Chapter 132 The Scramble
Mo Honghong, with a child, had nowhere to go and no one to rely on. Zhao Jian'an had a stable job and savings; if they got married, they could buy a house.
Moreover, Zhao Jian'an has no bad habits, is emotionally stable, has good character, and would not commit domestic violence. His only weakness is his leg, but this does not prevent him from earning money to support his family.
In Molly's opinion, it was a good choice for Mo Honghong to marry Zhao Jian'an.
But Mo Honghong refused, saying, "I'm scared, I don't want to get married again. I have a daughter, and if I make another mistake, I'm worried I won't be able to bear the consequences."
Molly was silent for a long while, then said, "What if that person is a good person?"
Mo Honghong shook her head again.
Molly gave a self-deprecating laugh, realizing she had taken things for granted. "Sorry, just pretend I didn't mention it."
After saying that, Molly turned around and walked towards the car.
Mo Honghong did not accept her suggestion, but she was not angry.
She has the ability to help Mo Honghong, and if she doesn't, she won't feel guilty.
That's settled then.
Molly didn't look back once, and drove away into the rain.
Tears streamed down Mo Honghong's face, her face contorted with regret and remorse.
"Mommy, don't cry." The little girl started crying too.
“Mom didn’t cry.” Mo Honghong stared in the direction the car had disappeared, not understanding why Molly hadn’t helped her this time. Molly could afford such a nice car, so why wasn’t she willing to show her any kindness, even if it was just a few dozen or a few hundred yuan?
Did she do something wrong?
Molly returned home to find two more people there, both of whom she knew.
"Yu Duoduo?" Molly was stunned. She looked at He Pan. "Did you come together?"
He Pan nodded, "Yes, they came together. This girl is amazing. She sneaked onto our truck and followed us from the south to Beijing. For two and a half whole days, no one noticed her."
"Auntie~" Yu Duoduo murmured. At nineteen years old, she looked like a bean sprout, thin and yellow.
"What's wrong with you?" Molly asked.
Before Yu Duoduo could speak, He Pan said, "She said she was trafficked to the south. The older women in the village said they would introduce them to jobs, and they took money from a group of girls, but then they sold them to the red-light district."
“Because I’m thin, I was able to squeeze through the window. After I got out, I ran all the way, climbing onto any car I saw. I took a nap and when I woke up, I was in Beijing,” Yu Duoduo said.
"You slept for two and a half days?" Molly didn't believe it.
"I woke up a few times during the journey. I was so tired and hungry that I fainted." Yu Duoduo didn't dare to look up.
Molly: "......."
The girl who once promised to repay the money ended up in her hands again a few years later.
So what are your plans now?
"Auntie, can you take me in?" Yu Duoduo looked at Molly with hopeful eyes. "I don't ask to be your daughter like Duoduo. I can work for you. Just give me a place to live and food to eat. As long as you're willing to take me in, I'll do anything you ask."
Molly hesitated and didn't speak.
Yu Duoduo knelt down. "Please let me stay. I'll do anything. Auntie, do you remember my eldest sister, Yu Ya? My mother married her off to a fifty-year-old contractor. That contractor had three or four concubines. My sister couldn't compete with them. She was heavily pregnant and was pushed off a building by the concubines, and she died. My mother took 20,000 yuan from the contractor, didn't call the police, and just let the contractor and his concubines go. I don't want to go back to my hometown. I'm afraid I'll end up like my eldest sister."
"Twenty thousand yuan to buy a human life?" He Pan frowned. How could there be such a mother?
“Twenty thousand yuan is a lot of money. In the village, someone beat his wife to death and didn’t get a single penny, and he got away with it. My mom got twenty thousand yuan, and she proudly bragged to others, saying that she had good taste and found a rich man for my sister.” Yu Duoduo also found it absurd, but she felt that someone like her, let alone twenty thousand, would have her mother sell her without hesitation if she were given five thousand.
"The police aren't doing anything about it?" He Pan didn't understand.
“That contractor has connections. And if my mom doesn’t call the police, they’ll just pretend nothing happened.” That’s what Yu Duoduo is most afraid of.
He Pan fell silent.
"So I can't go back, I'll die." Yu Duoduo looked at Molly again, her face full of pleading.
Molly thought of Mo Honghong, but Mo Honghong didn't want to marry Zhao Jian'an, so what about Yu Duoduo?
"What if I also make you get married?" Molly stared into Yu Duoduo's eyes.
“Then I’ll marry you. I trust your character, Auntie.” Yu Duoduo blurted out without a second’s hesitation.
Molly: "The man you married was more than ten years older than you."
"Then I'll marry him too."
He was missing a section of his lower leg.
“It doesn’t matter, as long as he can support the family.”
“This is someone you know. He’s Zhao Jian’an, who used to come to my house often when we were in the camp. You call him Uncle Zhao.”
"Oh, him? He's alright."
Yu Duoduo breathed a sigh of relief.
Molly was surprised, "You really want to?"
“Of course I’m willing,” Yu Duoduo said frankly. “I remember that Uncle Zhao was good-looking and had a good character. Most importantly, he and you, Auntie, were close. If you can live in such a nice place, Uncle Zhao’s conditions must be pretty good too. He has a house in Beijing and a stable job. I can’t have a chance with a man like that. I’m tired of the hard life in the countryside, so I want to come to the city to live.”
