distant

The air was a little chilly late at night, and a bowl of hot noodle soup warmed me up all over.

Chen Yuping sat across the table, watching Jiang Zhizhi eat quietly. She felt as if they had not been together so quietly for a long time.

Thinking of what Lu Xiye said that day, Chen Yuping had a thousand questions in her heart. In the middle of the night, her emotions unconsciously surged out.

"Zhizhi, the one million I won two years ago..." When the words came to her lips, she felt a little embarrassed.

How should I ask? Should I just ask directly?

"Mom, is the one million already spent? It doesn't matter. We can earn more money if we lose it. You have a stable job now, and I can earn some income occasionally. We can start all over again."

Jiang Zhizhi comforted her gently, her tone as if she was the adult and she was the child...

Chen Yuping sighed helplessly, feeling even more distressed. She lowered her head and said, "I already know. I didn't win the one million at all. It was you..."

Jiang Zhizhi was stunned. She didn't expect that after keeping this matter secret for so long, she still knew about it.

However, she quickly adjusted her mood and said calmly: "Mom, no matter where the one million came from, it belongs to you."

"What kind of deal did you make with Xiaoye's father? Why did he give you so much money? Is it really just tutoring?"

"It's really just tutoring." Jiang Zhizhi met Chen Yuping's eyes and said honestly, "Maybe there are other benefits for Lu Xiye's father, but for me, it's just tutoring. Mom, maybe you can't understand or estimate it, but I deserve this one million. It's because I deserve it that he gave it to me."

"If that's the case, why didn't you just tell me from the beginning?"

Under the soft light, Jiang Zhizhi frowned slightly, and her expression seemed to be very distant from her.

"Mom, I told you, because you can't understand."

*

After bringing Wang Cuihua and Jiang Dajun in, Feng Mei immediately used her connections to get them registered, even spending thousands of yuan on dinner. But for some reason, just as she finished getting them registered, the much-rumored demolition suddenly died down.

She always had an uncomfortable feeling in her heart, and this feeling was very familiar, as if it was not the first time.

When Wang Cuihua first came, she took the initiative to give her some money and bought a lot of snacks and toys for Jiang Xinrui and Jiang Tianci, so she was not so disgusted.

But the longer he stayed, the more the paralyzed Jiang Dajun smelled. Now he had made the iron shed stink so badly that Feng Mei didn't even want to get close to it as she felt disgusted.

Jiang Tianci showed his disgust without any concealment and told Feng Mei more than once to kick the two old guys out. No matter how Wang Cuihua tried to please him, he stayed away from her.

Wang Cuihua went to the supermarket specifically to buy an airplane toy to give to Jiang Tianci. Before she got close, she was hit on the head by a stone, which directly broke her forehead.

Seeing Wang Cuihua bleeding from her head, Jiang Tianci didn't feel guilty at all. He cursed in disgust: "Stinky old woman, get out of my house! I don't want your things, they stink worse than shit!"

Wang Cuihua went back crying. Feng Mei impatiently urged her the moment she saw her, "The shed stinks! Go clean it up quickly! Do you know that because of you, fewer people come here to play mahjong these days? It's really bad luck!"

"Meimei, I bought a toy for Tianci. You can give it to him to play with." Wang Cuihua is a typical bully who only cares about the weak and fears the strong. She is arrogant in front of Chen Yuping, but in front of someone like Feng Mei, she dares not even breathe.

"I know, I know. Go in and clean it up!" Feng Mei snatched the toy away, rolled her eyes, and went back into the house, muttering impatiently, "Why haven't you demolished this house yet? I'm so annoyed!"

After dismantling it, she can get rid of these two old guys.

*

Feng Mei waited a full season, until midsummer, when the demolition policy finally came into effect. Compensation was granted for both the area and the number of people living in the house. In other words, the addition of two people to her family meant she received hundreds of thousands more. Thinking of the hardships she had endured during this period, she felt it was all worth it.

The weather was scorching hot, and she happily went home. Before she even reached the door, a neighbor next door ran over and shouted, "Feng Mei, your father-in-law is dead!"

What?

In an instant, Feng Mei felt as if struck by lightning.

The policy only counts the living people, and the dead are definitely not counted!

This old guy had been lingering on for so long, how come he suddenly died at the critical moment!

She was really pissed off.

Feng Mei hurried back and saw a group of people gathered in the iron shed. Wang Cuihua was lying on Jiang Dajun's body and crying.

People around were talking about it.

"I was saying, how can you let an old man live in a tin shed on such a hot day? It must be so hot in here!"

"Look, there's not even a fan in here. Feng Mei is so stingy with her old man! It's obvious that the body died of heat!"

"Isn't she that kind of person? Who doesn't know that she took these two old guys in for the demolition compensation?"

"Oh, doesn't that mean she lost hundreds of thousands of dollars?"

"Haha, Feng Mei is at a huge loss this time. I wonder if she's willing to pay for the funeral..."

…

Of course Feng Mei would never pay for the funeral expenses, and she even felt that it was extremely unlucky for Jiang Dajun to die in her family.

Fortunately, the house is about to be demolished and she won't be able to live there for long.

