Chapter 44.2

Li Yuxiang was about to speak when someone grabbed her.

“Mom, come home with me.”

It was Lu Yang.

Gone was his previous arrogance, his brow furrowed with worry. His wrinkled clothes were a clear sign that Lu Yang had not been doing well these past few days.

“No, I can’t go!”

Li Yuxiang shook off Lu Yang’s hand and screamed, “If I leave, your brother will be finished.”

Lu Yang wasn’t the only one suffering.

Ever since they received the call about Lu Yan’s accident, Li Yuxiang had been on the verge of a breakdown. Her husband had pulled strings to buy the earliest train tickets, and the two of them rushed over overnight. They hadn’t even rested when they arrived at the military district, and Li Yuxiang stormed in.

She had cried the entire trip, and her eyes were still swollen.

“Mingfu, I beg you, help him, help him…”

Tears streamed down Li Yuxiang’s face, and she looked like a madwoman. Seeing Ruan Mingfu unmoved, she continued.

“I’ll make it up to you… I’ll kneel and beg if I have to…”

“Mom!”

Just as Li Yuxiang was about to kneel, Lu Yang rushed forward and yanked her back.

“Mom, stop it.”

Lu Yang’s head was buzzing.

He hadn’t slept for several days.

Whenever he closed his eyes, he could only see Lu Yan’s tear-streaked face, begging for help…

“Shut up!”

Li Yuxiang turned and slapped Lu Yang.

The slap was so loud that it stunned the watching military wives.

But Li Yuxiang didn’t care about that anymore. She tearfully looked at Ruan Mingfu. “Mingfu, for the sake of the friendship between our families, help Lu Yan…”

Before Ruan Mingfu could respond, the military wives around her began to mock Li Yuxiang.

“I don’t know how she has the face to say that.”

“That’s right, the friendship between the two families… what a shitty friendship!”

“Mingfu, don’t listen to her. Your parents are a cautionary tale. Don’t be fooled.”

“Well, look at you, using big words like that.”

“Pfft, in this world, thick skin wins. That saying about ‘a big mouth getting you far’ should be changed to ‘thick skin getting you further.’”

…

Listening to the one-sided ridicule from the military wives around him, Lu Yang’s eyes flashed with embarrassment.

“Mom, please stop making trouble. Lu Yan’s matter is too complicated. Comrade Ruan can’t help even if she wants to.”

That was the truth.

Even if Ruan Mingfu let it go, the military wouldn’t.

“…Really?”

Lu Yang took a deep breath, glanced at Xie Yanzhao and Ruan Mingfu, then nodded.

Li Yuxiang completely broke down.

“Why didn’t you stop him! If you had stopped him, none of this would have happened…”

Seeing Li Yuxiang scratching and hitting Lu Yang, several military wives who couldn’t bear to watch stepped forward and pulled her away.

“Your younger son made a mistake, so why blame the elder one?”

“Exactly, the younger son wasn’t born by the elder son. The younger son is a grown man now. Does he still need his elder brother to hold his hand?”

“Just from this, you can tell the Lu couple isn’t that great.”

“Lu Yang is quite pitiful too…”

A flash of embarrassment crossed Lu Yang’s face before he walked over to Ruan Mingfu and Xie Yanzhao.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t take good care of my mother… Don’t worry, I will never let her bother you again.”

Ruan Mingfu did feel angry about this matter.

She remained silent.

Xie Yanzhao glanced at Li Yuxiang, who was making a scene not far away. He rarely felt a bit of sympathy for Lu Yang, though only a little.

He nodded at Lu Yang before he left with Ruan Mingfu.

Li Yuxiang’s eyes were bloodshot, but she was held down by several military wives and unable to move.

Yet she still stared at Ruan Mingfu’s retreating figure, her eyes filled with rage, practically bloodshot.

Her eyes had truly turned red.

A few of the older military wives, seeing her like this, couldn’t help but advise her.

“The military has its rules. Your son’s mistake is too serious. Looking for the victim won’t help.”

