Chapter 9: Asking for Money

The kitchen knife sliced through the skin, and beads of blood immediately surfaced.

A sharp pain followed.

Song Jianhua’s body trembled uncontrollably, his eyes filled with terror as he looked at Song Yue.

Crazy!

That useless money-draining brat had gone mad!

Song Yue was quite satisfied with Song Jianhua’s reaction.

She withdrew the knife, stood up, and looked down at him condescendingly. “You’d better behave yourself unless you want more pain.”

Song Jianhua: “…”

Song Yue carried the knife to her bedroom door and turned to Li Huijuan. “Auntie, here’s the knife for you.”

Li Huijuan instinctively looked up.

“Catch.”

As soon as Song Yue spoke, the kitchen knife came flying toward her.

“Ah!”

Li Huijuan screamed in fright and jumped to the side.

The knife clattered to the ground with a loud clang.

Song Yue went back into her room and shut the door.

The creaking sound of the door closing sent chills down the spines of Song Jianhua, Li Huijuan, and Song Tiezi. They flinched and immediately turned their gazes toward the door.

Song Yue had already gone inside.

Now, only the three of them remained in the living room, staring at each other, still shaken.

The memory of Song Yue’s ruthlessness made them shudder involuntarily.

Li Huijuan had no time to dwell on it. She hurried into the kitchen to cook.

She didn’t want Song Yue to use this as another excuse to go crazy and beat her up—or worse, slice her with a knife…

So, she turned around and quickly got to work.

Song Jianhua was still sitting on the floor.

Song Tiezi walked over, reaching out to help him up. “Dad…”

But Song Jianhua swatted his hand away. “Don’t touch me! This was all your stupid idea!”

Song Tiezi staggered back, losing his balance. The pain in his groin flared up again, making him grimace.

Seeing this, Song Jianhua quickly scrambled to his feet, about to ask if he was okay.

But then, the thought hit him—if they had just signed Song Yue up for the countryside relocation program from the start, it would have been fine.

It was this damn brat who insisted that she’d come back if she went to the countryside but would never return if they sold her to a cripple!

And what happened in the end?

After all that scheming, they still had to sign her up for relocation, and now she was even blackmailing them for money!

Six hundred yuan—six whole hundred yuan!

That was more than half a year’s combined earnings for him and his wife!

If they didn’t pay up, they’d lose their jobs, and there’d be no future income!

The more Song Jianhua thought about it, the angrier he got. He turned around and stormed into his room without even glancing at Song Tiezi.

Song Tiezi was still in agony, and when he saw that his own father didn’t even care about him, he felt bitter.

He turned, ready to head back to his room to lie down.

But as he glanced at Song Yue’s door, hatred flared in his eyes.

He would get his revenge for this!

---

Song Yue lay in bed, waiting.

She didn’t know how much time had passed, but her stomach was already growling, and there was still no movement outside.

Annoyed, she got up, opened the door, and went to check the kitchen to see if the food was ready.

The living room was empty. The mess on the floor remained untouched—no one had cleaned it up.

Song Yue withdrew her gaze and headed straight for the kitchen.

To get there, she had to pass by her scumbag father and stepmother’s bedroom.

The door was shut.

From inside, Li Huijuan’s voice came through. “Jianhua, are we really giving her the money?”

Song Yue raised an eyebrow and halted at the doorway.

Scumbag father, Song Jianhua, replied, “If we don’t, we’ll both be out of work and end up in jail!”

Li Huijuan frowned. “What if she’s lying?”

Song Jianhua glared at her. “You idiot! If she was lying, then tell me, how the hell did she come back?”

“Your son said she was already out of the province! She had no money, no travel permit.

If the police didn’t buy her a ticket and send her back, what else could have happened?”

“…” Li Huijuan wavered, but she still didn’t want to hand over the money. “But—”

Song Jianhua cut her off. “We’ll find out in a couple of days. If it turns out she was lying, we’ll just make her give the money back.”

“Jianhua, you’re so smart!”

“Of course! Don’t you know who your husband—”

Before he could finish, a loud bang! sounded as Song Yue kicked the door.

Inside, the two of them jumped in fright and turned to stare at the closed door in horror.

“You done talking?” Song Yue’s voice rang out. “I’m hungry. Can we eat now?”

Song Jianhua and Li Huijuan: “…”

After kicking the door, Song Yue went into the kitchen to take a look.

The food was ready.

Stir-fried pork with chili, stir-fried cabbage, cabbage and egg soup, white flour buns, and corn grits rice.

Starving, Song Yue washed her hands and grabbed a bowl to scoop rice.

She took 80% of the stir-fried pork, leaving only the chili.

As for the cabbage and egg soup…

Well…

She ate all the eggs and left the cabbage and soup behind.

After filling her stomach, she set down her bowl and chopsticks, wiped her mouth, and walked out of the kitchen.

When Song Jianhua and Li Huijuan saw her come out, they hurriedly handed her the money. “Yueyue, here’s the money.”

Song Yue took it and counted it one bill at a time, right in front of them.

All large-denomination notes.

Sixty bills in total—no more, no less.

She glanced at her scumbag father and stepmother, then turned and went back to her room without a word.

She locked the door.

If they could hand over 600 yuan so quickly, they weren’t as poor as they claimed.

Scumbag dad was a deputy workshop director, earning over 50 yuan a month.

Stepmother made around 30 yuan a month.

All these years…

It seemed like she had asked for too little.

Next time, she’d demand 1,000 yuan.

Yeah.

1,000 yuan it was.

Song Jianhua and Li Huijuan had no idea what she was thinking.

They simply sighed in relief after handing over the money and went into the kitchen to eat.

But when they saw what was left…

Their faces turned green!

---

The next day, Song Yue woke up late.

The house was empty.

She got up, washed up, and cooked herself a bowl of noodles, adding two poached eggs for good measure.

After eating, she went back to her room and took out last night’s 600 yuan.

She set aside 20 yuan and hid the remaining 580 in ten different spots.

While hiding the money, she couldn’t help but wish that, like in the novels, a golden finger ability or a storage space would magically appear…

That way, she could stash her money in a secure space instead of racking her brain over hiding spots.

After securing her money, Song Yue took out the original owner’s piggy bank.

There were about 20 yuan in small change inside, along with ten ration coupons—six grain coupons, one cloth coupon, and one soap coupon.

She took two grain coupons, hid the rest, and then grabbed 20 yuan before heading out.

She made a beeline for the street office.

Spotting a worker, she immediately said, “Comrade, I want to sign up for countryside relocation.”

The worker, who had been struggling to recruit people for the program, lit up with joy upon hearing this.

“Ah! Finally, a volunteer!” The worker eagerly grabbed a pen and record book. “You have such high awareness! What’s your name, comrade?”

Song Yue answered with two words.

“Song Tiezi.”

The worker’s hand froze. “Song Tiezi?”

That name sounded familiar.

After thinking for a moment, he realized—wasn’t Song Tiezi the notorious street hooligan?

His expression darkened. “Are you messing with me?

Song Tiezi is a man, and everyone around here knows him!”