The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress
Author: Feng Qi Tong
Chapter 559 - 550: The Stepmother Who Refuses to Be a Stepping Stone 38
Li Zhikang urged Li Zhifang again, saying that he needed money to open a shop in the Provincial City and pressured her to repay the loan quickly.
Li Zhifang discussed it with Wang Baozhu and asked if she had recovered the lost money.
Wang Baozhu had searched but couldn’t find it anywhere. She also discreetly probed the Wang family’s attitude and confirmed they hadn’t taken her money. She was extremely anxious and frustrated.
She remembered that Li Zhifang was also short on money at this time. It wasn’t until several years later that Li Zhifang really made his fortune. She had planned to live off that money for the next few years, but now it was gone, and Li Zhifang was asking her for money again, which made her quite depressed.
So, Wang Baozhu broached the topic of selling the house with Li Zhifang.
"I heard that houses in the Provincial City also require property management fees. We can’t live in it now, and it just sits there costing us money each year, not to mention depreciation and such. Isn’t it too uneconomical?"
Wang Baozhu shared her thoughts with Li Zhifang: "Let’s work hard together in the future. Earning money and buying houses for Jingyu and Jing Yan will achieve the same result."
In fact, selling just one apartment would be enough to pay back the borrowed money, but Wang Baozhu always suggested selling two. Her reasoning was, if you sell one, whose do you sell? It wouldn’t be fair to the two daughters. It might be better to simply sell both; they could use the remaining funds to invest in another business or something.
Right now, Li Zhifang was utterly beguiled by Wang Baozhu and would heed whatever she said.
After discussing back and forth, they finally decided to sell the house.
Wang Baozhu didn’t have many options.
In her past life, she never earned any money. Though she had many future insights in her mind and knew which industries would be profitable, knowing was one thing and actually doing it was another.
She wanted to live a better life and only knew to rely on men.
Without money, Wang Baozhu never considered how to earn it; she just thought about selling the house and such.
She figured that since Li Zhifang would be wealthy in the future, they could buy houses for their daughters later on. With the money Li Zhifang would earn, not to mention ordinary apartments, they could even afford villas.
Although Wang Baozhu was aware that house prices would rise in the future, she also thought that with Li Zhifang’s wealth, even if prices soared, they could still afford it.
After the two agreed, Wang Baozhu didn’t return to her family home.
She thought about how the Li family disapproved of her marrying Li Zhifang, and with no idea when they could get married, waiting too long might give Zhang Fengfeng a chance to find another woman for Li Zhifang, which would ruin everything. So, she just moved in to live with Li Zhifang.
County’s No.1 Middle School
After school at noon, Li Jingyu went to the ninth grade to find Liu Qi.
Liu Qi, Li Jingyan, and Liu Ming were in the same class. When she arrived, the three were sitting together, having lunch.
Upon seeing Li Jingyu, Li Jingyan waved her over: "Sis, over here."
Li Jingyu, holding her lunchbox, walked over, and the four of them gathered around a table to eat.
Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan both had cafeteria meals. The food in the county’s cafeteria at that time was not very good; for lunch, it was just steamed buns, rice, a few green vegetables, and a small stir-fried meat dish. The cafeteria offered few choices and the taste was nothing special.
When Anning was around, she had specifically visited the First Middle School’s cafeteria and found the food disappointing. She then arranged for the four kids to order meals outside. Every Thursday when the kids arrived, they would pay at a restaurant owned by a distant relative. At noon, the place would prepare the dishes and one of them would go pick it up.
Now with Anning gone, and Li Zhifang strapped for cash, he stopped giving money to Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan.
In Li Zhifang’s view, eating was eating, as long as you were full, that was enough.
After all, he grew up dealing with hunger as a child. The important thing was for children to focus on their studies and not always think about food.
Thus, Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan had been eating poorly for a while.
As they opened their lunch boxes, they saw nothing but vegetables inside. Li Jingyu had rice with stir-fried green beans, while Li Jingyan had a steamed bun with stir-fried baby bok choy. The meals were truly plain and simple, hardly appetizing at first glance.
Liu Qi sighed and opened his and Liu Ming’s lunch boxes: "Let’s hurry up and eat. From now on, you two should come eat with us every day."
"Okay."
Li Jingyan smiled and, without any hesitation, helped herself to a piece of meat from Liu Qi’s lunch box.
Li Jingyu felt somewhat embarrassed, but Liu Ming grabbed a chicken leg for her: "Sis, eat up quickly."
After eating a bit, Liu Qi asked Li Jingyan, "Didn’t Uncle give you guys any money?"
Li Jingyan shook her head: "My dad’s a bit strapped for cash right now. He said that exams were coming soon anyway, and my sister is about to have a vacation, so we could economize for this period. When the holidays come, we’ll go home and have some good food."
Liu Ming took a bite of his meat, mouth greasy: "I’ll talk to mom and ask her to give a bit more money. After school, I’ll go to Uncle Sun and also give some money for the two of you."
