Chapter 359: Blackmailing the Old Lady
Old Mrs. Zhan had made up her mind. While Zhan Tiehua was at work, she arranged household matters with her eldest granddaughter Zhan Tingting and her great-granddaughter Zhang Ling, and then hurried out.
She took the bus directly to the bus station and bought a ticket back to the county. After arriving at the county bus station, she took a tricycle to Li Yujia's home.
Li Yujia was deceived by the old lady at first. The old lady was very eloquent and said that she was looking for a nanny for a relative's family. But when Li Yujia arrived, she found out that she was going to give birth to a child for someone else.
In order to prevent her sister from dropping out of school and to earn money for her father's medical treatment, she agreed.
When Li Yujia was in the provincial capital, she had food and lodging provided by others, and she didn't have to spend any money. Considering that she was a grown-up girl, Xu Jinfeng took extra care of her and gave her a little more money than agreed.
Although Li Yujia was extremely reluctant to leave her child, she couldn't always live in such a shameful identity.
The transaction was completed, she got the money, and could finally return to her normal life.
She had been away for a year, and the first thing she did after getting the money was to rush home to see how her family was doing.
With the money she brought home, her sister no longer has to worry about tuition fees.
Her father's leg, which was injured at the construction site, has never fully healed. This time she came back with the money and took her father to the hospital to check out his leg and arranged for another surgery.
Although it cannot recover to the state before the injury, it is much better than before and at least it does not affect daily activities.
Li Yujia saw that the money she earned could be put to good use, and kept convincing herself that she did not steal, rob or cheat the money, and it was not shameful.
Besides, her home is so far away from the provincial capital, and there are only a few people who know about it. Not to mention that they will not disclose the matter voluntarily, even if the news gets out, it is impossible for it to spread to her hometown.
As Li Yujia thought about this, her anxious mood, which had originally worried that her secret would be discovered, gradually relaxed.
After she came back, it wouldn't be long before the busy farming season arrived, so she stayed at home to help her parents with the autumn harvest.
After the autumn harvest, the Chinese New Year will come in two or three months. She originally wanted to make money to continue her studies, but after a year of delay and the expenses of her father's medical treatment, she didn't have much left.
Her father had sequelae of his health, and he could still do simple farm work at home, but he could no longer do the heavy work on the construction site, and he could no longer go out to earn money.
She thought that after the New Year, she would go to the city to find a job. It didn't matter whether it was as a nanny or working in a factory, as long as she could make money.
But when the New Year was approaching, uninvited guests came to our house.
When Li Yujia saw the old lady Zhan, she was completely stunned. At the beginning, everyone had agreed that no one would contact each other again, but what did this old lady mean by coming to see her now?
She was worried that old lady Zhan would let the secret slip, so she didn't dare let her into the house. Instead, she took her to a remote place where no one was around.
Facing the cold wind, Li Yujia asked: "You, why did you come to see me?"
Mrs. Zhan smiled and said, "Girl, don't be nervous. I just came to you to catch up..."
Li Yujia didn't know whether she was scared or freezing from the cold air outside, her voice was trembling as she spoke: "What can we reminisce about? Go away and don't disturb my life anymore!"
Old lady Zhan was not willing to leave easily. She looked at Li Yujia with a smile like a smiling tiger: "Girl, you are different when you have money. You speak more confidently! If I were not there, would you still be so confident?"
Li Yujia knew that Old Lady Zhan had come with bad intentions and she was no match for this old fox.
She was about to cry: "You promised not to tell anyone about this. Are you breaking the contract by doing this now?"
Old lady Zhan said with a smile: "Look at you, girl, what are you saying? We know each other after all, I am in trouble now, you can't just ignore me..."
Mrs. Zhan said it so bluntly that Li Yujia was really scared and cried: "Grandma, I, I beg you, please go away quickly and don't embarrass me. I really don't have the ability to help you, and I can't do that kind of thing again.
You must have asked about my family's situation. My father was injured and needed surgery, which was only possible because I got the money. Now I have no money at all..."
Old lady Zhan said, "Look how scared you are. I don't eat people. You are a smart person, you should know why I am here. I am not a black-hearted person, you can just give me two thousand or three thousand for emergency, what do you think?"
Two thousand or three thousand? It would take Li Yujia half a year or even a whole year to earn this amount of money if she went out to work.
The tens of thousands of dollars she received at one time was not a lot, but for her family situation, it was a huge sum of money.
Naturally, Li Yujia was unwilling to give it away so easily.
Seeing that she was unwilling to take the money, Mrs. Zhan threatened, "This money is hush money. If you don't want to give it, that's fine. You can't control what I say in the village, right? If your parents can't hold their heads up in the village, you can't blame me."
Li Yujia didn't expect that this 70-year-old old lady was actually an old rogue, and she was quickly defeated.
