“Ring-ring~~” A phone rang.

Yu Chuhui picked up her phone and saw it was her mother; joy immediately lit up her face.

“Hello~ Mom.”

“AChu, I can't go on living like this. You have to be the judge for your mother.” Mother Yu's voice, filled with a plea for help, came through the phone instantly.

Yu Chuhui grew anxious, turned around, and hurried toward her room; it wasn't appropriate to discuss private matters in front of her roommates.

A loud “bang” of the door closing startled Chen Cheng and Ye Zhenzhen in the hallway. They looked at each other, then both looked toward 2202.

“Yu Dafu, don't you touch my mother!” Yu Chuhui roared, almost screaming.

“What kind of attitude? I treat you exactly how you treat my mother.”

“I'm telling you right now: if you dare to hit or berate my mother again, when you get old, I'll treat you the same way. I absolutely won't take care of you properly.”

...

Chen Cheng and Ye Zhenzhen stood in the hallway as if frozen, listening intently, when Zhu Zhe came out, pulling He Minhong along.

Sigh, gossip really is human nature.

Ye Zhenzhen and Chen Cheng exchanged a glance, feeling a bit awkward.

They looked at Zhu and He, smiling sheepishly.

“Why don't you take those two over to your place? Give Xiao Yu some space,” Chen Cheng said to Ye Zhenzhen.

Earlier, when he was watching TV, he felt uncomfortable, like something was stuck in his throat.

Now he understood; her roommate was arguing with her family. Ducking out to give her some space was perfectly fine.

But was it necessary to leave the door cracked open?

And have four people sitting by the door listening?

And after listening, they decided to go eat at Ye Zhenzhen's?

What are you trying to express? That you gave your roommate privacy? That you shouldn't listen to other people's phone calls?

Director, where is your logic? Just forcing the plot along?

Yu Chuhui's mother had been suffering domestic violence from her father for years. It was probably happening again, and Mother Yu was calling for help.

Yu Chuhui naturally felt heartbroken for her mother and offered to buy her a ticket to come to Shanghai, but Mother Yu refused.

She wanted to guard the Yu family house and wait for the grandparents to pass away, ensuring the house would go to Yu Dafu, so it could eventually fall to Yu Chuhui. Yu Chuhui immediately stated she didn't want the house. The two argued back and forth for a long time, and finally, Yu Chuhui hung up the phone awkwardly.

Sometimes Chen Cheng wondered: if the Yu family's house wasn't in some remote, obscure town, but in a top-tier city like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Shenzhen, could Yu Chuhui still say “I don't want that house” without hesitation?

Among those four cities, only Guangzhou's housing prices were slightly better.

In the other cities, a decent house would cost at least five million, or even ten million.

Could Yu Chuhui resist such a temptation?

Ye Zhenzhen nodded and beckoned Zhu Zhe and He Minhong to enter 2201.

“I ordered takeout,” Ye Zhenzhen said, looking at the five or six takeout boxes Chen Cheng had taken out.

“So you ordered. Isn't Sister Zhu and Hong Hong here?” Chen Cheng said nonchalantly.

Besides, he had a big appetite and could finish it.

“Uh... I ordered for four people.”

“...You should have said so earlier.”

“You didn't say you bought food either,” Ye Zhenzhen retorted, huffing.

He Minhong looked at the two of them, then at Zhu Zhe, with a gossipy look in her eyes.

Zhu Zhe gave her a subtle nudge, telling her to be more discreet with her gossip-mongering.

“What else can we do?” Chen Cheng laughed and called out to Zhu Zhe and He Minhong. “Sister Zhu, why are you standing there? Come over and help eat.”

“Then I won't stand on ceremony,” Zhu Zhe replied with a smile.

The group sat at the table, and Chen Cheng ate mindlessly with his chopsticks.

Ye Zhenzhen and Zhu Zhe had no appetite, thinking about Yu Chuhui's situation.

He Minhong, with a look of “innocence,” happily picked at the steamed leopard coral grouper that Chen Cheng had brought back.

“It's probably about time. Why don't you go call Xiao Yu over?” Chen Cheng ate for a while, then glanced at Zhu Zhe and Ye Zhenzhen. “Besides, if she doesn't come, you two won't have any appetite anyway.”

