Chapter 12: Handing Over the Salary

◎Important Matters of Livelihood◎

“It’s because you think he’s small that he’s never going to grow up. And didn’t you notice? The eldest daughter-in-law has been holding a lot of resentment recently, afraid that Xiao Che is taking advantage of us and causing her to suffer. It’s better for Xiao Che to move out; there will be fewer arguments.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang’s mother became unwilling: “Why bother with her? As long as the eldest is reasonable, I don’t think she’ll stir up too much trouble.”

Jiang’s father sighed: “Yes, the eldest and Xiao Che have a good relationship as brothers, but once sons grow up, they all have their own little families. Over time, it’s hard to guarantee that there won’t be some distance between the two brothers. Familiarity breeds contempt. Since our son wants to move out, let him try.”

“You’ve already agreed, what else can I say?” Jiang’s mother snorted, turning around and going to sleep on her own.

Well, as long as he could explain it, Jiang’s father didn’t mind his wife’s cold shoulder for a moment.

“Did Mom and Dad say anything? Did they agree to us moving out?” Seeing Jiang Che return with a beaming smile, Wei Xuan quickly asked.

“Of course! Is there anything I can’t handle?”

Jiang Che said proudly. Wei Xuan didn’t bother asking how he had convinced his parents-in-law, and quickly complimented him: “Yes, yes, you’re the best, okay? Now, remember to get someone to start working on the new rental place tomorrow. Make sure to paint the walls and floors several times; otherwise, it’ll look dirty and dull.”

“Alright, alright. Is it really necessary for you to remind me three or five times for such a small thing? I’ve got it covered. I’ll make sure it turns out to your satisfaction,” Jiang Che said lazily, lying on the bed and waving his hand at Wei Xuan in irritation.

Considering that he had just done something good, Wei Xuan didn’t argue with him, and would address it later if things weren’t done properly.

Since he had made a promise in front of his wife, Jiang Che didn’t dare slack off. He didn’t even go home for dinner after work and went straight to gather a few friends to help start cleaning up the house.

After a week of coming home late and leaving early, the house was finally tidied up to look presentable.

Wei Xuan was very satisfied after taking a look: “Not bad, not bad. It’s even better than I expected.”

“Of course. By the way, the kitchen cabinets are done too. I’ll have someone bring them over this afternoon. But why do you need so many cabinets?”

The two of them walked to the kitchen, and Wei Xuan pointed to a spot: “When the cabinets are delivered, just put them here.”

Including the bathroom, the kitchen was the most expensive area in the house. A lot of things had been added, while the bedroom was fine. They could just bring over the things they were currently using, and since the house already had a heated bed, they didn’t even need to buy a new one.

The tables and chairs in the living room didn’t need to be made new either; they were already there, though a bit worn out. Jiang Che had already had them sanded down and repainted. They were still very sturdy.

“We need a few cabinets to store things. We’re not like before; everything needs to be under our control now. We can’t wait until we need something and then buy it last minute. Besides, two cabinets aren’t too many.”

Since Wei Xuan planned to start a food business, the things in the kitchen would definitely increase. However, she hadn’t discussed this with Jiang Che yet, so she didn’t bring it up for now. First, they needed to move, and once they settled in, they would take care of the rest.

The day of the move was nothing special, just an ordinary evening. The two of them got off work and went home to pack up. Fortunately, they didn’t have many things, and one carload was enough to finish the job.

After dinner, Jiang Che’s two friends, who were helping with the move, arrived.

Jiang Che stood up and said to his parents, “Mom, Dad, I’ll go take care of things now.”

“Mm, go ahead. If you run into any difficulties, let us know,” Jiang’s father said.

Wei Xuan also stood up and followed behind him.

Jiang’s elder brother saw that both his younger brother and sister-in-law had left and asked, “Dad, where is Xiao Che going?”

Jiang’s father took a sip of tea and replied slowly, “He’s moving. He and his wife plan to move out and live on their own.”

“Moving?” Jiang’s elder brother was a bit surprised. After a moment, his expression turned sour as he glanced at his wife sitting beside him.

Jiang’s sister-in-law felt a bit embarrassed and angry at the look her husband gave her. “What’s he looking at me for? It has nothing to do with me.” But then she thought about how her brother-in-law was about to move out, which was such a great thing. She couldn’t help but smile at the thought.

Seeing his wife trying to suppress a smile, Jiang’s elder brother snorted and turned to look at their father. “Why does Xiao Che want to move out when everything is fine? Isn’t that nonsense? And Mom, Dad, you actually agreed? How can living outside be more comfortable than living at home?”

Jiang’s mother, who was already reluctant to let her youngest son move out, now looked at Jiang’s father with a hopeful gaze, silently wishing he would convince him otherwise.

But before Jiang’s father could speak, Jiang’s sister-in-law chimed in, “Since Xiao Che wants to move out, he must have his reasons. We can’t really say anything about it. If we say too much, he might get upset.”

“You—if you don’t know how to speak, just shut up!” Jiang’s elder brother was furious.

“Eh, where did I say anything wrong? Can you really control Xiao Che’s temper?” Jiang’s sister-in-law didn’t back down and continued to argue.

Jiang’s elder brother was about to continue reprimanding her when their father slammed the tea cup down on the table with force. “Enough, both of you, stop talking.”

