Chapter 40 : Hand in your deposit

After returning home, Lu Changzheng handed the 243 yuan he had just received, along with the red envelope that Li Yue’e had just given him and the red envelope he had received at the wedding banquet yesterday, to Su Mo.

“Wife, keep this money. From now on, all our family’s finances will be under your control.”

Then, he took Su Mo to the room, pulled out a military luggage bag from the kangqin (bed stove), and took out two passbooks, handing them to Su Mo.

“Wife, this is the money I saved over the years. These two passbooks, one is from the bank in my army, and the other is from the bank near my home.” Lu Changzheng gestured for Su Mo to open and take a look.

At Lu Changzheng’s suggestion, Su Mo first opened one of the passbooks, which was from the bank associated with Lu Changzheng’s army. The last deposit was in 1969, totaling 1,000 yuan.

Su Mo opened the second passbook, which was from a bank in Qingxi County, showing a balance of 1,500 yuan. Originally, there had been 2,000 yuan, but 500 yuan had been withdrawn a few days ago.

Su Mo was a bit shocked. She hadn’t expected that Lu Changzheng could save so much money despite sending so much home.

“Haven’t you spent any money in these years?” Su Mo asked without thinking.

“There wasn’t much money to spend in the army. I was promoted early, so I managed to save some.” Lu Changzheng explained. He often went on missions and had little time to spend money.

“So, wife, if you don’t want to work on the farm, you don’t have to. Just stay at home. Our family has savings, and my salary is not low now, so I can support you,” Lu Changzheng said seriously.

His wife was delicate and tender, and he really couldn’t bear to see her suffer.

“How much is your monthly salary now?” Su Mo asked, curious.

“After being promoted to deputy battalion commander last year, my monthly salary is 89 yuan,” said Lu Changzheng.

“How much was your initial salary?” Su Mo was still curious about the military pay during that time.

Seeing that his wife was interested in his past, Lu Changzheng was pleased and explained in detail: “The first two years, I was still a soldier. At that time, I didn’t have a salary, but I did get an allowance. The first year was 6 yuan a month, and the second year was 7 yuan a month.”

“In the third year, I was promoted to platoon leader with a salary of 57 yuan. But after the promotion, I had to pay the army for food every month. According to the soldiers’ food standard, 14 yuan was deducted every month, so I only received 43 yuan.”

“In the fourth year, I made another contribution and was promoted to deputy company commander, with a salary increase to 63 yuan. In the fifth year, I was promoted to company commander, with a salary of 72 yuan. Last year, I was promoted to deputy battalion commander, with a salary of 89 yuan.”

Although Lu Changzheng spoke casually, as if promotion was easy, Su Mo knew that he had paid for it with his life. She hadn’t noticed last night, but this morning, she saw many scars on his body, evidence of gunshot and knife wounds.

Su Mo felt a little distressed and stroked his hand, saying, “Don’t push yourself so hard in the future.”

“Okay.” Lu Changzheng replied half-heartedly. How could he not push himself? He had to make sure she was qualified to join the army as soon as possible.

“I’m serious,” Su Mo emphasized when she saw that Lu Changzheng wasn’t taking her seriously.

“Wife, do you feel sorry for me?”

Su Mo nodded.

“If you really love me, please stay with me at night, okay?” Lu Changzheng whispered in Su Mo’s ear.

Su Mo rolled her eyes at him, thinking he was such a frivolous guy.

Come on, there was nothing to feel sad about. She should just feel sorry for herself.

Lu Changzheng grinned mischievously, turned Su Mo’s face toward him, and gave her a deep kiss.

Su Mo was so mad at him. At such a serious moment, all he could think about was something trivial.

Su Mo was about to hand the passbook back to Lu Changzheng, but something seemed off. She quickly calculated in her mind.

Based on the salary Lu Changzheng just mentioned, even if he hadn’t spent a penny over the years, he could have saved at most 2,232 yuan. But the two savings books together showed 2,500 yuan, not to mention the expenses for building the house and the wedding.

“Besides your salary, do you have any other allowances?” Su Mo asked.

“There is no allowance, but there are rewards if tasks are completed,” Lu Changzheng explained. He felt a little proud that his wife was smart enough to realize the mismatch between his savings and salary.

Their team leader always had conflicts with his wife because he liked to hide his money. Lu Changzheng didn’t want to follow his example, so he made sure to explain all his income and expenses to Su Mo.

