This is a sign that she's willing to settle this privately.
Yang Huixian quickly said, "I'll give you two hundred…"
An Heping immediately cut her off, "If you don't want to settle privately, then just call the police. Two hundred? Are you trying to fob us off like beggars? Do you know how much money we've spent raising An Shu all these years? Do you know how much effort we've put into her? From childhood to now, we've doted on her like a little princess, and all of that was originally meant for An Ran. Let me tell you, you not only have to make up the difference in what we've spent raising the child, but you also have to compensate us for emotional distress!"
"Honey, calculate for her—how much money have we spent raising An Shu all these years?"
Yang Huishu glared at Yang Huixian in dissatisfaction and started tallying up: "An Shu was born frail; the doctor said it was due to insufficient nutrition during pregnancy. Before she turned ten, she was a regular at the hospital. For all those years of medical expenses, I'll calculate it as a thousand yuan, no less. Then there's the food expenses—because her health was poor, I gave her only fine grains, and whenever there was something good to eat, it went to her first. I'll count twenty yuan a month, again no less. Sixteen years would be… three thousand eight hundred and forty yuan."
"Then there's clothing. All these years, four seasons a year, two new outfits per season at the very least. I won't overcount—let's say five yuan per outfit. Eight outfits a year is forty yuan, and sixteen years is six hundred and forty yuan. Finally, there's pocket money. Starting from when she was ten, I gave her five yuan a month in allowance—sixty a year, three hundred and sixty over six years. I won't even count the extra money given during holidays and festivals, nor the money spent on school supplies and such. Adding all of that up comes to… five thousand eight hundred and forty yuan. Now you calculate how much you've spent on An Ran all these years!"
Yang Huixian's heart was churning as she listened. She knew raising a child cost money, but she hadn't expected it to cost this much. Yang Huishu really had spared no expense!
Calculating her own expenses for raising An Ran over the years, even after padding the numbers with some water, she could barely scrape together a fraction of that amount. Even someone as thick-skinned as Yang Huixian felt a twinge of guilt toward An Ran at that moment.
Seeing the huge gap in spending between the two children, An Heping and Yang Huishu both felt a sour ache in their hearts. They had foolishly treated someone else's child like a treasure while their own child was treated like a weed.
An Heping suppressed the bitterness in his chest and said, "Let's just count the difference in spending between the two children as five thousand. For emotional distress, we won't ask for much—just a thousand. That's not unreasonable, is it?"
Yang Huixian promptly retracted the guilt she'd just felt toward An Ran: "I don't have the money."
Forget six thousand—she wouldn't even part with six hundred.
An Heping said, "If you don't have money, you can pay in goods. At current market prices, you'd just need to give six bars. Or if you don't want to pay in goods, you can request an advance on your wages from the factory."
Trying to weasel out of it?
Not a chance.
An Ran added, "And the subsidy I got for going to the countryside—she took that too, so she needs to give it back."
An Heping nodded: "My daughter is right. She also needs to hand over the subsidy for An Ran's time in the countryside."
Yang Huixian neither wanted to pay in goods nor request an advance on wages: "Children of the working class aren't that fragile. It's you who've been overly anxious and raised the child like a porcelain doll. Even if I was a bit biased toward An Ran, my other three children combined still didn't cost this much. You chose to spend that money foolishly—I'm not paying for it…"
An Heping said, "In that case, let's call the police. Don't blame me for not warning you—once your crime is established, the lightest sentence is twenty years, and the heaviest is a bullet!"
Yang Huixian said, "I didn't say I wouldn't compensate, but the amount has to be reasonable. Tell me, in this day and age, who raises a child spending as much money as your family does? If word of this got out, wouldn't it be a blatant announcement that you have money—lots of it? And if someone set their sights on you because of that, wouldn't it be a loss that outweighs the gain?"
An Heping remained unmoved: "There's only the few of us here. As long as we don't say anything, how would it get out?"
Yang Huixian said, "But that's still too much. There's no way I can bear that amount. If you're going to make me pay that much, you might as well take my life…"
Seeing Yang Huixian's attitude of "rather die than pay," An Heping frowned and asked, "Then what do you think is a fair amount?"
Yang Huixian said, "A thousand. I can't go any higher."
An Heping slammed the table: "You mother—… forget it. An Ran, go to the police station right now and report this!"
Six thousand dropping to a thousand? Dream on.
An Ran acknowledged and started walking out. Seeing this, Yang Huixian quickly stopped her: "Aren't we in the middle of negotiating? Why do you have to run off to the police the moment we disagree? Do you really want to end up in a deadlock where everyone loses?"
An Heping said, "Who's negotiating with you? Do you think this is a vegetable market? And even if it were a negotiation, you wouldn't bargain like that!"
Yang Huixian said with a pained expression, "Then fifteen hundred. I can't go any higher."
An Heping and Yang Huishu: "…"
Fifteen hundred?
Fobbing them off like beggars?
At the very least, five thousand!
Yang Huixian said, "Our steel factory has five or six thousand workers. Go ask around—whose family spends five or six thousand just to raise one child? Even giving you fifteen hundred is already too much…"
When it came to bargaining, An Heping and Yang Huishu were no match for Yang Huixian.
Seeing the two of them rendered speechless by Yang Huixian, An Ran couldn't help but speak up: "Including mental distress compensation and my rural resettlement allowance, three thousand total. Also, let An Shu go to the countryside just like me. Agree, and we'll write up the agreement. Disagree, and I'm going to the police station right now."
Six thousand had dropped to three thousand—though it still exceeded Yang Huixian's expectations, it was barely acceptable.
Seeing that An Ran looked like there was no room for negotiation, Yang Huixian pretended to think it over for a moment, then nodded: "Fine, three thousand it is. But An Shu has been frail since she was little. If she goes to the countryside, I'm afraid she won't be able to hold up. Can she be exempted?"
An Ran let out a cold laugh: "So the biological child really is different. I threatened to die and couldn't stir even a shred of pity from you, but before anything even happens to An Shu, you're already afraid she can't handle the countryside. If you don't want her to go, fine—five thousand."
Yang Huixian: "…Let's just do it your way."
At worst, she could arrange for An Shu to go to the countryside and then immediately set up a job to bring her back to the city—that cost would definitely be less than two thousand.
Having made up her mind, Yang Huixian said she couldn't come up with that much cash all at once and hoped to pay in installments. Knowing she had a substantial dowry, An Heping and Yang Huishu both expressed dissatisfaction at this, believing Yang Huixian was just making excuses to stall. But Yang Huixian's idea happened to suit An Ran just fine:
"I know there's money in the house. I don't know exactly how much, but if you say there isn't, then there isn't. I agree to let you pay in installments. From now on, my father's—no, my uncle's salary will be collected by my biological father on his behalf, until the full three thousand is paid off. Any problem with that?"
Yang Huixian considered it for a moment: "Fine."
As long as she didn't have to fork over three thousand all at once, anything could be discussed.
An Heping and Yang Huishu saw that An Ran had already come to an agreement with Yang Huixian, so they didn't feel they could object. Installments it was—as long as the money eventually came through. An Heping first wrote up the request and went to find the factory director for a signature. The factory director looked at the request with some surprise: "Why the sudden need to collect your brother's salary on his behalf?"
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