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But she was overthinking it. Right now, Lu Jiangting would never marry her.
It had been less than a year since Wang Jianjun’s death, and ninety-nine percent of Lu Jiangting’s care for Fang Qing was because of Wang Jianjun. The remaining one percent of his complicated emotions—he hadn’t even realized them himself yet.
Besides, he wasn’t foolish. He knew very well what people would say about him if he abandoned Lin Yuyao and married Fang Qing.
Seeing Fang Qing’s expression of sorrow and longing, Lin Yuyao asked Lu Jiangting again, “When do you plan on getting married?”
Lu Jiangting, looking troubled, glanced at the money he had just lent to Fang Qing and said, “It will have to be a few more months. Right now, all the money has been lent to Fang Qing, so we don’t have enough to get married.”
Lin Yuyao found it amusing. Marriage? That wedding wasn’t going to happen.
He had specifically come back this time to get married. With both his annual leave and marriage leave combined, he had nearly thirty days off in total, all taken at once.
At the very least, the wedding would have to wait until next year.
He had already taken marriage leave this year, and there wouldn’t be another one next year.
In the dream, they never held a wedding because the following year, she became pregnant. He said people would mock them if they got married with her belly so big, and since they already had the marriage certificate, they might as well skip the ceremony.
Fang Qing’s hair salon had closed down, and all the money had gone down the drain.
Not only couldn’t she repay the money they had lent her, but in the future, she would continue to rely on ‘borrowing’ from Lu Jiangting to get by.
Whenever anyone mentioned it, she would always bring up his fallen comrade, saying things like how Wang Jianjun had given his life, and that Lu Jiangting owed him a debt.
Fine, if he owed him a life, he could take his time repaying it. In any case, she no longer planned to marry him.
She was still young, beautiful, and by far the prettiest woman in the entire village.
Why should she waste her whole life on Lu Jiangting, that despicable man?
“Alright.” Lin Yuyao nodded in agreement and then asked, “Sister-in-law, when do you plan to repay it?”
“This…” Fang Qing hesitated, unable to answer, because she had no intention of repaying at all.
Lu Jiangting interjected, “Lin Yuyao, what do you mean by this? The money was just lent out, and now you’re already pressuring her to repay.”
Lin Yuyao replied, “Fine, I won’t ask. Whenever Sister-in-law repays the money, we’ll get married then.”
Lu Jiangting grew even more dissatisfied, “What are you trying to do now? Isn’t this forcing her?”
Lin Yuyao shrugged and said, “Then what do you suggest?”
“I’ll save up for a few more months. Once we have enough money, we can get married. As for Fang Qing’s repayment, she can return it whenever she has the money.”
“Alright, then let’s have her write up an IOU.”
Fang Qing staggered a few steps, looking heartbroken as she said, “Yuyao, I will repay it.”
Lin Yuyao smiled and said, “I know you will, but I have a poor memory. I’m worried I might forget and then mistakenly ask for more than I should. With an IOU, everyone can be at ease.”
Of course, Fang Qing didn’t want to write one and looked toward Lu Jiangting for help.
Lu Jiangting frowned and said, “Yuyao, why are you being so petty?”
“How am I being petty? The money’s already been lent, and the wedding has been postponed because of the two of you. What more do you want?”
“But asking her to write an IOU, doesn’t that show a lack of trust? It’s hurtful.”
Fang Qing started crying again, saying, “Jiangting, don’t argue because of me. Yuyao is right. I should write an IOU. I’ll do it now.”
Fang Qing turned around and walked off to get some paper and a pen.
Lu Jiangting was about to reach out to stop her, but Lin Yuyao quickly stepped in and blocked him.
“Jiangting, my parents also gave me a dowry. How do you expect me to explain this to them?”
If it weren’t for the dowry, she wouldn’t have bothered with this at all.
After all, it was Lu Jiangting’s money that had been lent out.
