Chapter 10: In Hand

“Your wife has been married for two years, and she still gives her salary to her parents’ home. She doesn’t care about our family at all. Why can’t I get my dowry back?” Wu Zhiqiu continued, her voice a little loud, and the old man at the gate looked at them several times.

“Mom, what are you doing? Talking about this at my workplace, do you want to ruin me?” The eldest son pulled Wu Zhiqiu and questioned her.

“Do I want to ruin you by asking for my dowry? Your wife gives all her money to her parents’ home, that doesn’t ruin you, but I want my own money, and that ruins you?”

“Mom, you can’t ask for the dowry back after giving it! Won’t people laugh at us?”

“I’ve already explained my reasons for wanting the dowry. First, your wife disrespected me, her mother-in-law, by pointing at me and cursing me! Second, your wife has been married for so many years, and she hasn’t given a penny to her in-laws, but she gives all her salary to her parents’ home. Third, you, my son, stood by your wife’s side when your mother was being cursed, without saying a word, you hurt your mother’s heart! So, I don’t recognize your wife anymore, and don’t bring her home. Give me back the eight thousand yuan dowry I gave you today!”

“Mom, can you stop being unreasonable? Didn’t I agree to give half my salary to the family?” The eldest son rubbed his forehead.

“You give your salary to the family because we paid for your education for so many years, it’s your return to the family! It’s what you should do!” Wu Zhiqiu was being unreasonable! She regretted giving the dowry to this ungrateful son! Now, she was taking advantage of yesterday’s incident to get the money back!

The eldest son had given eight thousand yuan in dowry, emptying their savings and borrowing from relatives and friends. They still owed Wu Zhiqiu’s parents’ home two thousand yuan.

That’s why Wu Zhiqiu was so desperate to get it back! Was the eldest son’s wife even worth eight thousand yuan in dowry? She had been out of her mind in her previous life, that ungrateful woman dared to ask, and she actually gave it to her!

“Mom!” The eldest son called out helplessly.

“Don’t talk nonsense, just say yes or no. If you don’t give it to me, I’ll go to your wife’s workplace today and ask, is there any daughter-in-law who dares to curse her mother-in-law? Is there any daughter-in-law who still gives her salary to her parents’ home after getting married? Is there any family that gives away the dowry when they marry off their daughter? Eight thousand yuan in dowry, even if you were marrying off the daughter of your bureau chief, you wouldn’t dare to ask for such a high dowry!”

Wu Zhiqiu didn’t care about that now, it was better to go crazy than to suffer mentally. Since she regretted giving eight thousand yuan in dowry, she would find a way to get it back!

“Mom, if you go to Wang Yue’s workplace and make a scene, how will she work?”

“I’m trying to be nice and reasonable with you first, if you don’t listen, don’t blame me, I don’t care if you work or not! I’m starving, I’m waiting for this money to pay off my debts! Do you know how much debt we have?”

Without waiting for the eldest son to answer,

Wu Zhiqiu counted on her fingers.

From when he started high school, to his tuition and living expenses in university, to his monthly boarding fees, textbook fees… and so on.

Wu Zhiqiu’s mouth was foaming, every penny was in her mind.

She spoke so much that the eldest son’s eyes were filled with gold stars, and his head was buzzing. He never knew that his mother’s memory was so good, she remembered every penny spent ten years ago.

Wu Zhiqiu’s voice wasn’t small, passersby looked over here several times.

“Mom, I understand, when I have money, I’ll give you the dowry money, okay?” The eldest son’s tone was almost pleading.

Wu Zhiqiu wiped her mouth, “No, there’s still over five thousand yuan in debt outside, you’ve been working for two years, I haven’t seen a penny from you, you have to give me the eight thousand yuan today!”

“Didn’t I agree to give you half my salary?” The eldest son felt that his mother was so difficult to deal with these days. In the past, she was most afraid of affecting his work, and she never came to his workplace.

