Fang Ping reported Duan Quanchang!
Wen Ying had known early on about Fang Ping and Station Chief Duan’s divorce. Fang Ping had hired Du Li as her divorce lawyer.
To be fair, though Du Li acted like a mad dog, always trying to outdo Wen Ying’s mentor from her past life and snapping at her senior brother Zheng Zhihe, his professional skills were undeniably strong.
Fang Ping chose the right lawyer in Du Li. In no time, he handled the divorce and asset division for her. All properties were clearly transferred, and the assets Fang Ping received were entirely legitimate marital earnings.
After consulting Du Li, Fang Ping reported her ex-husband Duan Quanchang!
The report was so sudden that Duan Quanchang’s entire family was caught off guard.
Duan’s elderly mother had always claimed to recognise only Fang Ping as her daughter-in-law. Yet, right after the divorce, she secretly visited Pan Li with a thermos.
Duan’s mother was genuinely upset that Pan Li had ruined her son’s marriage, but no matter how close she was to her daughter-in-law, her son came first. Fang Ping took the marital assets in the divorce, so Duan’s mother also harboured resentment towards her.
Bringing stew to Pan Li was at Duan Quanchang’s request. Duan’s mother didn’t care what Fang Ping thought but feared her grandson’s disapproval, so she visited Pan Li discreetly.
Uncertain of Duan Quanchang’s attitude and afraid he wouldn’t marry her, Pan Li had argued with him several times. Yet, she went out of her way to please Duan’s mother, even calling her “Mum” in advance. Duan’s mother didn’t beam with joy but was inwardly pleased—Fang Ping was too rigid. After becoming a professor at the music academy, she had little time to show filial piety to her in-laws. She wasn’t attentive enough to her husband and was too busy to be courteous to them. No wonder a younger woman stepped in and Fang Ping lost.
Duan’s mother felt pleased but kept a stern front. Pan Li, thick-skinned and eager to please, didn’t mind the coldness. Seeing Pan Li’s large pregnant belly, Duan’s mother softened slightly, “I don’t have time to care for you every day. You’re about to give birth. Haven’t you told your family?”
Back when Pan Li and Yu Wenhao ran a scam on Deng Shangwei, Chen Li had confronted her at home.
Though Pan Li’s family wasn’t wealthy, her parents scrimped to fund her arts education. A beautiful music academy student like Pan Li had a bright future, but her vanity made her impatient for shortcuts. After her affair as a mistress was exposed, her parents lost face among neighbours. Only when Pan Li left Chengdu for Hunan did the gossip subside.
Even now, her parents walked with their heads down. Pregnant out of wedlock with Duan Quanchang, Pan Li didn’t dare tell them.
Another scandal might kill her parents.
Pan Li planned to marry Duan Quanchang first, then bring him home.
Marrying the deputy station chief would be a step up. Neighbours would be too envious to gossip, and her parents would no longer sigh constantly!
When Duan’s mother asked, Pan Li looked pitiful, “Quanchang said we’d get married after the baby’s born. How can I tell my family I’m having a child out of wedlock?”
She knew being pregnant and unmarried was shameful?
Then why had she shamelessly clung to Duan Quanchang before!
Pan Li had her excuses, claiming she was young and naive when she started working, that Duan Quanchang was mature and charming, and she couldn’t resist… Most people would feel sick hearing this, but Duan’s mother agreed, believing her son was indeed charismatic.
Successful men, which of them settles for one woman!
The would-be mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were getting along well, with Pan Li sipping the stew, when news of Fang Ping’s report against Duan Quanchang hit. The shock was too much for Duan’s mother. She stumbled, knocking over the thermos in Pan Li’s hands.
“Mum, what’s wrong?”
Pan Li, splashed with soup, looked confused.
Duan’s mother’s chest heaved as she glared at Pan Li, “It’s all because of you, you vixen, ruining my son’s life. I’ll kill you!”
At that moment, she wanted to lash out at Fang Ping, but with Fang Ping absent, she vented her fury on Pan Li, grabbing her hair and attacking her.
Crying and dodging, Pan Li pieced together the truth from Duan’s mother’s ranting:
The assets Duan Quanchang gave Fang Ping were only the visible ones. He still held a large sum of money!
But Fang Ping had reported him, and now the disciplinary commission had taken him away. Not only would he lose his position, but he’d also face jail!
The emotional rollercoaster was too much. Pan Li let Duan’s mother hit her without fighting back.
Shocked, numb, despairing.
Wasn’t Fang Ping satisfied with all that money?
How could she report Duan Quanchang!
They’d been married, and even if Fang Ping didn’t care for old ties, they had a son connecting them!
If Duan went to prison, what would happen to her and the child?
Hoping to return home triumphantly after marriage was impossible now. How would she even raise the child?
After months of scheming, clashing with Duan Quanchang in Chengdu, and finally waiting for his divorce, it all came to nothing?!
Pan Li’s stomach contracted sharply, a rush of heat surged below. Not yet at her due date, her water broke.
Duan’s mother was stunned.
Her son was already taken by the disciplinary commission, and now the vixen was about to give birth?
The due date didn’t add up, making Duan’s mother doubt if the child was even her son’s. Fearing a death would further implicate Duan Quanchang, she rushed Pan Li to the hospital and fled.
With Duan Quanchang detained, the Duan family was scrambling to pull strings. The whole household was in chaos, and Duan’s mother had no time to care for Pan Li.
How Pan Li would manage alone wasn’t her concern.
A married woman was a daughter-in-law; unmarried, she was nothing. With Duan Quanchang detained, the Duan family no longer feared Pan Li’s threats to report them.
Compared to Fang Ping’s accusations against Duan Quanchang, an affair was trivial!
The Duan family was in disarray, the elderly couple desperately seeking help. In such a sensitive time, no one dared get involved, all rushing to distance themselves from Duan Quanchang.
The Duan family tried to confront Fang Ping, but she refused to meet them.
They pushed her son to approach her. Fang Ping was willing to see her son, but faced with his questioning, she was rational and cold, “Why can’t I report Duan Quanchang? You ask me to consider you. When Duan Quanchang forced me to divorce, did any of you consider me?”
Her son’s defiance was entirely subdued by Fang Ping. He mumbled, “Dad gave you all the marital assets…”
Fang Ping sneered, “That was the price of his betrayal!”
Her son felt stifled.
He couldn’t help asking why his mother didn’t consider his future. A deputy station chief father was far more useful than one in prison. The marriage was over, the money divided. Was venting her anger really that important?
Fang Ping wasn’t the only woman whose husband cheated. Some endured for their children’s sake for decades. Why couldn’t she?
Fang Ping looked at her son coldly, “Because I don’t want to endure. No law says a mother must sacrifice for her son.”
