Chapter 445 How Can I Trust You to Him

Chapter 445: How Can I Feel at Ease Leaving You with Him

In the flour mill, Jiang Yu was about the only one who had any acquaintances, and Lai Liuzi was practically her sole connection.

He was slippery and savvy—if he couldn’t intervene directly, he should at least be able to get some intel.

The next day, Lai Liuzi came through with intel.

“What kind of big shot is this Zhang Chunhua? She actually cut Han Tianhua a deal.”

A woman who relied on Liu Dagui to survive actually dared to make such empty boasts.

“Han Tianhua’s had eyes on her all along. Isn’t she afraid of shooting herself in the foot?” Lai Liuzi couldn’t figure it out either.

Jiang Yu quickly asked, “What deal did she cut?”

“Gold bars—a stack this big.” Lai Liuzi lowered his voice.

Jiang Yu almost snorted. If Zhang Chunhua really had these things, would she still need to mooch off Liu Dagui’s household?

“Did Han Tianhua buy it?”

“He’s on the fence. If he didn’t believe her at all, he wouldn’t have let Zhang Chunhua go. But if he fully believed her, he wouldn’t still be keeping Liu Dagui locked up.”

Jiang Yu’s mouth twisted into a mocking smile.

“Someone like Zhang Chunhua couldn’t give two shits about Liu Dagui at all.”

Most likely, Han Tianhua had people dogging her steps, thinking she couldn’t escape.

“I’d love to see where Zhang Chunhua plans to pull five gold bars from.”

Lai Liuzi let out a shady laugh. “I’d like to know too. I’ve never seen a gold bar in my life.”

Jiang Yu cut him a look. “Neither have I.”

“Cuz, how about…”

Jiang Yu immediately shook her head. “Don’t even think about it. I’d never resort to strong-arming folks.”

Robbery was illegal.

Lai Liuzi backpedaled fast. “Guess we’ll just have to sit this one out.”

Jiang Yu didn’t feel particularly regretful. She quickly put the matter of Zhang Chunhua out of her mind—it had nothing to do with her anyway.

“How about heading up the mountain this weekend?”

Lai Liuzi wasn’t interested. “It’s colder than a witch’s tit, and it’s snowing.”

“Exactly because it’s cold—maybe we’ll catch something dumb enough to be out.”

Jiang Yu hadn’t been working and was going stir-crazy at home.

Thinking of Jiang Yu’s rabbit’s foot luck in always bringing back the goods, Lai Liuzi agreed.

“I’ll rope in Tie Niu to come along!”

Before they could leave Lai Liuzi’s place, Cai Xiaole showed up.

Her mom also worked at the flour mill, so Jiang Yu asked her to dig up some info as well.

However, the info she had was even less than what Lai Liuzi knew.

"My mom said the flour mill recently changed leadership, and the security department is all the factory director's people—not people to cross."

She didn’t turn up anything in the end, let alone helping Fu Xianghong.

Jiang Yu smiled and patted her shoulder, "Thanks anyway—I really appreciate you trying."

Cai Xiaole was pretty bummed, "But I didn’t help you at all."

What really got to her was that she felt Cai Huifang could’ve helped—she just wouldn’t.

Previously, she had been able to replace Zhou Xue and secure her position in the publicity department entirely because Jiang Yu had introduced her to Teacher Lu Bing.

Yet Cai Huifang seemed to have completely forgotten all about it.

"Whether you helped or not isn’t that important—it wasn’t even my problem to start with. We’re thinking of heading up the mountain this weekend. Do you want to come?"

Cai Xiaole’s face brightened, and she agreed without hesitation, "Of course!"

It’d been ages since they’d just talked properly, so she didn’t want to let her go just yet. She started talking about what was going on at the factory lately.

"Remember when I mentioned before that the factory was importing a batch of polyester fiber, and the suppliers wanted to raise prices?"

Jiang Yu nodded, "Has it been settled now?"

"Not yet. The markup’s insane. The factory’s strapped for cash, and they’re still haggling, but I don’t see it happening."

The suppliers had banded together to raise prices—just bullying them for lacking a synthetic fiber production line.

Because of this, their Second State Cotton Mill got disrespected for nothing. Total BS.

"Our factory has been doing well these past two years. We shouldn’t be broke enough to not afford it, right?" Jiang Yu wasn’t totally clueless about the factory’s finances.

Cai Xiaole sighed, "They’ve already sunk a ton into importing more combing machines to expand the production line."

The imported machinery was expensive, and the amount spent on that alone was already substantial.

Jiang Yu put it together, "No wonder there’s a shortage of funds."

They chatted for a while longer before Jiang Yu got up to go.

"See you in a few days."

Cai Xiaole waved with a smile, "Watch yourself on the way home."

After Jiang Yu left, Lai Liuzi urged her to go home, "I’ll walk you."

Cai Xiaole looked displeased, giving him the side-eye.

"What’s your deal? I haven’t even talked to you properly, and you’re already pushing me out."

Lai Liuzi sighed helplessly, "It’s not that I’m pushing you out. If you don’t leave now, your mom’ll be on my case again."

As for Cai Huifang, Cai Xiaole didn’t know what to do either.

Because of her own failed marriage, her mother was especially cautious about her daughter’s choice of partner.

From the very beginning, she had disliked Lai Liuzi, and naturally, she liked him less the more she saw him.

“You don’t need to walk me home, take a rest. I can go back by myself.”

Despite her words, Lai Liuzi still walked her to her building, though he didn’t go up to greet Cai Huifang.

When Cai Xiaole got home, she was barely through the door when her mother asked, “Did Lai Liuzi bring you back?”

“Yeah, he wouldn’t let me walk alone.”

Cai Huifang’s face showed nothing, neither pleased nor displeased.

“Why didn’t he come up for a bit?”

“He’s busy.”

Cai Huifang gave her a look, thinking ‘daughters always take their man’s side.’

“Busy with that sketchy business all day, never bothering to find a stable job. How can I feel at ease letting you be with him?”

Cai Xiaole had heard the same words countless times.

“Mom, he makes good money—more than a regular job, in fact. Quit being so prejudiced against him.”

Cai Huifang snorted. “What good is more money? If he gets arrested someday, you’ll be dragged down too. Now that he’s making money, he should be more down-to-earth and hurry to get himself a real job.”

Cai Xiaole shook her head. “He doesn’t like that. He’s used to being free.”

Cai Huifang glared at her in frustration. “This is why you’re hopeless—you can’t even keep a man in check.”

“Can we drop this, Mom? The thing I asked you to look into—are you really not going to help?”

She was referring to Zhang Chunhua’s matter.

Cai Huifang was getting more annoyed. “That’s Jiang Yu’s business, nothing to do with you. Why are you so invested? Not a single word of what I’ve told you before has gotten through to you.”

Cai Xiaole stomped her foot, annoyed. “Because what you said is all baseless, of course I didn’t listen. Jiang Yu and Sixie, there’s nothing going on. Besides, she’s married—even Section Chief He doesn’t mind, so why should I?”

“What decent girl spends all her time hanging around men? In this world, aside from family, there’s no such thing as a pure relationship between a man and a woman!”

Cai Huifang pushed her forehead lightly. “You’re impossible! I’m your mother—would I ever harm you? I’ve been through it all; I understand men better than you. If you don’t keep him in check now, by the time he really betrays you, it’ll be too late for tears!”

Cai Xiaole kept a cold face and stayed silent. There wasn’t a single word in this lecture she wanted to hear, so she simply remained quiet, letting her mother rant.