Chapter 84 The Past of the Safety Pin: Yu Jintang had never seen such a fierce woman.

After Jiang Yan's filming wrapped up, the brand hosted a celebration banquet.

This brand is a top-tier luxury brand, and Jiang Yan's current status shouldn't warrant such enthusiasm. Wang Zihan suspected something was amiss and arranged for two extra bodyguards to stand guard outside.

After another round of drinks, the true protagonist of the banquet finally appeared. The project manager smiled and introduced him to Jiang Yan: "Ms. Jiang, this is Jack, our brand's general manager, and also the group's second son..."

Now that even a living person could see what the other party meant, Wang Zihan knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch.

Qin Lan immediately stopped laughing when she heard about this.

What did he say to you?

"Are you jealous?" Jiang Yan laughed.

Qin Lan urged her angrily, "Tell me quickly, what did he say?"

Jiang Yan said slowly, "I told him I don't understand English."

Qin Lan's expression softened slightly: "He didn't bring a translator?"

"So I chatted with his translator the whole time," Jiang Yan said with a smug smile. "I'm super self-disciplined and make sure my girlfriend doesn't worry."

Qin Lan was still angry after thinking it over: "I'm going to cause him some trouble and make him go home and stay there."

"Teacher Qin is really smart." Jiang Yan praised her, "He's quite a gentleman, he didn't lay a hand on her, and Sister Zihan was with her the whole time, so nothing happened."

“You’re not allowed to go to dinner with him alone.” Qin Lan’s expression was very serious: “The filming is already over. Let Wang Zihan handle the rest. Don’t get involved anymore.”

"Okay—" Jiang Yan drawled, "Have you missed me?"

"Yes, I have."

Qin Lan glanced at her sideways: "Could you pull your collar up a bit? Stop trying to seduce me, we're not even going to see each other."

"Teacher Qin is so fierce," Jiang Yan muttered. "Can I come to see you next week?"

Was I harsh?

Qin Lan was taken aback, then tried to force a smile: "I have an event next week, so I'll be very busy."

"Okay." Jiang Yan was a little disappointed. "Then I'll come find you when you're not busy."

That's what they said, but after Qin Lan finally had two days off to rest, Jiang Yan temporarily filled in for another reality show and went straight into the mountains.

They had less and less time to chat, and sometimes when Qin Lan got the phone, she didn't know what to say, and she always felt a nameless anger inside her.

She felt there was something between her and Jiang Yan, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. It seemed the most comfortable time was only after they officially became a couple, when they spent all their time together, working tirelessly day and night, with no energy left to argue or overthink.

They've both been busy lately and haven't seen each other for a month, and their rest times are always out of sync.

Jiang Yan asked her for the third time if she could talk to her more, but Qin Lan only felt her anger growing stronger after fiddling around in the chat box for a long time. She wanted to tear down that invisible barrier, but she didn't know where to start.

When she was upset, she wanted to go drinking with Yu Jintang, but Yu Jintang, who usually replied instantly, suddenly disappeared and only replied the next day that he was not in the province.

In April, during the Qingming Festival, Yu Jintang took Xiahou Cheng to the southwestern border to pay respects to Lin Yi.

Xiahou Cheng, contrary to her usual self, wore all black, even straightening her hair, and held the flowers with a solemn expression. She didn't say a word the whole way, didn't play with her phone, and was even more serious than Yu Jintang.

Yu Jintang teased her, "Hey, do you like me or not? Aren't you jealous? It's like your white moonlight is the one who's come to pay homage."

"Jealousy is one thing, but this is Qingming Festival. I know what's more important." Xiahou Cheng looked ahead: "How much longer until we arrive?"

“Let’s drive for another half hour.” Yu Jintang looked out the window: “There’s no cemetery, just a cenotaph. Nobody else knows about it, except Lin Yi’s mother who sometimes goes to visit it.”

"Did you and your aunt set this up together?" Xiahou Cheng asked her.

“No, I set it up myself,” Yu Jintang said truthfully. “My aunt was so heartbroken at the time that she was ill for a long time and only provided some clothes. We’ll go visit her later…”

The car stopped at a gas station in town, and the two got out to stretch their legs.

Lin's mother's house was very close. Yu Jintang knocked on the door, and someone quickly opened it: "Is this Xiao Yu...?"

Lin's mother was a little surprised to see two people standing outside.

"And this is...?"

"My girlfriend, Xiahou Cheng." Yu Jintang smiled and took her hand. "Auntie, how have you been lately?"

Lin's mother paused for a moment, then said, "That's good..."

