Chapter 25

When Chen Yubing heard that Qiao Baihe had suffered so much in just a single day, she immediately reached out to gently touch Qiao Baihe’s face, scolding her with heartache in her voice.

“You silly child. If they didn’t come to pick you up, you should’ve done exactly what Xinyi said—you should’ve just come straight home.”

“You always overthink things. That old woman’s got a foul mouth. She loves to curse—so let her curse. If you can’t out-argue her, just ignore her. She’ll tire herself out eventually. What’s more important than living comfortably yourself?”

“If you can out-argue her, then by all means, go at it. Xinyi is right—your home is where your mom is. Ever since you came to me, you’ve never eaten a single bite of that old woman’s food or drunk a drop of the Qiao family’s water. I raised you. You don’t owe that old woman a single thing.”

Qiao Xinyi nodded enthusiastically from the side.
“If you can’t win an argument, just come find me. When I get back, I’ll curse her out with you—until she goes looking for a coffin to crawl into!”

Qiao Baihe had still been crying, but at that, she burst into laughter.

“Okay,” she said, nodding firmly. With tears still in her eyes, she looked from Qiao Xinyi to Chen Yubing and then hugged them both.
“Mom, it feels so good… I didn’t know I could still have a real home.” Her voice choked up. “Thank you, Mom. Thank you, Xinyi.”

Chen Yubing was the one who raised her and gave her the love of a mother. And Qiao Xinyi was the one who gave her a home again. She was deeply grateful to anyone who treated her well.

“Alright, that’s enough with the emotional stuff. You’re making me embarrassed,” Qiao Xinyi said, patting Qiao Baihe on the back. “You go home with Mom. Fu Qingshan and I still have some business to take care of. I’ll be back tonight—and when I get home, I’ll help you curse that old witch Chen Ju until she wishes she’d never been born.”

Qiao Xinyi could fight, she could argue—but emotional scenes just weren’t her thing.

Only then did Chen Yubing remember what Xinyi had said earlier about going to the military leadership to report the situation. Her face turned worried.

“Are you sure this won’t cause trouble?”

“What kind of trouble?” Qiao Xinyi replied confidently. “If anyone’s in trouble, it’s the He family. And if they are in trouble, what’s that got to do with us?”

The way she rattled off her answer sounded like a tongue twister—it would leave anyone stunned for a few seconds.

“The He family’s acting like dogs, and Baihe isn’t going back there. Besides, He Shengli and Zhou Yun? Those two have hearts buried in their heels. Even if the He family suddenly got rich, none of that would benefit Qiao Baihe. So they can do whatever they want—it’s got nothing to do with us.”

She added, “Did I lie about anything when I reported them? No, right? Everything I said was something He Shengli and Zhou Yun actually did. If they had the guts to do those things, then they’d better be prepared to be exposed and humiliated.”

Then she turned to Fu Qingshan and called out loudly,
“Captain Fu, tell me—am I right or not?”

Fu Qingshan smiled at her. “You’re right.”

Qiao Xinyi instantly looked pleased. She knew Fu Qingshan was her kind of person.

“Alright then, too much worrying gives you wrinkles. Mom, take Baihe home. Fu Qingshan and I have stuff to do—we’ll get going now.”

Qiao Xinyi waved her hand casually, pulled Fu Qingshan along, and left without a second thought.

To avoid running into people she knew at the factory, Qiao Xinyi dragged Fu Qingshan to a more distant bank branch. A quick deposit and withdrawal of 5,000 yuan later, she walked out of the bank holding a new passbook with an account in her own name.

From the moment she received the passbook, she couldn’t stop smiling—her grin stretched so wide it looked like it might split her face.

“Fu Qingshan, thank you. I originally planned to treat you to dinner tonight, but I’ve got to go back to the Qiao house and watch the show.”

She looked a little sheepish.
“You’ve helped me so much these past few days—I really appreciate it. If you’re free tomorrow or another day, I’d like to take you out for a proper meal.”

Qiao Xinyi waved the passbook in front of him before slipping it into her canvas bag. The gesture made it clear she was thanking him for helping her safeguard that 5,000 yuan.

Fu Qingshan had kept his mouth shut the whole time. He hadn’t told anyone that she had the 5,000 yuan—not even Li Jun and the others. They only knew she’d received compensation from Zhuang Chunsheng, but had no idea how much.

Li Jun and the others only found out because of that phone call from Zhuang Chunsheng.

“Didn’t you already thank me?” Fu Qingshan still found it amusing whenever he thought about that thick thank-you letter and the red banner. That kind of way of expressing gratitude really wasn’t something an average person could come up with. 

He couldn’t even decide if he should consider himself lucky—he’d done a good deed on a whim and ended up getting such a practical and heartfelt thank-you in return.

When he got back, he definitely had to ask Political Commissar Xu to let him see the letter—he was genuinely curious what on earth Qiao Xinyi had written in that thick packet.

“That’s different,” Qiao Xinyi replied, her eyes gleaming with mischief. The kind of public, formal gratitude and her private way of thanking him—how could those be the same?

Without some kind of excuse, how else could she have gotten him to meet up with her? And if she didn’t get him to meet up with her, how could she see him? If she didn’t get to see him, that would mean one less handsome guy in her day!

“I’m not sure about tomorrow yet,” Fu Qingshan said, sensing that Qiao Xinyi genuinely wanted to treat him to dinner, and wasn’t just being polite. He thought for a moment and then told her honestly, “I’ve been busy lately with some personal family matters. I’m not too sure when I’ll have to go back to my hometown. I know you’re staying at Li Jun’s—if I’m free, I’ll come find you?”

Qiao Xinyi nodded, then jokingly and a little teasingly asked, “Your family pressuring you to go home for a blind date?”

Between adults, all probing questions come with a purpose. And Qiao Xinyi wasn’t the type to hide her intentions. So the moment she asked, Fu Qingshan was able to sense what was behind the question—she was trying to learn more about his personal situation. Specifically, about his family and whether he was single.

Fu Qingshan curved his lips into a smile and countered with a question of his own, “What if that were the case?”

Qiao Xinyi raised an eyebrow, then patted him on the shoulder. 

The gesture was exactly like the one Political Commissar Xu used when he patted his shoulder—her expression was almost identical, too.

“All the best, my friend!”

The way she mimicked the gesture, combined with her sincere tone and blessing, made Fu Qingshan chuckle softly. 

Qiao Xinyi really was an interesting girl.

“No blind dates,” Fu Qingshan explained. “I’m planning to bring my two nephews to live with me.”

“My older brother and sister-in-law passed away several years ago. The boys have been living back home with my father and stepmother. I couldn’t take care of them before because I was stationed too far away. Now that I’ve been transferred to the provincial level, I plan to bring them here.”

If the boys had been well taken care of at home, Fu Qingshan—unmarried as he was—wouldn’t have felt the need to bring them over.

Qiao Xinyi nodded in understanding.

From that, it was clear that Fu Qingshan’s stepmother probably hadn’t treated him or his older brother well. It was unlikely she treated his late brother’s children any better. After all, she was a step-grandmother—not even a real one. And she likely had her own biological children. Not only would resources have been skewed in favor of her own family, but she probably didn’t even bother to put up a front when it came to those two kids.

“How old are your nephews?” Qiao Xinyi asked.

“They’re twin boys—six years old, by Chinese age,” Fu Qingshan said truthfully. “My brother died in an accident just a few months after they were born. Their mother passed away when they were just over a year old. She’d cut ties with her own family before getting married, so the boys don’t even have maternal grandparents to help take care of them.”