Chapter 5

After waiting for half an hour, they indeed saw Zhang Jinbu sneakily walking out from inside.

Li Yuechan seized the moment and tapped Zhang Jinbu on the shoulder.

Zhang Jinbu let out a startled yelp and turned to run.

Li Yuechan quickly grabbed the back of the boy’s collar and shouted, “Why are you running?”

Hearing the girl’s voice, Zhang Jinbu turned around and, upon seeing Li Yuechan, stammered, “Y-you…”

“What do you mean ‘you’? Be careful selling things in the black market, or I’ll report you!”

“You… you…”

“Alright, stop stuttering and hurry up with the money! You think you can just smash someone’s head and get away with it?”

Zhang Jinbu’s shoulders immediately drooped when he heard this. “I don’t have any money. That day, I just went to make up the numbers, I didn’t do anything, really, you have to believe me.”

Li Yuechan sneered, “Didn’t do anything? I saw someone else get their head smashed and you didn’t report it, saying you didn’t do anything. Let me tell you, you’re an accomplice, and you’ll definitely be punished.”

“See this? This is the medical diagnosis certificate the doctor gave me.” She waved the diagnosis certificate in front of Zhang Jinbu’s eyes.

When Zhang Jinbu heard the word “punished,” he shivered all over. “I… I really didn’t know. I thought we were just trying to scare you. I wanted to go, but Han Chunguang forced me to be his lackey. I didn’t agree, he said he’d beat me up every time he saw me, so I had to…”

“I was too scared at the time, so I ran. I’m sorry.” As he spoke, Zhang Jinbu lowered his head.

Li Yuechan coughed twice, suddenly unsure of what to say.

Furrowing her brows, she said, “No matter how you put it, you’re still at fault. A hundred bucks in compensation, hand it over.” She extended her delicate white hand.

Zhang Jinbu was about to cry, “Auntie, I really don’t have that much money.”

He fumbled in his pocket, trembling as he handed over what he had. “This is all the money I saved for half a year.”

Li Yuechan took it and counted: fifty-four cents.

“This is far from enough.”

“I can write you an IOU, and when I gather enough, I’ll bring it to you.”

Li Yuechan’s eyes widened like saucers. “That won’t do! I’ll be waiting until the monkeys come home.”

Zhang Jinbu fell to his knees with a wail, hugging Li Yuechan’s legs and crying, “Auntie, I beg you, I have an eighty-year-old grandma at home and three younger siblings. I really have no money; please let me off this time.”

Li Yuechan had never seen anyone so shameless before. She kicked Zhang Jinbu aside, “Speak properly!”

Zhang Jinbu quickly stood up, his eyes darting around.

“Auntie, how about I become your lackey? You tell me to go east, I won’t go west; you tell me to catch fish, I won’t steal chickens.”

Li Yuechan walked around the boy, resting her chin on her hand in thought. Then she took out paper and pen and started writing.

Zhang Jinbu watched the girl curiously, and when she handed him a piece of paper, he asked, “What’s this?”

“Sign here.”

Zhang Jinbu took the paper and looked closely. It boldly stated three big words:

“Contract of Indenture. I, Zhang Jinbu, voluntarily sell myself to Li Yuechan for five years…”

Li Yuechan handed him a pen, “Sign it.”

“But… do I really have to?”

“You must sign.”

Li Yuechan picked up a stone, squeezed it hard in her palm, and the stone instantly turned to powder.

In fact, this powder was something Li Yuechan had prepared in advance; the stone had long been thrown into the void.

She had tried this several times before, and while she could break the stone in half, the intimidation effect wasn’t that great, so she thought of this clever trick. She was quite clever herself.

Seeing the dumbfounded expressions on Mao Duo and Zhang Jinbu’s faces, Li Yuechan clapped her hands, putting on a show of being impressive.

Zhang Jinbu snatched the pen and signed his name, thinking that his bones might not be as hard as the stone.

Li Yuechan frowned slightly, “Put your red fingerprint here.”

With determination, Zhang Jinbu bit his finger, drew blood, and pressed a bloody fingerprint on the paper, then handed it to Li Yuechan.

“Auntie, is this okay now?”

Li Yuechan looked it over and nodded, “Alright, from now on, when you see me, you’ll call me ‘big sister’.”

Zhang Jinbu nodded awkwardly; he seemed younger than her. Then he quickly put on a smiling face, “Sure thing, big sister. What do you want me to do?”

Li Yuechan took out five yuan from her pocket and handed it to Zhang Jinbu. “Here, this is five yuan. Go get me some rice seeds.”

Zhang Jinbu’s eyes lit up as he looked at the five yuan in the girl’s hand, beaming with joy. “Buying things is my specialty.”

Li Yuechan cautioned, “Don’t try to be slick, or next time I’ll really make you a cripple.”

Zhang Jinbu shuddered in fear, “Don’t worry, big sister, Zhang Jinbu keeps his word. I’ll be your little brother for these five years.”

Li Yuechan nodded in satisfaction. “Don’t worry, if you do well, I won’t mistreat you. Come to the entrance of Guihua Alley at this time tomorrow and wait for me.”

After giving him a few more instructions, she left with Mao Duo.

Zhang Jinbu watched their retreating figures, sighed helplessly, and turned back into the black market.

Little did he know that five years later, Li Yuechan would chase him away.

On the way back, Mao Duo looked at Li Yuechan with admiration. “Sister Yuechan, I didn’t expect you to be so amazing.”

Li Yuechan held her head high. “Of course! Let’s go, you’ve worked hard today, so I’ll treat you to a meal.”

Mao Duo was overjoyed but hesitated and asked, “Sister Yuechan, do you have food coupons?”

Li Yuechan was taken aback. In this messed-up era, money was also hard to come by.

In the end, they went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought two bottles of soda, standing there to finish them in one go before returning the bottles.

Li Yuechan burped contentedly, while Mao Duo smiled widely.

This was the first time they had soda since their last birthday; who would have thought they’d get lucky again this time!

From now on, he would be Sister Yuechan’s loyal little brother, and that Zhang Jinbu could just stand aside.

When Li Yuechan returned home, the house was empty. Her mom was working a shift and should be on the day shift today.

As for that cheap dad, she recalled that he seemed quite busy and didn’t come home much, but that didn’t matter to her.

She returned to her room, pondering for a moment about Zhang Jinbu. She needed to observe him more; if he didn’t have any bad intentions, she could consider taking him on as a little brother.

As for the other two, she narrowed her eyes. Just paying them off wouldn’t be enough!

They definitely couldn’t get away so easily!

But in this society, killing them wouldn’t bring them back to life. She couldn’t do anything illegal, so she needed to think of a reliable way to send them away.