1342 My First Wife
“Yes, it’s probably a photo which they either forgot to destroy or missed out on. When I went there today, I saw that the cherry tree in the courtyard was already gone,” Qiao Mei said regretfully.

“They would not have kept anything related to me. If that house wasn’t the Liang family’s old house, Liang Shu would have sold it long ago. She wouldn’t have kept it until now!” Qiao Qiang said with a smile, as if he did not care about all those things which the Liang family had done.

Qiao Qiang was a little puzzled though. By right, Liang Shu should be recuperating in the current Liang family mansion or staying with either Liang Lan or Liang Guo. He wondered why she ended up at the old house.

Suddenly, he thought of Liang Can and shook his head resignedly with a smile. Liang Can was exactly the same as before and still so petty. Liang Shu must have suffered a lot at his hands both openly and covertly over the years.

“Grandfather, aren’t you angry about it? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you angry about anything other than me,” Qiao Mei asked.

Qiao Qiang carefully recalled the time when he was chased out of the house by the Liang family. At that time, he did not feel anything. He was neither disappointed nor uncomfortable. He did not even feel angry.

The truth was that he already had a premonition that he would have to leave the Liang family. He and the Liang family were destined to walk on different paths. In the first place, he had been forced to become the Liang family’s matrilocal son-in-law, so it was only right for him to be the one to leave.

He did not have any objections to the Liang family asking him to leave with nothing. At that time, he was young and impetuous and was more concerned about his pride. He did not care about money at all. Otherwise, his early days with Qiao Mei would not have been so tough.

What made Qiao Qiang the most upset was that his two children publicly insulted him, reprimanded him and even declared that they felt ashamed of him. This was the thing which shattered his last line of defense.

“Everything else is insignificant, but you’re the apple of my eye! If anyone bullies you, I won’t let them off! I will turn into a malicious ghost to haunt them if I have to!” Qiao Qiang said.

“Pfft, touch wood, what nonsense are you spouting! Grandfather, you still have to watch Xia Fan and Xia Xing grow up. You must be around when Xia Fan and Xia Xing get married! You must live to be 100 years old!” Qiao Mei said agitatedly.

“Alright, alright, alright. I’ll listen to you and live well,” Qiao Qiang said with a smile.

As Qiao Qiang spoke, his grip on the photo loosened and it fell to the floor. There was originally only one photo, but now there were two. Such old photos tended to stick together as time passed. No wonder Qiao Mei had felt that it was much thicker than ordinary photos when she first held it in her hand.

“Eh?” Qiao Mei picked up the photo and looked closely at the people in it. There was a person who looked almost identical to Qiao Mei. The level of similarity was at least 80%.

This woman stood in the middle of the photo with Liang Shu and another man on each side of her. Since Qiao Mei had seen many photos of the Liang family members when she was at the Liang family’s old house, she naturally knew what the young Liang Shu looked like.

“Grandfather, do you know this person?” Qiao Mei handed the photo to Qiao Qiang and he subconsciously called out a name.

“Xia Chun…”
“What? Grandfather, who did you say this is?” Qiao Mei asked.

Qiao Qiang slowly stroked the image of the woman in the photo and said, “This is your grandmother, my first wife.”

No wonder Liang Shu looked like she had seen a ghost when she first saw Qiao Mei. Could it be that there was some kind of grudge between Liang Shu and Xia Chun? A person who did not do anything wrong would not be afraid of ghosts coming to knock on the door. If they were just normal friends, then there was no reason for Liang Shu to look so frightened.

“Grandfather, who’s the man on the left?” Qiao Mei asked curiously.

“That’s Liang Shu’s brother, Liang Can. This person is meticulous and ruthless. He’s even more canny than He Ning. It’s just that he’s not as lucky as He Ning and hasn’t achieved much even until now. His children are also a disappointment to him,” Qiao Qiang said.

This was something that could not be helped. If one wanted to achieve something, one had to do it at the right time, in the right place and with the right people. It involved all three aspects and one would not be able to achieve anything if any of the three were missing. Sometimes, luck was only useful in the hands of a capable person.

“But why haven’t I seen any photos of Grandmother at home?” Qiao Mei asked.

Given that Xia Chun was so beautiful and came from the capital, why would she go to live in such a remote mountain village? Li Gui used to be very beautiful when she was young and all the young men in the area wanted to go to her house to propose marriage. With Xia Chun’s background and beauty, it was impossible that no one in the village had ever mentioned her.