"You're telling me you spent all your allowance on training classes?" Lin Haoyu asked Lin Kangrui what he had done to pursue his dream of becoming a superstar. She hadn't expected the question to actually yield something substantial. She looked at Lin Kangrui with a peculiar expression—this younger brother of hers had real ambition.
"The courses I signed up for aren't cheap. My allowance alone wasn't enough—the bulk of it came from Mom and Dad slipping me money on the side. They don't know I've been spending it on lessons." Lin Kangrui was beaming with pride.
Lin Haoyu thought about her own monthly allowance of a thousand Hong Kong dollars and quietly drew in a breath. Right—the Lin family was wealthy, but Lin Zhenhua had long ago set down a family rule: before turning eighteen, descendants could only receive a monthly allowance of one thousand dollars. Moreover, every child's New Year's money from childhood had to be deposited into a bank account under their own name. After eighteen years of saving, it would amount to a considerable sum, and whether to spend it, invest it, or start a business with it was entirely up to the individual.
Lin Zhenhua truly was a capitalist through and through—every cent calculated with precision, even scheming over his grandchildren's New Year's money. Everyone in the Lin family received a fixed monthly allowance from the family coffers that covered all expenses, so theoretically, no one had much need to spend money on anything.
Although the original owner had been frail and sickly, spending a thousand dollars a month was nothing. So Lin Haoyu was currently flat broke, sitting on a pile of valuable gold and jewelry that she couldn't possibly sell. If she actually sold them, the Hong Kong tabloids would immediately start proclaiming that the Lin family was going bankrupt. Of course, Lin Haoyu had no intention of selling—she couldn't touch the money in her bank account before turning eighteen anyway. She was, in fact, a pauper. Ha ha.
Sun Shuhui and Lin Jiahao occasionally slipped money to the two kids on the sly, but never more than a hundred at a time. Any more than that, and Lin Zhenhua wouldn't turn a blind eye. Lin Kangrui was truly relying on his parents' handouts to chase his dream.
Lin Haoyu was skeptical. "You really think Mom, Dad, and Grandpa have no idea where your money's going? Especially Grandpa?"
"There's no way they know!" Lin Kangrui retorted, then suddenly shivered. "Grandpa… he-he doesn't know, does he?"
Lin Haoyu fell silent. Lin Kangrui paced back and forth uneasily.
Given Lin Zhenhua's iron grip over the entire Lin family, Lin Haoyu's suspicion was well-founded. Lin Zhenhua's need for control was immense—extremely, extremely immense. The chances he didn't know were slim; the chances he knew and simply didn't care were high!
After hearing Lin Haoyu's full analysis, Lin Kangrui felt both pleased and displeased. He stiffened his neck and said, "Hmph! No one's going to stop me from going to my classes! I'm going!"
Lin Kangrui openly had the driver take him out.
Lin Haoyu returned to her room and immediately searched for her bankbook but couldn't find it. Sun Shuhui came looking for her, and she quickly asked, "Mommy, where's my bankbook?"
"Mommy's keeping it safe for you. Why do you need your bankbook?" Sun Shuhui asked curiously.
Lin Haoyu: "Can you give it to me?"
Sun Shuhui: "No, your grandfather won't allow it. But I can let you look at it. What did you talk about with Xiao Qi?"
Lin Haoyu's mouth parted slightly in surprise. She studied Sun Shuhui's expression, then suddenly asked, "Mommy, you know where Seventh Brother's been spending his money?"
Sun Shuhui nodded, then said with a troubled look, "Xiao Qi wants to be a singer, but that line of work puts you out in the public eye—it's not respectable. Your grandparents know about it, and I'm afraid they'll take it out on me, saying I didn't raise Xiao Qi properly and let him follow in my footsteps of being out in the public eye. Your father, though, couldn't care less—he even said he wants a superstar son, and then he'd be the superstar's father!"
