Mr. Guo’s tone was steady as he sat back down, settling into the chair.
“Since I’m paying in installments, I can throw in an extra five hundred as a sweetener, to cover your interest. The house is priced at two thousand three hundred—I’ll give you two thousand eight hundred. You’re not losing out on this deal.”
Bai Wanwan did the math quickly in her head.
Two thousand eight hundred minus one thousand leaves one thousand eight hundred to be paid in installments.
She was just about to ask how many payments when Wu Xiufang beat her to it.
“How many months?”
“Eighteen months, one hundred a month.”
Mr. Guo pulled out a small notebook and flipped it open. “I’ll write the IOU, we’ll put our fingerprints on it, and then get it notarized at the neighborhood office. Once it’s agreed upon, I won’t go back on my word.”
Bai Wanwan sat on the stool, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the hem of her clothes.
She did the math—one hundred a month, eighteen months, that’s one thousand eight hundred.
One thousand upfront now, then regular payments every month after.
That thousand could clear the medical bills right away, patch up the hole in the stove counter, and the rest would tide them through winter without going hungry.
You wouldn’t find this price anywhere else on the street even if you asked around. The Li family’s house next door was only listed at eight hundred fifty, and that was for a lump-sum payment.
But once you took that eight hundred fifty, there was nothing more coming. How could that compare to a steady stream like this?
The more she thought about it, the better the deal seemed. Her brow gradually relaxed.
This transaction wasn’t a loss at all.
But Wu Xiufang’s brow was furrowed.
“Mr. Guo, eighteen months is too long. What if—”
“What if what?”
Mr. Guo’s face immediately darkened. His pen paused, and his voice hardened.
“You don’t trust me?”
“How could I, how could I!”
Wu Xiufang quickly waved her hands and leaned forward slightly.
“As her mother, I’m not trying to squeeze more out of you—I’m just being honest. The family needs money to take care of things right now. The second son just got sent to the hospital—medicine can’t stop, and meals can’t be skipped. That one thousand might not be enough to cover it.”
As she spoke, she glanced sideways at her daughter.
Bai Wanwan stayed silent but lightly kicked her foot, signaling her not to actually offend the man.
Mr. Guo stood up, grabbed his bag, and headed for the door.
“Then forget it. I’ll look elsewhere. Plenty of people on this street are selling their houses.”
“Wait, wait, wait!”
Bai Wanwan darted forward and blocked the doorframe with her arm.
“Mr. Guo, don’t rush off—let’s talk this over, let’s talk.”
She caught her breath and softened her tone.
“My mother was just anxious just now, she didn’t mean anything by it. How about this—we sign the contract first, and you pay the first three months upfront as a show of good faith. After that, the monthly payments continue as agreed. You save yourself the hassle, and we feel more secure.”
Bai Wanwan pulled Wu Xiufang into the corner of the kitchen, turning her back to Mr. Guo, and lowered her voice.
“Mom, just agree to it. One thousand is already a lot… Leave the rest to me.”
“What are you going to do, grow money on trees?”
Wu Xiufang gritted her teeth and whispered back.
“You think people are stupid? Qiao Qingyan agreeing to fork over one thousand is already her holding her nose and accepting her fate. Getting her to add more? Not a chance.”
“Qiao Qingyan still has that other thousand, doesn’t she? If she won’t pay it all, her own brother’s in the hospital—she can’t just wash her hands of it… We squeeze out what we can. The important thing is to keep this buyer.”
Bai Wanwan pursed her lips, her eyes full of calculation.
If they didn’t sign today and Mr. Guo went to someone else’s door, there was no way they’d find this price again.
And even if they did, the buyer might not be willing to pay in installments.
If he really walked away, trying to find someone else to offer this price?
Dream on.
Besides, if all the money went to those two brothers, what were she and her mother supposed to eat—air?
Who would support them?
Wu Xiufang narrowed her eyes in thought, her fingernails digging into her palm.
