Chapter 817: 811. Past Glory (Seeking Subscriptions and Monthly Tickets)

Meng Shu's wife actually understood in her heart, because during the New Year, Xiaomin had mentioned it intentionally or unintentionally, but she just hadn't gone into detail at the time.

Now that their son runs over here every few days, although his workplace is also in Shancheng, there is still some distance between them, and a trip takes at least an hour.

Plus, their son is busy with work and used to only come on Sundays, so Meng Shu's wife naturally understood this in her heart.

Come to think of it, she didn't have any ill feelings toward Xiaomin; although their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship wasn't particularly close—not like some who are like little sisters—it wasn't bad, all things considered.

She didn't have any complaints about her daughter-in-law; Meng Gu and Xiaomin married for love, so she had no demands regarding the bride price or other aspects.

After marrying into the family, she would often come over to help out; although it wasn't much, she had at least fulfilled her filial duty as a daughter-in-law.

Having this was actually enough.

Now that Xiaomin had made such a request, she could understand it; after all, the one in Xiaomin's belly was her own grandchild.

"Don't you be anxious either. Really, I know about my illness, and you know it too; it definitely can't be cured. Keeping this money at home is useless, so let's give it to Xiaomin and the others to buy a house first. Although it might not be quite enough, with the money they've saved themselves, the down payment should be sufficient." Seeing Meng Shu's ugly expression, his wife smiled gently.

Meng Shu didn't say a word, remaining very silent.

It wasn't until he finished cooking and they started eating that their daughter called, which made things a little better.

Their daughter was the joy of their family; although she was already in university, she basically called home every day.

After hanging up the phone, Meng Shu was silent for a moment and said, "I'll go collect the debts again tomorrow. If I can't get it back this time, I'll make a scene with them."

His wife drank her soup and said with a smile, "It's not like you haven't made a scene before; do you think it will work this time?"

She didn't hold any hope for these payments; it was just that some had been dragged out for too long.

However, the only advantage was that most of their project payments were concentrated in one company.

It was precisely because of this that so much in project payments was owed; often, once a project was finished, they would settle a little bit and withhold the rest.

In the past, Meng Shu hadn't been in too much of a hurry to collect, because doing so made it easier for him to get work from them.

But business had been hard to come by recently, many of his old workers couldn't keep up the pace anymore, and he wasn't as slick as some of the other foremen.

There were actually some side gains on many construction sites, but there were none on his side, and he strictly forbade such things.

If it weren't for his good reputation, he probably would have been finished long ago.

Another point was that his wife's health was getting worse and worse and she needed someone to take care of her; he didn't feel at ease leaving her to others, so he had slowly handed over the work in his hands to others.

"If they don't pay up this time, I won't let them off," Meng Shu said fiercely.

For such a long time, he had indeed been very honest and basically wouldn't do anything even slightly against the rules, but that didn't mean he didn't have the ability to do so.

Seeing Meng Shu like this, his wife's heart suddenly sank; she knew her husband's past.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough." Anxious in her heart, the more she wanted to speak, the less she could, and she could only cough incessantly.

Meng Shu hurriedly patted his wife's back.

After a good while, she recovered slightly. His wife took a sip of water, calmed her mood, and said, "You must not go back to your old ways, otherwise I will just..."

Seeing that his wife was getting anxious again, Meng Shu could only say hurriedly, "Don't worry, don't worry. I was just speaking out of anger. I'm just going to beg them, not to cause trouble. Don't worry, and don't be anxious."

His wife was still a bit uneasy and kept urging him not to mess up again. Things were different now than they used to be; he had been caught and locked up for a few years in the past, and now things were even stricter.

Meng Shu could only keep promising, while sighing in his heart, wondering if these things were what they called karmic retribution.

Ever since he betrayed Zhang Ran, he had indeed lived a good life for a while, but he soon hit rock bottom.

After so many years of hard work, he had finally managed to live a decent and stable life, but his wife's health was getting worse and worse.

Actually, there was a time when Meng Shu had thought about looking for Zhang Ran, not to rekindle their relationship, but to atone for his sins.

But with his wife's health and his daughter in the middle of the college entrance exams, he couldn't make up his mind and didn't dare to look for Zhang Ran.

He also didn't have the face to look for Zhang Ran.

When he first heard the news of Zhang Ran's return, Meng Shu was excited and happy; at that time, he was like a little child.

But soon he thought of what he had done in the past, so he was left with only pure happiness for Zhang Ran.

Over these past two years, he had also quietly kept an eye on Zhang Ran, and when he learned that Zhang Ran was doing better and better, he felt happy for him.

At the same time, he felt increasingly sorry for Zhang Ran; if they had been able to help Zhang Ran guard this family business back then, many things could have been avoided.

"What are you thinking about?" Seeing her husband lost in thought, his wife asked with some concern.

Meng Shu hurriedly shook his head, casting the matter aside, "Nothing, I wasn't thinking about anything."

"Are you thinking about your past?" His wife hit the nail on the head. Having lived together for so many years, how could she not understand her husband? Every time he had this expression, he was thinking about those things from the past.

Meng Shu moved his lips twice and finally nodded, "Yes, thinking about the glorious days of the past."

"Cough, you're still thinking about those things? Didn't I tell you not to think in that direction?" As she spoke, she started coughing again.

Meng Shu hurriedly said, "It's not what you think; it's about when I was working under the boss before."

"Is there any difference?"

"Of course. At that time, when we followed the boss, not to mention anything else, at the very least no one dared to truly provoke us. Of course, we never took the initiative to cause trouble either; the boss was very strict in that regard." Seeing his wife's worried eyes, Meng Shu added.

"Don't think about those useless things. Just send the money to Xiaomin and the others tomorrow," his wife said.

Meng Shu wanted to say something else, but he was interrupted by his wife, "You should go collect the debt if you need to, but their house can't wait. The child will be born soon, and we can't let the mother and child keep living in a rented room."

"If you can get the money, it'll still be here; if you can't, it won't delay them from buying the house."

Meng Shu finally nodded. He was actually in a difficult position, but he knew his wife probably wouldn't change her mind.