Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Settling Accounts (Part 3) Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Settling Accounts (Part 3) Chapter 53: Settling Accounts (Part Three)
“How about I help you do the math? If you’re not a farming household, your cost of grain would be about 1.5 yuan for rice. Including oil, salt, and vegetables, the monthly food expenses wouldn’t exceed 40 yuan, right? If you are a farming household, then you definitely have farmland in the village, so you wouldn’t need to buy grain and would spend even less.”
Li Chunhua snorted: “How could you calculate ? You underestimate us; our food expenses are much higher than that.”
“Your family only has your husband working, right? His wages are about 40 yuan, aren’t they? For a family of four, you surely don’t spend all the wages on food, do you?”
Li Chunhua begrudged with a snort.
In fact, Jiang Mengyu barely had enough to eat every day, and was often punished by not being allowed to eat meals for various reasons. In essence, Mengyu’s monthly food cost didn’t even amount to two yuan.
Another voice chimed in like a spirit bird: “Actually, no need to calculate it that way. Your man earns forty yuan a month, which makes 480 yuan a year. For a family of five, that’s an average of 96 yuan per person per year. Over sixteen years that totals 1,536 yuan.”
“I’m speaking of averages, but in reality, whether Mengyu could use that much while in your home is questionable. The total amount spent to raise Jiang Mengyu for sixteen years is just 1,536 yuan; it’s wrong of you to ask for twenty thousand yuan.”
Jiang Haidong and Li Chunhua were suddenly unable to retort.
Because, in fact, the money they spent on Mengyu was nowhere near that amount. The money for their daughter’s school expenses came from her own efforts scavenging and selling recyclables.
But to let her go for just over 1,000 yuan was something they couldn’t stomach—this was even less than the 2,000 yuan Jiang Haidong had in mind earlier.
Li Chunhua said, “But we’ve poured our heart and soul into raising your daughter Mengyu. She’s only sixteen this year and already took the college entrance exam. She’s now a university student at Beijing Normal University. Isn’t a university-educated daughter worth twenty thousand yuan?”
Nurtured with heart and soul? Mengyu sneered inwardly; it would be more accurate to say she was raised with beatings and abuse.
Hearing the mention of university, Leng Xiangyu seemed somewhat more accommodating: “I’m not unwilling to give you twenty thousand yuan. However, I have my conditions.”
Li Chunhua’s heart leapt: “What are your conditions? As long as we can do it, we will try our best. But you can’t ask for the impossible.”
Leng Xiangyu glanced coldly at Li Chunhua: “Rest assured, you can meet my conditions.
Firstly, I want my daughter to cut off all ties with you completely. From now on, you cannot contact my daughter under any circumstances, nor can you ask her for money or possessions for any reason.”
Li Chunhua and Jiang Haidong exchanged a glance.
“This is a bit much, isn’t it?”
“What’s so much about it? Mengyu is my daughter and has no blood relation to you. Since I’m offering compensation, you have no claim over her. This tie must absolutely be severed!”
“There are no ‘buts.’ This condition is set in stone and non-negotiable! Otherwise, forget about any compensation!”
The two exchanged glances again and nodded in agreement: “Okay!”
The onlookers were astonished: They agreed too easily; something was off!
What they didn’t know was that Jiang Haidong and Li Chunhua were sneering on the inside.
After all, Leng Xiangyu’s biological daughter had already been sold by them into the deep mountains to be a shared wife, and wouldn’t be able to leave in this lifetime.
Their plan was to push their own biological daughter, Jiang Huaiyu, onto this rich woman. In the future, their own daughter could enjoy the wealth and luxury that came with this rich woman.
Whether their daughter wanted to contact them or not, would she still be able to control that when the time came?
“State your second condition,” said Jiang Haidong.
Leng Xiangyu glanced at him and said, “The second condition is that the agreement must clearly state that you adopted my daughter because you made a secret deal with my daughter’s father, Lin Hai, behind my back.”
Upon hearing this, Mengyu was greatly shocked!