Chapter 17: The IOU

Zhang Cuihua returned home with a slightly embarrassed look. As soon as she entered the living room, she saw unwashed dishes on the table.

Unable to suppress her frustration any longer, she threw her bag onto a stool and quickly walked toward the room where her eldest son and his wife lived.

It was July, hot and stuffy, so the room door was wide open. Zhang Cuihua immediately saw Liu Lanxiang and her grandson napping on the bed.

She was about to wake Liu Lanxiang, but when her eyes landed on her grandson’s red, sleeping cheeks, her heart instantly softened. Afraid of waking him, she turned and left the room with a sigh.

Fighting the urge to lose her temper, Zhang Cuihua gathered the dishes and began washing them in the kitchen.

Just as she finished, she noticed a blanket soaking in water. Taking a deep breath, she crouched down to wash it—only to discover more dirty laundry from the family hidden beneath it.

As she washed, she muttered to herself, both blaming her elder daughter-in-law Liu Lanxiang for being lazy and feeling annoyed at her younger son for going overboard by pouring water on the elder son’s bed.

“These people… all here to collect debts in this life,” she grumbled under her breath.

When she finally finished all the chores, Zhang Cuihua straightened her back and looked at the wall clock. It was already 5:00 p.m.—time to start dinner.

Just then, Liu Lanxiang slowly walked into the courtyard carrying Li Weibing. When she saw the clean blanket and clothes hanging to dry, a look of satisfaction appeared on her face.

But thinking about what happened the previous night, her anger flared up again. She immediately complained, “Mom, Weibing was scared by his uncle last night. He cried all day and refused to leave my side. You have to stand up for your eldest grandson!”

Zhang Cuihua shot her a glare and snapped, “Scared by his uncle? Xiangbei was sleeping in his room the whole night. He never even stepped outside.”

Liu Lanxiang pouted, clearly dissatisfied. “If not him, who else would sneak out in the middle of the night to scare us?”

“Stop spouting nonsense. That never happened. Also, Liu Lanxiang, let me warn you—don’t go spreading family matters to outsiders. Think for a second: when have you ever come out on top after picking a fight with Xiangbei?”

Still not backing down, Liu Lanxiang raised her voice. “Mom, since you know everything, why are you always siding with him?”

Zhang Cuihua raised her voice too. “How am I siding with him? Tell me—every time something happens, who starts it? Lanxiang, Xiangbei doesn’t even care about you people. As long as you don’t provoke him, he won’t even look your way.”

With that, she turned and walked briskly into the kitchen to start dinner.

Liu Lanxiang muttered, “You’re just biased.” Then, a sneaky look crossed her face. She leaned down and whispered to her son, “Weibing, did you like the soda you had yesterday?”

Li Weibing’s eyes lit up, and he nodded excitedly. “It was yummy! I want more soda!”

Smiling, Liu Lanxiang coaxed, “Then go ask Grandma for money so we can buy some.”

Li Weibing immediately ran happily to the kitchen, yelling, “Grandma! I want soda! Give me money—I want to buy soda!”

—

Meanwhile, Su Yue finished work and headed to Canteen No. 2 to buy dinner for two.

She then walked to the alley across from the steel factory.

Just at the entrance, she ran into an older woman.

The woman looked Su Yue up and down and asked, “Girl, whose family are you from? I’ve never seen you around.”

Before Su Yue could respond, Li Xiangbei emerged from the alley, smiling. “Aunt Liang, this is my fiancée. She came today to look at the house.” As he spoke, he took the food containers from Su Yue’s hands.

Aunt Liang’s face instantly darkened. “Fiancée? Since when do you have a fiancée?”

Li Xiangbei smiled and replied, “I mentioned it to you before, Aunt Liang. Anyway, we’ve got things to do, so we’ll leave you to it.” Then he turned to Su Yue and said gently, “Let’s go home.”

Su Yue gave a small nod and followed him into the alley. She could clearly sense the hidden hostility in Aunt Liang’s words.

Li Xiangbei took out the key and unlocked the door with a grin. “Yueyue, I bought a whole cart of coal today. Next time, we can cook at home.”

Su Yue smiled and nodded lightly.

After setting the food on the table, Li Xiangbei watched Su Yue go to wash her hands at the sink. Just as she sat down to eat, he pulled out a piece of paper.

“You wrote me another love letter?” Su Yue teased with a smile as she opened the paper. But when she saw what was written, she was slightly stunned.

It was an IOU, clearly stating that Su Yue had lent Li Xiangbei 500 yuan—dated the day before he bought the house.

Su Yue smiled softly. She understood immediately: this was for appearances, in case the Li family ever questioned where the money for the house came from. She put the IOU away without a word.

“I thought the house was 300 yuan. Why does the IOU say 500?” she asked.

Li Xiangbei chuckled. “Housing is scarce in the city right now. The sellers only gave it to me for 300 because I’ve helped them a lot over the past two years. But more importantly…”

He opened the lunchbox lid and continued, “My family might be willing to spend 300 yuan for this house, but they’d never agree to spend 500.”

Su Yue nodded in understanding.

Handing her a pair of clean chopsticks, Li Xiangbei asked, “Should we tell your mother about this?”

Su Yue accepted the chopsticks and replied with a smile, “No need. My mom knows I have money. Ever since my oldest brother started working, he’s sent me five yuan every month. He’s never missed a month.”

Li Xiangbei looked amazed. “Five yuan every month? Your brother is really good to you.”

Su Yue smiled. “My third brother is great too. After he started working, he got married right away. Like my oldest brother, he also sent me five yuan monthly. But I returned all of it. After that, he and my third sister-in-law just started sending me gifts instead.”

She took a bite of cucumber and continued after swallowing, “Even my second brother treated me really well when we were young.”

Li Xiangbei smiled and nodded, then placed a piece of eggplant on her plate.

Su Yue frowned slightly. “We just had eggplant yesterday. I want potatoes today.”

“Oh! Got it.” Li Xiangbei quickly took the eggplant back and gave her a potato instead.

They exchanged a warm smile. After dinner, Li Xiangbei automatically began cleaning up.

Su Yue sat nearby and chuckled. “Xiangbei, you’re so nice. I really hate washing dishes—they’re always slimy and gross.”

Li Xiangbei beamed. “Don’t worry, Yueyue. From now on, I’ll be the one doing all the dishes.”

Su Yue smiled, her eyes full of joy and contentment.