In Su City, since Su's mother's funeral, Mingcheng and Zhu Li have been living in misery and have fallen into dire straits.
First, they shared part of the expenses for Su's mother's funeral, and used all the savings on hand.
The two of them had only a few thousand yuan left in their newly paid wages that month.
It can only cover the family’s daily expenses for the month.
This was nothing. Ever since he knew about the existence of the account book and how the young couple had been gnawing at each other all these years, Su Mingcheng didn't think it was anything. He thought it was given to him by his mother and there was no need to pay it back.
Julie, on the other hand, is a face-conscious person with a strong personality. She has always felt that chewing old age is a very shameful thing. She didn't expect that she would do such a thing unknowingly, and she was very ashamed.
Naturally, he would not pretend to be confused and deceive himself and others like Su Mingcheng.
So I discussed with Mingcheng to return the money he had taken from his family over the years. Mingcheng was unwilling to do so and tried every means to evade it. However, under Zhu Li's strong request, he finally agreed.
So, in front of Su Daqiang, they made an agreement that Zhu Li and Mingcheng would pay in installments, dedicating a portion of their salary every month to repay the debt, and strive to pay off the debt within three years.
The family had little savings and had to repay the mortgage every month. Adding in the promised repayment, the couple used up more than half of their salary.
Life has fallen into a dilemma. Let alone live a casual life like in the past, it is a good thing to be able to maintain it smoothly.
Isn’t this just secondary, money? There are ways to spend more and more, and there are ways to spend less. Spend less and save more, and you can live a good life.
The key is that Su Daqiang, a wild boy, gradually began to reveal his true nature and let himself go.
I woke up in the morning to cook porridge. The porridge was cooking in the pot, but people ran downstairs and disappeared. The porridge boiled and came out, extinguishing the gas.
If Mingcheng and his wife were not alert, they would have discovered later that it was either a fire or gas poisoning.
Just like that, Su Daqiang wandered downstairs for two hours and returned home. After learning about this incident, he was not afraid or concerned about the safety of Mingcheng and his wife. He was actually regretful that his porridge was gone.
Another problem of Su Daqiang is that he doesn't like to take baths, and his body smell is very strong, especially in winter when the weather is cold and the heating is on in the room and the windows cannot be opened for ventilation, which makes the smell even stronger.
How can a young couple with petty bourgeois sentiments endure this, especially Julie, who suffered even more.
Not only did he not take a shower, Su Daqiang also didn't care about hygiene. The bathroom was dirty after just one use. The toilet was covered with a little yellowish-brown liquid and he didn't even know how to flush it.
What makes Julie even more unbearable is that Su Daqiang often uses her towel. The towel that was originally clean and scented became dirty and had a strange smell after being used once by Su Daqiang.
Zhu Li spoke several times through Mingcheng, but she still refused to change and went her own way.
Julie was in despair. The couple's happy days were gone forever, and they could only work overtime until late every day, not wanting to stay at home for a moment.
There are even more problems with eating. Both of them have jobs and they are not close to home. It is impossible to come back and cook for Su Daqiang at noon.
For this reason, Zhu Li specially ordered expensive takeaway food for Su Daqiang. Unexpectedly, she was rejected and said that the rice was too hard.
Then he acted out again, saying that his life was too hard, his children were unfilial, and so on. He couldn't even eat a meal, so he only ordered takeout and other junk food for him.
However, nothing happened to him after eating these takeaways. Instead, he was hospitalized after eating the duck neck he bought privately.
Then, they called Mingyu to cry and Li Mu to cry, leaving Mingcheng and Zhu Li in a state of fear and wanting to cry without tears.
Li Mu knew what kind of person this old boy was, so naturally he would not reprimand the Mingcheng couple like on TV. The young couple had already behaved filially enough.
If it were Li Mu, let alone whether he could bear it, he would not be spoiled by Su Daqiang and would have knocked down his arrogance long ago.
Li Mu could only comfort Mingcheng and his wife with a few words on the phone, and they finally felt better.
Next, Mingcheng and his wife changed their approach and decided to give Su Daqiang 50 yuan a day as lunch expenses, so he could cook it himself or go to a restaurant.
For Su Daqiang, who was jealous of money, this idea was too good, so he solved the problem of having lunch.
However, this makes the life of Mingcheng and his wife even more difficult.
Especially in the month when Li Mugang returned to the United States, the young couple only had a few thousand yuan left in their hands for daily expenses that month.
Su Daqiang spent most of it on a trip to the hospital, and the rest was only enough to pay Su Daqiang's daily lunch fee.
Not to mention other expenses, the young couple even had no money for basic meals and groceries.
A living person cannot choke to death. With no choice, the two of them could only cash out part of their credit cards to make it through that month.
It's just that next month, the expenses will be even greater. After calculating the expense list for that month, the two of them feel numb.
Pay off the mortgage, pay the arrears to Su Daqiang in installments, pay fifty yuan for lunch every day, and pay off the credit card.
Added together, three-quarters of their monthly salary and bonus were gone.
The remaining quarter is for daily expenses including meals, food shopping, transportation and phone calls.
In the past, the combined salary of the two of them was not enough to cover the expenses, so Su's mother needed to subsidize it; now, a quarter of their salary is the entire monthly expenses.
The same people, different times, and living conditions are completely different. Mingcheng and Zhu Li fell into dire straits for a while.
It's just that it's hard to talk about this kind of thing outside. You can only knock out your teeth and swallow it in your stomach.
At present, the only thought is that my eldest brother will prepare as soon as possible to take Su's father to the United States, so that their little life can be more leisurely.
Although they are not as wealthy as before in terms of money, their ears can be quiet. This is their only hope now.
…
Li Mu had been thinking about when to take Su Daqiang to the United States, but he had not decided yet, so he put it off.
On the one hand, they were really unprepared, and on the other hand, they took advantage of Su Daqiang's demonic nature to let the young couple experience the suffering of the world in advance.
Especially for Mingcheng, it would be too difficult for him to repent without suffering some hardships and becoming mature.
Time passed by like this bit by bit, and it was time for Mingyu to return to his country.
During these days, although Mingyu was in the United States, traveling around and relaxing, his heart was at home, and he had to learn about the company's various situations through Liu Qing every day.
At first, I was worried that my elder brother's guess was inaccurate and things would change. As time went by, things really developed in the direction predicted.
Without Mingyu, President Meng's confidant, she could carry the banner in the country and pull a group of middle-level managers to jointly fight against Vice President Sun. Even Liu Qing, the thorny head, kept a low profile under her persuasion.
In Lao Meng's absence, Vice President Sun held great power for a while and colluded with Lao Meng's wife's cousin, another senior executive of the company, to place confidants in the company and eliminate dissidents.