After cleaning up all traces of herself, Zhi Xia took out her electric scooter and headed back. It was already late into the night when she got home.
Zhi Xia looked at the front door that was locked from the inside and felt hopeless. She had overlooked this when leaving earlier, and now she couldn't get back in. What should she do?
Possibly because she didn't have to think much when she was a ghost in her previous life, her mind had become a little dull after being reborn.
Fortunately, she still had her space, otherwise she would have been destined to be a sacrificial lamb.
Zhi Xia found a ladder in her space and was glad that walls in this era weren't built too tall, just a bit higher than an adult man.
She sat on top of the wall and put the ladder back into her space, intending to turn around and take it out again to climb down. But when she turned her head, she saw her fourth brother An ZhiAng standing at the door, staring at her intensely from not too far away.
"There's a thief! Second brother, third brother..."
An ZhiAng had gotten up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and was shocked when he opened the door and saw a shadow on top of the wall. He immediately started shouting.
Zhi Xia was scared half to death by his shout. She laid flat against the wall to steady herself, barely avoiding falling down. "Fourth brother, stop shouting, it's me..."
Now she really felt hopeless. Everything had gone smoothly until she encountered the brother who treated her best when she got home.
Why?
How could he have come out at this exact moment, instead of two minutes earlier or later after she had gotten down? It wouldn't have been so awkward.
Especially when the other family members came out very quickly after hearing his shouts. And An ZhiAng happened to walk over at this time and called out to her, "Little sister? Why are you on top of the wall?"
"Zhi Xia?" Zhou Nan didn't even have time to grab a coat. He was surprised to see Zhi Xia on the wall.
Zhi Xia looked left and right, then calmly said, "I couldn't sleep so I came out for some fresh air. The room was too stuffy."
Zhou Nan looked down at the goosebumps on his exposed arms from the cold and found it hard to believe.
The weather wasn't too cold yet, but it definitely wasn't hot either.
An ZhiXian suddenly felt his sister was rather interesting. "Little sister, it's already late autumn, the night air is damp. It's not good to be in the cold wind for too long. Are you ready to come down?"
Zhi Xia also felt for the first time that this gloating brother seemed a bit hateful.
Trying to stabilize her mood, she calmly replied, "I was about to come down, but I realized it was easy to climb up and hard to climb down. I'll need third brother to help bring a chair over."
The height wasn't a problem for her to jump down directly, but she was worried about twisting her ankle again. That wouldn't be great.
Zhou Nan urged him, "What are you standing there for? Didn't you hear your sister? Hurry up and go!"
An ZhiXian resigned himself to getting a chair from inside. But as soon as he brought it out, An ZhiAng took it from him and placed it right below where Zhi Xia was on the wall. He climbed up first himself and said, "Little sister, let me carry you down. You're a girl and shouldn't be doing such dangerous things in the future. It's easy to fall."
Zhi Xia didn't stand on ceremony and reached out for An ZhiAng to catch her.
She had to admit, she might have been eating too well lately and started some late development, even gaining some weight.
After her feet touched the ground, Zhi Xia finally relaxed.
She brushed the dirt off herself and heard An MeiYun ask, "Elder sister Zhi Xia, what were you doing on top of the wall so late at night? It can't be something you don't want us to know about, right?"
Her voice sounded a little hoarse, probably from crying too much.
"I've heard it said, only when you're a piece of shit do you see everyone else as shit too." Zhi Xia lightly replied to her, then asked Zhou Nan, "Sister-in-law and Wen Qing are back right? How is Wen Qing?"
Upon the mention of this matter, An MeiYun was instantly speechless and looked to Zhou Nan in confusion.
But Zhou Nan didn't give her any response this time. He only sadly said, "They're back. Wen Qing got some stitches on his forehead. The doctor said it will scar."
An JingZhi also spoke up, "Your sister-in-law has been in a bad mood these past few days. You should all keep your voices down and go back to sleep."
Then he looked at Zhi Xia, "Go through the front door next time if you need to go out, or let us know to leave the door open. If that doesn't work, knock on the door. Climbing the wall is too dangerous."
He could tell Zhi Xia didn't want to say where she had gone. He was worried of course, but she didn't grow up with them after all, so he didn't dare be too strict.
As for Mei Yun, he would also need to re-examine things.
Out of his doting on Mei Yun, he and his wife had always overlooked some details. But hearing Mei Yun's questioning of Zhi Xia just now, he felt there was some provocation in it.
Although they hadn't guessed wrong - Mei Yun did think that way, wanting to use Zhi Xia's secret late night outing to cover up her pushing Wen Qing. But she didn't expect An JingZhi and Zhou Nan to not take the bait.
An JingZhi and Zhou Nan were the first to return to their room. The couple had been up most of the night discussing Wen Qing being pushed. They understood in their hearts that if they didn't give Liu Ling an explanation for this matter, it would probably be indefensible.
Moreover, Wen Qing was their first grandson, so their heartache was not small.
Yet Mei Yun was still oblivious. At this time, the more she said, the more mistakes she would make. Even a sneeze could make people dislike her.
Giving Zhi Xia a look of disgust, Mei Yun could only hold in her resentment and go back to her room.
The three An brothers didn't hurry to leave. An ZhiAng quietly asked Zhi Xia in a small voice, "Little sister, tell me the truth, where did you run off to just now?"
In order to get the answer to this question, An ZhiAng steeled himself to reveal his own misdeeds. "Don't worry, even if you tell me I won't say anything to mom and dad. Let me tell you, when we were young, dad watched us very strictly and set some kind of curfew. But it couldn't stop any of us. We often climbed over the wall to sneak out. Though the getting stuck going up and unable to get down has never happened to us before. So I'm curious, how did you get up there if you didn't even dare climb down?"
Since coming back, this was the first time Zhi Xia felt her fourth brother talked a lot, asking things she didn't know how to answer.
"Fourth brother, what are mom and dad saying about Mei Yun's matter? They can't just let it slide easily right?" She wanted to change the subject, but also truly wanted to know the outcome.
If Mei Yun could get through this unscathed, Zhi Xia felt perhaps there was no need for An JingZhi and Zhou Nan to try saving her at all.
Because they probably wouldn't be able to believe or unwilling to believe Mei Yun was a bad person until she harmed them to death.
An ZhiAng sighed and the atmosphere instantly turned heavy.
It was An Zhiren who finally answered the question. "This matter won't pass so easily. Although sister-in-law has seemed very amiable and docile since marrying into our family these years, once she loses her temper even eldest brother can't handle her. Let alone this matter where she's totally in the wrong. There's no way around giving sister-in-law an explanation."
An ZhiXian still remembered that a few years ago, for some unknown reason the couple had a fight in the middle of the night. Eldest brother had been kicked out in just his underwear to sit outside their bedroom door for half the night until mother spoke up before he could go back in.
And normally the relationship between eldest brother and sister-in-law appeared to be him as the head of household.
