To get on Zhao Jinghai's good side, she had always neglected her own two children while doting on Zhao Huilan. But all her kindness had been for naught; the girl simply didn't care.
'In the past, our family was at least peaceful. But now, the moment something comes up, this stepdaughter screams at me and says such vicious things. It proves Zhao Huilan never saw me as family, much less appreciated my sacrifices. I can't be so foolish anymore—favoring someone else's child at the expense of my own.'
"What are your demands?" Zhao Jinghai asked. Seeing his daughter and mother fuming, and then seeing Xia Yingyu crying so heartbrokenly, he grew agitated. He just wanted to smooth things over quickly so he could get back to work in peace.
Zhao Nuanyue looked at Zhao Jinghai calmly and said, "First, I want to be assigned to support construction in a place with relatively abundant resources. That way, I can guarantee I won't starve. Second, I'm taking my younger brother with me. We're going together. Third, you will give the subsidy for my brother and me directly to us. You'll mail it to us every month."
At these words, Wang Lianhua's eyes lit up. She had long despised Nuanyue and Nuanyang. Now they would both be gone for good, no longer an eyesore in her sight. Of course, she was thrilled. 'As for those rations,' she schemed, 'we'll just give them a little to send them on their way. We won't give them anything after that. It's not like the two of them can come back from some faraway place to demand it!'
"Fine, I agree," Wang Lianhua said with a smile. "Jinghai, time waits for no one. You should go get it done quickly. Supporting the nation's development is an urgent matter. You're a Party member, so you need to be even more proactive. Don't hold the Party back."
Hearing Wang Lianhua's empty, sanctimonious words, Zhao Nuanyue couldn't help but sneer. 'I've met shameless people before, but never anyone *this* shameless.'
'But in this day and age, I suppose only shameless people like her can thrive and live so successfully.'
Zhao Huilan sneered. 'Later, I'll get Grandma and Dad to send these two deadweights to the most remote, impoverished place possible. Let them starve to death, work to death, or die of sickness. They should never, ever come back. Out of sight, out of mind!'
Xia Yingyu finally mustered her courage. She was, after all, a mother. In front of her two children, she pleaded with Zhao Jinghai, "Nuanyue and Nuanyang are still so young! They're only fifteen. How can they go to such a harsh place? You can't let them go!"
"If they don't go, does that mean you want me to go?" Zhao Huilan's brows shot up as she glared, her expression an exact replica of Wang Lianhua's. "Fine! I'll go report you this instant for abusing your stepdaughter and disrespecting your mother-in-law!"
Zhao Nuanyue shoved aside the hand Zhao Huilan was using to point at Xia Yingyu and retorted, "You have no manners. Besides, making reports? Anyone can do that! Tomorrow, I'll go kneel in the street, right at the entrance to the residential compound, and tell everyone how you bully orphans. Let's see who's more willing to lose face."
Xia Yingyu was touched. 'That's my own daughter, after all. She knows how to protect me.'
"When something like this happens to a family, someone has to go. Since Nuanyue is willing, I'll naturally find a good placement for her and Nuanyang." Zhao Jinghai didn't dare meet Xia Yingyu's disappointed gaze. If he didn't resolve this today, his own daughter—Huilan—would be the one sent off to a life of hardship.
Then his ex-wife would come and curse him, his former parents-in-law would cause trouble for him, and his own mother standing right here would never allow him to let his precious daughter suffer.
"Zhao Jinghai!" Xia Yingyu's voice was a mixture of fury and pleading, but Zhao Jinghai wouldn't yield. He knew that if he caved today, there would only be more trouble down the road.
'Besides,' he thought, 'women are like that. You just have to coax them a little after they get angry, and they'll be fine. The important thing is to have another son with her while she's still young. That's what really matters.'
'Once they had a new child, Xia Yingyu would settle down and live a stable life with him. She wouldn't be so fixated on those other children, and he would no longer feel like he was raising kids for another man.'
Zhao Jinghai ignored Xia Yingyu and looked at Zhao Nuanyue. He nodded. "I promise you. I'll take care of it. You just wait at home."
Hearing her father say this, Zhao Huilan was finally relieved. She shot a triumphant look at Zhao Nuanyue and even raised her fist in a taunting gesture.
Zhao Nuanyue glanced at Zhao Huilan. 'So childish.' Ignoring her, she turned to Zhao Jinghai and Wang Lianhua and said gravely, "Don't even think about sending me and Nuanyang to some backwater place to get rid of us quietly. I might as well lay my cards on the table right now. If things go badly for me, someone will deliver a letter I've already written to the higher-ups in the organization."
Wang Lianhua exploded with rage. 'This little bastard is a menace!' she thought. Pointing at Zhao Nuanyue, she cursed, "You ungrateful wretch! When I make a promise, I keep it. But look at you, full of nasty tricks. Aren't you afraid your guts will rot and you'll die a miserable death! Besides, our family has a politically sound and clean background! We're not people you can just slander however you please!"
"I can face heaven and earth with a clear conscience, so I have nothing to fear." The corners of Zhao Nuanyue's lips curled up as she shot a contemptuous look at Wang Lianhua and Zhao Jinghai. "Heh, since you value your clean background so much, why did you steal all that money from the Liu Family? Hmmm… let me think, where was it buried? Under your bed, maybe? Hmmm... or was it behind the main gate?"
This was all information Zhao Nuanyue had learned in her past life. Wang Lianhua had only dared to take out the loot and sell it off near the end of that era of great change, and had once smugly bragged to people about her "war spoils."
Hearing Zhao Nuanyue's words, Wang Lianhua's deeply wrinkled face turned even darker. Her son knew about the money under the bed, and he might have told Xia Yingyu. But the money buried three feet deep behind the main gate? Only she knew about that. Her son certainly didn't, which meant it was absolutely impossible for Zhao Nuanyue to know!
'Based on how Zhao Nuanyue has been acting today... how on earth does she know so much?'
The room fell silent. Everyone stared at Zhao Nuanyue.
"What else do you know?" Wang Lianhua's expression was grim. She looked as if she wanted nothing more than to strangle Zhao Nuanyue on the spot.
Zhao Nuanyue wasn't intimidated by her glare. 'She's just a paper tiger,' she thought. 'Who's afraid of who?'
"I think there's some under the firewood pile in the kitchen, too, right?" Zhao Nuanyue said with a smile. "It's just that, well, when my stomach is full, my memory isn't so good. I can't seem to recall that many things. But when I'm hungry... my mind is crystal clear. I can remember everything. And just to make sure I don't forget anything important, I've written it all down and stashed it in a safe place. So if anything happens to Nuanyang and me, don't think anyone else is getting off easy. If we go down, we're all going down together. We all have cheap lives anyway, so who cares!"
When Wang Lianhua heard this, the fleshy parts of her face twitched. Beside her, Zhao Jinghai stared at Zhao Nuanyue in disbelief.
'He had truly underestimated Zhao Nuanyue.'
"Fine, I guarantee it!" Zhao Jinghai said through gritted teeth, his expression dark as he glared at Zhao Nuanyue.
'If Zhao Nuanyue were to expose these things,' he thought, 'his entire family, young and old, would be doomed!'