She pulled Wang Cuihua aside and said coldly, "I won't pay for the funeral. Your son left us an orphan and a widow. You know how hard my life is. I don't have a penny! If you still want to stay here to see your grandson, quickly take the old man to be cremated, otherwise I will have someone throw him out on the street, and you can't stay here anymore!"

Wang Cuihua still had some money, but if she paid for the funeral, she would have very little left...

She immediately thought of Chen Yuping.

Chen Yuping must be rich. She can afford hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat Jiang Dajun's illness. How can she not be able to afford the funeral expenses?

Moreover, Chen Yuping has always been soft-hearted. As long as she says a few nice words, she will definitely get the money.

Wang Cuihua immediately took a taxi to the residential complex where Chen Yuping lived, but the door of her house was locked and the lock core had been replaced.

"Why are you here again? Chen Yuping has moved away and hasn't lived here for a long time." The neighbor, carrying a basket of vegetables, showed undisguised disgust when he saw Wang Cuihua.

"Why doesn't she live here anymore?"

"How should I know? They are tenants anyway. Can't they just change if they want to?"

She and Chen Yuping have been together for such a long time that they are considered good sisters. Some time ago, Chen Yuping called her specifically and asked her to pass these words to her if Wang Cuihua came over.

Wang Cuihua panicked for a moment. If she couldn't find Chen Yuping, how could she ask her for money?

"So, do you know where she moved?"

"How should I know?" The neighbor rolled his eyes at her.

"Doesn't she have a job here? You know where she works, right?"

"have no idea!"

After being turned away, Wang Cuihua left the community and started calling Chen Yuping frantically.

No one answered the first time I called, and when I called again, the phone was turned off.

Wang Cuihua was so angry that she almost threw her phone.

This Chen Yuping is really too arrogant. She actually dared not answer her call!

Feng Mei called again, and as soon as the call was connected, she started cursing.

"Where have you been? Do you still care about this old thing? If not, I'll throw it out! It's going to stink soon!"

Feng Mei was so disgusted with Jiang Dajun. This old man was smelly when he was alive and he was still smelly after he died. He was so disgusting that she was almost dying of it.

"I'll go back right away, I'll go back right away..."

Wang Cuihua had no choice but to use her own money to pay for Jiang Dajun's funeral.

As for Chen Yuping, as long as she is still in Nanshi, we can always find her.

*

While at work in the afternoon, Chen Yuping received a call from her neighbor.

"Yuping, your ex-mother-in-law is here. I just sent her away. Don't come back these few days. I think she might blackmail you again."

Chen Yuping was shocked when she heard this. "Thank you. Please keep an eye on it for me for the next two days."

"Don't worry, I told her that you rented this house and have moved out now. She probably won't come here again. But other people in the community know that you work there. If she finds out where you work, she will definitely come looking for you there. You have to be mentally prepared."

"I see."

"You, stop being silly. That's your ex-mother-in-law. What does that have to do with you? If you hadn't brought her here in the first place, the family wouldn't be in such a mess now! Now it's so chaotic that you can't even go home. If I were to ask you, your Zhizhi is smart. She knew those two old guys were not easy to deal with, so she moved out early. You said Zhizhi has such good grades. If her grades dropped because of these things at home, she would be really disappointed! In the future, when you encounter something, you should discuss it with Zhizhi first. Although she is young, she has big ideas and is better than you. You should support her studies well, and you will enjoy endless blessings in the future..."

The neighbor was very disgusted with Wang Cuihua because of the previous bread oven incident. She was afraid that one day Chen Yuping would do something stupid and take Wang Cuihua away again, so she kept whispering in Chen Yuping's ear.

Chen Yuping felt particularly sad when she heard this. Thinking that the money was obtained through a transaction between Jiang Zhizhi and Lu Hengshan, she felt even more ashamed and sad.

She did something stupid and pushed her daughter further and further away from her. Although Jiang Zhizhi never blamed her, Chen Yuping always felt that Jiang Zhizhi had changed a lot since she moved out of the house.

*

After the junior high school entrance examination, the school quickly posted the city-wide performance list.

Li Rongrong ran downstairs to the teaching building to take a look, and soon came back happily.

"Zhizhi, you won't believe this! Xu Qingbo got first place in the city's high school entrance exam! That's amazing! He actually skipped a grade and went to the third grade!"

Jiang Zhizhi was not surprised. With Xu Qingbo's usual grades, as long as he did not make any mistakes in the high school entrance examination, it would not be difficult for him to get the first place in the city.

"Huh? That's not right. Hasn't he been specially recruited by No. 1 Middle School? Why is he still taking the high school entrance exam?" Li Rongrong lay on the table, looking confused.

Jiang Zhizhi lowered her eyes slightly, and a thought suddenly popped up in her mind.

Maybe he wanted to leave a score and see if he could surpass him by then.

This is very much like Xu Qingbo's style.

“Beep—”

Suddenly, the phone in her pocket vibrated.

Jiang Zhizhi took it out and took a look, and it turned out to be a message from Xu Qingbo.

"Are you free this weekend?"