“Mother, I’ve been too afraid to say this before… but now I have to… Every time you threatened to kill yourself to make me pretend to be sick, I was so miserable I wanted to die myself… Wuwuwu…”
Zhao Yufang spoke these words with a look of deep suffering, then lowered her head and sobbed as she walked away.
Huang Jing was stunned once more. It was true she had asked Zhao Yufang to pretend to be ill—but she had never forced her, let alone threatened suicide.
But she soon understood her daughter’s cruelty: to save her own reputation, Yufang had lied and pushed all the blame onto her own mother. How could she be so selfish and heartless?
Furious, Huang Jing’s breath caught in her throat, and she fainted.
Old Lady Kang went over to examine her, then called out to the crowd, “She fainted from anger and frustration—she’s fine, no need to worry about her!”
Hearing this, Zhao Xinde pretended to help Huang Jing up, forcing a smile as he said to Song Mianmian, “Mianmian, I’ll take your mother inside first, then go handle the property matters right away…”
Song Mianmian gave him a cool glance. “I’m leaving for the countryside the day after tomorrow, so I want to entrust some matters about my property to the comrades from the Educated Youth Office.”
After speaking to Zhao Xinde, she walked over to the Educated Youth Office staff in the midst of the crowd’s surprised stares and said loudly, “Comrades… I want to ask you to help me donate my parents’ ten thousand yuan in compensation and fifteen thousand yuan savings book to the local welfare institute. It’s to help orphans like me, so they can suffer a little less. As a thank you, I also plan to give all the rent from my five large houses for the next ten years to your department, so you can better help us educated youth with our troubles…”
Her words made everyone’s hearts skip a beat. Zhao Xinde, who had just lifted Huang Jing a little, was so shocked he nearly dropped her. He cursed Song Mianmian silently: Damned fool—if she did this, how could he use delay tactics to trick her?
The Educated Youth Office staff and onlookers all thought she was foolish, but the smarter ones understood: now that her money was out in the open, keeping it for herself would only bring trouble. Donating it was a way to gain respect and government protection.
In these times, every department lacked money and achievements—and the Educated Youth Office was no exception. They could not bear to refuse the money and credit Song Mianmian was offering, but they did not want to take it for nothing.
After exchanging glances, the middle-aged female deputy said sincerely to her, “We know you’re being genuine in wanting to do good, and we really do need your help, so we won’t turn you down. But several people in our department are very good with property deeds, land titles, and contracts. How about this—we’ll come find you at the guest house first thing tomorrow to settle all your disputes with Zhao Xinde. What do you think?”
This was exactly what Song Mianmian wanted. She nodded happily at once. “Great! Since you’ll be coming with me to see the houses tomorrow anyway, I won’t stand on ceremony with you!”
“Alright, we’ll get back to work now—see you tomorrow!”
Song Mianmian followed after them. “I have nothing to do here, I’ll go with you!”
Zhao Xinde had wanted to speak to her privately, but could only watch helplessly as she left.
The next day, Song Mianmian had only wanted to rely on the Educated Youth Office staff to get her things back from Zhao Xinde smoothly. She never expected an unexpected surprise.
When she left her guest house room at 6:15 that morning, she was immediately surrounded by Meng Wanning and the others. Meng Wanning, who rarely cried, burst into tears the moment she saw Song Mianmian, sobbing with guilt.
“I’m sorry, Mianmian—sorry! We didn’t care enough about you, we failed you so badly… We’re so sorry to you, so sorry to your parents… Wuwu…”
After a few sobs, she held back her tears and said in a thick voice, “Mianmian, do you still recognize me, Uncle Jiang, and Uncle Zheng?”
Jiang Zheng and Zheng Shaohuai, who usually kept their emotions hidden, said nothing—but their eyes were red with guilt. They wanted to explain that they had rarely come to see her over the years, and when they had, it had been in secret. It was not that they were cold-hearted—their special positions meant that visiting her openly could have put her in danger.
Now, in addition to their regret, their greatest anger was that they had misjudged Zhao Xinde. They had thought he was smart enough that even for the sake of their connections, he would not mistreat Mianmian. Instead, he was a greedy, short-sighted fool.
Song Mianmian was stunned for a moment before recovering, quickly saying, “Of course I recognize you—I have a good memory. But Aunt Meng, Uncle Zheng, Uncle Jiang, why did you all come so suddenly?”
She was delighted by their arrival—she knew they had come to support her.
Jiang Zheng quickly explained in a low voice: one of the Educated Youth Office staff who had brought her things the day before was an acquaintance of his. When the man had gone home that night, he had remembered Song Mianmian mentioning Jiang Zheng’s name, and after thinking it over, had called him.
When Jiang Zheng heard what had happened, he was overwhelmed with regret. He immediately contacted Zheng Shaohuai and Meng Wanning, and the three of them dropped all their work and came to Beijing together. Tianjin was only a three-hour drive away, and they had arrived just after ten o’clock the previous night.
They had been eager to see Song Mianmian but did not want to disturb her sleep, so they first conducted a thorough investigation of Zhao Xinde’s family and Du Qinghui’s family. By chance, they had caught Zhao Xinde in bed with his mistress Cao Huiping—revealing just how corrupt he was.
Enraged, the three of them had immediately had him and the relevant people detained for investigation.
After telling Song Mianmian this, Jiang Zheng asked gently, “It’s not convenient to talk here—can you come with us to the car outside first?”
Song Mianmian nodded quickly.
They all went out to Zheng Shaohuai’s military jeep. Meng Wanning first explained why they had not dared to visit her more often, then said seriously, “Mianmian, we will make sure the Zhao family is severely punished. We will also get back all your family’s things, plus interest. The money you donated—we’ll cover all of it. I’ll give it all to you in a moment. But about you going to the countryside—your name has already been reported, and it can’t be withdrawn for a year. So we’ll have to wait a year before bringing you to live with us… Mianmian, I’m sorry—Auntie promises this will be the last time you have to suffer…”
As she spoke, Meng Wanning’s eyes filled with tears again.
Song Mianmian hesitated for a moment, then smiled at her, Jiang Zheng, and Zheng Shaohuai. “Auntie, Uncles— I don’t feel wronged, and you don’t have to keep saying sorry. I know you all truly care about me, and I’ll take care of you in the future.”
Seeing how obedient and trusting Song Mianmian was, the three of them grew even more worried about her. Meng Wanning hesitated, then tentatively said to Zheng Shaohuai, “What if you find a way to transfer me to Yuanshan Town, so I can take care of Mianmian nearby?”
Song Mianmian was silent. She thought it was unnecessary and planned to refuse.