From Dropout to Housemaid-The Upper Crust’s Favorite

Mother Jiang bristled the moment Jiang Xianyu mentioned the forty thousand yuan.

What was this supposed to mean? Was she now keeping tabs on the money she sent home?

Was this her way of saying she was ready to spread her wings and fly away?

“How dare you talk like that!” Mother Jiang snapped. “Who gave birth to you, raised you, and paid for your college education? If it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t have had the chance to get such a good job! And now that you’re earning money, you’re turning your back on us? How did I end up with such an ungrateful child?”

Here we go again-those same old lines.

Jiang Xianyu felt a wave of irritation rise within her.

“Mom, do you even hear yourself? Do you really not feel any shame saying that? I started working part-time to pay for my tuition when I was in high school. My college tuition was covered by Uncle because he couldn’t stand watching me struggle. As for my living expenses, I worked tirelessly at multiple jobs to earn them. I didn’t get a single penny from you. In fact, you had the audacity to demand my hard-earned money for your own use. Are you really my parents?”

The phone was on speaker, and Father Jiang, overhearing her words, responded with a tone full of indignation. “You ungrateful brat! We raised you from a baby, kept you fed and clothed, and made sure you grew up healthy. How have we ever wronged you?”

Mother Jiang chimed in, “Exactly! Back then, they wanted you, but we couldn’t bear to let you go, so we gave away your younger sister instead. We’ve been more than good to you.”

Father Jiang added, “If we truly didn’t care about you, you wouldn’t have even gone to college. We could’ve just torn up your acceptance letter.”

Jiang Xianyu was stunned by their shamelessness.

“Don’t try to make yourselves sound noble. You didn’t sell me because I was too old-over eight years old-and legally, I would’ve had to agree to it myself.”

“You raised me, sure, but it was nothing more than scraps of food to keep me alive. And once I was old enough, I became free labor for you. Quite the bargain, wasn’t it?”

“As for college, you didn’t send me out of generosity. You only agreed because Uncle paid my tuition, sparing you the expense. You saw it as an investment-four years later, I’d graduate and start earning money for the family. A free ATM, right? Of course, you were happy about that.”

Father and Mother Jiang began to sense something was off.

This wasn’t like their eldest daughter. She had never talked back like this before.

Deep down, they knew exactly how they had treated her over the years, no matter what they claimed.

But in their minds, her life was theirs to control. She owed them everything, and earning money for them was only natural.

With that thought, their confidence returned.

“Stop with the nonsense,” Father Jiang said firmly. “Send the money over now. If you don’t, we’ll go to your company and make a scene again! Let’s see how you manage to keep your job then!”

Jiang Xianyu laughed, her voice light and unrestrained. “Oh, don’t worry about that. Thanks to your little stunt at my company back in August, I’ve already lost my job. I resigned.”

Her words left Father and Mother Jiang speechless.

Father Jiang finally spoke, “Are you serious? Or are you just making this up to avoid sending us money?”

Jiang Xianyu said, “Did you really think that after you stormed into my workplace, calling me worthless and a disgrace, I could still stay in the company? Well, this works out perfectly. My job is gone, your monthly money is gone, and now everyone can be happy.”

As soon as those words left her mouth, Mother Jiang burst into tears. “You heartless wretch! Are you trying to drive me to my grave? Ungrateful child, so useless!”

Father Jiang, however, managed to keep a shred of composure. “You lost your job? Can’t you just jump to another company?”

Jiang Xianyu let out a cold laugh. “When I got promoted a few months ago, I signed an agreement. It prohibits me from working in the same industry. So everything I studied in college is now useless. And that means your monthly money is gone for good.”

Father Jiang still couldn’t believe it. “You’re not just making this up to fool us, are you?”

“You love causing trouble at my workplace, don’t you? You know the company’s address. Feel free to go there again,” Jiang Xianyu said mockingly.

This time, Father Jiang finally panicked. “Then hurry up and find another job! Anything will do, as long as it makes money.”

