Chapter 418: Ninety's Contrast System (21)

"What? The dead girl didn't want the house but wanted the money instead? And she took it all with her to the city for medical treatment? How dare she! That house was originally mine..."

Upon learning that for the demolition compensation of the three Cabins, the dead girl had chosen the money instead of the house, Zhou Ru was so angry she jumped up and down.

"Slap!"

"Dad, why did you hit me?"

Zhou Ru covered the side of her face that had been slapped swollen, glaring resentfully at Zhou Tiehan.

Zhou Tiehan was utterly disappointed in this youngest daughter.

"Look at what you've done all these years; do you have even a shred of a mother's demeanor? At the age she should have been in school, you made her drop out early; as soon as she turned sixteen, you drove her thousands of miles away to another province to work. Now that she's sick, you don't even ask after her."

"That's right, you treated that daughter Zhu Weiguo had from his previous marriage as your own flesh and blood, and even moved your household registration for them. Since you chose not to keep your household registration in Zhou Family Village, then don't covet the Relocation Housing or the demolition money now. These have nothing to do with you!"

"How can it have nothing to do with me? I..."

Seeing that no matter what she said, Zhou Tiehan wouldn't respond, Zhou Ru was so angry she turned her head away and vented her anger on Zhou Anbang and Zhou Anmin, who were present:

"Was it the two of you who instigated this? Dad used to love me so much; I don't believe he wouldn't have sent someone to notify me about such an important matter. It must be a trick you two played!"

Zhou Anmin, only three years older than Zhou Ru, was not about to indulge her foul temper and scolded her coldly:

"Have you forgotten how to call me brother? Always 'you this, you that.' Don't say this has nothing to do with us; even if we did instigate it, so what? In all the years you've been married to He Wan Village, have you fulfilled your duties as a daughter? If you had come back to see Mom and Dad more often, would you not have known about this?"

"That still doesn't mean it should all go to that dead girl! She's so young, what does she need so much money for!"

"What for? You ask what for? For medical treatment! You can't possibly not know that your daughter is suffering from a serious illness, can you?"

"..."

Zhou Ru was rendered speechless by the retort, stammering for a long time: "Who knows if she's faking it. She was perfectly fine before she went out to work, and suddenly got sick when she came back. In my opinion, she just didn't want to go work in the south and deliberately made up this excuse."

"Slap!"

Zhou Ru's right cheek also received a slap.

Zhou Tiehan pointed at the door with a livid face: "Get out! From now on, stay in your He Wan Village and don't come back to Zhou Family Village!"

"I won't come back then! As if I care!"

Zhou Ru covered her swollen and aching face, stamped her feet, turned around, and ran out.

As she ran, she cursed the Zhou family from top to bottom with hatred, especially the daughter who had run off to the city with a huge sum of demolition money.

She was still not satisfied even after cursing all the way home, and said to Zhu Meijiao: "Don't bother with your sister anymore! Just pretend she's dead!"

Zhu Meijiao: "..."

It would be fine if she were actually dead, but it just so happened she wasn't dead and had obtained a huge sum of money.

It was said that the demolition compensation standard for Zhou Family Village this time was based on a document issued by the city, which was even higher than what was given to that village south of the city.

No matter how low, broken, and small those three old houses were, they would amount to at least seven or eight hundred thousand in compensation.

Seven or eight hundred thousand!

That could build a luxurious three-story, five-room house!

If she had known, she wouldn't have let Zhou Ru move her household registration. If she hadn't moved it out, those seven or eight hundred thousand would have been their own; how could it have gone to Xie Yang?

The more Zhu Meijiao thought about it, the more jealous she became.

"Auntie Ru, how did Sister think of going to the city for treatment? She hasn't been to the city before and isn't familiar with the roads there; won't something happen to her?"

"Who knows what that dead girl is thinking."

Zhou Ru got angry now whenever her daughter was mentioned.

The dead girl didn't show any consideration for her at all!

