When Zhang Jiahua asked to see Tuantuan, Deng Yuyuan openly brought her out for him to see. She urged him to get a divorce as soon as possible and settle the child support.
She knew very well that no matter how her marriage with Zhang Jiahua turned out, the fact that he was Tuantuan's biological father would never change. She believed that her daughter would be able to navigate their slightly complicated parental relationship in the future.
Besides, having a father like Zhang Jiahua might make Tuantuan's future path much smoother.
Whether it was the Zhang Jiahua from the original novel or the one she had interacted with, aside from his blind filial piety, he was handsome, sincere, and an excellent worker. Once he truly broke free from his family's constraints, his good character and high capability would surely land him a great job.
Staying away from the Zhang Family meant staying away from Zhang Jiahua's biggest flaw—his blind filial piety. The side of himself he showed Tuantuan would mostly be that of a positive, loving father.
No matter what, this life was much better than the one in the original novel, where they lived with that large family, working like beasts of burden while eating next to nothing.
These days, seeing Zhang Jiahua visit unfailingly, rain or shine, the young men at the Knowledge Youth Institute began to soften their stance. They hesitantly asked Deng Yuyuan if she would give Zhang Jiahua a chance to turn over a new leaf.
Deng Yuyuan asked in return, "If you were me, would you go back?"
The young men thought about Deng Yuyuan's life in the Zhang Family, which she had told them about, and recalled Granny Zhang's shrewish and unreasonable behavior that day. They shook their heads in unison and said sympathetically, "Unless Brother Jiahua splits from the family, Mr. Deng, you're better off staying at the Knowledge Youth Institute.
"We've spent all these days feeding Tuantuan until she's chubby and healthy. It certainly wasn't so she could be turned back into a skinny little monkey."
The two female educated youths nodded in empathetic agreement. Deng Yuyuan had finally managed to put on a little weight; she couldn't afford to get painfully thin again.
To avoid gossip, Deng Yuyuan was mainly cared for by the two female youths. However, Tuantuan was everyone's little darling. Every day after work, they would all come back and play with the baby. Listening to Tuantuan's babbling allowed the male youths to experience the joys of painless fatherhood ahead of time.
Whenever Zhang Ci Hao came to visit, the women felt even more at ease letting the men take care of Tuantuan for longer stretches. The reserve the men usually faked in front of the female youths would completely vanish. They practically fought over who got to hold the soft, sweet-smelling baby under Zhang Ci Hao's guidance and supervision. They even spent their own money to buy Tuantuan lots of small toys.
Of course, more often than not, they would end up making Tuantuan cry while playing with her. Then, feeling guilty and utterly overwhelmed, they would frantically try to coax her back to happiness. As a result, when Tuantuan occasionally cried too loudly in the middle of the night, the deeply asleep young men would merely roll over and continue their slumber.
Crying? What crying?! They were already so used to hearing it during the day. As long as they weren't the ones who made her cry, it was fine.
"Hey, when will Tuantuan learn to speak? I'm dying to hear her call me Uncle," one of the young men said.
"Get lost. If she's calling anyone, she'll call Comrade Deng Yuyuan first. You barely even help take care of her, yet you sure know how to daydream," another male youth replied with a laugh.
The bespectacled male youth glanced at Deng Yuyuan. "...So, are you really getting a divorce and never going back?"
"Yes, I'm not going back. Once this countryside placement ends, I'll take Tuantuan away with me," Deng Yuyuan replied.
The bespectacled male youth nodded in understanding. "My family is quite well-off. I'll have them send over some milk powder ration coupons as a gift for Tuantuan. It breaks my heart to see her drinking rice water every day."
"...Thank you. I'll pay you back as soon as I have the money." Deng Yuyuan swallowed her overwhelming sense of guilt and bitterness.
During her postpartum confinement, when she couldn't go outside to brave the wind, she would open her farming game and grind relentlessly whenever Tuantuan was taken away to play. She had already upgraded to Level 2 and unlocked cows, allowing her to secretly exchange her coins for milk to feed Tuantuan.
Truth be told, the farming game was quite generous in some aspects. The exchanged food came with its own container, which would automatically disappear once the food was consumed, saving her the trouble of disposing of it. Furthermore, the milk produced by the cows came with three options:
[Sell: +4 Gold Coins.]
[Transfer: One glass of milk (Adult version), -2 Gold Coins.]
[Transfer: One glass of milk (Infant version), -4 Gold Coins.]
Earning gold coins on a new account was no easy task. To keep Tuantuan supplied with milk, Deng Yuyuan had nearly depleted all of her available liquid currency, but it ensured her daughter never went thirsty.
To conceal this unspeakable secret, she had no choice but to owe another favor. It was fine; she would head up the mountain as soon as her confinement ended!
A little more debt wouldn't hurt, as long as she could pay it off in the future.
Deng Yuyuan now had two plots of farmland and two cows in her barn. When a new animal was initially unlocked, the game gifted one for free, and unlocking a new setting also rewarded her with an empty slot.
However, any extra empty slots had to be purchased. Unlike the clear pricing in her previous computer games, this farming game charged extortionate prices. The cost of all venue slots was calculated cumulatively: buying the first slot cost ten gold coins, the second twenty, the third forty, and so on, doubling with each subsequent purchase.
Deng Yuyuan did the math. Opening up just one extra slot each for the farmland, woodland, mountain, barn, stable, sheepfold, fish pond, and so on would add up to a staggering amount.
She thought, "Damn it, even with a cheat ability, can I still not escape the fate of being exploited?"
In the blink of an eye, a month passed. Aside from Zhang Jiahua, who regularly showed up like clockwork at the entrance of the Knowledge Youth Institute after work, Deng Yuyuan was living a very comfortable life.
It was currently the busy farming season. The Zhang Family was down one hardworking, uncomplaining beast of burden. Wang Qian was used to being lazy and was currently pregnant with a future grandson, leaving Granny Zhang swamped with endless chores. Even if Granny Zhang wanted to stir up trouble for Deng Yuyuan, recalling that fierce, vicious glare from before made her give up the idea. Gradually, she began to harbor some resentment toward her second daughter-in-law. Why wasn't she doing any work at all?
The village chief's wife, however, would occasionally bring Zhang Ci Hao, her eldest daughter-in-law, and Shi Tou to see Deng Yuyuan, attempting to act as a peacemaker.
Deng Yuyuan didn't like listening to her words, but unexpectedly, Zhang Ci Hao hated them even more and preemptively shut his mother up.
He would either tactfully say, "Don't talk about this in front of the child," or bluntly state, "Mom, aren't you just ruining people's good moods on purpose? This depends on Brother Jiahua's own efforts; what others say is useless." He finally concluded, "If you have all this energy, use it to help look after the child so my eldest brother and sister-in-law can work with peace of mind."
Faced with a son who always sided with outsiders, the village chief's wife was completely helpless. Then, another idea sparked in her mind, making it absolutely impossible for her to continue urging Deng Yuyuan to jump back into that living hell.
Both of Tuantuan's parents were good-looking, and Tuantuan herself was fair and clean. Her little face was as adorable as the New Year picture dolls hung on her walls at home, and she was exceptionally well-behaved. It was obvious at a glance that she was destined to be a beauty. If she could get together with their Shi Tou, or if they could arrange a childhood betrothal, any child they had in the future would surely inherit her mother's stunning looks...
She would gladly treat Deng Yuyuan and Tuantuan like absolute royalty and provide for them!