QTIMP -Chapter 240 Character Persona – Vicious (Part 3)

Tsk tsk, there’s quite a lot here.

Si Qiu didn’t believe there was nothing fishy going on. The combined salaries of the two weren’t low, and on Father Si’s side there were no elderly relatives at all—there wasn’t even any extended family in contact.

On Mother Si’s side, there were indeed parents, but she also had a brother, so she didn’t need to support anyone in old age. In fact, because of the incident back then when she helped Father Si get a job, she had a falling-out with her own brother.

In recent years, she rarely even went back home.

So their expenses, aside from daily living costs, were only for the five children’s schooling. Saving up this much money wasn’t completely unreasonable. But if you counted carefully, it still wouldn’t exceed 9,000.

She searched Si Dong’s room again and actually found another 70 yuan. It seemed he had kept the change on him.

The only pity was that the 200 yuan in Si Nan’s hands wasn’t recovered. She really was that vicious.

Si Qiu whistled softly, tidied up the table, washed the dishes clean, then slung on her schoolbag and went to school.

Dinner that night was sweet potato porridge, with a small dish of pickled vegetables that had absolutely no oil.

No one dared to object.

Who knew that just after dinner, while Si Qiu was washing dishes in the kitchen, she suddenly heard someone shouting outside.

“Comrade Si, is Comrade Li at home?”

The two quickly stood up and opened the door. “We’re home, we’re home. Hello, may I ask who you are?”

“Ah, hello. I’m from the resettlement office. I’m here to deliver your sent-down notice.”

“A sent-down notice? My second daughter already took the train this morning.”

The person flipped through the documents in his hand. “Oh, it’s not your second daughter. It’s your eldest son, Si Dong. The reported destination a few days ago was the northwest—Hongyan County.”

“What!”

Mother Si was shocked and snatched the notice over, reading it word by word.

Then her whole body went dazed. “How… how is this possible? We didn’t submit any application. The one we applied for was the second daughter—she’s already gone!”

At this moment, the fourth child Si Xi pouted and said, “Could it be that Big Sister submitted it for him? I was wondering why Big Sister didn’t make a fuss this time. With her usual temper, if she knew Mom secretly registered her, she would’ve caused a huge scene. I cried a bit this time too, but I only did it to get some money.”

The fifth child Si Bei nodded as well. “Yeah, I even heard Second Sister complaining before that Mom and Dad were stingy and didn’t treat her like their daughter at all.”

Si Qiu almost liked these two little cuties. She held back her smile and finished cleaning up before quickly slipping back into her room.

The others were still murmuring and watching the commotion.

After hearing this, Father Si and Mother Si also thought of that possibility.

But no matter what they thought, the resettlement office worker remained extremely firm.

“Regardless of who submitted the application, I’m telling you—be at the train station at 6 a.m. in three days to collect the tickets. If we don’t see the person then, our office will report it to your work unit. And those who try to escape will be sent for labor reform.”

Mother Si grabbed the sleeve of the man opposite her. “Leader, please be flexible. My eldest son already found a job. I’ll take him to handle the onboarding tomorrow.”

The man showed no mercy. “What job? His file has already been submitted. I’d like to see which department would dare hire him now. You have two days. Prepare quickly. If we don’t see him then, don’t blame us for being ruthless.”

His stern words snapped the couple back to reality.

They watched as the two people turned and left.

Mother Si returned to the room and burst into loud sobs.

“My poor son!”

Father Si sat there smoking gloomily. “Alright, what’s the use of crying? Sort out the money and coupons at home. Tomorrow the two of us will go separately to prepare things for the eldest. That place in the far northwest is poor in food and water—how is he supposed to survive there? We must prepare enough supplies.”

Mother Si quickly nodded, but kept cursing under her breath. “That damn second daughter—how could she be so cruel? They said they’d find her a job, so why did she still sign her brother up? And she even sent him to the worst possible place… wuwu, my son!”

Still crying, she went back to the bedroom and started searching for money and ration tickets. But not long after, another loud wail came from inside.

Father Si crushed out his cigarette. “What now? Didn’t I tell you to stop crying? Can’t you tell what’s urgent and what isn’t?”

“Wuwu… dear, it’s gone. Everything’s gone.”

Father Si had a bad feeling and rushed into the room. “Gone? What’s gone?”

Inside, Mother Si was sitting in front of the wardrobe, her face covered in tears and snot, holding an empty biscuit tin.

Seeing him enter, she cried, “All the money and ration tickets I saved are gone!”

Father Si immediately turned around and searched under the bed. In no time, the couple turned the entire house upside down, checking every hiding place for money and valuables.

But everything was empty.

At the same time, both of them suddenly thought of what the fifth child had said earlier.

Mother Si let out another piercing cry. “That cursed second daughter—she’s trying to kill me, her own mother!”

Meanwhile, Si Dong—who had originally been stunned by the notice from the educated youth office—was awakened by his mother’s repeated screams.

He rushed back to his room to search frantically, but found nothing as well.

Whether it was because of the sudden notice of being sent to the countryside, or because the money was gone, he cried miserably, sniffling and sobbing.

That night, the Si household never had peace. Fortunately, the neighbors understood their situation and no one came knocking.

The three younger children stayed huddled in their rooms, too afraid to move.

The next morning, Si Qiu got up under Mother Si’s gloomy stare and started preparing breakfast with the grain.

She overheard the couple discussing borrowing two months’ salary from work to buy emergency supplies for the eldest son.

The rest would be slowly mailed later.

After rushing around, and adding Si Dong’s bedding and clothes, they finally packed a large bundle. In the end, they only had 50 yuan left—completely different from how Si Nan had left.

When Si Qiu saw her eldest brother’s expression, she silently lit a candle in her heart for the couple. It seemed they had really been resented again—but perhaps they deserved it.

After everything was done and the eldest son was sent off, both parents looked as if they had aged half their spirits away.

After dinner yesterday, Mother Si said to Si Qiu, “Go get paper and pen. Write a letter to your second sister. I want to ask if she even has a conscience!”

Si Qiu obediently nodded, quickly ran back to get paper and pen, and began writing the letter.

After finishing, she let both parents read it, then sealed it in an envelope from home.

“Mom, I’ll be going past the post office on my way to school tomorrow. I’ll mail it then.”

Mother Si nodded and said nothing more. She was already irritated by Si Qiu’s increasingly beautiful face and waved her off impatiently.

Si Qiu pretended to look dejected and returned to her room. Every time this happened, Mother Si would feel a strange sense of satisfaction rising inside her.

The next day, Si Qiu was once again the last to leave. As for the letter, she took it and found another classmate in her class—Yun Zhe.