Chapter 24: The Fate of the Zhu Family

Lu Jianwei had originally planned for the three of them to have dinner together, but Yang Hongyan was so nervous walking alongside the factory representative that her legs were shaking. Fearing she wouldn’t be able to digest her meal, Yang Hongyan made her escape at the last moment.

In the end, Lu Jianwei and Gu Huaizheng went to eat together.

Gu Huaizheng found them a seat and asked Lu Jianwei to sit while he went to get their food.

The cafeteria happened to serve braised pork at lunch today, a rare treat. Gu Huaizheng brought back two portions, along with stir-fried zucchini with pork slices, a vegetable dish, and a big bone winter melon soup.

Their staple was plain white rice.

They ate in silence. Noticing that she didn’t eat fatty meat, Gu Huaizheng picked out the lean pieces from the braised pork and placed them in her bowl.

She hardly touched her rice, leaving more than half of it, picking at each grain as if she truly couldn’t eat anymore.

Unable to watch her struggle, Gu Huaizheng took her lunch box and dumped what was left into his own.

“I’ve already eaten enough,” Lu Jianwei protested, embarrassed. It was the first time in her life someone had finished her leftovers, especially someone she’d only met a handful of times.

“It’s fine!” Gu Huaizheng glanced at her. “No need to force yourself, better not to waste it.”

He quickly polished off the leftover food, yet as she sat across from him, she didn’t hear any smacking or slurping sounds. His manner was hearty but never crude, and afterwards, he took out a white handkerchief with blue checks to wipe his mouth, just as he had when eating at her family’s house.

Lu Jianwei let out a soft sigh of relief. Though she wasn’t particularly fastidious herself, living long-term with someone whose habits clashed with her own would be a real trial.

People are always like this: first, only wanting to survive, but once survival is no longer in question, the desire for a higher quality of life emerges.

That evening, Lu Jianwei asked He Ma to send word to Duan Chenxing that she needed to see him.

Duan Chenxing arrived quickly. She spoke with him in the study on the first floor. “Brother, do you remember my little golden locket?”

“Of course I do!” He remembered well—he’d once had to help her find it when it went missing.

“Zhu Tingting made an identical locket. If I hadn’t asked Fu Tingjun to return mine first, she might have switched them. What do you think she’s up to?”

Duan Chenxing’s eyes flickered with an idea. “Don’t worry about her motives. If she wants to keep her hands clean, I won’t allow it. Leave the rest to me—I have a plan.”

Lu Jianwei took out three hundred yuan for him. “It wasn’t just you who helped last time, but your friends too. Share this with them. It’s not much, but please don’t mind.”

“Mind? Not at all!” He rapped her on the forehead as he always had, and she dodged, covering her head. “If you bully me again, I’ll tell Mom!”

He clicked his tongue in mock annoyance. “Aren’t you a bit old to be tattling? Fine, I’ll handle them. No need for you to worry.”

Lu Jianwei insisted. “If you don’t take it, I won’t come to you for help again.”

He dared not refuse, worried she’d get others involved and cause trouble. He counted half and handed the rest back to her. “You’re an adult now, about to start your own family. You need a little money.”

“I know!”

The next day, He Ma arrived carrying several pounds of pork belly and told Lu Jianwei, “Your brother said you gave him more than a hundred yuan yesterday. He wants to have some quilts made for you and prepare some bedding. Now that you have a fiancé, it’s time to start putting together your dowry.”

Lu Jianwei felt a pang in her nose. “Mama, my brother isn’t young anymore. Why hasn’t he found someone?”

“He’s like a wild horse, never settles down. What girl would be willing to marry him? But I’m not worried. When you and Xiao Zhu are settled, then I’ll worry about those two.”

At lunchtime, when Lu Jianwei went to eat with Yang Hongyan, the latter whispered gossip, “Have you heard? Fu Tingjun’s wife’s family has all been arrested. They say they hid a fortune in gold and silver, and the treasure map is in Fu Tingjun’s wife’s hands.”

Lu Jianwei was shocked—she hadn’t known about any treasure map.

“Really?” she echoed.

“It’s true! Supposedly it’s a little golden locket. That locket used to be yours, then it ended up with the Zhu family, and the treasure map was hidden inside.”

As soon as Lu Jianwei heard this, she knew it was Duan Chenxing’s handiwork. Last night, with just a hint from her, her brother had figured it out, but she hadn’t expected the rumor to spread so wildly overnight.

Several rooms in the investigation team’s interrogation building were now filled with members of the Zhu family, one after another. Fu Tingjun and Zhu Tingting had also been detained. Outside, Mother Fu wept until she was nearly blind with regret—she shouldn’t have pushed her son to divorce Lu Jianwei and marry Zhu Tingting, who brought nothing but disaster.

To think she’d been delighted to see Zhu Tingting running to her house, not knowing the Zhu family was in such dire trouble!

They’d come to her house to escape calamity.

She had hoped that if the Lu family fell and became everyone’s target, Zhu Xinfang would bring all the valuables back to her maiden family, and in the future, some of it would naturally fall to Zhu Tingting. If her son married Zhu Tingting, perhaps the Fu family could rise again and prosper.

She wanted to show that man, far away in America, just how capable her son was, to make that heartless man regret abandoning her and leaving with a foreign woman of ill repute.

Fu Tingjun was planning to cut ties and save himself, but Zhu Tingting turned and threatened him, “Fu Tingjun, as husband and wife, we should share blessings and hardships. If you ever abandon me, we’ll die together.”

He didn’t dare act rashly.

No matter what he said, he truly had nothing to do with the Zhu family’s crimes. He hadn’t taken a thing from the Zhu or Lu families, so the investigators couldn’t get anything useful from him. But if Zhu Tingting exposed his father’s misdeeds, he’d have no way out.

After a day of questioning, Fu Tingjun was released.

He genuinely knew nothing, having only been married to Zhu Tingting less than a day; he was not the focus of the investigation.

The Zhu family was less fortunate. Unable to withstand the pressure, they confessed under duress, but their stories about the treasure’s location changed: sometimes it was in the mountains, sometimes by the sea, never the same.

The investigators had also caught wind of the rumors and pressed about the little golden locket. Zhu Tingting handed it over and provided a location: the eastern part of the city, beneath a nearly-collapsed house, where there truly was a stash.

But the treasure wasn’t from the Lu family; it belonged to another capitalist who had long since fled the country.

The investigation team dug it up and indeed found quite a bit, but some estimated that the Lu family’s hidden wealth would be far greater.

So the questioning of Zhu Tingting continued. Within a few days, she was utterly spent, and finally, she revealed all the treasures she’d set aside for herself. In the end, the numbers matched what was expected.

The Zhu family’s crimes were serious. In the end, everyone from the Zhu family, young and old—including Zhu Xinfang—was sent to a labor camp for reformation.

Lu Jianwei learned of this from her aunt, who relayed that her uncle had said the camp was filled with the most hardened criminals. Orders from above had singled out the Zhu family for severe punishment because of the seriousness of their offenses.

Her aunt remarked, “At first, they were going to sentence the Zhu siblings to death, but someone intervened, and they were given life sentences of labor reform instead and sent to that camp. Heaven truly has eyes!”