Chapter 8: Settling the Score

The woman was the landlady. Ever since renting the house to the original tenant, she had always been kind. This was the first time she had spoken so rudely, but Jiang Yiyi wasn’t the original tenant and didn’t care.

“Okay, just return the remaining rent to me.”

Rent was paid every three months, with a five-dollar deposit. Only a month had passed, so twenty-one dollars should be returned.

“Don’t even think about it. If you don’t want me to spread your shameful secrets, you’d better move out quickly!”

Jiang Yiyi raised an eyebrow. The landlady seemed to know something and was trying to use it to threaten her, but Jiang Yiyi wasn’t afraid of threats.

“If you don’t return it to me, I’ll stand in front of your house every day and spread the word about how you’re taking advantage of your tenant, making sure your house never gets rented again.”

“You dare?”

“You can try.”

“Don’t think I don’t know you’re an army wife.”

After saying this, the landlady looked at her triumphantly. She didn’t believe Jiang Yiyi would dare to challenge her with such a big handle.

Jiang Yiyi didn’t even lift her eyelids. “Since you know I’m an army wife, you should know what the consequences are for bullying an army wife.”

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yiyi wasn’t afraid of threats. The landlady was stunned. This wasn’t what she had imagined. She had expected Jiang Yiyi to be panicked after hearing her words, and to give up not only the rent but also everything in the house. She had already planned to keep the furniture – it was still new and could be used by the next tenant, allowing her to charge an extra two dollars a month.

Bai Jun returned from school and saw black smoke billowing from the rented house. He quickened his pace. Jiang Yiyi was supposed to give him money two days ago, but she hadn’t come. He had been borrowing meal tickets from his classmates for the past two days, but it was the end of the month, and his classmates didn’t have many left. If Jiang Yiyi didn’t come today, he would go hungry. As he walked, he calculated that he should ask Jiang Yiyi for three more dollars from now on, to avoid this happening again.

“Oh, pretty boy’s back!”

Hearing the landlady’s sarcastic remark, Bai Jun’s face turned pale, and his steps faltered. Anger welled up in his heart. He had clearly told Jiang Yiyi not to let anyone know about their relationship, so why did she tell the landlady?

“Such a cultured person, huh! I spit!”

Bai Jun became even more convinced that Jiang Yiyi had told the landlady to force him to admit their relationship. But from beginning to end, he never intended to be with Jiang Yiyi. He had initially said he liked her only to get close to her younger brother, Jiang Jinzhong, to get help with his studies. Later, he was simply after Jiang Yiyi’s money.

“I can’t rent my house to you two dogs and bitches anymore! Get out now! If you don’t, I’ll go to your school and make a fuss!”

Bai Jun’s face turned even paler. The college entrance examination was only a month away. If the school found out, he would be expelled, and all his years of hard work would be wasted.

Without bothering to blame Jiang Yiyi, he hurriedly said, “We’ll move out immediately.”

The landlady looked at Jiang Yiyi triumphantly.

Jiang Yiyi ignored her and looked at Bai Jun. “Let’s settle the accounts.”

Hearing her words, Bai Jun had a bad feeling. Sure enough, he heard Jiang Yiyi say, “All the things in the house were bought by me. You’ve used them for two years, so you owe me fifty dollars for depreciation. Plus the clothes you wear, the money I spent buying groceries for you at the state-run restaurant, the rent, and the five dollars I gave you every month, that’s five hundred dollars in total.”

The landlady’s eyes widened. Five hundred dollars! That was enough for their family to live on for several years.

“I won’t charge you interest. You owe me a total of five hundred and seventy-one dollars. I know you don’t have the money now, so just write me an IOU.”

Bai Jun’s mind buzzed. He had many brothers and sisters, and he was the eldest. His parents had initially disagreed with him going to high school, but he had promised them he wouldn’t need any money from them, so they finally agreed. Without Jiang Yiyi’s money, how would he go to college? How would he become a successful person?

Ignoring the landlady, he rushed into the house, gritting his teeth and reaching out to hug Jiang Yiyi, trying to suppress his disgust and coax her.

Jiang Yiyi directly shoved a fire poker in front of him. Bai Jun retreated in fright. Seeing the absence of love in her eyes, Bai Jun’s heart panicked even more. He couldn’t write the IOU. Five hundred dollars was more than he was worth.

“Yiyi, what’s wrong? Tell me, okay? Let’s solve this slowly.”

This unexpected development dumbfounded the landlady, who then became excited. She quickly stepped back, taking the best position to watch this once-in-a-lifetime show.

“If you still want to take the college entrance examination, write the IOU quickly. From now on, we’ll go our separate ways. If you don’t write it, I’ll go to your school and make a fuss. You know the consequences of ruining an army marriage.”

Bai Jun certainly knew the consequences of ruining an army marriage. He had worked so hard for so many years to take the college entrance examination, and he couldn’t let it be ruined. But without Jiang Yiyi’s money, he wouldn’t be able to survive the last month.

He gritted his teeth. “I can write the IOU, but you have to lend me another twenty-nine dollars to make it six hundred.”

Jiang Yiyi had seen shameless people before, but never someone this shameless. She dropped the fire poker and walked out.

Bai Jun subconsciously stopped her. “W-what are you doing?”

“Going to No. 1 Middle School.”

Bai Jun panicked. “I’ll write it right away!”

Jiang Yiyi stopped, and Bai Jun hurriedly went into the house to get paper and pen. Seeing the packed belongings, he closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. These things, plus the kitchen stuff, could be sold for twenty or thirty dollars, enough to last until he finished the college entrance examination. He wouldn’t write a repayment date on the IOU. Once he got into college and left, Jiang Yiyi could find whoever she wanted to get the money from. With this in mind, he quickly returned to the kitchen with the paper and pen. “I’ve used everything. You’ll just throw it away if you take it, so I’ll keep it and give you the purchase price.”

It was just a pie in the sky, and Bai Jun didn’t feel any pain at the moment.

“Okay.”

Bai Jun wrote the IOU for a total of six hundred and twenty-one dollars.

Just as he was about to finish, Jiang Yiyi said, “Write the repayment date as before August 20th.”

Jiang Yiyi anticipated Bai Jun’s tricks and didn’t give him any chance. College started before September 1st, and she wanted the money before then.

Bai Jun’s hand trembled as he wrote. Without Jiang Yiyi, even if he got into college, the tuition fees would be a huge problem, let alone repaying the debt.

“Hurry up, I have things to do.”

Bai Jun clenched his left fist and slowly wrote down the date.

Jiang Yiyi took the IOU and left without looking back.

Bai Jun collapsed onto the floor.

The landlady looked at Jiang Yiyi riding her bicycle away, then at Bai Jun, and curled her lips. She didn’t say anything about kicking him out. It’s better to leave a way out for people. She had heard from Jiang Yiyi that Bai Jun’s grades were good, and he might actually get into college. When that happened, the value of her house would increase, and she would benefit as well.

With that in mind, the landlady turned to leave, but Bai Jun scrambled to his feet and stopped her. “I want to move out!”