Lin Yang was dissatisfied and questioned why her sister would support an outsider. How could she marry a man who couldn't even come up with eight thousand?
Lu Chenyuan had never imagined that one day he would be reduced to being commanded and looked down upon by a high school student for not having money.
Lin Guoping took a step back, "I'm not in a hurry for it, no money can be earned. Give me the eight thousand by the end of the year, and don't say your father-in-law is being unreasonable."
Lu Chenyuan didn't respond, clearly not wanting to continue this transaction of selling his daughter for eight thousand.
"We don't have the money, don't wait," Lin Yan said thoroughly rotten, unwilling to let Lu Chenyuan contribute anything more because of her.
Eight thousand, where was he to get that from?
Lin Yan felt extremely embarrassed. After all, they hadn't even discussed marriage and now they were already talking about a dowry. How ugly did they want to appear?
Lin Yang mocked from the side, "You claim you have nothing even before you've earned it. How can you be so lazy? Don't you know about going out to work, instead of stubbornly sticking to your tiny plot of land?"
Lin Yang was resentful and found nowhere to vent until now, finally finding an outlet to redirect his anger.
Lu Chenyuan looked at Lin Yang, their eyes met, and Lu Chenyuan's gaze made Lin Yang flinch.
Over the years, countless women had tried various schemes to become his woman.
This kind of tactic, like a chaotic punch that kills the master.
Seeing the faces of Lin Yan's family, Lu Chenyuan didn't think much of it. He'd seen darker and more despicable people; this small-mindedness was barely a frog at the bottom of the well, only looking at immediate small benefits.
"Just focus on your studies, don't whine. The money will be given."
Lu Chenyuan saw right through Lin Yan's brother from just one glance.
No matter how much he studied, he wouldn't amount to much in the future.
Lin Yan clenched her fists in anger. If she had known her father was like this, she wouldn't have brought anyone home. She regretted her soft ears and soft heart, afraid that he would get beaten again.
Lu Chenyuan had already made a promise, and Lin Guoping couldn't feel happy about it. He wouldn't have asked if Zhou Ping hadn't pressed him.
Lin Yang's face showed fear and he didn't say much more, but still uneasily instructed, "Take good care of my sister. If you dare to bully her, I will fight you to the death."
Lu Chenyuan was amused by Lin Yang's courageous words, "How many lives do you have to wager?"
His voice was low, yet carried an undeniable authority that made one unconsciously feel an uncomfortable tension.
Lin Yan walked away with Lu Chenyuan. Compared to the last time she was driven out of the house, this time she didn't look back, not a bit sentimental.
"I will earn the eight thousand myself," Lin Yan said as she briskly stepped forward, stretched out her thin arms, blocking Lu Chenyuan.
Lu Chenyuan couldn't understand what this act was about. He indifferently said, "Going round and round, isn't it still about marrying you, using the eight thousand as a dowry, making the most of the opportunity?"
Lu Chenyuan really disliked this roundabout way.
Misunderstood, Lin Yan explained gently and warmly: "I didn't know, I didn't know they would ask you for money, I'm not forcing you to marry me." Lin Yan felt somewhat disheartened, she really was lousy.
They say it's easy for a woman to chase a man, but with Lu Chenyuan it was like a barrier of casserole — he didn't fancy her at all. Thinking of him today with Qiao Yu, she wondered if Lu Chenyuan liked mature women.
In the end, Lu Chenyuan's deep black eyes were filled with helplessness: "We are not suitable, let's stop here, I won't mention it anymore, do as you wish."
Lin Yan's emotions were up and down, still immersed in Lu Chenyuan helping her out of a tight spot, only for him to douse her with cold water with a few simple sentences.
She suddenly wondered if Lu Chenyuan had taken Qiao Yu's words to heart.
Qiao Yu had said she had given herself to Xiang Qingyuan, and here she was, relentlessly sticking to him, asking to marry, without any depth.
Lu Chenyuan must have thought she was a woman open to all men, unable to resist any man,
Zhou Ping counted the money she had received today and was very dissatisfied with the wedding gifts, which were much less than what she had spent over the years.
She held a flat red envelope in her hand and cursed, "Who the hell sent this, stuffing just twenty into it, he really had the nerve to do that."
Lin Guoping was puzzled, "Was it sent by the Lu family? Forget it, it's not easy for them, they don't have much money, doing the best they could is enough."
Lin Yang's mouth twitched, "He didn't even bring twenty; he came empty-handed, pity my sister, getting married like it's a poverty alleviation project, and my second sister is so beautiful."
Zhou Ping complained, "It would have been better to marry her off to Zhang the Blind's son, Jia'ao is doing well now, I hear he makes a thousand just from gifts in one night."
Lin Guoping disbelieved, "He's not even an officer, who would send him gifts? Money isn't that easy to earn."
Lin Yang looked down on his father's backwardness, his vision was just so limited, lacking insight.
"Why not? The guy's a streamer, I hear he quite likes my sister, and even with a limp leg, he thinks about how to make money, now look at him, a big man barely scraping by, a life with no quality."
Zhou Ping was both proud and boastful, "Yangyang, you shouldn't talk like that, not everyone can be as excellent and promising as you are; you should keep away from that kind of person in the future."
Lin Yan bolted the door as soon as she entered the room, barricading the entrance, and the thoughts she had been suppressing all the way resurfaced, pondering how to start with Lu Chenyuan.
"Don't listen to Qiao Yu, I haven't given myself to Xiang Qingyuan, I've never been with a man, if you don't believe me, look."
With his back to Lin Yan, Lu Chenyuan's figure stiffened, wondering what Lin Yan was up to now, his deep pupils flickering with an inscrutable light,
Lu Chenyuan turned around, he had thought Lin Yan would undress and let him see for himself.
Adults' thoughts were not so simple.
Lin Yan pointed to a cinnabar mole on her wrist, "Look, I still have my mica spot."
This was something Lin Yan had seen in a TV drama, where it was said that a woman's cinnabar mole would disappear if she lost her chastity.
She believed it.
Lu Chenyuan gave a bitter smile, his smile one of helplessness, "Have you ever been to school?"
He didn't understand Lin Yan, except knowing that she couldn't read big words.
Lin Yan faced the puzzlement in the depths of Lu Chenyuan's eyes.
"I have, I even got into a university in Hai City."
Lu Chenyuan's lips curled up slowly, not sure which university it was, given that the admission threshold must be pretty low.
Lu Chenyuan grasped Lin Yan's wrist, looking at the tiny cinnabar mole, rubbing his thumb over it.
As their skin touched, feeling Lu Chenyuan's warmth, Lin Yan's heart raced crazily again, hoping his tenderness would continue.
"This isn't a mica spot; it's pencil lead stuck in there."
Lin Yan's eyes dimmed, how could this be.
What Lu Chenyuan said made sense, Lin Yan remembered that time during school, during that bullying incident, one of the girls had stabbed her wrist with a pencil.
She was too scared then, too hurt, she didn't realize the pencil lead had broken off inside; she naïvely and foolishly thought it was a sign of a woman's maturity.
Lin Yan withdrew her wrist, no longer finding any proof to confirm her innocence.