Chapter 1711 Hide Money
Seeing that Tian Jun remained so stubborn, Miao Le had no choice but to go to her room and take out a small metal box from under the bed. It contained all the money she had hidden away for so many years. Every month, she would steal some money from the allowance she received from Tian Jun and put it aside. It was meant for her dowry in the future.
If she wanted to marry into a good family, she needed to have a decent amount of dowry. Otherwise, her in-laws would look down on her! She already had such a dismal family. If she did not have money, she would not be able to get married in the future!
At this point, if she wanted to continue to stay in the military family compound, she had no choice but to take out the money. If she was sent home, it would be the end for her.
"There's 100 dollars here… I'll give it all to you…" Miao Le said softly.
"There has to be more. Take it all out," Tian Jun said as he stared at Miao Le.
Miao Le reluctantly took out all the money from the metal box and gave it to Tian Jun. He counted a total of 234 dollars! Tian Jun looked at Miao Le in shock. She had actually squirreled away so much money!
No wonder all the neighbors said that Zhuang Zhuang was skinny and malnourished. At first, he only thought that it was because he was not doing well enough and that Miao Le had already done her best to take care of the child. He did not expect that it was because Miao Le had stashed away the money and let Zhuang Zhuang go hungry!
"You! You actually hid so much money! What have you been feeding Zhuang Zhuang all these years!" Tian Jun roared.
"I… It's not that I have starved him to death! Why are you shouting at me! Isn't he fine?" Miao Le muttered softly.
Tian Jun did not want to waste his breath on Miao Le. He wrapped the money in a handkerchief and jogged to Qiao Mei's house.
"Commander Xia, are you there? Is anyone home?" Tian Jun shouted into the courtyard.
After Xia Zhe returned, he and Zhao Wu drove to the county city to do some shopping. At the moment, there was only Qiao Mei and the two children at home. Qiao Mei slowly walked out of the house and said, "You're… you're Miao Le's brother-in-law, aren't you! My husband isn't at home now. Come back in the afternoon if you need anything from him."
"It's fine even if Commander Xia is not around. I just want to give this to you. It's my fault for not disciplining my younger sister well and for causing you trouble. I'm really sorry. This is to express my apology. I hope you can accept it," Tian Jun said solemnly.
Qiao Mei did not stand on ceremony with Tian Jun. This outcome was exactly what Qiao Mei had expected. She took the wrapped up money and said, "It's alright, we're all neighbors. It's only right for us to be tolerant of one another."
"Thank you for taking care of Zhuang Zhuang. I still have something on, so I'll make a move first. I hope you can convey my apologies to Commander Xia," Tian Jun said.
"Sure, I'll definitely tell him," Qiao Mei said.
As she watched Tian Jun leave, Qiao Mei counted the money in her hand. She had thought that Tian Jun would come by with around 100 dollars or buy some groceries to apologize. She did not expect him to give them so much money.
"This is interesting," Qiao Mei said with a smile as she looked at the money in her hand.
When Liu Yun heard sounds outside, she quickly came out of her house. She leaned against the wall as she asked, "Qiao Mei, why is Tian Jun here to look for you?"
Qiao Mei told Liu Yun everything that had happened over the past few days and even told her about the incident with the toys in detail. Although Qiao Mei did not show off her wealth, the neighbors were not blind. They could tell from the bangle on Qiao Mei's hand, the jade pendant around her neck and the things which she gave them.
Based on these clues alone, they could guess that either Qiao Mei's family or her in-laws were rich. Qiao Mei used things that they had never seen before. Those toys were definitely worth more than 200 dollars. Giving those toys to the Tian family would be considered as letting them off easy!
"Looks like Miao Le won't be having a good time in the future," Liu Yun said gloatingly.
"She's unimportant, but I pity that child. I hope she still has some conscience and will treat the child well," Qiao Mei said resignedly.
"Such beasts! They have so much money at home and yet they don't even want to feed the child powdered milk! That child is so skinny that even your little piglets are stronger than him!" Liu Yun said.
"I don't think this is Tian Jun's money," Qiao Mei said.
Liu Yun stopped to think for a moment and exclaimed, "You're saying that Miao Le has hidden this money away! Goodness! The next time I see her, I must definitely teach her a lesson! How can there be such a black-hearted thing! She's worse than an animal! As the saying goes, even a vicious tiger will not eat its own cubs! That's her biological sister's child!"
Qiao Mei immediately said, "It's better to just keep this between us. If other people find out about this, it'll be difficult for Tian Jun to deal with it."