Ye Zhiqiu had left, and Huo Jiusi voluntarily offered to take on the responsibility of looking after Yaya that night.
Wan Jiayin naturally wouldn’t agree—Huo Jiusi was still a child, after all. But he insisted, and in the end, they had no choice but to let him have his way.
Huo Jiusi smiled a little sheepishly. “Grandma Wan, I’m used to staying here now. Going home actually feels strange.”
That was, of course, just an excuse. The simple truth was that he couldn’t bear to be apart from Yaya.
Yaya could sleep just fine without him—but he couldn’t sleep without her.
He’d originally planned not to come over, choosing instead to stay and keep his grandfather company. But after lying down for what felt like ages, tossing and turning, all he could see in his mind was Yaya.
Huo Jiusi had never been one to make things hard on himself. So he’d told Huo Yingnian where he was going and come right back over.
“Alright, then you and Yaya head back to the room.”
Huo Jiusi went to the room with Yaya. He wheeled her little crib over next to his own bed, took her tiny hand in his, and stood there for a moment, gazing at her adorable sleeping face. Then he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek.
“Yaya, good night.”
Whether Yaya had heard him and was responding, or was just murmuring in her sleep, he couldn’t tell—but she let out a little grumble. Huo Jiusi’s lips curved into a smile, and soon enough, he drifted off to sleep, completely at ease.
——-
Time flew by like a white pony flashing past a crack in the wall—before they knew it, winter had arrived.
On this particular day, the national capital was dusted with falling snow, while down in Jiangning, people had only just started wearing trench coats.
Ye Zhiqiu didn’t linger in the training room after practice like she usually did. The moment Tang Xuejun gave the order to dismiss, she was the first one out the door.
“Well, well—the sun must be rising in the west today! Ye Zhiqiu was the first to leave the training room!”
Fan Xue slung an arm around Han Siyang’s shoulder. “Siyang, do you know what Zhiqiu’s in such a rush to do?”
After a month of getting along, Fan Xue had not only grown close to Ye Zhiqiu, but had also become good friends with Han Siyang.
Han Siyang shrugged. “No idea.”
“Come on, let’s hurry to the cafeteria. I feel like I’m about to pass out from hunger.”
Fan Xue leaned against Han Siyang. “Will you carry me there?”
“I’ll throw you into the outdoor pool instead.” Han Siyang pushed her off with a laugh. “Stop messing around. I don’t have the energy to carry you—I was actually hoping you’d carry me.”
The two of them left the training room, still joking and shoving each other.
Jiang Miao and Han Shengnan watched from behind. Jiang Miao pursed her lips and spat in Fan Xue’s direction. “Pfft. Traitor!”
“Fan Xue knows how to play the game. Not like us.”
Han Shengnan lowered her voice. “I heard that Han Siyang comes from a really well-off family too. I have no idea how Fan Xue finds out all this stuff—she’s something else.”
“Something else? She’s just a brown-noser!” Jiang Miao didn’t even realize how sour her own tone sounded.
“Miaomiao, could you grab my food for me? My stomach’s a little upset—I need to run to the restroom.” Han Shengnan clutched her belly, but her eyes darted toward the direction Ye Zhiqiu had gone.
She wanted to see what Ye Zhiqiu was up to—was she off calling Yue Mingyuan again?
She’d secretly followed her a few times and was close to memorizing Yue Mingyuan’s phone number.
She didn’t buy for a second that Yue Mingyuan had married Ye Zhiqiu because he actually liked her. No—Ye Zhiqiu must have used some underhanded scheme, some kind of leverage, to threaten him.
She was determined to find out what hold Ye Zhiqiu had over Yue Mingyuan. Then she’d find a way to help him, and he’d be grateful to her—he’d see her in a whole new light.
——-
Ye Zhiqiu was indeed in a hurry to make a phone call—but not to Yue Mingyuan. She was calling Yue Mingli.
“Second Brother, how did it go?”
“Both of them got the death penalty.”
