Miss. Pierce, you really have it?"
"Why would I deceive you?"
She flourished a 'grain coupon' in front of everyone, then continued, "My husband used to be a soldier, and yesterday he brought home a bunch of these tickets.
He has lots to spare, more than our family can consume, so I thought I could trade with you guys.
You can exchange anything with me, grains or money, it's all fine."
Even among tickets, national grain tickets were particularly selected.
People could no longer remember their past negative impressions of Elena as they rushed off to their rooms to grab things to trade with.
Elena had brought about sixty tickets, which she had now entirely traded off.
She glanced at what she now held in her hands: thirty bags of rice, ten bags of flour, and a pile of money.
She'd struck it rich.
The grin on her face was irrepressible.
"I've traded all I had today, but if anyone else wants to trade for national gold tickets later, you know where to find me.
I'll ask my husband to find more for you."
With that, she concluded the trading period.
Elena took another look inside the room, waiting for Roland to leave.
Roland, residing inside the room, could feel the bustling atmosphere outside.
He was holding his money, feeling somewhat heavy-hearted.
Most of what he'd used and consumed here was provided by Elena.
Roland had not spent much of his own money because of his poor family conditions.
He had never received much in subsidies from his family.
All this money was sent to him by his fiancé.
Thinking of this, Roland once again began to resent Elena.
What on earth was Elena thinking?
Why did she suddenly want me to return the money?
Previously, it wasn't like he had demanded Elena spend money on him, so why should he repay it?
Despite his grievances, he knew that if he didn't pay it back, it would ruin his reputation.
Here, reputation was extremely important.
Thinking of his future, he clenched his teeth, and eventually walked out the door with the money.
Approaching Elena, he handed her the money.
Despite his discomfort, he still managed to keep a soft smile on his face, "Thanks for lending me money before, Miss. Pierce."
"No big deal."
Elena received the stack of money and was taken aback when she felt the thickness of it.
She counted the money, finding there was a total of one hundred dollars.
After a quick calculation, it was somewhat less than what the original had spent on him.
However, seeing Roland staring so painfully at the money, Elena understood that this might be all of Roland's savings.
One should not push people too hard.
Thinking of this, Elena cracked a smile, "No problem, Mr. Roland.
The money you owed is all here.
It's all settled."
Although there's still a short, she was already satisfied with getting back so much.
Hearing Elena's words, the resentfulness in Roland's eyes lessened a bit.
Losing the money was not a problem, at least he could finally cut ties with this woman.
Elena also had the same mindset.
Recouping the money spent by the original owner was akin to earning it for herself.
Furthermore, this could get rid of Roland, a major nuisance.
She received the items, said a casual goodbye, and left with the items.
When she returned home, there was no sign of Tyler and the children.
Elena was somewhat curious, why had everyone disappeared early in the morning?
They didn't even eat breakfast?
However, she considered that her outing had taken up quite a lot of time, and it was almost ten now.
Humming a tune, she started putting away the items she had just brought back.
With these, her life would be a bit easier in the days to come.
Just as she had finished organizing the items, a nearly roaring scream came from the door.
Upon stepping outside, she saw an anxious woman yelling at her, "Mrs. Gilbert, go to the river quickly, your son Jadel has fallen into the river!"
The iron basin in her hand fell to the ground with a "clang".
Before the echo had completely faded, a figure darted out of the house like an arrow.
The speed caught the woman who came to deliver the message by surprise.
Huh?
Running so quickly, is this still the same Tyler's wife who abused her own son?
Elena had an average physical condition.
She was gasping heavily after running a few hundred meters but she didn't dare to stop.
She knew that even one second of delay would put her child in more danger.
Holding her breath, she arrived at the riverside.
She saw a faint figure dozens of meters away holding onto Joel her third son, who was in fact, her Jaden her second son.
Stopping by their side, she caught her breath quickly and asked, "Where is your brother?"
The cries of Jaden stopped as he pointed towards the middle of the river where a bunch of water plants were and yelled, "Mama, quickly save brother!
I don't want my brother to die!"
Elena followed his finger's direction and her heart sank.
That area was filled with water plants. Without taking a closer look, one couldn't spot Jadel.
If he had just fallen into the water, it was one thing, but if he was entangled in the water plants... Elena didn't dare to think further.
She immediately took off her clothes and shoes without any hesitation and jumped into the river, swimming towards Jadel.
The area filled with water plants was challenging for a rescue, might even pull herself in.
But Elena didn't care anymore.
She kept swimming forward, avoiding all the water plants, and finally grabbed Jadel's arm.
It was alright!
The water plants were deep, and Jadel was just a kid after all.
His feet weren't entangled by the plants.
Jadel thought he was going to die.
But seeing his mom in this moment, his strength drained body tightly clung onto Elena's neck.
As he clung onto her, he sobbed: "Mama, I was so scared!"
"Don't cry, don't cry, mommy is going to save you."
While consoling her son, Elena carefully swam with him towards the riverbank.
There were no mishaps along the way.
As they got close to the shore, a large hand with distinct bone joints stretched out towards her.
"Give me the boy first." He said.
Looking up, she saw that it was Tyler.
After taking the boy into his arms, Tyler looked at her worriedly.
As he was about to extend his hand to pull her up, another figure approached from the side.
"You, you're not even dressed!"