Chapter 11: The Zhou Family is Poor

The class she was teaching was filled with more than half of the school’s underachievers. She felt that even if she worked herself to the point of coughing up blood, there was an eighty percent chance the bonus wouldn't end up in her pocket. However, the principal had promised that as long as there was even the slightest improvement, she would receive a bonus. Although it wasn't much, even a mosquito has meat on it, and it would help her scrape by for a little longer.

She patted her pockets, fished out a few bills, and placed them on the table.

"Liangliang, Mom won't be back for lunch today. Here is the money for your meal."

Liu Liang didn't answer, but Zhou Lanping knew she had heard. She hurriedly grabbed her bag and rushed off toward the school.

Only after she had left did Liu Liang emerge from her room. She picked up the money and counted it—five yuan, all in one-yuan bills. Perhaps later on, five yuan wouldn't even be enough for a single meal, but right now, with meals costing only a few cents, it was enough to cover a typical student's food expenses for an entire week.

She clutched the five yuan tightly in her hand and tucked it away.

She opened the door again and stepped into her room, then opened the wardrobe. It was filled with clothes she had brought back from the Xu family. It had to be said that in an era of such scarcity, the general standard of living for residents wasn't high, but because of their ancestral foundation and being among the first to "dive into the sea" of business, the Xu family’s assets were vast. It was no wonder that in her past life, she had been dazzled by these things. Even when she was treated like a servant or a dog, living under someone else's roof and gasping for breath, she had still wanted to go back.

Yet she hadn't realized that once the glamour faded, while she had indeed obtained these flashy items, she had lost so much more. She had lost her time, her youth, her life, and in the end, her very existence.

She took a deep breath, selected a few high-quality pieces of clothing, and found a snakeskin bag to stuff them into.

Then, she hoisted the bag onto her shoulder and walked out while the sky was still dim.

"She isn't going to dismantle the Lanping house, is she?" A neighbor poked his head out of his house. "Such a big bag of stuff, I wonder what's inside. Could it be money?"

*Smack!* The person who spoke was slapped across the face by his own mother.

"Money? What money? In that family, what money could there be? The money was all taken by that heartless Liu Zongguang. If they really had money, would that little girl still be desperate to return to the Xu family?"

"That's true." The man rubbed his head where he’d been slapped. "The Zhou family is dirt poor now. But Teacher Zhou is unlucky, and that girl of hers is unlucky too. She was living the good life as a young lady, and now she's been knocked back to her original form." Still, if it were him, he wouldn't want that either.

"What's wrong with Teacher Zhou?" The old woman slapped her son again. "You're a snob who looks down on the poor. Heaven is watching. If that girl has a conscience and knows her mother is a good, hardworking woman, her life won't be too bad in the future. Teacher Zhou is a teacher, after all; can the child she raised be that bad? But if she’s heartless, abandoning her own mother and refusing to support her, she’ll be struck by divine retribution sooner or later."

She spoke without thinking, but if Liu Liang had been there, she would have taken it to heart.

At that moment, Liu Liang, who had already suffered her own divine retribution, was already at the bus station, carrying the snakeskin bag.

"Little girl, why are you carrying such a big bag?" The conductor, seeing Liu Liang carrying a bag that was almost taller than she was, immediately reached out to help.

"No need, sister, it's heavy."

Liu Liang held onto the bag tightly, not daring to let go; it really was quite heavy.

The conductor, a woman in her thirties, felt her heart melt to the heavens at being called "sister." She insisted on helping Liu Liang with the bag, but when she tried to lift it—

The bag didn't even budge.

She assumed her posture must have been wrong. Not believing it, she used both hands. This time she managed to lift it, but even using all her strength, the bag remained heavy; she couldn't lift it properly.

It was embarrassing.

"Sister, let me do it. We country folk have plenty of strength."

Liu Liang lifted the snakeskin bag with one hand and walked onto the bus.

The conductor rubbed her wrist. It seemed she was just too weak; such a small girl was stronger than her.

Liu Liang placed the snakeskin bag at the back of the bus and sat in the very last seat. The fare wasn't expensive; two yuan was enough to get her to her destination.

Before long, all sorts of people had boarded the bus. A woman sat down next to her, holding a child. The child looked listless and not very well.

Is he sick?

You could tell just by looking at his complexion.

The woman noticed Liu Liang glancing over and gave an embarrassed smile. "The child is sick; he might be a bit noisy."

"It's fine." Liu Liang smiled back at the woman, though the curve of her lips felt stiff. She touched the corner of her mouth. She had actually forgotten how long it had been since she had smiled sincerely. Not to mention her past life, she hadn't spent a single day happy. Perhaps the only time she was truly happy was when she returned to Zhou Lanping's side. Back then, she was just like this—willful, unrestrained, and prone to temper tantrums, playing the part of the young lady to the fullest, even more like a "real" young lady than Xu Jiajia.

But later, she lived humbly and with low self-esteem. There was no one who smiled at her sincerely, and no one she wanted to smile at sincerely.

The woman coaxed the child in her arms. The child's face was flushed, and even his crying was hoarse. The conductor kindly poured some hot water for the woman to feed the child.

People in these times were simple and pure, without the twisted minds of the future. If an old person fell on the ground, people dared to help them up, and there wasn't so much infidelity within or outside of marriage. People were still simply adorable.

The woman carefully fed the child water. After a few sips, the child stopped fussing. His little face was rosy, his eyelashes were very long, but his little mouth was very dry, unlike the plump, red lips of other children.

Suddenly, Liu Liang felt a warmth in her hand. She looked down and saw the child reaching out a tiny hand—small, soft, and warm.

She gently touched the little hand, and instinctively, the child gripped her finger. It was just like when she was in the hospital, every time the pain became unbearable, she would grab her mother's hand. She was afraid that if she fell asleep, she wouldn't wake up; she was afraid that if she closed her eyes, she would never open them again. So she needed warmth, she needed the strength that could pull her back from hell.