Chapter 182: Chapter 151: Miss Jiang, Help Me Plead With Your Husband

So, she said bluntly, "In that case, ask her out again tomorrow. When it’s time to pay, don’t fight her for the bill. Let’s see if she actually pays."

"Of course she’ll pay," Jiang Ming said confidently. "Xiaofei and I haven’t known each other for long, but I feel like she’s a kind-hearted person. She’s not a materialistic girl."

Seeing his reaction, Jiang Yixia didn’t press the issue. She figured it was best to let him see the truth for himself.

Lu Fan hadn’t replied yet, and Jiang Ming didn’t really think he’d find anything anyway. He said to Jiang Yixia, "Sis, I’m not going to wait around. If he really finds something, just send it to me. I’m heading back to school."

"Okay." Jiang Yixia nodded.

A short while after Jiang Ming left, Lu Fan sent her a document.

Jiang Yixia opened it and was shocked to find it contained Ma Xiaofei’s personal information, from childhood to the present day.

She was stunned.

She had only asked Lu Fan to find out what Ma Xiaofei did for work.

She never expected him to dig up the woman’s entire background file.

This made Jiang Yixia a little frantic. She texted: "Isn’t what you did illegal?"

Lu Fan, who had just arrived back in Jinling, chuckled when he saw her message. He replied, "If an ordinary person did this, it would indeed be illegal. But don’t worry, I used legitimate channels."

Jiang Yixia: "Are you sure?"

Lu Fan: "I’m sure. When have I ever lied to you?"

Jiang Yixia: "You’ve always lied. Including what you just said."

Regardless, Jiang Yixia still had to thank him for the information. "Thanks. Also, thank you for taking our daughter to see the gardens. She’s never really gotten to travel much. I hope you can spend more time with her."

Lu Fan: "Don’t worry. My life revolves around Silu and Sifan now. I’ll be an excellent father."

A sense of relief washed over Jiang Yixia as she read his words.

But for some reason, a pang of disappointment echoed deep inside her.

As she grew older, Jiang Yixia felt she was no longer as young and beautiful as she had been at eighteen.

’She couldn’t hold on to Lu Fan back then; how could she possibly hold on to him now at her age?’

So she didn’t let herself get her hopes up.

’If I don’t get my hopes up, we don’t have to have our lives intersect. As long as I don’t forgive him, nothing is possible.’

’Even if Lu Fan gives up on me in the end, it doesn’t matter, as long as the two children have him in their lives.’

But then, a moment later, another message from Lu Fan popped up: "Of course, you’re the most important part of my life’s focus. Once I’m done with work in a day or two, I’ll head back to Yangcheng to see you."

A faint smile touched Jiang Yixia’s lips as she read the message.

But she quickly caught herself. ’This isn’t right,’ she thought, ’I haven’t even forgiven him yet.’ She replied: "You don’t have to say things like that to me. I won’t believe you."

Lu Fan: "Then I’ll just have to prove it with my actions!"

Jiang Yixia didn’t reply to that one, not wanting to get drawn into another one of his relentless back-and-forths.

She opened the document again.

She saw that Ma Xiaofei was indeed quite young, born after 2000.

That made her several years younger than Jiang Ming.

But that wasn’t the important part. The important part was that she had dropped out of school in the ninth grade.

She hadn’t even taken the high school entrance exams.

Her first job out of school was...

Jiang Yixia’s eyes went wide. It was "Hailan Foot Bath City"!!

And she’d worked there for three straight years.

After turning eighteen, she switched jobs.

She went to another foot bath city. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

And worked there for another three years.

Then she moved to yet another one.

Looking at this "extensive" resume, Jiang Yixia felt a wave of dismay.

Sister Li often teased her for being a naive, innocent girl.

But even she knew that a "foot bath city" wasn’t a respectable establishment.

Jiang Yixia tried not to be prejudiced against people in that line of work.

Of course, some people managed to stay clean in such environments.

But the vast majority who entered that world were bound to be corrupted, one way or another.

Especially considering that in previous years, the crackdowns on vice weren’t nearly as strict.

She remembered Sister Li’s ex-husband had been caught having "financial transactions" with several of the masseuses after going out for a "foot massage."

The more Jiang Yixia thought about it, the more terrified she became. She had to tell Jiang Ming.

But this wasn’t something she could explain properly over text.

So she sent Jiang Ming a message: "You have to come to the flower shop tomorrow."

Jiang Ming had just gotten back to the school. He saw his sister’s message and finally agreed: "Okay."

Just as Jiang Yixia was wondering how she should break the news to Jiang Ming the next day,

a couple who had been standing at the entrance for a while finally came in. "Hello," one of them asked tentatively, "excuse me, who’s the owner here?"

Jiang Yixia quickly composed herself and walked over. "Hello, I’m the owner of the flower shop. Are you looking to buy some flowers?"

Huang Minghao’s father sized up Jiang Yixia, a look of admiration in his eyes.

’Teacher Jiang’s sister is quite a looker,’ he thought.

Huang Minghao’s mother stepped forward to introduce herself. "Hello, are you by any chance the sister of Teacher Jiang Ming?"

Jiang Yixia was a bit confused at first, but she nodded. "I am. Is something wrong?"

"Hello, hello." Huang Minghao’s mother immediately stepped forward and extended her hand. "It’s like this, we’re the parents of one of Teacher Jiang’s students."

"Hello..." Jiang Yixia trailed off, her confusion growing as she noticed their hands were full of gift bags of all sizes.

Huang Minghao’s father spoke first. "Miss Jiang, we’d heard that Teacher Jiang’s sister owned a flower shop. As it happens, my company needs to place regular flower orders, so we thought we’d come by to discuss a potential partnership."

"Oh, of course. Please, come in and have a seat." Although Jiang Yixia suspected discussing a partnership wasn’t their real reason for being here, she decided not to press them since they hadn’t brought it up themselves.