Chapter 12: Finding a Way to Repay Fu Zhewei

Jiang Yubai didn’t expect Lin Jianxue to reject him so decisively. For a moment, he was dumbfounded. A flash of awkwardness and anger passed across his handsome face. He opened his mouth and stammered, “B-But… Jianxue, my mom… she’s always dreamed of having a grandchild. If we have a child soon, it would really make her happy…”

Lin Jianxue responded blandly, “Yubai, if you’re really that eager, just handle it yourself. Finish quickly and go to bed early. You’ll need to get up in the middle of the night to make formula for Xiaohu. And stop thinking about this stuff all the time. If you’ve got that much energy, use it to help your mom take care of the baby and share the housework.”

With that, she pulled the blanket up to cover her exposed shoulders, clearly showing she didn’t want to be bothered — cold and distant.

Her words hit Jiang Yubai like a loud slap across the face. Rage surged up inside him; he almost exploded on the spot.

He forcibly swallowed his anger and reminded himself over and over: Endure it. You must endure it! Losing patience now would ruin the bigger plan!

“That kid isn’t even mine! Why should I be the one making formula or changing diapers?” Jiang Yubai screamed inwardly. His handsome face twisted slightly with suppressed fury.

But of course, none of that could be said out loud.

After all, he and his mother were currently living under the Lin family’s roof — eating their food, wearing their clothes, relying entirely on them for survival.

Not only could he not offend Lin Jianxue, he had to keep playing the role of the ideal husband and son-in-law — winning over the Lin family, especially Lin Jianxue’s father, Lin Yuefeng.

Only by earning their trust could he begin to control the Lin family’s assets, paving the way for the future he and Jiang Yuning had planned.

With that in mind, Jiang Yubai forced himself to calm down and soften his tone. “Jianxue… if you don’t want to, then forget it. It’s no fun doing it alone anyway.”

He sighed, lifted the coarse polyester quilt, and quietly lay down.

The bed was a double, but it had two separate quilts.

A brand-new, soft silk quilt — Lin Jianxue’s.

A rough, old polyester quilt — Jiang Yubai’s.

The reason for separate bedding? Lin Jianxue had said Jiang Yubai’s late-night baby care was disturbing her sleep.

Lying under the scratchy quilt, Jiang Yubai could feel every jab of discomfort and humiliation.

He stared at the dim ceiling, his heart full of bitterness and resentment.

He felt like Lin Jianxue looked down on him — the whole Lin family did. They treated him like a freeloading live-in son-in-law.

Living like this — under someone else’s roof — it’s unbearable!

The more he thought about it, the more suffocated he felt. He began to long for Jiang Yuning — her gentleness, her understanding, those adoring eyes that always looked up at him with admiration.

Only with Jiang Yuning did he feel like a real man — needed, respected, and worshipped.

Jiang Yubai swore to himself that he would escape this humiliation, make the Lin family look at him differently, and make Lin Jianxue regret ever belittling him.

He would show everyone that Jiang Yubai is not someone to be used and discarded!

Lin Jianxue couldn’t care less about the storm swirling inside Jiang Yubai.

She was completely disgusted by him now — wished she could be eight miles away from the man. If she could find a legitimate reason to sleep separately, she wouldn’t even let him touch the same bed.

Thinking about her previous life — how he schemed her family into ruin, sent her to that dark, hopeless sanatorium, and left her to die alone on a hospital bed — Lin Jianxue felt physically ill.

But she knew — the more you hate, the more you need to stay calm.

Now wasn’t the time to rip off the mask. If she suddenly suggested sleeping apart, her parents might grow suspicious. Worse, the Jiang family might make moves.

She had to endure. Endure until she had enough power to crush these jackals and wolves underfoot.

Turning away, Lin Jianxue shut her eyes, forcing herself not to think about Jiang Yubai’s disgusting face. Instead, she focused her mind on how to repay Fu Zhewei.

It would be another two years before the Fu family was officially exonerated. Until then, this would be Fu Zhewei’s most destitute and desperate time. She couldn’t travel to the countryside yet to return the jade bracelet, but she had money now — she could send something to Fu Yansheng to help them get through this.

She remembered: she earned 35 yuan a month, plus received 30 catties of grain coupons, one catty of sugar coupons, half a catty of meat coupons, and other miscellaneous coupons like cloth, soap, oil, and eggs.

These were treasures in those days — you couldn’t buy these things even if you had money.

In her previous life, since she lived and ate at home most of the time except for occasional performances, she’d given all of these coupons to Jiang Yubai’s mother, Tong Caihe, who mailed them to her so-called relatives back home.

Thinking of this now made Lin Jianxue’s heart twist in pain.

“Oh Lin Jianxue, how blind you were in your last life! You treated the Jiang family, those ungrateful leeches, so well — did they ever repay you with a shred of kindness? Even a dog would wag its tail if you fed it!”

She silently cursed her past self.

The next morning, after breakfast, Jiang Yubai went with Lin Yuefeng to intern at the steel plant. Only Tong Caihe and Shen Wu stayed behind to take care of the baby.

Lin Jianxue used the excuse of tidying up and slipped into the bedroom. She opened the dressing table drawer and dumped out all the grain, goods, and industrial coupons she had left.

Sorting through them, she almost laughed in disbelief.

These were the coupons she had painstakingly saved since joining the arts troupe.

For every performance or rehearsal, the troupe issued additional coupons as subsidies. Since she lived at home, she rarely used them, so she stored them in the drawer. If Jiang Yubai needed something, she let him take what he wanted.

She had been in the troupe for nearly a year. Besides her monthly allotment, there were extra benefits during holidays. By all accounts, there should’ve been a sizable stash here.

And now?

Lin Jianxue flipped through the stack over and over. Only five 10-catty grain coupons remained — just 50 catties in total. The sugar and meat coupons? Completely gone. All that remained were some worthless soap and match coupons.

“Damn it,” Lin Jianxue cursed through gritted teeth, nearly cracking her molars.

She didn’t need to ask — those coupons were clearly taken by Jiang Yubai and Tong Caihe.

In her last life, she’d been this foolish — giving all her hard-earned resources to Tong Caihe, who in turn funneled them to the blood-sucking Jiang family.