Liu Qi nodded: "Don’t skimp on food, mom says that studying is very tough these days, we definitely can’t neglect ourselves when it comes to eating. I still have some money here, I’ll pay for you two first."
"How could we."
Li Jingyan laughed upon hearing this: "I won’t go back home this weekend during my break. Instead, I’ll go with you, I really miss mom."
Li Jingyu kept her head down eating, the rims of her eyes reddening slightly.
She truly missed Anning terribly, just too shy to say it out loud.
And, she felt somewhat embarrassed to let Liu Qi spend money on her.
In her eyes, her father had already let Anning down, and now that Anning had left, it felt even more wrong to spend Anning’s money.
It wasn’t that Li Jingyu had grown distant from Anning; rather, she always felt like she owed Anning.
The child had a lot on her mind, always thinking a bit too much.
On the contrary, Li Jingyan was straightforward and didn’t think too much. Whoever she was close to, she was never shy to accept their help.
"If you go, Yuzhen will definitely be happy."
Liu Ming had gnawed half a bun and squinted happily as he smiled: "Yuzhen misses you guys too, but she’s really busy now. Mom said that they make kids in the Provincial City take lots of extracurriculars. She’s enrolled Yuzhen in special classes; after school, Yuzhen has to learn piano and calligraphy, she seems to be even busier than us."
"Really?"
Li Jingyan listened with great envy for Liu Yuzhen: "I’m tempted to learn too. Do you think I could also join a special class when I’m in high school? I really like drawing."
"I’ll ask mom about it."
Liu Ming and Li Jingyan whispered to each other: "I’ll ask mom if the workload at First Middle School is heavy or not. If it’s not too heavy, you can study for a while when the time comes, but if the workload is intense, then forget it."
"Yeah, yeah."
Li Jingyan kept nodding as she bit into the chicken leg: "So ask her as soon as you can. Also, after the middle school exams, I’ll have the whole summer vacation to learn drawing. Tell her in advance that I’ll stay over during the holidays."
Li Jingyu glanced at Li Jingyan and quietly asked Liu Ming: "When you, when you call mom, could you also ask her something for me? I saw someone playing the lute on TV recently and I really liked it. Could you have mom check if there are any lute teachers in the Provincial City?"
"Sure."
Liu Ming agreed readily: "I also want to take extra classes. I want to play basketball, and brother wants to learn calligraphy and drawing. We can all learn together when the time comes."
The four kids sat together chatting and laughing, not strangers in the slightest. It was just like before Anning and Li Zhifang got divorced, making both Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan feel a lot more at ease.
Li Zhifang discussed it with Wang Baozhu and asked if she had recovered the lost money.
Wang Baozhu had searched but couldn’t find it anywhere. She also discreetly probed the Wang family’s attitude and confirmed they hadn’t taken her money. She was extremely anxious and frustrated.
She remembered that Li Zhifang was also short on money at this time. It wasn’t until several years later that Li Zhifang really made his fortune. She had planned to live off that money for the next few years, but now it was gone, and Li Zhifang was asking her for money again, which made her quite depressed.
So, Wang Baozhu broached the topic of selling the house with Li Zhifang.
"I heard that houses in the Provincial City also require property management fees. We can’t live in it now, and it just sits there costing us money each year, not to mention depreciation and such. Isn’t it too uneconomical?"
Wang Baozhu shared her thoughts with Li Zhifang: "Let’s work hard together in the future. Earning money and buying houses for Jingyu and Jing Yan will achieve the same result."
In fact, selling just one apartment would be enough to pay back the borrowed money, but Wang Baozhu always suggested selling two. Her reasoning was, if you sell one, whose do you sell? It wouldn’t be fair to the two daughters. It might be better to simply sell both; they could use the remaining funds to invest in another business or something.
Right now, Li Zhifang was utterly beguiled by Wang Baozhu and would heed whatever she said.
After discussing back and forth, they finally decided to sell the house.
Wang Baozhu didn’t have many options.
In her past life, she never earned any money. Though she had many future insights in her mind and knew which industries would be profitable, knowing was one thing and actually doing it was another.
She wanted to live a better life and only knew to rely on men.
Without money, Wang Baozhu never considered how to earn it; she just thought about selling the house and such.
She figured that since Li Zhifang would be wealthy in the future, they could buy houses for their daughters later on. With the money Li Zhifang would earn, not to mention ordinary apartments, they could even afford villas.
Although Wang Baozhu was aware that house prices would rise in the future, she also thought that with Li Zhifang’s wealth, even if prices soared, they could still afford it.
After the two agreed, Wang Baozhu didn’t return to her family home.
She thought about how the Li family disapproved of her marrying Li Zhifang, and with no idea when they could get married, waiting too long might give Zhang Fengfeng a chance to find another woman for Li Zhifang, which would ruin everything. So, she just moved in to live with Li Zhifang.
