“That bastard Gao Tie Liang was pulling tricks. The court had granted you ownership of the house and him, the front door. He has initially agreed to sell it to you for 500 yuan but when he heard from god-knows-who that we are opening a supermarket, he then increased the price to 2000 yuan. We just managed to save up enough money for the supermarket, where do we find the extra 1500 yuan?”
Second Aunt was furious. Even though they were divorced, they still had two children together, his actions were way too cruel.
Hearing his name made Eldest Aunt angry, “Gao Tie Liang has no humanity. We had agreed on the day of the transaction but he ended up changing his mind and insisted on 2000 yuan. Does he think his old house was worth that much? Is it made of gold or silver? He was sure that no matter how high the price was, we would buy it. We were already prepared to open the business today and he is pulling this now, he’s messed up such a big thing!”
Grandma Su tapped her cigar pipe strongly against the ashtray on the coffee table. She didn’t even finish the remaining half of it as she was so anxious. She and her third son did not have much savings, the 200 yuan she contributed was not enough.
At the mention of this messy situation, Youngest Aunt wiped her tears again, “Gao Tie Liang is forcing us to a dead end. In order to open this supermarket, not only have the three of us used our savings but I have also borrowed 2000 yuan from Eldest Brother while Second Brother lent us 500 yuan and Third Brother lent us 200 yuan. Who else can she borrow money from, they must make sure that they could return the money by the end of the year, otherwise they would have to starve!” Third Aunt got even more anxious at the thought. She thought that she could withstand the pressure from the divorce, but she did not expect that there would be difficulty opening the supermarket.
Su Mian did not say anything the whole time; she understood the whole situation. Things couldn’t go on like this and she had to think of a way to solve it. Youngest Aunt could not spend all her money, her two children needed to eat and go to school.
“Xiao Mian, say something, you are educated, unlike us who only graduated elementary school. Think of an idea to help your aunt,” Eldest Aunt felt like they could only depend on Su Mian now.
Su Mian circled the ground twice, she did have 4000 yuan, but if she just lent it to Youngest Aunt, it would indeed be as they mentioned. They would have to return the money by the end of the year and would starve.
She suddenly thought of what Dean Li said and her eyes brightened, “Dear aunts, I do have an idea but I don’t know if it would work.”
Youngest Aunt immediately stopped crying and grabbed Su Mian’s wrist as though she was their saviour, “Xiao Mian, please tell us quickly.”
Second Aunt couldn’t sit still and stood up from her chair, “Aiya, Xiao Mian, it’s an emergency, just tell us if you have something.”
Su Jian Hai did not make a sound, his expression indicated that he was prepared to listen to his daughter’s idea; she was no longer the little girl who followed him around!
“Dear aunts, so we still need 1500 yuan for the opening and I calculated it, deducting your own savings, you managed to borrow 2700 yuan from the others, plus 1500 yuan is 4200 yuan.”
“Yes Xiao Mian, but we already know that,” even the introverted Youngest Uncle was anxious. He thought that what she said was redundant since everyone knew that.
Su Mian’s second uncle was more knowledgeable but even he didn’t know what Su Mian was implying, “Xiao Mian, stop teasing us and tell us already!”
