Rebirth in Famine: She Thrives by Lucky Space

After she spoke, there was a brief silence at the dining table. Wei Kaiyun spoke, "Sorry, if you want to come here and live with your kids, I'll rent a house for you. My child is too young, too many people would be inconvenient."

Wei Kaiyun's words made Zhao Lizheng smile awkwardly.

"Come on, we don't have time to take care of the kids, it's not just about going to and from school; Shuping just had that thought."

Jiang Xinyu put down her chopsticks, looked at Zhang Shuping and said, "Here's the deal, we'll rent a house for you and hire someone to take care of the kids."

"I've already said it's not necessary."

"Haha, my tolerance for you all is because I know how to be grateful. Not to mention how prepared I am for New Year's gifts, that's enough for now."

The atmosphere at the table became a lot more awkward. Jiang Xinyu ignored them and continued, "You're just trying to take advantage, fine, state your terms and I'll settle the favor in one go."

"Xiao Jiang, we didn't mean it like that."

Jiang Xinyu smiled lightly and continued unhurriedly, "It's no problem. This way, both of us can feel at ease. Speak up, otherwise we don't know what to do."

Zhang Shuping's face turned red with anger, but she couldn't refute it. She had indeed come to take advantage. Their food was too good, and she thought she could have the kids live there, not only to eat and stay, but she could see them every day.

But being so bluntly exposed made her feel extremely embarrassed.

And she was unwilling to say she didn't want the favor repaid.

"Since you put it that way, give me five hundred yuan and from now on, we'll owe each other nothing."

Jiang Xinyu nodded, "Alright, no problem. Afterward, we'll both feel at ease."

She stood up with a smile, went to the back room, pulled out fifty banknotes, and handed them to Zhang Shuping.

"Count them, there's five hundred here."

Zhao Lizheng looked very displeased. His wife had told him she wanted to bring the three kids over, but he disagreed; the favor needed to be saved for future use.

Zhang Shuping took the money and actually started counting. They hadn't split their family finances yet, and eighty percent of their salaries needed to be handed in. She had never had this much money in her hand.

Wei Kaiyun invited Zhao Lizheng to eat, his expression unchanged.

Zhang Shuping put the money away. Now that they had torn face, she didn't care anymore, even when just eating meat, her eating manner was really unattractive.

Zhao Lizheng still had some dignity. He put down his chopsticks. "Xiao Wei, we won't disturb you any longer today."

"It's alright; leave tomorrow morning. Going out means you still need to tidy up."

"No need, thank you." Zhao Lizheng felt particularly uncomfortable.

Wei Kaiyun did not persuade anymore. "Aunt Bai, please help pack the New Year's gifts Xinyu prepared for them."

Bai Hongying, who had been silent listening all along, stood up immediately to tidy things as instructed by Wei Kaiyun.

Ten kilograms of frozen meat were directly put into a burlap sack, along with half a bag wrapped in packaging paper and bread, and a small bag of shrimp skins.

Jiang Xinyu, seeing everything was ready, said, "Director Zhao, thank you very much for everything in the past."

"No need, you've already repaid."

Jiang Xinyu nodded with a smile. She didn't want to appear opportunistic, nor was she the type to be ungrateful, but she really couldn't tolerate Zhang Shuping binding her morally, making herself feel uncomfortable and constantly subjected to her condescending look.

After finishing dinner, Zhang Shuping went straight back to the room, packed up, and left with her husband. Zhao Lizheng said a few words before leaving, but Zhang Shuping didn't say a word.

Seeing them off gave Jiang Xinyu a sense of relief.

"Wife, aren't you afraid she'll gossip at school?"

"What's there to be afraid of? She accepted my five hundred yuan; if she speaks of the past, she'll weigh her words carefully. Besides, even if this hadn't happened, she'd still talk. Let her be."

"But it might affect your party membership application."

"It's fine, I have a blank introduction letter from the textile factory. I can write whatever I want."

Wei Kaiyun shook his head. "They'll call to investigate later."

"Let them investigate then." Jiang Xinyu had considered this but couldn't stand suppressing herself.

"She might say we don't have a marriage certificate."

"I'll say we held a ceremony in the countryside; that counts as a real marriage."

Wei Kaiyun felt helpless looking at his wife but understood she had a point. He didn't want her to suffer injustice either.

Zhao Lizheng and his wife lay on the bed in the inn. "Humph, when school starts, I'll report her having a child out of wedlock. She wants to join the party? Dream on."

"Are you an idiot? You took five hundred yuan from them. If they report us, what about our jobs?"

And how many actually have marriage certificates now? They're mostly having children out of wedlock.

Zhang Shuping paused, realizing she and her husband didn't have a marriage certificate.

"So we just let it go like this?"

"I really can't talk sense into you. You ruined a real opportunity.

Xiao Wei has connections up top, and even got himself cleared. If we ever have trouble, will he not help? Why did you act like that? Wasn't it just jealousy over their stuff or thinking they didn't give enough?

And don't you consider that you'd be willing to do this yourself? Not mentioning that you went to their place for dinner each week?

So now it's settled with the five hundred yuan."

Listening to her husband, Zhang Shuping admitted her foolishness but knew it was too late to return things to the way they were.

"So we just leave it at this? Why didn't you stop me then?"

"Stop you? I told you multiple times on the way not to try and bring the kids over. You didn't listen.

And while being guests, you made a face. Did you listen when I talked to you about that?

When you demanded the five hundred yuan, I was looking at you. How did you behave?

Not that I'm poor, but I haven't let you starve. Yet look at your eating manner; don't you feel ashamed?"

Zhang Shuping remained silent, unsure why she behaved that way. Now any further is futile.

When did she start behaving like this? Right, it was seeing others' husbands so accomplished and treating them so well, causing immense imbalance inside.

Jealous of her, incredibly jealous. Why, as fellow women, could she live that way?

"Alright, stop pondering. In the future, treat them as ordinary classmates. Stop thinking otherwise; their successes or failures don't concern you. Live your life. After graduation, everyone will go their separate ways. It won't interfere with yours, and maybe after graduation, we'll meet again as friends in the world."