"Two years ago, after the family's debt was paid off, your father finally started giving me one yuan a month for pocket money. In these two years, I've saved up everything I have, and it's not even ten yuan in total."
Zhang Minzhen gave a bitter smile. 'My salary is forty to fifty yuan a month, and I often cover shifts for others to earn some extra overtime. I also use my breaks to bring home cardboard boxes to glue. I work myself to the bone every month and can make seventy to eighty, sometimes even eighty to ninety yuan. But none of the money ever reaches my hands; Gu Lihui takes it all. And I was foolish enough to believe that he was being harsh on me and our daughter because he wanted to save all that money for her...'
"Mom, let's not go to Grandma's house yet. Let's go home first," Gu Nuan Nuan said, stopping in her tracks, her eyes glinting.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Minzhen asked, also stopping and looking at her daughter curiously.
"Mom, I know where Dad hides his money." Gu Nuan Nuan beckoned for her mother to lean down and whispered mysteriously in her ear, "Let's hurry home, take the money, and hide it somewhere safe. That way, even if you two get a divorce, we won't have to worry about not having any money."
"How do you know where your dad hides his money?" Zhang Minzhen's heart leaped. She instinctively glanced around before lowering her head and whispering to her daughter.
"I saw Dad hiding it once," Gu Nuan Nuan whispered back with a smile. 'This is another great benefit of being reborn.'
"He was hiding money and he let you see him?" Zhang Minzhen chuckled helplessly, clearly not believing her.
"It's true! I was hiding at the time, so Dad didn't see me." Gu Nuan Nuan grinned triumphantly. She looked up at her mother expectantly, afraid she might have a moment of weakness and refuse.
"Alright, I'll listen to you. We'll go home first. It's a good chance to pack some of your dad's clothes, pants, his toothbrush, a cup, and that sort of thing to take to the hospital," Zhang Minzhen said, ruffling her daughter's hair, having already come up with an excuse for them to go back.
'Hmph, Gu Lihui said he had no money? Fine, I'll just clean out his stash. Then he'll have to suffer in silence.'
Zhang Minzhen thought viciously, but she couldn't help but laugh out loud.
After laughing, she was a bit stunned at herself for being in the mood to laugh at all, considering everything Gu Lihui had done.
"Then let's go, quickly. Mom, listen, when we find the money, give it to me. I'll hide it, I promise no one will ever find it." Gu Nuan Nuan was suddenly overjoyed, pulling her mother along a few quick steps as she spoke.
"Okay, you can hide it. I won't even ask where, I'll just pretend I don't know anything." Zhang Minzhen thought her daughter was afraid she would get soft-hearted again, buckle under pressure, and "contribute" the money to the Gu family, so she agreed without hesitation.
"It's a deal," Gu Nuan Nuan said, tilting her head and smiling at her mother.
"Yes, it's a deal." At her core, Zhang Minzhen had always been one to dote on her child, and seeing Gu Nuan Nuan so happy made her happy as well.
Walking along while holding her mother's hand, the corners of Gu Nuan Nuan's mouth turned up. What she didn't tell her mother was that the reason she could guarantee no one would find the money was because she had a small, secret space about the size of a safe.
Thinking of that ridiculously small, mysterious space, which for some reason had a single, useless blade of grass growing in it, Gu Nuan Nuan couldn't help but think of Grandpa Gu.
At the thought of Grandpa Gu, a complex look flashed in her eyes. 'I'll probably be seeing him again soon, won't I?' He was a man with a terrible temper. He seemed fine most of the time, but if anyone provoked him or made him unhappy, he would lash out violently without a single word, no matter who they were.
Even Gu Nuan Nuan's grandmother, a woman skilled at throwing tantrums, was terrified of Grandpa Gu. Because Grandpa Gu wouldn't waste time arguing with you. If your tantrum crossed his threshold of tolerance and he grew impatient, he'd cut the nonsense and solve the problem with his fists.
Her most vivid memory was of one year when she was, as usual, required to spend the New Year at her grandparents' house. During the New Year's Eve dinner, her grandmother accidentally knocked over Grandpa Gu's liquor bottle. Without a second word, he ruthlessly grabbed her by the hair and, on the biggest holiday of the year, beat her so badly she couldn't get out of bed for the entire first month of the new year.
She still remembered that as Grandpa Gu was beating her grandmother, her scumbag father, his mistress-turned-stepmother, the two siblings who had since taken the Gu name—Gu Jiayi and Gu Jiabao—as well as her second uncle, second aunt, and cousin didn't even dare to make a peep. They just stood by and watched it happen.
Looking back on it later, she realized that Grandpa Gu's beatings were probably a regular occurrence. Why else would everyone have been so terrified?
It wasn't surprising she hadn't known before. Originally, her scumbag father and her mother didn't live with her grandparents at all. They lived in a small house provided by her mother's work unit, only going back to visit the old folks every once in a while.
Since they didn't live together, and because her mother had a gentle temperament, she never had a chance to provoke Grandpa Gu. And when they used to visit her grandparents' house, her grandmother probably didn't want to lose face in front of her two daughters-in-law, so before the age of ten, Nuannuan had never actually witnessed her grandfather hitting anyone.
At most, she had only found his constantly stern expression terrifying, which was why as a child, she had wanted nothing more than to take a detour whenever she saw him.
But things were different after her scumbag dad remarried his mistress.
Having nowhere to live after remarrying, her scumbag father had no choice but to move in with his parents, bringing along his new wife and the two children he had fathered.
Then there was her second uncle. He'd had a decent job in the city that his wife's family, the Yue Family, had found for him. But he couldn't resist "eating the grass near his own nest" and started an affair with a new girl at his workplace.
As luck would have it, the girl turned out to be the distant niece of his boss.
Tragically, Gu Nuan Nuan's second uncle had just been nominated for a permanent position, thanks to his father-in-law pulling some strings, and in another two years, he could have even gotten housing from his work unit. Instead, he was sent packing with his tail between his legs and had no choice but to return to this small county town in his hometown to live with his parents and older brother.
Fortunately, Gu Nuan Nuan's second aunt was a decent woman and didn't file for divorce over it, instead following him back with their child. They were back, but as for whether there was any resentment between the couple because of it, Gu Nuan Nuan couldn't be bothered to care.
You could say the Gu family's real luck was that they had moved to the county town early on, back when you could still get land approved for building. The house they built on three adjacent plots was more than big enough. Even though it was only two stories, it was spacious enough for everyone to live comfortably.
But no matter how big the house was, with two brothers living with their parents, daily life was inevitably filled with all sorts of friction, big and small. On top of that, they had a paternal aunt who feared nothing more than a world at peace. She loved to stir up trouble, especially since her husband's family had a bit of influence...
'Heh. The Gu Family was "lively" enough in her past life. In this life, if she got the chance, she certainly wouldn't forget to add some fuel to the fire. If the Gu Family didn't get even more "lively," how could she ever justify all the pain they had put her and her mother through in their last life?'
Gu Nuan Nuan grew excited just thinking about it, feeling the urge to rub her hands together in anticipation.
"What are you thinking about that's making you so happy?" Zhang Minzhen had been secretly watching her daughter. Seeing the expressions on her little face shift from a frown, to a smile, to a fierce look, and then to a wide grin, she finally couldn't hold back her curiosity and asked.