“Over the years, I’ve received about 1,500 yuan in task rewards. I didn’t have any big expenses. The largest one was when I built the house, and I also sent 300 yuan back.”

“The rest was spent on our wedding. I paid 200 yuan for the betrothal gift, and the sewing machine cost 138 yuan. The rest went towards the meat for the banquet, cigarettes, alcohol, and other items for our family. In total, we spent nearly 300 yuan.”

Su Mo calculated that Lu Changzheng had been quite frugal. Over the years, he had spent less than 300 yuan.

“Wife, don’t worry, your husband doesn’t have any hidden money,” Lu Changzheng leaned over and said with a smile.

Su Mo gave him a glare and replied, “It doesn’t matter if you hide it. How can a man be without some money when he’s out there?”

After saying that, she handed the passbook in her hand back to Lu Changzheng. She wasn’t the type of person who would take all the money from a man.

But Lu Changzheng refused.

“Wife, I’ve already told you to manage the money. From now on, I’ll send back the rest of my monthly salary, minus a few dollars for pocket money.”

“You really leave it all to me?”

“Yeah.” Lu Changzheng was extremely serious.

Su Mo thought about it and handed the passbook with 1,000 yuan to Lu Changzheng.

“Keep this passbook with you. If you need money urgently in the army, you won’t be without it.”

Su Mo thought that this was also the reason Lu Changzheng had kept the money in two separate places. With money in both places, no matter which side needed it urgently, it could be accessed. At that time, banks did not have the ability for inter-provincial withdrawals.

Lu Changzheng thought about it and accepted it.

“Wife, I’ll keep this passbook with me. I promise I won’t spend it carelessly.”

“Also, from now on, you only need to send 20 yuan of your monthly salary, as before, and save the rest to bring it back to the bank later.”

Lu Changzheng frowned. How could that be enough? 20 yuan wasn’t enough for his wife to live on.

“Listen to me first. 20 yuan is already a lot of money in the countryside. What’s worrying is not the lack of money but the inequality of distribution. If it’s more, some people will have bad intentions.”

There was no privacy in this era. The amount of money sent was clearly written on the remittance notice, and anyone with ulterior motives could easily see it. She didn’t want to cause any trouble because Lu Changzheng was sending her too much money.

20 yuan was the right amount not too much, not too little.

Lu Changzheng thought about it, and it made sense. Anyway, there was still some money at home, enough for his wife to use for a while.

“If you don’t have enough, go to the county bank and withdraw money yourself,” Lu Changzheng said. “Don’t be reluctant to eat. I will ask my comrades to exchange food coupons when I return to the army, then send them back to you to buy rice.”

“It won’t be insufficient.” Su Mo saw a large bag filled with red envelopes on the side and remembered that she hadn’t yet told Lu Changzheng how many red envelopes Geng Changqing had given her.

“Uncle Geng gave me two red envelopes yesterday, each worth 200 yuan,” Su Mo added.

Lu Changzheng was stunned. It seemed that Geng Changqing had a good relationship with his wife’s family. After thinking for a moment, he asked,

“Wife, what is the relationship between Secretary Geng and your family?”

“He was raised by my grandfather. Although he wasn’t adopted as his son, he is almost like an adopted son.”

Lu Changzheng understood. With such a relationship, the 200 yuan seemed reasonable. Geng Changqing’s salary should be similar to his own, and 200 yuan was only slightly more than two months’ salary, so he could afford it.

Speaking of this, Su Mo suddenly became curious about Su Tingde’s salary, so she asked, “How much does the commander earn?”

“Salary varies by region, but it fluctuates by a few dollars, probably between 200 and 217.” Their unit was a frontline unit, and the salary was relatively high. The division commander’s salary was 217 yuan.

Su Mo nodded.

“Let’s open the red envelopes. If there are names written on them, please take note so we can return the favor next time,” Su Mo said.

So, the two of them opened the red envelopes and received a total of 223 yuan, including 100 50-cent notes, 75 1-yuan notes, 46 2-yuan notes, 1 5-yuan note, and 1 10-yuan note, totaling 232 yuan in gifts. There were also 4 food coupons worth 4 liang.

The 5-yuan envelope was from team leader Lu Baoguo, and the 10-yuan envelope was from Lu Guoping.

After seeing this, Lu Changzheng couldn’t help laughing.

“This kid got married this year, and I asked my dad to seal 10 yuan for him, but he returned it to me.”

Su Mo also had a good impression of Lu Guoping, so she said, “I think he’s a nice guy. If I can help you in the future, I’ll lend a hand.”