She took the fruit and tonic, and couldn't help but glance at Xiahou Cheng a few more times, then smiled genuinely: "You're a really nice girl. Xiao Yu has a girlfriend this year too, that's great..."

When Lin Yiren was alive, Yu Jintang would visit her every few months to show his respect. After Lin Yiren died, she fell seriously ill, and Yu Jintang cared for her for half a year and even erected a cenotaph for her. The lawyer gave her the will and the e-website, asking her to entrust them to Yu Jintang.

She lamented the unrequited love, and couldn't bear to see Yu Jintang yearning for someone who had died, so every year she advised her to let go. Yu Jintang always just laughed it off, but unexpectedly, this year she suddenly had a change of heart and actually started dating someone…

When Xiahou Cheng gets serious, he can do anything. He has a knack for coaxing the elderly and quickly comforted Lin's mother, who then invited them to stay for dinner.

"Why don't you stay here tonight? The hotel isn't very nice," Lin's mother advised them. "I just don't know if Chengcheng will mind..."

Xiahou Cheng immediately replied, "Of course I don't mind."

But Yu Jintang shook her head: "We won't disturb you after we finish our prayers. We'll stay in town tonight and leave tomorrow morning."

Xiahou Cheng's capacity for tolerance is one thing, but whether she has a sense of proportion is another. Since she has decided to let go of Lin Yi, she should give Xiahou Cheng all the sense of security she can.

After the meal, Yu Jintang led Xiahou Cheng to the tomb.

"Sister, I have a girlfriend this year, so I won't be able to visit you as often anymore. I hope you're doing well over there. Her name is Xiahou Cheng, she's an actress, and she's a very nice person. We'll come to visit you together during the Qingming Festival next year."

Xiahou Cheng also bowed nervously and said dryly, "I admire you very much too."

"Oh? Really?" Yu Jintang laughed. "You didn't tell me about this."

"How could that be? I definitely said that," Xiahou Cheng retorted. "I learned about her deeds back in middle school, and later I found out that my godmother was following e-net..."

"No wonder you two were wearing safety pins when you came to the audition."

"You know what I have, aren't you going to tell me what you have?"

"Ah, that's a rather long story."

Yu Jintang sat down, brushing away the dust around her while laying a cushion for Xiahou Cheng: "Hmm... I was fourteen years old that year..."

There's a common pattern among children who are exceptionally well-behaved: they tend to become extremely rebellious as adults.

Most of the arguments in their family revolved around the same topic, and the parents did not distribute their "love" and "expectations" for their two daughters evenly.

Tulip was the kind of dark cloud hanging over everyone's heads, a true genius and academic star. If Qin Lan was a contestant whose talent and effort each accounted for 50%, then Tulip's ratio was 9:1. She skipped grades with little effort, easily went abroad to study, worked at her family's hotel during university, and was able to simultaneously participate in numerous international activities and competitions, ultimately graduating with a double degree—she was simply a prodigy.

Her name was decided before she was born; her parents had planned to name their daughter after establishing the Tulip Hotel in its early years.

Tulip was given high hopes, and she exceeded those hopes, making Yu Jintang, who was born "unexpectedly" later, seem neglected. Yu Jintang didn't realize this when she was young. She was raised to be very obedient by her parents and always secretly worked hard, taking her older sister as her role model.

As she entered adolescence, she gradually realized that something was missing in her life. The love she longed for never came, and her parents only treated her as a gift from her older sister.

After the stormy argument when she was fourteen, Yu Jintang remained outwardly calm for two days before turning around, ditching her bodyguard, boarding the high-speed train, and embarking on her first rebellious journey.

On the high-speed train, she met several girls her age and they agreed to travel together after getting off the train. On the third day, these teenage girls were put into a van, with the intention of selling them to people in the mountains as wives.

Yu Jintang tried to escape, and another girl who still had the strength went with her, promising to call the police as soon as the rest of them got out. But by then they had entered the mountains, and the mountain people they encountered had dealings with human traffickers, so the two of them were caught and taken back as soon as they met someone.

They were severely punished for their escape; Yu Jintang's leg was broken.

Just when they were in despair, Lin Yi and a few like-minded friends drove by and stopped to rest in the small town where they were staying.

When No. 4750 brought the girls to the door to "inspect the goods," she saw them. Lin Yi realized something was wrong, so she blocked the road with her car and asked them if they needed help.

Yu Jintang dragged her broken leg and dared not speak, after all, there were only a few people opposite her. Moreover, she suspected that this was a test by human traffickers, and if she called for help, her other leg would be broken as well.

Lin Yi asked repeatedly but received no answer. Number 4750 became a little impatient: "I told you I'm their uncle, and I brought the two sisters and their classmates here for a trip. She hurt her leg while climbing the mountain. Why don't you believe me?"

