"That’s what Saozi said, so how much are you and Uncle planning to contribute? I’ll go to the shop tomorrow and work out a menu for you," Lin Wan more or less understood what Saozi was getting at.
"Just fifty yuan, that should be enough to serve fifty to sixty people at home."
Zhang Huilan said with a relaxed expression.
"Saozi, around here for weddings we do whole chickens and fish, right? Although vegetables are cheap, you need a lot of them. The amount you’re talking about isn’t enough to cover our costs," Lin Wan responded. The cost for nine tables is at least seventy to eighty yuan. Even though we’re family, it’s expected not to make a profit, but we can’t lose money either. Besides, this restaurant is from her mother’s side, not her own.
Hearing this, Zhang Huilan’s face immediately fell, "Xiao Wan, your Saozi has been cooking for decades, and doesn’t know the price of meals? Besides, can your small restaurant be compared to a state-owned one? The money might be a little short, but not by much, at most ten or twenty yuan. Over the years we’ve supported Xiao Yi, and now he’s grown up, earning money, and is an officer in the army. After you got married, you should have moved out and lived independently. If not for fearing it would upset your Grandma, you’d probably be in a tough army camp now, let alone attending school. You’ve been living off your Grandma, eating and spending her money, and we didn’t say anything. Now that your Uncle and Saozi are having difficulties, shouldn’t you help out?"
"You from the eldest’s family, do you have a conscience with what you’re saying? Every time something happens in your family, you ask Han Yi for money, and hasn’t he given generously each time? Initially, you were dissatisfied with Han Yi and wanted to kick him out. I didn’t agree, so you clamored about splitting the family. At that time, how old was Xiao Yi? And when your unit had limited housing quotas, you secretly asked Han Yi for three hundred yuan behind my back. When Bo Xu got married, you again secretly asked Xiao Yi for two hundred yuan, and when Rongrong needed to pay for school these years, haven’t you been crying to Xiao Yi about being poor? Under the guise of taking care of me and being filial, who knows how much you’ve extorted from Xiao Yi. He earns only so much a month, or don’t you know it yourselves? Where has all the money earned by the four people working in your family gone? You’re always talking about being filial, yet we live so close and I barely see you the entire year. Xiao Yi was also raised by me since young, and I haven’t seen you contribute a stitch. When Xiao Yi was in school, didn’t Rongrong often give him trouble? Otherwise, would Xiao Yi, who was doing so well, have gone to war with the main forces at such a young age? Now that Xiao Yi is married, he not only has to take care of me but also support his wife and future children. During the marriage, I told Xiao Yi that he wouldn’t give you any more money. You’re a grandmother now. If the eldest can’t support such a large family, tell him not to work, come back early to care for me. Don’t run around all day unable to earn money, not caring for the old lady, and then come back to ask an old woman like me for money," Han Ying, sitting by the side listening to her eldest daughter-in-law’s words, suddenly felt a surge of anger. If not for her old age, she would really have liked to go up and slap her. She didn’t know what bad karma she accrued in her past life to have this woman come into her family.
"Mom, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s not that I don’t come; it’s just that I’m busy working overtime to earn money, isn’t it? Haitao and I are thinking of saving up some money to connect with the leaders and get a big house. We’ll bring you over to live with us then. After all, Xiao Yi is just a nephew, right? We should be the ones taking care of you." Zhang Huilan was still wary of her mother-in-law.
When she had just gotten married, she often helped her own family, and her mother-in-law didn’t say anything. But later on, she overdid it, and her mother-in-law warned her several times, yet she didn’t listen.
Shen Haitao really couldn’t take it anymore and had a fight with her.
Eventually, her mother-in-law told her to go back to her family. But her family were all ungrateful and weren’t happy to see her come back empty-handed. At first, it was alright, but after half a month without Shen Haitao coming to pick her up, even her parents got impatient, not to mention the other sisters-in-law. They all eagerly said that Shen Haitao didn’t want her anymore.