Chapter 157: Chapter 122: The Inside Story (2)
Lin Liyin heard this and felt a headache, "Mom, have you thought about it? You don’t have money yourself, and you’re using Brother-in-law’s money to support Second Brother, does that make sense? If Big Sister finds out, she’ll definitely make a fuss. Her temper isn’t good. You better figure out how much you owe her besides those two thousand bucks? Let’s just leave that previous confusion for now. But you must explain her salary to her, right? If there’s really no money to pay back, can’t you secretly discuss returning some of it with her?
And about Second Brother, Victory’s brothers are about to start their families. Where’s the money? Second Sister-in-law has no money and just turns to you. Where will you have money in the future? If Big Sister-in-law finds out you’ve been secretly subsidizing Second Brother, what would she think? She’s always giving you food money."
Mrs. Lin frowned with worry, "Your Big Sister hasn’t collected her salary since she started resting. Back then, she earned about one silver dollar a month, then they issued paper money, followed by the people’s currency, her salary increased yearly, and she often went on business trips so her monthly allowance wasn’t small. Aside from what she’d send to Zhou Jiao every month, all of it was with me. At first, I was saving it too, and I even opened an account at the same bank, depositing whenever I thought of it, and withdrawing when there was no money. How could I still remember after all these years?
Originally, I thought Zhou Xiaozheng was gone, Zhou Jiao is still a girl and would eventually get married. There’s such a large sum of money in her name, and later your Big Sister wouldn’t have to worry about money, wasn’t there also two courtyard houses? Unlike your Second Brother’s family, which had a heavy burden, this amount of money wouldn’t affect them.
I planned to privately arrange with your sister to return the two courtyard houses and the nine thousand US dollars back to Zhou Jiao. Anyway, Zhou Jiao doesn’t know the exact amount. But I won’t give her salary, after all, she’s my daughter, it’s easier to talk about. If your sister disagrees, I will make up some jewelry and gold.
But who knew Zhou Xiaozheng would come back alive? That makes the situation different. He knows exactly how much money his family has. We didn’t even raise his daughter, and there’s no sense of obligation left. Besides, he never asked for their family’s money to be left with me.
When he comes back and asks me, he will definitely calculate it clearly. 17 years ago, the principal was over nine thousand US dollars, how much is it now? Even if we sell our whole family’s assets, it’s not enough. Isn’t it better to return the money to Zhou Xiaozheng sooner rather than later? Instead of waiting for him to confront me, pretending to be confused and returning it personally might make it harder for him to bring it up.
Who could have known he’d come back alive? This completely disrupted my plans. If he brings up the money in front of your dad, what do you think your dad would do? Besides, haven’t you heard what your dad said about that kid? Just as clever as Zhou Xiaozheng, there’s nothing else to say, hurry up and gather the money."
Lin Liyin thought of her dad, "Then there must be an estimate, do you have a rough idea in your mind?"
Mrs. Lin nodded, "I have a rough estimate. Assuming your Big Sister’s salary from the promotion for 17 years, initially calculated at 20 yuan a month, making it three years, then calculated at 50 yuan for three years, and later your Big Sister probably had 100 yuan a month, not counting allowances, calculate it as five years, there’s eleven years here. The remaining years I went to collect her salary, these six years at 110 yuan adding up to now 185 yuan, calculated for three years at 150, the latter three years at 160, that portion from the work unit allowances counted as the 20 yuan sent to Zhou Jiao every month, combined it’s directly saved in the bank, so when the time comes to give them a deposit slip, it’s for your brother-in-law to see, for Zhou Jiao to see."
Lin Liyin counted on her fingers, silently calculating for a while, then looked up at Mrs. Lin in shock, "Mom, that’s a lot of money, almost 20,000 yuan, yet Big Sister buys gifts for us and often gets dowry for Jiao Jiao. Where does she get the money?"
Mrs. Lin patted her, "17 years of salary is nothing much, I plan to deposit two thousand in the bank as her salary. Actually, I can’t remember exactly how much salary your Big Sister had, but I have an idea. Her salary was about the same as mine, didn’t you forget I have a salary slip and keep accounts. I can’t take it out anymore, her allowance alone was a third of her salary, her basic expenses were all covered by the army. A few times when she came back from abroad, she additionally gave me money to save for her to give Jiao Jiao later. Haha, just two thousand, take it or leave it.
Your Big Sister once privately said to let her know when there’s fifty thousand. Listen to her, she’s confused but not so foolish as to forget her money. Your Big Sister would take things for people everywhere to earn extra money during business trips, she’d buy gifts for you when she earned more. As for the dowry, she bought it cheap locally, it looks like a lot, didn’t cost much, and some were exchanged for military coats.