Chapter 28
Shen You’s uncle began playing the good cop: “We’re still eating. Why are you bringing this up?”
Being an elder asking a younger generation for money wouldn’t sound good if word got out, so he needed to establish his position.
Her sister-in-law spoke with grievance: “I have no choice. It’s all for the Shen family’s child. My husband and I only make so much per month, and after paying the mortgage, there’s nothing left.”
Shen You looked at their probing expressions and sneered in her heart, but her face maintained an enthusiastic appearance:
“Of course I’m willing to help. We’re all family.”
The other four people at the table were all satisfied with this response.
Her sister-in-law nodded with a beaming smile, agreeing that family should help each other and praising Shen You for being successful now.
“Sister, we calculated paying a bit more down payment to reduce monthly pressure, but we’re still short about a hundred thousand.”
Shen You sighed: “The shop did receive a sum of money recently, but I immediately used it for renovation. I’m still worried about paying the final installment.”
The smiles on her sister-in-law’s family’s faces froze, their expressions looking as if they had swallowed flies.
The harmonious laughter and praise from moments before instantly fell silent.
“Can’t your shop property be mortgaged?” Her sister-in-law exchanged a glance with their family, then continued:
“Don’t worry, we’ll pay the interest, and we’ll definitely repay it when it’s due.”
Shen You really hadn’t expected that they had this scheme in mind.
Their mouths were full of family sentiment, but their actions were all about burning others to illuminate themselves.
After taking advantage of her parents, they still wanted to suck her blood.
She didn’t know what use such relatives were.
“Sister-in-law, you mean I should mortgage my own shop for you to buy a house?” Shen You looked at them with amusement. “Instead of buying one for myself?”
“What does a girl need a house for! When you get married later, won’t the man’s family have a house?” Her cousin slammed the table angrily, lecturing her.
“So I should let you extract every drop of marrow from my bones?” Shen You raised her voice as well.
“Treating me like a fool and using this rhetoric to manipulate me. What’s wrong with being a girl? Because I’m a girl, you naturally covet my things?”
“Whether I buy a house in the future has nothing to do with you. I never said I’d ask to borrow money from you to buy one. Why are you anxious? Are you afraid I’ll spend the money myself and have none left for you?”
She had long grown cold toward these people and saw no reason to indulge them.
Her cousin, having his true thoughts exposed and unable to find a rebuttal, became defensive and spoke even more forcefully, trying to intimidate her with volume.
However Shen You wasn’t intimidated at all and immediately said: “How about I rent the sound system on the platform in the main hall, and we can stand up there to speak louder? Waiter—”
Seeing that Shen You actually called a server in and was asking about renting the equipment on the platform, her uncle quickly stopped her. With a stern face, he gave them both equal blame to end the matter. After the server left and closed the door, he said:
“We’re all family. Aren’t you ashamed to make a scene in public!”
Shen You didn’t care.
However, her cousin, who had gotten into a good workplace through her uncle’s connections, was only a temporary worker, but getting in wasn’t easy. Working there required maintaining dignity—he couldn’t afford to lose face like this.
Actually, her uncle’s family wasn’t really short a hundred thousand.
Her sister-in-law and cousin loved playing mahjong. Usually, her sister-in-law would dump the child at her house without caring whether her mother was willing to babysit, then turn around and take a taxi to the mahjong table. Sometimes she’d lose thousands in one session.
“Uncle still has land in the county, and you also have a car—both can be mortgaged.”
Shen You took out a business card from her bag:
“I have a classmate at a bank. You can call to inquire. I can’t help with anything else.”
Her cousin and his wife’s faces darkened as they looked at the business card on the table. If they were willing to mortgage their own things, they would have done it already. Why would they need this girl to find people?
Her cousin snorted coldly: “No need. My father has banking connections in the county.”
Shen You nodded and smiled: “That’s good then.”
It was as if the earlier argument had really been just what her uncle and aunt called young people’s ignorant quarreling.
Only when no one was looking did Shen You sync the recording to the cloud.
She didn’t plan to send it to her parents now. When one had cared about relatives for decades, completely severing relationships wasn’t that easy.
After eating enough, Shen You went to pay the bill and went with them to the parking lot, driving her own car over to move things to her trunk.
After exchanging some worthless pleasantries, she got in the driver’s seat, stepped on the gas, and drove away quickly.
This left the four people with a belly full of anger.
“How can anyone conduct themselves this way! Does she still consider us her own family and elders?”
Her aunt sat in the car cataloging Shen You’s wrongs.
Which family’s relatives came visiting without being invited into the home to look around, without arranging hotel accommodations? She just said that there were many hotels nearby at various price points and ran off.
Next time she went back, she would definitely ask in front of her parents whether making some money meant kicking all family members aside.
**
While driving, Shen You played an ancient-style song to soothe her mood.
The dinner had ended in the parking lot, where her aunt had asked about hotels.
And her tone had suggested that she should arrange their meals and lodging, and that they couldn’t get used to hotels that were too poor.
One weekend, two nights would cost at least over a thousand.
If she paid this time, then next time they came, they’d expect her to manage it again.
She didn’t have money with nowhere to spend it—this money would be much better spent on herself.
After Shen You returned home, she washed up and lay in bed browsing shopping apps, buying two sets of real silk qipao and real silk hanfu.
She also watched two classic healing anime movies.
The feeling of living alone with money and freedom was seriously too wonderful.
*
The next morning, Shen You went to get a portion of rice rolls to bring back and leisurely placed orders on her phone.
She had thought it over. Some things could be gradually purchased, like medicines.
And once accumulated, there would be plenty. The shop already had deliveries every few days, and the surrounding neighbors all knew she loved online shopping, so a few extra boxes would be completely fine.
Among the people Shen You knew, there was actually someone whose family owned a pharmacy. However after much hesitation, she decided not to contact them.
Buying too much would definitely make people suspicious, and she couldn’t risk her livelihood, which was the shop.
She glanced at the calendar and calculated that the big client shouldn’t have reached the capital yet.
In the afternoon, after organizing the counter, she used the coffee machine to make a coconut latte.
Then,
[Great Qi] Antique Shop opened.
Thinking that today was the first day of business in the capital, she specially wore a beautiful hanfu-inspired outfit and dressed up nicely.
The system said that the shop’s management value wasn’t enough yet, so she could only see the Great Qi scenery from the doorway but couldn’t pass through.
She took a glance: bluestone-paved roads, and looking at the buildings there, the capital’s development seemed quite good.
This place usually probably had no people and only became lively during temple fairs.
She sat in the shop, originally thinking that there wouldn’t be any business today. Unexpectedly, while playing games intently after 2 PM, she heard the familiar “customer arriving” notification.
She looked up toward the two women who entered.
One was wearing ornate clothing, while the other was relatively plain.
She immediately noticed the hairpin on one of them. The craftsmanship looked somewhat similar to the antique Gu Shaoyu had sent photos of.
“Miss, we should go out. This place looks strange.” One of them said.