“That’s right.”

“You’d be better off arranging for your son to go to the farm, so he can still have a decent life.”

“Even if you seek out Comrade Ruan, it won’t help. Even if you plead with the Commander, it won’t make a difference…”

With this incident, even the Commander will be criticized. Every leader in the entire unit, from top to bottom, will have to write a self-criticism. Do you really think pleading with someone can return Lu Yan to how he was before?

Keep dreaming!

Li Yuxiang looked up at Lu Yang.

She saw a red handprint on the right side of his face as he nodded slowly.

Li Yuxiang: “…”

Realizing that there was no way to turn things around, Li Yuxiang finally stopped struggling.

The military wives released her, and Lu Yang quickly came to support her.

The military wives still had a favorable impression of Lu Yang.

“Take your mother home.”

“Don’t let her cause any more trouble, or it will affect you too.”

“I understand, thank you, Auntie.”

Lu Yang closed his eyes in pain.

His future was already ruined, what else could be affected?

On the way back, mother and son remained silent. Lu Yang helped Li Yuxiang into a room at the guesthouse. As soon as they entered, Father Lu slapped Li Yuxiang across the face.

“You hit me?”

Li Yuxiang covered her face, her tear-filled eyes staring at Father Lu.

But he was flushed with anger, his chest heaving violently, clearly enraged.

“I did hit you!”

Although Father Lu wasn’t known for his character, he had always treated Li Yuxiang well. In all their years of marriage, while they’d had their disagreements, he had never laid a finger on her.

“I ask you, what were you doing at the family compound?”

Li Yuxiang, feeling guilty, looked away.

Father Lu grew even angrier. “Who are you trying to harm? Do you want Lu Yang to be expelled from the military, or are you hoping for Lu Yan to get more years added to his sentence?”

“I…”

Li Yuxiang was flustered.

As soon as she heard that something had happened to Lu Yan, she lost all sense of reasoning.

“Then… what should we do?”

Li Yuxiang was Father Lu’s wife from his humble days, and her background wasn’t much better. Even after years of living the life of a wealthy woman, her horizons had never expanded.

“How would I know what to do!”

Father Lu roared, scaring Li Yuxiang into a shiver.

“Lu Yang had such a bright future! At such a young age, he was already a Deputy Regiment Commander. He’s only 27… 27 years old! His bright future was completely ruined by your precious son! Ruined!!!”

Father Lu was so angry that the veins on his forehead bulged.

It was clear how furious he was.

Unlike Li Yuxiang, who favored the younger son, Father Lu had high hopes for the elder son.

Had he known earlier, he would have rather let Lu Yan be beaten to death by the local thugs than let him come here and ruin Lu Yang’s future.

Father Lu was consumed by regret, to the point where it almost overwhelmed him.

“What do you mean, ‘my son’? Isn’t he yours too?”

Li Yuxiang wasn’t one to be trifled with, and she immediately retorted.

Father Lu’s eyes widened in fury, and just as he was about to slap her again, Lu Yang’s weary voice rang out.

“Enough. We should be thinking about what to do now.”

“What happened?” Father Lu looked at Lu Yang, noticing the mark on his face. “Who hit you?”

Li Yuxiang lowered her head, feeling guilty.

Father Lu instantly understood what had happened, and in his anger, he threw the cup in his hand to the ground. “You wicked woman, you’re really trying to drive me to my grave!”

Li Yuxiang shrank back.

She was clearly in the wrong, and there was no way to justify it.

Father Lu closed his eyes, trying his best to calm his anger. After a long pause, he finally spoke, “Lu Yang, tell me, in the worst-case scenario, how many years will Lu Yan be sentenced? Will this affect you?”

Upon hearing this, Li Yuxiang stared at Lu Yang with bated breath.

“Lu Yan’s case…” Lu Yang pursed his lips and, under Li Yuxiang’s hopeful gaze, finally said with difficulty, “Ten years.”

