Chapter 18

“Being a stepmother is not easy. She doesn’t treat me like I matter, but you are her real father. How can a daughter treat her father this way?”

“She’s really an ungrateful wolf. So what if she grew up with her grandfather? We raised her for two years!”

The thought of He Ting, who was once such a rich son-in-law, now gone, and having lost face in front of Tang Jinghe and Liu Zhishu, made Lu Jianguo increasingly irritated.

He yelled at Liu Chunhua: “Enough! Isn’t this all because of you?”

“If you hadn’t spoiled Jiao Jiao and let her get away with dirty deeds, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“If it weren’t for Baiwei, now that the ‘three-turn radio’ is ours, once Wenhua grows up, he’ll have a better chance to find a good match. He Ting and Baiwei can still help support Wenhua.”

“I’ve been good enough to Lu Jiao Jiao. She’s not even my real daughter, but I’ve treated her better than Baiwei.”

“And she… she had to do something shameless, sneaking around with the poorest guy in our village, Yin Zhihua! A young lady acting like that, how can she have no shame!”

Lu Jiao Jiao locked herself in her room, and hearing the arguing from the living room, she was furious.

She rushed out of the room: “Dad, how can you say that? I still treated you like my real father.”

“You think I’m poor because I’m with Yin Zhihua? Fine, when he makes a lot of money in the future, and I have endless money to spend, I won’t support you anymore. Go to your real daughter, Lu Baiwei!”

Lu Jianguo was the pillar of the family and usually easy to calm down.

It was the first time he had spoken to her this harshly.

Liu Chunhua knew how to handle her husband and stopped Lu Jiao Jiao: “Jiao Jiao, how can you talk to your father like that?”

“Old Lu, stop always mentioning Yin Zhihua’s poverty. You know, Yin Zhihua secretly told Jiao Jiao that there are valuable things buried under his old family house!”

“In a few years, when the policies get better, they could dig it up and sell it. Maybe Jiao Jiao will still honor you, her father.”

Lu Jianguo was a little swayed.

He started thinking, maybe Liu Chunhua wasn’t just making things up. Could it be that there really was something valuable buried under Yin Zhihua’s family house?

He thought about the ‘three-turn radio’ that should have gone to his son, Lu Wenhua, but was now gone, and he was still upset with Lu Jiao Jiao: “Shen Guixiang is not so easy to fool. We had to pay extra for Yin Zhihua to even get the marriage certificate with Jiao Jiao.”

“Why is Yin Zhihua’s mother like that? I’ll still show respect when I marry in. She thinks I ruined my reputation, but I wasn’t sneaking around with other men. I was with her son!”

Why was it that in the previous life, Lu Baiwei married well, and now she’s still getting everything?

Why did Lu Baiwei get a wealthy husband like He Ting, who could afford a ‘three-turn radio,’ while she had to steal one, sell it for money to give to Shen Guixiang, just so she could marry Yin Zhihua as soon as possible?

But now everything was ruined.

That Lu Baiwei, such a bitch. He Ting had so much money now, he could buy a ‘three-turn radio,’ yet she wouldn’t give up one of hers. Why couldn’t she just let it go?

—

That Lu Baiwei, such a bitch. He Ting is so rich now, he can afford a ‘three-turn radio,’ and she’s only asking for one of hers. Why couldn’t she just give it up?

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Lu Jiao Jiao cried out loud: “Mom, now Shen Guixiang won’t let me marry Zhihua. What should I do?”

“Always crying, that’s all you do! Who told you to be so brainless and sneak around with Yin Zhihua?”

After scolding Lu Jiao Jiao, Liu Chunhua turned to Lu Jianguo for advice: “Old Lu, Shen Guixiang is as tough as a block of meat. She’s holding onto Jiao Jiao’s reputation and won’t let go.”

“So what should we do about it?”

Lu Jianguo felt it would take too long to wait until the policies improved and they could dig up the gold and silver buried under Yin’s family house to sell for money.

