Chapter 419: The 90s Contrast System (22)

"Auntie Ru, are you worried that renting a room costs too much money?"

Zhu Meijiao looked as if she were about to cry:

"I know the family is struggling, but all my classmates are renting rooms outside, and they are all studying later than one another. If I go to sleep as soon as it's time, what will I do if I can't outscore them?"

She was determined to go to university; what kind of future could she have staying in the village?

In the future, she must find a decent job where she wouldn't be blown by the wind, drenched by the rain, or scorched by the sun, and when she married, she would marry a cultured city person. She didn't want to be like the other girls in the village who either went out to work as laborers or married local men and spent their whole lives as farm wives digging for food in the dirt!

"Auntie Ru, you don't want me to fail the university entrance exam, do you?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ru felt a lump in her throat.

She thought to herself, isn't studying about who is smarter? Does it really compare who is more diligent?

Even if it were about diligence, in the middle of the night, could studying an extra half-hour really help one catch up?

But she didn't dare to guarantee this, as she hadn't even finished a few years of primary school herself.

The problem now was that the family really had no money left.

Her husband was working everywhere with a construction foreman; perhaps because the construction industry was booming this year, wages had risen accordingly.

But the income from the first half of the year had all gone to repay the seven thousand yuan previously advanced, and income only started coming in during the second half of the year.

Once the tuition was paid, there wouldn't be much money left.

If He Wan Village didn't relocate soon, let alone the money for renting a room, even the tuition for the next semester would be nowhere to be found.

"I wonder how Sister is doing?" Zhu Meijiao suddenly brought up Xie Yang, wearing a look of self-reproach. "If I had known that studying was so difficult, I should have swapped with Sister back then. I would have gone to Shencheng to work, and Sister would have stayed home; then she wouldn't have gotten so tired that she fell ill."

That's right!

Zhou Ru was reminded that the wretched girl still had money in her hands.

She had been seeing a doctor in the city for so long, it was about time she came back, right?

"I'll go back to my maiden home tomorrow... no, in a little while. Why is that girl holding onto so much money all by herself? Even if she's treating an illness, she won't spend it all. Getting into university is so important; as her sister, if she doesn't have any other ability, what's wrong with helping you pay for some tuition and living expenses? When you succeed in the future, won't she benefit from it too? She could even find a higher-class husband's family."

"Auntie Ru, you are so good to me!" Zhu Meijiao hugged Zhou Ru, moved. "If I get into university, Dad says he wants to host a few tables for a celebration banquet. At that time..."

She lowered her eyelids and paused, her eyelashes trembling lightly as if shy:

"At that time, if I change how I address you to 'Mom', you won't think it's too late, will you?"

Zhou Ru was overjoyed: "Of course not! If you are willing to call me Mom, I will be content; how could I think it's too late!"

"Then it's a deal!" Zhu Meijiao beamed, then clenched her fists to cheer herself on. "Then I must work even harder! I'll strive to get into a key university! I won't waste the celebration banquet Dad and Auntie Ru are hosting for me!"

"Good, good, good!" Zhou Ru couldn't stop smiling.

She felt that being a stepmother for these ten-plus years hadn't been in vain; she had finally endured the bitterness and reached the sweetness, and there was a reward.

In her excitement, she took out the only one thousand yuan of savings she had left:

"Since you want to rent a room, then rent it! I'll keep this one thousand for you; you can rent it when the next semester starts. The rent for a year might not be enough, but it's still early; perhaps our village will relocate during this time. If it hasn't been demolished, we'll think of other ways."

As for what those ways were, Zhou Ru didn't say, and Zhu Meijiao didn't ask, as if they had a tacit understanding that made asking unnecessary, or perhaps they simply ignored this practical problem.

When the villagers saw Zhou Ru pushing her bicycle with a beaming face to send her stepdaughter back to school, they couldn't help but click their tongues in wonder:

"Zhou Ru is truly a stepmother with nothing to complain about. Look, sending Weiguo's daughter back to school, she's got apples and vegetables; she's more thoughtful than us biological mothers. Every time my Jian Gang goes back to school, I can't even remember to prepare some food for him, let alone send him to the village entrance."

"What do you think she's actually thinking? When her own daughter was sick and asked her for money for treatment, she wouldn't give it. But for the one who isn't her own, she's studying, and she's sending fruit and vegetables, and sending her off with a beaming face."

