Chapter 43 She felt her mother's...love for the first time.
That day, it was pouring rain. She ran all the way out of the creek and ran for more than 30 miles. The river was swollen and she almost fell in and drowned. She was covered in injuries before she finally reached the school in town.
She knelt on the ground begging the teacher, the principal, and even knelt in front of the government building to beg the leaders for a chance to go to school and a chance to change her life, but... in the end, she was sent back in disgrace.
That rain has been falling for so many years, and it will never stop in this lifetime...
Zhou Yue looked at Zhou Mu, whose stubborn eyes held a hint of expectation... How similar they were...
"Okay, I'll take you to school." Zhou Yue turned her head and tears welled up in her eyes. "But if you're not good enough, you can drop out of school and come back to pick up trash for me for the rest of your life!"
Zhou Mu burst into laughter through her tears and promised, "No, I will definitely study hard!"
Zhou Yue staggered into her bedroom, and just before closing the door, she heard Zhou Mu's overjoyed voice, "Thank you, Mom!"
Zhou Mu pulled out the money she had saved for over a month, only 45 yuan and 80 cents. She wanted to buy a new schoolbag, the kind that Grandma Liu's grandson carried on sale would be perfect.
"Is it still 31 yuan even with the discount?"
Grandma Liu nodded.
"Well... let's forget about it."
Zhou Mu clutched the large wad of small bills in her hand. They were too expensive. She still needed to buy pens and notebooks. She could use the kind of cloth bag her mother used for grocery shopping for her schoolbag; those only cost 3 yuan each, were cheap and durable, and more cost-effective.
After calming herself down, Zhou Mu happily went home. She needed to hurry up and cook, but as soon as she entered the yard, she smelled the aroma of food. There was already a plate of scrambled eggs on the table.
Zhou Yue brought out a plate of vegetables and a bowl of rice. "Go get your own rice. Do you expect me to serve you?"
"No need, thank you for your hard work, Mom." Zhou Mu quickly ran into the kitchen, afraid that if she angered Zhou Yue, she wouldn't be able to go to school.
Zhou Yue didn't give Zhou Mu a friendly look as always, but Zhou Mu felt that something had changed.
"Eat quickly, after you finish eating I'll take you to get a haircut. How are you going to school looking like this?"
Zhou Yue's words clearly showed her disdain for Zhou Mu, but Zhou Mu was very happy because this was the first time her mother had shown her any concern!
"Okay, thank you, Mom!" Zhou Mu nodded like a chick pecking at rice, her voice filled with joy.
After finishing her meal, Zhou Mu conscientiously cleared the table and went to wash the dishes. But when she returned to the living room, she found a new yellow schoolbag on her small wooden bed in the corner, containing a pink pencil case with pencils, ballpoint pens, erasers, rulers, and more...
There were only the mother and daughter in the house. It was obvious who had bought it. But when she should have been happy that her wish had been fulfilled, Zhou Mu's tears poured out like a flood. She felt an endless bitterness and sorrow in her heart, which eventually turned into relief.
After leaving the barbershop, Zhou Mu's dry and frizzy hair was transformed into a smooth and well-behaved student hairstyle. The scar on her forehead was also covered by her bangs. Although her complexion was sallow and her figure was petite, it was not hard to see that she had delicate features and a good foundation.
Zhou Mu followed Zhou Yue all the way to the wholesale market. Zhou Yue randomly picked out two pieces of clothing from a pile of messy clothes and held them up against Zhou Mu.
The woman buying clothes glanced at the pile while cracking sunflower seeds. "Ten yuan a piece, all of these are ten yuan, and there are pants below."
Zhou Yue picked out two pairs of pants and two pairs of shoes.
The older woman added, "The shoes cost 20 yuan a pair."
"I'm buying so much, can you give me a discount? Give me 60."
The older woman spat out the sunflower seed shells and rolled her eyes at her, "Girl, this is just a small business, I can't afford to haggle like you. If everyone did this, how would I survive?"
65.
"No, I can only give you a discount of 2 yuan, so it's 78."
“70, I’m a regular here too. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll go somewhere else.” Zhou Yue pulled Zhou Mu along, ready to leave.
"Hey, take the 75."
The week and month didn't stop.
"72, minimum 72, take it or leave it."
Zhou Yue smiled and paid, "Okay, thank you, big sister. I'll come here again next time. Good quality and reasonable prices."
"Oh dear, please don't come here. I only make a profit of one or two yuan on each item. If I sell it to you, I won't make a penny and I'll even have to pay for shipping."
"Big sister, don't lie to me. You make at least 3 yuan profit on each item."
The shop owner fell silent; she'd found someone knowledgeable.
Zhou Mu looked at Zhou Yue with sparkling eyes. "Mom is so amazing!"
"Thank you, Mom!" Zhou Mu's voice was soft, as if she couldn't believe it, because this was the first time she had worn new clothes!
Was this the first time she felt her mother's...love?
Zhou Mu attended Nan Yi Primary School, which was just across the street from Mingzhu Primary School. Originally, more than a month had passed since the start of the enrollment period, and Zhou Mu would have to wait until next year to enroll. However, when Zhou Mu left the school, he met someone—Director Sun, the financial manager of Nan Yi Primary School.
When she was picking up trash with Grandma Liu, she found a black plastic bag containing 200,000 yuan in cash wrapped in newspapers. She originally wanted to take it home, thinking that with this money, her mother might allow her to go to school.
But she hadn't gone far with the snakeskin bag when she encountered this man looking for something. She was picking up bottles behind the green belt, and he didn't notice her.
Zhou Mu pretended to be calm and dragged the bag home, but her steps slowed down, her heart beat faster and faster, her hands began to tremble, and she was sweating profusely. Finally, she gritted her teeth, turned around and ran towards the police station. She was scared!
A young policewoman greeted Zhou Mu. She didn't look down on the dirty Zhou Mu, poured her some water, and even gave her a few of her own candies. "Little friend, what brings you to the police station?"
"Sister, I found some money," Zhou Mu said timidly.
The policewoman smiled very gently. "Really? That's great! Honesty is a very admirable quality, so are you going to hand the money over to us to find the owner?"
"Um."
"Okay, wait a moment, I'll write it down." The policewoman returned with a notebook. "How much money did you find?"
Zhou Mu took the black plastic bag out of the snakeskin bag that contained the bottle and put it on the table. "A lot of money, I don't even know how much."
The young policewoman was shocked and called over her station chief. "We just received a report today that the finance director of Nan Yi Elementary School has lost 200,000 yuan of school funds. Is this it?"
"The person who reported the case provided a batch of numbers. By comparing them, we can find out that it's probably the correct one."
The director looked at Zhou Mu, who was thin and small but still picking up trash, and patted her head approvingly, "Good girl!"
When Director Sun received a call from the police informing her that her lost money had been found, she almost knelt down before Zhou Mu, but she hid behind the young policewoman in fear.
Later, Zhou Mu left on her own while everyone was talking. She didn't dare let her mother know about it. She didn't know whether her mother would praise her or scold her. Who wouldn't want money?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com