Jin Yue halted her cheerful steps, fingers tracing the warm stack of over two hundred yuan tucked against her chest.
"We've told you we have no money! All these years—getting jobs, marrying, moving out—which wasn't paid for by us? You've nearly gnawed us down to the bone marrow, what more do you want, huh?" Shu Li Nong suppressed waves of bitterness and rage.
Shu Wen Yan, thick-skinned as ever, managed a strained laugh. "Oh, Dad, you're still young. Your retirement savings aren't needed yet, and daily expenses are covered by Second Brother and Wen Yun anyway."
"Wen Yan is still a temporary worker! Have you considered how he'll manage when he marries?"
"Wen Yun broke up with Liu Dong. Who knows what her future in-laws will be like? She'll need at least some dowry items."
Shu Li Nong slammed his palm on the kang table. "The real issue is Jin Yue! She's worse off than any of you, yet never once has she asked for help. Instead of assisting her, you keep coming back to pick our bones clean—aren't you ashamed? Answer me!"
After a tense silence, Shu Wen Yan murmured almost inaudibly, "But I already promised Principal Liu… good positions won't wait… I should've been promoted to department head by seniority ages ago… I'm turning thirty-five soon. If I miss this chance, would you really watch me remain inferior to everyone forever? Just a bottom-rung schoolteacher?"
"What's wrong with being a teacher? Didn't this teacher raise you all? Put every one of you through high school?!"
Shu Li Nong's chest heaved with anger, wishing he could throttle his eldest son.
"That's not what I meant… Ah! Dad, you don't understand my situation at work. They mock me for being impotent because we have no children. If I don't fight for advancement, they'll stick me guarding the gates!" His voice cracked with emotion.
Childlessness was the eldest couple's heartache, and the elderly couple's too.
Though Shu Wen Yan and Liu Hui Fang had been married nearly a decade, frequent separations initially prevented conception. After Liu Hui Fang transferred to Shu City's logistics department to end her traveling shifts, over a year passed with no change. Extensive Eastern and Western medical exams confirmed both were healthy—just awaiting fate's timing. Doctors advised relaxation.
Resenting the lost travel subsidies, Shu Wen Yan sent her back to long-haul routes, timing returns for "productive efforts." Yet years passed without even a bitter gourd sprouting.
Peers who married around their time already had children nearing elementary graduation. Anyone would grow desperate.
"Dad, my expectations are modest. I'd never aspire to be principal—but becoming department head would make my life worthwhile. Even childless, I'd have achieved something. Dad!"
Moving from emotional appeals to logical pleas, Shu Wen Yan proved why he taught language arts, mastering rhetoric's power.
Ultimately, whatever Shu Li Nong said sent Shu Wen Yan stumbling out dejected, colliding with Shu Jin Yue pretending to just return home—his distress still raw on his face.
But the matter wasn't over. That evening, Shu Li Nong summoned the whole family for a meeting. "Today's agenda is simple: supporting Jin Yue."
"Since you can't help with job hunting, pooling money should be possible. Jin Yue needs funds to buy a position—we'll all contribute. No excuses: every one of you benefited from this family. Only Jin Yue went to suffer in your place."
Shu Jin Yue felt a pang in her heart—the old man had gone to great pains.
This solution wasn’t something she hadn’t considered initially. But as the youngest in the family, with older siblings who had endured hunger and cold in their youth, she had grown up relatively "better off" than them. Now, with each of her siblings facing their own difficulties and none particularly well-off, she couldn’t bring herself to ask them to pool money together.
But since her father had spoken up, she had to seize the opportunity: "Brothers and sister, don’t worry. I’ll take responsibility for this debt and will pay you back with interest in the future."
Shu Wen Yan curled his lips and snorted through his nose.
Shu Wen Ming clicked his tongue.
Shu Wen Yun seemed lost in thought, her gaze avoiding Jin Yue’s.
Zhao Wan Qiu’s eyes reddened.
Seeing no one respond, the old man paused, then pulled out a small notebook with the calculations. "Each of you three siblings will contribute one hundred. Your Aunt Zhao and I will cover the rest. The eldest has been working for over ten years, the second for eight years, and Wen Yun for five. Aside from the five yuan you each give me monthly for living expenses, I’ve never questioned your salaries, have I? Is one hundred yuan really a problem?"
Still, no one spoke. An awkward silence hung in the air.
Finally, Shu Wen Yan couldn’t hold back. "Dad, even favoritism shouldn’t be this blatant. A job outside would cost at least six hundred yuan. Are you really going to cover the remaining three hundred? Is that fair? How much do you and Mom even make a month? If you spend three hundred in one go and lose your retirement savings, whose fault will that be?"
Liu Hui Fang nudged him but failed to stop his loose tongue.
Shu Li Nong didn’t speak or get angry. Instead, he looked at the second and third children.
Shu Wen Ming smoothed his hair. "Don’t look at me. If you want to subsidize someone, that’s your business."
Meaning he didn’t oppose contributing money either.
Shu Wen Yun clenched the hem of her clothes in silence. After a moment, as if steeling herself, she said, "I agree. No matter how much Big Brother and Second Brother contribute, I’ll give two hundred. And Jin Yue doesn’t need to pay me back—this is what I owe her."
Two hundred yuan was undeniably a fortune!
Though she had worked in the city for several years, every aspect of life—food, clothing, housing, and transportation—cost money. As a young woman in a relationship, she had additional expenses. Two hundred yuan represented the bulk of her savings.
"Aren’t you saving for your own dowry?" Shu Wen Yan was shocked that she would bleed herself dry for the stepmother’s burden. Were his younger siblings really this foolish?
