Meng Tao cursed, "Fuck it!" The heroine Xian Fangfang was labeled as elegant, gentle, kind and innocent in the novel, but with her current performance, her kindness is shit!

She is just like a black and white lotus. No wonder she and Tian Zhigao have such similar tastes. It's true that birds of a feather flock together.

Seeing Meng Tao didn't say anything, Xian Fangfang thought she was stunned, so she raised her chin and smiled arrogantly: "But your trip is not in vain, we will compensate you, just sign this paper, take the money, and go back."

Meng Tao watched Xian Fangfang push a piece of white paper with words on it from the table. The title was "Statement on the Cancellation of Arranged Marriage between Tian Zhigao and Meng Taohua". If she signed it, it would mean she agreed.

"What compensation do you plan to give me?" Meng Tao asked.

Xian Fangfang pushed another envelope over, with a half-revealed stack of ten-yuan bills inside. "You should be in great need of money and coupons. Here are three hundred yuan, some national grain coupons, industrial coupons, cloth coupons, meat coupons, sugar coupons, and oil coupons. We have an extra bicycle ticket, so I'll give it to you, too. The total value is over six hundred yuan."

Xian Fangfang's face was full of "Look how generous I am, giving you so much".

Meng Tao sneered, "I have no other skills, but I am willing to pity the weak and the sick. Like you, a good girl who insists on stealing other people's men, this is a disease. If you want Tian Zhigao, I will give him to you without compensation. However, Tian Zhigao must return me the 200 yuan betrothal gift plus 200 yuan for the wedding banquet, plus the 300 yuan his mother cheated me of, oh, and my round-trip travel expenses to the provincial capital, lost wages, accommodation and food expenses, rounded to 100 yuan, a total of 800 yuan. Give me the money, I'll sign and leave, and won't cause you any more trouble."

Xian Fangfang's eyes widened: 800 yuan? This stupid country woman is crazy about money! In order to prepare for the wedding, she and Tian Zhigao bought furniture and various supplies to decorate the new house. She is a perfectionist and requires the best and most expensive things. The money they saved and the dowry money given by her biological parents were almost spent. Fortunately, her aunt gave her another sum last night. She originally thought that 300 yuan plus some coupons would be enough to get rid of Meng Taohua, and the rest would need to be carefully calculated and saved. Who knew that Meng Taohua would ask for a huge amount! Tian Zhigao glared: "Meng Taohua! Are you trying to rip me off?"

Meng Tao glanced at him indifferently. This guy didn't match the setting in the novel. Where was the bright and gentle big brother image? Oh, that was the little white rabbit Meng Taohua. Now she was Meng Taohua, who was asking for a lot of money. It really couldn't be the same. Which man could be gentle in front of a lion?

"Why are you so anxious to talk to me? If you are not happy, let's go back to the village to discuss it. Otherwise, I will not leave and stay as your family member." Meng Tao said.

Tian Zhigao gritted his teeth in anger: "Meng Taohua, don't go too far. Eight hundred yuan is impossible! Fangfang and I just got married, and it's not easy to set up a family... I'll borrow from someone and give you five hundred yuan."

Five hundred yuan plus the additional tickets is almost six or seven hundred yuan, which is enough to pay back what Meng Taohua just mentioned.

This was equivalent to emptying half of his and Xian Fangfang's small family purse. The young couple still had to eat and live. Fangfang was pregnant and it was hard. She needed nutrition and fresh fruits and various snacks every day. Although the wedding was not held, they still had to invite a few tables on the day of the wedding. Someone had already given a wedding gift, so they had to invite them and also to save face.

He went from being a respected technical cadre to being so disgraced and laughed at, all thanks to Meng Taohua.

Tian Zhigao frowned and looked at Meng Taohua. He used to feel guilty when he occasionally thought of her, but now he felt disgusted like never before. What kind of woman? She was full of money and vulgar! "These are enough. Don't be greedy!"

"Who is greedy? Tian Zhigao, please explain clearly. I am only taking back what belongs to me. You owe me a debt! And that's not even counting the interest. If I am greedy, I will really ask you to pay me 2,000 yuan. Do you believe it? If you don't give it to me, I don't want it anymore. Go and talk to your factory manager!"

When she got to the door, Xian Fangfang stopped her and said, "It's okay to give you 800 yuan. I just didn't bring that much today. Here are 500 yuan in cash, plus coupons. I'll give you two more department store price supply tickets, which are the benefits just issued by the factory. You can buy a lot of good things. Now that the autumn and winter clothes have been restocked, you can go and choose two sets of ready-made clothes. This will be 800 yuan. Is that okay?"

Meng Tao turned around and looked at the couple who were obviously very nervous about her running away but pretended not to care, and said, "Actually, I can ask for less money and exchange it for something else."

"What?" they both said in unison.

Meng Tao pointed at Tian Zhigao and said, "I heard from Tian Yalan that you got job quotas for her, Tian Zhiyuan, and Liang Tiezhu. Can you give me one, too?"

Tian Zhigao was silent and shook his head: "Don't listen to Yalan's nonsense, how can it be so easy?"

Before Meng Taohua came to make trouble, he could indeed do it, and someone took the initiative to offer him such a benefit. But now, he has been temporarily brought down and there is no such exchange condition. People will definitely ignore him. Tian Zhiyuan and Tian Yalan’s jobs are all gone. Liang Tiezhu is lucky, as it was decided early on and will not be changed.

Xian Fangfang wrote Meng Tao a blank check, saying that she could help her ask around and perhaps find a temporary job position, and would notify her then.

Of course Meng Tao knew that Xian Fangfang was lying to her, and she wanted to calm her down first, so she didn't take it seriously. What she was interested in was the news about Tian Zhigao - she was relieved that Tian Yalan could not enter the factory.

At the end of the stalemate, Xian Fangfang added money little by little, but only raised it to 600 yuan. Meng Tao felt it was boring and didn't want to haggle with this stingy couple, so she took the 600 yuan in cash and a roll of tickets, signed and left.

Tian Zhigao looked at the name signed by Meng Tao, which was as neat and regular as that written by an elementary school student, yet had its own charm and the stroke structure was natural and smooth. He believed what she said and worked hard to learn culture in the literacy class in his hometown.

Thinking of the change in Meng Taohua, she learned to read in order to write letters to him, but now she took the money and left without even looking at him again. She looked so heartless and ungrateful, and he felt very uncomfortable.

Meng Tao first went to see the union chairman and expressed her gratitude to the factory leaders. When the union chairman learned the result of the discussion among the three of them, he took her aside to encourage and comfort her. He also told her that she could stay in the provincial capital for a few more days and stay anywhere in the guesthouse. He also warmly invited her to come and visit when she was free in the future, and that she was always welcome at the Qianjin Steel Plant.

After saying goodbye and going downstairs, Meng Tao thought of what Xian Fangfang said about the department store supplying tickets, which could be used to buy ready-made clothes. She was tempted. Meng Taohua's clothes were all old and worn out, and she really needed a few new clothes of her own. Now she had money and tickets, so she bought them! She had just visited the department store yesterday, and the impression was still fresh in her mind. Almost immediately, Meng Tao listed a lot of things she wanted to buy, and found the motivation to go shopping in the mall in her previous life. It was a long-lost feeling, and Meng Tao couldn't help but smile.

It’s the second update, my dears, please vote and don’t forget to give a five-star rating.

(End of this chapter)