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With that thought, Jiang Yuman couldn’t sit still a moment longer. After finishing her meal, she went straight upstairs to change.
Shortly after she entered the room, Fu Jingchen followed her up.
“Do you want me to go with you?” he asked, watching her seated in front of the vanity.
While fixing her hair, Jiang Yuman glanced at the tall figure reflected in the mirror and said, “No need.”
Afraid Fu Jingchen might overthink it, she added a brief explanation, “It works best if I go alone. You not being there will make the effect more powerful.”
There’s an old saying: When a wife acts recklessly outside, it’s because she has the power of her man backing her up.
Her visit to the Jiang family today was precisely to leverage that aura in front of them!
“What do you mean?” Fu Jingchen was still a bit confused.
So this trip to her parental home wasn’t just about informing them of going to the Countryside—there was more to it?
“You don’t understand,” Jiang Yuman turned around and said, “I was out of my mind before and gave my parental family quite a lot of things.”
“And when trouble hit our family, they avoided us like the plague. This time, I’m going to get everything back.”
Upon hearing this, Fu Jingchen looked at her without any particular emotion and simply replied, “It’s alright.”
Though he didn’t say more, Jiang Yuman instantly understood the unspoken message behind his words: everything that was given in the past no longer mattered.
What’s more, he and the rest of the family had to have known about her sending things back to her parental home. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so calm now upon hearing it.
They knew, yet chose not to say anything.
This family was truly indulgent to the extreme when it came to her!
But this man—he really was perfect in every way, except for one: he had no concept of thriftiness.
So many valuable things—how could he just dismiss them like that?
Jiang Yuman’s willow-shaped brows arched in anger. “What do you mean it doesn’t matter?”
“I must have been out of my mind back then, completely blinded. I misjudged that family. Now I’m just taking back what rightfully belongs to me—perfectly justified!”
Fu Jingchen’s gaze fell on her fiery, beautiful eyes and lingered there for a long while.
“What?” Jiang Yuman narrowed her eyes, slightly displeased. “Don’t tell me you think I’m being petty, or that I’m unfilial for not recognizing them as my parents anymore?”
Fu Jingchen answered her with just two words, “I don’t.”
“Then what is it?” she pressed, unwilling to let the matter drop.
“I just didn’t expect… you’d care so much about this family.”
Before yesterday, he had never imagined there would be a future between the two of them.
But everything Jiang Yuman had done since then told him—she had already started planning for their future.
After a brief pause, Fu Jingchen rephrased, “You’re thinking about the family.”
“Now that’s more like it.” Jiang Yuman gave a little huff, finally satisfied.
This was simply who she was—straightforward and perceptive.
She could read the room, and now that she knew both the Fu family and Fu Jingchen pampered her, her true personality naturally began to shine through.
She wasn’t someone who could take even the smallest slight.
She picked up the comb again, running it through her thick, seaweed-like hair. “Anyway, I can handle this myself. I know what I’m doing.”
“I’ll go with you,” Fu Jingchen said, sounding a little uneasy.
If things were as Jiang Yuman described—if she was heading there to stir up trouble—what if a real conflict broke out with her natal family?
She wasn’t in the best condition now, and with so many people on the Jiang side, she could easily end up on the losing end.
“If you come, you won’t be able to do anything if things get physical. You’ll just get in the way,” Jiang Yuman insisted.
Fu Jingchen stared at her for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
…
After leaving the Fu Family Home, Jiang Yuman didn’t waste any time and quickly made her way to the textile factory’s residential compound.
The Jiang family lived there.
Looking up, the residential buildings of the compound were covered in gray soot, worn down and old. The walls were so weathered that it was impossible to tell what color they had originally been.
And yet, back in the day, even such run-down housing had been something people fought tooth and nail to get assigned.
If it hadn’t been for the Original Host’s mother sacrificing her life while putting out a fire at the factory, Jiang Jinbin, whose years of service hadn’t yet reached the ten-year mark, wouldn’t have even qualified for a housing unit.
Each room was closely connected to its neighbor, facing a shared courtyard and brimming with signs of everyday life.
