The Butcher's Little Husband - Chapter 85

When Lian Meng was asked, he immediately thought of Tian Xiaoman. “Yes, my brother-in-law. The day I was diagnosed with a tumor, the doctor said he was pregnant! He had only been married for two months at that time—how could he be pregnant so soon? Master, is it him?”

Daoist Zhang pretended to calculate. “Well, I’ve also calculated that someone close to you took away your luck. Did you have any conflict with him?”

Lian Meng thought for a moment. “No, I barely said a few words to him. But he really likes my little ger—could it be…”

“That’s right. He must want to replace you.”

“But he’s pregnant!” Lian Meng was confused.

“He carries a small demon. Before being born, it needs to absorb the pure yin essence of a young ger. He must have noticed this.”

“What!” Lian Meng’s heart went cold. 

So that’s why he was so good to someone else’s child! It turns out he wanted to use Le-ge’er. So Tian Xiaoman wasn’t a good person after all! He always looked weak and had a bad reputation—maybe the villagers were just afraid of him and pushed him onto their family!

Lian Meng didn’t realize he was already brainwashed by the Daoist priest, turning Tian Xiaoman into some kind of monster in his mind.

“Master, is there a way to break this?” Lian Meng looked at Daoist Zhang expectantly, hoping for a solution.

“There is… but—”

Before he finished, Lian Meng already understood and brought out silver again. This time, he didn’t stop until he offered 100 taels. Only then did Daoist Zhang reluctantly act.

“I’ll give you a talisman that has been consecrated before the Supreme Immortal’s seat. Burn it and mix the ashes into his tea—his spell will break. Then I’ll give you another dose of medicine, and your illness will be cured.”

“Thank you, Master, thank you!” Lian Meng thanked him repeatedly, not realizing he looked just like the others who had fallen for the same trick.

“It’s nothing. I’ve revealed a great secret today, and it’s drained my power. You should leave first.” He sat back down on his mat, closed his eyes, and feigned exhaustion. “There’s a talisman on the table. Carry it with you—no spirits will dare approach.”

Lian Meng grabbed the talisman, pressed it to his chest, and thanked him again before leaving.

“Father-in-law, this time it’s a fat sheep!” A man with a face full of flesh walked out from the back room — Butcher Zheng.

As mentioned before, he had a falling out with Li Wenxuan over a shop and was later barred from selling meat for offering spoiled goods. He had long been resentful, but since he feared Li Wenxuan’s brother in the city and his martial skills, he hadn’t dared take action.

Butcher Zheng’s husband was Daoist Zhang’s only brother. When the Lian family sent word and they discovered he was related to Li Wenxuan, they orchestrated today’s performance.

At first, they just wanted revenge—maybe make Li Wenxuan lose a child. They hadn’t expected his brother-in-law to be so rich, casually offering 120 taels.

Daoist Zhang handed 60 taels to Zheng Tu. “Take this back to Yu’er. It’s best not to do this too often.” He still believed in spiritual matters—too many lies would ruin his reputation.

“Yes, yes,” Zheng Tu replied with a grin, but he scoffed inwardly. They’d deceived people too many times—why stop now?

Daoist Zhang’s fame came from his setup. Every visitor had to submit a name card. After that, Zheng Tu’s idle brothers would investigate their backgrounds and illnesses, and return with the information for Daoist Zhang to “calculate.”

…

Li Yiran got up early, cleaned himself, and wrote a divorce letter in the study. He planned to go to the Lian family to finalize the separation. As for the silver—he would treat it as paying for Lian Meng’s medical expenses. After all, they were once married.

When he arrived at the Lian household, they weren’t as warm as last time, but still called Lian Meng out.

“Husband, I’ve thought it over. I’ve decided to go back with you. I know you did all that for my sake.” Lian Meng said gently.

“Yes, Yiran. After you left last time, we even scolded Xiaopang. You should take Meng Ge’er back—he won’t act up again,” Lian Mu added.

Li Yiran kept the divorce letter hidden in his sleeve, uncertain. “Are you serious?”

“Of course. But I have one request…” Lian Meng said.

“What is it?” Li Yiran figured if it wasn’t too much, he could agree—for Le-ge’er’s sake.

“Once we return, I want you to tell your parents to separate Wenxuan and Xiaoman’s household.”

Lian Meng had thought long about it. It would be safer to separate them. What if Tian Xiaoman really had great demonic strength and Daoist Zhang’s talisman failed? They couldn’t live so close.

Li Yiran’s expression turned cold. “Why?”

