After carefully comparing her options for a long time, Meng Yao finally chose a shop in a secondary commercial location for 2,588 yuan.
It was even more expensive than the Western-style house because the shop came with an enormous underground storage area. After completing the purchase, the seller would also include a small warehouse in the suburbs.
The facilities could store frozen food, dry goods, and various other items.
Overall, it was a worthwhile deal.
The next step was stocking up.
With a few quick taps, Meng Yao ordered chickens, ducks, fish, pigs, cattle, sheep, and all kinds of common livestock and poultry.
When she pushed open the wooden cabin’s door, piles of living animals instantly appeared across the previously empty grassland.
The expense hurt a little, but she would recover the money soon enough.
As she walked, Meng Yao was completely absorbed in thinking about how to sell the animals.
She did not notice the anxious figure following her shortly after she entered the alley, repeatedly calling her name.
“Yaoyao!
“Yaoyao, wait…”
Meng Yao suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and turned around.
It was Old Jiao, the owner of the small shop near the alley entrance.
She looked surprised.
“Grandpa Jiao, were you calling me?”
Old Jiao caught up while panting heavily.
“Yes, yes. I’ve been calling you for ages, but you wouldn’t stop.
“What were you thinking about so deeply?”
Meng Yao scratched her head awkwardly.
“Grandpa Jiao, why were you looking for me?
“The Meng family’s debts have nothing to do with me anymore…”
In her previous life, Meng Yu had claimed that there was not enough food at home and used Meng Yao’s name to buy many snacks on credit from Old Jiao’s shop.
As a result, Old Jiao often chased Meng Yao around, demanding repayment.
“Grandpa Jiao, I wasn’t the one who bought those things on credit. You should ask the person who did it to pay you.”
Old Jiao had also become angry and spread his hands.
“Isn’t that brat your younger brother?
“And every time he came, he said you were the one who sent him.
“Of course I had to ask you for the money!”
Meng Yao had been furious as well.
She had already pawned the gold necklace her grandmother had left as her dowry to help support the family.
How could she possibly have had money left to settle Meng Yu’s debts?
“If you really want repayment, ask my parents. They’re Xiaoyu’s guardians.”
Old Jiao had planted his hands on his hips, his beard trembling with anger.
“That brat told me to ask you. You told me to ask your parents. Then your parents said a young girl should repay her own debts.
“Your entire family keeps passing the responsibility around. Are you all refusing to pay?”
Unable to withstand Old Jiao’s relentless demands and afraid that the seventy- or eighty-year-old man might become ill from anger, Meng Yao reluctantly pulled out her last piece of pocket money.
It was a crumpled one-yuan note.
She had secretly saved it to buy something whenever she became hungry.
In her previous life, because Li Yuqin had always withheld the household registration booklet, Meng Yao had been unable to withdraw the money from her bankbook.
Li Yuqin claimed that the money would be taken into the Qi family as part of Meng Yao’s dowry on her wedding day.
Naturally, every last cent had eventually ended up in Meng Ying’s hands.
Meng Yao suppressed her emotions and patiently repeated, “Grandpa Jiao, I’m no longer a member of the Meng family. Whoever from that family buys something on credit has nothing to do with me.”
Old Jiao forced a smile and looked confused.
“Yaoyao, you misunderstood.
“I already went to the Meng family yesterday and made them pay everything that brat owed.
“I only learned today how difficult your life had been. Sigh…”
He lowered his eyes and sighed.
“Yaoyao, I wronged you before.”
It had indeed been Meng Yu who owed money to Old Jiao.
As an outsider who knew nothing about the Meng family’s true circumstances, Old Jiao could not be blamed either emotionally or logically.
At least the Meng family still had enough conscience to settle the debt.
Then again, considering their current reputation, they probably wanted to avoid causing any more trouble.
After calming himself, Old Jiao said, “I called you because someone specifically asked for you on the telephone.”
“A telephone call?”
Meng Yao stared at him in shock and confirmed once more, “For me?”
Old Jiao nodded.
Aside from Meng Yu, who was studying at university, who else would call her?
Could it be Cao Yueya, her childhood friend and closest companion, who was studying at Capital University?
Other than those two, Meng Yao could not think of a third person.
Puzzled, she picked up the public telephone.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“Meng Yao?”
“…”
“It’s me, Feng Chen.”
“Who is Feng Chen?”
At that moment, Meng Yao had completely forgotten that she had slept with a man several days earlier.
“You… don’t remember me?”
Feng Chen’s calm voice carried a trace of disappointment.
Meng Yao was confused.
Leaving aside the pleasant, magnetic baritone, the voice did sound somewhat familiar.
“Do we… know each other?”
“…”
Their conversation fell into a brief silence.
Meng Yao suddenly slapped her forehead.
“I remember now!”
“You’re the man I forced myself on, aren’t you?”
Old Jiao, who was leaning back in his chair and drinking tea, suddenly sprayed the entire mouthful out.
He stared at Meng Yao in disbelief, his mouth hanging open for a long time.
Had society already become this open-minded?
Tsk, tsk.
If this improper trend continued, who knew what the world would become?
Feng Chen replied in a subdued voice, “Yes.”
Meng Yao cautiously asked, “Are you angry?”
She mistakenly believed that he had called to settle accounts with her for taking advantage of him.
“I wouldn’t say I’m angry. After all, you suffered more in that situation.
“I left in a hurry that morning, but I wrote you a note.
“I kept waiting for your call, but it never came, so…”
Meng Yao heard the dissatisfaction in his voice and hurriedly explained, “I’m sorry. It was my fault. I originally planned to contact you and explain everything clearly.
“But too many things happened at home recently, so I didn’t have time…”
Then she suddenly realized something was wrong.
How had this man known that he could reach her through this public telephone?
How had he learned her exact name and address?
Could he be an intelligence agent?
But she had nothing valuable enough to make someone spend so much time, energy, and influence investigating her.
Or perhaps he was a pervert or stalker, and their meeting that night had not been accidental at all.
At the thought, Meng Yao shuddered.
Surely she was not that unlucky.
Feng Chen seemed to guess the direction of her wild thoughts and explained first.
“That night, you introduced yourself to me.
“You were slurring your words, and your condition seemed abnormal, so I asked someone I knew to try to find you.
“Besides, Xiangyang District isn’t very large. It shouldn’t be difficult to investigate one person if someone truly wants to.”
His explanation was clear enough.
It appeared that she had truly overthought the matter.
Meng Yao lightly knocked her forehead, filled with regret.
Other than the overwhelming lust that had clouded her mind that night, she remembered absolutely nothing.
Feeling somewhat ashamed, she bit her lip and asked, “Then why did you call me today?”