Scar Brother gave a cold, insincere smile. “Look at the situation now. So many people have already been arrested over the black market—who still dares to let someone owe money for a whole week? I might earn the money, but not live long enough to spend it.”
Zhao Chengren begged Scar Brother to lend him more, swearing he would definitely win it back. As he spoke, he very naturally dropped to his knees.
Scar Brother had seen plenty of people like this, but even so, he had to admit Zhao Chengren was particularly thick-skinned.
“Get lost! If you can’t bring the money in three days, I’ll bring people to pay a visit to your home.”
Zhao Chengren was driven out of the casino. Su Wan stood in a small alley, and only when she saw his utterly dejected figure did she finally feel at ease.
Although she had made a deal with the people at the casino, she didn’t know whether they would keep their word, so she could only keep an eye on things herself.
It seemed the casino people were fairly trustworthy. Zhao Chengren had indeed lost all his money and, judging by his miserable expression, owed quite a bit as well.
Now all that was left was to wait for the fish to bite.
Before dawn the next day, she went to the place where she had made the deal the day before. The pork seller showed up as expected.
He brought eight hens, two roosters, four ducks, two geese, as well as a puppy, a lamb, two piglets, and a calf.
There were also eggs—chicken, duck, and goose eggs—and all kinds of farm produce.
There were rice, soybeans, mung beans, sesame, eggplant, chili peppers, and seeds of various gourds.
All of this was what Su Wan had requested. She wanted small animals to raise in her space, and as for slaughtered meat, there was also one pig and one sheep.
Su Wan paid him, and the man was very satisfied. He even said that if she needed more, she could look for him at the black market.
Su Wan agreed on the surface, but in fact had no intention of going back. This was more than enough for her to eat.
The black market was being cracked down on hard now, and she didn’t want to get caught. Even though she knew people in the police, it would still be troublesome if she were arrested.
Lastly, she wanted to buy some fruit tree saplings. Last night, Xiao Bai had said that she could plant more trees in the space—the fruit they bore would be much better than anything bought outside.
After saying that, Xiao Bai tossed away the apple in his hand, looking extremely disdainful.
After storing all the supplies in her space, Su Wan went to the black market one last time to look for fruit tree saplings.
She made a round and didn’t find any. Just as she was about to leave, she turned around and saw a group of people storming in at the entrance to the black market.
The crowd stirred. “Run! The market regulation office is here!”
Su Wan’s heart jolted. The exit was blocked, so she could only run deeper inside.
Many people were already being caught. The entire black market descended into chaos. Su Wan happened to be in a small alley and immediately ran into it, with many people following behind her.
To come to the black market, she hadn’t worn heeled leather shoes, but a pair of flat shoes instead. Now she ran quickly, her hands empty, not any slower than those carrying goods.
She didn’t know whether they would chase her, so she just kept her head down and ran. She had never been here before and fled in blind panic, not knowing where she was going.
Unexpectedly, after passing through an alley entrance, she emerged onto a main street. Her wildly pounding heart finally eased—since she was on a street, it should be fine.
She heard someone panting heavily behind her. Turning around, she saw an elderly man with graying hair, carrying a shoulder pole with baskets covered by cloth.
Seeing how hard he was breathing, Su Wan couldn’t help asking, “Sir, are you all right?”
The old man waved his hand and plopped down to sit. “I’m fine. Sigh, it’s just a pity—the seedlings weren’t sold before they came.”
Hearing the word “seedlings,” Su Wan’s heart stirred. “Sir, what kind of seedlings are you selling?”
Hearing her ask, the old man lifted the cloth covering the baskets. “Just some fruit tree saplings—peach trees, tangerines, that sort of thing.”
Su Wan’s eyes lit up. It was like a pillow being delivered just as she felt sleepy. She squatted down to check the condition of the saplings. “Sir, I want all of these. How much?”
The old man hadn’t expected a young girl to want so many saplings. To be honest, he hadn’t had much hope bringing these into the city to sell.
City folk didn’t have land to plant trees. In times like these, unlike before, if he hadn’t been truly desperate for money, he wouldn’t have dug up fruit saplings to sell in the city.
Who would have thought he’d run into someone who genuinely wanted them? He was overjoyed and quickly said, “Miss, if you take them all, twenty yuan will do!”
There were quite a lot of saplings. Su Wan agreed immediately, had him deliver them to an empty alley, and after he left, she stored them all in her space.
Now she truly didn’t need to come to the black market anymore. She hadn’t expected the crackdown to be so strict—she’d only come a few times and already run into an arrest. If she hadn’t run fast, she would probably have been caught.
Not long after Su Wan returned home, Zhao Chengren came again. Yesterday he’d traded those junk items for a hundred yuan, and now that he was short on money, he immediately thought of Su Wan.
Who knew he wouldn’t even make it into the Su family home—Wu Jie directly chased him away.
Zhao Chengren couldn’t figure out what Su Wan meant by this. Yesterday she’d still been calling him Brother Zhao—how come today he couldn’t even see her?
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Thinking again of the stacks of money he’d seen last time, it felt like ants were crawling all over his heart.
If he could get that money, he could gamble to his heart’s content at the casino!
That bitch Su Wan must be looking down on him—that was why she had people send him away. Who would have thought that a used-up woman who’d been married before would still dare to pick and choose!
At this thought, Zhao Chengren’s eyes filled with fury and resentment. He turned and strode away.
From behind the curtains, Su Wan watched his shifting expressions and felt very satisfied.
Wu Jie went upstairs to call Su Wan to eat. In a good mood, Su Wan ate two bowls by herself and drank a bowl of the chicken soup Wu Jie had stewed.
Wu Jie hadn’t expected Su Wan to have such a good appetite and was very happy.
Especially since Su Wan had told her not to let Zhao Chengren in again—she was even happier. Zhao Chengren really did live up to being Zhao Mengxue’s brother: thoroughly detestable.
He looked decent enough on the surface, but she could tell—those darting eyes showed he was no good.
Wu Jie had also overheard Su Wan telling Zhao Mengxue about the divorce yesterday. Naturally, she didn’t want Su Wan to divorce.
Gu Huaizhi did seem a bit cold, but she felt he truly cared about Miss Su.
It was just that she was a servant in someone else’s household and couldn’t say much.
Later that evening, Su Wan went to see Scar Brother again, asking him to apply some pressure—ideally find an excuse to make Zhao Chengren pay up quickly. If he couldn’t come up with the money, he would definitely start looking for another way.
Zhao Mengxue hadn’t expected her useless brother to go gambling again—and to owe over a hundred yuan. Now he even wanted her to help pay it back!
“Where would I get that much money?! My monthly salary is only a little over thirty yuan! I’ve already spent a lot this month on Mom’s medical bills—are you crazy, going gambling again?!”
Zhao Chengren looked unhinged. “I don’t care! If you don’t give me the money, they’ll come to our door to collect it! Do you really want to watch your brother get beaten to death?!”