Jiang Xianyu curled her lips into a cold smile. “Right now, I’m working as a housemaid. It’s only for two months, and after that, I don’t even have enough to cover rent. Over the past three years, I’ve sent you so much money. Isn’t it fair for you to support me with some living expenses now?”

“We don’t have any money! The money you sent us was used to build the house. You know that!” Mother Jiang immediately protested at the mention of money.

Jiang Xianyu had no intention of wasting more words on them. “At this point, I can only pick up odd jobs to scrape together rent and living expenses. Thanks to you, I can barely support myself now. I have no money to give you, and from now on, don’t bother looking for me.”

With that, Jiang Xianyu hung up the phone.

These were words she’d wanted to say for a long time. In her previous life, she had never managed to voice them, not even up until her death at thirty-three.

This time, she finally let them out.

The heavy weight in her heart seemed to lift considerably as the words spilled out.

She wiped away the tears that had unknowingly streamed down her face, washed her hands, and returned to preparing the meal.

She didn’t notice Butler Lu’s fleeting figure at the kitchen door.

While Jiang Xianyu regained her calm, chaos erupted in the Jiang Family household, akin to a magnitude-nine earthquake.

Father Jiang puffed on his cigarette, glaring at Mother Jiang with resentment. “It’s all your fault! You insisted on causing a scene at her workplace. Now look what you’ve done-she’s lost her job, and the money’s gone! Do you realize she was sending us over ten thousand yuan a month?”

Especially in recent months, it was even more than that-several tens of thousands!

In their village, no other family had an income like theirs.

Whenever he went out, he boasted about his daughter being a vice president at a Hai City investment firm, sending money home every month.

Everywhere he looked, he saw envy and admiration in people’s eyes.

But now, his daughter had gone from being a vice president at a major company to working as a housemaid. How could he possibly explain that to anyone?

While he could endure the embarrassment for now, the real problem was the loss of money. That was the most critical issue.

They had been living a semi-retired lifestyle, working only sporadically. They had even planned to rely on their eldest daughter to help with Xinbao’s wedding. Now, all of that was gone.

Mother Jiang, however, wasn’t one to take the blame quietly. She retorted, “Oh, now you’re pushing all the blame onto me? Weren’t you the one who agreed when I said I wanted to go? And now you’re blaming me? What were you doing back then? Now that the money’s gone, why don’t you go out and earn some yourself?”

Father Jiang’s face twitched with anger. He shot Mother Jiang a glare and stomped out of the house. “I’m not wasting my breath arguing with you!”

The money their eldest daughter had sent had indeed been used to build the house, which had cost over two hundred thousand yuan. There were still twenty thousand yuan left in the account she had been transferring money to, and the family had saved another twelve thousand yuan over the years. Altogether, they had thirty-two thousand yuan in savings, so they weren’t in immediate financial trouble.

But with their eldest daughter no longer reliable, Father Jiang knew he would have to pick up his carpentry work again. After all, Xinbao still needed to get married.

Jiang Xianyu had no idea about the arguments erupting in the Jiang Family household, though she could easily imagine it.

At the moment, she was sitting in the dining room, having dinner with Grandpa Su and Grandma Su.

For some reason, she felt that the elderly couple’s gaze toward her was unusually kind, even tinged with a hint of pity.

Grandma Su caught Jiang Xianyu’s inadvertent glance and used the communal chopsticks to place a piece of rib into her bowl. “Here, Xiao Yu, eat more meat. You’re too thin. How can your body handle this?”

Old Master Su chimed in, “Exactly. Don’t go following those silly dieting trends. Health is beauty.”

Jiang Xianyu nodded blankly and ate the rib.

When Grandma Su had suddenly called her “Xiao Yu,” she had frozen for a moment. After all, Jiang Xiaoyu was her old name. But she quickly realized that Grandma Su’s “Xiao Yu” wasn’t the same as her former name.

Not understanding the reason for their change in attitude, Jiang Xianyu didn’t dwell on it. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t a bad thing.

Little did she know, while the elderly couple hadn’t been home during her phone call, Butler Lu had been there.