Chapter 6: People Think Widow Zhao Is Poor, but She’s Actually Quite Well-Off!

Madam Zhao had her own calculations.

Although she hadn’t asked for a house or any property, from now on the family’s food and drink—including the children’s schooling—would be provided for.

And the work points she earned could be saved as her private stash, with a bit of the living expenses squeezed out as well.

After all, when she had lived in Zhao Family Village with her three children, thirty yuan had been enough to support them for half a year.

Of course, at the Qian household the standard of living might be higher.

And several people in the Qian family didn’t earn work points, so every month they had to buy a fair amount of grain.

But Madam Zhao felt that twenty yuan a month was already enough for the ten members of their family to live quite well.

Since she married in, she had kept the monthly costs under fifteen yuan.

On the rare occasions they exceeded that, it was still under twenty.

Because big expenses like schooling and medical bills were still paid by Old Qian.

The thirty yuan of living expenses she received each month only covered daily living and some social exchanges.

Even now that the Qian family’s eldest had married and had a child, a household of more than ten people cost no more than about twenty yuan in monthly living expenses.

In the decade-plus since she’d married in, she’d been able to clear more than ten yuan a month out of the thirty yuan living allowance—and she never revealed that to anyone.

More than ten yuan a month meant 120 yuan a year, plus sometimes an extra five yuan or two, and Old Qian would give her red envelopes during holidays.

From the living allowance alone she could skim 150 yuan a year; over ten years that was 1,500.

Add to that the work-point money she and her eldest son earned, which she kept herself.

After all these years, she had amassed a fortune of 2,000 yuan.

People thought she was poor.

In truth, she wasn’t poor at all.

She just didn’t want to tell her three children for the time being.

Otherwise, such a large sum would surely arouse jealousy and might even shatter the peace of the entire Qian family.

It wouldn’t be surprising if Old Qian’s property wasn’t even as much as hers!

Don’t be fooled—

Old Qian earned thirty-seven yuan a month at the machinery factory, plus a seniority increment of one yuan per year, and after fifteen years as well as some performance bonuses, he now took home fifty-five yuan monthly.

But when she had first married in, Old Qian’s seniority was short; he brought home about forty a month. His children were still young—some in school, others lazy and unwilling to work—so they didn’t earn many work points.

After giving her thirty yuan for living expenses and paying the school fees for several children, he could save at most fifty yuan a year.

Later, as his seniority grew, his pay rose a bit; then the eldest son reached marrying age and needed bride price money, and the second son got engaged and needed a bride price too.

Madam Zhao was confident that the total of Old Qian’s liquid assets did not exceed one thousand yuan.

He didn’t have much cash.

But the man had a house—eight rooms of blue-brick, red-tile construction.

Here’s what happened:

Although Madam Zhao had agreed at the time of marriage not to take a house or any property, Old Qian’s side—and the maternal grandparents of his children—still didn’t trust her.

They always believed that although Madam Zhao promised nicely now, once she married in she would find ways to siphon money.

So after some discussion, they decided to spend all the household savings and Old Qian’s demobilization subsidy to build a house, and had the deed written in the names of the three sons, even going 300 yuan into debt.

This way, even if Madam Zhao tried to make trouble after marrying in, she wouldn’t be able to gain much.

After all, at that time Old Qian had only forty yuan per month, had to feed a household of ten, many of whom didn’t earn work points and were in school, plus a 300-yuan debt.

The main point was: marrying in with a 300-yuan debt was excessive!

Madam Zhao kicked up a few scenes, even threatening divorce…

Only then did Old Qian sell the old house, move the whole family into the new one, and cover the deficit.

He also granted Zhao the Elder and Zhao the Second the right to each occupy a room long-term if they could not afford to build houses of their own.

In truth, since Old Qian was a former soldier, although he favored his own children, he was mostly decent to his three stepchildren.

For example, during holidays he would give Zhao’s mother red envelopes in addition to the living allowance.

He knew there was a surplus in the monthly living expenses and never demanded it back, treating it as compensation to Madam Zhao and her three children.

The house Old Qian built was quite valuable.

Eight rooms of blue bricks and red tiles, a two-entry courtyard, plus a kitchen and several side rooms for storage—worth nearly 3,000.

The main reason was that each room was large.

A single room was nearly 30 square meters.

By contrast, the house Zeng Cheng had built earlier was also blue-brick and red-tile, but the rooms were small—about 18 square meters each—and still cost 150 yuan per room.

There were eight new rooms in all.

Old Qian allocated them like this: two rooms per son; two other rooms were temporarily written under the eldest son’s name, but those were his retirement rooms—whoever lived with him in his old age would get those rooms.

After the new house was built, perhaps to soothe Madam Zhao, the rooms were arranged as follows:

Old Qian and Zhao’s mother shared one room.

The three Qian sons and the two Zhao sons each had a room, totaling five rooms.

One room served as the living/dining room.

The girls, Qian Sanya and Zhao Qianqian, shared a room.

Even when Qian Daniu married back then, they didn’t clear out a separate room.

Because a single room was big enough for a newlywed couple; since the family hadn’t split, the household provided food and clothing.

There was no need for extra rooms to store other things.

So as long as there was space to sleep, it was enough!

Besides, the rooms were under their names—if the eldest Qian wanted to reclaim a room, he could do so anytime; no need to make things ugly!

Most importantly, just a few more years and—

Once Qian Sanya and Zhao Qianqian married out, the eldest branch would reclaim the room that belonged to them.

It was just that reclaiming the second and third sons’ rooms might prove troublesome.

After all, the Qian family had always believed that Madam Zhao and her two sons were very poor.

That the three of them couldn’t even afford to build two rooms!

You couldn’t exactly blame the Qians for looking down on them.

Old Qian and his three sons did have reason to be cocky.

Right now, not only did Old Qian bring home fifty-five yuan a month, but the family’s work-point cash totaled more than ten yuan monthly.

The second son also had a temporary factory job and contributed ten yuan a month to the household.

After deducting the thirty-yuan living allowance, the family could save about fifty yuan each month.

They also had a two-entry courtyard.

With so much property, they were among the notable households in all of Qian Family Village!

That evening—

Dinner was especially lavish today, because a chicken had been slaughtered to nourish Zhao Qianqian, and everyone else got a share as well.

To match the chicken, Madam Zhao also steamed a big pot of white rice.

Don’t be fooled by how well-off the Qians were—

On ordinary days they ate cornmeal buns or mixed-grain mantou and coarse-grain porridge.

As for dishes, they were mainly homegrown radishes, cabbages, potatoes, and the like…