When Yang Yuan woke up slowly, her eyes still hurt.
After dropping that “bombshell” last night, she had run back to her room and buried herself under the covers. The more she cried, the more wronged she felt—she’d cried her pillow damp, and didn’t know when she’d fallen asleep.
Her stomach growled; she was uncomfortably hungry.
The house was quiet. Father Yang and Mother Yang were both out. Hearing a noise in the courtyard, Yang Yuan went over and found Yang Wenping washing clothes, pouring hot water from a kettle into a big wooden basin to mix it.
“Big Brother.”
Yang Yuan’s footsteps were light, and only when she spoke did Yang Wenping notice her. “You’re up?”
He glanced up, his face expressionless, his tone flat. But Yang Yuan noticed his dark circles were heavy.
Yang Wenping fetched the family’s only washbasin, mixed the water to a comfortable temperature, then laid out a toothbrush and tooth powder—waiting on her very attentively.
So attentively that even the thick-skinned Yang Yuan felt embarrassed.
He had just been through a major disaster in his life. In this era, breaking off an engagement was almost unheard of—once married, there was no divorce; once engaged, she was a daughter-in-law. What Zheng Yuyin had done, in this day and age, was no different from cheating and being made a cuckold.
Yang Yuan smacked her lips. “Big Brother, why aren’t you at the neighborhood committee?”
“Not going for now. Once your job is settled, I’ll go.”
“Oh.” From the sound of it, he planned to stay by her side every step of the way these next few days.
He added, “Mom took a half day off and went out early this morning to raise the money. She’ll be back soon. She wasn’t really angry with you on purpose yesterday.”
Yang Wenping put down what he was doing and looked at her, very serious.
“Mom heard from Second Brother-in-law that you’d been working on this for days, that only the final paperwork was left, and that you weren’t planning to tell the family—you wanted to raise the money yourself. She didn’t believe it, didn’t think you’d have the nerve. But when Dad came back and she asked him, he didn’t know either. Then after waiting a long time without us coming home, she started imagining things, thinking you’d done something… bad. That’s why she got so angry.”
“Dad told me to explain properly—Mom isn’t against you buying a job, and it’s not that she doesn’t want to spend money on you. Of our family’s six children, she favors you the most. So hearing it from Brother-in-law all of a sudden, she just felt you’d grown distant from her.”
“Mom made breakfast—your favorite, chives and eggs. When she gets back, don’t hold a grudge against her.”
Yang Wenping was very gentle at that moment, his tone soft, and it made Yang Yuan’s throat tighten. She said in a muffled voice, “I’m not distant from Mom.”
She hadn’t expected Mother Yang to notice. Even though she kept convincing herself to fit in here quickly, even though she worked hard to imitate Yang Yuan’s temperament in getting along with the Yang family, calling a stranger “Mom” still felt awkward.
Then she decided it made sense. Yang Yuan was Mother Yang’s most beloved child—it would be strange if she hadn’t noticed something different at all.
Still, at most she’d just think her child had grown up and was having moods. No one would ever leap to something as farfetched as the truth.
“As long as you’re not distant.” Yang Wenping smiled. “I was worried you were upset because Mom couldn’t get justice for you when you fell back at New Year’s. Good—she’ll be happy to know this.”
A while later, Yang Yuan’s eyes peeked out from behind her big bowl. “Big Brother, what about the Zheng Yuyin matter?”
Yang Wenping’s hands paused. “Pretend we don’t know for now. Once your business is settled, we’ll go to the Zheng family.”
“Then… Big Brother, if anything comes up, tell me. Even if I can’t help, I can offer ideas.”
Yang Wenping turned to look at her, and suddenly understood what she meant—Yang Yuan was worried about him.
He felt a warmth in his heart—his little sister had grown up and learned to care about people.
“Yang Yuan, Yang Yuan.” Someone suddenly called from outside the gate. Yang Yuan put down her bowl and chopsticks and went out.
It was Song Can. She stood in the Song family’s courtyard without coming over, just poking her head out.
