How could Li Anquan possibly be so easily fooled? If he didn't cough up the money today, what of it, even if it meant making an absolute enemy of He Yuzhu!
Zhang Ming's expression wasn't looking too great either; he felt that what Li Anquan said made sense.
Still, they couldn't just let He Yuzhu fabricate things out of thin air!
Deciding to change his approach, he turned his gaze to Qin Huairu standing nearby.
"What about you? Are you willing to cough up the one hundred-odd yuan? If you aren't, then you're coming with us!"
Qin Huairu was genuinely terrified. A labor farm was no picnic; the people sent there for reform were never properly fed or clothed, and they could lose their lives at any moment!
She had worked so hard to become a city resident just to enjoy a good life—she wasn't about to get dragged off to a labor farm for this.
She looked imploringly at Mrs. Jia, who was still sitting on the ground.
"Mom, you need to advance me the one hundred yuan to compensate them! Otherwise, I'm really going to be hauled away, and I won't be able to take over Dongxu's job either. Besides, Bang Geng, Xiaodang, and Huaihua are all still so young!"
Hearing that they were after her money, Mrs. Jia flatly refused. She threw a tantrum right there on the ground like a toddler, kicking her legs away frantically.
"I have no money! Where would I get money? That's Dongxu's compensation payout, and I'm saving it for my coffin! Go figure it out yourself. You're the jinx who hounded my son to his death! And now you're after my money too? Let me tell you, keep dreaming!"
Qin Huairu felt utterly wretched. She tried reasoning with Mrs. Jia, but the old woman just sat there on the ground as if she couldn't hear a word.
He Yuzhu was starting to panic a little too, though he didn't have any great solutions either.
He figured what he'd done wasn't all that serious—back when he beat Xu Damao up so badly the man had to be hospitalized, nothing had happened to him then!
Seeing Mrs. Jia throwing her fit, Zhang Ming didn't step in to stop her. Instead, he waved a hand to his subordinate officers.
"Let's move out! Take He Yuzhu and Qin Huairu back with us, straight to the labor farm! Qin Huairu, you can choose to take your youngest child with you, but the rest of the kids stay behind!"
Mrs. Jia had assumed that as long as she threw a tantrum and refused to pay, the police couldn't do a thing to her family!
Instead, seeing that the police genuinely intended to take her family members away, she suddenly panicked.
Scrambling up from the ground, she rushed forward and grabbed hold of Zhang Ming's leg.
"Officer, you can't take them away! Aren't you just trying to drive us orphans and widows to our graves?"
"My son just passed away, and if Qin Huairu leaves, our household won't have a single cent of income left. Are you trying to starve us to death?"
"And the children are all so young—with no parents, how do you expect them to survive?"
Captain Zhang Ming glared down at Mrs. Jia and retorted without a shred of sympathy.
"Then why don't you just pay the compensation? Qin Huairu will earn the money back sooner or later once she starts working. Just pay it and be done with it! Since you refuse to pay, this is the only way we can handle it."
Mrs. Jia's heart descended into a bottomless struggle. She couldn't bear to part with that money.
Yet if Qin Huairu got dragged off, who was going to take over the factory job? She still intended to enjoy her retirement and have Qin Huairu wait on her hand and foot!
He Yuzhu was thoroughly terrified by this point. Looking around in desperation, his eyes landed on Yi Zhonghai.
"First Elder, could you lend me two hundred yuan first? I'll pay you back bit by bit once I draw my wages, alright?"
It was common knowledge that Yi Zhonghai had money!
With his monthly salary of ninety-nine yuan and only himself and Aunt Tan at home, he was bound to have stashed away a tidy sum!
Qin Huairu's eyes rolled as a thought struck her, and she chimed in toward Yi Zhonghai as well. "First Elder, could you lend me one hundred yuan too? I'll pay you back gradually once I start working and earning a salary."
One or two hundred yuan was by no means a small sum, and Yi Zhonghai hesitated.
However, reflecting on the fact that he and Aunt Tan were growing older by the day, and that the time might soon come when they would have to rely on He Yuzhu and Qin Huairu to provide for their old age, he nodded after a brief moment of internal conflict.