She knew her daughter was right.
In this day and age, nobody handed out free money. If you could grab a handful, you held on tight.
She finally nodded, turned around, and said to Mr. Guo, “Fine, we’ll take the deal. But Mr. Guo, the IOU needs to be written clearly, and we’d better have a witness.”
“Of course.”
Mr. Guo sat back down, placed his bag on his lap, and took out a blank sheet of paper stamped with an official seal.
“I’ll have Old Li, who handles the accounts at the factory, come as our witness. He’s in this area at the end of the month to take care of paperwork anyway, so he can stop by and sign. You can rest assured.”
With that, he picked up his fountain pen, dipped it in ink, and began filling in the terms line by line.
When he finished, he handed it to Wu Xiufang and Bai Wanwan to review, not missing a single punctuation mark.
The deal was settled on the spot.
Mr. Guo immediately pulled out a stack of bills, wrote out the receipt, and pressed his fingerprint.
Wu Xiufang took the money, sat back down at the table, and counted it one bill at a time.
Ten bills to a stack, neatly arranged. She didn’t stop until she’d counted it five times.
After confirming it was correct, she wrapped it in three layers of oil paper and tucked it into the iron box at the very bottom of the wardrobe.
That box had once held the silver bracelets from her wedding dowry—long since pawned off.
Just then, Qiao Dehai stepped through the door, his hair a mess from the wind, his face etched with worry.
His eyes locked onto the thick stack of bills on the table, practically glued to them.
“It’s settled?”
“It’s settled.”
Wu Xiufang shoved the money into his hands.
“Old Qiao, go find Rongze right away and settle the debts.”
Qiao Dehai clutched the money, his fingers trembling uncontrollably.
Mr. Guo put away the deed and the transfer documents, folding them carefully before tucking them into his inner pocket.
He walked to the center of the room and stood still, his gaze slowly sweeping across the walls and the floor.
Then he turned and walked toward the front hall, reaching out to point at a few spots in the air.
Bai Wanwan stood at the doorway, hands clasped in front of her, her eyes never leaving Mr. Guo’s back.
Her emotions were a tangled mess she couldn’t sort through.
She clenched her fists, forcing down the wave of disappointment rising within her.
But what else could she do?
She had already planned it all out.
Once Qiao Qingyan saw that their family had nowhere to live, she would definitely soften.
By then, she could slip into an even bigger residence and enjoy a life of comfort.
At that thought, the corner of her mouth curled up quietly.
As dusk fell, Qiao Rongze hurried back.
The moment he stepped through the door, he saw his father sitting at the table counting money.
He recognized at once that it was a stack of fresh bills and rushed forward immediately.
“Dad! Where did this money come from?!”
“The house is sold.”
Qiao Dehai replied with a bitter face.
Qiao Rongze froze on the spot, his arm stopping mid-air as all the color drained from his face.
His eyes widened, his throat bobbed once, and then he exploded.
“What? What did you say? You sold the old house? Have you lost your mind?!”
“What else was I supposed to do?”
Qiao Dehai jerked his head up, his eyes reddening.
“Watch you get your bones broken? Watch your second brother die on a sickbed with no one to help?”
Qiao Rongze’s words caught in his throat, choking him until his face flushed red.
He stared at the remaining money on the table, his gaze shifting from shock to bewilderment, then slowly settling into a deep, suppressed gloom.
Bai Wanwan stepped forward with light, quiet footsteps, casually picking up a small cloth pouch.
“Rongze, take five hundred first and settle your own debts. For the rest, try to drag it out and pay it back slowly over a few months.”
She glanced at Qiao Dehai after speaking, then quickly looked away.
Qiao Rongze clenched his jaw so hard his teeth ached, his temples throbbing violently.
He reached out and took the money from Qiao Dehai’s hands.
“That’s all?”
He looked up, his eyes going blank.
“What about Second Brother’s surgery? What are we going to do?”