Design him

It was Sunday, the weather was slightly cloudy, and the early morning air seemed to be filled with heavy mist. Cheng Yuping and Jiang Zhizhi had breakfast and left Lujiang Village early to find a place to stay.

Of course, Cheng Yuping still wanted to find a village in the city to live in. The rent in the village was relatively cheap, usually only two or three hundred yuan a month, which was affordable for her.

However, except for one large urban village, Lvjiang Village, most other places on Pingyang Avenue have been demolished and rebuilt, and the remaining urban villages are relatively remote from the avenue.

But Jiang Zhizhi is currently attending primary school here. If she can get into No. 1 Middle School, she will have to study here for another three years. Even if she looks for a house, she can only look for one nearby.

Cheng Yuping rode her pedal tricycle, Jiang Zhizhi sat behind her, and the mother and daughter walked along Pingyang Avenue.

"Zhizhi, where do you want to live?" Cheng Yuping talked to Jiang Zhizhi while pedaling her tricycle.

Jiang Zhizhi whispered, "Mom, how about we go to the east and have a look?"

She wanted to be closer to the Nanshi Library.

"You want to live near the stadium?"

Dongxin Stadium is just to the east.

Cheng Yuping reminded her, "That place is a bit far from your school."

"It's not far. It takes less than half an hour to get to school by bike." Jiang Zhizhi said, "It's convenient to set up a stall there. After you finish your stall, we can go to the stadium to exercise and keep fit."

Cheng Yuping laughed, "Staying at the stall every day is enough exercise for me."

Her words made Jiang Zhizhi's heart tremble. Jiang Zhizhi's last impression of Cheng Yuping was her running in Dongxin Stadium.

As her health deteriorated, she tried to stay healthy by exercising more.

But it was of no use. She became thinner and weaker, and eventually collapsed on the hospital bed.

For a moment, Jiang Zhizhi felt like a bottle of bitterness had been overturned, churning in her heart.

Seeing Jiang Zhizhi silent, Cheng Yuping looked back at her and said jokingly, "If you really want to rent a house near the stadium, we can go there. But you can't complain about the long distance to school there."

"I don't mind. I just need to go out a little earlier every day." Jiang Zhizhi grinned.

The stadium is also some distance away from Lujiang Village, so it can be used to draw a clear line between itself and Jiang Guozhong.

Moreover, when Cheng Yuping is in better health in the future, she can also go to the gym to exercise.

Jiang Zhizhi remembers that there was a bus stop next to the gymnasium, which could lead directly to the library.

"Okay, then let's go over and take a look." Cheng Yuping turned the tricycle and headed towards the stadium.

On the way, Cheng Yuping sighed secretly and thought to herself.

If we move to the stadium, we will have to buy another bicycle for Jiang Zhizhi.

A bicycle costs about two hundred yuan.

In a few months, Jiang Zhizhi will be promoted to middle school. The tuition and miscellaneous fees for middle school for one year will be a huge amount of money. She is penniless now. How can she earn this money?

Thinking of this, Cheng Yuping's face became more depressed.

But she didn't want Jiang Zhizhi to see it, so she could only hide her emotions and pedal the tricycle hard to move forward in silence.

Jiang Zhizhi sat in the tricycle and opened a fairy tale book to read.

Although this kind of book is not very valuable to read, it can be used to kill time and earn some money.

Every penny earned is a penny earned.

At the stadium, Cheng Yuping met a few friends who set up stalls together. They spent a morning renting two small rooms on the second floor of Da Nan Village behind the stadium.

The two rooms are only about 20 square meters in total. Although the rooms are very cramped, they are completely sufficient for Cheng Yuping and Jiang Zhizhi to live in.

The monthly rent is two hundred and four.

There is a public terrace of more than 100 square meters in front of the cottage. Several families living next door have placed a lot of sundries and stoves on both sides of the terrace.

