Liu Yong came to discuss serious matters, but two pan-fried buns completely derailed his train of thought.

After finally managing to swallow the buns made by Mayor Tang, Liu Yong, as if having escaped death, advised Tang Hongen:

“Let Afen do the cooking from now on. Her cooking is quite good.”

Liu Yong didn’t want his sister to work too hard.

But between these awful buns and letting Liu Fen cook, Liu Yong decisively chose the latter. Cooking might be tiring, but eating Tang Hongen’s cooking every day would be deadly!

This evaluation wasn’t very positive.

Surprisingly, Tang Hongen was quite pleased. “Brother, does this mean you support Afen and me?”

Liu Yong had shot himself in the foot and immediately fell silent.

Did his support matter?

As if anyone would listen to him!

He didn’t support Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng being together, but they’d been dating for two years with no sign of breaking up.

He didn’t support Afen and Mayor Tang… Hah, with the Mayor’s mind set on pursuing Afen, she inevitably gave in.

Liu Yong suddenly felt his worries were unnecessary. After briefly explaining the situation, he believed this wouldn’t trouble Tang Hongen.

Tang Hongen stopped promoting his buns and became serious when discussing business: “You’re both talking about the same thing. The tree desires calm but the wind keeps blowing – seems I’ve been too high-profile and blocked someone’s path.”

Ying Jinchuan grimaced – was it about being too high-profile?

No, it was about being too forceful.

But Tang Hongen was undoubtedly a firm reformist; it was impossible for him to meekly follow the tide.

For someone to please everyone, they’d have to be a yes-man who blends in with the crowd, doing whatever others say without any personal principles!

“Pan Yijun is their opening wedge. Do you have a countermeasure, Old Tang?”

Tang Hongen leaned back on the sofa, “No countermeasure needed. My conscience is clear. Let’s see how they try to implicate me, whoever’s pulling strings behind the scenes.”

He had never even met Pan Yijun, let alone made any promises.

During his tenure in Pengcheng, he hadn’t done anything unethical. He wasn’t afraid of investigation – he could withstand scrutiny!

Even though he and Liu Fen weren’t married yet, even if they were family, Liu Yong and Xia Xiaolan’s dealings with the government had been handled well, completely living up to his trust.

Tang Hongen wasn’t worried at all, but Liu Yong was concerned: “So we do nothing?”

“Not exactly. I’ll make a trip to Beijing.”

To see Old Song in Beijing? Wasn’t this making a mountain out of a molehill?

No, perhaps it was deliberately letting others misunderstand, thinking he was nervous and seeking backing, to see if the opposition would intensify their attack.

While Ying Jinchuan was still pondering, Tang Hongen added: “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Afen in quite a while…”

What nonsense!

Liu Yong thought angrily. Whenever Afen came to Yangcheng for stock, didn’t he always see her?

He couldn’t fool anyone!

But the fact that he could still think about such things showed the situation wasn’t too serious.

Xiaolan said Sheng Xuan was still waiting to sell her favor to Mayor Tang, but throughout this conversation, Sheng Xuan wasn’t mentioned at all!

On this point, Liu Yong was quite satisfied.

Whether mayor or not, once he’s with his sister, philandering is unacceptable.

…

Fan Yu curled herself into a ball.

Thinking about the anonymous letter she received made her entire body cold.

How could such confidential matters be known to others?

Was it Liu Tianquan, thinking she was no longer useful, deliberately leaking information to have Du Zhaohui eliminate her? No, leaking the information wouldn’t benefit Liu Tianquan either!

Fan Yu was completely puzzled.

But she was terrified.

Du Zhaohui had nearly died at that time.

Even Xia Dajun was seriously injured.

A driver who had been with Du Zhaohui for years lost his life.

If Du Zhaohui learned the truth now, Fan Yu couldn’t expect him to be magnanimous. She and Xia Dajun were in the same boat… The anonymous letter said she and Xia Dajun should leave far away, not lingering under Du Zhaohui’s nose, and they might have a chance to survive.

“Could it be that damn bastard…”

Fan Yu muttered to herself, suspecting it was Liu Tianquan’s subordinate who had slept with her.

Perhaps he was warning her to avoid deadly disaster for the sake of the child in her belly.

Why did the letter forbid her from separating from Xia Dajun? Did he think the child was his and wanted to rely on Xia Dajun to raise the son, making it convenient for him to recognize the child in the future?

This logic barely made sense. She had just been lightly bumped into, with a letter pressed into her hand, not even seeing what the person looked like.

Fan Yu’s head throbbed. She curled up in bed, alternating between hot and cold, thoroughly frightened.

She couldn’t tell Xia Dajun about this. He still didn’t know that his casual leak of the itinerary had such serious consequences. Fan Yu wasn’t stupid. Her past misdeeds might have embarrassed Xia Dajun, but being a ‘spy’ by his side was truly deadly. This useless coward was still going to raise her child – he absolutely couldn’t know the truth.

Xia Dajun couldn’t know, and Du Zhaohui even less so.

Thinking it through, was leaving Pengcheng and going far away, as the anonymous letter suggested, really the only option?

Fan Yu was very unwilling.

She had run away to live a better life, and money was so easy to make in the Special Zone. Was she supposed to slink back home?

No, she couldn’t return to Hedong County.

Fan Yu didn’t want to return to Xia Dajun’s hometown, Dahe Village either. Such a tiny place, poor and broken – she couldn’t live in the countryside!

Return to the provincial capital, Shangdu?

Fan Yu’s heart stirred.

That wasn’t a bad choice.

She was lazy, greedy for life, and afraid of death, unwilling to take any risks.

It was perfect timing – the Xia family was arguing again about Xia Hongbing’s family moving out. Xia Dajun kept his head down without a word, Old Mrs. Xia was cursing and complaining, and Xia Hongbing was reminiscing about old times, suggesting between words that Xia Dajun wasn’t showing brotherly love.

Fan Yu touched her belly, “Uncle, your family doesn’t need to move – Dajun and I will! We want to go live in Yunan. You can have this rented place, the rent is paid until year-end. With just your family living here after that, you can pay the rent yourselves.”

Xia Hongbing hadn’t expected this at all and became furious:

“I call you sister-in-law out of respect, but you’re overstepping! You’d even make up such lies to separate us, brothers!”

Old Mrs. Xia also started cursing.

Having finally left the countryside, with people back home thinking they were living well in the city, they would cling to Pengcheng no matter what – Old Mrs. Xia would never go back.

But Xia Dajun, after his initial shock, thought Fan Yu’s suggestion wasn’t bad.

What was worth staying in Pengcheng for? Young Master Du had fired him, staying was embarrassing.

Money might be easier to make in Pengcheng, but expenses were high for the whole family.

It seemed he couldn’t afford a house in Pengcheng now, so he couldn’t get household registration. Better to go back home and save money to buy a small house in the provincial capital.

Fan Yu could read his expression and added fuel to the fire: “Brother Dajun, you can drive anyway – if you can be a driver in Pengcheng, you can do it in Yunan too! Now that I’m pregnant, I don’t like Pengcheng’s seafood, I’m craving Yunan’s lamb noodles and spicy soup… Can we go back to Yunan?”

Even if Xia Dajun couldn’t find work immediately in Yunan Province, Fan Yu wasn’t worried. She still had several thousand yuan, enough for her and Xia Dajun to live on for a while. These bloodsuckers not leaving was perfect – they could take this chance to leave them all behind!