Molly: "......."
The house Zhao Jian'an is currently living in belongs to her, but she can give the house to Zhao Jian'an as a wedding gift.
Yu Duoduo stayed at Molly's house for the time being.
That evening, Molly brought up the matter with Ji Hefeng.
“Jian’an is now a school staff member, and the school built a staff building on campus. Jian’an also has a quota. I reserved a three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment for him. He can move in after a simple renovation,” Ji Hefeng said.
Molly: "That would be perfect."
Ji Hefeng nodded, "From now on, Jian'an will stay at the school as the director of the administrative office, with a monthly salary of two hundred yuan."
Molly thought it was good. "The income is not low, and the job is respectable."
Ji Hefeng: "The work isn't too tiring, and Jian'an can handle it. In the past two years, in addition to work, Hefeng has also been studying on his own in the evenings. He enrolled in night school and is preparing to graduate."
Molly was surprised. "He is quite ambitious."
Ji Hefeng nodded, "That's right. As for you, shouldn't you go to school and get a degree?"
Molly: "......."
How did this get dragged into her?
“I see you’ve been studying a lot. I can get you a high school enrollment permit, and you can take the college entrance exam next year. Just apply to our school. You can attend classes, and I can go to work. We can leave together every day and come back together at night.” Ji Hefeng thought it was a feasible idea more and more.
Molly agreed, "Okay."
Ji Hefeng was finally satisfied. "For the next eight months, I'll hire a tutor for you. You need systematic learning."
Molly did not refuse.
The next day, Molly contacted Zhao Jian'an and said she would introduce him to someone.
Zhao Jian'an refused, even after Molly mentioned Yu Duoduo's situation.
“Just arrange a job for her. Don’t just dump her here with me. It’s not like you’re doing this to a girl who’s unwilling and ruining her life,” Zhao Jian’an said.
“She’s willing,” Molly corrected Zhao Jian’an.
“She’s only willing now. She has no choice but to agree. After this period of time, she might regret it.” Zhao Jian’an felt that the girl was only nineteen years old and there was really no need for her to date a disabled older man like him.
Molly: "She might not regret it."
Zhao Jian'an: "But we shouldn't make decisions when we have no other choice."
Molly knew she couldn't persuade Zhao Jian'an.
After hanging up the phone, Molly looked at Yu Duoduo beside her. "You heard it too, he doesn't believe it. How about this, I'll introduce you to a job first, so you can support yourself. If you still want to marry Zhao Jian'an then, I'll arrange for you two to meet."
Yu Duoduo seemed to be thinking, "That Uncle Zhao is better than I imagined."
Molly nodded. "He's a really nice person."
Molly plans to arrange for Yu Duoduo to work as a shop assistant in her cake shop, but before that, she wants to take Yu Duoduo to the hospital for a check-up to make sure that she is free of infectious diseases.
Molly had Yu Duoduo undergo more than a dozen tests, and the results were good; apart from malnutrition, there were no other problems.
When Molly was leaving the hospital with Yu Duoduo, she was stopped by Mo Honghong.
"Molly, I'm willing to marry the person you mentioned yesterday," Mo Honghong said, her eyes red with tears.
“No way, I want to marry her. I’ve also taken a liking to her, and I was the one who agreed first,” Yu Duoduo said. She looked Mo Honghong up and down. This woman was older and uglier than her, and she had a daughter. Her conditions were not as good as hers.
Yu Duoduo was relieved.
Mo Honghong was stunned, and tears fell down her face. She knelt down before Mo Li again, saying, "My daughter got caught in the rain yesterday and developed a high fever. I have no other choice."
Molly frowned as she looked at the little girl in Mo Honghong's arms, whose face was flushed from fever. The little girl was three years old, but she didn't look as robust as Ji Yi, who was only one year old. She didn't say anything, but took out five hundred yuan from her bag and handed it to Mo Honghong, saying, "Go see a doctor."
Mo Honghong accepted it and kowtowed several times to Mo Li, saying, "Thank you, thank you."
Molly didn't say anything, and led Yu Duoduo forward.
"Molly, I'm sorry," Mo Honghong apologized.
Molly paused. "It was a mutual decision, there's nothing to apologize for."
"Molly, I do. I thought about it all night, and I regret it. I'm willing to marry her." Mo Honghong truly regretted it. She should have trusted Molly. Molly wouldn't harm her; otherwise, she wouldn't have given her money twice without ever mentioning repayment. Her daughter was still young and needed shelter, a home, and a father.
She could no longer continue to sleep on the streets with her daughter.
"Tch, such a condescending attitude, who cares?" Yu Duoduo pouted. "I already said I want to marry Uncle Zhao. Uncle Zhao owns a house, a three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment. He's the dean of academic affairs at a university, earning two hundred yuan a month. He has savings, and he's never been married before. With such good conditions, plenty of women want to marry him. For example, me, I'd be very willing to marry him."
Molly looked at Yu Duoduo in surprise. She hadn't seen her so enthusiastic yesterday. Why did she suddenly seem so determined to marry Zhao Jian'an?
“Auntie, I won’t stay at your house anymore. I’ll move to Uncle Zhao’s house in a little while. I’ll do his laundry, cook for him, and take care of him.”
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