“I… I’m not… I didn’t… It’s just… just that I remember Ah Zheng used to have a pocket watch like this too…” Chen Zhiyi stammered, her face flushing red as she hurriedly tried to explain.
Su Mian didn’t care to waste her breath getting dragged into the lead couple’s drama. Turning directly to the man in the suit, she asked, “How are you paying?”
The suited man was stunned. His absolute limit was eleven hundred yuan—not a penny more. He never expected Su Mian to choose him over the other buyer.
“We can go to the bank. I can withdraw the cash for you, or transfer it to your bank card—whichever you prefer,” he offered.
It made sense; nobody dared to carry that much cash on them these days, especially with thieves and pickpockets lurking around every corner.
“Alright, let’s go,” Su Mian said, stepping forward to leave with him.
Before they could take a step, Lu Zheng—who had remained silent while watching them wrap up the deal—finally spoke up.
“Fifteen hundred. This watch is very important to me.”
Su Mian wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but she thought she caught a faint trace of bitterness in his voice.
Then again, back when Lu Zheng gave her this pocket watch, it was probably the most valuable thing he owned. How could it not be important?
Still, after the Lu family was rehabilitated and returned to the city, most of their ancestral property had been restored to them. Was a single pocket watch really worth holding a grudge over for so long?
Regardless, if anyone wanted her watch, they had to pay up. Su Mian certainly wasn’t going to hand it over for free. This was life-saving money for her and the two kids!
By now, Chen Zhiyi could hear the absolute resolve in Lu Zheng’s voice. Turning to Su Mian with a polite smile, she said, “Comrade, would you mind selling this pocket watch to us? My husband really wants it. What I said earlier wasn’t meant in any bad way, and I certainly wasn’t trying to snatch your property. It’s just that this watch really looks almost identical to my husband’s, which is why I said that.”
Before Su Mian could answer, the suited man suddenly cut in. “Uh… you should just sell it to them. I… I’ll be taking my leave now. I can’t afford to offend the Lu family.”
With those words, he spun around and scurried off.
Someone in the crowd had likely recognized Lu Zheng’s identity and whispered something to him—Su Mian had caught the quick exchange.
Sigh. Typical. Nothing good ever happened whenever she ran into the male and female leads. Just like that, the money that was practically in her hands had flown away.
Since the main couple insisted on ruining her business, Su Mian had no qualms about ripping them off a bit.
“Fine then. Fifteen hundred. How would you like to settle the bill?” Su Mian asked, turning to Lu Zheng with a beaming smile. Since he was now her buyer, she could afford to be polite.
Lu Zheng didn’t answer. Instead, his gaze drifted down to the two little ones clinging to Su Mian’s legs on either side.
Seeing his stare, Su Mian instinctively stepped forward, using her body to shield the children from view.
“What’s the matter, comrade? You scared off my customer, so don’t tell me you’re backing out now? Are you here to ruin my livelihood or what?” Su Mian’s temper flared. She had been bustling around all morning just to find a single buyer.
The two kids were worn out too; they had been trailing behind her through the trading market all day and hadn’t even eaten lunch yet. The meat buns from this morning had long digested, leaving their stomachs completely empty.
“It’s too crowded here. Let’s find a quieter spot, and I’ll give you the money,” Lu Zheng said suddenly.
Su Mian instantly grew alert.
Had he recognized her identity? If he had, shouldn’t he be desperate to stay as far away from her as possible? After all, she was the biggest stumbling block standing between him and Chen Zhiyi.
Or had he recognized her and wanted to take the pocket watch in private without paying?
No, that didn’t make sense either. Given the Lu family’s current status in Xiangcheng, he wouldn’t need to resort to such petty tricks.
He probably hadn’t recognized her then. After all, she had put on so much weight.
Either way, Su Mian had no desire to have any further involvement with Lu Zheng, nor was she going to go anywhere private with him. The reason was simple: the main leads were bad news for her, and she had no interest in inviting more trouble into her life.
“Just hand it over right here. Cash on delivery,” Su Mian said firmly.
While doing this out in the open carried the risk of exposing her wealth and attracting bad intention, Su Mian had her own ways of handling that.
Lu Zheng’s brows furrowed tightly, his eyes fixed on her in clear disapproval.
“If you don’t want to buy it, forget it. Dabao, Xiaobao, let’s go,” Su Mian said, taking both children by the hand to leave.
Her mindset was simple enough—even if she only sold the watch for seven or eight hundred yuan elsewhere, it was still better than entangling herself with the lead couple. She refused to believe she wouldn’t run into another buyer like the suited man.
Just as she turned around, Lu Zheng’s voice called out from behind. “I’ll pay you right now.”
The words brought Su Mian to a halt.
The pocket watch had belonged to Lu Zheng in the first place, and keeping it had only made her feel uneasy. If he wanted to buy it back now, all the better.
Consider it her payback for all the help she and her family had provided the Lu family back when they were banished to the countryside.
More importantly, before bringing her into the city, Lu Zheng had explicitly promised the Su family that he would take good care of her—a promise he had completely failed to keep. Selling this watch would draw a clean line between them, allowing her to put her grievances against him behind her for good.
“Do you have that much cash on you?” Su Mian asked.
Lu Zheng shook his head. “Come to the bank with me.”
A bank was a public place; Su Mian was fine going there.
“There’s a branch of the People’s Bank right next door. Let’s go,” Lu Zheng added.
Holding a child in each hand, Su Mian followed behind him.
Seeing that the parties involved were leaving, the surrounding crowd began to disperse. Times really had changed; to think a single pocket watch could fetch fifteen hundred yuan these days.
Meanwhile, Chen Zhiyi, who had been completely ignored on the sidelines, quickly hurried to catch up.
“Ah Zheng, isn’t fifteen hundred a bit too expensive?” she asked softly.
Lu Zheng’s footsteps paused briefly. “It’s not expensive,” he replied quietly.
Chen Zhiyi’s smile faltered, her expression souring, but Lu Zheng showed not the slightest inclination to comfort her.
Just a few dozen meters to the left of the trading market stood the bank. Su Mian waited outside the entrance while Lu Zheng went in to withdraw the money.
At the same time, she kept a sharp lookout to see if anyone suspicious was tailing her. It would be a disaster to get robbed right after selling the watch.
After scanning the area and finding no suspicious figures, she finally breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The moment she got the money, she would call a ride and leave immediately.
Truth be told, the shantytown she lived in was actually quite safe. Though the people there were poor, most were honest folks who wouldn’t dare commit a crime. If anything, Su Mian herself was the least rule-abiding person there.
So she planned to treat herself for once after getting the cash by hailing a tricycle cart to take her and the two children straight home.
Before long, Lu Zheng emerged from the bank.
Seeing him, Su Mian pulled out the pocket watch. “Money first,” she said.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Lu Zheng handed over a stack of a dozen or so blue-black hundred-yuan bills.
Su Mian snatched the cash and held out the pocket watch in return.
To her surprise, Lu Zheng made no move to take it, staring at it motionless.
Lacking the patience to wait, Su Mian simply shoved the watch directly into Chen Zhiyi’s hands.
“Thanks. Pleasure doing business with you.”
With that, she turned on her heel and hurried off with the two children.
Seeing her leave, Lu Zheng instinctively made to chase after her, but Chen Zhiyi called him back.
“Ah Zheng, what is wrong with you?”
Lu Zheng froze in his tracks, looking thoroughly lost and defeated.
What was wrong with him? He didn’t know either.