Chapter 496 - 170: The ’80s Drama Queen is Forced to Become a Top Student (5)
Chapter 496: Chapter 170: The ’80s Drama Queen is Forced to Become a Top Student (5)
"Why don’t you use your head a little? You gave away so much money?"
Sheng Leyun rolled her eyes. "Whose fault is it that I’m nine and so skinny and small? After they ’rescued’ me, they patted me down completely and even made me open my mouth for inspection!"
"If you hadn’t been plotting to get rid of me, I could have brought back one hundred and seventy or eighty yuan for you this time."
One hundred and seventy or eighty yuan was equivalent to a month and a half of Xiao Xuezhen’s salary!
The couple’s eyes went wide.
If it were money in someone else’s pocket, they could have just been envious and left it at that. But this one hundred and seventy or eighty yuan had practically been laid at their feet. Ren Xingchen had been blind to it, focused only on how to make Sheng Leyun disappear from their lives for good.
And now, the money that had all but belonged to them had grown wings and flown away...
Seeing Sheng Leyun turn to walk out again, Xiao Xuezhen said hurriedly, "Alright, I’ll pay. How much do you want?"
Ren Xingchen felt extremely embarrassed. She tugged on Xiao Xuezhen’s sleeve. "I’m sorry, Brother Xiao. It’s my fault I didn’t raise her right, letting her become so disrespectful and greedy."
"Don’t stoop to a child’s level."
Xiao Xuezhen patted the back of her hand and sighed softly. "Xingchen, you don’t need to say anymore. This is what I owe her."
Sheng Leyun tilted her head, chuckled, and said, "Twenty yuan. Non-negotiable!"
"This is my survival money."
Xiao Xuezhen couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath. This girl had some nerve. As an editor-in-chief, his monthly salary plus various subsidies was just a little over a hundred yuan.
Just for sleeping on the balcony, she was demanding twenty yuan. A temporary worker toiling from dawn till dusk barely made that much!
"What, feeling the pinch over twenty yuan? If it weren’t for my dad, you might have been burned to a crisp and buried somewhere by now. Are you really in a position to wonder if giving me twenty yuan is worth it?"
Xiao Xuezhen gritted his teeth. "Yunyun, it’s not that Mr. Xiao is being stingy or feels bad about the money."
"It’s just that I have to support our big family. Food, clothes, school, and all sorts of social obligations... it all costs a lot."
"I also have to keep some money saved, just in case someone gets a cold or the flu, so I don’t have to go begging everyone I know for a loan."
"Ten yuan. That’s the most I can do. Besides, if you have any big expenses, you can just tell Mr. Xiao directly. Do you think Mr. Xiao wouldn’t buy it for you?"
Sheng Leyun continued to walk out.
"Come back," Xiao Xuezhen said. He realized this child was just like Sheng Xibao—stubborn as a mule. Sometimes she seemed slow-witted and easy to fool, but once she latched onto an idea, not even nine bulls could pull her back!
"Fine, I’ll give you twenty. But aside from meals, I won’t be responsible for anything else. Is that our deal?"
Sheng Leyun looked at him in surprise. "Are you serious? For twenty yuan, you want to wash your hands of your savior’s only daughter?"
"In that case, you might as well just find me a free place to stay, and I’ll live on my own with the twenty yuan."
"What’s the difference?"
"Would your conscience be clear?"
"I don’t think you understand why you’re giving me this twenty yuan. It has nothing to do with anything else!"
It wasn’t so much about whether his conscience would be clear; the main thing was that he couldn’t afford to lose face.
He had witnessed this girl’s sharp, unfiltered tongue several times in just two short days!
Thinking about it, out of a hundred and twenty yuan a month, losing twenty would drop his quality of life by a whole notch.
Xiao Xuezhen now felt the same way as Ren Xingchen—a desperate wish for this child to just vanish on the spot.
Emotions churned in his eyes. It had been a long time since he’d been backed into a corner like this.
"Alright, twenty it is!" Xiao Xuezhen nodded with a forced smile. "But there’s one condition. I can give you the money, but you can’t just spend it carelessly. You have to learn to manage your own money."
Sheng Leyun nodded, held out her hand, and demanded it outright. "Will you be paying monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually?"
Xiao Xuezhen chuckled, pulled two ten-yuan notes from his pocket, and stuffed them into her hand. "We’ll do it monthly."
Sheng Leyun gleefully pocketed the money and continued towards the door. She didn’t forget to wave and say loudly, "I’m going out for a walk to get familiar with the area. You two can get cozy in here. I’ll get out of your hair!"
Xiao Xuezhen’s face turned green with rage, while Ren Xingchen’s was beet red, her shimmering eyes drifting toward him.
The soundproofing in the corridor-style apartment building was terrible. Even with the door shut, you could still hear your neighbors talking, grinding their teeth, burping, and farting. You had to maintain a front when you were out, and even at home, you had to be careful not to become the butt of your neighbors’ jokes.
With that shout from Sheng Leyun, probably more than half the residents in the building heard her.
But she had left, closing the door behind her. The commotion outside seemed to be shut out, leaving only the man and woman in the room. Like the opposite poles of a magnet, drawn together by an inexplicable force, they snapped into a tight embrace.