A few stayed behind to continue searching for the money, after all, having borrowed so much, they had to find it.
The small leader took the household register from Old Madam Zhou’s hands, "Let’s go, we need to find that guy."
Not an important figure, he had already forgotten the other person’s name, he lifted his head to look at Zhou Juan.
"The household register should be with his parents, he can’t get it." Since she had already ratted out the person, Zhou Juan was even more determined to bring Zheng Weijian along.
The household register, "a minor issue, we’ll go straight to his parents."
"You know where his parents work, right?" The small leader’s tone was polite, but his expression said it all.
Zhou Juan nodded non-stop, "I know, I know."
And so Zhou Juan’s figure disappeared from everyone’s sight, Zhang Shifen pulled Zhou Lina, ready to go upstairs.
After taking a few steps, she paused, "Right, that house just needs a bit of cleaning before we can move in, we should be able to finish moving this weekend, right?"
"Perfect, we can clean up a little on Sunday afternoon, then Xiao Na can move back in."
"We can’t continue living here, who knows what other troubles will arise." Zhang Shifen had a look of retrospective fear.
"Exactly, I need to move out. These past few days, I’ve really caused Grandpa Zhou and the others to lose face."
"Otherwise, why would Grandma Zhou, knowing that Zhou Juan stole the money, listen to Zhou Juan’s false accusations against me and not clarify?"
"They just want me to learn a lesson. Dangerous, really too dangerous."
Old Master Zhou and his wife, hearing that they needed to give up the house even sooner, nearly spat out blood in distress, wondering how things had come to this.
Last night, Zhou Hong rushed over, suggesting that it was going to be difficult to recover the house, as the other party was unyielding, especially since they had agreed to rent the house until the end of the year, and the rent had been collected and spent already.
Zhou Hong meant to discuss again with Zhou Lina and the others, to see if they could delay until the end of the year.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have even thought of making a move against Zhou Lina. Once she was no longer here, would they still think about taking the house back?
What to do? The old couple was truly at a loss for tears, not knowing how to bring up the matter to their eldest grandson.
"Is it that urgent?" Old Zhou looked pitifully at Zhang Shifen, putting on a display of misery.
Unfortunately, this tactic was no longer effective in softening Zhang Shifen’s heart, "The steel factory released a notice today, they are hiring."
"The steel factory is hiring?" The neighbors, who were still lingering around, became excited upon hearing this.
If they didn’t go to the countryside as educated youth, their only other options were to stay in the city without a household registration or to find a job.
But now, many units were not hiring unless it was to replace someone, and for those with many children, the opportunities were simply not enough.
Now that the steel factory was hiring, how could they not be excited? If possible, they wanted their own children to secure a position.
"Xiao Zhang, what are the requirements?"
"High school graduation."
"Urban household registration." This was to prevent those who had gone to the countryside as educated youth and met the requirements from applying.
"Can’t factory employees’ families apply?" Some units had internal recruitment, they just weren’t sure if it was the same this time.
"There’s both internal and external recruitment." Zhang Shifen didn’t specify, "The notice will be posted this afternoon."
"Mom and Dad, please let Zhou Hong know, if Xiao Na gets the job, she will have to start work immediately, that would be more convenient."
After finishing speaking, Zhang Shifen pulled Zhou Lina away, "We might as well go to the canteen to eat, there’s no food at home."
The last of the food at home had been eaten that morning, one could truly say there was nothing left at home.
These couple of days would be perfect for the whole family to eat at the canteen. As for the food situation of Zhou Dajiang and his sons, that was their own problem.
Watching as the mother and daughter left, Old Madam Zhou curled her lips, "That money we..."
She thought now that the person was gone, maybe they didn’t need to give the money anymore.
Old Zhou was all kinds of frustrated; he could feel Zhang Shifen’s indifference towards them. When she used to greet them, at least she did it with enthusiasm, but now, it was merely perfunctory.
"Didn’t you hear the child calling us Grandpa Zhou and Grandma Zhou?" He hadn’t noticed at first, but now he was slowly realizing it.
Although they are still grandparents, with the addition of a surname, it signifies a distant relationship. It indeed had become estranged in the end.
Is there a problem with that? Old Madam Zhou didn’t understand.
Looking at his bewildered wife, Old Zhou sighed helplessly. It was indeed an unfortunate family situation to have such a daughter-in-law.
Thankfully, the two grandsons weren’t as foolish as her; otherwise, the Zhou family would really be in trouble.
"How did they used to address you and how do they address you now?" Old Zhou asked irritably.
Old Madam Zhou wasn’t a fool; it was just that too many things had happened today, and she hadn’t caught onto them until now.
Once Old Zhou pointed it out, she suddenly understood, including Zhang Shifen’s attitude towards them.
"Have they completely estranged themselves from us?" Old Madam Zhou was very angry, "We haven’t even settled accounts with them, mother and daughter, yet they are estranging themselves from us."
Old Zhou watched Old Madam Zhou, who was still speaking loudly, and couldn’t help but give her an unimpressed eyeroll. Although the others were now in the room searching for things, who knows if they were listening with ears pricked up.
"You must have heard that the steel factory is recruiting, with internal job openings. You also know about Zhou Lina’s academic performance, right?"
Old Madam Zhou, of course, knew how Zhou Lina performed, "You mean she, she can pass the exam this time?"
"Unless there is an accident, otherwise, I really can’t see how she wouldn’t pass."
"With the incident this time, the news will spread that our Zhou family took advantage of them, poor mother and daughter."
"If they were to divorce, could the lives of the mother and daughter be bad?"
"But think about your second son again. With two sons, and the eldest soon to be married, will he be able to find a wife?"
"I don’t know what Zhou Yong’s wife is like, but if she’s good, then that’s fine. If she’s not good, do you think Zhou Dajiang’s future life will be easy?"
Even if Old Zhou was inclined towards Zhou Dahai, he would not completely disregard Zhou Dajiang.
"But Zhang Shifen is unlikely to remarry," said Old Madam Zhou, not easily appeased. A remarriage wouldn’t be easy either for Zhou Dajiang, nor for Zhang Shifen.
"Zhang Shifen might have remarried in the past because Zhou Lina was young. Now that the child is about to start working, would she remarry?"
"In a few years, she could help Zhou Lina with the kids."
"Who do you think will have a harder life?"
Old Zhou took a breath. Although he really didn’t want to admit it, he couldn’t deny that among the two daughters-in-law, Zhang Shifen was the one who could handle things.
For instance, dealing with people, going to the hospital for treatment, were all managed by Zhang Shifen, whereas Yang Zhaodi was utterly useless in such matters.
The old master couldn’t help sighing, thinking that the days ahead wouldn’t just be hard for Zhou Dajiang; in fact, he wouldn’t have it easy either.
Scared by what her husband said, Old Madam Zhou’s face turned pale, "That that..."
"Forget it. In the future, if someone whispers in your ear about how Zhang Shifen or Zhou Lina are doing, it has nothing to do with you."
"Our lives are pretty good now; don’t worry about so many things."
"No matter what Zhou Dahai and Zhou Dajiang do, could they really ignore us?"
"Even if they ignore us, we have our pensions. Can our lives really be that bad?"
Old Madam Zhou admitted that he was right, "But about Xiao Hong’s side, your family moved so hastily..."
"That’s their business," the old master answered after some thought.