There was even a family that had a little black dog, tied to a pillar of a shed with a worn, hairy rope. The dog was used to people coming and going, and when it saw the newcomers Jiang Zhizhi and Cheng Yuping, it didn't bark, but happily wagged its tail and stuck out its tongue.

After finding a new place to live, Cheng Yuping paid the first month's rent and suddenly sighed while sitting in the room.

Jiang Zhizhi took out the eight hundred yuan from her schoolbag and said, "Mom, take this money back."

She knew what Cheng Yuping was worried about. She was no longer short of money, but she couldn't tell Cheng Yuping.

Cheng Yuping is a soft-hearted person, and if Jiang Guozhong accidentally finds out, she will be easily taken advantage of.

"Mom will take you to buy a bicycle this afternoon." Although she had no money, Cheng Yuping still didn't want to let Jiang Zhizhi down.

She could only find another way to pay for the tuition.

"Mom, there's no need to buy a bike. I can walk to school. If I'm late, I can always take the bus."

There is a direct bus from the gymnasium to the school. Riding a bicycle is good, but taking the bus can give you more time to read.

Hearing that Jiang Zhizhi was going to school by bus, Cheng Yuping was stunned for a moment, but still nodded, "Yeah, that's fine."

The bus costs one dollar per trip, which means two dollars for a round trip.

Sixty a month, that's over seven hundred a year...

Cheng Yuping couldn't help but sigh again.

In the afternoon, Jiang Zhizhi and Cheng Yuping moved their belongings from Lujiang Village together, cleaned and settled everything. It was already four o'clock in the afternoon.

"Mom, when will you divorce Jiang Guozhong?"

"I'll go see him tomorrow."

"Don't tell him where we live now." Jiang Zhizhi reminded tentatively.

Cheng Yuping saw Jiang Zhizhi's worry. She took Jiang Zhizhi into her arms and sighed, "Zhizhi, Mom understands what you mean. Don't worry, Mom knows what to do."

It was still early and there were still some peaches that had not been sold, so Cheng Yuping went out to set up her stall again. Jiang Zhizhi put the books she had borrowed from the library into her backpack and took the bus to the library.

She returned the books she had borrowed before and bought three new ones. She read in the 24-hour reading room next door until dark before hurried home.

Cheng Yuping wanted to divorce Jiang Guozhong, but Jiang Guozhong seemed to be taking revenge and refused to give in no matter what. He even threatened that Cheng Yuping should pay him 5,000 yuan, otherwise he would never divorce her.

Not getting a divorce is a hidden danger, and Jiang Zhizhi cannot allow this hidden danger to exist.

One evening, she came to the alley outside Xiaoli Mahjong Hall in Lujiang Village.

Feng Mei likes to play mahjong. Xiaoli and her husband, who run a mahjong parlor, are Feng Mei's mahjong friends. She and Jiang Guozhong also met there.

When they were together, eighteen times out of ten they would go to the mahjong parlor to play mahjong.

Jiang Zhizhi watched Jiang Guozhong and Feng Mei walk into the mahjong hall hand in hand, and continued to wait outside the hall.

When she saw the person she was waiting for had arrived, she immediately walked out, "Uncle Zhao."

Zhao Guodong was the person who helped to pull Jiang Guozhong back when he attacked Cheng Yuping. He and Jiang Guozhong had been playing cards with each other for many years, but Jiang Zhizhi knew that he was still a good person.

"Zhizhi? Why are you here?" Zhao Guodong looked at Jiang Zhizhi in surprise as she walked out of the dark alley, and for a moment he suspected that he had seen her wrongly.

"Uncle Zhao, this is the thousand yuan my mother asked me to give you." Jiang Zhizhi took out a stack of hundred-yuan bills from her pocket and handed it to Zhao Guodong.

Zhao Guodong was stunned for a moment, and his heart was moved, "Why... give me money?"

He couldn't help but stare at the money in Jiang Zhizhi's hand. He was an ordinary worker, and one thousand yuan was not a small amount of money for him.

