Chapter 17.2

“What? Do you want to go back to Han City with the Third? I absolutely will not agree to this.”

Mei Baoying’s face hurt with anger. If she were not afraid of the wounds on her face being involved, she would have slapped Tan Xueru. “We worked so hard to establish ourselves in the Cui family. The Fourth has not even joined the army and become an officer yet. You are his sister-in-law; you have to help your brother! How can you think of running away at this time?”

“Mom, wake up! What establishment? It’s all fake. Second Brother has already transferred Third to the branch factory in Han City. I want to go back. If we keep fighting, who knows who will be sent to the sanatorium next?”

Mei Baoying was infuriated. “You’re really useless! I should have had the Third divorce you. Don’t forget you’ve also done quite a few unethical things. Do you think Cui Pingzhou will let you off?”

Tan Xueru trembled all over. In her mother-in-law’s eyes, both she and the Third were disposable and could be discarded at any time.

“I’ve only helped you run errands. I usually just say some harsh things. Unlike you, I wouldn’t actually dare to kill or set fire. I’ve told Cui Pingzhou everything. He said that as long as the Third and I don’t return to Qin Province, the past can be wiped clean. I want to go back. If you want to go crazy, do it yourself.”

“There’s no such good deal!” Mei Baoying never expected to be betrayed by her daughter-in-law in the end. She lost control and grabbed the fruit knife she had been using to peel apples, waving it wildly. “I’ll make you shut up…”

The fruit knife grazed Tan Xueru’s carotid artery. Tan Xueru clutched her neck and fell to the ground, screaming in agony as blood gushed out. The doctors and nurses who rushed over immediately began emergency treatment, lifting her onto a stretcher and taking her to the operating room.

Mei Baoying, terrified, dropped the fruit knife and grabbed the doctor’s arm, speaking anxiously. “I didn’t mean to! You all heard my daughter-in-law arguing with me! I was just peeling apples. It was her fault for bumping into the knife in my hand; it has nothing to do with me.”

Seeing that the victim was losing too much blood and her vital signs were weakening, the doctor impatiently waved her away. “Someone get this crazy woman out of here! Don’t obstruct me from saving lives!”

Two young nurses each grabbed Grandma’s arms to restrain her, but while they were focused on holding her back, they weren’t prepared for a slap to the face from her.

A red mark immediately appeared on the fair face of the young nurse. Angrily, she pushed away the grim-faced old woman. “How can you hit people like that?”

“I am the wife of the Political Commissar. How can’t I hit you? What kind of attitude is this from your hospital staff? Call your director; I want to file a complaint against you,” Mei Baoying retorted.

The young nurse was unwilling to back down. She was the apple of her parents’ eyes at home. Who didn’t have a powerful relative to help them get into the military hospital? She wasn’t going to give Mei Baoying any face.

She mocked, “Don’t flatter yourself. Because of your bribery, Cui Yuanshan is under investigation. He’s gone mad and is pointing a gun at people. You’re just as crazy, injuring your own daughter-in-law with a fruit knife. Your daughter-in-law must be cursed to be related to you.”

Mei Baoying trembled with anger. She had come to the military hospital for checkups many times before, and at that time, even the director had treated her with courtesy, let alone these young nurses.

Everyone envied her and admired how Cui Yuanshan had pampered her for half her life, personally accompanying her for checkups. And now, even a mere intern nurse dared to look down on her.

Things had gone smoothly for over a decade, but ever since she had enlisted Jiang Hongyu to harm Jiang Ci, everything had started to go wrong.

That girl hadn’t died, and her misfortunes had only escalated. Even incidents from twenty years ago, when she acted as a caregiver for Cui Pingzhou’s wife, were being dug up. What was happening?

What crushed her even more was that two police officers walked into the ward, their faces serious. “Comrade Mei Baoying, you are suspected of the murder of Old Lady Cui twenty years ago. We need to take you back for questioning. Please cooperate.”

“What Old Lady Cui? I am Old Lady Cui! What do you want? You’re accusing the wife of a Political Commissar! Who gave you the right to accuse me?”

—o—o—o—

After interrogating Jiang Hongyu, Zhao Qishu received Cui Pingzhou’s commission to personally apprehend Mei Baoying, the suspect.

“According to Jiang Hongyu’s testimony, when you were a caregiver at the Cui residence twenty years ago, you replaced the medication of Cui Pingzhou’s mother, leading to her worsening condition and eventual death. There’s no need for you to rush to deny it. We’ve already sent people to take statements from the Cui family’s nanny and the attending physician at the hospital.”

He looked at this old woman, who was even more malicious than Jiang Hongyu. “Once your daughter-in-law wakes up, I believe she will be more than willing to testify against the dirty deeds you’ve done over the years.”

The young police officer behind Zhao Qishu, a disciple he had trained for two years, was clearly shocked by how deep and poisonous Mei Baoying’s schemes were.

How had she managed to maintain such a facade for twenty years? It was terrifying.