"Perhaps she plans to rely on Weiguo's daughter to support her when she gets old."

None of the women in the village understood how Zhou Ru's train of thought worked.

If it were up to them, if they didn't have children of their own, they could understand taking care of the children left behind by a previous marriage as if they were their own.

But when she clearly had a biological child, even if she wanted to treat them differently, surely she would treat her own better—after all, blood is thicker than water. How did it end up reversed with Zhou Ru?

They couldn't figure it out!

They truly couldn't figure it out!

Zhou Ru didn't notice the meaningful looks from the village women; she sent Zhu Meijiao to the village entrance, and they both got on a motorized tricycle.

After arriving in town, Zhu Meijiao transferred to a bus to the County, while Zhou Ru asked for directions all the way until she found the transitional housing arranged by the demolition office for the villagers of Zhou Family Village.

Even though she had had a fight with her father last time and had proudly declared she would never return to her maiden home again.

But what kind of overnight grudge could there be between a father and daughter?

Half a year later, she didn't believe her father was still holding a grudge.

However, she hadn't expected that this trip would be in vain.

"You came at a bad time. Your father, mother, and your three brothers' families all took the morning train to the city. It seems they said their granddaughter was being discharged... wait, isn't Lao Zhou's granddaughter your daughter? As her mother, don't you know she was hospitalized and is being discharged?"

Zhou Ru: "..."

Bearing the questioning gazes of the villagers, she slunk back to the Zhu Family.

She calculated that she would go again in a few days.

Since the wretched girl was discharged, she should be back in a few days, right?

Xie Yang, having completely removed her sickly makeup, stood on the platform, revealing her true skin tone, which was as white and lustrous as jade. Her hair, which had been withered, yellow, and limp a year ago, was now black, smooth, and glossy.

If she were to go for a blood test or a follow-up gastroscopy now, the doctors who had seen her previous medical reports would surely be so shocked their jaws would drop.

She raised her wrist to check the time; the train Lao Zhou's family was on would be arriving soon.

Today was the day she had told her grandfather she was "recovered and discharged," so she wouldn't need to make excuses about going to the hospital anymore.

She hadn't expected her grandfather's family to insist on coming to pick her up from the hospital and celebrate for her, even saying that her grandmother had packed a fire basin to bring along, insisting that she must step over a fire basin after being discharged to ward off bad luck.

Xie Yang had booked four standard rooms at a hotel near the rental apartment and timed her arrival at the train station to pick them up.

Over the past six months, she had rented a two-bedroom apartment near the hospital, not far from the park and the stock exchange.

Every morning, she would first go to the park to exercise, then stroll over to the stock exchange to understand the day's Trading trends, recording the stocks she had impressions of.

Occasionally, she would also walk around to see the sights.

In recent years, commercial housing has been on the rise, and with the housing reform implemented last year, the real estate market has gradually entered a stage of prosperity.

Those areas that seem relatively remote now will develop into new city centers in just a few years.

Xie Yang set her sights on a river-view residential complex currently under construction.

According to the memories of the previous life left behind by the original owner, a ten-thousand-seat stadium capable of hosting the Asian Games and Olympic Games would be built on the vacant land a few hundred meters away, and the District Government would also move to this vicinity, at which point housing prices would soar like a rocket.

How would the original owner, who had worked in Shencheng for many years, know this?

It was because when she was home for the Spring Festival, she had heard Zhu Meijiao, who was waiting to be married, complain more than once that her future in-laws originally had the chance to buy off-plan housing here, but they thought it was too desolate and bought second-hand housing in the North City District instead.

Unexpectedly, less than two years after buying, this place welcomed the stadium, the District Government, and a nine-year integrated school that would later lead the education sector, with housing prices flourishing; meanwhile, the second-hand housing in the North City District was met with an Overpass—not just one, but three overpasses intersecting and connecting—forcing them to endure the noise of the overpass every day, and they couldn't sell it if they wanted to move away.

Xie Yang calculated her savings balance; buying a river-view off-plan property now is not only cheap, but the mortgage interest rate is also not high, and the remaining money could be used to buy a few bull stocks she remembered clearly.

It is a pity that this body will not turn eighteen until next month.

This period is just for pure recuperation; she cannot open a stock trading account, nor can she sign a contract to buy a house.

She can only wait idly for the arrival of her eighteenth birthday.