"My mother wants you to do her a favor. If you agree, I'll give you all the money." Jiang Zhizhi said.

"Zhizhi, what does your mother want me to do?"

"Are you going to play cards with my dad?"

"Yes." Zhao Guodong nodded.

"Just tell my dad you heard a rumor that the village is going to be demolished in two months. Tell my dad to marry Feng Mei before the demolition. If he doesn't marry Feng Mei, he won't get a penny from the demolition. And if Feng Mei runs away in the future, he won't get anything."

Jiang Zhizhi knew exactly why Jiang Guozhong was with Feng Mei. Apart from the fact that Feng Mei gave birth to a son for him, the most important thing was Feng Mei's household registration and house in Lujiang Village.

He was also waiting for Feng Mei's house to be demolished so that he could make a lot of money.

Zhao Guodong understood what Jiang Zhizhi meant, "You want your father and mother to divorce sooner, right?"

"Uncle Zhao, Feng Mei has given birth to two children for my father, and my mother just wants them to be a family of four." Jiang Zhizhi said.

Zhao Guodong was shocked. "Are Feng Mei's two children your father's? Her eldest daughter is already six years old!"

Jiang Zhizhi laughed, "Yes, he's already six years old. Uncle Zhao, please help us. Help me and my mom, and help their family. My mom and I will be grateful to you."

As she spoke, Jiang Zhizhi stuffed the money into Zhao Guodong's hand.

Zhao Guodong felt a little embarrassed holding the thousand yuan in his hand. "Well, your mother is the same. She brought money for such a small matter. Why didn't she come and tell me? How could I not help her? Don't worry, I'll tell them while we play mahjong later."

"Thank you, Uncle Zhao." Jiang Zhizhi said sincerely.

For Zhao Guodong, such a thing was just a casual thing.

When he mentioned this at the mahjong table, Jiang Guozhong was immediately shocked.

He originally wanted to blackmail Cheng Yuping by taking advantage of the divorce, but he didn't expect that the house would be demolished soon.

Jiang Guozhong also knew about Feng Mei's past, and was afraid that she would turn against him after she became rich, so he immediately discussed marriage with Feng Mei.

If he wanted to marry Feng Mei, he naturally had to divorce Cheng Yuping first.

The next morning, Jiang Guozhong took the initiative to find where Cheng Yuping was setting up her stall, and without saying anything, he dragged Cheng Yuping on a bus back to his hometown to get a divorce certificate.

After school, Jiang Zhizhi returned to her residence and waited all night. Around seven or eight in the evening, the landlord came and knocked on the door.

"Zhizhi, your mother called you."

The landlady handed her pager to Jiang Zhizhi.

Jiang Zhizhi took it.

Cheng Yuping's voice came from the phone, "Zhizhi, Mom can't go home for the next two days. Make something for yourself. There are two hundred yuan in the box in the cabinet. If you need it, take it from there."

"Mom, where have you been?"

"Mom went back to her hometown."

"Did you go to get a divorce from Jiang Guozhong?" Jiang Zhizhi guessed.

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while before Cheng Yuping replied, "Yes. Mom will be back in two days, don't worry."

"Mom, don't forget my household registration. Transfer my household registration to your name." Jiang Zhizhi glanced at the landlady next to her and reminded her in a low voice.

"Mom knows, don't worry. I don't want anything else, but I will take you here." Cheng Yuping said firmly.

Jiang Zhizhi moved her lips. She thought Cheng Yuping was stupid. Now that Jiang Guozhong was in a hurry to divorce, she could ask Jiang Guozhong for more money.

But Cheng Yuping was only afraid that Jiang Guozhong would snatch her away...

But Jiang Guozhong looked down on her at all. In Jiang Guozhong's eyes, she was just a cheap commodity. Only in Cheng Yuping's eyes was she a treasure.

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Zhizhi finally said nothing.

She didn't want to cause any trouble, and the most important thing right now was to sever ties with Jiang Guozhong!

"Mom, I'll wait for you to come back."