My Daughter is a Supporting Character 09

Fang Jingtong never expected that these people would all start blaming her one after another. Unable to swallow her anger, she immediately started arguing with them.

"He wasn't being kind at all! He deliberately harmed our family! Yes, he did it on purpose!"

Fang Zhiyi raised an eyebrow. That statement wasn't wrong.

But Fang Jingtong was only saying such things because she wanted to find someone to pin the blame on.

The onlookers couldn't stand it anymore. "Harmed you? How did he harm you? Raising your son for you is harming you? Finding a job for your husband is harming you? Why doesn't he 'harm' me like that?"

Others also began to criticize Fang Jingtong, all talking at once.

Fang Jingtong was nearly choked with rage. Already overwhelmed with anxiety and fury, she almost fainted on the spot. Someone took out their phone and started recording. Fang Jingtong panicked. She knew she was in the wrong. She was certain something was off about this whole situation, but she couldn't figure it out.

But after just a moment, she had a new idea. "Fang Zhiyi, just you wait!" She still had a way out! She would go find the senior members of the Fang family and ask them to uphold justice! She had lived at Fang Zhiyi's house for so long; he couldn't just wash his hands of her now!

"Dad..." Fang Yu was a little worried.

Fang Zhiyi walked over and patted her head. "Scared?" Fang Yu shook her head, looking into her father's eyes. "No, because I know you're by my side." She paused, then said earnestly, "Dad, I'll take care of you from now on. Don't work so hard to earn money anymore."

Fang Zhiyi finally let out a sigh of relief. "No need, your dad..."

A neighbor leaned in. "This is so much better. I always said before, no matter how close they are, relatives are still outsiders in the end. It wasn't right for you to neglect your own daughter."

Fang Zhiyi looked at this auntie and nodded repeatedly to show he understood.

Fang Yu pursed her lips and said nothing.

They didn't understand her father's good intentions!

Fang Jingtong also never imagined that news of her actions had already spread to the village.

She first ran to the house of her uncle, Fang Jianguo. Uncle was an elder in the village and his words always carried weight. Before, whenever she returned to the village with some fruit or pastries, Uncle would praise her for being "filial and sensible." But this time, as soon as she knocked on the courtyard gate, her aunt peeked out. The moment she saw who it was, her face fell instantly. "What are you doing here?"

"Auntie, I'm looking for Uncle. Something terrible has happened to my family. I'm begging him to help me..." Fang Jingtong said in a tearful voice, trying to push her way into the yard.

"Don't come in!" Her aunt blocked her, her voice sharp as an awl. "You still have the nerve to come? Everyone in the village knows you've been fooling around with other men outside, that your husband embezzled public funds, and that one of your sons is a murderer and the other is lying in the hospital! You've completely disgraced our Fang family name!"

Just then, Uncle Fang Jianguo walked out of the house, holding a long-stemmed tobacco pipe, his brows furrowed so deeply they could crush a mosquito. "Get out of here! I don't have a niece like you!" With that, he slammed the courtyard gate shut with a "bang," the vibration ringing in Fang Jingtong's ears.

Unwilling to give up, she went to look for her second aunt. Second aunt used to dote on her the most, always secretly slipping her candy when she was little. But the door to Second Aunt's house was shut tight. No matter how much she banged on the door or cried and shouted, there wasn't a single sound from inside. Instead, the neighbor, Third Sister-in-Law, poked her head out, folded her arms, and sneered, "Well, if it isn't the lady of leisure?"

Fang Jingtong's face burned. Tears mixed with the dust on her face and streamed down. She made a round through the village. Anyone even remotely related either shut their doors and refused to see her, or hurled harsh words over their courtyard walls. One distant uncle even chased her off with a broom. "Get lost! Don't bring your bad luck to my doorstep!"

On the village dirt road, some children coming home from school saw her and pointed, shouting, "Homewrecker! Bad woman!" Stones they threw hit her legs, stinging sharply. She covered her face, squatted by the roadside, and cried. Villagers passing by either walked around her or stopped to point and whisper.

Fang Jingtong also saw a newspaper thrown on the ground. The date was that day. The front-page photo was pixelated, but she recognized herself at a glance from the knock-off dress she wore a few days ago and her disheveled hair! The headline was even more glaring: "The Downfall of a Vain Housewife: Unsatisfied Despite Brother's Support, Marital Affair Leads to Family Ruin."

The article clearly described how she had freeloaded at Fang Zhiyi's house, how she had attended a "socialite club" to pose as a wealthy lady, how she had carried on with the cooking instructor, and even detailed Wu Tian's embezzlement. It ended with a line: "Her eldest son is suspected of intentional homicide; her younger son is critically ill, possibly due to a lack of proper family upbringing."

It felt as if the person writing the news had been monitoring her every day. Fang Jingtong quickly thought of her elder brother. It must be Fang Zhiyi's doing! The more she thought about it, the more certain she became. He had been planning this from the start! Deliberately favoring his own younger son, introducing her to that so-called club, finding a job for Wu Tian!

The more she thought, the more sense it made, and she even stood up excitedly. But after a long while, she slumped back down dejectedly. What was the use? Who would believe her?

Fang Jingtong felt like crying.

What made her even more desperate was that, that very afternoon, a lawyer's letter was delivered to her. The envelope bore the logo of Wu Tian's company. Opening it, the contents made her vision go dark: Wu Tian had embezzled a total of 870,000 yuan. The company demanded compensation within a set period; otherwise, they would pursue the spouse's joint liability and auction off marital property to settle the debt.

"Eight hundred and seventy thousand..." Fang Jingtong collapsed onto the cold cement floor, the lawyer's letter fluttering from her hand. Where would she get that much money? The money she had previously wrung from Fang Zhiyi had already been spent on her vanity—on buying jewelry, bags, and beauty treatments... Now, she had practically nothing left... And for the sake of face, almost all those items were knock-offs, impossible to sell.

Immediately after, news came from the hospital, urging her to pay the child's hospitalization fees as soon as possible. Fang Jingtong completely broke down. Having no other choice, she could only go to the labor market to look for work. Because her recent notoriety was significant, many people recognized her. Some opened their mouths to mock her, others spat in her direction. It made her feel life wasn't worth living, and she could only flee with her head down.

As a last resort, she could only swallow her pride and beg the "sisters" she used to know—those ladies from the socialite club. But those women either didn't answer her calls, or if they did, they sneered, "Fang Jingtong? I don't know you. I don't have a friend like you." One Mrs. Zhang, who had once gossiped about others with her, even directly blocked her number.

How could she know that the so-called "socialite club" Fang Zhiyi had found for her was actually a club for mistresses?

Fang Jingtong watched as her younger son was transferred to a standard ward. Fortunately, Wu Xiaobao was tough and actually pulled through, though he remained unconscious. This was the best news Fang Jingtong had heard recently.