“Don’t worry. I’m a grown woman now. How could I not take care of myself?”
Jiang Xiuyun felt a quiet warmth in her heart. Her younger brother had never spoken to her so thoughtfully before.
This kid really had grown up today.
“Big Sister, does Brother-in-law hand over his monthly salary to you?”
Jiang Lin’s question made Jiang Xiuyun glance at him sideways.
“Why are you looking at me like that, Big Sister?”
“You little rascal… are you trying to ask me for money again?”
“No, Big Sister!”
Jiang Lin couldn’t help but laugh helplessly. It was no wonder she thought that—he had always been the type to reach out for money in his sisters’ eyes.
“No? Then why are you suddenly asking about your brother-in-law’s salary?”
“Big Sister, in our family, Mom handles the finances, and Dad hands all his earnings to her. I was just wondering—between you and Brother-in-law, who manages the money at home?
I’m just curious. You and Brother-in-law both work. And Brother-in-law is a manager at the Sugar, Tobacco, and Food Company… I heard he earns over 100 yuan a month.”
Jiang Lin paused slightly, then continued, his tone seemingly casual yet deliberate.
“Logically, he shouldn’t be unable to come up with 800 yuan. Big Sister… don’t tell me you’re also spending freely without saving anything?”
His words landed slowly, like a gentle reminder, but beneath them was a sharp edge. The more he thought about it, the more something felt off.
Jiang Xiuyun froze for a moment.
That’s right… her husband earned around 140 to 150 yuan a month. Although her own salary at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative was lower, it was still over 30 yuan.
Together, they made around 170 to 180 yuan a month.
Her husband’s parents were already retired and had their own pensions. They didn’t need financial support.
Seeing the change in her expression, Jiang Lin immediately understood—his sister barely knew anything about Xiao Chenghe’s finances.
“Big Sister… don’t tell me you’re not managing the household money?”
Jiang Xiuyun’s face flushed.
“It’s not like that. At the beginning, I did manage it. But a few times when I sent money back home, my mother-in-law got upset and made a fuss.
Later, your brother-in-law suggested that he would keep his own salary, and I would keep mine. That way, the elders wouldn’t have anything to complain about, and it would put them at ease.
I thought it made sense. Besides, my salary is enough for daily expenses.”
“Then what about the household expenses?”
Jiang Xiuyun paused, momentarily at a loss. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
“Your brother-in-law does buy things for the house every month…”
But she couldn’t continue.
At first, he did contribute. But because she worked at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and could purchase goods at lower prices, she gradually took over most of the household expenses.
Occasionally, she would ask her husband for some money to help out, but Xiao Chenghe had never really given her much.
Thinking back, she had only ever received about 10 or 20 yuan from him each month.
They ate at the canteen, and many household items were cheaper for them to obtain. She had never actually calculated these things carefully.
To put it simply, most of her money had been used to support her natal family, so she felt embarrassed to press her husband about his finances.
Over the years, she hadn’t saved much. All she had managed to accumulate was just over 100 yuan.
But even with her 30-plus yuan monthly salary, she had still saved that much.
As for her husband, with over 100 yuan a month and not many expenses… in theory, he should have saved at least several thousand yuan by now.
So why couldn’t he even produce 800 yuan?
If her brother hadn’t raised this question, she would never have thought about it.
She had always assumed the money had gone into their small household. But now that she thought carefully… that didn’t seem to be the case at all.
“Big Sister, sometimes when a woman manages the household, she needs to hold tightly onto the money. When men have money, they tend to do things they shouldn’t.”
Jiang Lin said this casually, as if it were just an offhand remark.
“Dalinzi, why are you saying that?”
Jiang Xiuyun’s heart began to pound. A vague unease crept into her chest, as if something bad was about to surface.
“You don’t know this, but a transfer student came to our class recently. At first, we thought he was just arrogant.
Later, we found out it wasn’t arrogance at all… his life was simply miserable.”
“He’s pitiful. I heard his father is some kind of official… quite powerful, actually.
To outsiders, his parents seemed like a loving couple. But recently, it was exposed that his younger twin brother was actually his father’s child with another woman.
They took advantage of his mother giving birth prematurely and brought the child back under the pretense of it being a set of twins.”
“The younger brother is frail and often sick, so all the family’s money was spent on him. Meanwhile, the mother favored the younger one and neglected the elder.”
Jiang Xiuyun was instantly furious.
She had a straightforward personality, and hearing this made her explode.
“Is that man even human? How could he do something so utterly heartless?”
“Exactly. Who would have thought that the husband she lived with for decades was actually that kind of person?”
“I heard the younger brother got sick and needed a blood transfusion at the hospital.
When they checked, his blood type didn’t match his mother’s.”
“His mother is type A, and his father is type AB.
He himself is type A, but his younger brother is type O.”
“At first, his mother thought the hospital made a mistake. But no matter how many times they tested, the result was the same.
Only then did she realize that the child she had raised for so many years wasn’t hers at all.”
“After that, his parents divorced.
All these years, his father had never contributed his salary to the household—it was his mother who worked tirelessly to support the family.
But in the end, during the divorce, his father not only took the house and all the money, he also forced both mother and son out with nothing.”
“All that hardship… and in the end, the two of them were left with nothing.
They had no place to live and even lost their jobs.
Meanwhile, that man brought the woman he had been keeping outside into the house. The three of them now live happily together.”
“Only then did his mother realize that his grandparents and all his father’s relatives had known about this all along.
The only ones kept in the dark were her and her son.”
“They had no choice but to return to the county to continue their schooling.”
By the time she heard this, Jiang Xiuyun was trembling with anger.
“How could she be so foolish? After working so hard to support the family all these years, didn’t she ever think to ask her husband for money?”
Suddenly, her voice faltered.
Wasn’t she the same?
She had never really asked her husband for money either.
Logically, he should have had savings… so why couldn’t he produce it?
Jiang Lin saw the stunned look on her face and knew this couldn’t be rushed.
For now, planting a seed of doubt in her heart was enough.
“Exactly. I also thought his mother was too naive. If you don’t control the household finances, a man will do whatever he wants outside.
After all, he has money in his hands. If he didn’t, would that other woman dare to be so arrogant? Would she even be willing to bear his child?”
“And another thing… I think his mother was foolish in another way too. She didn’t even know whether she was carrying one child or twins.
That’s how she got deceived.”
As if casually, Jiang Lin turned his head and asked, “Big Sister, I haven’t asked yet… are you carrying a single baby or twins?”