The elderly people who had not yet had time to transfer the money were temporarily taken home by their families.
Those who had already transferred the money and signed the agreements were subjected to overnight investigations and payment freezes by the police and the banks.
As for the fraud ring, Huo Mian and her mother, and Yu Xiaxing and the others who had participated in the brawl, they were all taken to the police station.
The Yu family arranged for lawyers to accompany the three Yu siblings. The paperwork was completed quickly, and they were taken home.
After several hours of intense interrogation, Qin Mei was already on the verge of collapse, though she was still managing to hold on.
That changed when the police brought up the medical records left behind by her husband after his death more than a decade ago. With modern medical technology, they could determine whether there had been anything improper about his treatment before he died.
Qin Mei could no longer hold out. At last, she began to confess.
She said that when she was young, her family had actually been well-off. Her father had once been a minor executive at Pu City Mining and was very wealthy. He often treated his friends to lavish meals at the finest restaurants in old Pu City.
Back when the average monthly salary was only forty yuan, her father could spend two hundred yuan on a single meal.
She was an only child, and by all rights, she should have had an easy life.
But her father was so stingy toward her and her mother that it bordered on abuse.
When she was in high school, all the clothes she wore had been altered from her mother’s old garments. Her shoes were so tight they hurt her feet, yet her father refused to give her money for a new pair. But whenever one of his buddies asked to borrow money, he would lend it even if it meant emptying his entire household’s savings.
What kind of man did that? He had money but refused to spend it on his wife and daughter, only to throw it at his buddies instead.
It was a time of rapid economic growth. Her classmates had begun following pop stars, wearing batwing shirts, and going to dance halls. She clearly came from a wealthy family, yet she still had to wear patched clothes.
The humiliation of being shut out of the times was enough to make an eighteen-year-old girl hang her head in shame.
So she stole money from her father and bought the cassette tape by her favorite superstar—the one she had long dreamed of owning.
She was discovered that very day.
Her father made her kneel at the entrance to the alley and lashed her back with a rattan cane, once, then again and again. Every time he struck her, he shouted, “Would you dare steal again? I feed you, I put you through school, and you still steal from me!”
Neighbors and classmates passing by all saw her.
She knelt there as her dignity was torn to pieces. From that moment on, she developed an intense desire for money.
She swore that if she ever had a daughter of her own, she would never make the girl wear her old clothes or lower her head in front of her classmates. Her daughter would live a life of wealth and glory.
Fortunately, what goes around comes around. Later, her father went bankrupt. Not one of the buddies he had once supported came to help him. He fell into depression for a while, then drank himself to death.
Qin Mei later married Huo’s father, and for the first few years, their life together was stable and happy.
That changed when Huo’s father returned from Southeast Asia. With the Yu family’s help, he set up his own business and became one of Pu City’s rising tycoons.
As his business grew, he began attending more and more social engagements.
This reminded Qin Mei of her father—a piece of human garbage who went to lavish restaurants with his buddies every day while leaving his wife and child at home to survive on steamed buns.
She began adding diuretics to Huo’s father’s food, making him need to use the bathroom every few minutes.
He no longer dared to attend social functions. It was too humiliating for a man to run to the bathroom a dozen or twenty times during a single meal.
In the end, his kidneys were destroyed by the prolonged use of diuretics, and he soon died of kidney disease.
As for her daughter, Huo Mian, she had never actually endured a tragic childhood, nor had she been born evil.
At the very end, Qin Mei said, “I helped the fraud ring, but my daughter had absolutely nothing to do with it. To this day, she thinks I was only writing provocative articles. She’s innocent.”
“As for her bullying classmates in middle school, that was also because I molded her into that kind of person. I constantly taught her how to scheme against others... I was only afraid that she would suffer later in life.”
Her daughter was like a tree that had grown up bound by wire. Its trunk had grown into the gaps between the wires, and by the time the wire was removed, the tree had already become permanently deformed.
What did love that required no scheming look like?
What did a sense of security feel like?
Sadly, Qin Mei had never experienced either, so she had never been able to teach them to Huo Mian.
The lawyer conveyed the truth to Yu Zhengrong. After learning what had happened, the old man remained silent for a long time.
The tragedy of Qin Mei’s life had been caused by a father who had failed to take responsibility for his family.
The Yu family had only looked after the mother and daughter out of consideration for Huo’s father. They had never expected Qin Mei to be the one who murdered him.
He withdrew the entire legal team and left her to face the consequences she deserved.
—
By the time Yu Xiaxing, Yu Zheng, and Yu Zhining finished the paperwork and left the police station, the sky was already fully bright.
The three of them went straight to the teahouse they had loved visiting as children.
Once they entered a private room, Yu Xiaxing immediately sat down, wrapped both hands around a cup of hot tea, and sank comfortably into her chair.
After ordering breakfast, Yu Zheng and Yu Zhining began checking their phones.
Yu Xiaxing leaned over to look at Yu Zheng’s phone. He had a document open titled “Inspection Report for the Elevator in Building Three.”
She was pleased. Good, good.
Then Yu Xiaxing leaned over to look at Yu Zhining’s phone.
He was replying to Bai Xian.
Bai Xian: “Dean, I have some good news. Professor Zhong contacted me just now and said he wants to transfer to our senior-care center to recuperate. His cancer cells won’t outlive him anyway, so I don’t think there will be any problem.”
Yu Xiaxing was pleased again. Good, good.
The next second, her phone vibrated.
Lu Yanzhao had sent her a message: “Board Director Yu, the other person in charge of Qizhi today—the daughter of Professor Zhong—has returned. She’s quite grateful after learning that we helped Professor Zhong avoid being scammed last night. Should I go talk to Young Mr. Zhong again today and try my best to renew the contract? Maybe there’s still a chance.”
Yu Xiaxing was no longer pleased.
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
She immediately stood up, walked to the window, and called him.
“Didn’t we already agree? I’m refusing to renew the contract because they treat our students like second-class citizens and refuse to give us the respect we deserve. Why would we renew it?”
Lu Yanzhao obediently replied, “All right.”
The Qizhi program ended tonight, but the contract-renewal mission did not expire until tomorrow night.
Yu Xiaxing was still afraid that Lu Yanzhao might betray her, so she decided it would be best if he did not come to work over the next two days.
She softened her tone and said, “You’ve worked hard too, taking care of so many students by yourself. After you take the students home tonight, get some proper rest. You’re not allowed to come to work before Wednesday.”
Lu Yanzhao was silent for a moment before answering, “All right.”
After hanging up, Yu Xiaxing let out a long sigh of relief.
Thank goodness. Qizhi had almost come back from the dead.
At the table, Yu Zhining was still messaging Bai Xian.
Bai Xian: “Dean, Mrs. Xu is the only one who refuses to renew her contract. She’s on the key list for the assessment committee. What should we do? Ugh, if we were short by three or five renewals, I wouldn’t feel so bad. But now we’re only missing one, and that means we can’t complete the mission. It’s making me miserable...”
For the moment, Yu Zhining truly had no solution.
However, after hearing Yu Xiaxing express concern for Lu Yanzhao, he suddenly remembered that Bai Xian had not slept all night either.
His younger sister kept every person in her heart and cared about them. No wonder so many capable people were gradually drawn to her and became loyal to her.
Yu Zhining opened the transfer screen and sent Bai Xian a bonus.
Yu Zhining: “Thank you for your hard work. Go back and get some rest. Losing one match is nothing—there’ll be another chance to turn things around in the next mission.”