County’s No.1 Middle School
After school at noon, Li Jingyu went to the ninth grade to find Liu Qi.
Liu Qi, Li Jingyan, and Liu Ming were in the same class. When she arrived, the three were sitting together, having lunch.
Upon seeing Li Jingyu, Li Jingyan waved her over: "Sis, over here."
Li Jingyu, holding her lunchbox, walked over, and the four of them gathered around a table to eat.
Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan both had cafeteria meals. The food in the county’s cafeteria at that time was not very good; for lunch, it was just steamed buns, rice, a few green vegetables, and a small stir-fried meat dish. The cafeteria offered few choices and the taste was nothing special.
When Anning was around, she had specifically visited the First Middle School’s cafeteria and found the food disappointing. She then arranged for the four kids to order meals outside. Every Thursday when the kids arrived, they would pay at a restaurant owned by a distant relative. At noon, the place would prepare the dishes and one of them would go pick it up.
Now with Anning gone, and Li Zhifang strapped for cash, he stopped giving money to Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan.
In Li Zhifang’s view, eating was eating, as long as you were full, that was enough.
After all, he grew up dealing with hunger as a child. The important thing was for children to focus on their studies and not always think about food.
Thus, Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan had been eating poorly for a while.
As they opened their lunch boxes, they saw nothing but vegetables inside. Li Jingyu had rice with stir-fried green beans, while Li Jingyan had a steamed bun with stir-fried baby bok choy. The meals were truly plain and simple, hardly appetizing at first glance.
Liu Qi sighed and opened his and Liu Ming’s lunch boxes: "Let’s hurry up and eat. From now on, you two should come eat with us every day."
"Okay."
Li Jingyan smiled and, without any hesitation, helped herself to a piece of meat from Liu Qi’s lunch box.
Li Jingyu felt somewhat embarrassed, but Liu Ming grabbed a chicken leg for her: "Sis, eat up quickly."
After eating a bit, Liu Qi asked Li Jingyan, "Didn’t Uncle give you guys any money?"
Li Jingyan shook her head: "My dad’s a bit strapped for cash right now. He said that exams were coming soon anyway, and my sister is about to have a vacation, so we could economize for this period. When the holidays come, we’ll go home and have some good food."
Liu Ming took a bite of his meat, mouth greasy: "I’ll talk to mom and ask her to give a bit more money. After school, I’ll go to Uncle Sun and also give some money for the two of you."
Liu Qi nodded: "Don’t skimp on food, mom says that studying is very tough these days, we definitely can’t neglect ourselves when it comes to eating. I still have some money here, I’ll pay for you two first."
"How could we."
Li Jingyan laughed upon hearing this: "I won’t go back home this weekend during my break. Instead, I’ll go with you, I really miss mom."
Li Jingyu kept her head down eating, the rims of her eyes reddening slightly.
She truly missed Anning terribly, just too shy to say it out loud.
And, she felt somewhat embarrassed to let Liu Qi spend money on her.
In her eyes, her father had already let Anning down, and now that Anning had left, it felt even more wrong to spend Anning’s money.
It wasn’t that Li Jingyu had grown distant from Anning; rather, she always felt like she owed Anning.
The child had a lot on her mind, always thinking a bit too much.
On the contrary, Li Jingyan was straightforward and didn’t think too much. Whoever she was close to, she was never shy to accept their help.
"If you go, Yuzhen will definitely be happy."
Liu Ming had gnawed half a bun and squinted happily as he smiled: "Yuzhen misses you guys too, but she’s really busy now. Mom said that they make kids in the Provincial City take lots of extracurriculars. She’s enrolled Yuzhen in special classes; after school, Yuzhen has to learn piano and calligraphy, she seems to be even busier than us."
"Really?"
Li Jingyan listened with great envy for Liu Yuzhen: "I’m tempted to learn too. Do you think I could also join a special class when I’m in high school? I really like drawing."
"I’ll ask mom about it."
Liu Ming and Li Jingyan whispered to each other: "I’ll ask mom if the workload at First Middle School is heavy or not. If it’s not too heavy, you can study for a while when the time comes, but if the workload is intense, then forget it."
"Yeah, yeah."
Li Jingyan kept nodding as she bit into the chicken leg: "So ask her as soon as you can. Also, after the middle school exams, I’ll have the whole summer vacation to learn drawing. Tell her in advance that I’ll stay over during the holidays."
Li Jingyu glanced at Li Jingyan and quietly asked Liu Ming: "When you, when you call mom, could you also ask her something for me? I saw someone playing the lute on TV recently and I really liked it. Could you have mom check if there are any lute teachers in the Provincial City?"
"Sure."
Liu Ming agreed readily: "I also want to take extra classes. I want to play basketball, and brother wants to learn calligraphy and drawing. We can all learn together when the time comes."
The four kids sat together chatting and laughing, not strangers in the slightest. It was just like before Anning and Li Zhifang got divorced, making both Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan feel a lot more at ease.