It would be better if Lu Jiao Jiao married Yin Zhihua sooner and got the treasure out to save it for Wenhua’s future bride.

This marriage had to happen!

Looking at Lu Jianguo, whose eyes glinted with mischief, he suddenly suggested, “If Shen Guixiang won’t agree, fine, let’s accuse her son of a crime, a thug charge. Let’s see if she agrees then.”

“Can this really work?” Liu Chunhua was hesitant.

“Yin Zhihua would be locked up for a big crime if we accuse him. What about Jiao Jiao?”

“He won’t be locked up!”

Lu Jianguo said with confidence: “Doesn’t Yin Zhihua have a few sisters who married well? If we really accuse him of a thug crime, Shen Guixiang will make her sisters fight for him.”

Liu Chunhua’s eyes lit up: “Are you saying we should go to the commune and have Yin Zhihua’s sisters bail him out?”

“Exactly, let’s see if Yin’s family will lower their heads to us for Jiao Jiao.”

Before Lu Jiao Jiao’s marriage was settled, Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua, this pair of troublemakers, were too busy to deal with Lu Baiwei.

After the wedding banquet was over and the guests had left, Lu Baiwei took a pen and paper to start counting the red envelopes.

“My eldest uncle and third uncle gave me six yuan each. Since my parents are not separating their family, my cousins don’t need to give red envelopes. But all my cousins dote on me, so they insisted on giving more to me. Each cousin gave two yuan, so that’s an extra eight yuan.”

“My cousin is engaged but hasn’t married yet, so she technically shouldn’t give me a red envelope, but she’s my closest cousin. She insisted on giving me one yuan to show her congratulations for my wedding.”

“Between my two uncles, four cousins, and my cousin, the total money from red envelopes is twenty-one yuan, not including the ones from my second uncle in the army and my fourth uncle in the county.”

“The people from the youth brigade gave one yuan each for red envelopes, and He Yan was quite generous with two yuan.”

Lu Baiwei teased: “He Yan is here for rural development, really working together with all of you in the youth brigade.”

“Comrade He Ting, who is He Yan giving those two yuan for? Whose favor is she currying?”

Lu Baiwei winked and spoke teasingly.

He Ting: “…”

—

He Ting: “…”

“Zhou Yanfeng is closest to you, so I’ll take a look and see how much he gave.” 

Lu Baiwei continued counting the red envelopes and pulled out a large one from Zhou Yanfeng’s.

Lu Baiwei gasped: “Wow, it’s a huge ten yuan red envelope!”

“This guy Zhou Yanfeng is loaded!”

“He’s being so generous, this favor will be hard to repay later.”

Is one big red envelope really a sign of wealth?

That Zhou Yanfeng insisted on going to the countryside with him. Before leaving Beijing, the Zhou family gave him 800 yuan.

As for him, his old man had threatened him with his life to go to the countryside.

To get him to go and marry, his father had given him even more.

Looking at Lu Baiwei, who was already satisfied and acting like a money lover after receiving more than thirty yuan in gifts, He Ting didn’t mind letting her have some fun counting the money, even though they had previously agreed she would manage the finances after they married.

“This is your dowry money. Take it.”

He Ting handed Lu Baiwei a stack of money.

Lu Baiwei counted and found there were fifteen large red envelopes, along with some smaller bills, totaling 38 yuan. In total, she had 188 yuan.

She was given a “three-turn one-sound” and now this dowry money?

What kind of rich family had she married into?

Lu Baiwei was stunned by the windfall. With the “three-turn one-sound” and the 188 yuan in dowry money, plus the red envelopes she’d received, it all added up to over two hundred.

She had struck it rich!

With the “three-turn one-sound” and more than two hundred yuan in gift money, her assets had topped a thousand.

Lu Baiwei was immersed in the joy of sudden wealth, mentally calculating how much that would be worth in twenty years. Just then, He Ting pulled out a metal box.

“The dowry is your private money, keep it.”

He Ting handed her the leftover cookie box: “This is all my savings. We agreed that after we marry, you’ll handle the finances. Take this too.”