The young officer indignantly said, “Come with us for a moment.”

“No, no! I won’t go with you! I want to find Yuanshan. Yes, I also have a mental illness! I don’t want to go to the police station. Take me to the hospital! I can live there and never return to the Cui family again. That should be fine, right?”

First, she would retreat to the hospital and contact Yuanshan. The old man would definitely have a way to deal with Cui Pingzhou.

After all, he was Cui Pingzhou’s father; he must have a solution.

Zhao Qishu coldly snorted, forcibly putting Mei Baoying into the police car. Mei Baoying had only injured her face, and with no other injuries on her body, this woman had taken good care of herself for twenty years.

Zhao Qishu paid no mind to Mei Baoying, who was pretending to faint midway. He took her back to the police station for an all-night interrogation.

Cui Third Son guarded Tan Xueru’s hospital bed for an entire night. “Child’s mother, you finally woke up.”

“They said it was our mom… that Mom hurt you?” Cui Third Son felt a pang of sorrow. “What on earth happened? Mom was taken away, and you almost didn’t survive. Child’s mother, what will we do if you die? What about our two children?”

Tan Xueru’s tears streamed down as she felt the stubble on her husband’s face. Only those who had died once could truly appreciate the value of life.

She had always looked down on her husband for being useless, yet she had never considered that she lived a life enviable to her six sisters and one brother back home.

There was no medicine for regret in this world.

Tan Xueru cried, aggravating the wound on her neck, and said to her husband, “Cui Third Son, don’t think about saving her. She has done far too many bad things. Help me find Director Zhao; I want to confess and sue Mei Baoying.”

—o—o—o—

Lin Wan picked up Jiang Ci from the police station. “Xiao Ci, your aunt is so cruel! I never expected her to be so wicked at her core since she was a girl. She caused a lot of trouble to Ji Laifeng in the past, and at this point, she won’t reflect on herself; instead, she blames you. When I went to see her just now, she kept cursing you.”

“Let her curse,” Jiang Ci shook her head, no longer wanting to think about Jiang Hongyu. She would never come out again. “Mom, where’s Grandpa?”

“He’s still at the police station. Your Uncle Cui has come too.”

Lin Wan sighed. Fortunately, Xiao Ci was lucky. How could a biological daughter harm her own granddaughter? Grandpa Jiang must be feeling terrible inside.

Zhao Qishu moved quickly. Before dawn, testimonies and evidence were laid out before several people.

Mei Baoying had hired someone to commit murder, and twenty years ago, she had even harmed her employer.

Tan Xueru woke up from the hospital, holding the bandage on her neck, and recounted everything she knew, signing her testimony with a fingerprint.

“Uncle Jiang, do you think Jiang Hongyu’s case should be tried publicly or kept private?”

Jiang Hongyu was afraid of implicating her husband and had voluntarily confessed.

As Grandpa Jiang looked at the piles of undeniable evidence, he felt as if he had aged several years in an instant. How could he have given birth to such a child?

The eldest was the firstborn, and Grandma Xu held tightly onto him. Jiang Hongyu was the youngest daughter, and Grandma Xu cherished her, not allowing anyone to say a single bad word about her. If it weren’t for the second and third, who was being personally taught by him, it was likely that Grandma Xu, that cruel old woman, would have spoiled all four of his children.

“Let’s… not hold a public trial,” Grandpa Jiang said, unable to avoid considering his other two sons. “Just rule as you see fit; I’ll just pretend I don’t have this daughter.”

With conclusive evidence, the verdict was handed down within a few days. Jiang Hongyu and Mei Baoying were each sent to serve their sentences in the southwest and northwest.

The two locations were over a thousand kilometers away from Qin Province, and very few people knew the details of the circumstances.

Grandma Xu only knew that her precious daughter had committed a crime and was sentenced, causing a great uproar at home. She urged Grandpa Jiang to find someone to rescue their daughter.

That day, Ji Laifeng found Zhao Qishu and wanted to see Jiang Hongyu before she was sent to serve her sentence in the northwest, and to that request, Zhao Qishu agreed.

“You’re feeling quite pleased with yourself now, aren’t you?” Jiang Hongyu glared at Ji Laifeng with resentment. “I was very careful that day; I looked around, and there was no one nearby. You didn’t actually see Jiang Ci being pushed down the mountain, did you?”

Ji Laifeng smiled faintly, not responding directly. “So what? You did push your niece. At least I didn’t wrong you, did I? What goes around comes around. Over a decade ago, you wronged me, causing me to marry Liu Erzhu. Now you’re trying to wrong Jiang Ci again, and look at what happened to you.”

Jiang Hongyu gritted her teeth. “Ji Laifeng, don’t be so smug. I absolutely will not divorce Sun Changshun. I’ve already made up my mind: while I serve my sentence, I’ll behave well and try to earn a reduction in my term. Even if it takes ten or twenty years, I will return one day. My home, my man, my children—you can’t take them away!”

