"Please, give me a way to live," Meng Jingfen pleaded, holding dearly to the satisfying marriage she had finally encountered.
Zhao Sulan stepped aside and laughed, "How else can I give you a way to live? If I really wanted to cut off your lifeline, I could just report you, or tell Meng Lingmei some things."
Meng Jingfen had nothing to say in response. She slumped to the ground and sat there for a while before suddenly having an idea, "Please, could you ask for less money? You have no idea how miserable I am right now. I’ve got a serious stomach illness. Although it’s not immediately fatal, I need a lot of money for medicine. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have lost so much weight so quickly... Please, otherwise I’ll be left with no choice but death."
Zhao Sulan had lost quite a bit of weight herself recently, and the slimming soup from Medicinal Food Hall was very effective—many were using it. She had seen quite a few people who had suddenly lost weight, so when she saw Meng Jingfen’s drastic weight loss, it hadn’t raised any suspicion.
Recalling how she had been injured not long ago and how there were no Medicinal Food Halls or slimming soup in Hai City, it seemed likely that Meng Jingfen could be ill. Hesitating for a moment, Zhao Sulan said, "In that case, I won’t ask for too much. Initially, I was planning to ask you for fifty thousand, but now twenty thousand will do. Otherwise, you can choose to give nothing at all. I’ll go to Meng Lingmei first and then the police station after that."
Meng Jingfen really wanted to haggle on the spot.
But the atmosphere wasn’t right.
Thinking that she could bargain in a few days, she nodded in compliance, "Then I’ll go and figure something out right away."
Zhao Sulan sneered, "You only have three days, understand?"
"Understood," Meng Jingfen replied while rising to her feet and rubbing her knees.
Zhao Sulan felt a bit of pity for her, but then she remembered how ruthless Meng Jingfen was, scheming against the villagers and even her own cousin—she wasn’t worthy of pity.
She might as well mind her own business.
Of course, she had never intended to take Meng Jingfen’s money from the beginning.
She didn’t dare to commit any more illegal acts, not wanting to be looked down upon by Meng Chuyue and Zhao Xiaoxin.
She merely wanted to use this method to stir up trouble within the Meng family.
After seeing Meng Jingfen off, she began writing anonymous letters to the victims she had learned about, including Meng Lingmei.
Writing with her left hand took quite a bit of effort, especially the addresses on the envelopes, which had to be neat—so much so that it took her over a day to write these letters.
The letters would take some time to be delivered.
By the time the recipients got them and started looking for evidence, Zhao Sulan had plenty of time.
Although Meng Jingfen wanted to renege on her promise, at such a critical time, she dared not make a single mistake. In three days she hadn’t managed to gather the full twenty thousand yuan, but she still brought the ten thousand yuan she had borrowed from Meng Jinhua through Meng Yinhua, along with her own two thousand-plus yuan, and proactively sought out Zhao Sulan.
She only hoped that after Zhao Sulan accepted more than ten thousand yuan, if not satisfied, at least she would extend the deadline.
But to her surprise, upon seeing her, Zhao Sulan said, "I didn’t expect you to have lost even more weight today. Forget it, I was asking you for money a few days ago because someone had borrowed over a hundred thousand and refused to pay back. I was desperate. But they had a change of heart yesterday and repaid over fifty thousand. Since I’m not short of money now, let’s forget about your money for the time being. Ah, you better hurry up and leave before I change my mind."
Meng Jingfen did not expect things to end this way.
Thrilled inside, she praised herself for being so clever in feigning illness.
Although Zhao Sulan’s words implied that she would still come to her for money if she faced any trouble in the future, as long as Meng Jingfen could get married smoothly, everything else was negotiable.
Others in the countryside didn’t receive Zhao Sulan’s anonymous letters so quickly, but Meng Lingmei got hers in just one day.
She immediately called her parents to discuss what to do.
Meng Qinghua was always fierce and had long been envious that Meng Jinhua had inherited Meng Wanhua’s legacy and house. Upon hearing the news, her anger was mixed with glee.
She thought to herself, this was the perfect opportunity to snatch Meng Jinhua’s house.