บท 12: Chapter 10: Getting the ID Card
"Ningning, you still haven't said how you ended up on the bus, did you go to the county town?"
"Mm."
Huo Sining really had no patience to deal with Wu Jingyi, yet Wu Jingyi thought her little tricks were so clever, which left Huo Sining quite vexed.
"You just sneaked out like this, aren't you afraid your aunt will scold you?"
Seeing that Huo Sining was somewhat perfunctory towards her, Wu Jingyi frowned and gave Huo Sining a calculated glance without a change in expression.
"What did you go to the county town for?"
Wu Jingyi spoke with the tone of an interrogator, as she had always spoken to Huo Sining in this way, so she saw nothing wrong with it.
Huo Sining, however, was very uncomfortable and cursed herself internally for being so blind in her past life to have become good sisters with such a person!
"Who said I sneaked out?" Huo Sining chuckled coldly. She had walked out the door right in front of Xu Lian's face, in broad daylight, "Moreover, what business is it of yours why I go to the county town?"
Wu Jingyi was stunned.
Probably because Huo Sining was always gentle and easy-going, Wu Jingyi was quite surprised to hear Huo Sining speak with such a sharp tone, and she felt displeased at once.
Anger flickered in Wu Jingyi's eyes, but she put on a wronged face: "Ningning, how can you say that? I... I'm just worried about you, your aunt is so fierce, always beating and scolding you at the drop of a hat, I'm just concerned you'd be wronged."
As she spoke, her eyes slowly misted up, as if she was going to cry.
Here come the tears, right on cue. You're really wasting your talent by not going into show business—you'd definitely win Best Actress!
Having lived an extra seven years, Huo Sining had seen far more advanced white lotus and green tea bitch tactics on the internet in her past life than Wu Jingyi could ever manage; Wu Jingyi's tricks were nothing to write home about.
"No, don't. How could I ever afford such concern from you. You'd better worry about your own tuition. In a few days, you're turning eighteen, and obviously you can't keep living at the orphanage. What do you plan to do?"
Wu Jingyi's face stiffened. Recently, she had been completely preoccupied with how to tamper with Huo Sining's college entrance exam choices and hadn't even thought about this issue.
Now that Huo Sining had reminded her, she recalled the head of the orphanage notifying her a week before the college entrance exam that, once she turned eighteen and legally became an adult, she was required by regulation to move out of the orphanage.
Even if she were admitted to university, there were still two months before the school year started, and with neither money nor connections, Wu Jingyi really didn't know how to cope for the time being.
"How about we move out and rent a place together?" Wu Jingyi suggested.
"Renting together, what's that got to do with me?" Huo Sining was somewhat baffled by Wu Jingyi's logic.
"Since you're just getting bullied at your uncle's place, it's better to move out and live with me. Besides, you haven't filled out your college entrance exam preferences yet, and probably your aunt will soon force you to go work. I think you'd be better off leaving early. I reckon you could rent a place in the county town, so we could live together, and I could even weigh in on finding you a job, what do you think?"
Let me find a place, so you can freeload until early September?
Huo Sining gave Wu Jingyi a look as if she were an idiot, trying to work out Wu Jingyi's baffling thought process.
Darling, feeling so entitled to take advantage of others, is that really okay?
Wu Jingyi had made a nice little plan, but unfortunately, Huo Sining was not buying it.
Huo Sining had her own plan all along: to resolve the tuition issue within three days, then make things clear to Huo Yong's family and leave straight away. How could she possibly allow Wu Jingyi to scheme against her?
"Forget about renting a place, I plan to go to Guangcheng with my cousin in a while. She works in a foreign company there. My aunt has already spoken to her older sister and she will help me get a job at the company when the time comes."
Huo Sining's smile was tinged with mockery as she declined Wu Jingyi's suggestion.
Wu Jingyi's expression soured, especially when she heard Huo Sining mention moving to Guangcheng with her cousin. Jealousy flashed across her eyes, and her face twisted slightly.
She forced a stiff smile: "Is that so? Well then, I guess I'll rent a place by myself."
Curious upon hearing Huo Sining was going to Guangcheng, Wu Jingyi kept asking which foreign company Huo Sining's cousin worked for.
