CHAPTER 404: CHAPTER 404: STILL ASKING FOR MONEY

On Saturday, she packed her bag ready to head home. The other classmates in her dorm who also come from modest backgrounds were quite envious when they saw Qin Xiangmei getting ready to leave.

"Xiang Mei, you’re going home again?"

"Yes," Qin Xiangmei responded verbally while feeling quite a bit of superiority and pride inside.

"It’s convenient since my family has a house in Capital City that I can go back to on weekends."

How wonderful it must be, her roommate said with a hint of bitterness, "We don’t have anywhere to go on the weekends, but you’re lucky, you can stay at your family’s place. The real estate prices in Capital City are not low at all. By the way, Xiang Mei, where is your family’s house exactly?" A curious classmate asked.

"It’s a small Siheyuan," said Qin Xiangmei modestly, yet inside she was bursting with pride and couldn’t stop the feeling from exploding in her eyes.

A Siheyuan? Hearing this, all the classmates were taken aback.

A Siheyuan was formerly a residence for the nobility during the Qing dynasty, and nowadays owning one is quite expensive, worth tens to hundreds of thousands of yuan.

Hearing these figures made Qin Xiangmei uncomfortable. She wished that Siheyuan was hers. If only Qin Xiangnuan had the capability. With all her supposed abilities, why couldn’t she afford a Siheyuan? She could sell it for a few hundred thousand yuan.

With that kind of money, she could do anything she wished, instead of having to tightly budget her allowance every day.

She clenched her teeth, determined to live a life far above others, not scrimping for every meal, deliberating whether to eat meat or vegetables, and always having to choose the cheapest dish.

She felt immensely indignant.

As she walked out of the school gate, she saw a male student walking past and couldn’t help but give a second glance before quickly averting her eyes as if she were a thief. This person, she knew him, she had heard about him from her roommate.

His name was Song Wang, from a well-known family in Capital City, a year senior to her, currently in his second year in university, and also a returnee from studying abroad, which is why he was just one year ahead of her. He spoke fluent English and always wore branded clothes, coming from a very wealthy and secure family.

She bit her lip again, caressing her young face.

If only she were a bit whiter.

If only he noticed her.

If only...

No, she needed to wear nice clothes and use good skincare products to catch Song Wang’s attention. Otherwise, after finishing university, with her family’s background, she wouldn’t be able to secure a good job. Nowadays, it seems job hunting is all about family background; hers was just a farming one, and all her relatives were mediocre. If she was judged based on her family’s status, she would end up doing nothing significant, just like her brother.

Thinking this, she quickened her pace, planning to ask her family for more money even though she had already asked for more earlier this month; however, money was never enough.

College life resembled a small society where students’ competition could sometimes be even crueler than the adult world, though they were still naive and easily deceived.

As soon as Qin Xiangmei returned to the Siheyuan, she threw her backpack in the room and started looking for the telephone, which, after a long search, was nowhere to be found.

Where had the telephone gone?

Frowning, she searched again for a long time but still couldn’t find any trace of the telephone.

"Qin Xiangnuan, where is the telephone? Did you hide it?" she angrily demanded, naming Qin Xiangnuan in full.

"It’s been dismantled," Qin Xiangnuan replied without lifting her head, as she sat at the table, focused on drawing.

"Dismantled?" Qin Xiangmei’s voice suddenly peaked, "Why did you dismantle the telephone? What gives you the right to dismantle it?" her voice filled with accusation and intermittently thrown at Qin Xiangnuan.

"Why can’t I dismantle the telephone?" Qin Xiangnuan asked rhetorically, slightly amused as she threw down her pen and turned to her.

"It’s our family’s telephone. I can install it or dismantle it as I please. If you need to make a call," she pointed toward the door, "aren’t there several stores out there? Go make your calls there."

Qin Xiangmei glared at Qin Xiangnuan with loathing, looking like she could tear into Qin Xiangnuan at any moment.

Qin Xiangnuan ignored her, picking up her pen to continue drawing. She understood Qin Xiangmei well, whether in her past life or in this one. Qin Xiangmei has always been a scheming woman. Even though her scheming hadn’t matured yet, she knew it wasn’t the right time to break ties completely. After all, if things got difficult, it certainly wouldn’t be Qin Xiangnuan who would suffer, but Qin Xiangmei who was alone here studying.

Fuming, Qin Xiangmei went outside to make a phone call. She complained on the phone for a long while that Qin Xiangnuan was bullying her by dismantling the phone and also mentioned that she was out of money as the school required various fees. This implied urging Hu Li to send her more money.

"More money?" Hu Li’s tone also got louder, somewhat gritting her teeth.

"Xiang Mei, you’ve already taken 500 yuan this month. Even Xiao Hong, our neighbor, only gets 300 yuan a month. And you still need more money? There isn’t much left at home."

"How can 500 yuan be enough?" Qin Xiangmei scowled, "The school Xiao Hong attends is just a lousy vocational school. Mom, I’m attending Jing University."

Qin Xiangmei whined on the phone for quite a while until Hu Li finally agreed, then she hung up. However, her heart was still dissatisfied, feeling like asking for money was akin to asking for their lives. Qin Xiangnuan’s monthly allowance was unknown; seeing her never worry about money and always wearing nice clothes indicated she must have quite a lot, probably all provided by Qin Xiangyang. Since he was at a military academy with no tuition fees, wasn’t it all spent on Qin Xiangnuan instead?

She just couldn’t accept it. Why was it that as sisters, she didn’t get a share of Qin Xiangyang’s money?

After finishing the call, Qin Xiangmei was ready to leave, and it seemed she had forgotten that she was using a public phone, not a home phone that didn’t require payment.

"Hey, young lady, you haven’t paid yet."

Seeing Qin Xiangmei about to leave agitated the old store owner. After all, who makes a call without paying, especially one that wasn’t cheap?

Qin Xiangmei’s face fell again, she just forgot, did that justify looking at her as if she was trying to dine and dash?

"It’s 38 yuan in total."

The old man rolled his eyes at Qin Xiangmei, indicating for the young lady to pay up.

"What? 38 yuan?"

Qin Xiangmei couldn’t believe her ears, she thought she must have heard it wrongly. Was this a robbery, 38 yuan? How could it be that much?

"Over one yuan per minute, and you talked for almost a half-hour. If it’s not 38 yuan, then how much is it supposed to be?"