Huang Xiaojuan was having a quite comfortable time during her stay in her natal family. One particular thing about the Huang family was that they were extremely patriarchal, favoring sons at the expense of their daughters. From the time Huang Xiaojuan’s father returned to the city from the countryside, he lived with his parents and elder brother in a small tube-shaped apartment building.
When their family of three expanded to four, Huang Xiaojuan’s uncle couldn’t stand the crampedness and soon moved out on his own, so the apartment that should have belonged to the uncle was fully taken over by Huang Xiaojuan’s family.
Later, when the family of four became a family of seven, they still squeezed into the forty-square-meter tube apartment. After Huang Xiaojun, the eldest brother, got married, he was given the most spacious room, and the youngest brother, Huang Xiaobing, lived in the smaller room with their parents. The three Huang sisters were crammed into a makeshift three-square-meter partition on the balcony, so small that they barely had room to turn around.
This was why the Huang sisters were desperate to leave home. Most importantly, Huang Xiaojuan and Huang Xiaoxia had witnessed what happened to their eldest sister, Huang Xiaohong. To get a wife for Huang Xiaojun, twenty-year-old Huang Xiaohong was sold off to an old widower who had beaten his previous wife to death, simply because he was a truck driver and offered a high bride price.
When Huang Xiaojuan married Zhang Qiming, the Huang family also tried to hike the bride price unreasonably and caused trouble until Zhang Qiming appeased them by offering to find a job for Huang Xiaobing.
Later, they eventually recognized Zhang Qiming’s capabilities. Unlike their other son-in-law, Zhang Qiming was a worker at Huagang Factory, with connections and money. After managing to get Huang Xiaoxia a job at the People’s Hospital, the Huang family was pretty much placated. Getting into the hospital wasn’t easy. The salary Huang Xiaoxia brought home was secondary—the real value lay in the position itself, which offered an excellent opportunity for her to catch a wealthy husband.
The Huang family was also counting on Zhang Qiming to later help the youngest son and the eldest grandson, so they were exceptionally reasonable and accommodating with him.
Of course, the reason for Huang Xiaojuan’s comfortable stay was also related to her recent act of giving five thousand yuan to Huang Xiaojun for stock trading. Thus, her return this time was met with great enthusiasm from the family.
Huang Xiaojuan thoroughly enjoyed the flattering and fawning of her parents, and even more so, reveled in the feeling of superiority as she bossed her elder brother and sister-in-law to serve tea, pour water, and even do laundry for her. So, even though she had to live in the tiny balcony area, her mood was quite high, especially thinking about the upcoming 25,000 yuan she would receive once she got home.
Therefore, after her parents prepared a dinner full of her and Xuanxuan’s favorite dishes, and during a lively conversation about how the neighbors, the Wangs, had made tens of thousands during the recent surge in the stock market, her brother Huang Xiaojun mentioned his stocks had fallen and he needed to invest more. Without hesitation, Huang Xiaojuan promised to add another five thousand yuan.
But immediately after making the promise, she regretted it and quickly added, “But you need to return it all by the end of the month. I can only hide it until then; otherwise, I can’t explain it to Qiming. You know what he’s like. If he gets upset, he could even take back Xiaoxia’s job. Her position could definitely fetch ten to twenty thousand if sold.”
“Don’t worry,” Huang Xiaojun was very confident. “Within five limit-up days, ten thousand can turn into thirty thousand. By then, not only will I return your ten thousand, but I’ll also give you an extra two thousand as pocket money. How about that?”
Huang Xiaojuan had also heard a lot about people making fortunes overnight through stocks, so she was immediately convinced. She was also pleased at the prospect of her brother making big money, which might improve Zhang Qiming’s impression of her family.
Huang Xiaojuan thought she would stay at her parents’ home for seven to eight days, expecting Zhang Qiming to come and pick them up personally once he was back. However, while she was visiting an old friend with Xuanxuan, her mother suddenly called her home with a stern face.
“Did you break the law?” her mother asked abruptly. Even Huang Xiaojun and his wife looked at her with strange, disdainful eyes, full of contempt and disgust, as though she were a convict from a labor camp.
