Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 810 - 800 Can We Still Go On With These Days

By the time Old Li left again, slamming the door behind him, another half hour had passed.

Qiu Shuping spat towards the door and picked up her now-cold meal to eat. She knew that no one else was effective, only the second child could control the old man.

It wasn’t until Old Li had left the yard that he remembered to come back to discuss the telephone bill with his wife. Considering that he might run into the team leader, who would inevitably ask him for money, the embarrassment if he couldn’t produce it would be akin to losing face all the way to his grandmother’s house. Not wanting to lose face, he had no choice but to turn back and enter the house.

Qiu Shuping did not expect Old Li to come back, which startled her a bit.

"Ahem, well, you’ve spent five yuan on the phone call to Hongjun, and Gensheng came to me about it today. I don’t have five yuan in my pocket, so let’s see how much you have. We need to pool our money quickly and pay him back; dragging our feet like this is not proper," Old Li coughed and then said sternly.

Qiu Shuping came back to her senses, "I don’t have any, I just got home. How would I have money? Besides, all the household money is with you; why are you asking me? Speaking of money, I was about to find you too. These past two years I haven’t been at home, and you’ve been collecting the pension money from the second child, but now that I’m back, I should manage it. You, an old man, going about like a housewife, managing all the household eating and spending, what does that look like?" Her words seemed righteous, but in reality, she was angling to take control of the money.

"Don’t beat around the bush with all that useless talk. People are already at our door asking for money. The problem was caused by you, so quickly gather whatever money you have. I’ve only got three yuan and eighty-four cents left," Old Li said, taking out the money from his jacket pocket again.

That was all the money he had left in his pocket, and although he wished he could immediately hand over the responsibility of handling the money to his wife, he had to repay the five yuan first.

Qiu Shuping was dissatisfied when she saw Old Li only took out such a small amount of money. The day she came back, she had seen several tens of yuan in his pocket, and in just a few days, how could there be only so little left?

"Where’s your money? How come there’s only so little left? The other day I saw several big bills in your pocket."

Old Li, thinking about where that money had gone, could only hem and haw; he dared not tell the whole truth.

Seeing his defeated look, Qiu Shuping immediately understood that the money in the old man’s pocket must have gone to another woman, and she was livid.

"You’re a fine one, Old Man, giving money to that tramp again, aren’t you? How generous you are, our household is on the verge of being unable to put food on the table, yet you still have the nerve to give money to another woman..."

"Stop talking nonsense; when have I ever given money to another woman?" Old Li quickly interrupted her, not allowing her to continue, for if others heard such talk, how could he face anyone?

"Fine, you say you didn’t give any away, then tell me, where has all the pension money my son gave these past two years gone? Come on, give me a detailed account," Qiu Shuping rolled up her sleeves, ready to settle scores properly.

"What’s there to talk about? Before you left for the Capital, you spent all our money on Hongqi’s wedding and Huilan’s miscarriage, leaving hardly anything behind. What little was left was not even enough for me and the oldest to buy train tickets to the Capital. I had no choice but to endure the famine for your sake. If it weren’t for the fact that we didn’t need to pay for our accommodation, we would have had to beg our way back home. Don’t you agree I have to repay the starvation debts? And as an old man at home alone, if I wanted a hot meal, wouldn’t I have to hire someone to cook for me? All of that costs money," Old Li was putting everything on the line, making up detailed stories to justify his explanations.

Qiu Shuping was somewhat persuaded by his words. Initially, the family’s money had indeed been squandered by the younger daughter-in-law. When the accident occurred, the old man might truly have faced famine in the Capital. However, the money she saw when she returned was certainly real. If she was supposed to repay the debt, she should have finished last year, so why did it extend to this year? Considering there was a homewrecker lurking around, Qiu Shuping became skeptical once again.

"You better not try to confuse me. Tell me exactly whom you borrowed money from and whom you’ve repaid. I’ll go and ask around myself." freeweɓnovel.cøm

Upon seeing that she wanted to get to the bottom of the matter, the old man, Mr. Li, started to panic because he never experienced a famine. It was true that when he went to the Capital, he was short of money, but didn’t he have his eldest daughter?

"Don’t go stirring up trouble; with your explosive temper, going over there would be like starting a war. You’ll just offend everyone. Just calm down, will you? All the debts have been paid off now, so why not just start saving again?"

The more he avoided the topic, the more Qiu Shuping doubted him. "You haven’t given money to that vixen? She fed you and did your laundry just out of the goodness of her heart, without any benefit?" Anyone would find that hard to believe.

Mr. Li coughed uncomfortably, "What are you talking about? What vixen? If someone heard you, they would laugh at us. The hiring was arranged by the younger couple two years ago during their New Year visit. We aren’t relatives with them, so of course we have to pay for the labor. Isn’t it right to take a portion of the pension money my second son gave us to pay Auntie Xue... Xue Suqin for her labor, and I saved the rest to stave off starvation."

Mr. Li was already wiping imaginary sweat; one lie seemed to require a hundred more to cover it up.

"Alright, let’s not talk about that for now. It’s urgent that we repay Gensheng his five yuan. Isn’t it embarrassing to be chased for money? That’s all I have. Hurry up and contribute. Let’s pool our money and pay him back."

"I don’t have any money, not a single cent." As soon as Qiu Shuping heard she would have to pay out of her own pocket, she immediately shook her head, "Don’t you have an old darling? Go ask her for the money." Qiu Shuping looked disdainfully at Mr. Li.

Mr. Li became furious, "Are you not understanding what I’m saying? What old darling? My relationship with her is purely employer-employee. Why should I ask her for money? Besides, can’t you be reasonable? You’re the one who spent the money, not me. I’m even helping you out here, and now you’re getting all worked up. Fine, I won’t bother with this. Here’s the money, you figure out how to cover the rest. Make sure to pay Gensheng as soon as possible, or don’t blame him if he calls the police to arrest you." Mr. Li, no longer caring, tossed the money onto the kang and started to walk out.

How could Qiu Shuping let him leave? If he was gone, where would she find the remaining amount of money? So, as she saw him leaving, she quickly propped herself up and grabbed the old man’s sleeve with a claw-like grip.

"Why are you pulling me? Let go," Mr. Li, yanked by his wife, stumbled and nearly fell.

"I will not let go. Unless you bring me the rest of the money today, don’t even think about leaving," Qiu Shuping said, holding on firmly, not afraid of getting hit.

"You crazy woman, you’ve been acting mad since you came back. Can’t things get better? Can we continue living like this? If we can’t, we might as well get a divorce." For the first time in a long time, Mr. Li mentioned divorce.

After saying it, he felt relieved. If he really split up with his wife and started living with Suqin, perhaps life wouldn’t be so chaotic.

Having not heard his wife’s ranting for over two years, Mr. Li had grown accustomed to Mother Xue’s gentle and soft manner. Suddenly facing a stark change, he naturally compared his wife with Xue Suqin, making the differences between them glaringly obvious.