After the misunderstanding was cleared up, everything seed the sa as before, yet sohow different. When Zhen Yu returned ho, she sat alone at her desk for over an hour. The only thing she realized was that Han Mingyue had not invited her to his room again, and she had no intention of going in either. Unknowingly, they had both begun to avoid certain topics.
——
When Mrs. Zhen ca ho in the evening, she ntioned sothing that imdiately worried Zhen Yu.
"I heard from your Aunt Zhang at the grocery store that your father has recently beco addicted to playing mahjong, and the stakes are quite high! Is this because he has won the lottery and now he’s recklessly squandering the money?"
"How long has it been?" Zhen Yu asked, while quickly trying to recall which day in her past life Mr. Zhen was arrested, how much he was fined, and how many days he was detained before being released.
"Seems like it was ten days and a fine of a thousand. Argh! Which day was it exactly?" As Zhen Yu thought out loud, she inadvertently blurted it out.
"What did you say, my girl?" Mrs. Zhen asked.
Zhen Yu was startled for a mont before saying, "Oh! Uh, I an, what would be the consequences of... gathering a group?"
"Consequences? What consequences could there be! They all play in secret; who would know! And they are all acquaintances," Mrs. Zhen said casually.
Her mother’s casual remark was spot-on! Zhen Yu quickly rembered the day when her father was arrested!
In her previous life, it was indeed an acquaintance who had been caught and then exposed the household Mr. Zhen often visited! That’s how Mr. Zhen and his card-playing friends got rounded up!
"Mom! What’s the date today?"
"It’s the 22nd! Didn’t we just make dumplings for Winter Solstice yesterday?"
"The 22nd is Sunday! Then the 27th would be next Friday." Zhen Yu calculated quickly. She was reluctant to ask for leave on next Friday, the day she thought about.
"What about the 27th?" Mrs. Zhen asked curiously. The date wasn’t associated with any special holiday, yet her daughter was specifically calculating it.
Zhen Yu had already revealed too much. She hurriedly brushed it off, "It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it."
Seeing her daughter didn’t want to say more, Mrs. Zhen didn’t ask further.
——
On the afternoon of the 27th, Mrs. Zhen was sorting out empty shoeboxes. Suddenly, she heard a shout, "Mom!"
Mrs. Zhen instinctively looked outside to check the sky. It was already getting dark; why was Xiao Yu suddenly running out in the street?
"Did you co here by yourself?" After asking with so annoyance, Mrs. Zhen then noticed there was soone behind Zhen Yu outside the shop door, Han Mingyue.
"Mom, I just wanted to let you know, I’ll be going to my dad’s place soon, so I might co ho late!"
"Why are you going there?! He already gave us his support paynts for this year, there’s no need to bother them!" Mrs. Zhen didn’t understand and was not very pleased, "Besides, it’s late, how will you get ho?"
"I have sothing to ask him! I’ll have him take ho!" Despite risking her mother’s anger, Zhen Yu insisted on seeing him.
Mrs. Zhen glanced at Han Mingyue and decided not to say more in front of an outsider. "Go ahead then!"
"Mom! Han Mingyue is going to the clinic later. Wait for Uncle Han and the others to co over and then you all can go together!"
"Alright, alright. I’ve always walked with soone in the evening, there’s no need for your reminders! Just make sure he takes you ho!"
"Mom, don’t worry! You can lock the door when you get ho. I have my keys."
"Fine, fine! Just go!"
Zhen Yu separated from Han Mingyue at the entrance of Shoe City, and she walked alone toward the brightly lit hardware store.
——
Luckily, Mr. Zhen was in the store, but he was also getting ready to leave.
Upon seeing Zhen Yu enter, there was first a startle, then an imdiate smile of greeting, "Xiao Yu! What brings you here, to see Dad?"
Zhen Yu lifted the corner of her mouth and nodded slightly, "Sort of!"
"Co, co, co! Sit here." Mr. Zhen, quite pleased, pulled his daughter into the shop and sat her down on a stool outside the counter.
Ju Zhen sat inside the counter, shooting Zhen Yu a blank look without uttering a word.
Zhen Yu didn’t even glance at her but pointed at Mr. Zhen’s coat and asked intentionally, though she knew better, "Are you getting ready to go ho?"
Mr. Zhen looked down unconsciously, "Ah? No, I’m not going ho! I have so business to attend to."
"Let’s talk about your business tomorrow!" Zhen Yu’s tone was firm and left no room for refusal.
Pity! In Mr. Zhen’s eyes, his daughter was not as important as his ’business’.
He hesitated only for a mont before rejecting Zhen Yu. "That won’t do! I’ve already made plans with so people. If I don’t go, the three of them would have to wait for ."
"Heh." Zhen Yu couldn’t help but scoff at her father’s overestimation of himself.
But since she had co, she had to find a way to keep Mr. Zhen there. If Plan A didn’t work, Zhen Yu would implent her Plan B, the ’delaying’ tactic.
"I’m hungry."
"Oh, you’re hungry! Old Zhang Family’s grocery store should still be open, Dad will give you money, go buy so snacks!" Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhen first froze, then promptly took out money intending to give it to his daughter.
Ju Zhen abruptly sat upright, her eyes glued to Mr. Zhen’s hand, as if she was ready to snatch it the mont Zhen Yu dared to take it.
However, Zhen Yu did not take it and said instead, "I don’t want snacks, take out for a al."
"What?!" Ju Zhen exploded at once! She was already reluctant to give money for snacks, let alone... "How much would it cost to go to a restaurant?! If you want to eat, go back ho!"
Zhen Yu turned her head towards her, "Are you inviting to your house for dinner?"
"I—" Ju Zhen wanted to argue that she was shooing this brat back to her own ho to eat!
But after glancing at Mr. Zhen, Ju Zhen suddenly fell silent.
---
Mr. Zhen was very surprised to hear his daughter’s words, but seeing that his current wife did not object, he sohow developed the inclination to ’facilitate’ the situation.
Thinking that there was still ti before the appointed hour and that the guys would only go after having dinner anyway!
He himself was planning to grab a bite before heading over, so why not...
"Okay! Xiao Ju, tidy up. Let’s close up and go ho!" Mr. Zhen first instructed his wife, then turned to his daughter, "Xiao Yu, let’s see tonight if Dad’s cooking skills have improved..."
Zhen Yu quietly listened to her father’s words, her smile not reaching her eyes as she responded, "Alright!"
If counting her previous life, this was actually not the first ti Zhen Yu sat down for dinner with her father, stepmother, and stepsister.
But it was the first ti that she didn’t feel like an outsider or that she was receiving charity while staying with her father’s remarried family.
Zhen Yu calmly tasted the ’culinary skills’ of her father that she hadn’t experienced in a long while, answering his questions with simplicity, and occasionally praising him faintly, "Not bad at all."
Ju Zhen’s mother was there for dinner because she was watching her granddaughter. The old lady harbored a grudge against her son and was very hostile towards Zhen Yu.
But with Mr. Zhen present, the atmosphere at the dinner table, while not harmonious, was at least forcibly maintained as peaceful.
After the al, Mr. Zhen chatted leisurely with Zhen Yu to aid digestion. When the dual-tizone watch on Zhen Yu’s wrist displayed exactly six o’clock, Mr. Zhen finally suggested he should take Zhen Yu ho.
Zhen Yu imdiately nodded in agreent.
Although she wanted to keep her father occupied, she had truly had her fill of staying in his ’new ho.’ The piercing looks from the Ju mother and daughter were like needles, constantly pricking at her, not biting but annoying.
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