Even though she’d known the outcome all along, Ye Zhiqiu couldn’t help but cry. “That’s great. That’s really great.”
“Shen Daqiang and Wang Fengqin will be executed in a week.”
Yue Mingli paused, then added, “But Shen Liya got off scot-free. Xu Wan pulled some strings and got her out.”
“Xu Wan got Shen Liya out?” Ye Zhiqiu was stunned. “Why would she do that?”
“No idea.”
“Chen Can made up the missing money, but he was stripped of his military status. I heard he’s going to marry Xu Wan soon.”
Hearing this, Ye Zhiqiu could roughly guess why Xu Wan had bailed Shen Liya out—she wanted Shen Liya and Chen Can to divorce.
Chen Can couldn’t just unilaterally divorce her, especially not with Shen Liya’s temperament. If she kicked up a fuss, it would embarrass both the Chen and Xu families.
“Xu Wan’s pregnant. She said if she couldn’t marry Chen Can, she’d kill herself and the baby. The Chen family had no choice but to agree.”
Even as an outsider, Yue Mingli felt like slapping Xu Wan.
Xu Changkong was holding up okay, but Xu Xun had visibly aged compared to a few months ago—all the stress over Xu Wan had taken its toll.
“Second Brother, please keep an extra eye on Yaya for me. I’m worried Shen Liya might try something.”
Ye Zhiqiu wasn’t sure if Shen Liya would actually go that far, but a little extra caution never hurt.
“Don’t worry, Zhiqiu. We’ll make sure Yaya is safe.”
“Oh, and one more thing—your second uncle and his family arrived. I’ve put them up over at Fu’an Alley.”
“Thank you, Second Brother.” Ye Zhiqiu couldn’t take time off work, so she had to rely on Yue Mingli for all these arrangements.
“Don’t mention it. We’re family.”
She hung up the phone but stood there for a long time, unable to calm down.
She looked up at the sky and silently called out in her heart: Mom, did you see that? Shen Daqiang and Wang Fengqin got what they deserved. Your daughter avenged you!
The evidence against Shen Daqiang and Wang Fengqin for murdering Ye Yunshuang was ironclad—and Shen Daqiang was also implicated in the death of Li Guoshun.
Back then, the Li family had taken pity on Ye Zhiqiu. Li Guoxiang couldn’t exactly go over and do physical labor for her, so he’d sent his brother Li Guoshun instead.
But Shen Daqiang was so unreasonable that he actually thought Li Guoshun had feelings for Ye Zhiqiu. Using his authority as Li Guoshun’s master, he’d constantly bullied and beaten him.
That one time, Shen Daqiang and his cronies were secretly drinking in the workshop. When they saw how clean-cut and fair-skinned Li Guoshun was, the four of them got wicked ideas and tried to force themselves on him.
In the struggle, Li Guoshun stepped on a wine bottle, lost his balance, fell backward, and cracked his head on a machine lathe. He died on the spot.
The four of them were so terrified that they sobered up immediately, fled the scene, cooked up a cover story, and destroyed the evidence.
At the time, there happened to be another high-profile murder case, so all the police resources were tied up there. The bruises on Li Guoshun’s body were written off as injuries from a fight, and the inexperienced medical examiner on duty didn’t question it. In the end, it was ruled a suicide.
Fortunately, Yue Mingli had petitioned to reopen the case and uncovered the truth.
But that truth cut like a blade, plunging Li Guoxiang’s family into grief all over again.
Aside from Shen Daqiang, his three cronies were also sentenced to death—so at least they’d have company on the road to the underworld.
When Shen Daqiang heard his death sentence, he fainted right there in the courtroom.
Wang Fengqin, on the other hand, spent the entire time hurling curses at Ye Yunshuang and Ye Zhiqiu.
Ye Yunlin and Wang Shuying had taken time off work to attend the trial—they wanted to see Shen Daqiang and Wang Fengqin face justice with their own eyes.
And when the executions were carried out in a few days, Ye Yunlin planned to be there too.
