Chapter 421: Chapter 421: Happy Sheng Yueyue
"Eldest Brother, you’re so good to me. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know what I would do."
Sheng Yueyue clutched the mooncake tightly in one hand and tugged on Eldest Brother Gu’s arm with the other, acting cute.
"So where are you living now? Have you..." Before Eldest Brother Gu could finish asking if she’d had enough to eat, his adopted sister cut him off.
"I’m living at my parents’ home now. The cook’s food is absolutely awful, so I have to go out to a restaurant every other day just to have a decent meal."
"Where are you getting the money to eat out?"
"Old Three is so disloyal. When he saw I’d gotten into trouble, he gave me the one hundred-something yuan he earned from manual labor just to wash his hands of me."
"Over a hundred yuan is a lot of money. Don’t blame Old Three for being disloyal. That’s as much as my salary for three months. I only make about fifty yuan a month."
"Fifty yuan? That’s it?!" Sheng Yueyue’s sharp voice cut through the air.
She was incredibly displeased to learn that her eldest brother only made fifty yuan a month, but once the words were out, Sheng Yueyue felt she had gone too far.
’Every little bit helps,’ she thought. ’Fifty yuan is still money.’ And so, she started sniffling to salvage the situation.
"Eldest Brother, I’m not saying your salary is too low. I’m just indignant on your behalf! Aren’t you the second-in-command at the prison?"
Eldest Brother Gu’s expression froze. He debated whether he should tell his adopted sister that he had traded his position to get Second Brother Sheng out of prison.
’Could it be that Sheng Er didn’t tell Yueyue?’
As Eldest Brother Gu hesitated, he heard his adopted sister say through sobs.
"No matter how much you make, you’ll always be my eldest brother. When you get your salary, you’ll give it all to me, won’t you?"
"Yueyue, my salary... I might not be able to give it all to you. I still need to buy..." He didn’t get to finish saying "daily necessities."
But Sheng Yueyue cut him off. She lowered her head and whimpered, "Eldest Brother, I understand. You want to buy clothes for me, but you work so hard. You don’t have to go out and buy them for me."
Eldest Brother Gu was delighted to hear his adopted sister showing consideration for his hard work. As for daily necessities, he remembered that his work unit provided them every month anyway.
So he changed his tune. "Yueyue, I’ll give you my salary so you can buy your own clothes. But I still need to eat, you know."
"Eldest Brother, doesn’t your job provide meals?" Sheng Yueyue asked, looking at Eldest Brother Gu with adoration.
’My job does provide three meals a day,’ Eldest Brother Gu thought, ’but I’d like to go out for a good meal myself every once in a while.’
He saw his adopted sister sniffling, a teardrop clinging to her lashes, shimmering on the verge of falling. His heart seemed to tremble along with it.
Her long lashes fluttered, and when a single tear finally rolled down her cheek, it felt like it was scalding his very heart.
It made him say, as if possessed, "My job provides all three meals. When I get paid, I’ll give my whole salary to you."
"Eldest Brother, you’re the best! In that case, I’ll wait another fifteen days. I’ll come find you at your workplace on payday."
After saying this with her head lowered and a final whimper, Sheng Yueyue left. She didn’t even call him for the Mid-Autumn Festival, much less come to spend the holiday with him.
At this thought, Eldest Brother Gu didn’t know whether to feel happy or sad. He looked up at the starry sky.
The moon was perfectly round and the flowers were in full bloom, but he was all alone.
He knew his adopted sister certainly wasn’t alone at this moment, which was why she had forgotten all about him...
Just as Eldest Brother Gu suspected, Sheng Yueyue was not spending the holiday alone. She and her second brother were happily admiring the moon in the large courtyard of the Sheng Family home.
"Yueyue, I can go back to work tomorrow."
"Really? Congratulations, Second Brother Sheng! That means we’ll be living the high life from now on."
