CHAPTER 7
Canned biscuits, malted milk, his uncle is really bleeding money. Li Xia didn’t answer them with a gloomy face. The man was immediately angry because he lost face and started to scold her.
”My niece-in-law, even if you are from the countryside, you should know the rules of etiquette. I came to see your mother-in-law with gifts, shouldn’t you be warm and welcoming?”
”My mother-in-law said that you are a weasel paying New Year’s greetings to a chicken with no good intentions.”
At first glance, this uncle and his wife were two-faced people, and Li Xia didn’t want to pretend with them. She could pretend for a while, but if she pretended too much, she was afraid that she would be led astray.
They never expected her to be like this. She didn’t give them any face when she spoke. The uncle and his wife were so angry that their faces turned pale. The uncle pointed at her and was about to speak, but she spoke before him.
”You just said I don’t know etiquette. Uncle, you are pointing at me like this is the most impolite thing. If you have something to say, just say it. If you don’t, just leave. Don’t make a fool of yourself like this.”
The uncle was so angry that he almost fainted. It took him a while to recover. Just as he was about to speak, the old lady on the kang opened her eyes and sat up.
”Don’t think that you can use Haiyang’s influence to help your relative get a job. I tell you, it’s impossible. If you haven’t returned the money Haiyang’s father sent, then give it to me. If you have returned it, forget it.”
The Uncle’s eyes widened, frightened by the old lady. She had always cut off all ties with her husband before, and returned all the money he sent to her last year. So He had no choice but to transfer it through him for them.
He had long wanted to take such a large sum of US dollars for himself. Why did the old lady suddenly want it again? He came here to get the job quota, not to pay her back.
”Sister-in-law” the man said shamelessly, sitting down on the edge of the kang. “Is that so? Listen to what I have to say from the bottom of my heart. Your daughter-in-law is clearly here for the good things. Do you really want to put everything on her? You’ve given her your household registration, job, house, money, and if something happens to you, she’ll kill Haiyang without anyone noticing, and then…”
”You think it’s all yours.” The old lady pointed at the door, “Get lost.”
”Sister-in-law, you…”
”Uncle, you’d better go. My mother has been feeling unwell these days and needs to rest. Don’t make her angry. Oh, by the way, bring the money mother just mentioned.”
After Li Xia finished speaking, she remembered what her mother-in-law had just said. Although she didn’t know the details, she knew it was related to money, and that money should have belonged to them. Since it should belong to the Shen family father and son, of course they had to take it back. Why let others enjoy what belonged to them?
The uncle stuttered, feeling like he had lost more than he gained. “No, your mother asked me to return it, so I sent it back a long time ago.”
“Where’s the remittance slip? Let me see it.”
This rural woman actually knew about the remittance slip. The uncle and his wife were really dumbfounded. How could he be willing to return so much money? He was just perfunctory.
”The remittance slip, the remittance slip is lost. I don’t know where it went.”
The aunt said hurriedly and was glared at by the uncle. You idiot, won’t people suspect you if you say that? He was disgusted by the poor answer, but he stood there dumbfounded and didn’t know what to say. His brain was working fast, and it took him a while to make amends.
”Your mother-in-law is ill and confused. Where did the money come from? There is none at all.”
The man dragged the woman away and ran away, without paying attention to their previous plans. Li Xia looked at the things in the net bag, and when she turned around, she heard a plop. She quickly went back to the kang to check on her mother-in-law.
”Mom, mom, are you okay?”
”Grandma, what’s wrong with you? Don’t scare us.”
The old lady seemed to be full of energy just now, but now she seemed to have lost all her energy and didn’t want to talk. She reluctantly waved her hand to show that she was fine, and then closed her eyes.
”You two stay with grandma. Call me if anything goes wrong.”
After asking the two children to watch over her, she quickly went to the kitchen. She made a bowl of malted milk for the old lady, brought it in and carefully fed her. The doctor said that as long as the person could still eat, he or she would be fine, so when she saw her mother-in-law like this, she quickly went to get her something to eat.
The old lady drank a few sips slowly, waved her hand and said no more. Seeing that everyone was worried about her, she calmed down and lay down to speak.
