Chapter 3 — 700,000 Yuan And An Annulment

After saying that, I didn't wait for him to answer, turned around and walked straight out. Behind me was the sound of Vuong Tu Cam, both angry and in a hurry, the sound of Luong Khai's footsteps chasing after me, the atmosphere so stuffy that it almost froze in the sales room. I didn't stop for a single step. When I stepped out the door, the heat from outside hit me straight in the face. Standing on the steps, I realized that my back was drenched in cold sweat. Luong Khai quickly chased me away, yanking my hand.

“Don't go”

I lowered my head to look at his hand and laughed softly

“Luong Khai,” I said, “from today, you should learn something.”

“Not every time you say 'I'll explain later', I will stand still and wait for you.”

I shook his hand away and walked down the steps. The bank card containing 700,000 yuan was in my pocket, so heavy that it weighed down. But for the first time in my heart, there was an indescribable feeling of relief. Because I finally understood, this money should not have flowed into the Luong family. When Luong Khai chased to the parking lot gate, I had just flagged down a taxi. He held the car door tightly, his forehead was covered in sweat, his shirt collar was also askew. He was no longer the manager. Chu, always maintain face like in the sales department

“Do I have to do that?”

I stood by the car door, looking at him

"For things to turn out like this" he tried to suppress his anger "how many people are there in the sales department, you said to cancel the marriage in front of outsiders, do you think about me?"

I looked at him and suddenly found this sentence funny and familiar. Every time his mother said it too much, he told me not to accept adults. The wedding expenses were on my head. He told me to pay in advance and recalculate later. Now that my name isn't even on the house register, his first reaction is still that I'm making him lose face.

“Luong Khai,” I said, “can you answer me one question first?”

He didn't speak

“If I don't see that confirmation today, are you going to let me swipe 700,000 yuan directly?”

His face changed

“Don't think it's that hard to hear.”

“So yes, or no?”

He frowned and reluctantly spoke for a long time

“Anyway, it's about buying a house for us.”

I nodded, feeling even calmer

“But my name is not on the house registration book.”

“You can add later—”

“What happens later?” I interrupted him, "Sign an additional agreement, change the name, or wait until the day your mother is happy and willing to raise me from an outsider to an insider."

I stopped him so much that his face turned pale and his voice lowered.

"Hua Thanh Hoa, you're stubborn now, home is for living, not for arguing over names. If you really care about me, you shouldn't confront my mother right now."

I suddenly didn't want to talk anymore. Because I finally heard and understood something. At Luong Khai's place, all my self-pity can finally be reduced to one sentence. It's because I don't understand enough. I pulled the car door open, sat inside, and told the driver the address. When the car started, Luong Khai was still standing in place, his face extremely unsightly. Through the rearview mirror, I saw him raise his hand to make a call, then lower it again, and finally just stood on the side of the road, as if he still didn't understand why this time I wasn't as soft-hearted as before. The car pulled out of the parking lot, and a row of real estate billboards passed by the window. Settle down and start a career. Buy a house for marriage. Give her a roof warm. I leaned my head against the glass door, looking at those dazzlingly bright words, my chest suddenly choked. Not because of losing the house. It's because today I discovered that I thought about the words "having a house" too naively. When returning to the rented room, the house was so quiet that it was scary. As soon as the door opened, the first thing that caught my eye was the wedding protocol book on the tea table. The cream white cover was something I had just chosen a few days ago. Inside was the hotel menu, guest list and schedule sent by the MC. On the armrest of the sofa was still hanging the pillowcase I bought last week. At that time, I thought that after the wedding house finished finalizing the rental house, I wouldn't buy anything else from this rented room. Who would have thought that I still couldn't help but buy two. Looking back at these things now, I just feel ironic. It turns out it's not that I'm not serious about this marriage. But I was too serious. The phone vibrated, it was a text message from Luong Khai.

“Calm down.”

"My mother is old, she speaks a bit hastily, but she doesn't mean anything bad."

"We can discuss this matter again. Don't rush to cancel the marriage."

I looked at those three messages for a while, without replying. I put my bag on the table, took out my bank card, house purchase confirmation, and my spending notebook. The first page is what I wrote when I was twenty-three years old, "new marriage card", the handwriting is still young, even a bit shaky. At that time, I had just joined the company as an accounting assistant, with a monthly salary of 7,200 yuan. I shared a room in the old area with two girls. The bedroom was so small that I couldn't fit a decent table. Every month when I get paid, I immediately transfer 3,000 yuan to this card, then use the rest to live. In the early years, I didn't even explain this clearly to Luong Khai. Don't be wary of him. Just got used to it. Since I was a child, I have known that money must be in my hands so that people will not panic. Later, when he established his relationship with Luong Khai, he started talking about the future, talking about getting married, buying a house, and settling down. I just slowly transformed this card from “my own sense of security” to “our little house from now on.” Looking back now, that was probably my biggest mistake. I sat on the carpet and opened the notebook. First installment, 3,000 yuan. The second amount, 4,500 yuan. Third amount, year-end bonus of 12,000 yuan. Later, each item was as dense as sewing needles.