After Prison, She Shocks the World
Chapter 99: Making Ya Garden Take Business from Chu Family Embroidery House

Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Making Ya Garden Take Business from Chu Family Embroidery House

Fu Bing returned home and locked herself in her room, not even coming out for dinner.

Aunt Ning had anticipated this. When she asked Wu Shi about it, he didn’t say a word.

Aunt Ning was also at a loss.

At the time, Aunt Ning had persuaded Wu Shi to protect Fu Bing. He only agreed because she promised to provide treatment for the illnesses of those who had died unjustly and to supply various medicines as his conditions.

Wu Shi was her and Uncle He’s lifesaver, not their subordinate, making it inappropriate to question him.

Wu Shi did his job very well and was ready to risk his life to protect Fu Bing.

Aunt Ning thought it over and decided to give up on getting answers from Wu Shi.

Fu Bing slept until midnight.

When she went downstairs, she found Wu Shi sitting in the living room.

The warm light of the reading lamp beside the sofa shone on his mask, softening its appearance significantly.

When Wu Shi heard footsteps, he turned his head.

In the dim light, the two gazed silently at each other until Wu Shi was the first to speak.

"Hungry?"

"Mm."

"I’ll heat up some food."

"Did you wait for me on purpose?"

Without answering, Wu Shi left her with only the sight of his tall figure heading to the kitchen.

Fu Bing followed him.

Wu Shi placed several small bowls with different dishes into the electric steamer, set the timer, and then turned to look at Fu Bing.

Her eyes were still a little swollen, but the pain and despair in them were much fainter than they had been during the day.

He understood she wasn’t truly past her grief; rather, she knew her sorrow had to be deferred for many other pressing matters.

She had once experienced the regret of time waiting for no one, and she would absolutely not let the same thing happen again.

Seeing that the timer on the electric steamer was almost up, Fu Bing took out two sets of bowls and chopsticks from the sterilizer.

By the time Wu Shi brought the dishes to the table, Fu Bing was already seated.

Fu Bing didn’t understand why she felt so unusually relaxed around Wu Shi, even though they hadn’t known each other for long.

Maybe they had both been hurt before...

Wu Shi placed the dishes Fu Bing liked closer to her.

Fu Bing smiled and said, "You have a keen sense of observation."

Wu Shi didn’t speak.

Although he picked up his chopsticks, he ate very little, seeming more like he was just keeping Fu Bing company while she ate.

"I checked, and the day after tomorrow is Great-Grandma’s birthday. During these next few days, Fu Chan will try every means possible to bring her back to Yunxi Lane. If she returns to Yunxi Lane, it will be harder to see her in the future."

"What do you want to do?"

Fu Bing’s expression was hesitant, but she eventually said, "I was thinking of having Xiaomei visit her in these next few days. What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Shi’s gaze became even gentler.

He knew that as long as she asked Fu Xiaomei, Fu Xiaomei would agree without hesitation.

Her hesitation stemmed from not wanting Fu Xiaomei to relive the pain of seeing Fu Ya off on her final journey.

Fu Ya had saved her in the Orphanage, and she, in turn, had saved the dying Fu Xiaomei in that same Orphanage.

It was only fitting for Fu Xiaomei to see Fu Ya off on her final journey.

"Your hesitation might cause Old Madam Chu to pass away with regrets. Time is tight; there’s no room for indecision."

Fu Bing understood his underlying meaning and nodded.

「The next day, early in the morning.」

Xiaomei had just gotten up when Fu Bing called her into the courtyard. Xiaomei touched the small cowlick on top of her head.

"Sis, what’s the matter?"

"I’d like to ask you for a favor."

"What kind of favor? I’ll definitely help," Xiaomei answered without any hesitation.

"I went to visit my great-grandmother yesterday, and she’s not too fond of me. Her birthday is in a few days. Could you go and keep her company for these next few days?"

