Chapter 423

When Xie Yang ran into Zhu Meijiao at the city department store, she was both surprised and not surprised.

It was not surprising because as soon as the College Entrance Examination results came out last year, the Main System had chattered away reporting Zhu Meijiao's performance—

She only scored around three hundred points, far below the undergraduate cutoff, and she had only just scraped into a city-run vocational college by the admission line.

Since they were in the same city, meeting was a possibility.

What was surprising was, hadn't Zhou Ru been running back to her maiden home every few days to complain about having no money to live on?

To support her stepdaughter's vocational studies, the fields had been leased out, and she had even followed Zhu Weiguo to the construction site to cook for the workers; how did Zhu Meijiao still have spare money to spend at the department store?

Not to mention that she wasn't just window shopping; Xie Yang recognized the shopping bag in Zhu Meijiao's hand as a well-known shoe brand at a glance.

However, Zhu Meijiao did not seem to recognize her.

She was seen carrying the shopping bag, browsing the cosmetics counter on the first floor with a female companion, excitedly chatting about the University Joint Masquerade Ball they were going to attend this weekend night.

【Host, she has taken a fancy to a wealthy boy at school who drives to class, and for this, she has secretly prepared a bottle of high-proof alcohol, intending for something to happen between them at the ball.】

The Main System had watched too many soap operas and intuitively felt there was "juicy gossip" to be had, its tone unusually excited.

Xie Yang raised an eyebrow, rubbed her chin, and instructed it to run a background check on the boy Zhu Meijiao had targeted.

【Host, that boy is named Xu Jiayu, a local, whose family runs a real estate company. Huh? The villa you bought was developed by his family!】

【He is the youngest son in the family and has been spoiled since childhood. Originally, his family planned to send him abroad to study, but once while shopping, he fell in love at first sight with a freshman girl from the Provincial Normal University. To make it easier to pursue her, he begged his family to get him into this vocational school, which is right across from the Normal University.】

Hearing this, Xie Yang's mouth twitched; it turned out he was a love-struck fool.

But looking at it this way, this boy had nothing to do with Zhu Meijiao; it was purely that Zhu Meijiao had taken a fancy to his family background and wanted to make something happen with him on her own initiative, so she could latch onto him and his family.

"The University Joint Masquerade Ball isn't just for students from the school Zhu Meijiao attends, right?"

【Right! It is jointly organized by the student unions of several local universities, and any interested student from any school can attend.】

"Is an invitation required?"

【No.】 The System asked excitedly, 【Host, are you going to attend?】

Wouldn't it be able to follow the Host to the scene and eat fresh gossip then?

It was so boring to always eat gossip silently online!

【Host, what do you need to prepare? System will help you.】

Xie Yang had it help her redeem a bottle of Sobering Pill that was colorless, odorless, and had no side effects.

At the same time, she had it continue to keep an eye on Zhu Meijiao.

"Compile all her spending since she came to the city to study into a list and deliver it to Zhou Ru from a distance; points are not an issue."

【Received, Host!】

With points to earn and fresh live gossip about to be had, the Main System worked incredibly hard.

It quickly organized all of Zhu Meijiao's on-campus and off-campus spending records since she got into the vocational college into a booklet and delivered it to Zhou Ru.

Zhou Ru had finished cooking two meals at the construction site and had cleaned up, but it was already dark by the time she returned home.

She was so tired she couldn't straighten her back, yet she still had to wash the couple's dirty clothes in the courtyard by the moonlight.

Suddenly, her foot stepped on something that felt like a paper package.

Picking it up to look, it was actually a letter, a thick, substantial letter without a postmark.

"What is this?"

She wiped her hands, took it inside, and opened the letter by the dim light of the main room.

At first, she was confused, but as she read on, her expression gradually turned ugly.

"Zhu Weiguo!"

She rushed into the bedroom and threw the thick stack of spending records onto Zhu Weiguo, who was lying on the bed watching Television.

"Look at your good daughter! We work from dawn till dusk and live frugally to support her college education, but look at her! She doesn't study properly at school and only thinks about shopping and buying things; a pair of shoes cost over four hundred! A dress cost over three hundred! I work myself to death cooking for a month at the construction site and only make three to five hundred! She, on the other hand! She spends it easily for a pair of shoes and a dress!"

"Wait! Where did she get so much money?"

As she scolded, Zhou Ru realized something and looked at the man suspiciously:

"After paying tuition and room and board, didn't the family have no money left? We agreed to send her living expenses monthly. Did you secretly give it to her?"

Seeing a flash of guilt in Zhu Weiguo's eyes, Zhou Ru was consumed by rage.

"You, Zhu Weiguo! You actually hid it from me and gave your daughter money! Tell me! Where did you get the money? Did you steal and save private money?"

"No, no." Zhu Weiguo waved his hands repeatedly, "I only earn that little bit of wages, where would I save private money? I just... I just borrowed some from the foreman. Meijiao said she would help me pay it back once she graduates and finds a job."

"Wait for her to graduate to pay it back? Is that person so kind to lend it to you for free for so long?"

"Cough, I paid a little bit of interest."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ru was so angry she couldn't speak.

Thinking about how for the sake of this family and for the sake of so-called face, she had almost granted every request of her stepdaughter, and even treated her better than her own daughter.

In the end, not only did she spend lavishly behind her back while the family was too poor to afford food, but she also encouraged her father to borrow external debt.

The borrowed money wasn't even used for studying or self-improvement; it was clearly to satisfy her own vanity—brand-name cosmetics, trendy perms, and shoes, clothes, and bags that cost hundreds at every turn...

Would such a person really become the reliance of the Zhu Family in the future?

The more Zhou Ru thought about it, the more she regretted it.

She threw a stool in anger and, giving up on everything, lay down on the bed:

"You go to work yourself tomorrow; I'm not going! I work myself to death all day long, and the money I earn isn't spent on me. You wash your own clothes! And that girl's clothes, don't think I'll ever help her wash them again, and the room too; I don't care if it gathers dust. If she likes it clean, she can do it herself!"

"..."

"What's going on!"

Zhu Meijiao, who was in the school dormitory putting on makeup in front of the mirror to prepare for the masquerade ball, suddenly heard a "ding" from the Female Supporting Character Contrast System and was shocked to find that the energy progress bar had shrunk by 10% compared to the day before, instantly falling below the passing line.

Before she could react, the Contrast System withdrew the "Good Luck Bonus" Prop she had redeemed again on the eve of the College Entrance Examination.

If not for this Prop, she would not have been able to get into this school so luckily, right at the admission cutoff line.

Classmates who scored better than her all failed the College Entrance Examination and have no school to attend.

Tonight, she still wanted to use this Prop to fulfill a wish buried deep in her heart, and then a good life would not be far off for her.

Unexpectedly, the progress bar actually shrank at this moment.

Zhou Ru!

It must be Zhou Ru!

What kind of madness is she acting out at home again!

Zhu Meijiao cursed Zhou Ru while pacing around anxiously.

What to do now!

Should the plan still be executed?

But without the "Good Luck Bonus," could she successfully win over that boy and get what she wished for?

Yet the dance was about to begin, and she was unwilling to back down at this time.

Zhu Meijiao gritted her teeth and decided to proceed according to the original plan.

As long as she was doubly careful, she should not reveal any flaws.