Xiaotao was somewhat surprised when she heard this, her mom was suddenly bringing this up, "Mom, you...."
"My point is, you’ve got to find a capable man, preferably one who can control someone like Liu An. That way, when you divorce him, he wouldn’t dare to do anything to you. But keep this to yourself, don’t let it show. I’ve heard some nasty rumors these past few days about Liu An starting to mess around with money, being extremely indecent. You’re my daughter, he’s so useless, I have to plan for you."
Hu Xiulan had never thought highly of Liu An. If not for the incident that happened between her daughter and Liu An, she wouldn’t have agreed to marry her daughter off to him.
"Mom, it’s not as serious as you say." Xiaotao blinked her eyelashes, that bastard Liu An, while she was out working hard to earn money, he was enjoying himself at home.
"You should learn from Su Xiaofeng, strike quickly once you’re sure. Ye Cheng was such a good man, and she snatched him away just like that."
"Mom, I understand, I’ll pay attention." With her mother supporting the idea of divorce, she definitely needed to spend more thought on attracting the attention of those wealthy bosses.
Su Xiaotao picked up a wealthy male client who was said to be a private mine owner, incredibly rich, but the condition was to go to a hotel, not stay in the shop.
Su Xiaotao was, of course, willing.
After a round of passion, Su Xiaotao began to inquire about the man’s background, "Boss Huang, I heard you own a mine, may I ask where it is?"
"It’s behind Li Family Village."
Upon hearing this, Xiaotao realized it was not far from Lihua Village, "That’s quite a coincidence, I’m from Lihua Village, it’s not far from there."
When Boss Huang heard she was from Lihua Village, he thought of someone, a girl who had swindled him out of thirty thousand yuan, "A girl named Su Xiaofeng, is she also from your village?"
"Boss Huang, how do you know Xiaofeng?" Taozi was surprised that the other party knew Su Xiaofeng. That Su Xiaofeng, her name seemed to crop up everywhere she went.
"Of course, it’s because of money." Boss Huang had been wanting to get that money back, he had even looked for people to trouble Ye Cheng and Su Xiaofeng, to no great effect.
"I’ve always had issues with Xiaofeng, but what exactly happened, why don’t you tell me?" Her heart, however, was somewhat thrilled; it seemed she was about to learn a shocking secret about Su Xiaofeng.
"Her father was injured while working in my mine, and then what do you know, she started demanding an exorbitant compensation. She was also pretty, so I told her I could give her compensation, but only if she spent a night with me, I’d give her thirty thousand yuan."
Xiaotao blinked her eyes furiously, scared of missing the crucial words, "Boss Huang, you didn’t really give her thirty thousand, did you? When her father was injured, she was already not a virgin, definitely not worth thirty thousand, don’t be fooled." By that time, Xiaofeng had already been outed as pregnant and could not possibly be a virgin.
"She was adamant about the compensation, and I appreciated her looks back then, so it was a mutual agreement. Money, to me, is inconsequential; it was all for fun," Boss Huang said, moving closer, "especially with someone like you, I’m exceedingly fond of."
"Stop it, you’re too much." Taozi giggled, "So, you’re saying I can make you happier than Xiaofeng, so are you going to give me thirty thousand too?"
Thirty thousand yuan, she had never touched that much money in her life.
No wonder ever since Guaizi got into trouble, Xiaofeng’s family life seemed to get better and better. It turned out Xiaofeng had taken thirty thousand yuan from Boss Huang.
It was clearly thirty thousand yuan, yet Xiaofeng claimed to me it was only fifteen hundred, spit, truly shameless.
"Her father got hurt while working in the mine, she deserved some compensation, otherwise, we couldn’t have settled the matter. Don’t worry, as long as you’re willing to be with me, I absolutely won’t let you suffer any loss."
"Boss Huang, these are your words, I’ll be with you from now on, solely serving you, how does that sound?" Xiaotao had her own calculations; if Boss Huang was truly willing to look after her, she wouldn’t need to go to work anymore.
As soon as the interior monologue finished, she couldn’t wait to use every trick in the book, all to please the man before her.
It has to be said, Su Xiaotao really had some moves. In just a moment, Boss Huang’s mind was already excited, without a clue, "Mmm, don’t worry, just follow me from now on, and I guarantee you’ll eat and drink well."
"Boss Huang, you’re so kind," Su Xiaotao said in a charmingly whiny voice that was just irresistible.
"Boss Huang, you really gave Xiaofeng thirty thousand, but why did I hear Xiaofeng say the mine only compensated her fifteen hundred? Something’s not adding up there." For Xiaotao, this issue was a big deal; it had to be cleared up.
Once she got this straight, she would definitely mock Xiaofeng properly next time they met.
"Of course she has no face," Boss Huang grunted, "She’s embarrassed to say it, after all, it’s thirty thousand. For her dad’s little injury, it wouldn’t fetch thirty thousand anywhere, don’t you think?"
These past few days, He Ximei felt that everyone was looking at her strangely, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint what was off, so she asked Guaizi, "Guaizi, have you noticed? Lately, everyone seems to look at us weirdly. Nothing’s happened in our family, has it?"
That kind of look, it was like when Xiaofeng had first gotten into trouble, when nobody knew whose child she was carrying; there was always some strange glances from behind, with villagers mocking her openly and gossiping behind her back.
Now, the feeling was quite similar to back then.
"What’s so strange? You must be seeing things," Guaizi, as a man with less attention to detail compared to a woman, naturally didn’t notice these things.
"Talking to you is a waste of time." He Ximei, upon hearing Guaizi’s words, felt a strong sense of repulsion. Aside from working, it would be odd if he noticed these nuances.
Nevermind, if there really was something, someone would definitely come forward to tell her. With nothing to hide in their family, they had nothing to fear.
As always, she went to Ye Cheng’s house to lay out the radishes in the courtyard for sun drying and happened to run into Zhang Chunying on the way.
Seeing her, Zhang Chunying quietly pulled her aside, "Fat woman, I heard your family’s Guaizi got thirty thousand for his injury from the mine, did he?"
"Where did you hear that? Thirty thousand, no way. We only got fifteen hundred," He Ximei denied as soon as she heard the other’s words.
This could only be known by herself, Guaizi, and Xiaofeng; the villagers couldn’t know, unless Guaizi had talked too much when he was drunk.
Upon hearing He Ximei’s denial, Zhang Chunying smiled knowingly, "No worries, I was just asking casually. Your family’s Xiaofeng really has some guts, first starting a factory, then running one at home. We all know about your family’s financial situation."
The implication was clear: running a factory required a lot of money, and with their family’s conditions, Xiaofeng surely couldn’t provide the funds herself.
He Ximei was no fool. She clearly understood the meaning behind Zhang Chunying’s words. No wonder the villagers’ glances seemed strange these days; it was because of this.
"Where did you hear about my family’s Guaizi getting thirty thousand? I didn’t even know about it." The most likely scenario was that someone had found out and was now using it as gossip.
"Heard it from Xiaotao’s mother." This wasn’t a secret in the village, "She said that Xiaotao just happened to know the mine owner, Boss Huang, and he let slip something extra, mentioning he initially gave Xiaofeng thirty thousand..." Zhang Chunying trailed off, her gaze beginning to shift, too embarrassed to continue.
"What else did Boss Huang say?" He Ximei tried to suppress her emotions, knowing that the matter could be quite significant.
"He said that in exchange for sleeping with him once, he’d give Xiaofeng thirty thousand as compensation." Zhang Chunying glanced at He Ximei, her look a mix of uncertainty and apprehension.
After all, such things should not be spread carelessly...