"No way, a thousand yuan is too much. Where am I going to get that much money to give her! Shu Hui is just a rural woman with no job and no education. She eats and drinks our food. Why should we give her money?" Jiang Meifeng shouted.
"Never mind, Mother."
Zhou Jian'an was already annoyed enough. Didn't his mother see what the villagers were saying about him? He hadn't expected the villagers to overwhelmingly support Shu Hui; he had no idea what kind of spell this woman had cast on them. If this got out of hand, it would damage his reputation. If the news reached Beijing, he'd be in deep trouble.
Zhou Jian'an said hurriedly, "If I don't get a divorce, I won't be able to explain to Qin Xue. You know she's from the Dai family. What kind of family is the Dai family? Do you think they'd let a man like me, who's not divorced, be with their daughter? If I get a divorce, I can climb the social ladder by marrying into the Dai family. Wouldn't everything in the Dai family be mine in the future? What's a thousand yuan? Don't just look at that little bit of profit in front of you!"
Jiang Meifeng was unsure. "Are you sure Dai Qinxue is that Dai family's daughter?"
"How could this be false! I saw Qin Xue enter the compound with my own eyes, and I saw her get into a four-wheeled car. I asked around, and the family in that compound is surnamed Dai, there's no mistake! Besides, can an ordinary family cultivate Qin Xue's temperament?"
Jiang Meifeng thought to herself that Dai Qinxue did indeed have the air of a pretentious vixen.
But she didn't dare say it directly. Her son liked her, and she was a member of the Dai family. The Dai family's reputation was terrifying. In the future, the Zhou family would inevitably have to rely on her for support, and even she, as the mother-in-law, would have to please her.
Ultimately, the Zhou family was inferior, so no matter how unwilling Jiang Meifeng was, she could only grit her teeth and scrape together seven hundred yuan.
It's just seven hundred yuan. Her son said he can earn it back in the future. With Dai Qinxue's family background, seven thousand is worth it!
But the Zhou family are all poor relatives, who would lend them so much money?
Jiang Meifeng had no choice but to use Zhou Jian'an's status as a college student as collateral, promising to pay interest, before she could borrow four hundred yuan from her relatives. She then unlocked the cabinet and took out three hundred yuan that she had kept hidden away.
"That's all we have. We'll owe you the remaining three hundred for now, and we'll try to raise the rest later."
Jiang Meifeng wished she could devour Chu Yu whole.
If it weren't for her eldest granddaughter, she was confident she could get rid of Shu Hui, this pushover, without spending a single penny.
Chu Yu glanced at the stack of ten-yuan bills. In the early 1980s, before the winds of reform reached the countryside, rural people could only sell their vegetables, grains, and eggs, and the whole family could only earn a hundred or two yuan a year.
Shu Hui's income from farming was all spent by Zhou Jian'an, so the family didn't have much savings.
Chu Yu was afraid that things might get complicated and she wouldn't even get the seven hundred, so she had Zhou Jian'an write an IOU and put his fingerprint on it.
Zhou Jian'an looked terrible, as if someone had swallowed a piece of his flesh. He had originally intended to drive Shu Hui and the child away without giving them a single penny, but this was far beyond his expectations.
In contrast to him, Chu Yu was in a good mood as he carefully put away the IOU, counted the money, and made sure that not a penny was missing before letting Shu Hui sign the divorce agreement.
After Shu Hui signed the papers, she was completely stunned. She had really signed and put her fingerprint on them. She was divorced from Zhou Jian'an and was no longer a daughter-in-law of the Zhou family!
Shu Hui had lived in Zhoujia Village for nearly twenty years and was familiar with the villagers. Everyone was staring at her, and Shu Hui couldn't lift her head.
Jiang Meifeng paid seven hundred yuan, heartbroken and wanting to tear them apart. "Get out of here after the divorce! Don't let me see you again! When Jian'an becomes successful, don't even think about taking advantage of our Jian'an!"
