In the evening, not long after Lu Siqiao returned to her dormitory, the dormitory phone rang. The dormitory aunt said that someone downstairs was looking for her and asked her to come down.
Who would come looking for her at this time?
The moment Lu Siqiao saw Fu Libai, her eyes darkened.
"What do you want from me?" she asked, not showing any particular politeness despite Fu Libai having saved her last time.
Fu Libai pursed his pale pink lips and said in a low voice, "Fang Ziru asked me to come find you. He said that the Fang family is holding an outdoor garden party at the Jiangbin Hotel tomorrow night, and he wants you and your friends to attend."
"I'm not going," Lu Siqiao refused without even thinking.
Her reaction seemed to be exactly what he expected.
“Fang Ziru said that Fang Lixuan would be very disappointed if you didn’t come,” Fu Libai said coldly. “He told Fang Lixuan that you would come.”
Haha, are you acting first and informing later?
"Okay, I'll go." Lu Siqiao thought that if she didn't go, Fang Ziru would probably find some excuse to bother her, so she decided to go and see.
Seeing that Fu Libai was still there, he asked again, "Is there anything else?"
“Fang Ziru wants to embarrass you at the party. He said you can’t sing and plans to make things difficult for you on the spot,” Fu Libai said in a low voice.
Lu Siqiao responded with an unexpected "oh".
Seeing that she remained calm, Fu Libai said again, "You should go with your friend; it'll be good to have someone to look after you."
After saying that, he noticed that quite a few girls were looking in his direction, so he quickly left.
After Lu Siqiao returned to her dorm, Fang Yao seized the opportunity to say, "Oh, you've only been at school for a few days and you're already dating. You're even going on dates downstairs at the dorm. Will you be sleeping with her next time?" Her friends all gave Lu Siqiao knowing looks.
The girls were terrified, their faces pale, unlike Lu Siqiao, who calmly ate the late-night snack that Mo Yan had brought back.
"Qiaowa, what's Fu Libai up to? He's trying to embarrass you." Mo Yan, who usually seems carefree, quickly realized what was going on.
Lu Siqiao sneered, "Fang Ziru sent him to invite me to tomorrow's party. By the way, do you want to come along?"
"Like a weasel offering New Year's greetings to a chicken, it's all ill-intentioned," Mo Yan said disdainfully. Seeing that Lu Siqiao didn't want to say more, she couldn't help but ask, "Are you going?"
“Go! There’s good food and fun things to do, why not go?” Lu Siqiao said seriously. “We have to integrate into the life here. If I refuse him today, he will come to bother me again tomorrow. I might as well find out what’s going on.”
She looked up and glanced at Fang Yao, who was eavesdropping on the conversation not far away, and deliberately said loudly, "I went to someone's party a few years ago, and it was really bad, even worse than our countryside. The food was terrible, and the juice and drinks weren't fresh. It was better than the juice I buy outside for a few dollars."
Fang Yao knew she was referring to the party Fang Mingshu had hosted five years ago. She'd heard that Lu Siqiao had mysteriously disappeared, even alarming the police, and later learned that Chen Luoxia and her daughter had secretly sought her out for a talk. Despite this, Fang Mingshu was still embarrassed; she hadn't known about the guest's disappearance—a serious dereliction of duty.
Thinking that she could wash away her humiliation tonight, she cheered herself up and shouted that she would take a few of her girlfriends to the riverside hotel for an open-air party.
After daybreak, the three girls went to the hospital together to pick up Zhou Yuemei from her discharge.
Surprisingly, Grandma Zhong also arrived, followed by her future daughter-in-law Song Xinxin. The two of them fawned over Zhou Yuemei, completely changing their usual behavior, practically screaming "I want money!"
Zhou Yuemei knew perfectly well that she was easily swayed, and her resolve had already wavered.
The doctor just told her that she is recovering well and will be able to go back to work in another month.
She has a source of income from her job, and even without compensation, she will do her best to give her daughter the best life.
Grandma Zhong was kind to her only because her second son, Li Zhi, wanted to marry Song Xinxin and needed money to buy a house.
"Ah Mei, come back to our hometown with us. The rooms are all ready," said Grandma Lu, trying to snatch the luggage bag from Aunt Ma's hands with a smile.
Over the years, Zhou Yuemei has never returned home to pay respects to her ancestors because of the domineering nature of Old Lady Lu, who said that she suffered from heart disease and that giving birth to her daughter had damaged her health, making it difficult for her to have a son. Now, Old Lady Zhong has taken pity on her and wants to take her back to her hometown.
Zhou Yuemei almost agreed.
Aunt Ma was watching anxiously from the side, but luckily Lu Siqiao and the others walked in just in time.
Li Rou said to Zhou Yuemei, "Mom, I just went to complete the discharge procedures and paid the medical bills while I was at it."
When the topic of medical expenses came up, Grandma Zhong asked how much it cost.
"I asked the hospital to prescribe more calming and energy-boosting medicine, totaling 102,000 yuan," Li Rou said with a smile.
Upon hearing that she had spent an extra two thousand yuan, Old Mrs. Zhong almost fainted. That two thousand yuan was enough for her to buy three gold pieces for Song Xinxin.
"You silly child, how could you waste money like that?" Zhou Yuemei scolded softly. "I'm much better now, I don't need those tonics anymore, can you return them?"
“Yes, all medicines have some side effects. I’d better go back and make you some egg and sugar water to replenish your blood and calm your nerves,” Grandma Zhong chimed in.
Li Rou said coldly, "I only listen to the doctor. Mom, are we going home with Grandma?"
Zhou Yuemei smiled gently: "Your grandma said that there is no reason for a family to be separated."
"Oh, Grandma Zhong isn't here for the little money you have left, is she?" Lu Siqiao suddenly asked from the side.
A deathly silence fell over the scene.
Grandma Zhong was the first to react, and scolded, "You brat, what nonsense are you talking about? I was a bit hot-tempered that day, but I meant well. I was afraid that they, a widow and her children, would be bullied."
Lu Siqiao said "Oh," and then asked, "If Aunt Zhou and the others run out of money, the Li family won't kick them out, right?"
“Of course not, you—” Old Mrs. Zhong blurted out. Song Xinxin behind her tugged at her sleeve, and she immediately realized what she meant and asked Li Rou, “Arou, hurry up and return the rest of the money to your mother. What if the children take so much money and it gets targeted by bad people?”
Li Rou's face turned ugly, her gaze darting away, and she stammered, "That money—I—"
Seeing her hesitate, Old Mrs. Zhong realized something was wrong. Her face darkened, and she asked, "Arou, you didn't lose the money, did you?"
"Mom, how could that money disappear from the bank? Arou, right?" Song Xinxin asked.
Li Rou lowered her head and said with difficulty, "Actually, I spent some of that money..."
Two people walked in through the door.
Mo Yan walked in with a woman in her hand, holding a jade bracelet. She rushed up to Li Rou and said aggressively, "A Rou, I treated you like a sister, and you actually broke my mother's heirloom jade bracelet without even telling me! That's too much!"
Upon hearing that Li Rou had broken the Mo family's ancestral jade bracelet, Zhou Yuemei was so frightened that she almost fainted.
"Is there some kind of misunderstanding?"
Grandma Zhong knew about the relationship between Mo Yan and Li Rou, and asked with a suspicious look.
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