Was it because Wang Yue cursed her a few times yesterday, and he didn’t speak up for his mother? Was it necessary? They weren’t children, they were all family, it wasn’t intentional, was it necessary to make such a fuss?

The eldest son resented his mother’s unreasonableness, he would definitely talk to his grandmother when he went back to his hometown!

“Eldest son, don’t beat around the bush with me, just say whether you’ll return the dowry or not!” Wu Zhiqiu had the air of someone who would immediately go to Wang Yue’s workplace and make a scene if he dared to say no.

Wu Zhiqiu didn’t believe for a second that they didn’t have any money. The eldest son earned sixty or seventy yuan a month, and although Wang Yue gave her salary to her parents’ home, they ate and lived at the unit, she didn’t believe they didn’t have any money!

“Mom, I’ll return it! But I don’t have it on me right now, can you wait a bit?” The eldest son just wanted to get Wu Zhiqiu out of there as soon as possible, so he could go back to the village and bring his grandparents back, and see how she would still ask for the money!

Wu Zhiqiu stretched out her hand, “Give me the money! I don’t believe you don’t have any. If you really don’t, I’ll go to your unit leader and ask for an advance on your salary for a year!” She was determined to get the money, she would strike while the iron was hot, the longer she waited, the more variables there would be, she had to get it this time.

“Are you crazy? Are you still my mother?” The eldest son’s face turned red with anger.

“You can disown me as your mother, but before that, give me the money! Eight thousand yuan in dowry, plus the money I just calculated, at least three or four thousand, a total of five thousand, give it back to me, I don’t care if you disown me as your mother!”

“Do I only mean five thousand yuan to you?” The eldest son looked hurt.

“You don’t even mean that much to me!” Wu Zhiqiu snorted, don’t try to play any sob stories with her, she had seen too much of that in her previous life, her eyes and ears automatically blocked it out!

“Mom!”

“Hurry up and give me the money, I need to go back to work!” Wu Zhiqiu didn’t want to waste time with him, she didn’t ask for leave when she came out.

“Mom, here’s ten yuan, you go back first, I’ll go out and borrow some money later, I’ll try to get enough for you.” The eldest son took ten yuan out of his pocket.

Wu Zhiqiu sneered, this was the first time she had seen her eldest son’s money in two lifetimes. She didn’t even look at the money in the eldest son’s hand, she walked straight towards the gate.

Several gossipy people were eavesdropping nearby, and the gatekeeper’s ears were also perked up.

Li Xingguo saw that his mother was serious, she was really going to ask for an advance on his salary, then he would be the laughingstock of the entire unit.

“Mom, I’ll go get it for you now!”

Wu Zhiqiu stopped and looked at her eldest son with a cold face.

The eldest son took out his passbook from his pocket, he had brought it with him from home this morning, he was planning to go back to the countryside, he didn’t have enough money on him, he was going to withdraw some, so he brought his passbook with him, he hadn’t had time to withdraw any money yet, and he was stopped by his mother!

Wu Zhiqiu’s eyes lit up, she thought he would have to go home to get it, she didn’t expect him to have the passbook on him.

She snatched the passbook from him, it had one thousand and fifty yuan in it.

Wu Zhiqiu looked at the number on the passbook, a wave of sadness washed over her. She and Li Mancang had a mountain of debt, all for this eldest son, she didn’t expect him to be richer than she thought.

“I’m taking the passbook! The rest is considered your filial piety to us old folks!” Wu Zhiqiu said, snatching the passbook and the ten yuan in the eldest son’s hand, she strode away, leaving the eldest son standing there in a daze, there was over a thousand yuan in the passbook!

The eldest son waved his Erkang hand, Wu Zhiqiu pretended not to see it.

Passbooks didn’t require ID cards or anything back then, you could just take the passbook to the bank and withdraw money.

Wu Zhiqiu quickly walked to the nearest bank and withdrew all the money from the passbook.

She wrapped it in old newspaper, took the bus back to the scrap metal recycling station!