CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 58: KICKED OUT

In the afternoon, Jean Ellison was playing with Jesse Ellison in the living room. Jesse was squatting on the carpet nearby, playing with toys, while she sat on the sofa beside her.

The vibration of the phone startled her back to reality.

The screen showed the note "Housing Manager Shaw".

Jean’s eyes lit up as she got up and moved aside, quickly swiping to answer the call.

"Hello, Manager Shaw?"

"Miss Ellison."

The voice of Shaw the broker carried an obvious sense of difficulty and a hint of impatience.

"I’m really sorry, those few co-rental school district homes you were interested in... I talked to the landlords, but once they heard you have a four-year-old child and could only offer that price... they all shook their heads."

"With your budget and requirements, it’s really tough in the current market."

Jean gripped her phone tight, her knuckles turning white: "Manager Shaw, is there really no room for negotiation? Even if the house is a bit old or small, as long as it aligns with Meridian or First Primary..."

"Miss Ellison, it’s not that I don’t want to help you."

Shaw’s voice raised a bit, showing helplessness.

"Now, houses with school districts, especially ones that can be co-rented, are highly contested. In your case... landlords fear trouble, noise from children, and damage to things."

"With this price... sigh, I’m really powerless. Maybe, you could try asking other brokers?"

"Perhaps someone else has more suitable listings? That’s it, I have other clients here, I’ll hang up now."

"Manager Shaw, wait..."

Jean hadn’t finished speaking when only the sound of the busy tone remained in the receiver.

Beep beep beep.

She leaned against the wall, the phone slipping from her powerless hand, screen downwards, making a soft thud.

Jesse, unaware, sat at the dining table, focused on coloring in a drawing book with colored markers.

She drew a crooked house, with two stick figures holding hands beside it, one taller, one shorter, both with big smiles on their faces.

Engrossed in her drawing, her little mouth slightly pouted, she was completely absorbed in her own world.

"Mom?"

Jesse seemed to sense something was off, lifting her head in confusion to look at the sitting Jean.

"Why are you sitting on the ground?"

Jean came back to her senses, meeting her daughter’s clear, pure eyes.

She couldn’t crumble.

She blinked forcefully, trying to suppress the sourness, pulling out an extremely forced smile.

"Mom’s fine, just... a bit tired."

At that moment, a series of rude knocking sounds erupted, not knocks, more like pounding.

Bam bam bam!

The force was so strong it made the old wooden doorframe buzz.

Jesse jumped in fright, dropping the marker she held, instinctively inching closer to Jean.

Jean felt a pang in her heart, a chill ran up from her feet.

She struggled to stand, quickly walking to the door, looking outside through the blurry peephole. Landlord Aunt Wright’s sharp face, twisted in anger, was pressed against the peephole.

Jean’s heart sank to the bottom.

She opened the door.

"Oh, Miss Ellison."

Landlord Aunt’s voice was sharp, her body nearly blocking the entire door frame, arms crossed, spittle nearly spraying onto Jean’s face.

"Got some nerve, huh? Looking for a place outside? Think this dump isn’t good enough for you? Planning to move out, huh?"

Jean’s face turned pale. She must’ve heard the phone call earlier from outside.

"Aunt Wright, you’ve misunderstood. I was just..."

"Misunderstood what? Pfft!"

Aunt Wright didn’t give her a chance to explain, her voice rising another eight degrees.

"I heard it loud and clear, you said to the broker my place isn’t good enough, want to move out. Fine, wings grew hard, let me tell you, planning to move out, huh?"

"Fine! Move right now, don’t dawdle until the end of the month. I have no shortage of renters, many people are eager for it."

"Pack your stuff right now, get out."

"End of the month? Humph! The end of this month is in three days, within these three days, move completely."

"I won’t want next month’s rent from you, and don’t even think of getting back the deposit, it’s compensation for the loss of finding new tenants."

She bombarded with a string of rapid-fire words, each one making Jean dizzy.

Three days?

To move out within three days?

Deposit not refunded?

Next month’s rent not needed?

This is essentially being swept out the door.

"Aunt, you can’t do this."

Jean was anxious, her voice carrying a slight tremble.

"The contract hasn’t expired yet, and I..."

"Contract? That piece of crappy paper is useless."

Landlord Aunt rudely interrupted her, her finger almost poking Jean’s nose.

"This is my property, I can rent it to whoever I want, don’t want to rent to you anymore."

"Right now, three days, not a minute longer, after three days I’ll come to collect the house, if you haven’t gotten out I’ll call people to throw all your stuff out, change the lock too, don’t believe it, try it!"

She gave Jean a vicious glare, then scanned Jesse hiding behind Jean, face pale from fright.

She huffed heavily, turning her plump body and "thunk thunk thunk" stomped downstairs.

The door was still open, the cold air from the hallway pouring in, chilling Jean’s body.

She stood frozen at the doorway, her mind blank.

Three days? Within three days, where could she take Jesse?

She leaned on the doorframe, barely supporting her shaky body.

"Mom..."

Jesse timidly tugged at her coat hem, voice tinged with sobs.

"That lady is so scary... is she going to kick us out? Where are we going to go?"

Jean lowered her head, seeing tears welling in her daughter’s terrified big eyes, like a frightened fawn.

Her heart felt like an invisible hand was squeezing it tightly, hurting so much she couldn’t breathe.

She crouched down, pulling Jesse tightly into her arms, using all her strength.

"Don’t be afraid, Jesse, don’t be afraid..."

Her voice choked, her chin pressing against her daughter’s soft hair.

"Mom is here, Mom will figure something out, we won’t be without a place to stay, Mom promises..."

At that moment, the phone in her pocket vibrated again.

Jean’s body tensed suddenly.

Who could it be now? The landlord? The broker?

With trembling hands, she pulled out the phone.

The screen showed a familiar fixed number, the area code was local.

She hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath, and pressed the answer key.

"Hello, hello?"

Her voice was terribly hoarse.

"Hello, is this Miss Jean Ellison?"

The call from the other end was from a young female voice, her tone gentle and professional.

"Yes, it’s me."

Jean’s heart leapt to her throat.

"This is the inpatient department at the city children’s hospital."

"To inform you, your daughter Jesse Ellison’s surgery has been scheduled."

"The chief surgeon will be Director Thorne. You need to bring your child’s documents and all previous examination reports to the first-floor inpatient department to handle hospital admission procedures before 8:30 tomorrow morning."

"The surgery is scheduled for the first case the day after tomorrow morning. Please let the child have a light diet tonight, and no food or water after ten in the evening. Tomorrow morning don’t let her eat or drink either."

"Did you understand?"

Surgery... inpatient...