Li Wenxiang thought for a moment, and seemed to recall a certain number, which made her feel flustered.
“I did give her money, though it wasn’t much, but she’s a girl and wouldn’t need much,” Li Wenxiang argued.
[It's really funny how the auntie is acting; she won't say exactly how much it is.]
"Auntie, tell me, how much do you pay me per month?"
I think it's definitely only two hundred, but I'm more curious about how much money she gave her adopted daughter!!
Auntie, please tell me! Auntie, please tell me! Auntie, please tell me!
Seeing that she didn't speak, Lin Zhiluo did some quick calculations and said, "I knew you wouldn't give too much, but I didn't expect it to be this amount. Twenty a month, I never expected that, ma'am, you are really generous."
[Twenty? To be honest, that's not even enough for a decent cup of milk tea, but Xue Wang could drink two or three.]
Twenty? Is your daughter some kind of fairy who drinks dew and doesn't need to eat or drink? Twenty sanitary napkins wouldn't even be enough.
You'd better tell me that twenty is a month's allowance, excluding food.
Lin Zhilu looked at the comments: "This 20 yuan includes her food, drink, and basic necessities."
She looked at Li Wenxiang: "How much money did you give your adopted daughter?"
Li Wenxiang didn't want to speak at first, but after meeting Lin Zhiluo's eyes, her voice was weak: "Nianxi is a girl, and girls should be raised in luxury. Naturally, she should eat well and dress well. I spend no less than ten thousand yuan on her every month."
"You spend 10,000 on your adopted daughter but only 20 on your own daughter. Have you ever thought about what 20 means for a child about to take the college entrance exam in today's society?"
“I don’t know. Twenty was a huge sum of money in our time. She was already very happy. Why did she have to ask for so much?”
“Happiness?” Lin Zhilu shook her head. She said to Li Wenxiang, “There’s a diary in your daughter’s room. She didn’t take it with her, so it’s probably not important anymore and isn’t considered personal property. You can take it out and see if your daughter is truly happy.”
Looking at Li Wenxiang's face and comparing it with Qiao Zaoyao's birth chart, she realized that the mother and daughter had a very weak connection and would not have any contact with each other in the future.
After Qiao Zaoyao paid back the 20,000 yuan, their relationship ended, and all that remained was Qiao Zaoyao's monthly pension, which was based on the minimum standard.
Li Wenxiang didn't want to go, but she seemed to be controlled by someone and went to Qiao Zaoyao's residence.
She held up her phone so everyone could see the interior design of her home—warm, spacious, and quite large.
But Li Wenxiang went straight to the balcony, where there was a simple desk and a bed. It didn't look like a balcony at all, but rather like a place where people lived.
Lin Zhilu asked her, "Is this your balcony? Is it where Qiao Zaoyao sleeps?"
“It’s a small balcony in our house, and Qiao Zaoyao lives here.”
"Is your house very small? Can I see your house? Your biological daughter sleeps in this place, so your adopted daughter's place can't be much better."
Li Wenxiang immediately stood up, her heart filled with uncontrollable terror. She didn't want to talk, but she was like a puppet, answering whatever the other person asked.
She started to get scared. She knew the woman was a master, but she never expected her to know these things.
Lin Zhilu sneered. She usually didn't use such methods, but in her opinion, making things easier for that girl in the future was more important than saving face for the woman in front of her.
"This is our house, nearly 200 square meters, and this is my husband's and my bedroom."
She showed Lin Zhiluo around her home, and Lin Zhiluo's face grew increasingly blank as she looked on. Qi Zhiyang took Lin Zhiluo's hand and whispered to her not to be angry.
Lin Zhiluo turned away from the live stream and whispered to Qi Zhiyang, "I'm not angry, I just feel sorry for that girl."
After saying that, the camera returned to the live stream.
Qi Zhiyang watched Lin Zhiluo's live stream and secretly planned to accidentally show his face in the live stream in a few days. Anyway, he and Lin Zhiluo had a lot of CP fans when they were on the dating reality show.
Li Wenxiang entered her adopted daughter Qiao Nianxi's room. The room was decorated warmly, with a pink theme that was full of love.
"This is Nianxi's room. It has a private bathroom and a walk-in closet," she introduced, then opened another door, revealing a beautifully decorated study filled with various books and a computer.
"This is a study. It was originally a small secondary bedroom, but because Nianxi said she wanted a study, we gave it to her to use as a study."
"Oh, so your house is so big, why does it let a girl sleep on the balcony?" Lin Zhiluo asked softly, at which point the restrictions on Li Wenxiang had been lifted.
She looked at Lin Zhiluo in horror; she wanted to disconnect, but she couldn't.
Lin Zhiluo said, "Your family is truly blind and mistaking a fish eye for a pearl. You don't even want such a good biological daughter, but now you like something that is both stupid and wicked."
"You're holding your own daughter's birthdate in your hands. Now, can you read aloud what she wrote?"
Li Wenxiang didn't want to miss it, but that uncontrollable feeling came back again.
[June 11, 201x: Today I have to pay money. My mom said I spend a lot of her money every day. She said this is the last time she will give me money. She threw the money on the ground and told me to pick it up.]
I felt humiliated. She thought it was too much for me to pay only 200 yuan for materials, but she didn't think it was too much for Qiao Nianxi to pay 4,000 yuan for a dress.
All these years later, I still don't understand, but I know I won't get the answer by asking. Asking might just get me a slap and a good scolding. Thankfully, summer vacation is almost here. I'm graduating from junior high this year, so I should be able to find work then. Actually, I've worked before. If I hadn't gotten sick a few days ago and gone to the hospital, I could have paid the 200 yuan bill myself. My mom doesn't seem to have noticed that I haven't asked for money for two years.
[September 22, 201x: It's so hot today. I don't want to go home. We moved to a new place, but I have nowhere to stay. I'm sleeping on the balcony. There's no air conditioning or fan there; it's like a sauna. I feel terrible. But Ms. Li thinks I'm living a life of luxury every day.]
[February 16, 201x: I'm now a first-year high school student, but my money is gone. Li Wenxiang found the money I earned from my part-time job, but she thinks I stole it from her wallet. She took the money and gave it to Qiao Nianxi. That was my living expenses and school fees. I also wanted to buy a new cotton-padded coat for the New Year. I looked at that 200-yuan coat; it looked very warm, but now I have nothing. This winter is very cold. I think I hate Li Wenxiang.]
February 18, 201x: Today, Li Wenxiang slapped me. She demanded I kneel down and apologize to Qiao Nianxi, but I didn't. She beat me up because Qiao Nianxi cried—was it because I scored higher than her? My face is swollen from her slap. She forgot that today is my birthday. I go out to work every day, hoping the days ahead won't be so hard. I only hated Li Wenxiang for two days. If I could leave, I hope I would leave Li Wenxiang now.
As Li Wenxiang read, her voice trembled. She felt this emotion intensely for the first time. Her hands quickly flipped through the pages, hoping to find evidence of Qiao Zaoyao's love for her in her diary.
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