Rebirth 1983: Building My Business Empire-Chapter 122 - 115: Moderation

Chapter 122 -115: Moderation

Jiajie helped Jiaxin earn three thousand yuan in just three months, which would have moved any ordinary person to tears. But Ma Lili–the nerve of her–even conspired with her family to take advantage of her.

Lu Jiaguang reminded her, “Your Fifth Brother needed money to buy a house; you should have waited for them to ask, rather than offering yourself. Learn from this experience and be more careful in the future.”

After speaking, he added another sentence, “Everyone has their difficulties, Jiaxin, but you can’t possibly help everyone, that’s just impossible.”

Talk about difficulties, he had his own! A family of six crammed into a house of a little over fifty square meters. His eldest and second sons occupied bunk beds, and so did his youngest son and his daughter. There was simply no choice, with too few and too small rooms to accommodate everyone. Now, they only had the option to wait until his eldest son graduated and started working, staying at the company dorms, so that his daughter could finally have her own room.

Lu Jiaxin cracked a smile, “Big Brother, I’m not a walking charity, apart from you and Fifth Brother, I wouldn’t loan money to anyone else. The money I make is hard-earned too.”

“What about Zao Hua?”

Lu Jiaxin was at a loss for words and took a while before saying, “I just feel sorry for her. She has the potential to change her fate through education but is being pushed into the abyss by her mother who favors sons over daughters. However, I’ve also said I’ll only support two hundred yuan per term, no more than that.”

Lu Jiaguang wasn’t scolding Lu Jiaxin; on the contrary, he admired her, “It is good to have compassion, but in the future, you should discuss such matters with us and find a proper way to handle it. Otherwise, people will see you as an easy mark and deliberately come to you with sob stories to get money.”

Lu Jiaxin nodded in agreement.

Back at home, Lu Jiaxin asked Xiao Qiu, “Do you know how Zao Hua is doing now?”

Xiao Qiu would call home every week, and although the calls were short, she would ask about the things that mattered. In this respect, Lu Jiaxin couldn’t compete; she wasn’t emotionally expressive and wouldn’t take the initiative to make calls if there was no need.

Frowning, Xiao Qiu said, “Not good. Her family hasn’t given up on the idea of marrying her off and even promised more benefits to the other party. Zao Hua disagrees, so Aunt Gen stopped her from taking food from home. It was only after the grandparents found out that the big brother sent her a bag of food.”

A flash of disgust crossed Lu Jiaxin’s eyes, “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

Xiao Qiu explained, “Grandpa knew about your weak health and didn’t want you to worry, so he forbade me from telling you. But don’t worry, Grandpa and Grandma said they’d take care of Zao Hua’s food for her three years of high school.”

With the distribution of produce based on household size, the Lu family, having more members, received more land and could afford to support Zao Hua. But why should they give the grain they worked so hard for to an outsider?

Lu Jiaxin shook her head, “This isn’t right. The Second Sister-in-law Lu and Third Sister-in-law Lu will definitely have complaints against Big Aunt and Big Uncle; we need to think of another way.”

It wouldn’t do to cause discord between the parents and sons in the big house because of her good intentions.

Xiao Qiu was naive and laughed, “Don’t worry, my mother and Third Aunt don’t mind, they even said doing more good deeds brings blessings!”

Lu Jiaxin was confused.

Xiao Qiu clarified, “My dad can earn a hundred yuan a month working in Yangcheng City. Last month I also made eighty yuan. My mother couldn’t stop smiling; how could she have any complaints? As for Third Uncle and Aunt, they’re counting on you to pull them up, so they wouldn’t object either.”

Her dad could work until the New Year’s festival, earning three hundred in wages, and combined with her own earnings, they’d have at least five hundred. Their entire family used to work all year round and barely save up a thousand yuan, and that was with Grandma being extremely frugal. Everyone used to rely on Third Uncle, but now their perspectives had shifted.