Because it was the weekend, voices from neighbors chatting drifted in from outside, making the place feel bustling and lively.
Jiang Yuman found the Jiang family’s unit and walked right in without hesitation.
Just as she stepped into the main room, her stepmother, Pan Lanfeng, was opening the door, ready to bring in the radishes she had sun-dried for two days.
But the moment the door opened, she found herself face-to-face with Jiang Yuman.
An expression of irritation flickered across her face. “Why are you here?”
Jiang Yuman smiled. “Aunt Pan, did you forget? This house is still in my mother’s name. Of course I can come whenever I want.”
Pan Lanfeng hadn’t expected her to say that.
For years, the property registration had only listed Xu Mei and Jiang Jinbin’s names. No matter how much she pleaded to be added, they never budged. It had always been a sore spot in her heart.
Now Jiang Yuman had to bring it up—hitting her right where it hurt.
Looking at that face, so identical to Xu Mei’s, Pan Lanfeng could barely suppress the gnashing of her teeth.
Still wearing that fake smile, Pan Lanfeng said, “Aunt Pan didn’t mean it like that. I just thought, if you had let me know in advance, I could’ve made you something nice to eat.”
“She just comes and goes as she pleases, and now we have to wait on her hand and foot?” At that moment, Jiang Jinbin came out of the house as well.
He was around fifty years old. As the director of the textile factory, he had lived a comfortable life and still retained some traces of the charm he once had in his youth.
But now, as he looked at Jiang Yuman’s slightly shabby clothes and her pregnant belly, a look of disdain crossed his face.
The moment Jiang Yuman saw that expression, her eyes turned cold.
Pan Lanfeng, meanwhile, was fanning the flames. “You’re here this time… does that mean you’ve finally gotten a divorce?”
Before Jiang Yuman could respond, she continued, “Good! At least now you don’t have to follow the Fu family down to the countryside. Once the baby’s gone and your body has recovered, Aunt Pan and your father will definitely help you find a good match.”
“You insisted on marrying above your station, and now you’ve brought disaster back to this family!” Jiang Jinbin said angrily.
A married daughter was like water thrown out—now this water wanted to flow back in, and he was far from pleased.
“You sure didn’t say that when you were collecting the gifts my mother-in-law brought,” Jiang Yuman couldn’t help but retort.
“You ungrateful girl! How dare you talk back!” Jiang Jinbin raised his hand, as if to strike her.
“If you’re not afraid of my husband coming here to deal with you, go ahead—try and lay a single finger on me.” Jiang Yuman didn’t flinch at all. She placed her hand on her belly and stared him down.
Jiang Jinbin was indeed a little afraid of his eldest son-in-law. The man wasn’t just tall—he was also from the military.
He looked like someone who could fight. If he found out that Jiang Jinbin had laid a hand on his rebellious wife, he might actually show up at their door.
And at his age, Jiang Jinbin knew he wouldn’t last two punches.
So, he begrudgingly lowered his hand, though his mouth remained merciless. “Aren’t you about to be sent down to the countryside for reeducation anyway? What’s the point of acting all high and mighty?”
Jiang Yuman shot him a cold glance, unwilling to argue further.
What a waste of breath.
Pan Lanfeng, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes. Women were always a bit more observant, and she had picked up on something.
“Manman, you’re not planning on divorcing Fu Jingchen after all?”
If she was divorced, why would she use him to threaten Jiang Jinbin?
Jiang Jinbin, reminded by her words, also snapped out of it and stared closely at Jiang Yuman.
Jiang Yuman didn’t deny it. Instead, she stated her purpose directly, “That’s right. That’s why I’m here—to take back the things I gave you before.”
As she spoke, her gaze was fixed mainly on Pan Lanfeng.
Pan Lanfeng’s eyes flickered, and she looked toward Jiang Jinbin with a troubled expression.
Jiang Jinbin instantly blew up. “Do you have no conscience at all? Other girls marry into a new family empty-handed and come back to their parents loaded with gifts—yet you’re doing the exact opposite?”