Chapter 1840 — Hard Going, Part Two

Of course, money like this would have meant nothing at all to the Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu of the old days—but now it was a staggering sum.

Every cent in Gu Mengyao's hands had to be sent to Uncle Qing tomorrow, by whatever means she could manage, for her father's medical bills—and even that might not be enough. As for Wei Zhao's medicine, that could only be scraped together by scavenging day after day. And that was not all: they had to save up more still to send to Uncle Qing...

Thinking of such hand-to-mouth days, Gu Mengyao's head swam. A young lady who had never once fretted over money now learned, for the first time, the agony of having none.

"Yao Yao, even if Brother Arrow can wake up within a month, we'd still have to pick up at least five thousand yuan of junk every single day just to keep going..." Shen Yushu had quickly worked out their daily drain. Wei Zhao's medical fees plus Gu Pengzhan's made for an enormous outlay.

"Five thousand..." Gu Mengyao smiled bitterly. How could that be possible? Scavenging was not panning for gold—how could anyone pick up five thousand yuan worth of junk a day?

Having said her piece, Shen Yushu pressed her lips shut. Luckily, the two of them had brought some jewelry when they left home; though neither cared for ornaments in daily life, they did wear jewels and trinkets on formal occasions.

So, though there was not much, they could sell part of it for money—only it would not fetch much either, since neither owned anything truly precious, just ordinary pieces.

...

Shen Yushu's figure happened to be about the old woman's, so she could fit into the old woman's cast-off clothes—but Gu Mengyao could not. There was no help for it. She could only dig out the plainest-looking garment she owned and then deliberately soil and crumple it, so that its true worth could no longer be seen; it looked like something bought for a few dozen yuan off a street stall, something left untended for years.

The two looked at each other's slovenly appearance and could not help smiling bitterly at the same instant. Never had they imagined they would one day fall so low.

But now that the day had come, Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu accepted it with composure.

They say the road from thrift to luxury is easy, and the road from luxury to thrift hard; yet in the hearts of the young lady and Shen Yushu, for Wei Zhao's sake, such hardship was nothing at all beside what Tang Yun had given. Think of Tang Yun, who for Wei Zhao would rather endure the torment of love alone. Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu felt that at least they could still stay by Wei Zhao's side—was that not a kind of happiness too?

It was only the next day that Uncle Qing heard from Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian of the upheaval at the villa. When he learned that Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu had fled and vanished without a word, with no telling whether Yu Liu had caught up to them, his heart clenched with anxiety.

There beside the intensive care unit of the hospital, hearing Qiu Lingshan's account, Uncle Qing instinctively moved to call Gu Mengyao.

"No use calling. We already tried yesterday—both their phones are off," Qiu Lingshan said with a bitter smile.

"Off? Could Yu Liu have caught them already?" Uncle Qing asked, startled.

"Two possibilities. One: they switched their phones off to evade Yu Liu—after all, phone-location technology isn't complicated; if the Yu family put their minds to it, they could easily track them down through their numbers," Qiu Lingshan said. "The other: Yu Liu caught them and switched the phones off himself. But that's less likely, because what Yu Liu wants is Wei Zhao, not Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu—taking them would serve no purpose at all... So my reading is that they slipped past Yu Liu. Otherwise, if Yu Liu had truly caught up with them and made a move on Wei Zhao, they would surely have contacted us afterward."

"Yes. It's plain that Yu Liu's target was Wei Zhao; toward the people around Wei Zhao, he didn't even seem to want to injure them. Yesterday he gave Lingshan and me a palm each, and we came off with nothing but light injuries—all but healed overnight," Chen Yutian agreed.

"That's a relief, then..." Uncle Qing let out a long breath.

Yet no sooner had the three of them finished speaking than Uncle Qing's phone rang.

Uncle Qing took out his phone and saw that it was a call from an unfamiliar landline. His heart sank; betraying nothing in his face, he answered: "Hello? Yes?"

"Uncle Qing, it's Yao Yao. Give me a bank card number—I have two hundred thousand here. I'll wire it to you first to cover Daddy's medical bills. Whatever you do, don't stop the treatment!" Gu Mengyao spoke in urgent haste. She had not used her own phone, nor Xiaoshu's, because the very problem Qiu Lingshan had thought of, the two of them had thought of as well: if Yu Liu were so minded, he would surely track their phones. So Gu Mengyao had picked out a public telephone at random.

Of that two hundred thousand, one hundred thousand was from An Jianwen, and another hundred thousand from the old woman. As for the money An Jianwen owed for the stone lions, it had not yet arrived, and Gu Mengyao dared not contact An Jianwen again, so for the moment she had to let it lie.

"Two hundred thousand?" Uncle Qing was rather startled as to where Gu Mengyao had come by so much money, but he was more worried still about their safety and Wei Zhao's: "Yao Yao, how are you two and Xiaoyi? I heard you were being chased by the Yu family's Yu Liu?"

"Yes, we got away clean—he never found us!" Gu Mengyao said. "We're safe now. Please give me your card number first, and Xiaoshu and I will earn money however we can..."

"As long as you're all right!" Uncle Qing breathed easier. Since Gu Mengyao would not say where they were, he could hardly press her—after all, he feared that knowing too much might let others find out; better not to know at all. "My card number is..."

And with that, Uncle Qing recited his bank card number.

"All right, I've got it. I'm leaving Daddy in your hands!" Gu Mengyao said once she had written down the number.

"Then you two take care in everything!" Uncle Qing urged.

"I know. Uncle Qing, I won't be in touch with you for a while—whenever I have money, I'll send it to you," Gu Mengyao said. "As long as we hold out until Wei Zhao wakes up, everything will be all right!"

"I understand..." Uncle Qing nodded, and his heart was much eased. "Yao Yao, set your minds at rest—Mr. Gu is in my hands now!" (To be continued)

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