Chapter 634 He’s Back

Miao Xiaohua had recovered the memories of her past life. She knew the flood was going to happen.

An Ning had a few ideas, but she didn’t plan on acting on them.

There was one way to describe Miao Xiaohua and Chen Mingliang: they were both bad news.

An Ning turned her attention to discussing the next steps with everyone.

First up was clearing the mud.

The An family had suffered the heaviest losses, and there was truly little worth salvaging. So, An Guoming simply hired a bulldozer and a truck to demolish everything and haul it away.

With the roar of machinery, the An family’s once-enviable large, tile-roofed house was completely demolished in a single day.

The sight of the empty lot left everyone with mixed feelings.

It had only been a few days, yet the world had been turned upside down.

"Mom—are we rebuilding the house here?"

An Guoqing asked. Lin Cuihua and An Sancheng exchanged a look before declaring, "We are! We’re building it right here!"

"Then we’ll build it here. This time, we’ll put up a retaining wall at the foot of the mountain and reinforce it with rebar and concrete. We’ll have to re-landscape the mountainside, too."

An Guoming had already thought this through. When he said it, Lin Cuihua and An Sancheng were naturally delighted.

The An family finished clearing the mud, but they would have to wait a while before they could start building the house. The ground wasn’t even dry yet.

They didn’t leave after that. Instead, they went to Uncle An’s house to help him.

Although Uncle An’s house hadn’t been washed away, its roof was gone. As a result, there was really no point in trying to salvage anything inside.

Besides, Uncle An had always lived in an old house, so he decided to take this opportunity to build a new one.

The An family threw themselves into the cleanup, working during the day and returning to their temporary home in Linxian County at night.

Uncle An, An Ning’s family, Grandpa Jiang, and Master Tang were all temporarily living together.

But building a house is never a one or two-day affair. Uncle An had anticipated this and asked An Guoming to find a suitable house to rent for a while.

An Guoming didn’t object. Everyone knew what Uncle An was like.

The An family was bustling with activity every day. An Ning tried to help, but she eventually found there wasn’t much for her to do.

「Five days later, Jiang Xia returned.」

After five days of working nonstop overtime, he hadn’t rested for a single moment. He had his driver take him straight back, and after a quick wash, he went to find Anning’s house.

He couldn’t wait any longer.

’Even before he went abroad, Jiang Xia had decided he would make things official with An Ning as soon as he got back.’

After so many twists and turns, they could finally see each other again.

Jiang Xia found the An family’s rental house using the address they’d given him. He straightened his clothes and was about to step forward and knock.

"Get out—!"

The furious roar of "Get out!" made Jiang Xia’s raised hand freeze.

The next second, the door was flung open. Jiang Xia jumped back to get out of the way, just in time to see an older woman scrambling out, pursued by An Sancheng wielding a broom.

An Sancheng’s face was beet red as he chased the woman, smacking at her with the big broom. WHACK! WHACK!

"You shameless hag! If you dare show your face here again, I’ll skin you alive!"

"What’s got you so worked up? I just came here with good intentions to offer a match—"

"Get the hell out! My daughter’s doing just fine, we don’t need you to say a damn thing! Go on, get out! You’re all a bunch of scoundrels!"

’Matchmaking?’

’His daughter?’

’An Ning?’

Jiang Xia’s heart leaped into his throat. He watched as An Sancheng finally chased off the swearing matchmaker.

"Son of a... all of them are... Huh? Jiang Xia, when did you get here?"

Jiang Xia swallowed hard and greeted An Sancheng, feeling a bit sheepish.

"Uncle... I just got back and thought I’d come see you and Auntie."

Jiang Xia held up the gifts he was carrying, a silly, forced smile on his face.

"You shouldn’t have! There’s no need for such formalities between our families. Hurry up and come in!"

"Okay!"

Jiang Xia followed An Sancheng inside. After just a few steps, he couldn’t help but ask, "Uncle, what was that just now?"

"Ah... her? Well, you know about the flood, right? Our Green Land was destroyed, along with the crops and everything. Now, everyone out there is saying the An family has gone bankrupt."

"Damn it, not a single one of them is a decent person. They all assume we’re bankrupt, so they’re setting their sights on An Ning. They say my daughter doesn’t even have a proper job, that she just fools around all day, and that she should be thanking her lucky stars to marry into their families."

"Pah!"

An Sancheng spat viciously. Then, his voice booming, he shouted to the world outside, "Even if my An family had to resort to collecting scrap to survive, we would never be the sort of people to sell our daughter!"

"I’ll support my daughter her whole life, and I’ll be happy to do it!"

Jiang Xia finally understood what was going on. He was just about to offer a few words of comfort when he heard Lin Cuihua’s voice.

"Stop all that yelling. Don’t you know our own situation? Why are you taking them so seriously!"

For once, An Sancheng didn’t back down. He huffed, "I don’t care if I know! They can’t talk about my daughter like that!"

Lin Cuihua didn’t like it either, but it wasn’t as if the An family had suffered a major blow—they hadn’t even been scratched.

That’s how things are with gossip. Rumors change as they spread, and you’d work yourself to death if you took every single one to heart.

Once their shops reopened and the house was rebuilt, everyone would understand the truth.

"Alright, that’s enough. You need to rest. You’re just getting worked up because you’ve got nothing better to do." Lin Cuihua shot An Sancheng a sideways glance before turning to Jiang Xia with a warm smile.

"Jiang Xia, you’re here! Come on in."

"Hello, Auntie."

Jiang Xia didn’t dare ask where An Ning was. He just followed Lin Cuihua inside, chatted with her and An Sancheng for a little while, and then actually left.

Never mind confessing his feelings, he didn’t even get to see her.

After leaving the An family’s place, Jiang Xia took out his phone to call An Ning.

RING... RING...

"Hello?"

Jiang Xia jumped. ’Did I dial the wrong number? How could it be Auntie Lin Cuihua’s voice?’

"Oh, Jiang Xia... are you looking for An Ning? She went to the bathhouse and left her phone at home."

"Auntie, it’s nothing important. I just had a small question for An Ning."

After a few more pleasantries, Jiang Xia hung up. He muttered to himself, still a bit shaken, ’Thank God I didn’t text her.’

He pocketed his phone and, now empty-handed, headed to the house diagonally across the street. It was the place Grandpa Jiang and Master Tang were renting.

KNOCK KNOCK.

WOOF WOOF!

"Da Huang!"

Jiang Xia called out affectionately to Da Huang. From inside, the remarkably clever dog opened the door, but only a crack.

Man and dog stared at each other through the crack.

"Da Huang—"

SLAM!

Da Huang slammed the door shut, right on the tip of Jiang Xia’s nose.

Clutching his nose, Jiang Xia let out an exaggerated yelp, trying to get Da Huang’s attention.

WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF...

A flurry of barks erupted. Jiang Xia couldn’t understand dog, of course, but he had a feeling Da Huang was cursing up a storm.

"I know, I know, I was wrong! I’ve been gone a long time, but I came to see you the second I got back, didn’t I?"

As Jiang Xia tried his best to coax Da Huang, he failed to notice a figure slowly approaching from behind.

WOOF... WOOF...

"I swear! I really missed you! It’s all my fault. Please, will you open the door for me?"

Poor, pathetic Jiang Xia, locked out by his own dog.

"You two-timing liar! And here I thought you’d come see me first!"

Jiang Xia, who was still squatting on the ground, whipped his head around, a huge smile spreading across his face.

"An Ning—"

WOOF—

SLAM!