After Shi Zhen left, Guan Baiyu paused for a moment, then opened the door and went out as well.
There was a dirt road next to his house; following it through a vegetable field, he arrived at his adoptive father's house.
His adoptive father's house appears to be a two-story building from the front, but it's only one story from the back, and the exterior hasn't been plastered yet—they ran out of money to build the house later.
Besides farming, some villagers also work in factories or do other jobs to earn an income. They can't afford to build a big house, but they can build a small one. However, his adoptive father has never been able to find a job. Although he has done some work such as selling bamboo shoots and fish in town, he has not earned much money.
Their income mainly comes from farming and silkworm raising.
It was still early. When Guan Baiyu arrived at his adoptive father's house, the gate was closed, but light was shining through.
Guan Baiyu knocked on the door and heard the sound of the bolt being pulled out. His adoptive mother opened the door.
Guan Baiyu's adoptive mother's surname is Zhang, and her name is Zhang Xiumei. She was quite beautiful when she was young, but now she is over forty years old, dark-skinned, thin, and a little hunchbacked. She has long lost the charm of her youth.
Zhang Xiumei was a little unhappy when she saw Guan Baiyu.
She didn't like Guan Baiyu.
Her father-in-law passed away a long time ago, and her mother-in-law has been in charge of the household ever since. From the very beginning, her mother-in-law disliked her, thinking that she was too thin and small to do any housework.
Later, she miscarried several times and couldn't conceive again. Her mother-in-law disliked her even more and was very critical of her.
She remembered that back then, her mother-in-law would buy a piece of tofu to add to the dishes, and she would be scolded if she ate even one extra bite.
Later, her mother-in-law even brought Guan Baiyu back with her.
She couldn't really like a child that wasn't her own, especially after she had her own child.
When she was pregnant, her mother-in-law was unusually kind to her. But when she gave birth to a daughter, her mother-in-law turned around and lay down on the bed, saying that her back hurt and she didn't have time to take care of her.
She has to take care of the child herself.
When her daughter was a few months old, her mother-in-law turned sixty, and her sister-in-law brought her a chicken.
Back in 1980, it wasn't easy to get meat. When she gave birth, she only got to eat eggs and didn't get to eat a single chicken.
Seeing that her mother-in-law had stewed chicken, she was incredibly tempted, thinking that she could at least get a few bites, but her mother-in-law didn't give her a single bite.
There are just too many things to list.
Her nephew from her maternal family came over, but her mother-in-law stopped him from entering.
Her mother-in-law would immediately accuse her of stealing something if she couldn't find it.
Her mother-in-law bought some food but wouldn't let her eat a single bite, hiding it all in her room.
Before Guan Baiyu came to their house, the couple had already finished doing all the work in the fields. They supported her mother-in-law, but she still cursed at them all day long.
So she had no good feelings towards either her mother-in-law or Guan Baiyu, whom her mother-in-law raised.
After giving birth to her daughter, she had considered giving Guan Baiyu away to be raised by someone else, but her mother-in-law insisted on keeping Guan Baiyu because she had only given birth to a daughter.
Fortunately, her husband, like her, still cared about his own daughter.
"What are you doing here?" Zhang Xiumei asked.
Guan Baiyu said, "Mom... there's something I want to tell you."
Guan Baiyu's adoptive father's house was also made of mud. As for the small building upstairs, the floorboards were made of wood, and the stairs were also made of wood, and they were narrow and small.
Right now, the three of them are downstairs in the main room. His sister is doing her homework, and his adoptive father is making a broom.
When he came in, they both looked over.
Guan Baiyu's adoptive father was named Guan Guangguo, and at that time, his cousins were all called "X Guo".
Guan Guangguo got married relatively late, but he had children late. Although his daughter is two years younger than Guan Baiyu, he is already over forty and his hair is gray.
"What do you want?" Guan Guangguo asked.
Guan Baiyu said, "My cousin came to see me."
Guan Baiyu told him about Shi Zhen.
Shi Zhen came to see him several times, but always at night. Now it's cold and there are hardly any people outside at night, so no one saw him.
No one would say anything if they saw him, so even though Guan Guangguo's house was only about ten meters away from his, Guan Guangguo didn't know about it.
Guan Guangguo asked instinctively, "You want to go back? Then you have to pay back the money you owe me."
Guan Baiyu froze for a moment: "I don't want to go back... My cousin is a relative of my mother's side, and my mother is already dead..."
Guan Guangguo frowned.
Zhang Xiumei often chatted with her neighbors. When Guan Baiyu mentioned that his cousin's name was Shi Zhen, she asked, "Is your cousin the one who rents a house in Jian Guo? He has to rent a house himself, so he can't really control you. Be careful, or he'll swindle all your money."
When Zhang Xiumei said this, she glanced at Guan Baiyu again.
There was another reason why she disliked Guan Baiyu.
Her mother-in-law must have saved some money in her early years, and Guan Baiyu's grandfather must have given her some money after she brought Guan Baiyu back.
Logically, she should have left behind several hundred or a thousand yuan after her death, but she didn't have a single penny, and they still had to pay for her funeral.
They had just built their house; where would they get the money? In the end, they were left with a mountain of debt.
Zhang Xiumei felt that Guan Baiyu should have hidden the money.
"I have no money," Guan Baiyu said.
Zhang Xiumei didn't take it seriously, and was even a little annoyed: "Fine, you don't have any money! Your cousin is here. If you want to go to school, ask him for money. Don't come to us for money. Anyway, we don't need you to support us in our old age."
Her mother-in-law is clearly wealthy, but Guan Baiyu has always asked them for money for her education, which they have long resented.
Her mother-in-law passed away two years ago, but they still have to pay for Guan Baiyu's schooling, which makes her even more unhappy.
They only continued to manage it because Guan Baiyu gave them an IOU.
"I borrowed it from you..."
“We don’t have any money to lend you either! When Xiaohong was sick before, I took her to town to see a doctor, and I had to borrow money from my parents’ home!” Zhang Xiumei said.
She was telling the truth; she really had no money! Before, when she and her husband went to her mother-in-law's brother's house to borrow money for her mother-in-law's funeral, they were all brought to tears but they only managed to borrow fifty yuan.
She has two children to send to school, and the family has a lot of expenses. She still hasn't finished paying off the money she owed for building a house and holding a funeral two years ago.
Guan Baiyu froze.
Actually, he never knew what he should do in the future.
He had excellent grades, but he was a bit thin and small. The villagers said he didn't look like someone who could do manual labor, so they suggested he go to a vocational school and become a primary school teacher after graduation.
He had this plan himself, but attending a vocational school costs money. If he didn't continue his studies and went straight to find a job, it might be better for him.
But he couldn't find a job.
During summer and winter vacations and weekends, he went to town to find work, but he was too young, not even sixteen years old, and too thin, so no one wanted him.
He did the math and felt that he should go to school. Although school cost money, he could find a decent job after three years of vocational school. He even talked to his adoptive father about borrowing money for his studies.
His adoptive father was unwilling to lend him money, so to put his adoptive father at ease, he wrote an IOU for four thousand yuan, which he would repay when he earned money in the future. The total amount he had spent on food, drink, and education since he was a child was not that much, but it was not far off.
His adoptive father is now unwilling to lend him money anymore.
Guan Baiyu was a little worried, and then he thought of Shi Zhen.
Would Shi Zhen be willing to lend him money? Or... would he drop out of vocational school?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com