Chapter 89: Ji Ping’s Secret

Just as Chu Xuan was hesitating about whether to avoid them, Ji Ping spotted her and greeted her warmly, “Chu Xuan, come on in!”

Chu Xuan gave an awkward smile. “Am I interrupting something between you two?”

Ji Ping replied crisply, “No.”

But Sheng Damei, her face bruised and swollen, said, “That’s right. Chu Xuan, you picked the worst time to show up! Why are you everywhere I go?”

Before Chu Xuan could respond, Ji Ping shot Sheng Damei a glare. “If you can’t say anything nice, just shut up!”

He turned back to Chu Xuan, immediately putting on a smile. “Don’t mind her. Let’s go to the main room to talk.”

“Alright.”

Chu Xuan started heading toward the main room.

Sheng Damei spread her arms to block her. “Why do you get to go in and talk in private, but I can’t? You two can talk out here in the yard! A man and a woman alone in a room—what will people say? Aren’t you afraid of village gossip?”

Chu Xuan couldn’t help but laugh. Coming from someone as shameless as Sheng Damei, that was pretty rich.

Ji Ping didn’t hold back—he gave Sheng Damei a swift kick in the butt. “Looking for trouble, are you? Aren’t you here for money? Chu Xuan is here to settle accounts with me! Go wait over there!”

The moment Sheng Damei heard there was money involved, she forgot all about her pain. “Then hurry up and go settle up in the main room.”

She quickly stepped aside.

Chu Xuan entered the main room, pulled a thick wad of 1,200 yuan from her pocket, and handed it to Ji Ping.

“Here’s 1,200 yuan. Please count it.”

“Alright.” Ji Ping took the money and counted it quickly. After confirming the amount, he said, “Yep, it’s 1,200.”

Chu Xuan pulled out a palm-sized notebook from her pocket, flipped to a page, and pointed. “Please sign and put your fingerprint here under ‘Payment Settled.’”

As she spoke, she took out a small box of red ink—just bought from the county town.

Ji Ping didn’t think it was overkill. A little formality was a good thing.

He signed and pressed his fingerprint without hesitation.

Chu Xuan put away the ink and notebook. “What’s going on between you and Sheng Damei?”

Ji Ping sighed. “If you hadn’t caught us today, I’d never have brought it up. She’s my half-sister. People in the village only know my family moved here from elsewhere, but they don’t know that before my dad divorced my mom, he was already with her mother.”

“After my parents divorced, my dad married her mom and settled here in the village, and they had her. My mom took me and remarried, and convinced my stepdad to move here too. My biological dad wouldn’t let me call him ‘Dad,’ and I never wanted to anyway—I just called my stepdad ‘Dad.’”

“We’ve lived here for over a decade now. Outwardly, our two families never acknowledge each other, but there’s always been this unspoken rivalry. A few years ago, my biological dad died. My mom and stepdad moved back to their hometown in the county and bought a new house, leaving me this yard and the fishing boat.”

“Whenever Sheng Damei’s family runs out of food, she comes to me for money. I set a condition: she can’t tell anyone about our relationship…”

Now Chu Xuan finally understood why, in her previous life, Ji Ping made decent money but never seemed to live well—it was all spent by Sheng Damei and her mother.

“You keep helping them out—when will it ever end? Why not help them find a way to make a living?”

“It’s not like I haven’t tried. I even gave them seed money, but they’re lazy and never managed to do anything.”

At this, Ji Ping counted out 200 yuan, put the rest in his pocket, and walked out of the main room.

Sheng Damei hurried over. “Are you giving me money now?”

Before Ji Ping could even hand it over, Sheng Damei snatched the money and started counting. “That’s it? Wasn’t there 1,200? Shouldn’t I get at least half?”

Ji Ping was getting impatient. “It’s not all my money. The rest has to go to the other families, plus there’s boat repairs. If you keep complaining, I’ll take back a hundred!”

“Don’t!” Sheng Damei quickly stuffed the money into her pocket.