Lin Haoyu wasn't surprised by Lin Jiahao's reaction at all. It was Sun Shuhui's attitude that was worth worrying about. "Mommy, you—"
Sun Shuhui patted Lin Haoyu's hand. "Mommy's fine. I met your father through the Miss Hong Kong pageant—I can't deny that. The entertainment industry is full of unsavory things. Sixth Sister, don't be fooled by those celebrities' glamorous exteriors—who knows what they're really like underneath. Of the people who became famous alongside me back then, how many actually made it? Those triad societies are ruthless—even the most dazzling superstars have to bow their heads to them. If Xiao Qi really goes off to be a singer, I can't stop him, but he has the Lin family behind him. No one would dare touch him."
Sun Shuhui had once been half in the entertainment industry. Back then, if it hadn't been for Lin Jiahao, she didn't know whose wandering hands she might have fallen victim to. She truly disliked the entertainment industry.
Nowadays, celebrities didn't hold the same status they would in the future, and the money they earned couldn't compare either. Quite a few people looked down on those in that line of work.
Sun Shuhui was telling Lin Haoyu all this because she didn't want her daughter developing any interest in the entertainment industry. If Lin Haoyu also announced she wanted to go into showbiz, Sun Shuhui would really cry. The entertainment industry was harsher and more dangerous for women than for men—how could Sun Shuhui bear that?
Lin Haoyu understood Sun Shuhui's concerns and found it both amusing and exasperating. Her, a lazy fish, going into the entertainment industry? Asking for trouble? Impossible! She had to swear it repeatedly before Sun Shuhui was temporarily put at ease.
"Mommy, the bankbook." Lin Haoyu remembered her purpose.
Sun Shuhui went to her room, opened the safe, and pulled out the bankbook belonging to Lin Haoyu.
Wow!
Lin Haoyu's eyes sparkled as she opened the bankbook. Over three million Hong Kong dollars—rich, so rich! This amount was just pocket change for the entire Lin family, but this was money she got for free, and that was excellent.
Lin Haoyu rubbed her little hands together, thoroughly satisfied. From now on, she could slowly think about how to spend this money. Once she turned eighteen, the sky was the limit—she could roam freely wherever she pleased, hehe~
"So happy?" Sun Shuhui smiled too.
Lin Haoyu nodded her little head: "I'm happy thinking about all the things I can buy."
Sun Shuhui gave a mysterious smile, reached into the safe, and pulled out another bankbook. She opened it and handed it to Lin Haoyu: "This is Mommy's bankbook."
Lin Haoyu looked down and saw a string of zeros. She counted—ten million. Whoa!
Wait, she spotted the key point: "Mommy, you have other bankbooks?"
Sun Shuhui smiled smugly and pulled out several bankbooks from other banks. The amounts varied, some more, some less, but all together they added up to a considerable sum—savings Sun Shuhui had accumulated bit by bit.
"I kept a tight grip on your father's wallet, and that's how I saved up tens of millions little by little." Sun Shuhui spoke with great expertise.
Lin Haoyu looked at her with admiration, sending starry-eyed looks and applauding: "Mommy is so capable!"
Sun Shuhui was hooked on sharing. She pulled her daughter over to look at her land deeds and property certificates, accumulated over the years: "Mommy doesn't understand investing, so I just buy land, buy houses, buy shops, buy gold…"
Lin Haoyu looked through them one by one, growing happier with each page. Wow, it turned out she had a mommy with assets over a hundred million. Under a big tree, one enjoys the shade—with such a shrewd mommy, this little salted fish of hers could lie back and rest even more at ease.
Sweet-tongued Lin Haoyu blew out a string of rainbow farts, flattering Sun Shuhui so much she nearly floated up to the sky: "Sixth Sister, when you turn eighteen, Mommy will transfer some properties and shops to you. Then you can collect rent every month."
"Thank you, Mommy!" Lin Haoyu happily hugged Sun Shuhui and nuzzled against her. Mommy was a big rich lady, and she was a little rich lady.
She declared: Mommy is the best in the world!