Chapter 14

“No. Are you paying me back or not? I know Gu Dahai gave you thirty yuan as bride price, you haven’t spent it all yet, have you? If you don’t return the money, I’ll go around the village telling people about a certain educated youth getting pregnant before marriage.” Song Wanyue was stubborn when it came to money.

Back in her university days, she relied on part-time jobs to support herself, otherwise she wouldn’t have had enough to live on. After ten years of hard studying, she majored in accounting. The first couple of years after graduation, earning money did feel good, but then she got tired of the endless overtime for just five or six thousand a month.

Later she quit that job and became a work-from-home customer service rep, while also writing novels and even running a barbecue stall. Eventually she scraped together enough money, borrowed some more, and opened a snack shop. By luck, it paid off — she recouped her investment in two years.

Who would have thought, she got so happy counting her money that she suddenly died, and ended up here in this era. If only it were the 1980s, she could already be running her own street business.

To do business now, she needed to finish her tasks, build up funds, and strive toward an early retirement life.

Unwillingly, Zhou Shanshan went back inside and fetched the money for Song Wanyue, looking at her pitifully.

“You have to promise me, you won’t tell anyone. Wanyue, are we still good friends?”

Song Wanyue slapped her twice. “You? Deserve it? When you schemed against me, did you ever think for my sake? Thick-skinned shameless thing. From now on, we’re strangers.”

She wasn’t foolish enough to treat her enemy as a friend.

Zhou Shanshan had even been one of the culprits in the original host’s death.

Since she dared to covet the Song family’s property, Song Wanyue would make sure Zhou Shanshan and the Gu family were left with nothing.

Still, the unwed pregnancy secret was better whispered among the educated youth girls only, just as a warning. If it spread widely, it would stain their reputations — and in this era, a woman’s reputation was everything.

Covering her face in disbelief, Zhou Shanshan asked bitterly, “Wanyue, how can you talk to me like this? We were best friends. We studied together from childhood. Do you really want to throw away our classmates’ bond?”

In the city, Zhou Shanshan always put on a pitiful act, which had led the original host to shield her.

But in the end, Zhou Shanshan, the ungrateful white-eyed wolf, had coaxed her into going to the countryside, knowing how hard it would be, knowing she was the only daughter of the Song family, and still scheming against her.

Song Wanyue said coldly, “Zhou Shanshan, were you ever really my friend? Then tell me, pushing me to take over your husband and child — was that your idea of kindness? I’d rather not. Too terrifying.”

“A true friend hopes the other lives well. You? What have you ever done for me? When we first came down here, I knew you had stomach pain during your period, so I helped with your chores. Later, even if you didn’t say it, I saw your pale face and helped anyway.”

“And how did you repay me? By going around saying I was lazy, spoiled at home, only good at enjoying myself. You told people even the cooking was done by you. When really, you whined that you had no money, couldn’t even buy clam oil, your family wouldn’t send support — so I paid you two yuan a month to cook for me.”

“You took the benefit and the reputation too. Only after you married Gu Dahai did my own reputation finally improve. I started learning to cook, and found out it wasn’t hard at all.”

“Truth is, Zhou Shanshan, I asked you to teach me cooking. You told me there was no need, since you’d be there to do it.”

These words of the heart made Song Wanyue ache.

The original host had truly treated Zhou Shanshan as a friend. In the city, where many families favored boys over girls, girls like Zhou Shanshan were common, so she tried to help her more.

Who knew Zhou Shanshan wasn’t a real friend at all, just a user.

The original host had other friends in the city, but Zhou Shanshan was the most calculating one, and also the hardest-hearted.

Zhou Shanshan’s face was streaked with tears. Choking up, she said, “Your family was so well off. Would it kill you to help me a little more? You always claimed to treat me as a friend — why didn’t you find me a job in the city? If you had, I wouldn’t have schemed against you. It’s your fault, your life was better… and you were…” easy to trick, soft-hearted.

Song Wanyue chuckled lightly. “You mean kind and gullible, right? But why should I get you a job? Even if I had one, and gave it to you, how would you repay me? Could your family afford it?”

“A job costs at least five or six hundred yuan. I’d never just hand it to you. I only went down here with you because you were a girl, and I thought I could look after you more.”

“Zhou Shanshan, you scheming with Gu Dahai was probably about my family’s money and jobs, right? My parents both had stable work. If your plan succeeded, Gu Dahai marrying me would mean inheriting my father’s job. And if not, you think my family would just let a grown man sit idle at home with a baby?”

“Gu Dahai’s grades were poor, so you put ideas in his head about shortcuts. Zhou Shanshan, you really are ruthless. With a decent, honest husband, no one would agree to this, but he did.”

That showed how greedy for wealth and status Gu Dahai was.

Ambition wasn’t bad in itself. But hurting others to get it was.

Zhou Shanshan stammered, trying to defend herself: “No, I… I didn’t. It was Dahai, it was his idea.”

She could never admit it. Without Song Wanyue, where would she find such a good friend?

Song Wanyue sneered, “It’s not hard to guess your scheme. But have you thought, who’s been backing me? Careful — if you dare target me again, next time, who knows which bed the three of you might end up on.”

“Gu Dahai has feelings for you, you have ambition. With the temptation of becoming a Beijing resident right in front of him, of course he was tempted. To reach the top, besides university or saving someone, what else is there but marriage?”

“What’s stronger than marriage ties?”

Zhou Shanshan felt like lightning struck her. “It was you, it was you who did it. Who’s helping you from behind?”

Her instincts weren’t wrong. The drugged ones had run off, the people in bed had changed, but they had no proof.

Song Wanyue: “Take a guess. I’m not the only one in this village who can’t stand you.”

She wanted to deepen Zhou Shanshan’s fear, so she wouldn’t dare scheme again.

Still, Song Wanyue considered finding someone to keep watch over Zhou Shanshan, at least until she returned to the city.

What if Zhou Shanshan went mad and tried her old tricks again?

But probably not — she wouldn’t be stupid enough to target another female educated youth now. Zhou Shanshan had already returned to the Gu family, and in everyone’s eyes, she was back with Gu Dahai.

After coming down here, Zhou Shanshan had even gotten young men in the village to do her chores during work.

She claimed it was because “if you’re courting someone, you have to show it with action.”

It only stopped after the Party secretary himself scolded her, because the boys’ families had complained to the committee. The rumors were bad for the educated youths’ reputations.

So the village made a strict rule: no helping others unless paid. That finally ended it.

Zhou Shanshan looked at Song Wanyue in fear. “Wanyue, you’ve become so cold. I can hardly recognize you anymore. Are you still that pure, kind girl from before?”

Her plan was broken — now where could she go?

Even Dahai worried that if she got into university, she’d never come back.

She was from Beijing, and indeed had no thought of ever returning to the countryside.

She had wanted to take her husband and child with her. But in Beijing, without a job, how could they survive?

Song Wanyue smirked, “And you, heartless and vicious as you are, daring to ruin my reputation — I shouldn’t fight back? I learned it from you. I have to say, the trick works well.”

“Kindness — can it fill your belly? Or was I just supposed to let you use me without complaint?”