Chu Xiang was so angry that she wanted to argue with her, but Shu Hui pulled her back. Years of being enslaved by Jiang Meifeng had left her with psychological trauma, and she was afraid of this mother-in-law from the bottom of her heart. This was Zhou family territory, so it was better to avoid trouble, especially since Jiang Meifeng was Chu Xiang's own grandmother.
A granddaughter who disobeys her grandmother will be talked about behind her back.
"Mom, let's go!" Chu Yu helped Shu Hui up.
Shu Hui nodded, and the four of them, mother and daughters, carrying their packages, walked out of the Zhou family's gate. Although they weren't exactly alone, they still looked somewhat lonely.
Shu Hui was well-liked, and the villagers were very reluctant to let her go.
"Shu Hui, come back and visit more often in the future."
The old lady who spoke was called Aunt Sun. She was over eighty years old. Her husband had died in the war years ago, and she became a widow less than a month after getting married. She had no children, and Shu Hui helped take care of her whenever she had a headache or fever. When she saw that Shu Hui was getting a divorce, she was more upset than if her own daughter had been wronged, and she kept wiping away tears.
"That man has no conscience. If you raise the child well, you'll definitely live a better life than him! You'll have your time to enjoy life later!"
Shu Hui was moved to tears by what she said, but it was nothing more than words of comfort. She had three daughters and didn't even have a place to live. How could she possibly be better off than Zhou Jian'an, a college student?
Jiang Meifeng stood inside the house and spat, saying angrily, "Don't come back after you leave! I want to see how you, a woman alone with three daughters, manage to survive!"
The door was pushed open, and Zhou Chufei, who had climbed out of the pond, ran home with his clothes soaked, water plants on his head, and hands covered in mud.
"Grandma, Zhou Chuyu hit me! She kicked me into the pond and cursed me to die a horrible death! Grandma, please hit her!"
"Damn it, look what you've done to my grandson..."
I heard Jiang Meifeng cursing behind me.
None of the four took Jiang Meifeng's words to heart. Jiang Meifeng had kicked them out of the house so that Zhou Jian'an could marry Dai Qinxue. After all that trouble, even though Jiang Meifeng was their grandmother, there was little affection left between them.
Just as I reached the door, I bumped into Dai Qinxue, who was rushing over.
She had the air of a capitalist's daughter, wearing a plaid long skirt, her curly hair pulled up high, and sheepskin shoes. She had an air of superiority, and her gaze swept over the aged Shu Hui's face with disdain and smugness.
When Shu Hui first met Dai Qinxue, she was stung by the expression on Dai Qinxue's face, and feelings of inferiority began to sprout in her heart. So this was the woman Zhou Jian'an had mentioned in his letter, the woman Zhou Jian'an was willing to abandon his wife to marry.
No wonder Zhou Jian'an didn't want her. Dai Qinxue was beautiful, knew how to dress, and had an aura that this country woman couldn't match. What did she have to compete with Dai Qinxue?
Chu Yu was unaware that Shu Hui was belittling herself in her heart. She only looked at Xu Yiyi next to Dai Qinxue. The smugness on Xu Yiyi's face, which belonged only to a victor, made Chu Yu raise her eyebrows inexplicably.
Although the original owner and Xu Yiyi were meeting for the first time, they had a past conflict.
Although the original owner of this body was not talkative, she had excellent grades. She had a crush on Zhao Hanqiao from the same village since childhood. There was only one spot available for students to attend the county high school, and the original owner deliberately skipped the exam so that Zhao Hanqiao could get in. To help Zhao Hanqiao get into university, the original owner gave up her own studies and devoted herself entirely to tutoring him.
This year, Zhao Hanqiao was admitted to a university in Beijing as she wished. The original owner was very happy for Zhao Hanqiao, and Zhao Hanqiao promised to come back to pick her up.
The original owner was just as naive as her biological mother, Shu Hui, foolishly waiting for Zhao Hanqiao to return.
Unexpectedly, Xu Yiyi found the original owner and said that Zhao Hanqiao was already with her. The original owner was furious and argued with Xu Yiyi, which led to Xu Yiyi pushing her into the water.
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