Zhao Tianzhi waved her hands in annoyance at the Zhao family and Lin Youdong, "Brother Zhao, Lin Youdong, you guys head back first. We didn’t sleep at all last night and need some rest."
Once these people left, she could properly deal with Meng Chuyue.
Zhao Aihua was someone concerned with saving face.
Now that Meng Chuyue already had someone else, he, albeit reluctantly, didn’t plan to cling on.
Upon hearing Zhao Tianzhi’s words, he immediately left with a dark expression, easily sent away.
But Mr. and Mrs. Zhao were far from willing to let things go.
If it weren’t for Zhao Tianzhi specially coming to their house yesterday and saying that Meng Wanhua had passed away, claiming she could make the decision to engage Meng Chuyue to Zhao Aihua, why would they have come?
They didn’t have such thick skin.
Even though Zhao Tianzhi didn’t mean to harm them deliberately, the fact that they were humiliated and lost face was undeniable.
Any reasonable person would’ve made amends, apologizing and begging for forgiveness.
But Zhao Tianzhi, on the contrary, felt no guilt and even found them bothersome.
No, they couldn’t swallow such a loss in silence; it wasn’t worth it.
Mrs. Zhao was also quite aggressive, and she immediately put her hands on her hips, "Zhao Tianzhi, we can leave, but you need to compensate us first for the travel and the monetary gift. The cost of hiring a car here was paid for by Aihua and was one hundred yuan. The train fare back is fifty yuan. The monetary gift was five hundred minus twenty, which is four hundred eighty, totaling six hundred thirty yuan—quickly, hand it over."
Zhao Tianzhi said sheepishly, "Since when does one have to return a monetary gift after giving it out?"
Mrs. Zhao, "Heh... If it hadn’t been for your deception, how would we have followed the in-law’s standards and sent five hundred yuan? At most, we would have only given thirty yuan."
Mr. Zhao initially felt it wasn’t good to argue right after Meng Wanhua’s funeral, but with Mrs. Zhao having picked a fight, he had no choice but to join in, stiff-necked.
He said in a stern voice, "Exactly, if it weren’t for your promise yesterday to engage Meng Chuyue to our Aihua, why would we come here to make a fool of ourselves?
Seeing that you were unaware of Meng Chuyue already being taken, we won’t hold it against you, but you must pay back our travel expenses and the monetary gift, otherwise, I will go to the police station and report you for fraud."
Mr. and Mrs. Zhao spoke clearly, and Zhao Tianzhi’s face immediately turned red with embarrassment.
But she had already considered the five hundred yuan as her own; how could she bear to part with it?
She shamelessly looked towards Meng Chuyue, "Chuyue, the monetary gift Uncle Zhao gave, I’ve almost spent in these past two days, you give them the money."
Meng Chuyue’s face turned cold, "Five hundred... almost spent? Tell me, how did you spend it?"
To lie without a decent excuse; she was here for Meng Wanhua’s funeral, where would she have had the chance to spend the money?
Zhao Tianzhi was at a loss for words...
Meng Chuyue didn’t pursue the matter further. She turned to Meng Yinhua, "Uncle, where’s the account book managed by Uncle Wang?"
"Oh, right here. I was planning to go over it with you in a bit."
Meng Yinhua quickly retrieved his leather wallet from his son, Meng Yu, and took out a white ledger and more than three thousand yuan in cash.
Meng Chuyue found the entry for the Zhao family’s gift in the book and handed over eight hundred yuan to Meng Yinhua, "Uncle, please pay Uncle Zhao back for me."
Meng Chuyue unexpectedly gave an extra two hundred, causing Mr. and Mrs. Zhao to feel even more embarrassed.
And even more regretful.
Meng Chuyue was a good child; it was a pity that she was not fated to be part of their family.
Zhao Aihua had been standing outside the door the whole time.
He didn’t support his parents verbally or interfere.
Secretly, he harbored a faint hope: what if after this commotion, Meng Chuyue was willing to marry him?
When Meng Chuyue gave the money, he had no idea she would give as much as eight hundred. When his parents stepped outside and told him, he paused, then pulled out two hundred and handed it to his mother, "We can’t take this much. Here’s two hundred, please return it."