Chapter 628 Variables

Chapter 628: The Variable

Fan Daxi looked up, clearly seeing the condemnation in their eyes.

He sneered coldly. What right did they have to look at him like that?

"I did hit her, and I did say those things, but don’t all couples fight sometimes? She was the one who couldn’t take it and hanged herself—that’s not my damn problem!"

"I’m not wrong, I didn’t kill anyone!"

"A woman like Yu Lan was gutter trash when I found her. It was already generous of me to take her in!"

"Otherwise, go ask around—who else would be willing to marry damaged goods like her?"

Fan Daxi spat these words, as if tearing off a mask, making everyone’s blood run cold.

They had never realized that Fan Daxi’s nice-guy act was just that—an act.

He could marry a woman he looked down on for personal gain.

And for personal gain, he could push his wife to the brink.

Just the thought of living with someone like him was terrifying.

Jiang Yu’s expression was icy. "You didn’t kill Yu Lan, but you helped push her over the edge. The law might let you off, but do you really think the steel mill will keep someone with such moral rot?"

Yu Lan’s sister-in-law stood up angrily. "Yes! Someone like him should be fired and kicked out of the company housing!"

Jiang Yu glanced at her. "Uncle, Aunt, please take Yu Lan home first. I’ll handle the rest with the steel mill."

Not only Fan Daxi—even his ex’s position would be terminated.

Fan’s mother shrieked in panic, "My son did nothing wrong! Why should he be fired?"

Jiang Yu couldn’t waste breath arguing with her, simply telling the Yus to take Yu Lan away.

As for why Fan Daxi would be fired—the steel mill’s bosses would deal with him themselves.

As the cries of Yu Lan’s parents faded into the distance, Jiang Yu felt her heart being torn out, leaving an emptiness behind.

She should have gone to see Yu Lan off, but her legs felt like lead, too heavy to move, and she lacked the courage to follow.

Jiang Yu swallowed hard, her throat raw as if she’d swallowed broken glass.

"Let Hui Zi take you. I’ll handle things here."

Jiang Yu turned her face away, sniffling.

"I won’t go."

She no longer knew what else she could do for Yu Lan.

If there was anything left, it was making the Fan family pay.

"Let’s go. We’re going to the mill—now."

Jiang Yu wiped her tears, her cold gaze fixed on Fan Daxi.

"You were wrong about one thing earlier—Yu Lan had more decency in her little finger than you all combined. You may look human, but you’re nothing more than beasts in human skin."

Jiang Yu turned and walked out of the housing complex.

The short walk felt endless.

She kept wondering what Yu Lan had been thinking last night when she ran out of the house into the cold.

Did she wish someone would lend a hand?

Fan Daxi's actions had caused such disgrace that even without Jiang Yu speaking up, the factory wouldn’t keep him.

He lost his job, and the factory took back his apartment, giving him three days to move out.

To everyone's shock, Fan’s mother couldn’t bear the blow and had a stroke and died.

By the time Fan Daxi found her the next day, she was already cold.

Overwhelmed, Fan hastily arranged the funeral and slipped back to his hometown with his mother’s ashes.

Later, word was he never made it.

During a heavy snowstorm, he fell and died on the way, his mother’s ashes spilling across the snow.

After that, Jiang Yu stopped keeping track.

Ding He never came forward after Yu Lan’s death.

At first, she wouldn't go, saying, “Even in death, she wouldn’t want to see me.”

Hearing this, Lan Raoping didn’t push it.

Two days later, word came from school that Ding He had been absent for several days.

Lan Raoping went to where she'd been staying, only to find it empty.

Ding He had left a letter for Lan Raoping, laying out her plans.

She wanted to return to Yunan and probably wouldn’t return to Beicheng, nor did she want Lan Raoping to look for her.

"Consider this letter goodbye."

In it, she told what had happened on New Year’s Eve.

Yu Lan had come looking for Jiang Yu, but Ding He had got in her way, preventing her from entering.

These past few days, Ding He kept thinking she might have been what finally broke Yu Lan.

That rotten blood runs in her veins—she was born rotten.

Jiang Yu put the letter down and closed her eyes.

Her thoughts were tangled, unable to distinguish right from wrong anymore.

“Jiang Yu, Ding He is still a child. Do you think I should file a missing person report?”

Jiang Yu shook her head. “I don’t know. If it were me, I’d let her be.”

Ding He didn’t want to return.

Lan Raoping pursed her lips. “I understand.”

The incident involving Yu Lan left Jiang Yu in a funk, and it took her quite some time to recover.

It wasn’t until Yu Lan’s mother came to thank her and spilled her guts that Jiang Yu felt somewhat better.

Soon, March arrived, and the weather started warming up.

Two-month-old Ning Ning was all rolls and dimples, her little face gradually filling out, looking more and more like a lucky New Year's baby.

Every time Jiang Yu looked at her, it felt as if all the gloom in her heart had been dispelled.

"There’s been a change regarding Wei Xiuru’s situation."

Hearing He Tingyue’s words, Jiang Yu stopped mid-shake of the rattle.

"What happened?"

He Tingyue said, "Auntie Zou took the fall. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law worked together to clear Wei Xiuru’s name, shouldering the whole mess themselves."

Convincing the two of them must've taken some serious arm-twisting.

Jiang Yu put down the rattle drum, her face fell.

Wei Xiuru really was like a cockroach you just can't squash, crawling out of the woodwork now and then to annoy everyone.

"Is she already out?"

"She is."

He Tingyue had confirmed the news before returning to tell Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu sneered, "Who called in the favor? Let me guess—it wasn’t He Jundao, was it?"

He Tingyue shook his head. "Chu Yunmei asked her elder brother from her maternal family for help."

Chu Yunmei’s family was involved in politics, and her elder brother happened to be in the police force. With some maneuvering, plus Auntie Zou and Yi Xia’s willingness to cooperate, they got her out effortlessly.

Such magnanimity even made Jiang Yu sigh and mutter, "What a pushover."

"I heard before that the reason your aunt didn’t have children was also for your uncle’s sake."

He Tingyue grunted in acknowledgment.

Chu Yunmei had it bad for He Jundao for years—something well-known in their circle.

However, He Jundao gave her the cold shoulder and had never given her the time of day.

Everyone assumed this crush would fizzle out.

Yet, after He Jundao turned thirty, the two announced their marriage.

Overjoyed, Chu Yunmei didn’t stop to consider He Jundao’s motives for marrying her and plunged headlong into it.

Before the wedding, He Jundao laid down the law: they would keep it child-free.

Chu Yunmei was head over heels for He Jundao, so even such an unreasonable demand, she agreed to.

"She agreed, and her family had no objections?"

He Tingyue said matter-of-factly, "Even if they did, they couldn’t sway Chu Yunmei’s being lovesick."

She was hung up on He Jundao, refusing to marry anyone else, leaving the Chu family at their wits' end.

Jiang Yu bit her lip, already fretting—what if He Ning caught the love bug in the future? How would they handle it?

He Tingyue said with an edge, "If she ends up like Chu Yunmei, I’ll snap that punk’s legs first."