Then, Jiang’s father looked at his eldest son and said, “I’m glad to see how much you care for your brother, but your wife isn’t wrong either. Since Xiao Che has made his decision, there’s no point in us opposing it. It might be better to just let him try living on his own; it won’t do him any harm. Alright, your mother and I have already made up our minds about this, so stop trying to persuade us. Your brother’s moving will be a hassle, so go and see if there’s anything you can help with.”

After speaking, he gave Jiang’s mother a look, and they both went back to their room.

Seeing his parents leave, Jiang’s elder brother couldn’t do anything about it, no matter how much he wanted to, so he reluctantly went to help as his father suggested.

Jiang’s sister-in-law was actually quite happy that her husband was leaving and didn’t try to stop him this time, only reminding him, “Go early and come back early.”

Jiang Che’s two friends arrived with a tricycle, and the clothes and bedding had already been loaded onto the vehicle. They were in the process of loading a few cabinets when they saw Jiang’s elder brother arrive and immediately said, “Big brother, you came at the right time, come help us.”

Together, they moved the items onto the tricycle, and Jiang’s elder brother also got on the vehicle, intending to see where his younger brother was living now.

When they arrived at the destination, Jiang’s elder brother got off the tricycle and was surprised to see three connected rooms. He grabbed Jiang Che and asked, “All three of these rooms are yours?”

“Yes, big brother, pretty good, right?”

Jiang’s elder brother looked around for a while and then smiled, “Not bad, not bad. Quickly, it’s almost dark. Let’s hurry up and move the stuff in.”

This place was even more spacious than their home, and Jiang’s elder brother felt a lot less worried.

With four strong men working, they moved everything in quickly. Before long, everything was set up.

“Thanks for your hard work, everyone. In a couple of days, have Jiang Che invite you over for a meal!”

After sending everyone off, Wei Xuan hummed a song and began making the bed.

Jiang Che sat nearby and saw the smile in his wife’s eyes, laughing as he said, “Are you really that happy?”

“Of course! This is our own home.” Then, remembering something, she turned to Jiang Che with a serious expression and said, “We’ve made a deal, okay?”

“From now on, all your salary will go into the family account. Starting today, we need to start saving money. We can’t keep spending without any control like we did before,” Wei Xuan said firmly.

Jiang Che was reluctant, but Wei Xuan wasn’t going to let him get away with it. She grabbed her box where she kept the money, opened it, and said, “This is all the money we have right now, a total of over 640. What about yours? Hand it over now.”

“How do you still have this much money left?” Jiang Che was surprised. He knew that the 600 yuan dowry his family gave was with Wei Xuan, but they’d spent quite a bit on the house.

“Hmph,” Wei Xuan said proudly. “In addition to the dowry, there’s also the 150 yuan my mom saved for me. I’ve spent a little over 100 in the past few days, so this is all that’s left.”

“If it weren’t for spending the last couple of months’ salary on yarn to knit sweaters, there would be more left. Oh well, those expenses couldn’t be avoided. At least my salary will be paid soon, and the little box will start receiving money again.”

Seeing that Wei Xuan had contributed even the money she’d saved for herself to their little family, Jiang Che couldn’t be stingy with the little bit of salary he had left. Besides, it wouldn’t be right to let his wife support the family—he would end up looking like a kept man.

He took the remaining money from his pocket, which wasn’t much, and handed it to Wei Xuan. “Here, this is all I have, it’s yours.” After handing it over, he probably felt it was a bit too little compared to Wei Xuan’s contribution, so he added, “Next month, when I get paid, all of it will go to you.”

Wei Xuan was finally satisfied. She counted the money Jiang Che had handed her—it was only 6.30 yuan. After a moment’s thought, she pulled out the 0.30 yuan and handed it back to him. “It wouldn’t be good if you didn’t even have a single dime left, so I’ll leave you with a bit.” She then tucked the rest of the money into the little box.

Jiang Che didn’t mind that it was a small amount; having something was better than nothing. He happily accepted it.

The next morning, Wei Xuan got up early to make their first meal after moving in.

Since they hadn’t bought many ingredients yet, she made a simple corn porridge and fried two eggs to go with it.

While preparing the meal, her mind was already busy calculating what else the house needed.

She knew they’d need to buy more grains. Between the two of them, they only had about 60 pounds of food for the whole month, and the fine grains were even less.

Previously, they hadn’t touched the family’s supply of grains, but they would have enough for this month. However, if she wanted to start a food business, this amount wouldn’t be nearly enough. She would have to come up with another plan.

Wei Xuan thought it would be great if they could grow some of their own vegetables. If she could buy some seeds on her way to work today, she could give it a try. She felt the temperature—November had already arrived—but she wasn’t sure if it was too late to plant now.

Oh well, trying wouldn’t hurt. If it worked, their vegetable problem would be solved.

After finishing the meal, she took the grain ledger and money to Jiang Che. “When you come back tonight, go buy the grains for this month.”

Jiang Che took it without even looking at it and left.

Wei Xuan followed him out the door.

Later that evening, when Jiang Che came back carrying two bags of grain, Wei Xuan was outside in the yard, hoeing the ground with a small hoe.

“What are you doing?”

Wei Xuan didn’t even look up and said, “I figured it’d be a waste to leave such a large piece of land empty, so I thought I’d plant some vegetables.”

Today, when she went to the seed seller, she found out that there were still plenty of vegetables that could be planted at this time of year. She immediately bought a bit of everything she could grow.