The dozens of bucks I brought with me when I left were all tricked away by my brothers using various excuses in one or two days.
This incident made Zhang Huilan see the true colors of her mother’s family. In the end, without waiting for Shen Haitao to pick her up, she went back on her own, feeling dejected.
Since then, she has been managing her own money, not giving it to anyone, living a good life with her own little family. No matter how much her family’s side cries poverty, she hasn’t given them a single penny.
Zhang Huilan is very clear that Shen Haitao makes thirty-five a month, she makes thirty a month, Bo Xu and his wife make enough money to spend, and she doesn’t usually ask them for money. Rongrong now has a job and her own salary. She plans to save some money over these years to get a suite for a place to live. This year, the base behind their factory has already started building new apartments, and they’re building two-bedroom, three-bedroom big houses, with separate toilets and kitchens. Maybe by this winter, they could be allocated a house.
Over these years, although they moved into an apartment, it’s still a small studio, not a big house. She saved up some money to bribe the factory leaders to get another studio, otherwise, Rongrong would have to stay with them in the same room.
You can save on food, but you can’t save on living space. This idea came when she visited Shen Qing’s in-laws a few years ago.
Don’t be fooled by Hu Bin working at the Industrial and Commercial Bureau, the place they live is simply too cramped. Their two kids, along with his brother’s two kids, all live in a mixed yard in the old city, with about six or seven families in ten rooms. Their family has four rooms, and now his brother’s daughter and Hu Lijuan are still crammed in a small room of over ten square meters with the old lady. The bungalow doesn’t have a bathroom, urination is manageable, but for defecation, you have to walk over two hundred meters to the public toilet on the street. Anyone who experiences diarrhea on a winter night suffers a lot.
That’s not all; the mother-in-law from the little aunt’s family is quite formidable. She tightly controls everyone’s wages, and even now, Shen Qing, being of an old age, has to ask her mother-in-law for money to buy clothes. Living a suffocated life.
After seeing such a family, Zhang Huilan decisively came up with an idea, hence she separated from her mother-in-law early on. Though her mother-in-law was quite nice, there would inevitably be conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
They’ll wait to get a big house and then coax the old lady into giving the house to Bo Tao and his wife. If they like living there, they live; if not, they sell it and let the unit give a big suite.
Zhang Huilan calculated all this well in her mind.
"Helping among relatives is all about being family. I won’t pretend with aunt; twelve dishes will surely be magnificently prepared for her, not to disgrace our elder uncle. Aunt just needs to give the base cost, and over there we’ll also just take the cost. The alcohol will be factory price, and we’ll give it to elder aunt at cost. This way, it can save quite a bit."
"In the end, you just don’t want to help us, right? Forget it; I’m not even interested in your shop. If we want to show off, we could go straight to the state-owned restaurant. Why bother with your lousy shop."
"Auntie, our shop is at..."
Before Lin Wan finished speaking, Zhang Huilan impatiently cut her off, "Okay, I got it," then turned to look at her mother-in-law and said, "Mom, if family doesn’t help, we’ll go find one for ourselves." After finishing, she glared at Lin Wan, turned around, and walked out the door.
Han Ying snorted towards her daughter-in-law, showing her discontent.
"Don’t mind her; she’s just here to cry poverty today. If she wanted money, she would have asked me. She’s saved up quite a bit herself but is unwilling to give any away. We won’t bother with her, let her find it on her own." Actually, she didn’t want Lin Wan to compromise; if there’s a first time, there’ll be a second. Xiao Yi has no choice, but Lin Wan is different. She can refuse.
She’s old and won’t be able to protect Xiao Yi much in the future; it’s better to have a tough wife.