"Youwei" Braised Meat Shop.
"Second Brother, we’re back!" As soon as Xia Chuyi entered, she greeted Xia Chengzong, who was sitting on the doorframe.
His face had a somewhat ashen hue, he furrowed his brow and stared blankly, taking a long while to come back to his senses.
"Ah, you guys, you’re back?" Xia Chengzong’s expression was somewhat uneasy.
Xia Chuyi raised an eyebrow.
Thinking carefully, the few things that could send her second brother into such a daze were clear in her mind.
"Second Brother, I plan to prepare a nice meal, to treat Director Chang and Xiao Wang..." Catching her boyfriend’s displeased look, she tactfully added, "and Brother Shi Qian too."
After she finished, she purposefully asked Xia Chengzong, "How much stuff do we still have in our family’s warehouse?"
Thinking she hadn’t noticed his odd behavior, Xia Chengzong breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I haven’t paid attention, I’ll go check."
After Xia Chengzong left, she stared at his retreating back.
"Your second brother is hiding something," Huo Shiqian suddenly said from beside her.
Her Uncle Liberation Army indeed had a keen nose.
Xia Chuyi gave Huo Shiqian a smile and said, "I’ll go have a talk with him."
"Mm," Huo Shiqian didn’t stop her.
In the backyard, where Xia Chengzong was supposed to be taking inventory of the warehouse, he instead stood at the door of the storeroom, fists clenched, a face clouded with anger as if something had just crossed his mind.
"Second Brother!" Xia Chuyi called out to him.
Xia Chengzong turned around, and as soon as he saw her, he instantly hid his fury and said, "I’m going to count..."
"Second Brother!" Xia Chuyi called out again, interrupting him, "Are you still going to keep hiding it?"
"Tell me, who visited today?"
She asked with extraordinary composure.
Xia Chengzong looked at her in surprise, then quickly lowered his head and sighed, "Brother Qiang, no, Li Qiang."
His voice was very low.
Brother Qiang? Li Qiang?
This wasn’t what she had expected; she thought it would be someone from the Xia Family.
Xia Chuyi furrowed her brow and asked, "What did he come for?"
Xia Chengzong was silent for a moment, then said, "He... came to tell me about my brother’s issue."
The "brother" Xia Chengzong referred to was naturally Xia Chengzu.
"How did the two of them get involved?" Xia Chuyi raised an eyebrow.
Given the circumstances, Xia Chengzong no longer concealed the truth, "Previously, my brother thought ’Youwei’ was already in his pocket, so he made an investment involving smuggling goods."
"Investment?" Xia Chuyi’s voice rose slightly.
She thought: This must be the setup that caused Xia Chengzu to lose his job in her previous life.
"Mm, but due to the rush, there wasn’t enough money, so he borrowed a high-interest loan from Brother Qiang," Xia Chengzong said with a deeply guilty expression.
"He used ’Youwei’ as collateral?" Xia Chuyi ventured a guess.
Otherwise, her second brother wouldn’t have that look on his face.
"Not just that..." Xia Chengzong was grinding his teeth.
"What else?" Seeing her second brother , she was truly curious now.
Xia Chengzong, with his head lowered and fists clenched, took a long moment before finally saying, "You."
His voice was very soft, yet Xia Chuyi heard it clearly.
"What did you say?" She asked in disbelief.
None of this happened in her previous life.
Because in her previous life, Xia Chengzu had had a smooth sailing start, never lost his job, and was conned out of the money he had demanded from Grandma Xia and cajoled from his coworkers.
Later, when he couldn’t pay back the money and the scam came to light, he was reported for fraud by the workers and thus lost his job.
In this lifetime, having lost his job and unable to swindle his coworkers anymore, he had to find another way out.
She just hadn’t expected that Xia Chengzu would dare to go this far!