Chapter 115: The Wu Family's Scheme to Skin the Tiger

After giving Wu Shanshan a beating, Lin Jingyue went back and asked for another bowl of rice to celebrate.

At the Wu household, Wu Shanshan returned with a bruised face, frightening everyone.

“What happened?” Wu Zhenhua’s expression was grim. “Who did you get into a fight with?”

“I don’t know who it was. At the entrance of the alley, someone started punching and kicking me. By the time I realized what was happening, they had already disappeared.” Wu Shanshan endured the pain on her face, her eyes dark and brooding.

“If I find out who it was, I’ll—hiss—” She winced as her words tugged at her swollen mouth.

“Mom, hurry and get me some medicine!” She clutched her mouth in frustration.

Ever since the old matriarch of the Wu family passed away, the two brothers, Wu Zhenhua and Wu Zhenzhong, split the property, dividing the house in two with a wall down the middle. Their relationship had never been good, and after the division, they barely interacted.

Hearing Wu Shanshan’s howling, Wu Zhenzhong’s family on the other side couldn’t help but feel a bit schadenfreude.

Meanwhile, Lin Jingyue, full and satisfied, wandered leisurely down the street.

“Lin Jingyue?!” Suddenly, a familiar voice called out. Lin Jingyue turned around.

“What a coincidence.” She hadn’t expected to run into Guo Yutong here.

“You look much better these days. Congratulations.” Guo Yutong had always been pale and sickly, but now she seemed healthier.

Guo Yutong approached with a bright smile. “It’s all thanks to you—the medicine you sent really worked.”

“By the way, why are you back? Are you home for the New Year?” A trace of complicated emotion flickered across her face—some sympathy for Lin Jingyue.

“Do you know about your father…”

“I know, he’s cleaning public toilets.” Lin Jingyue’s smile didn’t waver. “It’s good, actually. The state’s taking care of him, at least he’s not a parasite on society.”

Guo Yutong noticed her lack of concern, even a hint of schadenfreude, and fell silent for a moment.

But she didn’t press the matter. “Are you free? Shall we grab a meal together?”

She owed her recovery to Lin Jingyue.

“You really do have a knack for this. You used to read all sorts of strange books, always wrapped in newspaper.”

Lin Jingyue chuckled. “It was mostly thanks to my master’s guidance. I’m not that skilled myself.”

Not wanting to elaborate, she changed the subject. “I have something to attend to today. I’ll visit another day—there’s something I need to discuss with your mother.”

“No time like the present. How about tomorrow? My mom’s off work then.” Guo Yutong was a sharp girl.

She knew her mother was helping Lin Jingyue look into something.

“Alright, I’ll be going then. See you.” Lin Jingyue tucked her hands into her pockets.

“See you.”

Watching Lin Jingyue walk away, Guo Yutong sighed inwardly. The Lin family really…

She had later heard why Lin Jingyue had sold her city job to go to the countryside—her stepsister had signed her up first, so to avoid being taken advantage of, Lin Jingyue sold her job and signed her stepsister up as well.

People on Lin’s street all spoke of her ruthlessness.

Guo Yutong had gotten a job through the shuffle and had felt conflicted at first. But her mother explained that Lin Jingyue’s actions were understandable—a young woman with no mother, an unreliable father, doing what she could to protect herself.

She gradually understood and felt a bit of sympathy, but her mother told her Lin Jingyue was not someone who wanted or needed pity.

She could stand on her own; other people’s opinions wouldn’t matter to her.

Parting ways with Guo Yutong, Lin Jingyue thought of the admiration in her eyes and shook her head with a quiet laugh.

The next day, Lin Jingyue prepared two pounds of sticky rice sticks and a pound of brown sugar, then went to visit the Guo family.

Director Guo and Guo Yutong were both at work. Only Mrs. Guo was home, and she greeted Lin Jingyue with a broad smile. “Rain Tong mentioned she saw you yesterday. I didn’t expect you’d really be back.”

Lin Jingyue set her gifts on the table. “I’m back for some matters. There are things I can’t explain over the phone.”

Mrs. Guo instantly understood why she had returned.

“That’s true. Let me tell you what I know.” She sighed and first made Lin Jingyue a cup of malted milk.

“Here, warm yourself up.”

“Thank you, Aunt Guo.”

Watching her sip the drink, Mrs. Guo felt a pang of sorrow. This girl, just nineteen—same age as her own daughter—without a mother or father, burdened with so much.

“Did you come back because Mrs. Wu passed away?” she asked.

“That’s part of the reason,” Lin Jingyue admitted.

“She died of illness, but it came on so suddenly… almost before anyone could react, she was gone…” Mrs. Guo had always suspected Lin Jingyue would return one day, so she had been particularly attentive to the details.

Mrs. Wu had been ill for two days before going to the hospital, stayed for just one day, and then the doctor sent her home. She passed away that very afternoon, reportedly in a daze, without managing to say anything to her family.

The two Wu brothers were grief-stricken, and after the funeral, they divided the family.

“That all sounds ordinary enough, but Wu Zhenhua… has become a workshop director at the food factory,” Mrs. Guo added.

Lin Jingyue’s brows arched slightly. “What about the others? Any changes in their jobs?”

“The eldest son of the Wu family got into the machinery factory.”

Really?

Lin Jingyue was surprised—the machinery factory was a major workplace, not easy to get into. Well, things were getting more and more interesting.

She was now ninety-nine percent sure that the Xu family fire had been orchestrated by Song Qinglan.

The Wu family must have gotten hold of some leverage.

Impressive—negotiating with a tiger, such audacity. Lin Jingyue couldn’t tell whether to admire the Wu family’s courage or call them foolish.

If Song Qinglan was willing to give, she certainly had backup plans.

Lin Jingyue then had Mrs. Guo recount everything she had found out from beginning to end.

Once she was sure she had learned enough, she politely declined Mrs. Guo’s invitation to stay for lunch and left the Guo home.

After leaving, Lin Jingyue wandered the streets, intending to look for the former neighbor of the Wu and Xu families that Mrs. Guo mentioned.

But she received unexpected news—the family had moved away just last week. No one knew where they had gone.

Song Qinglan…

What a formidable woman.

Mulling over these matters, Lin Jingyue didn’t even notice she had wandered onto another street.

“Jingyue?”

A voice snapped her from her thoughts.

“Whoa, where did this beggar come from? What do you want?” Lin Jingyue’s eyes narrowed as she looked at the man before her and leapt back.

“…I’m your father!” The man’s face turned red with anger.

“Impossible. My father is the deputy director of the food factory—dignified and respectable. Look at you, reeking and filthy, how could you be my father? Shameless, pretending to be someone’s father in broad daylight—are you a child trafficker?” Lin Jingyue eyed him warily.

Indeed, compared to a few months ago, her father was utterly unrecognizable.