Xia He suddenly asked, “This television. You don’t care about it?”
“There’ll be compensation for sure.” Kong Lu smiled and sat down beside Xia He. “Shall we compensate Aunt for this television ourselves?”
Xia He smiled. So he was waiting for her to do something.
“We? Why the word we? Isn’t it your sister who broke it? Why should we pay for it?” Xia He emphasized the word “we”.
Kong Lu pretended to be confused and said with a smile, “She’s still young and still a child. As her elder brother and sister-in-law, we should take good care of her. She’s not married yet and doesn’t have a source of income. We should be more magnanimous.”
Xia He looked ahead expressionlessly and said, “You’re you and I’m me. She’s your sister. It’s only right that you bear the responsibility for her getting into trouble, but I’m not anybody to her. Besides, we’ll be strangers soon. If you want to compensate, think of a way yourself.”
Seeing that Xia He did not seem that angry, Kong Lu thought that there was still hope and said happily, “Sure!”
Xia He turned to look at Kong Lu and asked, “Do you know how much this 16-inch color television costs?”
Kong Lu said awkwardly, “I heard someone say it’s 1,000 to 2,000 dollars. It seems to be this price.”
He had asked the people around him about this matter. The neighbors also said that the television in Xia He’s house was worth a lot of money.
“This television was the first batch being sold in those days. When we bought it, it cost more than 2,000 dollars. Since we’ve used it for so long, I’ll give you a discounted price. Just 2,000 dollars will do,” Xia He said.
Kong Lu nodded and looked at Xia He happily. He had sent his salary home for so many years, so he definitely had enough for the compensation.
“Whatever amount you say! It’s up to you!” Kong Lu said excitedly.
“Kong Lu, don’t tell me you want me to take out the money?” Xia He asked.
Kong Lu was stunned for a moment and said embarrassedly, “Um… I don’t have any money on me. The money’s all at home.”
“Let me do the math for you. When we first got married, you didn’t have a single cent on you. You didn’t even give my family any betrothal gifts, right?” Xia He looked at Kong Lu mockingly.
Kong Lu’s fragile self-esteem was once again shattered by Xia He. He thought that Xia He was mocking him for being poor and downtrodden back then.
“That’s right! I didn’t have money back then! But later on, didn’t I give all my salary to my family!” Kong Lu roared.
Xia He nodded resignedly and said, “Then tell me, did you send your salary to me? You gave it all to your mother instead.”
Kong Lu instantly thought of something and the anger on his face gradually turned into disbelief.
“That’s right. In the first year after our marriage, your salary was only 45 dollars. You sent 30 dollars to your mother every month and kept the rest for your own expenses. You only gave me a total of 58 dollars that year, am I right?” Xia He said as she leaned against the sofa.
Kong Lu lowered his head and did not dare to look up at Xia He.
“Perhaps you don’t remember any of this anymore, and I actually don’t really care about these things, but I have a habit of keeping accounts. I like to record every income and expense. Even if it’s just a small sum of money for a small bun, I will note it down. My account books are in the bedside drawer at home. You know that, right?” Xia He gave Kong Lu a dark look.
Kong Lu nodded stiffly and said, “Yes.”
“But you’ve never looked at them before, right? You don’t care about the accounts at home.” Xia He got up and went into the room to take out a few brown paper-wrapped books from her bag.
“These are all the accounts from the past few years. After so many years of marriage, you only gave me about 500 dollars in total. My daily expenses for your mother and sister have been more than 500 dollars for so many years.” Xia He placed the account books on the table and pushed them in front of Kong Lu.
“Also, your mother always says that your brothers are having a hard time and she has borrowed money and countless items from me. Guess how much it is? It’s 2,682 dollars in cash and 4,080 dollars’ worth of items,” Xia He said as she looked at the account books.
Kong Lu subconsciously clenched his fists. He did not expect his family to have spent so much of Xia He’s money over the years.
Xia He sighed and said, “Although I earn more money than ordinary people, there’s a limit to it. To be honest, I only have tens of dollars left. You should know how much your sister has spent in the capital during this period of time.”
Kong Lu did not know what to say and could only remain silent.