He went back inside his house, fetched three hundred yuan, and handed it directly to Zhang Ming!
Both He Yuzhu and Qin Huairu breathed heavy sighs of relief. As for the matter of an IOU, neither of them brought it up again.
To preserve his reputation and keep their good will, Yi Zhonghai acted as though the debt didn't exist either.
And so those three hundred yuan successfully found their way into Li Anquan's hands.
Li Anquan turned back to Zhang Ming with fresh gratitude. "Thank you, Uncle Officer. Thank you so much for upholding justice for me."
With a touch of emotion, Zhang Ming ruffled Li Anquan's hair.
"Don't worry. If they ever try to bully you again, just come find me, and we'll settle the old debts and new ones all at once!"
"Since you aren't pressing charges anymore, I'll let them go. Remember to come find me at the Public Security Bureau if anything else comes up."
The matter was finally settled, and Mrs. Jia let out a breath of relief. But the moment she remembered that Qin Huairu would have to pay back Yi Zhonghai out of her earnings, annoyance flared up in her chest.
So Mrs. Jia immediately laid down her demands on the spot.
"Qin Huairu, when you go to work, you're required to hand over five yuan to me every month, and the rest goes toward household expenses. As for the money you owe Yi Zhonghai, you figure that out yourself—don't drag our Jia family down with it!"
Having had her say, Mrs. Jia brushed the dust off the seat of her trousers and retreated inside her house.
The police officers led the others away, while Li Anquan went back into his own home.
Qin Huairu let out a helpless sigh, an expression of profound grievance on her face as she fixed her seductive eyes straight upon the thoroughly exasperated He Yuzhu.
"Zhuzi, what do you think I should do? With my mother-in-law like this, plus the one hundred yuan I owe First Elder, how on earth am I supposed to pay it back?"
He Yuzhu's irritation with Li Anquan was itching at his skin, but hearing about Qin Huairu's plight, he instantly thumped his chest.
"Sister Qin, leave the First Elder's debt to me. I'll help you pay it back!"
Moisture welled up in Qin Huairu's eyes, and she reached out to clasp He Yuzhu's hand. "Zhuzi, you're always the one who's good to Sister Qin, the only one who cares!"
"Thank you so much. Between looking after three kids, going to work, and having my mother-in-law demand a cut every month, there's never a single coin left over. I honestly don't know how I'm going to manage."
He Yuzhu felt a surge of excitement, basking in the warmth of her hand as he made a sweeping promise. "Don't you worry, Sister Qin! With me looking out for you from now on, I know things are hard for you widows and orphans. Since I work in the Cafeteria, I can start bringing home leftover meals from work so you can save a bit on food!"
Inwardly, Qin Huairu was blooming with delight—truth be told, she hadn't the slightest intention of paying Yi Zhonghai back anyway!
Besides, she could tell Mrs. Jia that she was diligently paying off the First Elder while secretly pocketing a portion for herself, netting a neat hundred-yuan profit right there.
She was even planning to go have a word with Li Anquan later and put on a pitiful act!
In her eyes, Li Anquan was just a kid; if she played her cards right, she might just trick him into handing that hundred yuan back, bringing her total haul to two hundred.
As for He Yuzhu offering to help her pay off the debt, her eyes darted rapidly as a new scheme formed in her mind.
"Zhuzi, I really don't have a cent to my name. Could we do it this way? If you could give me ten yuan every month, I'll be able to pay First Elder back in ten months, and once I'm back on my feet, I'll return it to you. Do you think you could keep this between us and not mention it to First Elder? I'd like to hold onto a bit of dignity!"
As she spoke, Qin Huairu leaned in closer to He Yuzhu, the warm breath from her lips brushing against his cheek and causing the longtime bachelor to blush furiously.
Without a second thought, he nodded in agreement. "I understand your hardship, Sister Qin. From now on, I'll give you ten yuan every month!"
Having reeled He Yuzhu in, Qin Huairu felt quite pleased with herself. As night began to fall and after finishing her evening meal, she crept stealthily toward the front courtyard on tiptoe.
She wanted to have another chat with Li Anquan!