Ye Zhenzhen was great in every way, except she was a bit like He Minhong.

A little bit “saintly,” though thankfully she was sensible and had boundaries.

He Minhong's hand, which was reaching for food, stopped instantly; she had been enjoying herself.

She looked at Zhu Zhe and Ye Zhenzhen, who hadn't really touched their food, and felt embarrassed and annoyed, thinking Chen Cheng was targeting her.

“I'll go,” Zhu Zhe said, nodding to Chen Cheng and Ye Zhenzhen.

After Yu Chuhui arrived, the meal became even more somber.

Zhu Zhe broke the awkward silence. “Since everyone is here.”

“There's something I'd like to ask for your help with.”

The others looked up at her, signaling her to continue.

“This matter... well, it's a bit of a family scandal.”

“I'm the eldest in my family, with a younger brother and sister below me.”

“My younger brother and sister basically relied on my support to finish high school and college.”

“I'm not exactly soft-hearted. I only covered tuition; I didn't provide living expenses, making them work part-time.”

“But my parents doted on them, tightening their own belts, and even gave the living expenses I sent them to my brother and sister.”

Yu Chuhui's expression changed. “Sister Zhu, if that's the case...”

Zhu Zhe smiled. “You're so sharp; you must have guessed it right again.”

“That's right... greed is bottomless. I raised two spoiled brats from a poor family.” Zhu Zhe shrugged helplessly, smiling bitterly.

“After they graduated from college, I stopped giving money. I only send a thousand yuan a month to my parents for living expenses.”

“But in their minds, they think: 'Since you were able to cough up tens of thousands of yuan every year before, you must be very well-off.'”

“'So if the family has a problem, you must be able to come up with the money.'”

“And now, in a few days, my younger brother is accompanying my younger sister to Shanghai to shop for her dowry.”

“Pfft~”

Chen Cheng couldn't hold it in. What year was it? Anything can be bought online. Coming to Shanghai to shop for a dowry? Wasn't this just coming to fleece Zhu Zhe?

Chen Cheng even anticipated what Zhu's parents and even Zhu Zhe's sister would say later.

If the dowry is small, it makes the Zhu family lose face; if the sister marries into a family, she'll be at a disadvantage; as the older sister, you must support her wedding, and so on.

“What are you laughing at?” Ye Zhenzhen playfully hit Chen Cheng beside her.

“Sister Zhu, they are out to fleece you. Anything you can buy in Shanghai, you can buy with a phone.” Chen Cheng shook his head with a smile.

Zhu Zhe nodded as well. “It's not just that. My brother is also bringing his girlfriend and her mother to Shanghai for medical treatment.”

“When they get here, they will definitely demand to see where I live.”

“So, you must help me hide the truth.”

“Just say that in order to support their education, I'm in debt up to my ears and haven't paid it off yet.”

“That I'm still destitute.”

“Don't let it slip that I have a small apartment,” Zhu Zhe specifically instructed.

Zhu Zhe had been working since graduating from vocational high school, about sixteen years now. A few years ago, she bought a small apartment on the outskirts, but it was too far from her workplace, so she had to rent it out and rent a small room in a shared apartment herself, using the rental price difference to subsidize her mortgage.

“Sister Zhu, wouldn't all your stuff in the room give you away?” He Minhong's IQ was still on point.

Yu Chuhui looked at Zhu Zhe, very touched. “Sister Zhu, thank you. Exposing your own family scandal to make me feel better.”

This was what Chen Cheng admired about Zhu Zhe: her courage to break the somber atmosphere, her desire to comfort someone troubled by family scandals, and how she awkwardly yet effectively revealed her own difficulties to elicit sympathy from everyone.

It was killing three birds with one stone!

Zhu Zhe looked at Yu Chuhui with a smile. “This is where I need your help. A lot of my stuff will definitely have to be moved into your room.”

“I can store some in my room too,” He Minhong said.

“My guest room is empty. Put it here; your brother and sister are least likely to see it.” Ye Zhenzhen finished and looked at Chen Cheng, signaling for him to chime in.

Chen Cheng frowned. “Sister Zhu, if they come to the 22nd floor, they're bound to find out the truth.”