CHAPTER 282: CHAPTER 274: SISI STRIKES IT RICH

Niu Guiyuan watched coldly as the mother and son before her put on a show of deep affection. She hadn’t anticipated that her mother-in-law would turn out to be such a duplicitous person—the one who used to declare she’d treat her like her own daughter was now rubbing salt in her wounds right in front of Quanzhong. Ha, what irony!

Had it been her old self, she would have surely fired back. But now, her heart was dead. The only thing she wanted was for Junjun to return; nothing else mattered to her.

Seeing Niu Guiyuan’s lack of response, the old lady cried even harder, incessantly blaming herself, which was really aggravating to listen to.

Sisi could hardly stand listening any longer, but she couldn’t take the lead for Niu Guiyuan. After all, she was an outsider and it wasn’t her place to judge another family’s domestic affairs, and no matter what, this old lady was Niu Guiyuan’s mother-in-law. They were family—she had no right or stance to criticize them.

After pondering for a moment, Sisi still spoke up, "Sister Guiyuan, you must pull yourself together. Your health is all you have. If you don’t care for yourself, who else will feel sorry for you?"

Niu Guiyuan nodded and managed a grateful, strained smile.

Before leaving, Sisi couldn’t resist saying, "Sister Guiyuan, this is something you could learn from Mrs. Wang. Look at her, heart wrenched with pain, yet still eating and sleeping well, never neglecting her health. Look at yourself; you don’t even resemble a person anymore."

The old lady’s face twitched upon hearing this. What was that about ’learning from her’? Why did Sisi’s words sound so unpleasant?

Wang Quanzhong glanced over at the old lady and saw his own mother’s rosy cheeks and full face, then turned to Niu Guiyuan with her prominent cheekbones and pale complexion—such a stark contrast made Wang Quanzhong’s heart sink, and he started to doubt the old lady’s claims of heartache.

Later, Sisi found the time to share the old lady’s behavior with Niu Sanxian. Although it was impolite to meddle in others’ family matters, if she didn’t speak up, the Niu family people would continue to falsely regard this old lady as a decent person. Niu Sanxian had praised the old lady on more than one occasion, and given Niu Guiyuan’s personality, she surely would not discuss these family issues with her own family.

After hearing Sisi’s words, Niu Sanxian’s eyebrows knitted together in worry. Who would have thought that the in-law mother could be such a hypocrite? He was half doubtful until he confirmed the story with Niu Guiyuan upon her return from work, which made Niu Sanxian furious.

"Guiyuan, why didn’t you tell Daddy earlier? Your father and brothers will not let the Wang family off easily."

"Daddy, let it go. She has a good reputation outside. If you and my brothers make a fuss, it will reflect poorly on our Niu family."

Niu Guiyuan stopped her father from acting rashly. Seeing that he was still upset, she said a few more kind words to finally calm Niu Sanxian.

Niu Guiyuan let out a bitter laugh. Ever since Junjun went missing, the way her in-laws and even her husband Wang Quanzhong had been behaving got her disheartened—they kept pressuring her to have another child. Wang Quanzhong would demand sex every time he came home, not caring whether she was willing or not. They all treated her like an animal. Didn’t they consider that, with Junjun’s incident, she, as a mother, wasn’t in the mood for it? Why couldn’t they give her some time to breathe?

Later, Niu Guiyuan received several more visits from Sisi. Seeing that Niu Guiyuan still held a hint of sorrow between her brows, Sisi was relieved to find that she looked much healthier.

Despite the sadness, life must go on, and Sisi knew that in October of this year, the Central would issue a document to restore the university entrance examination, and China’s first such examination after ten tumultuous years would take place on December 23rd and 24th.

Sisi was determined to participate in this year’s examination. She was 15 years old now and would be 16 when she starts university next year. After graduating in four years, she would be 20 – the prime of her life.

For this day, Sisi had skipped several grades, and this summer she even took the high school final examination, successfully obtaining her diploma.

As for the university entrance examination paper of that year, Sisi had some recollections. There was a time in her previous life when it was popular to attempt the 1977 examination papers online, and she had done quite well in the subjects of Chinese, mathematics, and English.

The 1977 university entrance examination paper was very simple. She also remembered the essay question – two options to choose from, one was "In these exciting times," and the other was "Discussing the youth era." There was some difficulty in this, as it required relating to the context of the current era, but this wasn’t a problem for her. In her previous life, she had read many excellent sample essays online. By copying here and there, she could certainly put together an excellent essay.

Sisi’s goal was Tsinghua University, to attend the same school as Tian Xinhua. As for her major, she hadn’t decided yet. She originally wanted to study foreign languages, but considering she already knew several, she thought it better not to make that her main focus. She was also interested in painting, though she hadn’t settled on it. If there were no other better options at the time, studying painting wouldn’t be an issue – becoming a highbrow artist was also an appealing idea.

After obtaining her diploma, Sisi went to Hong Kong, a trip she had arranged last year when she returned from Hong Kong with Mu Xiulan. He Xuewen took her to Guangzhou; he insisted, although she repeatedly stressed she was an adult.

A Ji greeted her with politeness, different from the usual form shown by elders to the young – it was a respectful politeness. Sisi laughed inwardly, thinking perhaps this was her using someone else’s influence to her advantage. Nevertheless, she still affectionately called him "Uncle Ji" as usual, behaving very sweetly, which pleased him greatly.

This time, Sisi brought five jars of diluted Qiong Wine. Boss Qiao probably had already finished last year’s two bottles. This time she brought more; not only for Boss Qiao to drink, but also for her mother, and she brought two jars of beauty wine especially for Mu Xiulan.

The one to pick her up was the cool-looking Ah Li. She believed that by now, Ah Li must be a big star.

"Brother Li! How is the box office for ’Bright Moon Blade’?" Sisi was concerned about her investment.

"Not bad, 5.8 million," Brother Li said nonchalantly, as if commenting the weather was particularly good today.

"Brother Li, I’m rich, haha, I’m rich!"

Sisi jumped around with excitement, hugging Brother Li and shouting. She was rich, with 5.8 million; the movie only cost 1 million to make. She invested 200,000, and after the other costs such as actor fees were deducted, she would get at least 800,000 in dividends – a net profit of over half a million! That was strong Hong Kong Dollar in the 1970s!

Indeed, investing in films was the fastest way to make money besides gambling. As long as she stayed close to He Chunfeng, with his genius directing, Sisi could almost see countless votes flying towards her!

Brother Li looked at the ecstatic Sisi and smirked. But he had to admit that making movies was indeed profitable. His acting fee for this film was 200,000. But compared to the money Sisi and He Chunfeng made, it was a trivial amount. Making movies was indeed faster money than running a gambling den. Maybe he should persuade Boss Qiao to start a film company too?