Chapter 20: Ten Thousand Yuan Household

The couple finished all four dishes, Li Mancang had drunk three ounces of liquor, his face was flushed.

The old couple held hands as they walked home, their hearts warm.

They didn’t go home, the gold was still in Fenglan’s courtyard. They didn’t feel at ease taking it home, so they slept in Fenglan’s courtyard.

At home, the third son and Fengchun were staring at each other when the couple came back.

They didn’t know where they had been, it was already dark, and they hadn’t seen anyone come back.

“Little sister, go cook, Mom and Dad probably went to Big Brother’s place.” The third son stared at the door, longing for their return, but no one came back.

“I cooked yesterday, it’s your turn to cook today.” Fengchun said flatly.

“My man doesn’t know how to cook, you cook, I’ll wash the dishes, okay?” The third son negotiated with his sister.

“It was your turn to wash dishes yesterday, I washed them.”

“Little sister, you’re being unreasonable, do you have to be so meticulous?” The third son knew his sister was petty and calculating, he didn’t expect her to be so calculating!

“Of course I have to be meticulous when I’m at a disadvantage. If you’re at a disadvantage, I won’t be so meticulous.”

The third son was speechless. Fine! He wouldn’t eat at home! He would go to Meina’s place.

He wouldn’t be home, let his sister figure out who to be meticulous with!

The third son left in a huff, leaving Li Fengchun to stew in her own anger. She should have agreed to her brother’s request and let him wash the dishes! Now she had to do everything herself!

At the eldest son’s place, Wang Yue was cooking for the old couple, her face longer than Changbai Mountain.

The old couple had watched TV all day at home. The TV showed braised pork, braised fish, stewed meat, dumplings, it looked so delicious.

When Li Xingguo came back, the old woman started ordering food. She wanted braised pork, stir-fried intestines, and pork and cabbage dumplings for dinner!

The old man nodded in agreement. He wanted to eat those too.

“By the way, buy some liquor. You can’t eat such rich food without drinking some liquor!” The old man licked his lips.

Wang Yue went into the house and heard this, her nose almost went crooked!

Last night, she and the eldest son slept in the living room, it was so cold that she caught a cold!

Now she was being ordered to cook again, she was going crazy!

Li Xingguo comforted his wife. He needed money to go abroad, and he was counting on his parents. He couldn’t offend them now!

Then Li Xingguo went out to buy ready-made dumplings and dishes.

Wang Yue, with a long face, fried an egg and stir-fried some vegetables.

She quietly warned Li Xingguo to get the matter of going abroad settled quickly and send these two old geezers away.

She didn’t want to see them for a single minute!

Li Xingguo promised repeatedly that he would talk to his grandparents tonight.

They loved him the most, they would definitely agree.

But he didn’t expect that the dinner was too delicious.

The old couple both drank a lot of liquor. After dinner, they went back to their room and fell asleep!

Wang Yue was so angry that she almost vomited blood!

She refused to sleep on the floor tonight. She left Li Xingguo at home and went to the dormitory to sleep with her colleagues!

Li Xingguo was filled with bitterness. He just hoped that his parents would go to his house tomorrow and help him get things done!

The next morning, when Li Xingguo went to work, his parents were still asleep! Li Xingguo slammed the door shut and went to work.

Li Mancang and Wu Zhiqiu went to the bank in different parts of the city to exchange cash.

There were many people exchanging gold for cash at this time. They took a small piece at a time, so it wasn’t too noticeable.

The two of them exchanged a total of five hundred grams in the morning, and they had forty-five thousand yuan in cash.

Wu Zhiqiu felt that this cash was enough, enough to buy a house and a mountain.

Li Mancang held so much cash in his arms, his heart was pounding. He thought three thousand yuan was enough! Now it was tens of thousands! They were now a real ten-thousand-yuan household! Li Mancang hadn’t even dared to dream of this!