Lu Jiaxin cheerfully said, “Since your dad and Fifth Brother have been in Yangcheng City for so long, they must know quite a few people. Recommending a few individuals to work there shouldn’t be a problem.”

Xiao Qiu shook her head and said, “My dad might as well forget it; he’s not clever with words and only good for manual labor. Fifth Uncle may be articulate, but he’s not reliable, his mouth runs faster than his brain, he’s not trustworthy.”

Lu Jiaxin couldn’t help but laugh, “If you talk about Second Brother like that, be careful he might give you a spanking for it.”

Xiao Qiu claimed these weren’t her own words but those of her grandparents, “My dad’s not clever with words and only buries his head in work, it’s common among the village men, so I can’t blame him. But Fifth Brother is really no good; he even told Third Uncle about you owning a big house. If he hadn’t said anything, none of what followed would have happened.”

As for her owning a big house getting out, Lu Jiaxin thought it was just loose talk while drunk, something that could be avoided in the future by not drinking, but this time she really felt that Lu Jiajie was seriously unreliable.

Suddenly, Xiao Qiu remembered something and said, “Little aunt, the last time I called home, my mom said that the weather is getting colder, and Zao Hua is still wearing her autumn clothes.”

“What about her clothes from last year?”

Xiao Qiu also asked Second Sister-in-law Lu about this, “She’s grown this year, and her clothes are all too small. Her mom altered them for her younger brother to wear. By doing this, her mother is just trying to pressure her into getting married.”

The suitor’s family offered too much, and Zao Hua’s mother got tempted not to wait that long anymore and thus tried every possible way to force Zao Hua to drop out of school.

Lu Jiaxin felt that with such a mother, it’d be best to jump out of the farm gate and flee as far as possible so she could never be found again.

On Sunday, Ma Lili was moving, and she asked Lu Jiajie and some friends to help.

Although Lu Jiaxin suspected that she’d be moving on Sunday, she wasn’t told until the movers came over, which really annoyed her. Did they really think she had no temper?

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Lu Jiaxin didn’t give her face either; after greeting Lu Jiajie’s friends, she took Xiaoxiao and Xiao Qiu out shopping. She didn’t bring Xue Mao because someone had to stay and watch the house.

One of Lu Jiajie’s buddies felt something was off; it just didn’t seem right that the brother wasn’t helping with his sister-in-law’s move. If their relationship were bad, that’d be understandable, but having stayed at their place for so long and even lending them money to buy a house voluntarily, such a sister was hard to come by!

This buddy was also quite perceptive and surmised from Ma Lili’s sour expression that there must’ve been a serious conflict between the aunt and nephew. He thought it was necessary to inform Jiezi about this.

Lu Jiaxin bought them winter clothes; Xiaoxiao and Xue Mao each got one outfit, while Xiao Qiu got two, both made of monkey cotton and very warm.

After buying the clothes, Lu Jiaxin said to Xiao Qiu, “Next time you call home, tell your mom to give Zao Hua your old padded jacket to wear.”

Giving Zao Hua a new one directly wouldn’t be appropriate, as it could cause conflict with so many nephews and nieces around. Zao Hua was still relying on Big Aunt and Big Aunt’s husband, and now this solution worked out just fine.

That afternoon, Xiao Qiu called home and told Second Sister-in-law Lu about the clothes, “Mom, Little Aunt got me two sets of beautiful and warm winter clothes.”

A smile spread across Second Sister-in-law Lu’s face that she couldn’t hide, but she still had to say what was needed, “Now that you’re earning your own money, you can’t keep spending your little aunt’s money in the future. You should buy what you lack yourself.”

After agreeing, Xiao Qiu took the opportunity to say, “Mom, now that I have new clothes, you should give Zao Hua my old padded jacket! It’s colder at school than at home, and without a thick jacket, she could get sick from the cold.”

“Alright, when I get back, I’ll modify your jacket to make it longer for Zao Hua to wear.”