Chapter 718 - Why did you Help? - Part 1

Saturday, three months later.

Relaxing in the gardens of their Villa, Anna realised that little Jang despite all the issues surrounding his birth he now was meeting every developmental target he should.  Amanda was bringing the twins along, and Alecia had just gone off on maternity leave so they would be having a relaxing weekend.  Importantly Lexi Yao was finally able to fly in for the weekend, away from her overprotective, smothering husband.  As Lexi would constantly say he was a pain, but she would never tell her why.

Hou Yi, having only returned from an overseas trip last night, came out into the gardens came out with little Jang in his arms. He sat down beside Anna and handed her little Jang before saying "You have been up to a lot while I was away."

"I know. And it makes me ready to get back to work."

"Tell me why you agreed to help out that b*stard?"

"Yi, his little daughters are innocent. When I heard Yang Lin attempted to smother one of them while out in public and the children were immediately taken away, you know I felt sorry for them."

"So, you told me."

"They deserve better than what she tried to do. Lu Jinhu, despite all his faults seems to be a caring, competent parent.  He is also quite determined to do the right thing when it comes to his community work.  He has started producing lists and the like not only for our charitable initiative, but for the one he started with Yang Lin.  I decided not to turn that help away, as he wants to make a change with his life."

"Talking to him once Yang Lin's behaviour became known, he had no idea what she was doing, as she did everything to avoid him find out about her abuse of the children.  His email to James, was to ask me not to help him, but act to protect his daughters.  I was sceptical, but when the prison authorities allowed me in to speak to him, all he asked was that I went in to fight for the best outcome for his children, regardless of his own thoughts."

"Apparently, as soon as he found out what Yang Lin done, as his property is in his sole name, with the help of the prison authorities he had Yang Lin excluded from the property.  That will spark a nasty divorce battle, but I am not getting involved in that.  In the end I agreed to help the children and went to court.  James and Alecia came with me as support."

"As you imagine, Yang Lin claimed it was that she was mentally impacted as of Lu Jinhu's crimes, and that the children should be with her.  The court were not going for that, and I made it clear that Lu Jinhu would oppose that as his only concern was the children's safety and putting them in her care almost guaranteed that they would remain at risk."

"Surprisingly, James and Alecia same up with a temporary solution.  They suggested the two children could stay with them for two to three weeks for a more permanent decision to be made.  As James' said with his background, he could monitor both children, particularly the child Yang Lin attempted to smother to see if there were any issues."

"And before you ask, Yang Lin was not happy about that.  By this time the prison authorities finally had Lu Jinhu there and he told the court that he has asked me, who as he said has every reason to hate him to look out what was the best for them in the situation.  He must have heard the offer from James and Alecia and pointed out that them had even more reason than I did to hate him, but they were willing to help his children."

"That triggered a tirade of abuse from Yang Lin but prompted the court to agree to a temporary placement with James and Alecia while Yang Lin and Lu Jinho were assessed.  Of course, her immediate argument is that Lu Jinhu is serving a term of imprisonment by way of home detention, but the prison authorities made it clear that this did not prevent him from being able to care for children.  Yang Lin totally ignored the criminal charges that she was facing."

"Yesterday, I got the news that the assessments are such that the child protection authorities are, with immediate effect placing the children with Lu Jinhu, but with monitoring.  He is aware that if he does anything wrong, the children will be immediately removed from his care."

"I bet Yang Lin was not impressed."

"That is putting it mildly. I thought I knew men in Australia, let alone my brothers who would swear and curse like anything, but she was shocking. Abusive, and threatened the judge and that got her locked up. She is mentally unstable, and apparently a threat to her children. The judge asked me to stay after everyone else left and wanted to question me about the Australian system of making sure children are safe. The thing the judge said that stuck in my mind was that despite everything that had gone on between them and us, I was willing to help vulnerable children. That made me want to get back to work, not only doing that, but as the judge asked me if I would help out at court to advocate for children at risk."

"Really?"

"I was asked. I spoke to ANX, and if I want to do that, they are happy for me to become more part-time with them, but they said I had to run it by you first." With that Anna looked at Hou Yi with puppy dog eyes.

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From the Author.

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