“Is that so?” Ji Laifeng scoffed.

“I almost forgot. I came to tell you some heartbreaking news today.” She took out several test results. “Remember when you were feeling unwell and went to the hospital for a checkup? You see, no one remembered this report after you had your incident, so I went to the hospital to get it for you.”

Jiang Hongyu couldn’t understand the indicators listed in the reports. Ji Laifeng patiently explained, “You wouldn’t understand the technical terms, so let me be blunt. You’re in the late stages of pancreatic cancer. I consulted with a doctor; you only have a few months left to live. You’ll never have a chance to return to Qin Province in this lifetime, and you won’t be able to annoy anyone anymore.”

She had cancer? Jiang Hongyu felt as if she had exploded. After all this fighting, it turned out she had cancer?

“No, that’s impossible! You liar; you’re deceiving me on purpose, aren’t you? I just felt a little unwell. How could it possibly be cancer?” But the symptoms of her illness matched what Ji Laifeng had described. Did she really have cancer?

In the face of life and death, people sought survival. Jiang Hongyu once again showed her unreasonable side. “I want to go out! I want to go to the hospital for a checkup! I want to see my dad. Jiang Ci’s mom married Cui Pingzhou, right? Have her take me to the military hospital, find the best doctors, and use the best medicines! I can definitely get better!”

Ji Laifeng laughed until she could hardly stand up.

No one else was in the visiting room, so she wasn’t worried that someone might hear her: “You really have no shame! You even dare say such things. I must say, I admire you. Jiang Hongyu, I’m going to marry Sun Changshun after you die, and your son will call me ‘Mom.’ Isn’t that infuriating?”

“You can watch me marry Sun Changshun as a ghost!” Ji Laifeng vented the frustration she had kept inside. Although she cried, the joy in her eyes can’t be hidden: “Seeing you regret and suffer brings me such joy!”

She stood up and left the interrogation room.

For the first time in over a decade, Ji Laifeng felt the sun shining above her was warm.

After leaving the police station, she went to find Gu Jiansheng, a worker who operated the boiler at the mechanical factory.

“What brings you here?” Gu Jiansheng asked, pulling down the dirty old towel hanging around his neck to wipe the coal dust from his face.

Ji Laifeng was a widow and usually didn’t speak much to men.

However, she was beautiful and had a figure that resembled a young girl since she had never had children. Many men were envious of her, especially those who were divorced and had lost their wives, who wished they could pass by her door every day.

But Ji Laifeng had always ignored them.

“Do you still have contact with your ex-wife?” Ji Laifeng chose a relatively clean bluestone bench and placed a handkerchief on it before sitting down.

Gu Jiansheng had thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a very upright appearance. He was thirty-five this year. Ten years ago, his wife remarried, taking their three-year-old son with her, and he has remained single ever since.

The woman across from him had always been refined and fastidious. When he was younger, he had considered going to propose to the Ji family, but later, he heard she was going to be married to Sun Changshun. He figured he couldn’t compete and gave up on the idea.

“I haven’t been in contact with her. She’s married now, and the child has taken her new husband’s surname.”

“Oh.” Ji Laifeng fell silent momentarily before saying, “If you don’t mind that I’m a widow, let’s build a family together and live our lives.”

Gu Jiansheng was taken aback.

The man felt a bit awkward and wiped his face again, trying to clean himself up so he wouldn’t look so disheveled. “I thought… I thought you were waiting for Sun Changshun. I don’t have the right to marry you. My family is poor, and I’ll just be a boiler worker for life. I…”

“Why would I wait for him? To go to his house and be his maid? To take care of his two kids? Jiang Hongyu caused me enough suffering already. Why would I go and help her with her family and children after she dies?” Ji Laifeng said. “I’m not that pathetic.”

Gu Jiansheng looked at his dirty blue-gray work clothes. With his circumstances, it was a miracle that any woman would even consider him. “Then why did you choose me?”

“You really talk too much,” Ji Laifeng shot him a glance. “If you’re willing, we can go get our marriage certificate tomorrow. If you still don’t give me the answer tomorrow, I won’t bother you anymore.”

Why did she choose him?

That year, when she was surrounded by people cursing her, only Gu Jiansheng had spoken a fair word in her defense, saying she was wronged.

After being a widow for over a decade, she had planned to live the rest of her life that way. But with Jiang Hongyu facing the consequences of her actions, she finally felt free in her heart.

After returning home, she had a good sleep.

The next morning, when she opened the door, Gu Jiansheng was waiting for her, dressed in a Zhongshan suit, having shaved and groomed himself.

He looked refreshed and handsome.

Gu Jiansheng wasn’t sure if Ji Laifeng had changed her mind. He looked down and said, “I took a day off from the factory today. Are you still willing to go get the certificate with me?”

The man still had dew on his shoulders.

How early had he arrived? Ji Laifeng couldn’t help but laugh. “Just wait a moment; I’ll go get the household registration book.”