Chapter 12 “Want to Keep it Secret? Don’t Do It Yourself!”

Xu Wanting immediately laughed, “How much allowance do you get at home in a month? What’s your salary?”

“Well…”

“120,000! I know!” Xu Wanting looked at her and smiled, “Your salary is 120,000 per month, not including other things! But did you hear what Mom said? She only gives Xu Mo 500 yuan per month! Just 500 yuan! Is our Xu family short of money?”

Xu Xuehui actually didn’t know that Xu Mo’s monthly allowance was so little, only 500 yuan.

A few days ago, when she heard Xie Bingyan mention it, she was startled.

She thought Xie Bingyan had given Xu Mo quite a bit of money!

She never expected it to be so little!

“I’ve asked Third Sister. Over these years, it seems like none of you have bought him even a few pieces of clothes or shoes! I’ve asked Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth. Most of them haven’t! Third even said Xu Mo doesn’t give anything to her, so why should she give anything to Xu Mo!” Xu Wanting sniffled, feeling heartbroken. “He only has 500 yuan a month, not even enough for food. How do you expect him to give gifts?”

Xu Xuehui immediately furrowed her brow.

“Xuehui, you’re also part of this!” Xu Wanting suddenly gritted her teeth.

“Big sister, what exactly do you want to do? I… I don’t quite understand,” Xu Xuehui looked at her solemnly.

“You don’t understand? Or you refuse to understand?” Xu Wanting cried and sneered, “In these four years, Xu Mo’s life in our family is probably worse off than in an orphanage. Do you understand now?”

“What?” Xu Xuehui was shocked.

“Xuehui, how was Xu Mo when he first met you? Did he ever visit your school?” Xu Wanting continued.

Xu Xuehui was momentarily taken aback, then recalled, “He visited a few times, taking a special trip to my school to find me! Once, he even sneaked into the classroom to listen to my lesson. Other students found him and chased him out!”

“…”

Xu Wanting nearly choked, “Did they hit him?”

“Yes, there was one time!” Xu Xuehui recollected, “It was students at the school who hit him, not too hard, just a hit on the head, and they drove him away! Big sister, you have no idea how repulsive Xu Mo was. Sneaking over to listen to my lessons… people at our school thought he was my boyfriend. It was terrifying!”

Xu Wanting felt shivers run down her spine, never expecting Xu Mo to have experienced such an incident!

“Thank goodness that incident didn’t cause much trouble! The school students chased him away, and that was it! After that, he didn’t dare to come to my school again!” Xu Xuehui continued.

Carefully, she looked at Xu Wanting, “Big sister, why are you asking about this? Didn’t we already know all of this?”

Xu Wanting fell silent, feeling a deep sense of desolation.

She wiped her tears desperately, feeling overwhelmed, quickly taking out a tissue to continue dabbing at her eyes.

“Xu Mo sells live crabs at the vegetable market. He must be short of money and trying to earn some pocket money!” Xu Wanting sniffled as she spoke.

“What?” Xu Xuehui was astonished.

“You won’t give him money! I won’t either, and neither will Third, Fourth, or Fifth! Mom won’t, and Dad is too busy with work to bother!” Xu Wanting took a deep breath. “So what is Xu Mo in our family for? Why does he come to our house?”

“Well…”

“You just said, Mom and Dad have confirmed several times that he is our blood-related little brother, our own flesh and blood, but did we consider him family?” Xu Wanting pressed on.

Xu Xuehui was stunned, her eyes widening slightly.

“He goes to Mom’s room to rest, to sleep. Haven’t you been there before? Have I never been there before? Or have Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, or Junzhe never been there before?”

“Why is it that when he goes there, do you all feel repulsed? Why is it that  when he is the one who goes there,  Mom and Dad feel repulsed? Isn’t he considered a person in our family? What exactly is he in this family?” Xu Wanting’s expression turned frantic, leaving Xu Xuehui at a loss for how to respond to her question.

In fact, even as they grew older and became adults, they occasionally sought to sleep with Mom.

Especially Xu Shuying, the youngest, who was still in university. When she came home for vacations, she occasionally needed to sleep with Xie Bingyan to feel at ease.

However, Xu Mo was even younger, just 18 years old, having only just returned at 14…

“I went to see the director of the East City Orphanage. In the orphanage, some children were abandoned by their parents, and some lost both parents. They’ve never experienced a mother’s love, never seen their own parents in their entire lives!”

“Xu Mo should be considered fortunate to have been found at 14! But he is also unfortunate! None of us, including myself, have treated him as a human being!”

“Even our parents haven’t treated him as a human being! Why? Xuehui? Why is it like this? Isn’t he our blood-related little brother?”

………………………………….

Xu Mo easily answered over a dozen  test papers.

Having lived 20 years as a spiritual entity in the previous life, his memory was fresh, effortlessly recalling various points of knowledge.

The next day, like Tang Lei and others, he continued to sell live crabs and fresh shrimp.

Comparatively, the sales were even better than the first day.

By the second day, the storm had completely passed, and most people started to go out. With the experience of the first day, he and Tang Lei and the others brought out all the hoarded live crabs and shrimp to sell.

Not much, just over 100 kilograms, and they were all sold out by the end of the morning.

“Let’s go! We’ll go to the wholesale market to buy longans, lychees, and bananas! Especially bananas, the price will rise from one yuan per pound to two yuan and fifty cents per pound! We can go to the wholesale market, rent a small warehouse, and stock up 20,000 pounds!”

“Great!”

This windfall convinced Tang Lei and Gu Huanxi to trust Xu Mo. They immediately rented a car and a warehouse, stocking up 20,000 pounds of bananas.

Renting the car cost a thousand, the warehouse another thousand, and they only rented it for seven days. The rest of the money was used to purchase bananas and longans.

They didn’t need to hire anyone else; the four of them worked together to load the car.

Despite being tired and sore at the end of the day, seeing the warehouse filled with bananas and longans greatly lifted their spirits.

“I checked the market, and indeed, it’s rising! We just bought 20,000 kilograms, and the price has already gone up!” Tang Lei exclaimed, somewhat excited.

“This is just the beginning. It’s going to rise even more! According to the storm investigation data coming out in the next few days, the most affected will be the banana and longan trees. When that happens, banana prices will soar!” analyzed Xu Mo.

“So we’ll wait a few days?”

“Yes! We’ll wait a few days and then we can go back to classes! I estimate in three to five days, the price of bananas will peak, and then we can start shipping them out!” Xu Mo smiled.

“Great!”

All three were excited.

Afterward, Xu Mo practiced test papers, exercised, repeated the process, and continued to exercise.

He was somewhat malnourished and needed to make up for it. With the college entrance examination approaching, time was tight, and every second counted.

Due to the purchase of bananas and the fear of theft, Xu Mo temporarily didn’t return to the rented room. Instead, he discussed with Tang Lei, and they agreed to take turns guarding the warehouse at night.

If there were rats or thieves, they would drive them away. Each of them would take turns to keep an eye on the bananas and longans for a day.