Huang Xiaojuan’s heart skipped a beat, “Wh-what’s breaking the law? I didn’t break any law!”
“There was a call, saying you’ve been reported for a crime and the police are searching for you,” Huang Xiaojun frowned deeply.
“That’s impossible!” Huang Xiaojuan exclaimed. “Qiming has connections with the police station, and they let me go, saying I’m innocent!”
“So you have been in jail before?!” her mother exclaimed in shock. “You, you, you better leave now, our Huang family does not have a daughter like you!”
“Mom,” Huang Xiaojun tried to calm things down, “we need to understand the situation clearly, so we’re not implicated.” Then he turned to Huang Xiaojuan, “Someone just called, saying you’ve taken someone else’s property, holding onto a passbook with tens of thousands of yuan and not returning it. The caller also said that amount is considered a major crime and could land you in jail for over ten years.”
Huang Xiaojuan immediately thought of Xia Mian and retorted angrily, “How is that possible? She gave me that passbook voluntarily. I already said it was at school; I just haven’t had a chance to give it back yet.”
Despite her rebuttal, Huang Xiaojuan was still a bit panicked; she had already been taken to the police station once, and though Zhang Qiming had pulled some strings to get her out, she would have no face to see people again if this happened again and again.
“I don’t care, you better leave now. Don’t stay here and drag our family to the mud with you,” her mother insisted.
“Mom, even if she leaves, it’ll still affect us,” Huang Xiaojuan’s sister-in-law complained.
Huang Xiaojun furrowed his brow, “Can you explain exactly what happened? If there’s a way to avoid jail, we’ll definitely help you, but our Huang family can’t afford to have a convict.”
Huang Xiaojuan was truly panicked now; her natal family was her only support, so she told them everything that had transpired, leaving no details.
At the end, she said, “Brother, the five thousand I gave you came from her passbook. Maybe you could return it to me, and I’ll deposit it back. Once the passbook is shown, there’ll be no issue.”
Huang Xiaojun glared, “Don’t be stupid. The money has already been used to buy stocks, and I’m holding on to it now. If we sell now, we’ll only get two thousand, but in a few more days, they could be worth six or seven thousand.”
“But…” Huang Xiaojuan was anxious.
“Either you find a way to fill that gap yourself, or you just wait it out,” Huang Xiaojun said. “I thought it was something serious; turns out it’s just some young girl.”
“To me, it sounds like that girl is just looking for an excuse. You helped her find a school, the passbook was given to you by her, and she even told you the pin. How could that be theft?” Huang Xiaojun continued, “I think she might actually be eyeing that forty thousand in compensation from her sister! Quite ambitious for a young girl.”
Suddenly, Huang Xiaojuan had a thought—had that girl been coerced by those thugs and started being extorted?!
The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. She had been back for several days without incident, so why did that damn girl only report to the police today? It must be that Xia Mian was desperate for money and, without any adults to support her, resorted to calling the police to claim the passbook.
Thinking this, Huang Xiaojuan’s face broke into a smile, “Now that you mention it, brother, it does make sense, and she definitely won’t succeed. There’s no such thing as compensation money.” Even at the peak of anger, Huang Xiaojuan would never acknowledge the truth about Xia Chun’s compensation money.
“Right, there’s no compensation money, and didn’t you tell everyone your money was borrowed from us? That girl is just causing trouble for nothing.” Huang Xiaojun chuckled.
Their mother’s eyes sparkled with excitement, but she restrained herself after a stern look from her son, and impatiently said, “The police can still figure this out, you know. Our family doesn’t have that much money to lend her. Don’t let it turn out that there’s no issue with the passbook, but they catch us on the compensation money.”
This struck a chord with Huang Xiaojuan. She wasn’t afraid of the passbook issue, but if the police started investigating the compensation money, Zhang Qiming would definitely beat her to death. She turned to her mother, “Mom, just say the compensation money doesn’t exist, that it was borrowed from the family. What could happen?”
“What could happen?” her mother glared. “That’s faking a statement. Do you want to drag your brother with you to jail? Don’t even think about it.”
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Thanks for the chapter ❣️
Wow her family’s a lot sneakier than I expected, gradually tightening that noose…