”Don’t…..Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Li Xia heaved a sigh of relief, gave the two children some biscuits and let them go out to play, then sat on the kang and waited for the old lady to tell her something. This unspoken tacit understanding comforted the old lady, and she slowly spoke after the children left.
”I married Haiyang’s father six years ago, and then the country was in turmoil. He…”
The old lady sighed as she spoke of this. She had kept this matter in her heart for many years and had never mentioned it again. Now that she was dying, she entrusted her son and grandson to her. She had to explain the matter to her so that she could deal with it and avoid being confused and fooled by others.
”He wanted to leave, but I didn’t want him to. We had so much trouble arguing about it that we didn’t want to continue. In the end, he couldn’t persuade me anymore, so he left on his own. But whenever I heard something happened, I always thought he died on the road. I felt sorry for him and resented him all these years, and never mentioned him to Haiyang.”
The old lady shook her head, sniffed and continued slowly: “Two years ago, he wrote to me and sent me money, but I was so angry that I returned it. I was too excited at the time, but now I think it was unnecessary. His decision was not wrong. If he had stayed, he would have suffered for ten years. He is living a good life now that he is gone. People in the mainland thought he was dead, and my son and I did suffer because of it.”
” Haiyang is in this state now, it’s good to have his father to take care of him. At the beginning, he didn’t know Haiyang existed at all. Now even if he doesn’t come back, you can live easily with financial support. I used to think that my child has nothing to do with him, but now I think it’s such a stupid idea. That’s his biological father, why not let the child enjoy the convenience brought by his biological father. “
The old lady finished explaining the whole story, and Li Xia stayed silent. It turned out that the uncle was not only thinking about the household registration and job that Shen Haiyang might get due to his work-related injury, but he was also thinking about getting Shen Haiyang and his son into his own hands so that he could continue to ask his father for money, right?
After all, she had heard in her previous life that those overseas were very rich. Even if they were just doing ordinary things abroad, they were still doing better than in China in recent years. When they were communicating before, Shen Haiyang hadn’t gotten into trouble yet, and the old lady refused to acknowledge him. Now that Shen Haiyang was like this, and she was about to reach the end of her life, many of her thoughts were different.
”Don’t think too much. I’m sure I’ll be able to support them in the future. You don’t have to worry about that. In short, as long as I, Li Xia, am here, I will definitely take good care of them.”
Give her assurance, let her feel at ease. No matter what his father, whom she has never met, is like, they both have me. And sometimes money comes too easily, and if the amount is large, it will cause a lot of trouble.
”I, I don’t care.” The old lady suddenly grinned. “As long as they can have someone to rely on, I don’t care.”
As she spoke, she closed her eyes. Li Xia was startled. She stretched out her hand and found that she was breathing. She closed her eyes and calmed down. She gently stroked the old lady’s chest to help her breathe. After a while, her heartbeat and breathing became stable and she fell asleep.
In the following days, she was completely unable to eat and had to rely on drinking a few sips of milk powder to survive. Li Xia was so worried that she ran to find a doctor to give her a few days of nutrient solution.
The old lady was enduring the pain and sometimes couldn’t sleep. When she felt better at night, she talked to Li Xia and asked her to go to her cousin-in-law’s house to get the money back.
”Your uncle can’t possibly return the money, so you have to find a way to get it back. He is Haiyang’s biological father and Huihui’s biological grandfather. They are like this now, and now that I’m gone, it’s time for him, as a father and grandfather, to take care of the children with all his heart.
I used to blame him, I didn’t want his things. Now I think it’s so stupid, as father, why didn’t I let him take care of the children. I’m doing nothing but making the children suffer with me. I’m not happy, and the children can’t enjoy the things that originally belonged to them. “
”Okay, I’ll go get it.”
Li Xia didn’t say much about this, she just lay on the kang and thought about what the old lady said. She had been struggling for a lifetime, but now she understood this truth.
When we separated, I was full of resentment, thinking that I gave birth to the child and I raised him, and it had nothing to do with you, forgetting that blood ties cannot be severed. You did not let the child enjoy the benefits brought by the father, which made the child suffer and yourself embarrassed. In the future, when the man is old, the child still has the obligation to support him. It is better to accept his compensation and pay him back as what he owes you.
