Chapter 98: One Mountain Cannot Contain Two Tigers
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Miss Su…”
“What Miss? She’s already married.” Before Qiao Yang could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a chilly voice.
Qiao Yang looked behind Su Ying and saw a man in a wheelchair pushing his wheelchair out with an ominous expression on his face.
Qiao Yang’s eyes subconsciously revealed a look of hostility. “Miss Su, this is…”
Su Ying gave Xiao Jin one glance and said without hesitation, “My husband.”
This straightforward and concise answer made Xiao Jin s expression ease a little.
“Yingying, who is he?”
…..
Pfft!
Su Ying almost spat out a mouthful of saliva. She really wasn’t used to Xiao Jin addressing her that affectionately.
Nonetheless, she still replied with a stiff face, “He’s someone 1 happened to save on the way.”
Qiao Yang felt a bit of pain in his heart. He didn’t expect such an interesting and unique woman to be married and have kids. Her husband was also a cripple. She was really too pitiful!
“You’re always saving some random people on the way. What if you hurt yourself because of this?” Xiao Jin’s words carried a hint of worry and reproach.
Su Ying raised her eyebrows. “If 1 can get twenty pigs, rice, and flour in exchange, surely it is worth it.”
Qiao Yang felt the pain in his heart intensify. “Miss Su…”
“You’ve never studied?” Xiao Jin interrupted him again.
Qiao Yang glared at Xiao Jin angrily. “What?”
Xiao Jin said icily, “Even if you’re uneducated, you should know not to address a married woman ’Miss’.”
“I feel like doing it. What business is it of yours?”
Su Ying rubbed her nose. She didn’t know where the hostility from these men was coming from. “Where did you get these things?”
When Qiao Yang saw Su Ying talking to him, he put on a smile again. “These are all from home.”
“The things at home can’t possibly fall from the sky, right?”
“My elder brother has some means. He got these from outside the Tiger Base.”
Su Ying, who had originally planned to let Qiao Yang leave, immediately changed her mind. “Since Master Qiao is so generous and polite, please come in for a cup of hot water.”
“Wouldn’t 1 be imposing on you too much? However, Madam Su, since you have invited me so graciously, how can I not extend some courtesy to you?” Qiao Yang shot Xiao Jin a provocative glance and deliberately brushed past him on his way into the compound.
“Su Ying.”
“Hmm?” Su Ying turned around with a puzzled look.
“My leg hurts a little.” Xiao Jin put on a fake look of pain.
Su Ying frowned and immediately squatted down to check the wound on his leg. “Where does it hurt?”
“I just felt a sharp pain near the wound.”
“Maybe it’s because your tendons and veins are healing. I’ll check it for you later,” Su Ying said after some thought.
“Alright.”
Qiao Yang, who was standing in the hall, gave a disdainful snort when he saw the two of them being so intimate.
“A cripple can still cause so many problems.”
“Who are you?” The older toddler Ji held the younger toddler Ling’s hand as both stared at Qiao Yang warily.
Qiao Yang’s eyes swept over them. “You’re Madam Su’s children?”
Ling tilted her tiny head. “Big Brother, who is Madam Su?”
Ji shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Qiao Yang stared at Ji’s eyes and brows, which were almost identical to Xiao Jin’s, and gave another snort. “You guys are as ugly as your father.”
When Ling heard that, she turned around with a loud wail and threw herself into Su Ying’s arms. “Mother, this strange uncle said that we are as ugly as Mother.”
Qiao Yang was utterly speechless.
Su Ying’s face clouded over. To her, the two little ones were the cutest and prettiest, and she couldn’t bear to hear others belittle them. “Reflect on your own mouth in your piss if you have nothing better to do.”
Qiao Yang sat on the chair meekly and felt like crying.
“He’s talking nonsense. Don’t believe him. Go play for a while first, and Mother will come and play with you later.”
“Alright.” The two little fellows turned around and stuck out their tongues at Qiao Yang before obediently following Aunt Zhao out of the house.
Su Ying sat down opposite Qiao Yang while Xiao Jin sat beside her.
Bai Shuang came in with a few cups of hot water and a serving of the little buns that Uncle Hea made for the children this morning.
Su Ying was famished. She was about to eat the bun, but Xiao Jin was one step ahead of her. He took one bun and brought it to her mouth.
“You must be hungry. Eat something to fill your stomach first.”
Su Ying went with the flow and ate the bun in his hand. “Indeed, Uncle Hea’s cooking skills don’t disappoint me.”
Xiao Jin picked up the cup of hot water and offered it to her with a doting expression. “Eat more if you like it.”
Qiao Yang’s eyes felt a little sore. This cripple was clearly doing this on purpose.
“I’d like to make a business deal with Master Qiao,” Su Ying said after taking a sip of water.
Qiao Yang felt very suffocated in his heart, and he had lost his earlier high spirits. “Madam Su, just tell me what you want. Why are you being so formal and talking about some business deal?”
“Then tell me how you bring in your goods. In the future, where can I buy cheap rice and flour after consuming them?”
When Qiao Yang heard her question, he didn’t try to hide. “Usually, I don’t bother about these things. My big brother got someone to do it. If Madam Su wants to know, I’ll go back and ask my big brother.”
When she saw Qiao Yang consenting to help so readily, Su Ying’s impression of him improved. After all, anyone who gained control of the supply channels in Tiger Base would have an endless stream of wealth. Unlike that man she had asked Jiang Yang and the others to keep an eye on, that man was not willing to reveal his supply channels to others at all.
“Then I’ll have to thank you. Has Master Qiao been staying in the Tiger Base for a long time?”
When he saw that Su Ying was interested in his affairs, Qiao Yang perked up and said, “Mm-hmm. I’ve been here quite a number of years now.”
“Then do you know anything about this place?”
“If you want to ask something, just ask, Madam Su.”
Su Ying didn’t beat around the bush. “The supplies in the base camp are so expensive. What do the people here depend on for their livelihood?”
Qiao Yang sniffled and said, “It’s a long story. Ten years ago, when Big Brother and I came to the Tiger Base, it wasn’t that big yet, and there weren’t that many people. Madam Su, I’m sure you also know that the people in the northern wilderness are people who have no roots and have been exiled from the surrounding states. When they first came, no one had anything left in their hands. At that time, the Venom Cult had already taken root here.”
Su Ying frowned. “And after that?”
“The Venom Cult opened a restaurant called the Dust and Gust Restaurant. Anyone who came to the restaurant for the first time could get a free bite of meat. At that time, many people were starving, so even though they knew it might be a scam, they still went to eat. I wanted to go too, but Big Brother kept stopping me. He said that if I ate it, I would turn into something resembling a corpse. Later, Big Brother settled down in the Tiger Base with the help of his martial skills and slowly recruited the new people who came to the northern wilderness. He formed a faction and found his old acquaintances to bring in food to survive until now. But one mountain cannot contain two tigers, and the Venom Cult has been targeting us all these years.”
Su Ying tapped her fingers on the table. “Your brother is Tiger Might?”
Qiao Yang was stunned. He never thought that Su Ying would be able to guess it.
Then he heard Su Ying say again, “His martial skills are indeed not bad.”
Qiao Yang asked in embarrassment when he heard her, “Has Madam Su fought with Big Brother before?” “Mm-hmm.. Other than the Dust and Gust Restaurant, do you know whether the Venom Cult has another base?”