Chapter 6 — The Ten-Yuan Donation

"Wait for you to finish investigating what? Investigating just how filthy you truly are?"

Your attorney immediately interjected, "Ms. Tang has recently suffered the loss of a close family member, and her judgment may be clouded. We suggest postponing the divorce proceedings and conducting a psychological evaluation first."

I looked toward Jing Chuan. "Is this your wish?"

He answered instantly, "No."

I let out a harsh laugh. "If it wasn't your idea, would he dare to suggest it?"

Jing Chuan turned his head toward the lawyer. "Get out."

Once the lawyer had left, my attorney, Ha, slid a folder toward me. The first set of documents detailed the capital I had invested in the Shing Corporation before our marriage. Nine hundred and sixty thousand. When I transferred the funds to Jing Chuan, I had written in the notes: "Revolving loan for the company."

He had replied to me back then: "Van Ngung, once Shing Hai is back on his feet, I will repay you with interest."

The second set of documents contained the emails from when I participated in the early stages of the medical supply chain project for the Shing Corporation. Those clients were people I had knocked on doors to secure one by one. The third set of documents was a collection of voice recordings he had sent me while I had put my career on hold after our marriage to care for Yu An and his own mother during her illness. His young, earnest voice echoed through the room: "Van Ngung, please hold me up just one more time. You are not just my support system; you are half of my life."

No one in the mediation room spoke. Upon hearing that final sentence, Jing Chuan’s eyes reddened. It seemed he had only just remembered. I had once been a person with my own path to walk. I was not born to kneel before hospital billing counters and beg for his mercy.

The mediation failed. As we stepped out of the courthouse, reporters swarmed us.

"Ms. Tang, do you accept the compensation offered by Mr. Shing?"

"Do you believe that Mr. Shing is also a victim?"

"Do you still love him?"

Instinctively, Jing Chuan stepped in front of me to shield me. I stepped around him and spoke directly into the cameras:

"I accept the compensation that the law has deemed appropriate for me."

"But I do not accept affection that arrives so profoundly late."

"As for whether he is a victim, the police will determine that."

"And as for love..." I looked directly at Jing Chuan. "The moment that ten-dollar transaction was finalized, it ceased to exist."

That evening, Attorney Ha called me. "Ms. Tang, there is a new development. The fire at the warehouse on the west side of the city might not have been a mere accident."

I gripped the phone tightly. "What do you mean?"

"A retired safety officer contacted me. He said that a week before the fire broke out, the warehouse’s fire suppression system had been deactivated without authorization. The request for the temporary shutdown bore the stamp of the Shing Corporation’s predecessor project group."

"And there was a signature."

I asked, "Whose?"

Attorney Ha remained silent for a few seconds. "Jing Chuan."

I did not sleep all night. Not out of grief, but because of the sheer absurdity of it. Yu An had saved Jing Chuan. Jing Chuan had spent six years mistakenly believing the Ha family were his benefactors. And now, someone was telling me that the fire might have involved Jing Chuan himself.

The next day, Attorney Ha brought me the files. A copy of the deactivation request. A notice demanding safety corrections for the warehouse. Internal incident reports following the fire. The signature was indeed Jing Chuan’s. The date was three days before the fire started. At the time, he was twenty-four, having just taken charge of the logistics project for the Shing predecessor firm.

Attorney Ha noted, "Currently, we cannot prove he was aware of the risks, but this document is sufficient to demand a reinvestigation."

In the afternoon, Jing Chuan met me in the conference room of the law firm. He brought a document bag as well. After sitting down, he pushed his files toward me without a word.

"You have probably received these already."

I looked at him. "So, you knew?"

He shook his head. "I only found out last night. The safety officer contacted me first, and I told him to reach out to your lawyer as well."

I smiled coldly. "You are certainly being honest."

Jing Chuan’s face turned deathly pale. "Van Ngung, I signed so many documents. That is no excuse. At the time, the project manager told me it was only a temporary check and repair, and that it would not affect storage. I did not follow up. After the fire, my father took over the handling of it. He told me that Ha Niem Tu had saved my life and then died, and since the insurance had already compensated the victims, he told me not to dig any deeper."

I stared at him intently. "And so you truly stopped digging?"

He closed his eyes. "Yes."

I laughed. "Jing Chuan, you are always the same. As long as someone gives you an answer that makes you suffer less, you will believe it."

"Ha Niem Tu saved you, you believed it. The Ha family is pitiful, you believed it. My brother is a bottomless pit, you believed that too."

His voice grew hoarse. "I will cooperate with the reinvestigation. The internal archives of the Shing Corporation have been turned over to the police."

I said, "Don't talk about cooperating as if you are making a sacrifice."

He nodded. "Understood."

He reached into his bag and pulled out another piece of paper. "There is one more thing."