Chapter 18: What Kind of Boss Would Dare Pay You?

For each clothing design, they only made three sizes.

Each size had just three pieces. Once they sold out, that was it. They had already submitted their second batch of design sketches.

“Your designs are great too! If it weren’t for your designs leading the way, how would I even have anything to give feedback on?”

“No matter how many opinions I give, they wouldn’t be of much use on their own. It’s only because your designs are so good that I’m able to build on them and offer suggestions!”

After Gu Qiangwei finished speaking, Su Qingshuang slung an arm around her shoulder and laughed, “Haha, fine, fine, then let’s say the credit belongs to both of us!”

Seeing that there weren’t many customers left in the shop and it was getting late, the two of them tidied up and went out for dinner.

After eating, they each went home to rest.

When Gu Qiangwei got home, she lay on the large bed she had thoughtfully arranged. She felt quite exhausted from the day.

After lying down for a bit, she got up to wash and then went to sleep.

On the other hand, things were not going well at all for Wang Shufen and Lu Minghua.

Their compensation money had been stolen. Even after calling the police, no progress was made. The two of them had gone hungry all afternoon, their stomachs growling with emptiness. In the end, they were forced to cook all the remaining rice in the house into porridge.

Because there wasn’t much rice to begin with, cooking it into regular rice would’ve only given them about half a bowl each. But turning it into porridge meant they could at least sip on it little by little and try to make it last until tomorrow.

After drinking a bit of the porridge, they went to sleep. In the middle of the night, Wang Shufen woke up suddenly—she was simply too hungry, her whole body feeling weak.

She got up and drank a little more porridge.

The next morning.

They were so hungry when they woke up that they finished the rest of the porridge. Lu Minghua noticed something was off. “There was more left last night than this.”

Wang Shufen admitted sheepishly, “I drank a bit during the night.”

“What are we supposed to do now?” Wang Shufen had just finished speaking when there was a loud banging on the door, startling her.

She yelled toward the door, “What are you knocking for?!”

But the person outside didn’t stop. The pounding continued, loud and insistent.

Annoyed, Wang Shufen got up and slowly made her way to the door. When she opened it, she saw a neighbor standing there.

“Shufen,” the neighbor said, tugging at her own shirt, “My old man hasn’t been feeling well these past couple of days. I want to buy some meat for him. About the five yuan I lent you the other day—can you return it now?”

The neighbor had thought it over again yesterday. When Wang Shufen borrowed the money, she had said that Gu Qiangwei would repay it.

But now that Gu Qiangwei had moved out, the neighbor was worried. What if the old couple secretly slipped away someday? What then?

It was only five yuan, sure, but that could still buy several pounds of meat—and the kids at home were still waiting to eat!

It wasn’t that her family was desperate for the money, but she still had to get it back!

“Where would I get the money right now? You know perfectly well our money was all stolen— even the compensation fund is gone! We old folks don’t even have food to eat!” Wang Shufen snapped.

But the neighbor got even angrier. “Clearly even heaven couldn’t stand the way you two treat people—that’s why the compensation money disappeared! Who told you to drive Qiangwei away?!”

“I don’t care! You must repay the money!”

Having said that, the neighbor stood right there at the door. Since the old couple had spoken so shamelessly, there was no need to save face for them anymore.

“I told you when I lent the money,” Wang Shufen said stubbornly, “I said Qiangwei would pay it back later. Go ask her—why come to me?!”

Now that things were out in the open, Wang Shufen went into full self-preservation mode—she didn’t care about anything anymore!

She said whatever came to mind.

She had no way to come up with that money—so don’t even think about getting it from her!

“Truly shameless!”

The neighbor spat, “With a mother-in-law like you, no wonder Qiangwei left. You have five days to pay back the money you owe me. If not, I’ll go to the police and have them settle it, and tell them you borrowed money and won’t return it!”

“Doesn’t your house still have a few things left? At worst, give me your beds or whatever. If I clear everything out, it should still be worth five yuan!”

After speaking, the neighbor gave a cold laugh and left.

Wang Shufen slammed the door shut and turned to look at Lu Minghua. The couple stared at each other, speechless.

What could they even say now?

They sat at the table for who knows how long. Their stomachs grumbled again. Even the thin porridge they drank earlier was rationed, and it barely filled them up.

Now they were hungry again.

Last night had been the same.

“Aiya…” Wang Shufen slapped her thigh. “How are we going to survive?”

She cried as she spoke, tears and snot running down her face.

At this point, they had no more friends to borrow money from. Once people heard how thoroughly their home had been robbed, even their acquaintances kept their distance.

They were afraid of getting dragged down with them.

Besides the five yuan they owed the neighbor, Wang Shufen had also borrowed two yuan from another friend she was close with.

That neighbor had just left not long ago, and Wang Shufen was still crying when that other friend came knocking—also demanding her money back.

Wang Shufen was even more furious.

Why was everyone coming to collect money all of a sudden? Didn’t they know her house had been robbed?

“With the friendship between us, coming to ask for money now—isn’t that a bit much?” Wang Shufen said with a dark face. “Didn’t I help you when you had problems before?”

“My youngest daughter really does have a fever—she’s in the hospital now. The doctor said it’s serious and will need a lot of money. Even two yuan matters—I have to ask for it!”

The friend wasn’t being unreasonable—her child really was sick, in the hospital, and needed a major surgery.

So she had no choice.

But Wang Shufen didn’t believe her. “How could that be? Isn’t your daughter fine? You people would say anything just to get money!”

She then started cursing, angering the friend she had once been close with. “You must give me the money. My daughter really is in the hospital!”

Wang Shufen flung the woman’s hand away. “I don’t have it—can’t give you what I don’t have! I don’t believe your daughter is even sick. How am I supposed to come up with the money?”

“You two still have hands and feet, and you’re not that old—why can’t you go out and find work? Why are you just sitting around the house like this?!”

The friend shouted, warning Wang Shufen that she must pay the money back tomorrow, even if she had to borrow it from someone else—or she wouldn’t be polite anymore.

After being hit by two rounds of people demanding payment, Wang Shufen was still reeling when someone else came by to take back a pot they had lent to the family.

That pot had been borrowed by Gu Qiangwei. Now that she was gone, of course they wanted it back. What if the couple tried to keep it?

With that pot, at least they could cook porridge.

Looking at the situation, Wang Shufen was at a loss. Her stomach growled again, and she irritably scratched her head. Then Lu Minghua finally spoke up, “We should just go out and look for work.”

He had been staying silent inside the house, letting Wang Shufen deal with everyone outside.

But he realized what that friend said earlier made sense. Things had already gotten this bad—if the two of them still didn’t go out to work, what were they going to do?

“But what about this afternoon?”

They were starving now and could barely even walk down the street, let alone go job hunting.

“Let’s go to the bank,” Lu Minghua stood up. “We can borrow a little money—just enough to buy a pot or something. Let’s get through this period first.”

“I think we should look for work first. Once we find a job, maybe the boss can pay us in advance!” Wang Shufen was still a bit too optimistic.

But Lu Minghua shook his head. “You haven’t even done any work yet. What kind of boss would dare to pay you in advance?”