Is it easy being a stepmother? If she didn't treat everyone equally, others would say she was mistreating her stepdaughter.

Besides, even if she really was sick and needed treatment, why did she have to go to a big city? The expenses there are so high; couldn't she have gone back to the County for treatment?

Mentioning that dead girl filled her with anger, so Zhou Ru waved her hand: "Forget it, let's not talk about her. Meijiao, when exactly is our He Wan Village going to be relocated?"

Zhu Meijiao: "..."

How would she know!

She had only heard the rumor by chance last time.

But since even Zhou Family Village was being demolished, He Wan Village would surely be soon.

"Auntie Ru, if the relocation money comes down, can our family buy a color Television? Many of my classmates have them at home; not only do they have color Televisions, but they also have telephones installed."

"Yes, yes, yes. Once we move into the new house, we'll install the bathroom you want, buy a color Television, buy a refrigerator, and we must buy a washing machine too. Then we'll install a telephone and strive to achieve 'upstairs and downstairs, Television and telephone'!"

Zhou Ru listed a series of expenses for after the relocation money arrived.

Zhu Meijiao also felt a sense of longing.

However, they waited and waited, from before the New Year until the beginning of spring, and from the beginning of spring until autumn, but they never saw any news of the He Wan Village demolition.

Instead, the family's finances became increasingly strained.

Zhu Meijiao was in her second year of high school in the autumn, and her miscellaneous fees, book fees, and accommodation fees added up to fifteen hundred.

As a result, when she came back on the weekend, she said the money wasn't enough.

"This semester, an evening self-study session was added, and the school provides a late-night snack, but we need to pay for some of the meal tickets ourselves. Auntie Ru, if the family is struggling, I'll tell the teacher I won't eat the late-night snack; at worst, I'll just go to sleep hungry..."

"How can you go hungry!" Zhou Ru gritted her teeth and squeezed fifty from the month's living expenses, "Take this fifty first, and when your dad's wages are paid, I'll add some more for you."

Zhu Meijiao glanced at the Comparison Value Energy Progress Bar after changing the Task target.

Just from Zhou Ru's performance just now, it only brought 0.01% progress to the progress bar.

The increase was too small; it couldn't compare to when she was bound to Xie Yang before.

But even if the wool was sparse, she still had to shear it, otherwise, she would have no chance to redeem the "Intelligence Bonus" Prop that had been reclaimed by the system.

Ever since this Prop was reclaimed, she felt her brain wasn't working well enough, and studying was so strenuous.

Especially in subjects like math, physics, and chemistry; no matter how carefully she listened in class or how hard she tried to chew through notes and do problems after class, there were always many questions she couldn't understand.

And she had chosen the science track. She had been so full of confidence before choosing her subjects, only to be so discouraged after the start of her second year of high school.

Teachers and classmates attributed her plummeting grades to the significant increase in the difficulty of science subjects starting in the second year of high school, and the fact that girls are at an innate disadvantage.

Only she knew clearly: her past good grades had relied on a cheat.

In order to get into university, she had to obtain this cheat once again.

After taking the money, Zhu Meijiao pursed her lips and continued:

"Many boarding students in our class are planning to start renting apartments next semester. That way, we can study for a while longer after evening self-study, and the sleep quality is better than living in the dorms. After all, it'll be the third year of high school next year; every little bit of extra study helps."

That was true, but the rent for houses in the County was not low, and one had to rent for three semesters at a time...

Zhou Ru did the math, and it was actually more expensive than buying a color TV.

It was just that a color TV was a one-time expense, while rent was paid monthly, so it didn't feel as significant.

Zhou Ru calculated the meager savings left at home, looking troubled: "Meijiao, why don't we forget about renting? Living in the dorms is quite good too. Evening self-study ends at nearly ten o'clock, and by the time you get to the dorm to wash up and get ready, it's time to sleep when the lights go out at ten-thirty. If you sleep too late, you won't have any energy for class the next day..."