69novels 0030 This was never what I wanted....
0030 This was never what I wanted....
"This was never what I wanted."
"I never intended to be angry with you."
"You once saved me from those covetous relatives."
"You swore to me you would never gamble again."
"But you lied to me."
"You betrayed my trust!"
Apartment building, second floor
The room was dimly lit, with only the four moons hanging low outside the window casting their thin light through, outlining the dust in the air and faintly illuminating Tita, who sat in the center of the room.
Looking at Tita, who had clearly been waiting for him all night, and seeing her bloodshot eyes, Zhou Yun couldn't help but break out in a sweat.
"I... went to get the fish sauce." Zhou Yun said to Tita somewhat awkwardly, holding bread in one hand and fish sauce in the other.
"Professor Lucretius told me that you went to the Temple District to find his friend and help discuss the debt."
Tita crossed her arms, leaned forward slightly, and stared at Zhou Yun's face with a rather imposing air:
"I went to the Catholic temple to look for you, but they said you left a long time ago and didn't even discuss the debt—and you were incredibly generous, giving them a dinar!"
When Tita uttered the word "dinar," she bit it so hard it seemed as if she were squeezing it out from between her teeth.
"Professor Lucretius gave you thirty dinars! Where's the money?! Did you gamble it all away?!"
Zhou Yun remained silent, simply placing the fish sauce and bread on the ground, walking forward, and taking a small booklet with a black plastic cover from his pocket, handing it to Tita.
"Another IOU?" Tita took a deep breath; her fingers trembled as she held the small booklet.
The cover of this little book was embossed with copper plates, and the central image was a broken lighthouse.
"This time it's the Broken Lighthouse Temple that you owe? I'd like to see how much you owe this time!"
"I'm telling you, no matter how much you owe, I'm not helping you anymore! Go back to being a debt slave!"
As she spoke, Tita gripped the small book tightly with her fingers, the sweat between them dampening the edges.
She took several deep breaths, but after a long while, she still didn't seem to have made up her mind to open it.
"Actually..." Zhou Yun opened his mouth, wanting to tell Tita that this wasn't an IOU, but—
"Shut up!" Tita cursed at Zhou Yun fiercely, then gritted her teeth, "I will still give you my father's pension. You can use it to pay off your debts or gamble it away. I won't care about you anymore."
"Consider this your repayment for taking care of me and helping me get rid of those greedy relatives. From now on, we have no further relationship..."
"...But I still have to tell you, that money was earned with my life, and it's my future dowry. If you have any conscience at all, don't gamble it away. Try to pay off the debt...even if it's just to escape Macurag."
Zhou Yun couldn't help but exhale as he listened to Tita's words.
Tita still couldn't bring herself to do it...
This young girl, with her personality and behavior, if Zhou Yun really is a gambling addict, her whole life will be ruined.
After saying these words, Tita seemed to have finally made up her mind. She gripped the cover tightly with her fingers and slowly opened it.
Tita was prepared. She had already considered that Zhou Yun might owe her several hundred more dinars, or perhaps even more—more than a thousand dinars? Several thousand dinars?
But when Tita opened it, she was still shocked by the enormous, dazzling number.
"Fifty-three thousand two hundred and four dinars," Tita said, looking at the numbers with an almost calm voice.
She closed the notebook, glanced at Zhou Yun, and then—
Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!
Tita slapped herself three times in a row, leaving Zhou Yun speechless.
She ignored Zhou Yun, lowered her head again, opened the notebook, and looked at the number once more.
"53,204 dinars, 239,418 grams of silver, a quarter ton of silver."
"Wow, Uncle, you're amazing! Your niece is impressed."
Tita looked at Zhou Yun with an empty, indifferent, calm, and lifeless gaze.
"...It's not a debt, look closely," Zhou Yun said softly, pointing to the ledger.
Tita blinked, lowered her head, and looked at the little book again...
"Savings?" Tita tilted her head, then closed her little book.
"Tita, our family is rich now," Zhou Yun said to Tita with a smile.
Tita blinked, then suddenly raised her hand and slapped herself across the face several times.
Then, her eyes gradually lit up and brightened, becoming radiant. A slightly silly smile appeared on her lips as she pointed at the numbers in the notebook and stared wide-eyed at Zhou Yun.
Won't this make the child stupid...?
"How did you get here? Are your internal organs still intact?" Tita blurted out.
Zhou Yun couldn't help but chuckle and shook his head repeatedly.
"Actually, your uncle here is a gambling addict."
"That was all a pretense before, just waiting to trick the dealer today."
Tita slowly loosened her grip on the book, revealing a relieved smile. Suddenly, her eyes filled with tears, which fell onto her thighs.
"Even if that's the case, you're not allowed to gamble anymore."
Tita lowered her head and whispered:
"Do you know what? These past few nights I've been dreaming about creditors breaking into my house, dragging you out of bed, shackled you, stuffing you into an iron cage, whipping you, and taking you to the slave market with your head half-submerged in mud, waiting for someone to offer you a price, and being kicked in boots. I've also seen you being bitten by a swarm of insects, thrown into a gladiatorial arena, dying in the snow, and tied to a burning altar with a sun hanging above it..."
Isn't this dream a little too vivid...? Zhou Yun reached out and patted Tita's head.
"Everything is fine now." Zhou Yun used his telepathic spiritual energy to slightly enhance the persuasiveness of his words.
"Hmm..." Tita lowered her head and obediently uttered a soft "hmm," then... "Tomorrow we'll take all the dinars and scatter them in the yard downstairs. I'm going to jump from the second floor and swim in them!"
Zhou Yun slightly opened his mouth,
He had noticed it before; Tita's thinking was very jumpy, often starting from zero frames, saying things and doing things very suddenly.
Is this child mentally healthy?
"You'll fall and die; it's a sheet-like solid, not a liquid."
Zhou Yun poked Tita's head with his finger while picking up the bread and fish sauce he had just put on the ground.
"Hurry up and eat." Zhou Yun had been starving all night, and Tita probably hadn't eaten or drunk anything either. "Try the fish sauce from the Catholic Church and see how it tastes."
Zhou Yun smeared some fish sauce on the bread in the Catholic church and said.
He took a bite...
"How are you feeling?" Tita asked.
"It's better than Tarasal."
Zhou Yun solemnly put down the bread in his hand:
"This time it's like Mortarion's bathwater."
Who is Mortarian?
"A big, smelly moth that's bad at math."