Sheila's House, in the yard.
Eddie looked back helplessly, sighed, and then turned to Monica again. "Monica, I will be responsible for my child."
As he spoke, Eddie took out his phone. "Let's exchange phone numbers. From now on, regarding anything related to the child—like going to the hospital, or if you need me to buy something for you—call me anytime."
"I will take care of it for you. You can't count on Frank."
Thinking of Frank, that scumbag, taking care of his child... Eddie couldn't imagine it; he only felt terrified.
Hearing this, Monica was displeased. "Hey! Don't badmouth Frank! Who do you think you are!"
Hearing these words.
"..." Eddie was speechless and unable to comprehend.
Frank smiled smugly, opened his mouth, and spoke. "So, Eddie, what about my compensation?"
Eddie genuinely hated Frank... Previously, when Frank openly moved into his house and fxxked his wife, he didn't hate him this much...
Now, he really had the impulse to beat the hell out of this son of a bitch, Frank!
But Monica was obviously on Frank's side, and it concerned his own child. Eddie held back. Then, after a two-second silence, he spoke to Frank through gritted teeth, "I don't have ten thousand dollars. Even if you kill me, I don't have it."
Hearing this, Frank frowned.
The fact was, Frank actually had a rough idea of Eddie's situation.
Eddie's income was fixed. It was just that little money every month, and then that little money had to cover the family's living expenses... He could definitely save a little every month, but only a little.
That's how it is for poor salarymen...
Looking at Eddie, Frank looked down on salarymen even more. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "How much can you give?"
This entered the bargaining process.
Eddie did have some savings, but on one hand, the savings weren't much, and on the other hand, Monica was pregnant now, and there would be many places to spend money next...
After thinking it over repeatedly, Eddie replied, "One thousand dollars!"
Good lord, this bargaining cut straight to the artery!
Hearing this, Frank didn't hesitate for a moment. "What kind of joke are you playing? Stop dreaming! Am I that easy to dismiss?"
The two continued to bargain with plenty of hostility.
After tossing back and forth for several minutes, finally, the two reached an agreement.
"Five thousand dollars, paid monthly, fully paid off by the day Monica gives birth!" Eddie said decisively. "Agree if you agree, forget it if you don't!"
Frank weighed it silently for a short while and nodded. "Deal! Bring this month's money to my house later!"
Eddie nodded, not wanting to say another half-word to Frank, and turned to Monica again. "Monica, let's exchange phone numbers."
The problem arose.
The current Monica didn't have a phone. She had one before, but sold it long ago.
"I don't have a phone," Monica shook her head and replied.
"..." Eddie really didn't know what to say. An adult in this era without even a phone. Sigh. "I'll go buy one for you later."
Hearing this, Monica was quite happy and grinned. "Then thank you in advance."
"You're welcome," Eddie replied.
With this, the discussion was over.
Frank couldn't be bothered to stay here any longer and beckoned Monica to leave.
Monica listened to Frank very much, nodded, and left with Frank.
Eddie watched them for a while, sighed deeply, and turned back toward the house, preparing to talk to Karen.
No matter what, Karen was his daughter. No matter how angry he was, no matter how bad their relationship was, now that Karen was pregnant, he, as a father, still had to deal with it.
This was his responsibility as a father.
Interestingly, most poor people like to stress family and kinship... while most rich people are very decisive when cutting ties.
Very interesting, isn't it?
---
On the walk home.
Frank was very happy, so happy that he didn't even feel how painful his injuries were.
"Monica," Frank took out his cigarettes, lit one, and smiled at Monica. "Now, our retirement is settled. Awesome!"
Monica didn't understand. "What do you mean?"
Frank smiled wickedly. "Eddie has worked at ITC for over ten years; he has a pension! We keep this child of his, and in the future, he has to give us money every month... won't we be able to retire then?"
Monica understood. She froze slightly and didn't make a sound for a moment.
Monica was indeed quite lacking in bottom lines and was also shameless, but compared to Frank, she was a bit better... And currently, Monica's mental state was fairly normal.
In short.
Monica felt doing this was a bit excessive. She thought for a moment and replied, "Frank, getting some money is enough. We can't blackmail him for life."
"Doing that isn't appropriate."
As the most shameless of the shameless, hearing this, Frank instantly raised an eyebrow. "Not appropriate? Monica, do you know how much it costs to raise a kid?"
"Oh right, you don't know!"
"You ran away and left all those little brats for me to raise. Do you know how much money and energy I spent to raise those brats?"
"If we don't blackmail Eddie, tell me, how are we going to raise this kid?"
"Tell me!"
Frank spoke louder and louder, until the last sentence was practically an interrogation.
Monica couldn't handle interrogation. She exploded on the spot and roared back even louder, "What do you mean?"
"You know very well why I ran away!"
"You forced me! If not for you, how would I have left those children behind!"
"And, how much money did you spend? How much energy? You're talking out of your ass! Those kids raised themselves, you didn't do anything at all!"
"..."
Just like that, in the blink of an eye.
Frank and Monica, who were just colluding and being affectionate a moment ago, fell out and started a huge quarrel.
They argued for a minute or two.
"Fxxk you!" Monica waved her arms and cursed loudly. After cursing, she turned around and walked toward Sheila's house. "Roll back yourself! I'm going to live with Eddie!"
"Fxxk you!" Frank, who was a professional at bullying his own, didn't stop her at all. He cursed back and walked home on his own.
---
Sheila's House.
Unsurprisingly, Eddie's efforts failed.
Eddie and Karen had a fierce quarrel.
At this moment, Eddie was being yelled at and driven out by both Karen and Sheila together.
Eddie had a temper too. His temper flared up, and unable to stand this crazy mother-daughter pair, he strode out.
Walking out of the house.
"Crazy!"
"Like mother like daughter, all crazy!"
Eddie cursed angrily. After cursing, he turned around and saw Monica trotting toward him. He was somewhat surprised and confused, then went to meet her.
"Monica, what's wrong?" Eddie asked in confusion.
Monica was very unhappy and wanted to fxxk. So, she looked between Eddie's legs.