"Look how happy that makes you, haha. I’ll only be making an extra thirty-something yuan a month."
"An extra thirty-something yuan is already a lot, you know," Sheng Yueyue said. This time she wasn’t lying, since her adopted brother only made fifty yuan a month as a second-in-command.
’This big oaf will be making fifty yuan a month as a general laborer,’ she thought. ’I can totally live with that.’
’From now on, I’ll be getting a hundred yuan a month. How could I not be happy?’
’Who has a higher salary than me! HAHA...’
Second Brother Sheng had been released from prison only because of her relationship with Eldest Brother Gu.
As a result, Sheng Er gave the one hundred and twenty-something yuan he had received from Old Three entirely to Sheng Yueyue.
Second Brother Sheng even handed over his basic monthly salary of twenty yuan the moment he received it.
With money in her pocket, Sheng Yueyue would go out to eat from time to time and shop for clothes at the department store.
She was living a very comfortable life. So, what did the two siblings usually eat?
While they didn’t have lavish meals of fish and meat, they weren’t about to starve either. Mr. Sheng knew what his second son was like.
Although he had chosen a distant post, Mr. Sheng sent money to Old Sir Sheng every month.
The money included support payments for Grandpa Sheng, the cook’s monthly salary, and additional funds for Second Brother Sheng to buy rice and groceries, all of which Grandpa Sheng would calculate and give to the cook.
Old Sir Sheng was well aware that his granddaughter was living with them, but he didn’t increase the food allowance he gave to the cook.
The food budget for one person had to be stretched to feed two, so Sheng Er and Sheng Yueyue never had lavish meals.
But neither of the siblings dared to complain. They assumed Grandpa Sheng was secretly giving them extra support, so they were actually gloating in private.
Song Zijin and Sheng Yueyue lived in the same housing compound. The couple still wasn’t divorced, and when loneliness struck, they would invariably end up sleeping together.
Sheng Yueyue had no intention of returning to the Song Family home to wait on her vicious mother-in-law, so she was always in a good mood when she saw Song Zijin. After they slept together, she would leave without a second thought.
Since she no longer needed anything from her vicious mother-in-law, Sheng Yueyue would taunt her arrogantly whenever they met.
Aunt Song could only trade a few verbal jabs with her. Because of her injuries, she couldn’t move easily and was unable to hit Sheng Yueyue.
For Sheng Yueyue, who was living her second life, arguing was hardly a challenge.
So she won every time. Not only could she curse out her vicious mother-in-law to vent her frustrations, but she could also sleep with the woman’s son whenever she pleased. Sheng Yueyue’s days couldn’t be more satisfying.
Song Zijin had seen Sheng Yueyue eating rich food at restaurants by herself on multiple occasions. Although he wasn’t starving, he certainly didn’t have the money to eat out every day. So, he once again used sweet talk to coax Sheng Yueyue into taking him with her.
The young couple were husband and wife in name only, free from any marital responsibilities. So when they got together, the sparks flew.
On the surface, it seemed as if Song Zijin and his wife had returned to their honeymoon phase, but deep down, he was resentful.
’I have to win this woman, Sheng Yueyue, back,’ he thought. ’And then, when I’m tired of her, I’ll throw her away like a dirty rag. I’ll let everyone humiliate her. Only then will I be able to quell the hatred I feel for her crippling my mother.’
But Sheng Yueyue was no fool. She couldn’t care less what Song Zijin was thinking. Right now, she was just unbearably lonely and looking for someone to play with.
She had already lined up her next partner: her husband from her past life, He Aijun.
Since He Aijun wouldn’t be back for another two years, she decided to just fool around with Song Zijin for the time being. And so, the couple, each with their own ulterior motives, found their "relationship" only intensifying.
They didn’t share a bed often, so the saying "sharing a bed but dreaming different dreams" didn’t quite apply. It was more a case of "drink today’s wine today, and let tomorrow’s sorrows be for tomorrow."
