Luo Jianguo curiously asked, "What's wrong with being a security guard? Earning a living through hard work is nothing to be ashamed of." His voice grew louder.
Zhu Shulan smirked. "You've disgraced the Luo family. If my sisters find out, won't they make fun of me?"
Luo Jianguo's anger flared up, his fury evident. "Sisters, sisters—can your sisters feed you? We don’t have a penny left. How are we supposed to live?"
Zhu Shulan was indifferent. "We'll live however we need to. But you becoming a security guard is a complete loss of face for me."
She was calculating in her mind. Fortunately, she still had three million yuan stashed away, earning interest in the bank. It was more than enough for her needs. No one knew about this secret fund, not even her husband. If he asked, she would just lie and say she had already spent it.
"You... you want us to starve?" Luo Jianguo shouted. He had thought that finding a job would make her happy, but to his surprise, she didn't understand that there was no shame in any job, and being able to earn money was already an achievement.
"I don’t need you to manage my life..." Zhu Shulan retorted just as fiercely.
The two of them argued until their faces turned red, not noticing the sound of the door opening.
Luo Qianqian walked in, carrying shopping bags. Hearing the argument, she frowned.
A trace of disdain flashed in her eyes. "Mom, Dad, what are you arguing about?" Luo Qianqian placed the shopping bags beside the sofa.
Zhu Shulan quickly started complaining, "Daughter, your father actually went to interview for a security guard job, and he even signed a contract! Tell me, isn't he out of his mind?"
Luo Qianqian glanced at the man sitting on the single sofa with his head down, pretending to be concerned. "Dad, did you really interview for a security guard job?"
Luo Jianguo, his face full of worry, looked up. "Yes."
Luo Qianqian's fingers clenched reflexively, angry and disappointed. "Dad, you were once the renowned President Luo, and now you’ve reduced yourself to a security guard?"
Luo Jianguo hadn't expected Luo Qianqian to think the same way and felt deeply disappointed. He sighed, "Think whatever you want. I’m just earning money through my labor."
With that, Luo Jianguo stood up and walked toward his room.
Luo Qianqian watched his retreating back, her nails digging into her palms. The Luo family's bankruptcy had already made it hard for her to hold her head high. If her classmates found out her father had become a security guard, wouldn't they laugh at her?
A shadow crossed Luo Qianqian's face, her expression complicated as she composed herself.
She turned back. "Mom, what is Dad thinking? How could he become a security guard?"
Zhu Shulan curled her lips, leaning her elbow on the armrest of the sofa, her expression gloomy. "How would I know what he's thinking? I’m getting a headache; I’m going to my room."
With that, Zhu Shulan stood up and walked to her room.
Luo Qianqian stood there, her body stiff, unable to move for a long time. Eventually, she grabbed her shopping bags and stormed back to her room, full of anger.
As soon as the door closed, a melodious ringtone filled the room, making Luo Qianqian's heart skip a beat.
After a moment of hesitation, she answered the phone, and before she could even speak, a furious voice came through.
"Your three-day deadline is up tomorrow. If you don't have the money, you can just let your family collect your body, hahaha..." The voice on the other end was cold and filled with malice.
Luo Qianqian was terrified and stammered, "Brother, I couldn’t gather the money. Can you please give me a few more days? I...”
The voice on the other end interrupted her coldly, threatening, "No negotiations. If I don't see the money tomorrow, don't blame me for what happens next. But, if you want to play with me, I might consider giving you a few extra days."
Just the thought of the man on the other end—overweight, balding at such a young age, and disgusting—made Luo Qianqian's stomach turn.
He wanted her to accompany him? That would be a fate worse than death.
"Brother, I really can’t come up with three million yuan. Please, give me a few more days to get the money," Luo Qianqian pleaded desperately, gripping her phone tightly.
"No negotiations. I want the money by eight o'clock tomorrow night," the man said before hanging up.
"Hello? Hello? Are you trying to force me to death?" Luo Qianqian panicked, pulling the phone away from her ear.
She stood there like a puppet with its strings cut, her eyes vacant. It was her own fault for getting curious about gambling, which led to the debts.
After a long time, an idea suddenly popped into her mind.
She tiptoed out of her room and went to the empty room in the corner of the second floor. No one but Zhu Shulan was allowed in this room.
Luo Qianqian had once discovered that Zhu Shulan kept her secret stash in a safe in this room, hidden even from Luo Jianguo.
With a key she had secretly taken, Luo Qianqian sneaked into the room. It was dark, so she turned on the light, instantly brightening the room.
She quietly closed the door and looked around at the decor. Although she had grown up in this house, she had rarely been in this room.
Soon, she found the safe hidden in a secret compartment of the bookshelf and smugly placed it on the table.
The safe was silver and about 20 centimeters in size. Luo Qianqian broke into a sweat. What was the four-digit code?
She tried Zhu Shulan’s birthday first, but the safe didn’t budge.
She then tried Luo Jianguo’s birthday, but it still wouldn’t open. She tried various significant dates, but nothing worked.
Luo Qianqian’s face turned pale, her expression frantic. Desperate, she randomly entered her own birthday, and to her surprise, the safe clicked open.
Her face lit up with joy, a smug smile spreading across it.
She hadn’t expected that after all this effort, the code would be her birthday. Wasting no time, Luo Qianqian quickly opened the safe.
Inside were Zhu Shulan’s jewelry, intended as a dowry, worth two million yuan.
Underneath, she found several bank cards. She quickly grabbed a bag and packed everything from the safe into it.
After carefully closing the safe and putting it back in place, Luo Qianqian tiptoed back to her room.
Standing in her room, she danced with joy, a smug smile on her face. She thought to herself that although Zhu Shulan had always treated her well, if it weren’t for Zhu Shulan, her biological mother might still be alive. In the end, she still hated her.
Luo Qianqian locked away the stolen items in a drawer and finally slept soundly that night.
The next day, she sneaked out of the house, went to a pawn shop to sell the jewelry, and then to the bank ATM to withdraw all the money from the bank cards.
She didn’t know the PINs for the bank cards but decided to try her luck.
To her surprise, all of Zhu Shulan’s bank cards used her birthday as the PIN.
Luo Qianqian let out a cold laugh, smugly put the money in her bag, and strutted out of the bank.
That mom is pretty stupid to have the same code for everything
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