"You say you're her uncle, does she acknowledge you as her uncle?"

Lin Yi still harbored doubts; there was a familiar fear in the eyes of these girls.

"Niece, say hello to your uncle."

Number 4750 turned around and glared at Yu Jintang and the girl who had run away with her, gesturing for them to speak.

"Uncle, Uncle," the girl next to her said timidly.

Number 4750 looked at Yu Jintang and said, "Have I been too harsh on you? I still took you out to play even though you got such a low score. You don't know how to be grateful."

Lin Yi looked at Yu Jintang.

Yu Jintang's eyes darted away, her right leg still throbbing with pain.

"Uncle."

Lin Yi lowered her eyes, then quickly stared at her again: "Are you sure he's your uncle?"

Yu Jintang swallowed hard. Within a week, the girls' fear of number 4750 had seeped into their very hearts; they were terrified of the punishment for failing to call for help: "I'm sure."

Lin Yi didn't ask any more questions, but before getting into the car she said, "I've thought it through. No matter what concerns you have, you can trust that I have the ability to resolve them."

Just before she was about to start the car, Yu Jintang, emboldened by some unknown source, suddenly shouted, "He's not my uncle! He's a human trafficker—!!"

Immediately, her mouth was covered, and she was kicked to the ground. But she saw Lin Yi smile. She nimbly jumped out of the jeep and casually pulled a baton from the car: "Don't worry, come and take this beating from me!"

Yu Jintang had never seen such a fierce woman. The lines bulging out of her vest clearly indicated she was a gangster. A black baton swung with great force in her hand, and without her companions even moving, she single-handedly took down four human traffickers.

The remaining few people then got out of the car. Some took ropes, others carried people. If they hadn't followed closely behind and called the police, the whole process felt like a professional robbery team.

Lin Yi walked over, weighing the stick in her hand, her shadow looming over Yu Jintang's dusty head. She rummaged in her pocket for a moment, then pulled out a lollipop, tore off the wrapper, and stuffed it into her mouth: "A reward for the brave."

With a lollipop in her mouth, Yu Jintang couldn't possibly feel dizzy.

After rescuing Yu Jintang, Lin Yi checked her identity and discovered that Yu Jintang was actually a rich second-generation heir. She immediately notified the police, and the entire Yu family was frantic. However, Yu Jintang was experiencing mild PTSD and insisted that Lin Yi stay with him. The police had no choice but to ask Lin Yi if she could come with them to take Yu Jintang home.

Lin Yi had a lot of things to do, but Yu Jintang claimed that she had nightmares and couldn't sleep, so she had no choice but to accompany Yu Jintang on her way home.

Lin Yi was fooled by her her whole life. In reality, Yu Jintang at most had terrible leg pain, but she had no psychological problems whatsoever.

It's perfectly normal for a little girl to develop admiration and affection for a heroine after being rescued by her.

As she spent time with her, Yu Jintang gradually came to understand her work. At first, she didn't understand: "No one pays you a salary, how have you managed to keep going until now?"

Lin Yi was very poor; she would rather eat steamed buns than instant noodles. What she did was thankless and exhausting. Yu Jintang couldn't understand how anyone could dedicate their entire youth to an ideal that was both bitter and tiring, yet spiritually fulfilling.

“You’re right. There are times when I feel like giving up. During the hardest period of my life, I was so hungry that I even wanted to gnaw on tree bark.”

While munching on a steamed bun, Lin Yi mumbled, "I didn't initially plan to do this. After all, people have to fill their stomachs first. But my hometown is a poor and backward place. In the past, girls weren't even allowed to go to school. I have a best friend, we've been playing together since we were little. Domestic violence is common in my hometown. My mother, her mother, and most of the women in the village endured unimaginable violence."

"Luckily, my dad died early, otherwise it's hard to say whether my mom would be alive today. When my best friend was fourteen, she was forced to drop out of school and marry a widower at the edge of the village. The dowry was a piglet."

Lin Yi gestured with her hand, looked at Yu Jintang's height and laughed: "But she's not as tall as you, she's less than 1.5 meters tall, a very small person."

Yu Jintang became uneasy; she was gripped by a kind of fear and didn't even dare to listen to what was to come.

At fourteen, the same age as her, she actually got married. All for a piglet.

“That man was thirty years older than her,” Lin Yi said casually. “After the wedding, she cried for three days and three nights, and several times she ran out of the house to ask for help, but her husband forcibly dragged her back in. I grabbed a hoe and tried to go in and chop someone up, and I was almost raped by the groom’s relatives. Finally, my mother arrived, holding a knife and about to slit her own throat, and that’s when they threw my mother and me out. But my best friend is still inside. Just a week ago, she was sitting in the classroom next to me, and we were drawing little rabbits together in our textbooks.”

