Chapter 449: They Refused Her Business
In the Capital City that year, the streets were empty, and every shop’s business was rapidly declining. She wasn’t worried about the shop because everyone was in the same boat, but she was concerned about her family’s health. In her past life, she was of lowly fate, and someone close to her had indeed contracted SARS and was quarantined. In fact, she herself was quarantined too. After running a fever for a few days, it turned out to be nothing more than a cold. However, she was quarantined for over ten days until her fever subsided and was only then released. But the person from her dormitory was quarantined for dozens of days, and then was no more. And she, sharing the same dormitory, was isolated every day - no work, no pay.
The clothing factory was also in recession at the time, and wages weren’t properly disbursed. She waited two months to get her wage, which wasn’t even warm in her hand before Wang Dali’s mother took it away. If she didn’t hand it over, she’d be beaten to death...
What she remembered most vividly was the way she lived that year: salted vegetables with steamed buns for the first half of the month, and for the latter half, just steamed buns and plain water.
This was the reason her memory of the SARS epidemic was so profound. It was the hardest time in her life, when she couldn’t get enough food.
Conversely, after SARS was over, Wang Dali had died due to debt. That day, drinking too much, he fell directly into a ditch. His time spent at home each week could be counted on one hand, so no one cared until they found his body, already stiff.
Wang Dali’s mother, who lost her only son, blamed Qin Xiangnuan for being a jinx that brought ruin upon the Wang Family. Whenever she thought of her son, she would beat and scold Qin Xiangnuan. Until the creditors came to the door, claiming Wang Dali had left behind a debt of tens of thousands of dollars. Frightened, Wang Dali’s mother’s legs went weak. Where would she find so much money? Wang Dali never made any. Back then, the farmland was all tended by Qin Xiangnuan. Later, since Qin Xiangnuan had some experience in garment manufacturing, she went to the clothing factory and finally had some income. The whole family relied on this money to get by. Now with a sudden debt of over ten thousand dollars, there was no way Wang Dali’s mother could pay it off by herself. She pushed all the responsibility onto Qin Xiangnuan.
Qin Xiangnuan kept paying off this debt for years, and even when it was finally settled, Wang Dali’s mother would arrive on time every payday, claiming it was her rightful duty to support them. Having entered the doors of the Wang Family, alive she belonged to them and dead she would be their ghost.
Only later did she find out that when Wang Dali died, their marital relationship was automatically dissolved, and the debt was solely his own - there was no legal obligation. Had she wanted to leave, she could have walked away without a care, regardless of Wang Dali’s parents’ fate.
However, she didn’t know, so she lived her whole life for others, repaying debts for others.
At this moment, a large hand was placed on her forehead. She opened her eyes and met the man’s worried, gentle gaze.