“If you don’t want my parents making a scene and telling everyone, and causing it to reach your own parents’ ears, then let her give me the IOU.”
Lu Jiangting stayed silent.
Fang Qing heard everything from the other room. Hearing that Lu Jiangting no longer opposed the idea, she reluctantly wrote out the IOU.
Not long after, Fang Qing came out and handed the IOU to Lin Yuyao. “Yuyao, does this look okay?”
Lin Yuyao looked it over, smiled, and said, “It’s fine. Thank you, Sister-in-law.”
“No, no trouble at all. I should be thanking you for lending me the money,” Fang Qing said.
“Sister-in-law, don’t take it the wrong way. The thing is, this money doesn’t just belong to Jiangting. Some of it comes from my parents as part of my dowry. They gave us one thousand yuan to buy furniture. Now it’s all gone to you, and without even an IOU, I wouldn’t know how to explain it to my parents if they asked.”
“Yes… yes…” Fang Qing’s voice was small, and she kept glancing at Lu Jiangting.
Lu Jiangting, with his head down, seemed lost in thought.
At that moment, Lin Yuyao added, “Jiangting, you should write something down too.”
Lu Jiangting asked, “What should I write?”
“Write clearly that three hundred yuan of this money is mine, and that if Sister-in-law can’t repay it within three months, you’ll cover it for her.”
Lu Jiangting was irritated. “Three months? That’s not enough time. Besides, we’ve already submitted the marriage report. We’re husband and wife—do we really need to do this?”
“Clear accounts make for harmonious relationships, even between family. You lent out my dowry without asking me and in a deceitful way. I can’t trust you. When Sister-in-law repays the money, what if you don’t give it back to me?”
Lu Jiangting fell silent. He hadn’t planned on asking Fang Qing to repay the money at all.
But he also knew that he was in the wrong here. No matter what, he couldn’t just give away Lin Yuyao’s dowry to Fang Qing.
Even though Wang Jianjun had saved his life.
Fine. He’d figure out how to make up that three hundred yuan to Lin Yuyao in the future.
“Alright, I’ll write it.”
Lu Jiangting wrote a note at the bottom, explicitly stating that three hundred yuan came from Lin Yuyao’s dowry. He also added that if Fang Qing couldn’t repay the amount in three months, he, Lu Jiangting, would repay it for her as the guarantor.
Lin Yuyao glanced at the note, and seeing no issues, she finally felt relieved.
Why didn’t she just take the three hundred yuan directly instead of insisting on an IOU?
She did it, of course, to exact revenge on these two deceitful people.
Hmph. Using her dowry to give away to someone else—now she had evidence.
…
After Lin Yuyao got the IOU, she left. Surprisingly, Lu Jiangting didn’t stay to comfort Fang Qing; instead, he followed behind Lin Yuyao and left with her.
As they passed by, the neighbors pointed and whispered. Lin Yuyao cheerfully greeted the elderly folks and explained, “Everyone, don’t overthink it. There’s nothing going on between them. Sister-in-law Fang Qing just wanted to open a hair salon, but didn’t have enough money, so she asked my Jiangting for a loan.”
“Why would they lock the door just to borrow money?” one of the neighbors asked.
Lin Yuyao said, “The door was closed because Sister-in-law felt embarrassed about borrowing money. She’s a bit shy. Look, she even wrote an IOU.”
“Hmph, shy? Fang Qing? Little girl, she’s the type who’ll get Jiangting to help with the tiniest of things. She’s no simpleton. Don’t let her fool you, or she’ll end up stealing your household away,” one of the elderly women scoffed.
The old men and women snorted in disdain, clearly not believing a word.
Lu Jiangting regretted following Lin Yuyao out.
These elderly folks acted like he didn’t even exist, talking about him and Fang Qing right in front of him. He couldn’t even imagine how much worse their gossip must be behind his back.
It seemed Lin Yuyao was right—there was indeed a lot of gossip around widows, and he really should keep a proper distance from Fang Qing.