CHAPTER 489: CHAPTER 491: FENG YING IS DEAD

Xia Xiao had stayed at her parents’ house for a few days, and after leaving home, she went to visit her grandmother’s place. Then, she followed Zheng Xianghong and Gao Guoqiang back to the Red Star Production Team.

Upon returning, they heard Li Shengmei proudly boasting that her youngest son, He Xuewu, had been accepted into the Agricultural University.

It was also at this time that Xia Xiao began to take note of He Xuewu. Due to He Xuexiang and He Xuebing, He Xuewu hadn’t really stood out much before, and Xia Xiao had hardly paid him any attention.

Now, upon hearing of He Xuewu’s university acceptance, Xia Xiao was looking at him with newfound respect.

He Xuewu’s wife was the daughter of a commune leader; they were former classmates. However, the commune leader’s daughter hadn’t been accepted.

When the Xia family returned, Zheng Xianghong collected some vegetables. Although the Red Star Production Team still existed, everyone could still sell what they grew for themselves.

So Zheng Xianghong was buying sweet potatoes and grain from the other members of the team, focusing now on running her breakfast shop.

In the evening, Li Shengmei brought over a steaming bowl of porridge to the Gao family. Xia Xiao was somewhat speechless but understood that people nowadays weren’t as fussy.

Li Shengmei said, "My Xuewu will go with you. That way, he’ll have someone to look out for him."

Zheng Xianghong didn’t reject the idea but merely asked, "Is Xuewu’s wife going too?"

"Xuewu’s wife is pregnant; she’ll go up later." Upon mentioning this, Li Shengmei’s mouth curled into a smile, feeling that although her daughters-in-law were not as prolific as Zheng Xianghong’s, at least she had more.

Zheng Xianghong nodded and then listened as Li Shengmei went on: "How is Jiazhi doing? Has he found a partner at school? Xuewu’s wife has a cousin who’s divorced..."

"Enough, I haven’t even bothered with Jiazhi’s affairs as his mother," Zheng Xianghong didn’t want to engage in more conversation with Li Shengmei.

Although the two had a long history of conflicts, Li Shengmei wasn’t completely bad—just a bit petty. She wasn’t malicious.

Putting aside their past grievances, the two could still exchange a few words. Zheng Xianghong might not like Li Shengmei much, but she had no issues with He Hongjun and the three He brothers.

Zheng Xianghong did consider what she’d heard, though. Now that Gao Jiazhi only had his daughter Weilin, Zheng Xianghong naturally hoped he would remarry and have more children, to make her older brother’s lineage more prosperous.

As for the other members of the Zheng family, Zheng Xianghong didn’t care.

When Li Shengmei heard things could be sold for money, envy flashed in her eyes. But that was all she felt—envy—knowing she couldn’t do the same things.

"Let me tell you, something big happened at the Red Star Production Team," Li Shengmei leaned in to say.

"What happened?" Zheng Xianghong asked curiously, indeed intrigued by Li Shengmei’s gossip.

"Feng Ying is dead."

At Li Shengmei’s words, Zheng Xianghong exclaimed in shock, "How could she just die like that?"

Even Xia Xiao was now looking over, as Li Shengmei said, "They say she drowned herself in the river on a rainy night. I tell you, that river by the Red Star Production Team is deadly—it’s claimed so many lives."

Xia Xiao’s eyes widened; Feng Ying was dead.

"It’s truly pitiful. She had been accepted to a university, but Liu Haiguo, the bastard, tore up her admission letter. It’s said she drowned herself out of heartbreak."

After Li Shengmei finished, Zheng Xianghong airily shot back, "If I remember correctly, you were the one who brought Feng Ying and Liu Haiguo together, weren’t you?"

Li Shengmei’s face stiffened, and she replied uneasily, "I just made the introduction. Whether they clicked was up to them. They fell for each other, or my matchmaking wouldn’t have been of any use."

Xia Xiao frowned, feeling that Feng Ying didn’t seem like someone who would jump into a river. Was there something more to the situation?

But Xia Xiao wasn’t excessively curious, and upon hearing of Feng Ying’s river suicide, she was genuinely unnerved and became even less enthusiastic about the Red Star Production Team.

With this event, some of the educated youth at the production team started getting ideas, and some even threw themselves into the mix—and Liu Haiguo couldn’t resist the temptation.

He hadn’t expected Feng Ying to walk in on him, and though she had been involved with Wang Xueyong, she had never suspected that Liu Haiguo would cheat.

Moreover, Feng Ying still harbored resentment towards Liu Haiguo for tearing up her admission letter. Upon seeing Liu Haiguo with another woman in their bed, she became utterly disgusted and fought with him.

Liu Haiguo, not wanting to make a scene, sent the woman away and gave Feng Ying a beating, feeling that she was getting too bold and needed to be put in her place.

However, Liu Haiguo underestimated just how intolerable this was for Feng Ying. They fought, and both Mrs. Liu and Liu Haiying watched with schadenfreude as Feng Ying, in a fury, threatened him with the matter of Wang Zhengping.

Just then, Wang Xueyong arrived and overheard, pausing at the door without entering, his eyes filled with deadly intent towards Feng Ying.

On a stormy night, during a torrential downpour, Wang Xueyong secretly contacted Feng Ying and lured her out.

After that, Feng Ying never returned. Eventually, her body was retrieved from the river. Upon seeing the bloated corpse of Feng Ying, swollen from water exposure, Liu Haiguo felt his legs go weak.

He was never a courageous man, and after this incident, he was plagued with nightmares, night after night without peace.