divert everyone's attention in the courtyard. But she herself had her own reservations—Qin Huairu had witnessed her ambiguous relationship with Yi Zhonghai back in the countryside. If Qin Huairu got carried away and blurted it all out, she'd be too ashamed to stay in the courtyard. It seemed she needed to make plans early; if all else failed, she'd have to go back to her parents' home in the countryside to avoid the storm and wait until things calmed down.