Qiu Qin was truly audacious. He dared to find someone to steal from the ancient tomb and then sell the cultural relics. He was breaking the law despite knowing it. That would be a more serious crime!
At the thought that she did not spend a single cent of the proceeds that Qiu Qin received from the sale of the cultural relics and that woman outside must have benefited from it, Qi Minlan had absolutely no hesitation about getting a divorce.
Qiu Chenxi heaved a sigh of relief. “Mom, do you think uncle will be willing to help us this time?”
Zhai Sheng only gave her one month of time. In her opinion, it would be better if her mother got a divorce as soon as possible, lest the two of them, mother and daughter, became implicated in the matter.
“I think so…” When Qi Minlan said this, she sounded very doubtful. She had not forgotten what she had done. Previously, in the army camp, she just left and never turned back. Two years had passed and she, as the biological sister, had never visited Shi Peng. They were not even as close as acquaintances, let alone relatives.
Now, she was going to appear before Shi Peng only when she needed his help for something. Qi Minlan looked flustered and nervous.
The situation was already as such and Qi Minlan did not have any choice. There was no one else that she could plead with except for Shi Peng.
All the while, everyone kicks a man who is down. The situation of the Qiu family was not as good as before. She could only rely on her status as the biological sister of Shi Peng now. “You don’t have to worry about this matter. I will go and look for your uncle. If he is angry and flares up with me, he can vent it all on me. Mom won’t let you suffer. At most, I’ll be given a few scoldings. It’s better than nothing. Even if he is too much, he is also your uncle and my elder brother. Compared to outsiders, your uncle is definitely better.”
At this moment, Qi Minlan remembered that Shi Peng was her next-of-kin and that he would certainly treat her much better than outsiders would.
Humans would remember the ones who were best to them only when they were in some trouble.
It was just that when one was enjoying good fortune, would they still remember the ones who were willing to lend them a helping hand in times of danger and trouble? This was a great test of one’s character.
“Okay.” Qiu Chenxi really did not have the shame and courage to face Shi Peng and Shi Qing. The father-daughter pair had been living in Ping Cheng for so long and the Qiu family did not even interact with them at all.
Today, they came forward only when they needed a favor. Qiu Chenxi wanted her pride and she could not bring herself to do this.
Furthermore, Shi Qing’s good friend, Qiao Nan, was the one who was going to be engaged to Zhai Sheng.
At the thought of how she had boasted to Shi Qing before, Qiu Chenxi was more reluctant to appear before Shi Qing in case the latter laughed at her.
“Director Shi, there’s a woman outside by the surname of Qi. She said that she’s your sister. Do you wish to let her in?” Secretary Feng looked at Shi Peng curiously. He had been working with Director Shi for one year and this was the first time that he heard that Director Shi actually had relatives in Ping Cheng.
“I’m not available now.” Shi Peng, who was attending to some matters, replied without even lifting his head. “You can ask her to leave her contact number and I will call her when I have the time.”
Shi Peng knew that it was not possible for Qi Minlan to look for him due to work-related matters. It would only be for personal matters.
How could an individual’s personal matter be more important than the official matters of the citizens of the whole Ping Cheng? Hence, Shi Peng simply put Qi Minlan’s matter at the bottom of the to-do list. One day of delay would not make much of a difference.
Upon hearing this, Qi Minlan, who was standing outside, fell silent for a while. Her brother was purposely making things difficult for her as he was still angry about her previous doings.
Nevertheless, she had already guessed that this would happen. In fact, she would feel strange if her brother did not have any reaction. “No issue. I’m not in a hurry. I can wait. He can see me when he has the time to do so.” She did not believe that Shi Peng was so busy that he did not even have time for lunch.
When Shi Peng was going to have lunch, she would then make use of lunchtime to talk to Shi Peng. It was not such a difficult matter. It was just regarding her divorce with Qiu Qin. She hoped that Shi Peng could help speed up the progress.
It was not something illegal. Hence, Shi Peng would not reject her.
“Fine.” Qi Minlan did not disturb him in his work. Secretary Feng then allowed Qi Minlan to sit and continue to wait.
Secretary Feng was quite curious about Qi Minlan. She claimed that she was his director’s biological sister but the two of them did not bear the same surname.
The strangest thing was that she was the biological sister, but today was the first time that this ‘member of the royal family’ came to look for Director Shi. Was this ‘member of the royal family’ authentic or fake?
Facing Secretary Feng’s curious gaze from time to time, Qi Minlan straightened her back so that Secretary Feng would not see through her thoughts and embarrassment.
She had sat for the entire morning.
It was only when it was half-past noon that Shi Peng started to have his lunch.
At the sight of the lunch box, Qi Minlan was quick in her actions as she immediately followed Secretary Feng and squeezed into Shi Peng’s office. Her actions were so swift that Secretary Feng did not even have the chance to stop her.
Secretary Feng was wide-eyed and tongue-tied as he helplessly watched Qi Minlan enter Shi Peng’s office like a robber. He then followed closely behind.
“You’re having lunch now. You should have some time to listen to a few words of mine.” Qi Minlan was extremely anxious as she spoke first.
“Listen to you about what? Are you going to tell me that you have finally finished preparing the ginseng and deer antler that you should have prepared for me when I was ill, and you are going to give them to me now? It didn’t seem so… You came empty-handed.” Shi Peng requested Secretary Feng to bring over his lunch box. “I’ve reviewed and approved these documents. You can send them down. There are also a few questions on some segments. Get someone to check them out. If they don’t explain them clearly, we’re not going to use any of them.”
“Will do, Director Shi.” Secretary Feng carried a huge stack of documents out. Those documents were piled up like a little hill and they nearly drowned Secretary Feng.
At the sight of the office table filled with official documents, Qi Minlan’s expression looked more at ease. It seemed that Shi Peng was truly busy. It was not that he deliberately refused to see her, this sister. “Brother, I really have something urgent that I need your help with.”
“Do you? When I needed help, my sister went hiding. When my sister needs help, she will then remember the existence of her only brother. It’s so good to be a younger sister.” Shi Peng sneered. During the time when his health was the poorest, the concern and care given to him from outsiders were a thousand times more than that of Qi Minlan.
On the contrary, Qi Minlan, his biological sister, was deeply afraid that his health was truly poor and needed a lot of money. Despite living in the same city for two to three years, she had never contacted him. During Lunar New Year or festive seasons, she did not even send him any greeting. She was so distant that she could not even be compared to his neighbors.
“Brother, do you have to bring up the old scores with me?” At the mention of these past matters, Qi Minlan did not even have any explanation. She really could not smoke her way through. “I can understand that you are still angry about what happened previously. If you want to scold me to vent your anger, I will accept it. You are also aware that I’m the daughter-in-law of the Qiu family once I’m married. The Qiu family…”
Qi Minlan wanted to say that the money of the Qiu family was not with her. When she wanted to buy some good stuff to show her concern for Shi Peng, the Qiu family was heartless and disloyal and refused to let her do so. Did she have a choice?
Hence, she had not contacted Shi Peng and his daughter in these few years. The Qiu family was to be blamed for this. It did not have anything to do with her. She was innocent.