She woke up several times at night to take care of the old lady. The next morning, she asked the aunt in the west side to take care of her, and she rode her bike to the uncle’s house. As soon as she entered the door, she didn’t say anything or go into the house. She went straight to the point in the yard, attracting a lot of onlookers.
”Give me the money my father-in-law sent you to pass on.”
The uncle and aunt were in a panic. The uncle continued to play dirty tricks: “I said I would send it back, but your mother-in-law said she didn’t want it, so I sent it back.”
”My father-in-law is in the United States now. He gave me his home phone number in his last letter. Since you said so, let’s go to the post office and make an international call so that the three of us can confront each other.”
There is actually a contact number? That can be connected immediately. The uncle was immediately panicked. The money he asked him to pass on was a bribe to him. If he dared to keep it all…
”No, I don’t have the money.”
This guy actually wanted to keep all the money privately, it seems that the amount of money is not small. Li Xia smiled and had already thought of a countermeasure on the way. In her previous life, watching TV was a daily pastime, and she had seen a lot of different things.
”Everyone heard it. He didn’t acknowledge the money.”
The crowd was talking about it and many people nodded, but she turned and left. The uncle didn’t know what she was doing. From the look of her face, she seemed to have a back-up plan, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.
After waiting anxiously for about an hour, the police and the Economic and Trade Bureau came directly to his house. They retrieved the evidence that had been mailed to him from the post office and asked him to hand over the money.
”We are entrusted by Mr. Shen overseas to come and ask you to return the remittance on his behalf.” The male police officer did not wait for him to say and explained directly: “Don’t cheat. If you embezzle the remittance entrusted to you, it will be illegal. Come with us now. Once this matter is recorded, it will be a public matter. It is not as simple as a family matter. If it is confirmed that you have embezzled, jail will be waiting for you.”
The police man said that he would not argue with him in a businesslike manner, and the uncle was immediately frightened. Public affairs are not private affairs where you can cheat. If he is found guilty of breaking the law, he will be in big trouble and lose both his money and his life.
”Yes, they are all here. I’ll get them.”
A deposit slip with the uncle’s own name on it. All the 40,000 US dollars were deposited in his name. This old guy is really greedy. There is also a paper bag full of foreign exchange coupons. She counted them and found more than 10,000.
”A total of 50,000, I saved 40,000 and exchanged it for 10,000 foreign exchange coupons. I…” He regretted it so much, he should have spent some money earlier. He saved it and was reluctant to spend it, and now it’s all returned to her.
After getting the money, she took her uncle to the bank and deposited the 50,000 US dollars in the names of Shen Haiyang and his son. The old lady said that Shen Hui got 30,000 dollar and Shen Haiyang got 18,000 dollar, and the rest to be taken home. The staff asked her if she wanted to exchange it for RMB, and she shook her head and refused.
The current interest rate is because the country has just started to switch from a planned economy, so the country has two exchange rates. Li Xia doesn’t understand economics and doesn’t know how these are calculated, so she decided to keep the US dollars and not exchange them. She even exchanged the foreign exchange coupons for 8,000. If she wants to exchange them later, she can exchange them according to the future exchange rate.
The exchange rate is now 1:1.2. She remembered that in the late 1990s, it was more than 8:1, but the prices were much higher then. If it is exchanged now, it is more than 70,000, and after a few years with interest, it will be less than 100,000. If it is exchanged in a dozen years, it will be 400,000 or 500,000. It is definitely more cost-effective to store it this way.
Those who don’t know what will happen in the future will think the interest rate is high, while those who know that they can redeem the money after more than ten years will think it is better to redeem it after more than ten years. In fact, both methods are not very good.
Li Xia knew that it was the most unprofitable to save money in the bank during this period. She followed the old lady’s advice and kept Shen Hui’s money in a fixed deposit without moving it, and she planned to find a suitable time to invest Shen Haiyang’s money in real estate. She didn’t know much about other things, so she would leave the risky things for herself later. One of the father and son was a vegetative and the other was a child, so it was the safest way to invest in a few houses for them.
