“The bride price being paid to Lin Zhaoyang is one thing, but the house was bought jointly by both families. Why should it all go to Lin Zhaoyang?”
Lin Ni had specifically asked around. The house on Qinghe Street that the Lin and Yang families bought together had cost nearly 1,000 yuan.
Housing prices in the provincial capital had risen over the past two years, and since the Qinghe Street house was spacious, the two families had still spent nearly 1,000 yuan on it even after negotiating the price down.
“Wen-ge, doesn’t that house belong to both you and Lin Zhaoyang? Why don’t you talk to her about selling it? You two can split the money fifty-fifty.”
In her mind, Lin Ni calculated that even if they had to sell the house quickly at a slight loss, each of them would still get at least 400 yuan.
“Since Lin Zhaoyang kept all the furniture, she should pay for it too.” The furniture alone was worth dozens of yuan, which would allow her to scrape together more than 400 yuan.
They could borrow the remaining amount from Yang Wen’s coworkers.
He refused to go back and ask Teacher Yang for money, but borrowing from his coworkers was different. Once he received his salary, he could simply pay them back.
If Yang Wen used all his wages to repay his coworkers and ended up without money for food, surely Teacher Yang, his own mother, wouldn’t just let her son starve without helping him.
Besides, Lin Ni knew that the Qinghe Street neighborhood would be demolished several years later than the Lin family’s area.
However, Qinghe Street had a much better location and environment. Although both areas would eventually be redeveloped, houses there would be worth far more. If she had the money now, she would rather have Yang Wen buy back Lin Zhaoyang’s share. Then she and Yang Wen could live there themselves.
Once she married Yang Wen and transferred her household registration there, she would receive an extra share of the demolition compensation.
But the moment Yang Wen heard her suggest asking Lin Zhaoyang for the house, his first reaction was fear.
“My mom already said the house belongs to her. If she finds out I secretly went to ask Lin Zhaoyang for it, she’ll really throw me out of the house.”
He rejected the idea outright before adding another piece of information.
“The house is registered only under Lin Zhaoyang’s name.”
“What? Wasn’t it supposed to belong to both of you? How could it be registered only in Lin Zhaoyang’s name?” Lin Ni thought she had misheard.
Since both families had bought the house together, she had assumed it was jointly registered under Lin Zhaoyang and Yang Wen.
That’s why she believed that even if Teacher Yang had said the house belonged to Lin Zhaoyang, as long as Yang Wen refused to agree, Lin Zhaoyang would have to return his share.
What she had never imagined was that the house was registered solely in Lin Zhaoyang’s name.
“I was busy with work. My mom took Lin Zhaoyang and her mother to look at houses together. Mom really liked Lin Zhaoyang. When she saw that Lin Zhaoyang liked that house, she and Aunt Lin paid for it on the spot.”
“Only the three of them were there. My mom said we’d all be one family soon anyway. Since I wasn’t available, she thought it didn’t matter if the house was registered only under Lin Zhaoyang’s name.”
“They told me about it after they bought it.” At the time, Yang Wen had also felt that it didn’t matter whose name was on the title. After all, he and Lin Zhaoyang were going to get married and live there together.
“Did your mother get tricked by Lin Zhaoyang and her parents? Buying a house is such a huge decision and costs so much money. How could she agree to register it under only Lin Zhaoyang’s name?”
According to Lin Ni’s way of thinking, things shouldn’t have happened like this.
“Even if you were busy, your mother was there. At the very least, it should have been registered under both your mother’s name and Lin Zhaoyang’s. How could she let Lin Zhaoyang take everything?”
Lin Ni had always thought that since Teacher Yang was the director of a prestigious high school, she must be a smart woman.
Now she thought Teacher Yang was a fool—a fool who had cheated her own son.
“My mom never planned to live with us anyway,” Yang Wen replied matter-of-factly. “Besides, she genuinely loved Lin Zhaoyang. She said she treated her like a daughter. Adding her own name would make it look like she didn’t trust Lin Zhaoyang, and that would hurt both Lin Zhaoyang and her family’s feelings. She thought it was unnecessary.”
It had been Teacher Yang who introduced Yang Wen and Lin Zhaoyang in the first place. Lin Zhaoyang had once been her favorite student and later her colleague. She trusted Lin Zhaoyang completely and had never thought of guarding against her.