"She got pregnant quickly, and her body became increasingly cumbersome. She was still forced to work in the fields and then cook for that man at mealtimes. I don't know how she could endure such a life, maybe it was just for the innocent life in her womb. She was much kinder than me. At that time, I just wanted to kill everyone, I didn't care whether my child was in her belly or not."

"She gave birth; it was a girl."

A cruel smile appeared on Lin Yi's face. "She was strangled to death by her father and thrown into the river to be washed away."

“That night, my best friend killed the man with a kitchen knife and then hanged herself. She left me a letter telling me to leave that place. If I had the ability, I should help other people like her. I have remembered those days for so many years, they seem so long that I can never forget them. I got out of there and escaped the fate of getting married and having children, but my mother’s health has been ruined, my best friend and her daughter are dead, and there are countless girls in that village living such a life worse than death.”

After recounting the past, Yu Jintang remained silent for the entire day. Lin Yi began to appear great in her heart. While regretting that she had not firmly upheld those "ethereal" ideals, she felt even more guilty for holding Lin Yi back.

After returning home, she took out all the cash she had and sold her assets. She also introduced Lin Yi to several friends and urged them to donate to her Women's Protection Foundation.

They met again a year later, when Yu Jintang was fifteen and had graduated from junior high school. That summer, she brought two bodyguards to visit Lin Yi, and together with volunteers from e-network, she participated in activities to promote the continuous improvement of anti-domestic violence legislation. She personally went to remote areas to provide free legal aid to women in distress, prevented 56 cases of domestic violence, and helped 23 women successfully divorce.

These were the two most miserable months of Yu Jintang's life. She got a tan and suffered numerous bruises. Sometimes, a fight would break out next door while she was halfway through her meal. She would frantically try to break up the fights, using both moral and legal means. What was most infuriating was that many of the victims didn't appreciate her efforts. They would see her come in wielding a steel pipe and yell, "Don't hit my husband!" This left Yu Jintang speechless, and she began to discuss the importance of education with Lin Yi.

Lin Yi smiled and patted her on the shoulder, saying, "Then let's look forward to the next 'Pin Head' shining brightly on the road of education. I will lay the foundation of the law for you, so that you can help more women awaken."

Yu Jintang was stunned, and while biting into her dry bread, she said, "You have to give me the e-net."

"Of course!" Lin Yi smiled and flicked her forehead. "You've donated so much money to the foundation, and most importantly, you share the same ideals as us."

During Lin Yi's time, she worked hard to improve the law, recruited thousands of lawyers, and opened law firms across the country that served women exclusively.

Why do all members of eNet acknowledge Lin Yi's greatness?

Because she was the first to risk her life and personally rescue countless women who were suffering from violence.

They travel to Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, regions with severe gender discrimination, to safeguard women's safety.

Yu Jintang was seventeen years old and in her second year of high school. One ordinary morning, she was sitting at her table eating breakfast when the television news broadcast the news that the "Pin Leader" had been tortured to death with Molotov cocktails by violent elements.

She was so angry that she wanted to join the army, to become a peacekeeper and wipe out all the local forces in that country. Her parents were so angry that they beat her, pointing to her crippled leg and telling her to wake up, that she would have to kneel down to run a kilometer, let alone join the army.

Her friends all tried to persuade her, saying that Lin Yi wouldn't want her to solve problems with violence. Yu Jintang wouldn't listen to a word they said, her mind preoccupied with how to get revenge.

Yu's parents used both soft and hard tactics to have her confined to the house by her bodyguards. After two days of chaos, Tulip rushed home, first persuading her parents to go back to their room and stay quiet, then taking her younger sister to a scenic spot to talk for an afternoon. Yu Jintang's mood improved, and the two sisters stayed overnight in a hotel.

Perhaps due to the change of environment, Yu Jintang calmed down. That night, she dreamed of Lin Yi, who excitedly asked who killed her and said she would go and take revenge.

Lin Yi smiled and said it was discrimination and violence.

Ten years later, the acting administrator, Yu Jintang, posted a recruitment notice on the website founded by Lin Yi, seeking lead roles for the female ensemble drama script, "The Era of Red Powder." Countless members of the e-net saw this post; some were members who co-founded the website with Lin Yi, some were victims whom Lin Yi had helped, and many more were sparks of hope to contribute to the plight of other women.

Jiang Yan saw it, Xiahou Cheng saw it, and Feng Manhong saw it, so they came.