Lian Meng didn’t notice his reaction and kept going. “Tian Xiaoman has a bad reputation. Le-ge’er is always around him—I’m afraid it’ll affect his future.”

“No.”

“Why not? He has evil thoughts! What if he tries to kill us one day?” Lian Meng shouted, worked up. He believed Xiaoman had killed his child!

Li Yiran looked at him for a long moment, as if seeing him for the first time. 

The stare made Lian Meng uneasy. “What are you looking at?”

“There’s no need to talk about separating Second Brother. If you’re afraid of Xiaoman, then I will let you go.” He pulled out the divorce letter and placed it on the table.

The creased paper showed how long he’d held onto it.

“You want to cast me out?!” Lian Meng shouted in disbelief.

“It’s not casting you out. We are parting by mutual agreement.”

“You don’t want your post anymore? If you leave me, what can you do!” Lian Meng shrieked. He hadn’t expected Li Yiran to be serious.

“Then just wait and see.” Li Yiran turned to leave. After a few steps, he added, “When you married into our family, you brought nothing. You thought it was an honor to marry me. I won’t take back the betrothal gifts. You’ve already taken all the money we saved—I won’t ask for it either. From today, we are done.”

With that, he walked away.

Lian Meng stared at his back, ashamed and furious. “I’ll watch how you end up!”

The Lian family exchanged looks, unable to understand how things got this far. 

But in their eyes, it was Li Yiran who didn’t know what was good for him.

Father Lian old his younger son to write a letter to his uncle, telling him to warn Li Yiran properly.

Li Yiran walked down the street with a straight back. 

From today on, he was no longer anyone’s husband.

He couldn’t understand it—his family didn’t make things difficult for him, so why couldn’t he even tolerate Tian Xiaoman, someone he barely spoke to?

When Li Yiran got home, the family was having dinner. 

He paused at the door, watching Le-ge’er wearing a little bib and looking up at Li Amu for food.

Tian Xiaoman fed him a spoonful of egg custard, and Le-ge’er smiled with squinted eyes. Father Li and Li Wenxuan were chatting cheerfully.

It was a warm and peaceful scene.

Li Yiran’s heart suddenly ached. He felt like such a failure. 

Just then, Li Wenxuan noticed him. “Brother! Come in—we’re drinking today!” he shouted, raising his bowl. Le-ge’er also turned and gave a big smile.

Li Yiran walked over. “Alright, let’s drink tonight!”

In Li Wenxuan’s memory, his elder brother was always calm and graceful. But tonight, he drank almost an entire jar by himself and collapsed at the table, dead drunk.

“What’s wrong with your brother?” Father Li asked in surprise.

Li Wenxuan shook his head. He had no idea—he didn’t even know why his brother had gone out today.

They carried Li Yiran to his room, removed his shoes, tucked him into bed, and covered him with a quilt.

When Li Yiran woke up, it was late. His head was heavy and ached. 

Just then, the door creaked open, and a small head peeked in. When he saw Li Yiran awake, his eyes lit up. But before Li Yiran could speak, he ran off.

“Grand-amu, father’s awake!” he shouted.

Soon, Li Amu came in with a bowl of hangover soup. “Drink this. Why’d you drink so much today?”

Li Yiran took the bowl and downed it. After a moment, he said, “Amu, Meng Ge’er and I are separated.”

“What? How could that happen?”

“He took all the money and demanded that Second Brother’s household be separated.” Li Yiran said calmly.

“What! He dared to do that?” Li Amu was furious. “I’m going to see him. Really, what has our family ever done to him? As long as your father and I are alive, this family will not be split up! Doesn’t he know that? And Wenxuan and Xiaoman take such good care of Le-ge’er—what right does he have? And he took the money—did you ask for it back?”

Li Yiran shook his head.

Li Amu sighed. He knew his son well. Outwardly cold, inwardly affectionate. And since Lian Meng had illness, he let the money go.

“Amu, don’t tell the others yet.” Yiran looked at him. He wanted to compose himself before speaking to the whole family.

Li Amu nodded. He would respect that.

“And tell Second Brother… Meng ge’er seems to have misunderstood Xiaoman. Xiaoman is pregnant now. Tell him to be careful.” Yiran remembered the crazed look in Meng’s eyes when speaking of Tian Xiaoman.

Li Amu sighed. “All right. Why does he insist on targeting Xiaoman?”

After clearing the bowl, he left. 

Li Yiran lay back down. He had originally planned to sit the spring examinations in April. Now without money, he would need to think of something else. As for Meng’s uncle’s household, he wouldn’t go again.