They first set off two strings of firecrackers. Then dancing lions entered from both ends. They had also hired a singer who was somewhat famed in City Nan. It was quite a lively sight.
In addition to the performances, every existing member would also receive a gift. New members, too, would receive a small gift. Just like the previous time, anyone who made a purchase at the shop would have the opportunity to enter into a raffle. Someone would occasionally win an electric fan or a kettle. One had even won a bicycle. Even though nobody won the first and special prize just yet, but those that had been won still made the onlookers jealous.
"Mom, that lion dance was so amazing. I want to learn that when I grow up too!" Tianbao was still mesmerized by the lion dance.
JingJing had her mind set on poking a balloon. Shu Yan picked her up and had her poke whichever one she liked. She didn't win a big prize but got a kettle.
"That isn't bad. Look, so many others didn't even win anything. You got one on your first try." Worried that JingJing would be disappointed, Shu Yan comforted her.
"Mmm." JingJing was happy with the kettle. She liked it.
Shu Yan watched on for a little while, gave Zhang Huaxiu and heads up and took off with Hu Ruixue.
"What did you mean earlier? What did you mean by 'that's nice'." She felt that there was subtext in what Hu Ruixue had said.
"I mean it's nice to have a suitor. It looks like you are open to the idea of being with someone else. I don't know much about Feng Zeyu but he seemed to be someone steady and responsible. It won't hurt to learn more about him." Hu Ruixue had no intentional of finding someone else for herself again. But that didn't mean she wanted Shu Yan to be like her as well.
"He's a nice guy. But, you know, I am divorced with two children. It's not that easy. And him? He had his own concerns as well. I don't know how to put it. One step at a time, I guess." Shu Yan had been meaning to have a heart-to-heart conversation with Feng Zeyu but he had been busy with someone lately and she hadn't seen him in a while.
Only those involved really knew what was going on in a relationship. Anyone else could only see what was out front. Not to mention that Hu Ruixue didn't really know Feng Zeyu well. There was only so much she could opine on it.
Shu Yan was serious when she said she would be hands off on matters with regards to the shop. She had Zhang Huaxiu handled everything. As their company hadn't been busy lately, Shu Yan went over to Hu Ruixue's place with her two kids.
Over on the other side, Feng Zeyu was lecturing the two boys who had dropped off the flower baskets.
"Who said to refer to her as sister-in-law?"
"Bother Mao said she's our sister-in-law," said the silly-looking one as he scratched his head.
"Don't listen to him. And don't refer to her that way next time." Feng Zeyu went silent for a little bit and asked, hesitantly, "What was her reaction to that?"
"Oh?"
"Nothing. Get out if there's nothing else." Feng Zeyu's ears turned red.
The two nudged each other in private and gestured each other with their look.
Boss was so happy that we've referred to her as sister-in-law!
Bother Mao was right. We should refer to her as sister-in-law in the future!
"Stop squinting and winking at each other. Get out." Feng Zeyu gave the two of them a stare.
"She was surprised at first. Then immediately asked if the flower baskets were from you. Boss, why would she guess that it was you and not someone else? Surely she had some thoughts."
"There was nothing else." Feng Zeyu glared at them. "Alright. There is nothing else that I want to say... send Lao Mao in." Feng Zeyu added after some thoughts.
"What do you need from me? I am a busy man."
"Don't tell random things to our subordinates in the future. You know about my current situation. It would affect her negatively." Feng Zeyu didn't want Shu Yan's reputation tainted because of him.
"You are almost at the wrapping up stage and was about to clear your name shortly. Besides, you don't need to go hang out around the university.
She comes to the office all the time. You have plenty of opportunities to meet up with each other." Mao Weiping felt that Feng Zeyu tended to overthink too much.
He over thought because he cared. Why else would he worried so much?
"I'll talk to her when everything was taken care of on my end," said Feng Zeyu with determination.
"You wait until someone beat you to it. Then you won't even have the opportunity to cry over it," said Mao Weiping as he casted Feng Zeyu a glance.
Feng Zeyu didn't say anything else and there was nothing that Mao Weiping could do about it. "Then take care of that scum quickly. Else you can't even get yourself a wife.
"That's what I thought too," said Feng Zeyu with his eye squinted.
He had been collecting information on these people over the years and, lo and behold, was able to gather quite a bit of information. For example, the person behind all of this back then, his father was the plant owner of XX Factory and was in cahoots with an official in the government.
Over the years, he had already found out who the official was and had evidence on their dealings. The only reason he hadn't made a move yet was to wait on finding out the person behind them as well.
"Should we ask our old chief for help? He was upset that you didn't ask him for help last time," asked Mao Weiping.
"No need. If I need to reach out to him for something this minor, what have I been doing in the past few years?" said Feng Zeyu as he shook his head.
On the same day, when Shu Yan arrived in her office, she heard a lot of talking about employees of XX Factory having a silent protest in front of the government building.
"What's going on?" Shu Yan turned and asked her assistant.
"Oh, you haven't heard? It's big news. The plant manager of XX Factory was in cahoots with some government official and sold a lot of the factory's properties. And none of these money went to any of the workers. They had pocketed them all. Someone outed them in the newspaper along with all the evidences. Now the workers are protesting and demanding an answer."
