Reborn as a Tough Army Wife

"Twenty thousand yuan?"

Luo Zhiming felt like he was about to faint, fearing that even selling himself wouldn't net twenty thousand yuan.

Seeing Luo Zhiming's uneasy expression, Xu He became displeased, "You think twenty thousand is too expensive? That's probably the cheapest house in the county. If you don't even have twenty thousand, what house were you promising to buy me?"

Xu He, seeing that he still remained silent, began to lose her temper, "I don't even know what business you're doing, always saying you're making money, yet now you can't even come up with this small amount."

"I don't think it's expensive; I just think the house isn't good." Luo Zhiming racked his brain and finally found a good excuse, "Think about it, what kind of good house can you buy near the entrance of your factory? That area isn't good. If we buy, we should buy something better."

"Really?" Upon hearing this, Xu He's eyes lit up with joy, looking at him, "Then how much are you planning to spend?"

Luo Zhiming pretended to ponder for a moment, then fabricated a lie, "I've spotted a location in the east of the city, where there are new houses. It's a bit more expensive, but the houses are better."

"Buying a new house? That must be a lot of money." Xu He certainly liked new houses, but she felt Luo Zhiming probably didn't have the financial means.

Luo Zhiming immediately declared with conviction, "Money is not an issue, I can afford it."

At that moment, Luo Zhiming was only thinking about getting through one hurdle at a time, dragging it out until he could no longer.

Seeing his confident statement, Xu He looked at him somewhat skeptically, then said, "Alright, I'll take a day off tomorrow to go have a look. If the house is really good, I'll make a decision."

Luo Zhiming choked, not expecting Xu He to say she'd go take a look herself. He paused, then said, "The houses are still being built, might take a while before they can be sold, but I've asked someone I know to reserve one for me."

"Really?" Because Luo Zhiming's lie was too big, Xu He somewhat didn't believe him and thought to herself that she should go see for herself to truly believe, gripping Luo Zhiming she asked, "Who is this person you know? Introduce me so I can at least see the house."

Luo Zhiming had no choice but still thought about dragging it out, "Ok, in a little while, once the house is ready, I'll take you to meet them."

Xu He disagreed, staring at him, "No way, I'm free this weekend, you take me. I'm just meeting the person, not looking at the house, it doesn't matter if the house is ready or not."

Luo Zhiming being stared at felt guilty and ultimately had to agree reluctantly, "Alright then, we'll go this weekend."

Actually, Luo Zhiming was well aware that Xu He didn't trust him, but meeting someone, he could handle that.

Recently, he had been playing cards in a card room and got to know many people. He could just find someone to pose, pay them some money, and many would be willing to do it.

Thus, when the weekend came, he casually pulled a well-spoken man from the card room, prearranged everything with him, and gave him five yuan. The man performed excellently, describing the house so fascinatingly that Xu He didn't harbor any suspicion.

That evening, Xu He was as happy as could be, hugging Luo Zhiming and offering herself.

Things with Xu He had temporarily settled down, but the matter of the house would eventually need to be addressed.

Luo Zhiming thought through the night and finally came up with a plan.

He thought about how recently at the card house he had been nearly unbeatable, winning at least several hundred yuan a day. Wouldn't he be able to win a house in just a few months at this rate?

The more Luo Zhiming thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. He was brimming with confidence, leaning on gambling to win himself a level of a house.

So, afterward, he would spend his days at the card house and his nights back at the hostel, messing around with Xu He.

Later on, finding the hostel too expensive, Luo Zhiming simply rented a decent house not far from Xu He's factory, and the two started living together like a married couple.

During that time, Xu He brought up marriage several times, but Luo Zhiming just kept placating her, saying they would hold the wedding banquet once he had secured a house in the city, and they could then transfer their registration to the city and get married there.

By then, they could invite relatives from the countryside to see their new home and how impressive that would be.

What Luo Zhiming said really resonated with Xu He, as she envisioned the scene, she couldn't help feeling exhilarated - she had long awaited that day.

After that, he would wait till Xu He went to work every day before heading to the card house, and would always return on time at night, claiming he had been at work.

Initially, Luo Zhiming indeed had tremendous luck - within about half a month, he had won over a thousand yuan all in all, and was so happy he couldn't pat himself enough on the back, thinking it was a chance to strike it rich.

However, as time went by, Luo Zhiming started losing.

In less than a month, not only did he lose all the money he had won, but he also lost several hundred yuan he originally had, and even almost couldn't come up with the living expenses.

He suddenly went to Luo Honglan to borrow money because Xu He had asked him for living expenses, and he couldn't produce it. He racked his brains before thinking of Luo Honglan, borrowing tens of dollars, just enough to tide them over for a while.

But how long could fifty dollars last, especially with Luo Zhiming still needing gambling funds?

As he had no other options, he began to borrow from the high-interest loans offered at the gambling house, and each time it was several hundred dollars.

Recently, Luo Zhiming's luck in cards had been terribly bad; he lost money every day, several hundred yuan a day, and the several hundred yuan he borrowed got spent in no time.

He not only ran out of gambling funds, but the loan sharks even began approaching him for repayment.

Fortunately, because Luo Zhiming had been cautious about Xu He finding out, he chose a distant location for his gambling, which was why the loan sharks couldn't immediately find him; thus, he confined himself at home every day.

At first, Xu He didn't notice, but recently she began to sense something was wrong.

Lately, each time she asked Luo Zhiming for money to buy groceries and other things, Luo Zhiming would hesitantly beat around the bush without ultimately handing over any money. Plus, she ran into the landlord a few days ago, who was chasing them for rent, but when she asked Luo Zhiming, he insisted that he had paid, certain it was the landlord's mistake.

Additionally, she occasionally heard from neighbors inquiring that Luo Zhiming hadn't been going to work recently and was always hiding at home, yet Luo Zhiming lied to her every day claiming he had been at work.

Xu He calmly thought through the recent series of events and increasingly felt she might have been deceived.

Luo Zhiming claimed he was running a business, but he never specified what business he was in or where he conducted it, not even mentioning his place of work to her. Besides, regarding buying the house, due to her not seeing it, she always felt uneasy.

She harbored a bold suspicion: that Luo Zhiming's talk of buying a house and running a business to deceive her. In fact, he was just like when he was back in the countryside, nothing but a scoundrel. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)