Chapter 30: Why Don’t You Lend It to Me Then?

Sun Congxing told Zhao Yuzhu the story he had made up and asked her to help him analyze it, to see where the problem might lie.

Zhao Yuzhu thought it sounded pretty good!

Sure enough, Sun Congxing still had some tricks up his sleeve. His ability to coax people was top-notch. By shifting all the blame onto that woman from the countryside, didn’t that make him look like the victim?

“You think it’s pretty good too, but why is Yun Yun ignoring me completely? Could it be that she doesn’t believe me?” Sun Congxing couldn’t help but ask.

Zhao Yuzhu didn’t really know either, so she acted impatient. “Who told you to lie in the first place? If you ask me, you and my cousin should just break it off! Alright, it’s getting late. Clean yourself up and get to work. Your family pulled strings to get you that temp job — don’t mess it up.”

Sun Congxing was anxious to go to work, but he also felt like giving up on Su Luyun a little. “I waited for her all night, got bitten by mosquitoes like this, and in the end, she didn’t even give me a glance. From the looks of it, she’s dead set on cutting me off!”

She had even brought up her uncle, the deputy bureau chief, to threaten him.

And he really was scared of losing his temp job.

Zhao Yuzhu’s expression tightened. She was just bluffing him — she never intended for him to really give up on Su Luyun!

She quickly said: “Yeah, your face is all swollen, even I can’t bear to look at it. But if you ask me, I still don’t believe my cousin really wants to cut you off. Didn’t you two hold hands before?”

“You even know about that?” Sun Congxing looked at her in surprise.

“Of course, my cousin came to tell me herself. Didn’t you see how bashful she was, telling me how you held her hand — like she got an electric shock! Would she act like that if she didn’t have feelings for you?!”

Zhao Yuzhu’s words struck Sun Congxing like a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart!

It brought him back from his defeat.

That’s right, how could Su Luyun not like him? If he had really wanted to before, he could’ve even gotten further!

It was only because he was afraid Zhou Changdong would come back and use “sabotaging a military marriage” as an excuse to kill him that he had only dared to hold her hand!

“And if she didn’t like you, would she have lent you money? I remember she lent you fifty yuan, right?” Zhao Yuzhu looked at him.

“I really had an urgent need at that time.” Sun Congxing now truly believed Su Luyun had told her everything, so he could only try to defend himself.

Zhao Yuzhu had learned of it by accident back then and had looked down on him fiercely in her heart.

To think he actually borrowed money from a woman — if it had been her, she would’ve told such a man to get lost as far as possible!

Of course, she was quite happy to see Su Luyun getting more emotionally involved, so she hadn’t said a word to stop it.

“My cousin is strapped for cash right now. If you want to win her over, the best thing would be to pay her back — that’ll leave a good impression!” Zhao Yuzhu said.

“Pay her back?” Sun Congxing looked conflicted. “I… I don’t have any money!” Not only did he have no money, he was also neck-deep in gambling debt!

“Zhou Changdong got three thousand yuan in demobilization compensation. If my cousin divorces him, even if she gets just a third, that’s still a thousand.” Zhao Yuzhu said with a smile.

Just that one sentence made Sun Congxing perk right up!

Why had he fed mosquitoes all night? Wasn’t it just in hopes that Su Luyun would get a divorce, split the assets, and marry him?

And now, he had learned from Zhao Yuzhu that the Su family had given a very generous dowry when she married off their daughter!

She would get part of the Zhou family’s assets, and the Su family would probably give another dowry…

Then what was his two-hundred-yuan gambling debt even worth? Wouldn’t it be paid off in minutes?

And he’d even have a lot left over — wouldn’t he be living the good life with fine food and drinks?

In an instant, Sun Congxing had already imagined how he would spend the money in the future!

“If you’re willing to listen to me, just go repay the money. For my cousin, that would be like timely rain — it would definitely boost your image in her heart, and then you might have a real chance to get back together with her!” Zhao Yuzhu looked at him and said: “As for today’s matter, I’ll talk to my cousin for you. After all, you’re being so sincere!”

Sun Congxing immediately thanked her. “I really owe you one. If it weren’t for your advice, I honestly wouldn’t know what to do!”

“I’m only helping because I can see you truly mean it. Besides, I know my cousin still has feelings for you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother meddling in this mess!” Zhao Yuzhu said, then waved her hand. “Alright, go to work now. And repay that money as soon as possible!”

“Wait a second.” Sun Congxing quickly stopped her. “Why don’t you lend it to me? Just fifty yuan — not a lot. You can help me return it to your cousin!”

Zhao Yuzhu’s eyes widened. She nearly cursed out loud!

He actually dared to ask her for money!

Her expression stiffened slightly. “If I had it, of course I’d lend it to you. But the little bit of private savings I finally managed to scrape together — I already gave it all to my cousin yesterday. There’s nothing I can do to help.”

In truth, she still had some left, but how could she possibly lend it to Sun Congxing? No way, not even in his dreams!

Sun Congxing hurriedly said: “I know you have some. Just lend it to me once. I’ll pay you back fifty-five later — the extra five yuan as interest!”

He had no one else to borrow from — all he had were people hounding him to repay debts!

“Figure it out yourself.” Zhao Yuzhu said and walked away with her basket without looking back.

She could offer advice, but asking her for money? Not a chance!

Since time was running out, Sun Congxing had no choice but to rush off to work.

Meanwhile, Su Luyun was already shopping for groceries at the market.

It was only when she went to pay that she suddenly remembered — that man surnamed Sun still owed her fifty yuan!

When she first married into the family, she had become a little rich lady overnight.

Not only did Zhou Changdong give her a nice sum of household money, but her maiden family had also provided a generous dowry — including new quilts, clothes, and several hundred yuan in cash!

Now, aside from the apartment she could still see with her eyes, almost all the money was gone.

It was clear that over these three years, she had been pretty loose with her spending!

But there was no rush. She would get back every penny, one way or another.

She didn’t believe that man surnamed Sun would give up that easily. Even if he did, wasn’t Zhao Yuzhu still around to egg him on?

The fact that he had stopped her on the street yesterday — nine times out of ten, it had been Zhao Yuzhu’s idea!

Su Luyun’s gaze turned cold.

“Yun Yun, you’re here to buy vegetables?”

Hearing someone call her, Su Luyun turned and saw it was Aunt Qian.

“Yes, Auntie, are you shopping too? Want to check out these sponge gourds? I think they look quite good.” Su Luyun responded politely.

Aunt Qian smiled and said: “They do look good. I’ll take a few.”

After buying the gourds and paying, Aunt Qian added: “Yesterday you even had your mother-in-law bring over that big bowl of chicken soup. I even kept the chicken blood! You really didn’t need to go to all that trouble.”

“It’s nothing! You’ve looked out for me a lot, Auntie. Back when people were bad-mouthing me, you even spoke up in my defense — and you praised me for having good taste too.”

Because Aunt Qian was on good terms with Chen Aihong, she naturally didn’t speak ill of Su Luyun, who was her friend’s daughter-in-law.

She had even spoken up for her on a few occasions.

Aunt Qian laughed and said: “Of course you’ve got good taste. Back when you decisively bought this house, that was a brilliant move!”

The whole “spendthrift wife” reputation had started when she unflinchingly forked over 1,700 yuan to buy this current apartment.

But what was 1,700 yuan back then worth now?

Judging by how things were going, Aunt Qian estimated that it might even rise to 3,000 yuan in the future — maybe even more!