The wild boar meat he gave away was sold for money?

That would have been fine, but Yu clearly couldn’t produce the money from selling the meat, and suggested writing him an IOU… Among all the girlfriends Shao Guangrong had dated, Yu was the first such peculiar case.

He shouldn’t have opened his big mouth, and now he was angry at himself.

“Just leave quickly. I’m not so poor that I need to reclaim the wild boar meat I gave you. Honestly, don’t ever appear in front of me again. Every time I see you, it takes two years off my life!”

Lying about her age to be his companion and suddenly jumping out to stop his car – what normal girl would do such things?

Only mindless street delinquents would behave like that – teenagers who dropped out of school and had no jobs, wearing heavy makeup and hanging around with unemployed youths. These delinquents had always existed, and in the past couple of years during the crackdown, some were arrested for “hooliganism”!

While Yu might have found it exciting, Shao Guangrong didn’t find it exciting at all. When dating girlfriends, besides mutual consent, they shouldn’t cause him trouble.

You shuffled into the dark, unlit alley. Her home was the third household inside.

She heard the car start up as Shao Guangrong drove away without hesitation.

Yu leaned against the wall, feeling defeated.

If she had performed better, perhaps Young Master Shao would have liked her. She didn’t need much affection – just a little bit would have been enough.

Yu touched her scraped wrist, which stung fiercely.

Suddenly the door was pulled open. In the pitch-black courtyard without any light, someone shined a flashlight over Yu from head to toe. Finding that she carried nothing, they proceeded to pat down all her pockets – naturally, she had no extra money in them. Those hands then tried to reach inside her clothes, but Yu firmly held them back:

“What are you doing!”

The other person lowered their voice: “Pah, you worthless girl, are you hiding money? Last time you could drag home a bag of pork, this time not even meat. Without money, how am I supposed to support you two!”

Greasy eyes swept across her chest, making Yu nauseated.

She pretended to be calm, “Like I said, this boyfriend I found comes from a very good family. I can’t ask him for money or things, or he’ll look down on me and quickly dump me! Just wait a bit longer – once I marry him, our family will have everything.”

Though she had said this before, the man cursed a few times and roughly pulled Yu inside.

“Marry him? A little slut like you wants to marry into a high-ranking official’s family? Today is the 23rd. By the 23rd of next month, you need to give me 200 yuan, and the same every month after that. If you don’t pay, you know what will happen!”

“How can I possibly get 200 yuan…”

The man looked at her very seriously, “Cheat, rob, sell yourself – I don’t care, I just want 200 yuan.”

Why not 100 yuan or 300 yuan, but specifically 200 yuan?

The man had been inspired by the wild boar meat Yu had previously brought home. If the wild boar meat could sell for 200 yuan, then Yu must earn 200 yuan every month.

She wished she could die together with this man before her.

Yu lowered her head, hiding her eyes full of rage, and silently walked back to her small room.

The courtyard had only three rooms – only one was properly built originally, while the other two were added-on low buildings. The courtyard was tiny, barely the size of a palm. They had to cook in the courtyard, and with all the pots and containers of household items arranged there, there was barely any space to step.

When Yu entered the low building, she smelled a horrible stench. Turning on the light revealed a wooden bed where an emaciated woman lay. She looked at Yu with open eyes, forcing out a smile.

The woman was paralyzed and couldn’t control her bodily functions. When Yu was home, she would help her mother with toilet needs… When not home, the woman could only soil herself. If Yu didn’t return for a day, the woman had to lie in the filth. To make her excrete less, the man wouldn’t give her food or water when Yu wasn’t around.

And this woman was Yu’s mother, who had been bedridden and paralyzed for two years.

If not for her mother’s sudden paralysis, Yu should have been in high school this year, rather than having to go out to earn money after finishing middle school.

She had worked several odd jobs but was always criticized for earning too little.

She had almost been tricked and sold to another region.

Wanting to run away but unable to abandon her paralyzed mother, she could only obediently earn more money to support that man.

Watching her daughter busy herself with cleaning without even taking a sip of water, Yu’s mother felt she would be better off dead than alive. Finally, after Yu cleaned up the bedding and washed the soiled sheets, she locked the door and squeezed onto the bed. The mother and daughter barely spoke in this house, afraid of being heard by the man.

Neither of them could sleep.

In the middle of the night, the woman struggled to turn her head – with high-level paralysis, she could only move her neck:

“…Tomorrow when you go out, don’t come back. Run away, run far away, leave Beijing for another region. Even working as a house helper for others is a job. Save money for a few years, and find a good man to marry. Even if I die, I’ll be at peace.”

In the pitch darkness, Yu didn’t respond, only pulling up her mother’s blanket that had slipped down to her chest.

“I won’t run. If we run, we’ll go together. I’ll make it happen!”

She had naively sought help from the street office before but was questioned and scolded, accused of being unruly and slandering her stepfather.

Because in front of others, the man presented the image of a kind and righteous person who cared for his paralyzed wife and raised her baggage child! Yu was young and powerless, an outsider who came with her mother after remarriage. The neighbors believed the man more than they believed Yu!

After all, the man never hit her or scolded her in front of others.

He only used her bedridden mother to threaten Yu.

If Yu performed well, her mother would get hot meals.

If Yu couldn’t bring back money, both mother and daughter would go hungry.

“There must be a way.”

If she couldn’t do it herself, she would have to rely on others’ help.

Everyone said Young Master Shao was a good person who parted amicably with all his girlfriends. The girls didn’t feel sad after breaking up because they all received some benefits. Yu didn’t expect much money – if Young Master Shao could help rescue her mother, that would be enough.

She couldn’t retreat just because of some harsh words. Yu couldn’t trust anyone else, and she had investigated before choosing her target – only Shao Guangrong had an especially good reputation.

If she approached others, Yu feared they would take advantage of her without taking responsibility. After all, if even the street office wouldn’t handle this “family matter,” others would avoid it too!

The next morning, Yu prepared some food for her mother. Afraid of soiling herself and making Yu clean up again, her mother only ate a few bites and refused water.

“I’m going out for a bit, I’ll be back soon.”

Yesterday in the car, she had heard Shao Guangrong discussing with Zhou Cheng about going to Wangfujing Street today for some fashion show.

If she went there, she should be able to run into Young Master Shao.

Though Young Master Shao spoke harshly, he was a very good person. Yu felt a bit guilty… Once Young Master Shao helped her, she would repay him by working like an ox or horse!

When she arrived at Wangfujing Street, she discovered cars weren’t allowed to enter today, which naturally made some drivers curse loudly. Yu craned her neck to look around and spotted Xia Xiaolan’s Chevrolet parked on the roadside, next to the Jeep 212 that Shao Guangrong often drove. Yu’s heart lifted with joy as she squeezed through the crowd heading inside.