Chapter 6: I Can Help You
She was getting older, not particularly attractive, rather slow-witted, and not too fond of talking to people, so good fortune naturally never knocked on her door.
The wages at the clothing factory weren’t high, less than 1000 yuan a month. After paying the rent and taking care of her own food and drinks, the money she managed to save had to be set aside every month for her former in-laws.
Although her in-laws were hateful, they were pitiable as well. They spent their lives raising just that one son, who had some family assets in the early years but managed to squander them all on eating, drinking, and gambling, until his death left them with nothing but a heap of bad debts. The elderly couple couldn’t pay them off, and in the end, the burden fell on her. The creditors had turned their attention to her, as they knew well that they wouldn’t be able to squeeze ten cents out of anyone else. Fine, she would pay; she would pay.
What difference did it make how she lived her life? She would repay those debts, even if it was that man who racked them up through gambling; she would still pay them off.
She continued her unchanged, monotonous life, simply waiting for payday every month.
Yet when she got her pay, she didn’t feel any joy. Indeed, before she even returned, she saw an old lady with white hair already waiting beneath the building she rented. Upon seeing Qin Xiangnuan approaching, the old lady’s face contorted with anxious folds.
"It’s time to pay this month’s money."
She reached out her hand to Qin Xiangnuan, demanding the money as if it were rightfully her own.
Qin Xiangnuan took out the wages she had just received, kept a few bills for herself, and then handed the rest to the old lady.