Chapter 18 Everyone’s Thoughts

The Wei family mother and daughter weren’t foolish; they quickly understood the situation. Wei’s mother was a smart woman. "Don’t worry. As if I’d be afraid of them!" After declining the Wei family’s offer for dinner and agreeing to go together the day after tomorrow afternoon to complete the procedures, Yunyi took her leave. Why not go tomorrow and hand over the work? That was because the Wei family needed enough time to gather the money. Besides, once Yunyi took Wei Hongyan to formally complete the handover procedures, Sun Xiaoyan, the substitute, would have to get lost. Additionally, she wanted some peace and quiet before heading to the countryside. It was also a chance to give Sun Xiaoyan a surprise. By the time she got home, Sun Xiaoyan was no longer at the door. She opened the door and entered the courtyard. She then took out the vegetarian buns she had packed earlier from the state-owned restaurant. She planned to eat, rest for a while, and then wait for nightfall to take care of some business. The Sun family sat in their house, all wearing gloomy expressions. The Sun family’s eldest daughter-in-law, Ma Guiqin, wore a long face as she said, "Third Brother had a good life but chose not to live it. He had to go out and mess around. I don’t agree to borrowing money to bail him out." At this moment, the Second Brother’s wife chimed in. "What Third Brother has done is such a huge scandal. Even if we spend everything we have, I’m afraid it won’t end well. There are so many mouths in this family waiting to be fed; we can’t all starve." When Mrs. Sun heard what her daughters-in-law said, she was furious. "Have you no conscience? Eldest Brother, Second Brother, he’s your own younger brother! What do you two think?" Sun Jianming, the eldest of the Sun family, grabbed a handful of his hair. "Mom, it’s not that we don’t want to save him, but given our family’s current situation, what do we possibly have to save him with?" At that moment, Sun Aiming, the second son, coughed lightly. "Mom, if we want to save Third Brother, I’m afraid we still have to turn to Chuyunyi." Sun Xiaoyan, standing to the side, was deeply conflicted. Chuyunyi’s attitude earlier that day had frightened her. She wanted to save her third brother, but she was also terrified of Chuyunyi’s anger being directed at her. If Chuyunyi said just one word, forget formally taking over the job—even her current substitute position would likely be gone. Mrs. Sun glanced at her daughter. "You all heard what Yanzi said earlier. Chuyunyi probably already knows the truth about Third Brother’s arrest; she simply isn’t buying any of it." Sun’s father looked utterly dejected. "We don’t have any other options right now. We have to try something. We can’t just stand by and watch Third Brother be ruined like this." They were faced with two choices: one was to scrape together five hundred yuan and find someone to pull some strings; the other was for Chuyunyi to agree to use her connections to help, and it had to be fast. Otherwise, it wasn’t just about Third Brother losing his job—he would likely be dragged out and publicly shamed as well. But before they could take any action, Su Aiyu’s family came knocking. Perhaps also fearing a scandal, the group didn’t cause a commotion outside but pushed the door open and came straight into the house. Mrs. Sun looked down on the Su family, but with things having reached this point, she could only suppress her feelings. "Why have you all come over?" Su’s father replied with a cold expression, "If we hadn’t come, your scoundrel of a son would be facing severe punishment by now." The Su family had an elder relative who had some connections with people in the Revolutionary Committee. His initial plan was to have his daughter insist she was the victim, thereby pushing all the blame onto the Sun family’s third son. But he hadn’t expected his own disappointing daughter to already be pregnant with the Sun family’s third son’s child. This meant the plan had to change. He briefly explained the situation. "I’ve spoken with my connections. I told them the two were a couple about to get married and that it was just a momentary lapse in judgment. That’s how I managed to suppress the matter for now." With an urgent look, Mrs. Sun asked, "Then what about my third son? Why didn’t he come back with you?"