“Let’s deposit the money, and withdraw it from the bank when we need it. It’s not safe to keep it on us.”

Li Mancang quickly nodded.

They quickly deposited the money, dividing it into four passbooks, one for ten thousand yuan each. They deposited four, and the remaining few thousand yuan, the couple decided to go look at houses when they had time.

They could even afford a courtyard now.

The couple went to Fenglan’s house in the afternoon and hid the passbooks and the remaining gold bars. This was their secret, they wouldn’t tell anyone.

In the afternoon, Li Mancang took Wu Zhiqiu around the alleys, looking for houses for sale.

They saw a few places, but the prices were a bit high. The couple decided to think about it again, they weren’t in a hurry.

They went to a restaurant for dinner again that night. Today they had copper pot hotpot, the tender mutton was full of milky flavor. The couple ate three jin of mutton, their stomachs were full.

After dinner, Li Mancang sent Wu Zhiqiu home.

“I have to go to the eldest son’s place, otherwise, I’m afraid my parents won’t be able to handle it. I’ll send them back to us tomorrow.”

Wu Zhiqiu had completely forgotten about her in-laws. She had been so excited these past two days!

“Then go quickly! I believe in you.” Wu Zhiqiu gave Li Mancang a trusting look.

Li Mancang straightened his back, “Don’t worry! I won’t let your mother-in-law bully you!”

Under Wu Zhiqiu’s smiling gaze, Li Mancang bravely rode his bicycle to his eldest son’s house.

When he reached the outside of the eldest son’s residential area, Li Mancang stopped his bicycle, found a big tree, rolled around on the ground, and rubbed against the tree vigorously. His clothes were dirty and wrinkled, and he smeared some dirt on his face.

Li Mancang pushed his bicycle into the residential area with satisfaction.

The old man and old woman had just finished dinner. Today’s meal was also very rich, mixed sauce noodles, chicken stewed with mushrooms, and braised fish.

Wang Yue hadn’t come home today. The eldest son was talking about going abroad while his parents were happy.

“Why go abroad? Foreign countries are all capitalist places, we won’t go.” The eldest son didn’t expect his father to disagree!

“Grandpa, there’s gold everywhere abroad now, you can make a fortune if you go.”

“That’s even more reason not to go. That’s all the capitalists using money to corrupt us! That’s a mistake! You finally got into college, work hard, contribute more to the family! Don’t think about those useless things!”

Li Xingguo… was speechless! He had never expected his grandfather to have such strong animosity towards foreign countries!

But he still had a plan.

“Grandpa, now, as long as you go abroad and come back with a college degree, you’ll be at least a deputy department-level cadre! The country now attaches great importance to foreign education! Advanced knowledge and concepts from abroad are what the country urgently needs!”

The old man didn’t understand what concepts were, but he was interested in the word “cadre,” “What’s a deputy department-level cadre?”

“The mayor is a department-level cadre, deputy mayors or bureau chiefs are mostly deputy department-level cadres.”

“You can become a bureau chief or a deputy mayor just by going abroad and coming back?” The old man asked in surprise.

Since he was lying to the old man anyway, Li Xingguo nodded without hesitation.

The old man frowned, chewing on his dry pipe. According to the eldest son, going abroad was a good thing! If he went abroad and came back, their Old Li family would have a mayor!

“If you can really become a mayor, then go.” The old woman said from the side. Being a high-ranking official was a good thing. Their grandson was so successful, they couldn’t hold him back.

Li Xingguo smiled wryly, “Grandma, I want to go too! If I go and come back, our family will be completely transformed!”

“Then go! Your parents won’t let you go? Don’t worry about them, I’ll talk to your parents.” The old woman patted her chest.

“It’s not that, Grandma, my parents don’t care if I go abroad or not.”

“They don’t care? Then go!” The old woman looked at her grandson in confusion.

“Just tell me what’s going on!” The old man saw something was up.