“Let me tell you, Yao Yao is my niece. She’s a very good girl. It doesn’t matter even if she did nothing but eat and drink and stayed at my house for a while to play. Surely, as her Uncle, I can allow my niece to stay for a few days?
“Also, Yao Yao has been here for about a month. Jinlin and I gave her thirty dollars but she repeatedly refused to take it. When she came, she brought her own grain, meat and eggs. Who has eaten all that food?
“The girl has plenty of money. Second Brother’s two children have always given her plenty of pocket money and Mo Beihan also gives her a substantial amount. She hasn’t spent any of your family’s money.
“She has been paying for almost all of this month’s expenditure. Are you blind that you haven’t seen how plump our two children have grown? Can’t you see how plump you have grown?”
Zhou Ping was stunned.
They only gave her thirty dollars?
This…
“Impossible!” Zhou Ping refused to believe him. “I know how much you dote on that girl. How could you possibly give her such a small sum? Where’s your salary for this month? Where’s the money?”
Gu Yundong shut his eyes briefly. “In the past, you always controlled the family’s expenditure. This month, you were injured and could not do anything. Besides the few things we bought while we were out, Yao Yao made all the purchases. We did not give you this month’s salary and only gave her thirty dollars. She refused even that.”
Gu Jinlin suddenly glanced at Zhou Ping. “Mother, you say that Yao Yao is very extravagant, but when I think about it carefully, she probably spent about sixty dollars this month.”
Zhou Ping was shocked. “Impossible!”
“It’s not impossible. That’s the truth.”
Gu Jinlin was very meticulous. “I’ve been doing housework since I was young. Haven’t I done plenty of chores over the past few years? I’m well aware of the cost of things. Although Yao Yao’s expenditure might be slightly greater, besides the time that she especially invited Mingyue for a meal, sent me food, and also the more sumptuous meal she prepared when Beihan arrived, she has only spent about sixty dollars on food.
“My father’s salary and mine add up to about a hundred dollars. We give you at least eighty dollars. Where’s that money? Why do I feel that we did not live as well in the past?”
Zhou Ping was completely shocked. She did not know what to say.
They had eaten so well recently!
She often saw meat on the table and they had eaten more fine grain and less coarse grain. They had turned on the electric fan every day. And it only added up to sixty dollars?
Gu Jinlin said, “Our family actually does better than most other families. Most families maintain a large household on a salary of forty or fifty dollars! Why do you think our family did not live as well in the past?”
Zhou Ping was speechless.
Gu Yundong could not be bothered to continue speaking to her. “All right. You should reflect on your own behavior. Starting from today, Yao Yao does not need to do anything else in the house. You will take care of the children and do the cooking.
“Yao Yao has worked hard for a month. She’s just a young girl. Let her rest for a while. Since she’s paying her third uncle and the city a visit, she should go out and play.
“If she has nothing else to do at home, she can teach Little Seven and Little Eight to read and write. I can tell that the boys have been much more obedient lately. Yao Yao has disciplined the children well.
“Don’t let me hear you finding fault again. Yao Yao is not our servant. In the future, you can do all your allocated tasks yourself.
“That girl is my niece. Even if she doesn’t do any work and just stays at home and lives off us, I, as her uncle, can afford it.
“Hurry up and cook!”