Xiaomei clenched her small fists in anger. "Does she think you caused Fu Ya’s death? How can Fu Ya’s death be blamed on you? She was ill for many years, and you were the one spending money to treat her. For those three years, you never gave up on trying to cure her. How can she blame you?"

As Xiaomei spoke, her eyes reddened, and she choked up. "Outsiders don’t understand anything! What right do they have to blame you?"

"Great-Grandmother has her reasons to blame me. If she were a bit younger, I would definitely explain things to her slowly. When I saw her yesterday, her health seemed poor. You were one of the last people with my mother, so I don’t think she’ll refuse to see you."

Xiaomei wanted to say that the person who stayed by Fu Ya’s side until the very end was Qin Jinhai. It was Qin Jinhai who had tirelessly cared for her, day and night.

But she couldn’t say it.

Her sister’s relationship with Qin Jinhai was already complicated enough. If she mentioned this, her sister would never be free of Qin Jinhai for the rest of her life.

She now understood clearly. Even for someone as exceptional as her sister, in the eyes of those wealthy and powerful families, her sister was merely an actor, someone they utterly disdained.

If her sister continued to be entangled with Qin Jinhai, when it eventually came to discussing marriage, her sister would only be hurt again.

She didn’t want her sister to suffer any more pain.

"Teacher Rong hasn’t given me any assignments for the next few days, so I have time. Sis, what do you want me to accomplish by going?"

"Just keep her good company on my behalf, that’s all."

"Is that it?"

"Yes. Great-Grandmother is a pitiable woman too. She’s the only one left in the Chu Family. The person she misses most was my mother. Now that she’s all alone, please keep her company. Talk to her about my mother; that would be good."

"Mhm, I’ll go right away!" Xiaomei said, dashing back into the house. After quickly eating her breakfast, she cheerfully drove off in her little pink car.

Ever since Wu Shi’s arrival, she hadn’t driven her little pink car in a long time.

For some strange reason, Wu Shi really liked this car. Even though there were other cars at home, he always preferred to drive her little pink car.

Hmph! This time, I left first, so I get to drive it!

Watching the little car recede into the distance, Wu Shi said, "Buy another small car."

Fu Bing was momentarily stunned before she realized what he was saying.

"Sure," Fu Bing replied. "But can it be a color other than pink?"

Wu Shi looked at her, slightly displeased.

"Get a light green one. You can alternate between it and the pink one."

Only then did Wu Shi’s mood visibly brighten.

Fu Bing opened her phone and quickly selected the configuration on the Wuling Hongguang official website before placing the order.

Half an hour later, an employee from the dealership called to confirm the order. They mentioned they happened to have a car with that exact configuration in stock and could deliver it that day.

Fu Bing asked them to send the car over.

She knew that customized models usually took several months to half a year to be delivered. So, managing to get one that perfectly matched her submitted configuration on the very same day was quite a coincidence.

When the car arrived, Fu Bing had Wu Shi test drive it. Once he confirmed there were no issues, she signed the purchase contract.

Even behind a mask, Fu Bing could tell he was in a good mood.

After dealing with this, Fu Bing returned to her study to focus on her own matters.

Fu Chan’s business operations overlapped with Ya Garden’s. Although Ya Garden hadn’t been open for long, it had already surpassed the Chu Family Embroidery House that Fu Chan managed.

Fu Chan might be a decent manager, but he had no talent for embroidery itself.

His embroiderers weren’t willing to patiently dedicate themselves to their craft, so it was only a matter of time before Ya Garden surpassed and replaced them.

No matter how long its history, any enterprise that failed to make appropriate changes with the progress of the times would eventually be replaced.

Fu Bing called Uncle Yun, the manager of Ya Garden.

"Uncle Yun, it’s me."

"Miss, what can I do for you?"

Even though Uncle Yun was responsible for running Ya Garden, he had never met Ya Rui.

They had only communicated over the phone all these years.

Even their phone conversations were conducted using constantly changing numbers, and her voice was always disguised by a voice changer.

"We need to adjust our recent plans to snatch as much of the Chu Family Embroidery House’s business as possible."