But she didn't have that much cash, so after discussing with Mrs. Zhan, she went home to get her passbook and went to the town's credit union with Mrs. Zhan to withdraw money. After some bargaining, Mrs. Zhan finally extorted 2,000 yuan from Li Yujia.
When she received the money, she felt a great sense of accomplishment. Li Yujia was worried that the old rogue Zhan Laotai would go back on her word and repeatedly use her as leverage to extort money, so she asked her to write a receipt and a letter of guarantee for her.
Although Li Yujia was no match for the old fox, Mrs. Zhan, she was no fool. She told Mrs. Zhan clearly that if she came to ask for money again next time, she would fight her to the death.
To be able to get this money was a pleasant surprise for Mrs. Zhan. She had just wanted to give it a try, but she didn't expect it to work.
As for the next time? She really hadn't thought about it. After all, even a rabbit will bite when it's angry. She also understood the situation of Li Yujia's family, and it was indeed difficult. If she tried to squeeze out more money, she might really force Li Yujia to call the police, and then it would be more trouble than gain.
Afterwards, she prepared to do the same thing and go to Zhang Yan's house to find someone.
When she came from the county town, she took a tricycle, which was now parked near Li Yujia's home.
She got in the car and asked the driver to go to Zhang Yan's village. She asked along the way and found Zhang Yan's home.
When she asked about Zhang Yan's whereabouts, the Zhang family was furious.
Zhang Yan's mother and sister-in-law were at home, cursing at Zhang Yan, saying that she was an ungrateful person and had not contacted her family since she left. They also said that they didn't know if she had died outside.
Mrs. Zhan had never expected that Zhang Yan's family would be in such a situation. At that time, her daughter-in-law sent someone to the provincial capital, saying that the two girls were left behind.
Could it be that Zhang Yan disappeared after going to the provincial capital? That shouldn't be the case! Oh, I should have asked that girl surnamed Li just now.
Forget it, it’s already good enough to get this money. I’ll go back to the city and live a peaceful life first. After the New Year, I’ll think of other ways to make money.
She had been out all day, and when she returned to Zhan Tiehua's house it was already evening. When Zhan Tiehua came back from get off work, the two older girls had already prepared dinner and were ready to eat. Only then did Mrs. Zhan open the door and enter the house despite the cold.
Everyone in the room looked at old lady Zhan. Zhan Baoku had no job and thought it was too cold outside, so he stayed in bed all day and only got up when it was time for dinner.
"Mom, where did you go in such a cold day?" Zhan Baoku asked casually.
Old lady Zhan waved her hands and said, "What can I do? We can't rely on your sister's little money to make ends meet, right? Let's eat first, and we'll talk after we're done!"
Zhan Tiehua and Zhan Baoku were confused. Did the old lady go out to look for money?
However, at the dinner table, the adults tacitly did not talk about these things, mainly out of consideration for the children.
Their reputation as a tyrant has long been tarnished. In the past, when the family was prosperous, it would not have been a problem to let the children know about the family's livelihood and even participate in it.
After all, Zhan Dayou had connections throughout the city at that time and could provide them with convenience everywhere. The children in the family would inevitably be exposed to these things in the future.
Things are different now. Not only do they dare not carry out these illegal activities openly, they dare not even mention it anymore, let alone in front of the children, for fear that some child will not be able to keep his mouth shut and sell them out.
After dinner, Zhan Tingting and Zhang Ling cleaned up the dishes. The three children played by themselves, and the three adults closed the door and started to talk business.
Mrs. Zhan didn't hide it and took out a stack of bills from her pocket. Zhan Tiehua and Zhan Baoku stared at her in amazement.
They had seen the world before, and they could carry 3000 to 5000 yuan in their pockets all year round. But now, let alone 3000 to 500 yuan, even 300 to 500 yuan is rare, and 300 to 500 yuan is considered good.
Zhan Baoku picked up the stack of money and put it under his nose to smell it, as if he was feeling the long-lost smell of copper. He grinned and asked, "Mom, where did you go to make money today? You got so much money so quietly, great..."
Old lady Zhan replied: "Last time, didn't your second brother-in-law's sister ask me to find someone who could give birth to a son? Now that the child is born, I went to find the woman who gave birth to the child and asked for some money..."
Zhan Baoku asked naively, "If you ask for it, they will give it to you?"
Old Lady Zhan said, "She's not stupid, how can she give me money for nothing? I said it's hush money. If she doesn't want me to tell anyone about that, she has to pay a little. See, isn't that it?"
After hearing this, Zhan Baoku praised his mother for her ability. Zhan Tiehua frowned as he listened to the incident: "Mom, what you did is illegal. To put it in a serious way, it's called extortion. If you're caught, you'll get a heavy sentence. Don't do this anymore..."
Old lady Zhan curled her lips and said, "She gave the money obediently just because she was afraid that this matter would get out. How dare she tell others? Okay, okay, it's just this time. I'm not stupid. Can I keep catching her alone? Her family is also very poor. If I go again, I might lose money..."