"Mom? Is Dad not going to give me the three thousand yuan that I need?"

"Your dad..." Meng Yunhan sighed. "I don’t wish to say anything. Why do you think I caught this cold and ended up getting feverish? It’s because everyone in this family is too heartless and stubborn." She had been married to Han Yichen for so many years, yet he could bear to see her knock on the door all night and even slept through the noise. Han Jianyou was no better. He ignored his mother even when she begged him to open the door. They even ignored her in the morning and did not take her back to her room. Instead, they listened to the instigation of that wretched girl and left her alone.

"Then what should we do now? I promised the head chef that I would arrange the compensation as soon as possible. He is still waiting for me to bring the compensation. If I don’t give the money to him tomorrow, then he will definitely kick me out!" Han Ziyan’s eyes were red with grief as she thought about what the old man would say to her tomorrow. Just the thought alone was enough to bring tears to her eyes. "Mom, I don’t want to be fired from the job. How embarrassing it would be if I ended up getting kicked out by the head chef?"

"Don’t...don’t cry. There is no need to worry; your mum will think of something. Don’t think too much." When Meng Yunhan saw Han Ziyan crying, she felt like her heart was about to leap out of her throat. She jumped up from the bed and took Han Ziyan into her arms as she comforted her. "It’s alright; even if your father is not willing to give you any money, I have an idea."

Originally, she did not want to do it, but it seemed like she had no other choice! Anyway, it was all Han Yichen’s fault, who asked him to be heartless? She was not asking him to take out the entire fortune, just a couple of thousand yuan, and that man was still unwilling! This was what he deserved for acting like a pathetic miser.

After she finished speaking, she started to turn the entire room upside down.

Han Ruochen, that wretched girl, was too much. She was still young, but she had learnt to keep her money outside. She would rather trust her old grandmother, whose heart was with her youngest son, rather than her own mother. She should have killed her when she still had the time. Though Meng Yunhan was upset, she did not dare to voice her thoughts out loud.

She was getting scared of her own temper these days.

Meng Yunhan was worried that if this went on, then she might end up committing murder!

Anyway, Han Ruochen could hide her money, but she did not believe that Han Yichen could do the same. That man had always been soft-hearted. He must have brought some money back home. Clearly, Han Ziyan was also a member of the family. So why was it that Han Ruochen, that wretched girl and Han Beijiang, that fool, could use the money that Han Yichen earned? Since they could use the money, why couldn’t her precious daughter use it? If Han Yichen was not willing to hand over the money, then she was going to take the money on her own.

"Mom, let me help you." Han Ziyan hesitated for a while at the entrance. But at the thought of being fired from her job, she could only suck in a few breaths and rushed inside the room and started to look for money that her father had hidden from her mother.

Meng Yunhan paused when she saw Han Ziyan searching for money. Something kept telling her there was something wrong with Han Ziyan looking for money in her room, but she shook her head and threw that thought out of the back of her head. Han Ziyan was her precious child; how could she even do something wrong? She thought for a while and said, "If your dad finds out that the money is missing, remember to blame me. Just tell him that I was the one who took the money away."

Han Ziyan would have done it even if her mother had not told her. However, she still nodded like a sensible child and agreed. "Alright, I know it, Mom."

*

"Yichen, who is this?"

When Han Yichen returned to the Fishing Village, many villagers saw Han Xuehan following Han Yichen and Han Ruochen, but the current Han Xuehan did not resemble the beautiful Han Xuehan of the past. Thus, no one was able to recognise her. One of the villagers could not help but curiously ask.

"Old Man Yu, it’s Xuehan." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

As soon as Han Yichen finished speaking, all of the villagers who were sitting under the old banyan tree turned to look at the woman standing behind Han Ruochen. At first, they all thought that Han Yichen was pulling their legs, but then they took a closer look and realised that the woman truly resembled Han Xuehan, if they were to ignore the wrinkles and the grey hair.

"Xuehan?! It’s you?" One of the women in the crowd was stunned. One had to know that Han Xuehan was one of the prettiest women of their village. But the woman in front of her was simply — too average! It was as if Han Xuehan had gone through some sort of extraordinary torment.

Because even if her life was harsh after marriage, how could a person change so much?

"Were you really married or—" sold off? How could a woman change so much in just a few days?

Han Xuehan flushed red in embarrassment, but there was nothing she could say at the moment. In fact, she had already anticipated this to happen.

"Let’s go, sister," said Han Ruochen. Though she knew that the villagers were just curious, sometimes even harmless curiosity could harm someone.