Only then did Chu Xuan realize that the fines Sheng Damei paid to the security team and the compensation she’d received for lost wages had all come from Ji Ping’s pocket.

Ji Ping really was a fool—why bother with people like that?

Afraid the money would be taken back, Sheng Damei hurried off.

Chu Xuan looked at Ji Ping, puzzled. “Why do you keep helping them? Don’t tell me it’s for your dead father’s sake.”

Ji Ping didn’t answer, his fists clenching and unclenching.

Chu Xuan coughed awkwardly to break the silence. “Sorry, I’m being nosy. Everyone has their secrets—I shouldn’t pry. Sorry! I’ll let you get back to work. I’m heading home.”

“Wait!” Over the past while, Ji Ping had already come to see Chu Xuan as a friend. Never mind that delicious meal she’d cooked for him that day—just the cooling or dampness-relieving soups she gave him whenever he delivered fish to her house were enough to make him feel cared for.

Seeing Ji Ping hesitate, Chu Xuan waited patiently.

Maybe Ji Ping just needed someone to talk to.

He brought over two chairs, handed one to Chu Xuan, and the two of them sat in the shade in the yard to chat.

It was only then that Chu Xuan learned Ji Ping didn’t help Sheng Damei and her mother for no reason.

When Ji Ping was nine, he snuck out to the sea without telling his mom or stepdad, focused only on catching mantis shrimp, and forgot about the rising tide.

It was Li Qin—Sheng Damei’s mother—who was already heading back to shore, who saw him with water up to his knees. She shouted for him to run and rushed over to save him.

If it hadn’t been for Li Qin that day, Ji Ping might have been swallowed by the sea.

Ji Ping never dared tell his mom about it.

But his mom heard about it from someone else and beat him when he got home, but never went to thank Li Qin.

After that, he and Li Qin had no further contact.

Until he started living alone, and Sheng Damei came to him for help.

That time, Li Qin was seriously ill and couldn’t afford treatment, so she told Sheng Damei she had a half-brother.

Ever since Ji Ping gave Sheng Damei money for the first time, she kept coming back for more.

Li Qin’s illness came and went. Ji Ping secretly took her to the county hospital for tests—they said it was cancer. The fact she was still alive was a miracle; she could go at any time.

Chu Xuan remembered that in her previous life, Li Qin did die of cancer—it was this year. By then, Sheng Damei had already married Accountant Wen, so she didn’t burden Ji Ping anymore.

But this time, Sheng Damei was single. Once her mother died, she’d probably latch onto Ji Ping.

That would be a real headache for him.

Chu Xuan hadn’t expected that by helping Accountant Wen, she’d indirectly caused trouble for Ji Ping.

“Ji Ping, you need to find a way to straighten Sheng Damei out. If this keeps up, she’ll turn out rotten.”

Ji Ping spread his hands helplessly. “You saw it yourself—even beating her doesn’t help. When I think about all the things she’s done, I just want to slap her to death.”

Getting pregnant out of wedlock, ruining someone’s marriage, scheming against Accountant Wen to make him raise another man’s child…

Now she’d messed up her own health, and it’d be hard for her to have children in the future.

Her chances of getting married were slim—unless she left for another place and found someone who didn’t know her past.

Chu Xuan glanced at her watch—she still had time to go to the shore. “I have something to do, so I’ll head out. I’ll think about how to guide Sheng Damei onto the right path over the next few days.”

“Thanks! I’ll think about it too. By the way, Chen Ze knows about this as well. Let’s get together for a meal soon—the three of us can sit down and really talk this over.”

“Sounds good.”

Chu Xuan said goodbye and left.

So Mu Chenze knew about this too—he’d kept it from her in her previous life.

Serves her right, really, since she and he weren’t on the same page back then.

She wondered how his shirts were selling these days.

Lost in thought, she walked home, not watching her step.

She stepped right in a pile of horse manure, slipped, and fell backward.

She thought, That’s it. With my weight, if the back of my head hits the ground, I’ll either die on the spot or be brain-dead.

Could it be that the heavens aren’t satisfied with her rebirth and want to give her another chance to die and be reborn again…"