Wen Ying cared deeply about things that hadn’t happened in her past life.
Because with a flutter of her little butterfly wings, she might just alter the destiny of those she held dear.
But no matter how she looked at it, the Shu family of three didn’t fall into that category.
Even though Shu Lu had taken plenty of resources that rightfully belonged to Wen Ying in her past life, Wen Ying didn’t mind. They were resources she didn’t want anyway—why shouldn’t Shu Lu pick them up?
After all, Shu Lu was her cousin. Wen Ying wouldn’t deliberately make life hard for her.
That said, it’d be a stretch to say Wen Ying particularly liked Shu Lu.
She could see Shu Lu’s petty nature clear as day but couldn’t be bothered to fuss over it.
Then there were Hong Yan and Shu Guobing, whose behaviour, by any standard, landed them firmly in the “top-tier nuisance relatives” category. Wen Ying kept her distance respectfully.
So what did her rebirth have to do with the Shu family? Why were they suddenly moving to Rongcheng? Could it really be because of a few extra words she’d said at her cousin Wen Kai’s place that day, pricking Shu Guobing’s pride, prompting him to resolve to pull himself together?
If that were true, Wen Ying figured she’d done a great deed.
In her past life, though Shu Lu had married a local leader’s son through Comrade Wen Dongrong’s introduction, Shu Guobing’s presence as her father had dragged her down plenty.
That aside, Wen Ying still had doubts about Shu Guobing being uplifted by some benefactor.
Maybe she was overthinking it.
What kind of blind benefactor would take a shine to someone like Shu Guobing?
Recalling how Shu Guobing had gloated over Uncle Deng Shangwei’s misfortune at the dinner table that day, Wen Ying cautiously shared the matter with her uncle:
“He’s narrow-minded. If he holds a grudge against you, he might stir up trouble.”
The key was to avoid being used by someone else.
Though Deng Shangwei was now worthless in Yu Wenhao’s eyes—a failure not worth bothering with—and logically, Yu Wenhao and his son shouldn’t spare him a thought, Wen Ying remained cautious. Better safe than sorry.
Two days later, Deng Shangwei replied, “It’s not Yu Wenhao. The one funding Shu Guobing is a boss named Cai Youren. He’s not local to Rongcheng but has been doing business here for a few years. Probably has a few million to his name. No idea why he’d take a liking to Shu Guobing… Yesterday, Shu Guobing went to Qingshi Bridge to scope out shop spaces!”
Deng Shangwei was baffled.
The Cai boss backing Shu Guobing wasn’t connected to Yu Wenhao. Detective Luo found no link between them.
But Shu Guobing checking out spaces at Qingshi Bridge clearly meant he was getting into the seafood business.
This guy had worked at Deng Shangwei’s company, alienated his clients, swapped out premium seafood with subpar stuff—if not for family ties, Deng Shangwei wouldn’t have just fired him and left it at that.
It really wasn’t tied to Yu Wenhao?
Then she’d misjudged Yu Wenhao.
There was actually a blind boss out there willing to back Shu Guobing!
Once Shu Guobing started poking around the Qingshi Bridge seafood market, rumours about Uncle Deng Shangwei spread like wildfire. Hearing them, Shu Guobing must’ve been thrilled.
No helping it—sometimes you have to let the small-minded have their moment.
Wen Ying felt sorry for Old Deng, but Deng Shangwei just chuckled, “It’s not so bad. The seafood business can still work. Keep the old clients happy, and in time, things will turn around. It’ll all sort itself out.”
The clients hadn’t left—they’d just been temporarily taken back by Boss Qin, who was holding them for Deng Shangwei.
For now, Deng Shangwei dealt in local seafood, recently focusing on wholesale crayfish. He kept busy and paid less attention to the harsh gossip outside.
Plus, Chen Li had returned to work at the seafood company. They didn’t talk at the office, but every night after leaving, they’d chat on the phone until late. Married over a decade, they were rediscovering the spark of young love.
Sure, Pan Li occasionally popped up to stir trouble and annoy them, but overall, Deng Shangwei couldn’t be happier with life!
Wen Ying had warned Deng Shangwei out of kindness, fearing he’d be sabotaged by a petty schemer. She hadn’t expected to be fed a mouthful of lovey-dovey nonsense instead.
…
Shu Guobing—or rather, the Cai boss behind him—moved fast. Not only did the funds come through quickly, but they found a shop in no time.
Shu Guobing was useless, though. After two trips to Qingshi Bridge, he confirmed Deng Shangwei was teetering on collapse and laughed about it for two solid days.
Cai gave Shu Guobing 20,000 yuan as a settling-in fee. After much haggling, Hong Yan and Shu Guobing managed to split half of it, planning to use it for Shu Lu’s schooling in Rongcheng. The other 10,000 was Shu Guobing’s to squander as he pleased.
Cai’s accountant, a man in his thirties also surnamed Cai—his brother—called Shu Guobing “Brother Shu” with a humble tone. But in reality, this “Little Cai” called the shots. Shu Guobing and Hong Yan combined couldn’t outmanoeuvre him.
Little Cai not only secured a place for the Shu family to live but also took a keen interest in Shu Lu’s schooling in Rongcheng.
He spoke smoothly too, telling Shu Guobing to focus on making money for Cai while he handled the family’s daily affairs.
When Little Cai asked where Shu Lu wanted to transfer, Hong Yan blurted out, “Provincial key school!”
Little Cai said he’d see what he could do.
Cai’s influence exceeded the Shu family’s wildest dreams. What Hong Yan saw as an impossible feat, Cai sorted out swiftly. Little Cai pulled Shu Lu’s usual grades and got her into the junior section of a provincial key school!
Meanwhile, Wen Dongrong, stewing for days, wavered between anger at Shu Guobing and worry for Hong Yan’s family. The latter won out, and he called Hong Yan, thinking she shouldn’t have rashly quit her job.
Even if Shu Guobing had a backer, it wasn’t guaranteed he’d succeed. Hong Yan quitting in a huff—did she think jobs were easy to come by now?
True, Rongcheng had more opportunities, but with Hong Yan’s limited education, finding another gig like her last one—decent pay, factory-provided social security, and a pension for when she couldn’t work anymore—would be tough. In 2004, many private firms didn’t offer employees social security!
Hong Yan had been far too impulsive.
Wen Dongrong meant well. If she weren’t his sister, he wouldn’t have bothered.
But when he called, Hong Yan didn’t appreciate it. She said she’d long wanted to ditch the factory job—its measly pay couldn’t buy a house, and the pension wasn’t much either.
“Now Guobing’s earning, I won’t work. I’ll stay home, cook, and wash clothes for him and Lu Lu. Second Brother, don’t you know? Lu Lu’s going to a provincial key school. You didn’t help, but Cai did!”
Wen Dongrong’s kindness was thrown back in his face like a slap.
Stay home to cook and clean?
After years of work, she was tossing aside her social security?!
Wen Dongrong was furious. If he meddled with Hong Yan again, he’d be a fool begging for trouble!