Just as Teacher Yang herself had said, she treated Lin Zhaoyang like her own daughter. So when Yang Wen caused this mess, she immediately gave the house to Lin Zhaoyang without hesitation.
It wasn’t because Teacher Yang was rich or overly generous. She truly felt she had wronged Lin Zhaoyang. She believed that by bringing the two of them together, she had wasted Lin Zhaoyang’s youth, and now the broken engagement would become the subject of public gossip.
At least with a house to her name after separating from Yang Wen, people wouldn’t speak so harshly of Lin Zhaoyang or dismiss her as someone worthless.
Every decision Teacher Yang made was made with Lin Zhaoyang’s future in mind.
But someone as selfish as Lin Ni would never understand that.
Nor would someone like Yang Wen, an ostrich who only wanted problems to disappear as long as he didn’t have to deal with them.
“So what are we supposed to do now? Without the money, how am I supposed to divorce Zou Zhengting? Do you expect our child to call Zou Zhengting ‘Dad’ after it’s born?”
Lin Ni was furious. Everything had gone wrong today.
If she were Lin Zhaoyang, with the house registered solely under her own name and Teacher Yang having given it to her, she would hold onto it tightly as well.
Nearly 1,000 yuan—many families couldn’t afford a house like that in their entire lifetime.
“I’ll sell my watch,” Yang Wen said, growing irritated by Lin Ni’s constant talk about money. “I only bought it at the beginning of this year for 180 yuan. I should still be able to sell it for 150.”
“What about the rest of the money?” Lin Ni shook off his hand angrily. She was genuinely upset. She had never imagined that a permanent factory employee like Yang Wen couldn’t even come up with 500 yuan.
“I’ll ask the factory for a 200-yuan salary advance,” Yang Wen replied. “That’ll give us 350 yuan.”
“And the remaining 150?” What Lin Ni really wanted to ask was: after advancing two hundred yuan in salary, what would he have left to buy her food or anything else over the next few months?
“Can’t you go talk to Zou Zhengting?” Yang Wen asked. This was the first time in his life he’d been so troubled over money. It bruised his pride and made him feel utterly humiliated.
“You think Zou Zhengting is some kind-hearted man? If I went to negotiate with him, I’d be lucky if he didn’t raise the price instead!” There was no way Lin Ni dared bargain with Zou Zhengting.
“What about your family?” Yang Wen blurted out. “Getting married is something we both do together, but getting divorced is your problem. Surely I shouldn’t have to pay the entire 500 yuan by myself?”
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that Lin Ni shouldn’t expect him to shoulder everything.
“I’ll come up with 350 yuan. Your family should contribute the other 150. That’s only fair, isn’t it?”
Lin Ni never expected Yang Wen to say something like that. She looked up at him, her eyes full of hurt.
“Wen-ge, you know my family always favored my brothers over me. They wouldn’t even let me keep my own wages.”
Forget 150 yuan—Lin Ni knew her parents wouldn’t even lend her 15 yuan.
If this had happened before today, Yang Wen would have felt guilty for bringing up her painful past. He would have apologized.
But now all Lin Ni talked about was money.
He was already suffocating under the burden of finding 500 yuan. He had even accompanied her to the furniture factory to ask for a refund despite how humiliating it was. He was willing to sell his favorite watch and even ask the factory to advance his salary.
Yang Wen felt he had already done everything he possibly could for Lin Ni.
Yet Lin Ni had never once thought about solving the problem together with him. Instead, she simply expected him to bear the entire burden alone.
He couldn’t help comparing her to Lin Zhaoyang back when they had been dating.
Lin Zhaoyang would never have behaved this way.
Whenever he invited Lin Zhaoyang out to eat, she would often insist on paying. She even bought him bottled soda with her own money.
But Lin Ni had never been like that.
She always told him she had no money, and Yang Wen had pitied her because of her family’s favoritism toward her brothers.
Now, however, he couldn’t help feeling that Lin Ni only knew how to take.
Maybe she couldn’t afford to pay for meals or movie tickets, but surely she could have bought a bottle of soda or a popsicle once in a while.
Yet throughout their entire relationship, Lin Ni had never paid for anything.