"Hah, I’m not as stupid as you two…"
"Shut up!" Shu Li Nong roared.
Shu Wen Yan, thinking about how he had failed to borrow money during the day and how his father had watched his prospects crumble without lifting a finger, yet was now going all out for a cheap daughter with no blood ties, felt wronged. "Fine, fine, fine. Only Shu Jin Yue is your biological child, right? The three of us were just picked up from the garbage dump? I’ll say it plainly: Huifang’s and my salaries aren’t even enough for medical bills and medicine. We have no money."
Shu Li Nong’s face flushed crimson with rage, and he gasped for breath. Zhao Wan Qiu hurriedly handed him a cup of warm water and fetched his usual blood pressure medication, helping him swallow it.
Silence fell over the room once more.
Zhao Wan Qiu sighed, "Let me say something. I know all about your difficulties. Though I'm not your biological mother, in my heart, you're no different from Jin Yue. While I may have been inadequate at times, let's keep things separate. If you have issues with me, we can discuss them gradually. But Jin Yue is at a critical turning point in her life—I can't stand by and watch her suffer any longer. This child… sob…"
She covered her mouth, tears slipping through her fingers.
"Why are you crying? Tell the truth."
"Jin Yue, she… she's… she's disabled now! Sob…"
Like a thunderclap from a clear sky, everyone—including Shu Jin Yue—felt their scalps go numb.
She subconsciously wiggled her itchy toes, unsure when her mother had noticed. Honestly, since being reborn, she'd held some resentment toward her mother. Although in her previous life, her mother had soon broken her leg and been bedridden, then suffered a stroke, leaving her powerless to help from afar—as a child, how could she not yearn for her mom?
When bullied by the brigade leader's family, when followed by hooligans, when targeted by other educated youths, when her university dreams shattered… even in her final moments before death, she had thought of her mother.
So, returning with this lingering anger, she hadn't revealed everything about her time in the countryside, let alone her disability. She always washed her feet secretly in her room when no one was looking, immediately putting socks back on, and walked carefully to maintain balance… yet she hadn't managed to escape her mother's notice.
"Wh-what happened?" Shu Wen Yun turned pale, stunned. She grabbed Jin Yue's hand, "Jin Yue, what's wrong? Were you bullied?"
Shu Jin Yue nodded, then shook her head.
The accident happened in her second year in the countryside. Constantly targeted, she was assigned by the brigade leader to guard the livestock late at night. It was the final snowy night of the twelfth lunar month when she discovered one dairy cow missing from the pen—the brigade's most crucial production asset and economic resource. If anything went wrong, she'd face severe consequences. Terrified, she went to ask the commune member who managed the cattle pen during the day.
But that member happened to be the brigade leader's uncle, who was in cahoots with the leader's family. He insisted the count had been correct when handed over to her and accused her of losing the cow while sleeping on duty. Unable to defend herself clearly and fearing punishment, she had no choice but to search for it alone.
A snowy night, temperatures below -10°C, padded clothes stuffed with straw, a solitary young girl…
In that snow-blinded night, filled with fear and disorientation, she walked too far without realizing her toes were frostbitten. By the time she returned to the production brigade, the little toe on her left foot had frozen beyond recovery.
Along with that little toe, she lost the painful memories of that night. Sometimes she comforted herself—perhaps it was better not to remember.
Shu Wen Yun hurried off the kang bed and pulled off Jin Yue's left shoe and sock. The once plump, adorable, and perky little toe was gone.
She burst into loud sobs.
Jin Yue didn't really remember much about that snowy night, only that she had walked through the vast white expanse for a long, long time.
She only remembered that whenever it snowed, her toes would itch unbearably.
Technically, this counted as a work-related disability. According to regulations, a tenth-grade disability entitled her to disability benefits—monthly subsidies and grain allowances. But the brigade leader's family embezzled all of it; not a single grain of rice ever reached her mouth.
If she hadn't seized the chance to make a scene, she wouldn't even have had the opportunity to return this time.
Shu Wen Ming slammed his fist on the kang table in fury, "Those damned bastards, is there no fucking law anymore!" No wonder he'd heard last month about another temporary worker at their vegetable store whose sister went to the countryside and came back pregnant. Those people simply don't treat female educated youth as human beings.
Liu Hui Fang listened with tears welling in her eyes, "Silly child, why didn't you tell us…"
Jin Yue shook her head. For two lifetimes now, it wasn't that she hadn't tried. She had attempted to write letters, but whether those letters were ever sent out, she didn't know.
Zhao Wan Qiu had cried until her tears ran dry, "Now that Jin Yue is in difficulty and you're willing to help, we mother and daughter will remember this kindness. When we get back on our feet, we'll definitely repay you."
"Auntie, please don't say that. It's us who failed Jin Yue." Shu Wen Ming got off the kang, pacing around like an enraged but helpless young rooster before dashing back to his room like a whirlwind to fetch something. "Here, my bankbook. It contains all my savings from working these past few years. Withdraw it all and give it to Jin Yue."
Shu Wen Yun also took hers out, "This money should come from me. I'm the one who failed Jin Yue."
"Save it. You still need to get married. Without a dowry, you'll just suffer at your in-laws' place."
"Second Brother, don't argue with me about this, or I'll feel even worse. It's all my fault…"
"Alright, alright, as if you're the only ones who know how to be good people. I'll contribute one hundred twenty. Pay me back whenever you have money in the future." After awkwardly stating his position, Wen Yan pulled Liu Hui Fang along and left.