“Ten years…”

Lu Yan was already in his twenties. If he served ten years, he’d be over thirty when he got out. The best years of his life would be wasted.

Li Yuxiang couldn’t bear the thought.

With a wail, she clutched her chest and collapsed onto the bed.

But what Father Lu cared about wasn’t this. “And you? How will this affect you?”

“Demotion, dismissal…”

Father Lu felt such a surge of anger that he wished he could kill Lu Yan.

For a moment, he didn’t say anything, his face turning bright red. Clutching his chest, his breathing became rapid. Sensing something was wrong, Lu Yang quickly rushed over in panic. “Dad, Dad… what’s wrong, Dad!”

Seeing that Father Lu wasn’t responding, Lu Yang immediately picked him up and hurried towards the military hospital.

“Old Lu, Old Lu… please don’t scare me,” Li Yuxiang pleaded anxiously, hurrying to follow.

…

The chaos in the Lu family did not hinder Ruan Mingfu’s life.

One day, she was about to water the seeds Hu Wanning had given her when she saw Xie Yanzhao walking in from outside, holding a freshly weaned puppy.

Ruan Mingfu’s eyes lit up as she quickly went over to pick up the puppy.

“Where did this dog come from?” she asked.

The puppy, with round eyes and a tongue sticking out, looked at her. It had yellow fur with a bit of black on its mouth and paws. It seemed to have recently been weaned, with fluffy fur that felt particularly nice to the touch.

“It’s so small,” Ruan Mingfu said, reaching out to tap its nose. The puppy licked her fingers a few times.

She smiled as she looked at the dog.

“It’s from Old Qian’s place,” Xie Yanzhao said, staring at the puppy licking Ruan Mingfu’s fingers. He grasped it by the scruff of its neck and lifted it up. “With this puppy around, you can feel more at ease.”

Recalling how Li Yuxiang had harassed Ruan Mingfu earlier, Xie Yanzhao’s eyes darkened.

If there were a dog around, even if Li Yuxiang had a few more guts, she wouldn’t dare to come over.

Looking at the obedient puppy in Xie Yanzhao’s hands, Ruan Mingfu said, “Isn’t there you here?”

A dog man is more effective than a door god. Who would dare to intrude into their home?

Hearing this, Xie Yanzhao’s eyes sparkled, and he quickly swallowed.

He cleared his throat and said, “I mean, if I have to go on a mission one day, let this dog guard you.”

“Alright,” Ruan Mingfu said, looking at the puppy wagging its limbs. “You should put it down. It must be uncomfortable being held like this.”

Xie Yanzhao set the puppy down on the ground.

The little dog trotted towards Ruan Mingfu with joy, but being so small, it stumbled and fell flat on its face. It got up, crawled to Ruan Mingfu’s feet, and rolled around.

Ruan Mingfu was amused and reached out to pet its soft, fluffy fur.

“Xie Yanzhao, let’s give it a name,” she said, tilting her head. “What do you think would be a good name?”

Seeing Ruan Mingfu’s expression, Xie Yanzhao blurted out, “Wangcai.”

“Wangcai?” Ruan Mingfu thought for a moment, rubbing the puppy’s belly. “That’s indeed a good name. We’ll call you Wangcai from now on.”

It has a good meaning too.

Ruan Mingfu looked at the puppy and asked, “Should we feed it something?”

“No need. It has already eaten,” Xie Yanzhao said as he picked up a hoe. “What else do you need to plant?”

She counted on her fingers.

Carrots were already planted, and there were radishes and cabbages she had sown herself, along with coriander from Hu Wanning… altogether, that made five types. There were also scallions and garlic near the kitchen that had not sprouted yet.

“That should be about right,” Ruan Mingfu said, momentarily unsure. “Is there anything else?”

Xie Yanzhao glanced at the garden. “Plant some more cabbages.”

“Okay.”

Since the yard was empty, it was just right for growing vegetables.

As time passed, the results of Lu Yan’s punishment were announced. It caused quite a stir, with the entire military district being informed.