Quick Transmigration: The Gossip Master Took the Black Lotus Script - Chapter 38

Even though she felt wronged, Old Madam Luo didn’t say anything. She bent down, picked up the letter from the ground, and slowly began to read. Luckily, she had once attended a neighborhood literacy class, so after stumbling along she managed to piece together Luo An’s meaning.

But she wished she couldn’t understand!

“As soon as she opens her mouth, she asks for a hundred yuan. Why doesn’t she just go rob someone?”

Old Man Luo gave her a look. “She is robbing you. Do you dare not give it?”

The old lady was instantly choked speechless.

“Second must have gone along with them. If not, then this money—”

Of course, Old Madam Luo didn’t want to hand it over. Every corner of the household needed money right now, and if another sum were extorted out of them, even their coffin boards would be gone.

“And what if he goes and doesn’t come back?”

Another bucket of cold water poured over her. She let out a long sigh and slumped wearily onto the edge of the bed. “Why is my life so bitter! How is it that someone so unfilial can end up in some godforsaken place and still land herself a proper job, while the two here at home… ay~”

Old Man Luo couldn’t help feeling the same, but what was done was done, and there was no use talking further.

Just as the old lady was about to say something more, the bedroom door was suddenly pushed open. Luo Ning’s pale face appeared in the doorway. “You just said she got a proper job?”

When the postman came earlier, she had already noticed. She didn’t need to guess to know the letter was from Luo An.

Last time, she had heard her mother say Luo An’s letter cost their grandparents fifty yuan. She was afraid the two old geezers would secretly fork over money again, so she hid at the door to eavesdrop. And what did she hear? Something about a proper job.

Hadn’t Luo An gone off to that backwater to do farm work? How could she possibly have a job? It had to be fake.

The old lady, seeing her granddaughter’s limp, couldn’t bear to tell her the truth. But Luo Ning wouldn’t give up. She dragged her lame right leg forward a few steps and snatched the letter from the old lady’s hands.

The more she read, the crazier her expression became, her face full of disbelief. How could this be? Educated youths sent down to the countryside couldn’t even fill their stomachs—how could she possibly get a job at the commune? Luo An, of all people?

Luo Ning didn’t believe it. She looked to her grandfather with a questioning gaze, hoping for some denial from his lips. But she waited and waited, and none came.

Suddenly she squatted to the ground, bawling, crying about how lucky Luo An was, and how wretched her own life had been.

To avoid being sent down, she had listened to a friend’s suggestion and jumped off a high place. She had calculated it carefully: at worst, she’d suffer a minor injury, go to the hospital, and that would be that. The important thing was to avoid being sent away.

But the spot she had chosen so carefully suddenly had a big rock she hadn’t noticed. When she jumped, her left leg slammed right onto it, snapping the bone.

Even though she was taken to the hospital in time, she was left with permanent aftereffects. She was crippled. Only she knew how big of a blow that was.

And now—now she found out Luo An was doing so well in the countryside. Not only had she bought a bicycle, she’d even gotten a proper job. That was something Luo Ning had dreamed of but never attained.

If only she had known! If only she had known, she would never have done something so stupid!

“But we can’t give her the money! We mustn’t give it!”

She repeated the words madly over and over, but Old Man Luo only stared at her with cold, indifferent eyes, never replying.

Seeing this, Luo Ning understood his stance, and endless fury welled up inside her. “Why is it that whatever she wants, you just hand it over? Just because of Second Uncle? While he was alive, you never treated him well. Now suddenly you’re afraid? Ha—what a joke!”

Her laughter stabbed into Old Man Luo like knives.

“I’ll do as I please. You, a junior, have no right to interfere. Get out!”

“Fine, fine! I’ll go! From now on, don’t think you’ll get a single penny from me.”

Luo Ning stormed off, but she wasn’t planning to let the matter rest.

After a moment’s thought, she decided to look for her mother, Chen Juhua. If anyone in the family hated Luo An most, it was surely her.

But just as she raised her hand to knock, she overheard a bombshell piece of news—

Her mother was pregnant!

Hahaha! At her age, she was going to give birth again, just to produce a son to carry on the family line!

How ridiculous!

She had thought their love for the useless Luo Ping would last at least a few years. She hadn’t expected they would be so eager to start training up a replacement.

At that moment, she suddenly wanted to tell Luo Ping. He would surely be devastated!

Thinking it, she did it. Luo Ning turned and opened his bedroom door. The curtains were drawn tight, leaving not a sliver of light even in the day. Because it hadn’t been ventilated for so long, the room reeked of a foul stench.

“Get out!”

Before she could speak, a pillow flew at her head, followed by Luo Ping’s furious roar.

“No need to rush. Once I’ve said what I came to say, I’ll leave. You think anyone wants to look at the sorry state you’re in?”

“Out! Out! Out! All of you, get out!”

Luo Ping was emaciated to the point of deformity, his eyes vicious yet filled with defeat. The sight of him gave Luo Ning a certain satisfaction.

At least someone’s life was worse than hers, right?

“Mom’s pregnant.”

She said it flatly, but the words hit Luo Ping like thunder.

“What did you say?”

Luo Ning sneered. “You heard me. Because you lost your ability to have children and can’t continue the Luo family line, they’ve given up on you. They’re going to give us a new little brother instead. How’s that? Excited?”

She laughed as she backed out of the room. Behind her came the sound of smashing and a crazed roar. “Ahhh! You’re all trash! Trash!”

Luo Ping knew all too well: if his mother gave birth to a boy, his position in this family would become unbearably awkward. After venting his rage, he calmed down.

No. That child must never be born.

His eyes rolled, and he immediately came up with a solution. Unfortunately, even though Chen Juhua heard his howls, she only thought he was “having another episode.” After all, if he didn’t shout and smash things two or three times a day, the family wasn’t used to it.

“We mustn’t let Ping’er find out I’m pregnant, or he’ll cause such trouble the child might not survive.”

Chen Juhua nodded, but worry still clouded her eyes. “But once my belly gets any bigger, we won’t be able to hide it.”

“No problem. In a little while you can go stay with your mother. Otherwise, with the house in chaos, you can’t rest and raise the baby properly.”

Luo Song thought he had everything arranged neatly, taking this pregnancy extremely seriously. But he hadn’t accounted for his two worthless children learning about it in advance.

On the third day, Chen Juhua miscarried, pushed by Luo Ping.

As she lay on the ground clutching her belly and moaning in pain, Luo Ping’s eyes were full of malicious delight. “Mom, you were planning to abandon me, weren’t you?”

Chen Juhua shook her head. Life’s repeated blows had left white streaks in her hair and deepened her wrinkles. She looked almost exactly like Xu Qing in her past life.

Seeing her son stare at her with a crazed expression, Chen Juhua felt nothing but cold inside. She could only keep shaking her head in denial through the pain. But no matter how she denied it, Luo Ping would never believe her.

From the moment Luo An’s letter was sent out, 001 had been monitoring the Luo family’s situation at all times.

“Host! Something’s happened! Something big has happened!”