Huo Sining couldn't be bothered with her. As soon as they reached the village entrance, without even a goodbye, she hurried off the bus, leaving Wu Jingyi staring after her in exasperation.
That night, Huo Sining took advantage of the dark and windy conditions to slip out again.
Once a stranger, twice familiar; when she got to Baiyun Reservoir, she didn't hesitate and grabbed a snakeskin bag before diving into the water, happily gathering river clams.
She worked tirelessly throughout the night, and not until 4 a.m., as the predawn light showed the white belly of fish in the sky, did Huo Sining stop for fear of being seen.
After hiding dozens of bags of river clams, Huo Sining hurried back home, and just as she lay down, she heard the crowing of roosters.
Awakened by the noise in the eastern wing, Xu Lian called out to Huo Longjiang, telling him to get up and get ready for school; Huo Longjiang mumbled under his breath.
Huo Sining breathed a sigh of relief and thought to herself, "That was close," nearly getting caught.
Since the issue of the 100,000-yuan inheritance left by Mrs. Huo had been revealed, Xu Lian was displeased, so there were no complaints when Huo Sining didn't get up to make breakfast.
Feeling guilty himself, Huo Yong always felt awkward and uncomfortable when faced with Huo Sining's clear and penetrating eyes, as if she knew everything. Seeing that Huo Sining hadn't gotten up for breakfast, he actually felt relieved.
Huo Sining ended up sleeping until the sun was high in the sky, and Xu Lian went out early in the morning to visit relatives.
It was said that Liu Meiling had returned yesterday, and knowing Xu Lian's nature, she probably couldn't wait to go and take advantage of her.
Huo Yong wasn't home either; one didn't even need to think to know he was certainly sitting at the gambling table.
Huo Sining curled her lips, had lunch at her leisure, and then sat under the grape trellis to cool off, calculating how much money she could get for the clams she had gathered the day before.
Now aware of the price of river clams, Huo Sining's approach to harvesting them this time around was not as disorganized as before.
Younger clams didn't sell for much, so she became choosy when gathering them, mainly picking the older clams and discarding any under three years of age.
By her estimates, she only needed to collect some more river clams that evening to have enough to pay her tuition.
Huo Sining was excited at the thought. Once she had the tuition in hand, she planned to move away quietly.
At this thought, Huo Sining paused, suddenly remembering that her ID card and household registration were still tightly held by Xu Lian.
With Xu Lian and Huo Yong out of the house, and even the "walking monitor" Huo Longjiang absent, it was the perfect opportunity to act.
Moved by the thought, Huo Sining leaped down from the stone slab in a couple of strides.
In her past life, Huo Sining had lived in the Huo family for over twenty years, so she was intimately familiar with Xu Lian's habits.
Xu Lian liked to hide things in the crevice under the bed plank. Knowing her son loved to rummage through things, she purposefully placed a collection box on top of a cabinet, putting less important items and change inside the box.
Huo Longjiang was easy to deceive; entering the room, he always focused on that collection box above, never suspecting there was anything beneath the bed plank.
But what Xu Lian didn't realize was that her so-called clever hiding method had long been in plain sight to Huo Sining, clear as day.
Huo Sining sneaked into the eastern wing room and crawled under the bed, quickly coming across a bag wrapped in silk.
Opening the bag, she indeed found her ID card and household registration book inside.
A slight curl appeared at the corner of Huo Sining's mouth as she took her belongings.
Just as she was about to put the silk-wrapped bundle back, her eyes suddenly caught sight of a dark red credit union passbook.
Feeling a surge of curiosity, she opened it, and a six-digit number boldly presented itself.
This was the passbook her mother had left behind.
Huo Sining caught her breath, touching the name of Mrs. Huo on the passbook, her voice choked up.
After standing in a daze for a while, she took a deep breath and solemnly placed the passbook back in the silk cloth bag.
She was not an ungrateful person. Although she had suffered so much over the years, her uncle had raised her to adulthood.
Since the 100,000 yuan was meant for her uncle's family by Mrs. Huo, she would consider it as paying back the kindness she owed over the years.
After tomorrow, once she walked out of the door of the Huo family, she would have nothing more to do with Huo Yong's family from then on.
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