Therefore, in Mei Yinan’s heart, she was even more grateful to Mei Mengzhen. Her son’s fortune began with Mei Mengzhen, so she was all the more determined to take good care of Mei Mengchen, who was staying at her house.
Fan Hongwei twitched at the corner of his mouth upon hearing this. He had never heard anyone boasting about their son in such a manner, and he found himself at a loss for words, which brought an abrupt end to the topic.
...
Mei Yifan and Mei Yongfu naturally banded together, unanimously deciding not to give a single penny, and to keep a close watch on the sum of money that Mei Mengchen had.
As for Mei Yifang, she usually went with the flow, previously following her younger brother and sister’s lead, but she could still discern what was urgent and important. So this time, she agreed to lend some money to her elder brother alongside Mei Yinan, but given that her family also had a son, the amount would be limited and surely not much; she couldn’t afford more anyway.
When Mei Yongan returned home with his family, who were crying and wailing, he sat on the sofa and after some contemplation, he decided to sell the car first.
"Mengcheng, you come with me tomorrow to sell the car. Whatever we can get for it, we get. Let’s get the money in hand first. Chunyu, you go look at the houses tomorrow." Mei Yongan had come to terms with reality. No one would help him if he didn’t sell the house—it was the same decision he would have come to himself.
Looking at the large house they had just moved into, he felt a pang of desolation. Just let it be, his family was never meant for a big house after all.
Mei Yongan was resigned. Having money had turned out to be just a dream for their family, and being without it wasn’t so bad. They would live a stable life from now on. As long as they were not short of money in the future, that was all that mattered. Life had to go on.
Once he had made up his mind, he wouldn’t care about Hu Chunyu’s crying. Money couldn’t be brought back by tears, after all.
"Crying and wailing now won’t help. Better hurry and find a house. The longer we drag this out, the more interest we’ll owe each day, and we can’t bear such expenses."
860,000 yuan. The daily interest was higher than his monthly salary—how could they sustain such a drain?
Hu Chunyu finally grasped the seriousness of their situation and resolvedly said, "I know."
Hu Chunyu, looking at her son standing there clueless, was so frustrated she couldn’t focus her anger. Since the incident unfolded, her son hadn’t even uttered a single apology. She slapped her son on the arm. "You child, do you realize your mistake?"
In reality, Hu Chunyu wasn’t in a position to say this. She herself had lost tens of thousands, but certain things are relative—in the face of millions, tens of thousands seemed like nothing. So, despite feeling guilty, scolding her son wasn’t entirely unjustified.
Mei Mengcheng was indeed petrified. If he had known that buying that lottery ticket would lead to such a disaster, he would have rather not won at all.
Mei Mengcheng truly realized his mistake and was genuinely scared. After being reminded by Hu Chunyu, he immediately knelt before Mei Yongan, admitting his faults, naturally also regretting the many wrong things he had done afterwards.
Mei Yongan was somewhat surprised by Mei Mengcheng’s action. Parents are always the ones who understand their children best. With high hopes and frail prospects, Mengcheng lacked knowledge and ambition but always dreamed of making it big. Of course, he had his moment of dreaming, but waking up wasn’t frightening—the fear was that he might become disheartened and wreck his life.
Seeing his son’s remorseful attitude, he clearly knew his mistakes. Knowing remorse meant he wasn’t a lost cause yet, so Mei Yongan asked, "Since you know you were wrong, what do you plan to do next? Do you have any thoughts?"
"I’ll go to work, do hard labor, and earn money," he answered, resolved to keep his feet firmly on the ground and not to indulge in unrealistic dreams any longer.
Mei Yongan nodded with satisfaction, "Good, having nothing isn’t frightening. What’s scary is giving up. You’ve never worked since graduating. When you go out to work, there will certainly be many challenges. If you can persist, then it wouldn’t be in vain that I’m selling the car and the house to pay off your debts."
"It won’t happen again, Dad. I will work hard and never act recklessly again," he affirmed.
...
That evening, after Mei Yinan coaxed Mei Mengchen back to his room, he once again took out the cell phone that Mei Mengzhen had given him to report the day’s events.
That Mei Mengchen had become the family’s little informer was something Mei Mengzhen had not anticipated. But regardless, she received all the news anyway.
With such a big incident happening at home, who could still be in the mood for fun during the National Day.
Indeed, early the next morning, Mei Mengzhen received a call from Mei Yinan. The content was nothing but their inability to get by anymore. They couldn’t simply go out and have fun while her brother was in such a state, could they? It was important to save face—so Mei Mengzhen had to return to Xincheng. She couldn’t just ignore her brother because Mei Yinan couldn’t make it. Compared to relatives, a brother was more important.
The National Day fell on a Wednesday that year, so they had to attend classes on the weekend. But thanks to the shift system, they could take leave from the 29th until the 5th of the following month.
After coordinating with Fan Tianyu in advance, he decided to come pick up Mei Mengzhen the afternoon of the 28th.
On Sunday afternoon, Mei Mengzhen had only one class, which unfortunately wouldn’t end until 6 p.m. She didn’t want the hassle of coming and going, so she brought her luggage to class and then went straight to the school gate after class to take the bus home.
There would be someone waiting to pick her up at home, and Fan Tianhua would be joining them on the trip back.
As for Liang Xiao, it wasn’t that they didn’t want to take her along. After her home was demolished, she didn’t buy a house in their area. Even Liang Xiao herself didn’t know where her family’s new home was, so where could she return to?
Moreover, Liang Qianjin was definitely going to repeat the year, but she couldn’t stand the embarrassment of staying at the same school, so she pestered her mother to transfer her to another high school in Xincheng.
Xincheng City, being a county town, only had two high schools, which weren’t close to each other. With the area being redeveloped, Liang’s mother simply bought a house there, and the family moved. However, not a single member bothered to inform Liang Xiao of their new address.
Liang Qianjin’s plan to repeat her senior year meant she had to start early, and the Liang Family had moved there well in advance to prepare. Even though they knew Liang Xiao was staying at Mei Mengzhen’s house and had come a few times to cause trouble, they never shared their new address with Liang Xiao.
Liang Xiao didn’t ask about it, but she could tell that Liang Xiao was heartbroken.
Therefore, for this National Day holiday, it wasn’t that Liang Xiao didn’t want to go home; it was that they simply couldn’t take her with them, and with the Mei Family having so many issues, it was even less likely to include Liang Xiao in the holiday plans.
Not minding at all, Liang Xiao said to her, "When you come back, you have to tell me all about what happened. This is just the material I need for my novel, Zhenzhen."
Mei Mengzhen gave a wry smile and left without making any promises.