Chapter 419: All for Naught
Chapter 419: All for Naught
Old Madam Ding was reluctant to sell Ding Chengdong's job opportunity, but her useless grandson, Ding Chengdong, wasn't up for the task. On the second day, when Ding Chengdong was supposed to start work, he feigned illness and lay in bed.
Faced with Old Madam Ding's coercion, he burst into tears, "Grandma, I have to carry so many bricks and sacks of sand every day. I can't take it anymore. If this continues, I'll die. Grandma, I haven't even married and started a family to honor you yet. I can't die."
You can't force someone to drink if they don't want to. Ding Chengdong refused to go, and they certainly couldn't carry him there! With Secretary Ruan's words in mind, Ding Tangping made the decision to sell the job opportunity.
Secretary Ruan didn't cheat them. He bought the job at the market price and then sent his second son to accompany Ding Chengdong to the construction company to complete the necessary procedures.
With the money from selling the job—a sum of 1,600 yuan—Mrs. Zhang proposed building a new house. The current house they lived in was too dilapidated, and every summer, it would leak when it rained. Sometimes, they would be sleeping, and rain would fall right on their faces.
Old Madam Ding, thinking of her two grandsons who were of marriageable age, nodded in agreement. The next day, they went to the kiln factory to order bricks and tiles. Since many people were building houses at the time, they had to first pay a deposit and wait. What the Ding family didn't expect was that before they could even get the bricks and tiles delivered, the rest of their money was stolen in the middle of the night. Strangely enough, the entire family slept through the break-in, unaware that their door had been pried open.
Upon realizing that the money was gone, Old Madam Ding collapsed, while Ding Tangping felt a chill in his heart. That girl, Lu Jiaxin, was so ruthless, not even leaving them a way out.
After losing such a large sum of money, Old Madam Ding went straight to the police station to report the theft as soon as she regained her senses. The police came, asked detailed questions, and assured them that they would solve the case as soon as possible.
Old Madam Ding shouted, "It was all Lu Jiaxin's doing! She doesn't want us to benefit from her success, so she instructed someone to steal our money!"
Ding Chengliang, who had worked at the Public Security Bureau for over a month, was familiar to the officers there. He said, "Comrade Lu donated one hundred thousand yuan for our road construction. Do you think someone like her would instruct someone to steal your family's money?"
In other words, your family isn't even worth Comrade Lu's time. However, this was the truth. It was said that Comrade Lu was a billionaire. If she really wanted to deal with this family, they wouldn't even know how they died.
Nevertheless, Old Madam Ding's words had an effect. The police were worried that if these words spread, their superiors would come down hard on them for failing to maintain a good public image. As such, they took this case very seriously. They had no choice—several county leaders had been criticized for the previous incident.
This wasn't a complicated mystery, and with some effort, the police quickly solved the case. It turned out that a gambler had heard that the Ding family had money after selling the job opportunity, so he colluded with a friend to use sedative drugs to incapacitate the Ding family and steal their money. By the time the gambler was caught, he had already spent his share of the money, and his accomplice had fled with the rest.
The gambler would surely be sentenced to a heavy punishment, but the money was gone for good. As for Ding Chengliang's fiancee's family, they believed that the Ding family had no chance of recovery, so they sent their daughter to marry a relative in the neighboring county and then came to call off the engagement.
The Ding family didn't know where their relative lived, and since the other party had returned the betrothal gifts, they couldn't make a fuss about it.
After all their scheming, they ended up with nothing, and to make matters worse, they now had another problem on their hands—Ding Chengliang had worked in the county for just over a month before he quit and refused to work in the fields. Heartbroken over his fiancee's sudden marriage and disappearance, he spent his days moping in bed, refusing to do any work.
When Old Madam Ding scolded him, Ding Chengliang, who had never talked back before, retorted, "It's all because you're too cruel! That's why my aunt and cousin don't acknowledge us. Otherwise, with my aunt and uncle's connections, they would have found a job for my dad, and he wouldn't have died so early. And my cousin is so rich; if she wanted to, she could easily give us enough money to live comfortably, instead of us being hungry like we are now."
Old Madam Ding knew that many villagers whispered behind her back, accusing her of being cruel and mistreating her stepdaughter, Lu Jiaxin. She didn't care what others said—Lu Jiaxin wasn't her biological daughter, so why should she care for her? But when her own grandson pointed at her and called her cruel, Old Madam Ding couldn't take it. She fainted from the shock, and when she woke up, she found that she couldn't move her left arm and leg. She tried to shout but could only make incoherent sounds.
The Ding family was now so poor that they couldn't even afford to send her to the hospital, so they called for a barefoot doctor instead. The doctor diagnosed her with a stroke and said that, based on her symptoms, she had suffered a hemiplegia.
Lu Jiajin had been keeping an eye on the Ding family and was pleased to hear that they were doing poorly. He called Lu Jiaxin to inform her of the latest development.
He knew that Lu Jiaxin had been threatened by the Ding family, and he was furious about it. It was one thing for them to abuse her mother, but to take advantage of her and claim the job opportunities she had earned was too much.
Upon hearing this, Lu Jiaxin furrowed her brows and asked, "Fifth Brother, did you find that gambler and put him up to stealing the Ding family's money?"
Gamblers in the countryside usually didn't have access to drugs like that.
Lu Jiajin paused before replying, "How could you think that? The Ding family must have done something to offend someone, and this is their comeuppance."
Lu Jiaxin didn't pursue the matter further. She simply said, "Fifth Brother, it's best if you had nothing to do with this. If you did, I hope it's the first and last time."
"Fifth Brother, it would be easy for me to deal with the Ding family if I wanted to. I'd only need to say a word. But I haven't touched them, and do you know why?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Lu Jiajin replied, "Because you're kind."
In his heart, he thought that Lu Jiaxin still valued their blood ties and left a way out for the Dings, otherwise, with her capabilities, she could have made their lives a living hell.
Hearing this answer, Lu Jiaxin laughed, "Chery was originally going to build a clothing factory inland. They had already purchased the land and were about to start construction, but a single word from me put those plans on hold."
"Chery? Su Dage's clothing company."
Lu Jiaxin corrected him, "Su Heyuan has sold his shares in the company to Ah Zan. It has nothing to do with him now."
Lu Jiajin asked curiously, "Jiaxin, Mr. Nie is in the real estate business. Why did he suddenly venture into the clothing industry? Was it specifically for you?"
Lu Jiaxin didn't answer his question. Instead, she said, "Chery's explanation is that the company is facing a financial crisis. But there are plenty of smart people in this world, and it didn't take long for the real reason to come to light. Such a huge investment has been stalled due to the inaction of those officials. They won't be able to escape punishment. When those people are implicated, do you think the Ding family will be spared?"
Lu Jiajin knew that the village chief had been removed from his position and thought it was a coincidence, not realizing that Lu Jiaxin had a hand in it.
"Sometimes, it's best to let others do the dirty work," Lu Jiaxin said. "Otherwise, we might gain a reputation for being petty and vengeful. We should learn to use others' strength to our advantage. Also, I hope you'll keep Dage's incident in mind. Don't let your actions lead to him visiting you in prison one day."
In just two years, Lu Jiajin had started to walk down a dark path. If he didn't correct his ways, prison would be his eventual destination.
(End of Chapter)
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