"Can you watch where you're going when you walk?"
Ruo Chi's eyes welled with tears from the pain. He felt as if his coccyx was about to break.
"S-sorry," Hao Zhibin apologized out of breath.
He quickly squatted down to help pick up the toys that had scattered all over the place. There were picture books and a plush bear.
It took him quite a while to fill a paper bag.
"Finished, finished, it's all over!"
Ruo Chi covered his head with both hands and looked at the middle of the road in despair.
"That was a limited - edition doll that the Third Miss specifically told me to buy for her. It was the last set when I went to buy it just now!"
Now, the doll had been crushed into pieces by the passing wheels, and its wreckage was still lying in the middle of the road, being further trampled on.
"Com-comrade, I've packed them up..."
Hao Zhibin stupidly handed the paper bag to him, feeling extremely guilty.
"Who's your comrade? You're the comrade!"
Ruo Chi glared at him angrily, "I'm straight and I don't like men! Don't call me comrade. You bumped into me and now you're slandering me! Give it here."
He angrily snatched the bag, complaining silently in his heart.
It took Hao Zhibin quite a while to react to what he said.
Having stayed in the countryside for a long time, he was not very familiar with the urban vocabulary.
"Sorry, sorry, sir. I'm a rough - speaking person. Please don't be angry. I didn't mean it."
Ruo Chi snorted, "If you did it on purpose, that would be terrible! Say, how much can you compensate me? That doll just now wasn't cheap."
"I've only been in Yancheng for less than half a year... All my money has gone to pay the rent."
Hao Zhibin frowned sorrowfully. He suddenly regretted arguing with his uncle and saying so many angry words to make him mad.
Now it was good. He lost his job, couldn't afford next month's rent, and now he had broken this rich man's thing and couldn't compensate for it.
"Are you trying to renege on me?"
He had been called out by the Second Master early in the morning to buy things for the Third Miss. Now he was just waiting to take the things back to the Eastern Suburb Mansion. Now it was good. The specially - ordered doll was gone. He was bound to be scolded.
"I really don't mean that! Do I look like someone with money in my pocket?"
Hao Zhibin lost his pride and sighed dejectedly.
"Or you can just call someone to arrest me. Going to jail is better than going back to the countryside to farm. I really don't have any money on me."
Ruo Chi was a bit unhappy seeing him act so recklessly.
"Why are you such a... "
Ring, ring, ring. The phone in his pocket rang.
"Second Master, I'll be back right away!"
Bo Jingyu frowned, obviously a bit unhappy, "Hurry up."
"Okay, okay!"
After hanging up the phone, Ruo Chi didn't want to argue with him anymore.
"What are you standing there for? Take the things back to the car."
Hao Zhibin stared blankly at his back and then trotted to catch up.
In Longjing Apartment, Shen Shiyu was having a tasteless breakfast.
"Aunt Liang? Aunt Liang!"
Housekeeper Liang rushed out of the kitchen in a hurry, looking blank.
"What's the matter, Miss?"
"Why does this oatmeal taste so bad? Didn't you add milk?!"
"Oh, Miss. With our family's current situation, we have to save on everything. Where do we have extra money to buy milk?"
She hesitated and whispered, "You still haven't paid me my salary from last month. I'm living so frugally myself."
Shen Shiyu's temper flared up and she shouted, "What did you say!"
"Have the guts to say it again!"
"Alright, alright," Yang Wan came out of the bathroom with a facial mask on, "It's just some food expenses. The director transferred the consolation money to my card yesterday. I'll settle her salary later."
"I'll also give the food expenses for the second half of the year. Make the breakfast better. Do you hear me, Liang?" she glared with rolled - eyes.
"Absolutely no problem, Madam! I'll go buy the ingredients right away!"
Housekeeper Liang's eyes lit up happily.
Shen Shiyu glared at her back, "Money - grubbing thing."
"Mom, come over and have breakfast quickly. It will get cold soon."
"Forget it. During the two months I stayed in the First Young Master's mansion, I ate this kind of thing every day. Now I feel sick just looking at it."
Yang Wan returned to her former charming and idle state, "You said, the First Young Master saved us again. Is he going to squeeze benefits from us?"
"We've already given him the company. What other benefits can he squeeze?"
Shen Shiyu didn't feel like eating anymore after hearing what she said.
She wanted to drink cream of mushroom soup and eat buttery croissants baked to crispness, not this dry - and - not - so - thin oatmeal.
"He can't do anything to me now," she said smugly, waving her phone, "Wen Jinrui and I are good girlfriends now. We've added each other's contact information. Relying on her, we can make a comeback."
Yang Wan was so excited that she wanted to kiss her, "Oh, my good daughter. How are you so amazing? You're really mom's good baby!"
"Mom! You still have a facial mask on your face!"
Ding - dong, ding - dong. The doorbell of the apartment rang.
Yang Wan was annoyed by the doorbell, "Liang, open the door!"
Shen Shiyu rolled her eyes, "Mom, she's gone shopping for groceries."
"Oh, right. How could I forget about that?"
She cursed and walked quickly to open the door, "It's really inconvenient with fewer servants. I even have to come and open the door myself. When we make a comeback, we must buy back our apartment first!"
After opening the door, Yang Wan froze on the spot.
Panic, excitement, fear, and shock all flashed across her face.
"What, aren't you happy to see me?"
Shen Yuliang walked in on his own, with a smile always on his face.
"D - Dad?" Shen Shiyu was also shocked.
"Seeing you two mother and daughter, it seems you're not very welcome to my coming?"
He sat on the sofa, putting his feet on the table.
He looked so smug and slovenly.
His beard was unshaven, his whole body smelled of sweat, his face was dark and oily. He really looked like a refugee who had escaped from the slums.
"Of course not... Yuliang, aren't you recuperating from your injury?"
Yang Wan was a bit scared.
She was afraid that he would dig out the past and use it against them.
She quickly walked in front of Shen Shiyu and protected her behind her.
"Humph, you still know I'm recuperating from my injury?"
Shen Yuliang squinted at her, "Then why didn't you come to see me?"
"I've been lying in plaster with a broken arm and leg. I even had problems eating!"
Shouted at by him, Yang Wan was so scared that she almost screamed.
"We were also helpless! The First Young Master sent people to watch around the hospital. Even if we wanted to, we couldn't!"
Shen Shiyu timidly added, "Yes, Dad. Please understand us. I just pulled Mom back from the gates of hell yesterday. She suffered a lot in Siming's mansion."
"What's going on?"
Shen Yuliang asked in confusion.
During the two months he had been in the hospital, he hardly knew anything about the outside world.
All he did was stare at the ceiling day after day or do rehabilitation training by himself, holding on to the wall in the ward. It was like being in jail.