Chapter 21
Chapter 21: Aunt’s Little Scheme
Ge Chun Yu traded a look with Xiao Ying Chun’s uncle and told the children to sit.
Her uncle had two children, a son and a daughter. Ge Chun Yu had two as well—also a son and a daughter. All four were older than Xiao Ying Chun, already working, already collecting paychecks.
On her grandfather’s side, people had always looked down on Xiao Ying Chun’s mother for not having a son. It was one reason her mother could give the most and still be treated as though it were simply what she ought to do.
In their eyes, Xiao Ying Chun was a young woman destined to marry out. Her parents didn’t need to leave her much. Better to support the “family side” instead.
Ge Chun Yu clearly couldn’t wait until the meal ended. She spoke first, her smile too confident. “Ying Chun, shouldn’t we make things clear now? Otherwise I won’t feel at ease.”
Xiao Ying Chun almost found it funny. She could afford this table of food. If Ge Chun Yu wanted to rush into the argument, fine—she’d do it here.
She nodded pleasantly. “All right. Aunt, why don’t you explain your side first?”
Ge Chun Yu lifted her brows. “Sure.” She sat straighter, ready to perform. “After your mother passed, I thought it was a pity for the supermarket to just close, so I went to help watch the shop. Who knew that after a whole year, I didn’t earn a single cent—and I even lost money.”
She spread her hands like a victim. “I went there on my own, and I didn’t ask you to pay me wages, Ying Chun. But the money I lost on goods—you can’t keep making me cover that.”
Then she turned to the table. “Brother, sister-in-law, Mom, Dad—am I wrong?”
The table went quiet in a strange way. Eyes shifted toward Xiao Ying Chun.
Xiao Ying Chun kept smiling, as if Ge Chun Yu’s speech had been nothing more than a weather report.
“Since Aunt is done,” she said gently, “I’ll add a few things.”
“Back then, I said I didn’t want to run that shop anymore. There was no one to watch it, and Aunt was the one who insisted she would take over—profit and loss on her.”
“When I handed it over, we checked the accounts. We counted the goods. We didn’t owe a single cent to anyone.”
“I signed a contract with Aunt. Whatever Aunt earned or lost in that year was Aunt’s business. Aunt signed her name.”
Her tone stayed even, steady enough to make the contrast painful. “Later, when I came back to take the shop over again, Aunt said she hadn’t made money and demanded wages. She said if I didn’t pay her, she wouldn’t do it.”
“That makes no sense. I came back because I couldn’t even collect wages outside. Where would I get money to pay Aunt?”
“Aunt left. We counted the goods in the shop, but we didn’t go through the accounts.”
Xiao Ying Chun’s eyes didn’t sharpen. She didn’t need to. “The shop was missing more than twenty thousand in goods compared to when Aunt took over. I didn’t argue.”
“But a few days ago, several new wholesalers I’ve never worked with came to my door demanding payment.”
“They said my little shop had taken over one hundred and twenty thousand in goods on credit over the past year and never paid.”
“I’ve never dealt with them. I never asked them for anything. So I told them to go find whoever owed them.”
“So they went to Aunt.” She looked straight at Ge Chun Yu. “And I heard they sued Aunt in court.”
“Aunt—Is that true?”
She asked it like a casual question, like she was discussing side dishes.
Her uncle’s and her other aunt’s expressions changed immediately. They hadn’t known. If they’d known, they wouldn’t have come.
Her grandfather and grandmother’s faces changed too. They’d heard whispers, but only Ge Chun Yu’s version—the version where she was the wronged one.
Now, the story had teeth.
Ge Chun Yu’s face tightened. “Yes, I bought on credit. But I couldn’t pay it back because I didn’t make money! If I could’ve paid, I would’ve paid already!”
Xiao Ying Chun didn’t raise her voice. “With the goods you took—over a hundred thousand—there’s no way you couldn’t pay the suppliers back, even if you sold at wholesale price.”
She paused, calm enough to be cruel. “Unless you threw it all into the Wei River.”
“But I don’t think Aunt would do something like that.”
Ge Chun Yu snapped, the mask slipping. “Don’t I deserve wages? I watched that shop from morning to night every day. Ten thousand a month isn’t even much!”
Xiao Ying Chun nodded, as if the real core had finally surfaced. “So you weren’t unable to repay the goods. You just thought I should pay you ten thousand a month to guard a tiny store.”
“And when I refused,” she continued softly, “you took goods from suppliers on credit—over a hundred thousand worth—to cover one year of wages.”
She looked at Ge Chun Yu. “Is that what happened?”
Ge Chun Yu lifted her chin. “So what if it did?”
Xiao Ying Chun didn’t answer right away. She let her gaze drift around the table.
Ge Chun Yu’s husband and children kept their heads down, pretending they didn’t exist. They clearly knew. They clearly knew it was wrong. But when it came to advantage, silence was a convenient shield.
Xiao Ying Chun turned to her grandparents, then to her uncle and her other aunt. “Last night, Aunt told me I should pay this debt. I don’t think I should. Aunt felt wronged.”
“So I invited everyone tonight and put it on the table, face-to-face, so no one thinks I owe her.”
She asked it cleanly. “Do you think I should pay that debt?”
Her grandparents exchanged a look, their faces dark. Then her grandmother turned her glare on Ge Chun Yu.
“You signed a contract,” her grandmother said, voice hard. “Then it’s your problem. Why aren’t you paying? Why are you letting people go after Ying Chun? Even in court, it’s still your responsibility.”
Ge Chun Yu’s face fell, and she lunged for sympathy like a drowning swimmer. “I don’t have money! Your two grandsons only make two or three thousand a month. Your grandson doesn’t even have a house—he can’t find a wife!”
Then she snapped her head toward Xiao Ying Chun. “I heard Ying Chun is doing big business now. Tens of thousands per order!”
Her smile turned sharp. “She can pay this, can’t she?”
Xiao Ying Chun’s expression didn’t change. “I don’t know where you heard that rumor.”
“And even if I made tens of millions per order,” she added, “that would still be money I earned. It has nothing to do with this debt.”
“I have no reason to pay what you owe.”
She pointed calmly toward her uncle. “My uncle works a government job. He makes seven or eight thousand a month. And my aunt here is a mid-level manager at a state-owned enterprise—she makes over ten thousand. Ask my uncle. Should he give you money?”
Her uncle and the other aunt both went pale.
The other aunt forced a laugh so stiff it could’ve cracked. “Why are you dragging us into this… Your matters should be discussed and solved between yourselves.”
They wanted to smooth it over. They wanted it to disappear.
Ge Chun Yu let out a cold laugh. “You keep saying court, court…”
She leaned forward, eyes glittering. “Your parents died. By law, your grandfather and grandmother also get a share of the inheritance!”
“Your parents’ car accident compensation—nearly a million. Your grandfather and grandmother didn’t get a single cent.”
“A whole year has passed. Did you ever mention it?”
She spread her hands, as if she were the reasonable one. “I only took a bit over a hundred thousand in goods. You just pay it back quietly and everyone knows in their hearts. Why are you chasing me for money? Why are you forcing me to say it out loud?”
Xiao Ying Chun felt her heart cool, layer by layer, until it went almost numb.
So that was it.
Ge Chun Yu hadn’t done this out of desperation or stupidity. She’d done it for this—because of the compensation, because of the inheritance she wanted to pry open with dirty hands.