Who would have known that upon hearing this, the man instantly became irate, abruptly drew out a glistening sharp knife from his pocket, and bellowed, "Si Xiaohui, are you going to pay me back or not? If you don’t pay up, don’t blame me for fighting to death. Which is important to you, money or life? It’s your decision."
"Don’t do anything foolish." Si Xiaohui’s face turned pale with fear. She wanted to scream for help but there wasn’t anyone around. She dared not provoke the man, opting instead to placate him. "Is it just about the money? I will give it to you. I just don’t have any money on me at the moment. Can you give me some time? Can I borrow money to give to you?"
"I’m giving you three days. If you don’t pay me, don’t blame me for being ruthless." The man stared at her and warned, "Don’t play tricks on me. I know where you work, and where you live."
Si Xiaohui was genuinely scared at this point, "Three days is not enough at all, you should give me three months at least."
The money she had stolen had all been spent already. She only had a few yuan left on her. If she didn’t save a little, she wouldn’t even be able to hang on until payday, let alone pay him back.
"I don’t care, three days it is. If you can’t pay me, we shall perish together." The man was resolute, with no inclination for further discussion. He was hell-bent on getting his money.
Seeing the man’s unstable emotions, Si Xiaohui dared not confront him directly. She just followed his words, "Alright, alright, I’ll go borrow it, okay? My brother and sister-in-law are rich, they won’t miss such a small amount of money."
After repeatedly warning Si Xiaohui to not play tricks, the man let her leave.
Si Xiaohui’s back was drenched in cold sweat. She didn’t dare stick around any longer and hurriedly ran back to her rented room. The thought of the man coming after her in three days made her anxious and frustrated.
The next morning, as soon as she arrived at the shop, she contacted Yu Shiya to borrow money. Who would have known that not only did Yu Shiya refuse, she even warned Si Xiaohui to stay honest at work or she’d get fired for causing trouble.
This left Si Xiaohui fuming.
After racking her brain and not finding a way out of it, Si Xiaohui had no choice but to thick-face enough to go to Si Chen. She thought Si Chen would be at work early, so she woke up early. But just as she was reaching the crossroad, she unexpectedly bumped into Si Chen sending his child to school.
After some hesitation, Si Xiaohui came up with an idea. Instead of approaching him, she hid quietly.
After Si Chen had his child off and left, Si Xiaohui concealed herself outside the school. There was a small shop at the school gate - she didn’t believe that Tong Yue wouldn’t come out.
After about two hours, as the recess bell rang, Si Xiaohui finally saw Tong Yue coming out, acting like a child king, leading her friends to buy snacks.
Si Xiaohui successfully stopped Tong Yue at the shop’s doorway. Smiling like a sly fox, she ingratiated herself, "Yueyue, it’s been so long. Have you missed your Aunt?"
Tong Yao rarely mentioned Si Xiaohui in front of the kids. All they knew was that there was some kind of dispute between their parents and their aunt, and that they very seldom interacted. They didn’t know about Si Xiaohui stealing money.
However, Tong Yue instinctively disliked Si Xiaohui, she snorted, "I didn’t miss you. What are you doing here?"
"I missed Yueyue." Si Xiaohui saw the snacks in Tong Yue’s hand and said, "Doesn’t your mommy usually buy you snacks? Why are you eating such unhealthy food here?"
"It’s none of your business."
Tong Yue tried to bypass Si Xiaohui and get to school. However, Si Xiaohui grabbed her.
"Yueyue, don’t go in yet. Let Auntie talk to you for a bit."