“Yang Yuan, I just made some inquiries. This is an office job, no workshop work, so it’s definitely going to cost more. Other people charge eight or nine hundred. We grew up together, so I won’t ask you for too much—give me 700 in cash, plus get me some coupons and some cotton. And if anything comes up with my family in the future, help me keep an eye out. Deal?”
Yang Yuan beamed. What wasn’t there to agree to? It was a hundred yuan cheaper than in the original story. Coupons were nothing—if it came to it, she could hit the black market to find them for the female lead.
The two settled it. To avoid any changes down the line, they’d go handle the paperwork that afternoon after work started.
Yang Yuan thought for a moment, then said, “Cancan, I borrowed some money from classmates, and I don’t want my mom to know. If anyone asks, can you say you sold it to me for four hundred? Don’t worry, I won’t shortchange you—seven hundred means seven hundred. It’s just what we’ll tell people.”
Song Can thought of how Yang Yuan liked to hang out with wealthy classmates, and of the commotion at the Yang household the night before. She didn’t ask any further and nodded in agreement.
Yang Yuan hurriedly thanked her and was about to say more when Step-mother Song came back, and the two left the courtyard wall.
Mother Yang and Step-mother Song couldn’t stand each other, and Yang Yuan had no desire to stand there getting glared at.
From the south courtyard came Step-mother Song’s curses and the cries of Younger Brother Song—younger brother Song was the step-mother’s own child, Song Can’s half-brother, and his crying was extremely annoying. Yang Yuan covered her ears and ran back inside.
Yesterday she’d been too busy being angry to count the money.
She fished out the cloth bundle from under her pillow—actually a handkerchief wrapped layer upon layer. It felt plump and bulging; unfolded, it contained a small purse inside.
Inside the purse was a thick stack of bills. Yang Yuan’s eyes went wide—this was the first time since arriving here that she’d seen this much money. Blue ten-yuan notes, commonly called “Great Unity” bills. She counted fifty of them, not one missing.
Yang Yuan’s limited conscience had felt a twinge of unease, but once she knew it was Zheng Yuyin, all unease vanished. Hmph, she was exactly the one who deserved to be fleeced.
While Yang Yuan was whitewashing herself under the covers, Mother Yang came bustling back with things in hand.
“Laosi, Yuanyuan, come quick! Mom bought you egg cakes—still warm, eat up!”
Yang Yuan hastily hid the money and patted it down before running out with a delighted expression.
“Mom, I want some!” Yang Yuan picked up a piece and took a big bite. Even though it tasted pretty ordinary, she put on a face of utter satisfaction. “Mm, so good. Mom, you eat some too.”
Yang Yuan held a piece up to Mother Yang’s mouth, but she dodged it, saying only that she didn’t like overly sweet things. Yang Yuan couldn’t stand this kind of sacrificial self-denial from her parents. She firmly stuffed a piece of egg cake into Mother Yang’s and Yang Wenping’s hands each, insisting they had to eat, and said a piece should be saved for Father Yang too.
Mother Yang was so happy she kept saying her daughter had grown sensible. She ate very slowly, but kept smiling the whole time.
Mother Yang had gotten up early and made the rounds of all the relatives, borrowing a little money from each, quite fairly. Colorful bills and money and coupons alike were spread across the table.
Hearing that Song Can wanted four hundred, her expression eased slightly—clearly she didn’t think it expensive and could afford it. She still had to hurry back to the nursery class to make lunch, so she didn’t stay long. She only instructed that Yang Wenping accompany Yang Yuan that afternoon when she went.
Yang Yuan and Yang Wenping sorted through the money—there were fifty-cent notes, and one, two, three, five, and ten yuan notes. It looked like a lot, but it actually totaled 123.5 yuan.
Yang Wenping then took out the subsidy money he had saved. As a junior college graduate, he had received a monthly government stipend while studying, and since his family had also given him living expenses back then, he had managed to put some money aside. He still had 95 yuan left.
He kept five yuan and gave the remaining ninety to Yang Yuan.
With the three hundred yuan Mother Yang had just taken out, the family had a total of 518.5 yuan.