Chapter 25 – A Joyous Event

This time, Ning Zhiyuan left the house mainly to handle two matters.

One was the verdict for Old Lady Tao and Old Man Tao—he was worried that the Revolutionary Committee might show leniency due to their age.

The other was Tao Jingjing and Jiang Zhou—he had already given instructions for them to be “well taken care of” so they’d never forget it for the rest of their lives!

By the time he returned, the sky was already bright. On the way back, he stopped by the state-run restaurant to buy some youtiao, glutinous rice chicken, steamed rice rolls, and soy milk.

Hearing noises from Zhao Hui and Sang Youde’s room, he knew they were awake and gently called out, “Grandpa, Grandma, breakfast’s ready.”

Zhao Hui instinctively exchanged a glance with Sang Youde, and both could see guilt in each other’s eyes.

Zhao Hui touched her belly—it was still full!

Sang Youde went to open the door, smiling, “Zhiyuan, you’re up so early?”

“Why not sleep a bit longer?”

“Your grandma and I were just about to go get breakfast!”

Truth was, he had no intention of getting breakfast—his belly was just as stuffed.

“I’ll be sleeping on the train tonight anyway,” Ning Zhiyuan replied casually, handing the breakfast to his grandfather, letting him pick first.

Sang Youde only took two bags of soy milk, but then, realizing it might look strange, quickly added a glutinous rice chicken and a stick of youtiao.

“We ate too much last night. We’re not very hungry now—this is enough.”

For most people, this would be enough. But with his large appetite—and Ning Zhiyuan having witnessed it—he quickly added the explanation.

Watching Ning Zhiyuan return to his room, the couple finally relaxed a little.

“You think he noticed anything?” Zhao Hui asked.

Sang Youde shook his head. “Right now, I’m only worried about one thing—how will Xiao Yu hide it in the future?”

Sang Feiyu was indeed facing a tricky situation. Last night, she had been so happy gnawing on roast goose in her space that she lost track of time—and now her wounds were almost completely healed!

Some minor wounds didn’t even leave a scar!!

Ning Zhiyuan was a soldier. He’d definitely know how fast scars should heal.

What would they do after marriage?

Sang Feiyu pulled her blanket over her head in frustration. No more casual trips to the space from now on!

She was still lost in thought when Zhao Hui came knocking.

Sang Feiyu opened the door, just about to whisper something to her grandma when Zhao Hui excitedly blurted out, “Xiao Yu, great news!”

“The verdict for those evil grandparents of yours is out!”

“Ten years of reeducation through labor!”

“And they’re being sent to the Great Northwest!”

“Now that they know your mother died because of Liu Ying and her gang, if they end up in the same labor farm, there’ll definitely be plenty of drama every day!”

“And as for Tao Jingjing and Jiang Zhou, your grandfather’s friend said they’ll likely also get at least ten years of reeducation!”

“Also in the Great Northwest for labor reform!”

In the neighboring room, Ning Zhiyuan’s lips curled slightly—this morning’s trip hadn’t been in vain.

He had actually been torn between sending them to the Northwest to plant trees and eat sand, or to the humid Southwest to tap rubber and be eaten alive by bugs. But since they were all southerners, they’d adapt more easily to the Southwest’s climate. The dry and windy Northwest would be much tougher on them.

“The Northwest is perfect,” Sang Feiyu said gleefully. “Hopefully they all get assigned to the same place—so it’s chaos every day!”

“Exactly!” Zhao Hui nodded.

They were in such a good mood that they ate an extra bowl of rice!

This kind of joy surpassed even the feeling of a big holiday reunion.

But the Tao family certainly wasn’t feeling any of that joy.

Liu Ying lay on the ground, moaning in pain, rolling her eyes as she cursed at Tao Yingying, “If we had followed my plan from the start, none of this would’ve happened!”

“Look at us now—we’ve offended Chairman Liu. He’s now denying that those three yellow croakers were from him, and the Revolutionary Committee’s Red Armbands think we secretly kept your uncle’s property!”

She didn’t know what sins she had committed in her past life to give birth to such a jinx!

Tao Yingying hadn’t expected things to go this far either.

But she still defended herself, “If we had gone with your plan, we would’ve died even faster!”

“Do you think Sang Feiyu’s grandparents would’ve let us go?”

Liu Ying was adamant that her plan had no flaws. “All we had to do was throw a sack over that girl, knock her out, and deliver her to Chairman Liu’s bed. Once it was done, she’d be too ashamed to say anything.”

“If she didn’t talk, Chairman Liu wouldn’t talk, and we wouldn’t talk—we could even use the situation to threaten her into revealing your uncle’s hidden wealth!”

“And once Chairman Liu got what he wanted, he’d have to give us hush money too!”

Before she could finish, Tao Yingying cut her off, “Mom, this is the Revolutionary Committee’s detention center. Stop dreaming.”

“This is no place for fantasy!”

The veins on Liu Ying’s forehead pulsed with suppressed rage. “You got me locked up, and now I can’t even speak?!”

“I wonder how your sister is doing now…”

Just as she finished speaking, the door was flung open from the outside, and someone was tossed in.

“Ow!” Tao Jingjing cried out in pain.

Liu Ying instinctively tried to get up, but the movement tore at her wounds, making her grimace in agony.

“Jingjing, you got arrested too?!” Tao Yingying was shocked.

Tao Jingjing seethed with rage. “I got dragged down by someone else.”

She gave a brief summary of what happened.

Tao Yingying was incredulous. “That guy you mentioned—are you sure he’s really some gang thug?”

“He sounds worse than a street beggar!”

With such a fragile gut, he dared to try and commit assault in the middle of the night?

Tao Jingjing was full of regret. “I had no idea he’d be so useless!”

“If I’d known, I never would’ve asked for his help!”

Tao Yingying muttered thoughtfully, “Attempted assault is a serious crime. I just hope he doesn’t turn on you in court.”

Great. Now they had one more enemy.

Tao Jingjing scoffed, “He dares to blame me?”

“I haven’t even started blaming him!”

“With how stupid he is, I must’ve been blind to ask him for help!”

And she’d even sacrificed her own innocence—she didn’t dare tell her family that part!

Meanwhile, in the adjacent cell, the three Tao men were also grumbling.

“Ronggui, if you hadn’t let that brat go, we wouldn’t be in this mess!” one of them shouted.

Rage was evident in Tao Ronghua’s eyes.

Tao Ronggui, staring at his broken limbs, replied bitterly, “How was I supposed to know she was that tough?”

“My plan was to get the family wealth from her first… then turn it over to Father!”

Tao Ronghua didn’t believe a word. “You just wanted to keep it for yourself!”

“Enough—”