News about workers causing troubles were not unusual. Many times, when a government-ran factory went belly up and the workers were disgruntled, they would cause a lot of ruckuses every few days.
Problem was that XX Factory was a big factory with over 10,000 employees. That was close to 50,000 strong with families. Even when only 1/10 of them joined the event, it would still be very impressive.
"I spent all day yesterday home with my children and didn't pay attention to it." Shu Yan walked inside and saw that Hu Ruixue wasn't looking well. She frowned a little and asked, "What's the matter? Did it affect your family as well?"
"No, my family wouldn't do such a thing. There are many ways to make money. Greed like this though, aren't they worried about negatively affecting their descendent?
This incident, though, did involve a younger generation of a family friend. Not a whole lot to do with my family. Mainly I am worried about our next steps." Hu Ruixue was worried.
Their underwear chain had stabilized and Hu Ruixue was about to launch the female garment line. They had the designs ready already.
The advertisements had already been filmed and was about to be aired nationwide. With something like this happening, things would be unstable in City Nan for a while. It's best for them to lay low for the time being.
"A lot are affected?"
Hu Ruixue nodded. "Yes, quite a bit. Some who had already been transferred might be investigated as well. Tens of thousands of workers and families. They need answers."
This was messy times. Many people were out there taking national properties as their own. This plant manager, however, had embezzled over 30 million yuan. Shu Yan couldn't even comprehend what 30 million yuan was like in the 90s. And this incident was blown up publicly and went very high up immediately. He just might be made an example out of.
Sure enough, the few culprits involved, including the plant manager, were sentenced to death. A few others were sentenced to reprieve or life without parole.
With the fall of these few individuals, each and every crime that they had committed in the past were exposed. Shu Yan skimmed over it mindlessly during her free time and happened to noticed Feng Zeyu's name. She immediately started reading the article in details.
As it turned out, the young man that Feng Zeyu had beaten up back then was the son of this plant manager. The one that was hit by a car and was killed was the son of one of the managers at this factory and the girl, who had spoken up and accused Feng Zeyu, was the daughter of one of the employees.
What surprised Shu Yan was that the girl who insisted that Feng Zeyu was at fault had also stood up and admitted fault. She had further volunteered to be a witness in court and also apologized publicly to Feng Zeyu on the newspaper.
Feng Zeyu was as surprised as Shu Yan. He hadn't expected that Yin Xueqin would speak up for him.
"Brother Feng, the man we spent to contact Yin Xueqin had reported back. She said she would like to meet up with you."
"Meet up with me? That won't be necessary." Feng Zeyu declined right away.
"She said she was about to depart City Nan to a farther away place. You might never have the chance to meet again. As such, she would like to meet up with you and apologize to you in person."
"Tell her that I did not regret saving her. It's over now that she had apologized."
She was just a teenage girl back then. Having something like that happened to her and being threatened, Feng Zeyu could understand why she chose to remain silent. It was the few rich teenagers that thought of themselves as above the law just because their families were rich that he was mad at.
Many pointed at him as they talked when Feng Zeyu returned home with a basket of fruit. He was taken aback a little. Many gossiped about him behind his back but very few would do that in such an open manner. What happened today?
He figured out what it was by the time he reached the end of the block.
A very beautiful woman was kneeling on the corner of the street with a sign raised over her head. He could tell from just one look that she was Yin Xueqin.
"What are you doing?" Feng Zeyu frowned.
"Hi, I am the girl that you saved back then. I am sorry." Tears came pouring down her face all of a sudden. "I, I was too scared back then. Those scums came to my house to threaten me. They said that they would never leave my family alone if I dare to speak the truth in court. I can't bring my parents down with me, so... I'm sorry! I had wanted to apologize to you all along but I didn't have the courage to. There is a god after all and all of these scums got what they deserved. I, I know it's late but I still wanted to apologize to you. I am sorry."
"You get up first."
"Will you forgive me?" The woman covered up her face and cried. "I dreamed about that day every night. I had never had a peaceful day since that day. I..."
"No, stop. It's all my fault. Xueqin wanted to testify in court. It was me who wouldn't let her." Xueqin's mother came running over, put her arms around her daughter and cried. "We all got what we deserved. Look what is happening now."
"Mom."
"We are sorry. We have wronged you so!"
"I accept your apology." Feng Zeyu looked at Yin Xueqin and said, "Try to make the best out of the rest of your live."
Neighbor #1, "Whatever does that mean? Feng Zeyu really went to jail for saving someone? He was innocent all along?"
Neighbor #2: "Yeah, he is innocent. It's on the newspaper, didn't you see?
Neighbor #4: "Aiya, you mean I had wronged him all these years?"
Neighbor #5: "Not just you. Everyone in the nearby towns as well. Come to think of it, everybody believed Feng Zeyu at the beginning. It was his stepmother who came to badmouth him day in and day out. Overtime, everybody thought that he went to jail for committing murder."
Neighbor #6: "Sure enough, if there's a stepdad, there's a stepmother."
Neighbor #1: "Right? He was obviously a hero. Look what his stepmom had done to him. Aye!"
With the drama brought about by Yin Xueqin, Feng Zeyu's name was finally cleared.
"Good. Good. The truth had finally come out. Our Xiao Yu is such a nice man and was ruined by those other people. We must have a good meal today to celebrate." The old grandmother was very happy.