Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 834 - 824 We’ll pay, you do the work

"Big sister, you’re wrong there. Although Hongjun might be unreliable and unable to take care of the elderly, our family still has me. If you’d let us take care of Dad, I’d find a male caregiver who can lift him. Watching over the caregiver take care of our dad is just as good," Shen Yunfang said with a chuckle, knowing that her sister-in-law was upset. But regardless of whether there’s money, as a son, there’s an obligation to care for the elderly. The situation is clear: if you don’t want to take care of the elderly, you need to pay for someone else to do it. If you don’t want to pay, then you must put in the effort. Allowing her sister-in-law first pick was already very generous.

Wang Dan pursed her lips—it was still about who had more money.

"Alright, your place is so far, and having the old man move there would just trouble you. Let’s just take care of him, considering that your big brother is always either out in the fields or at home, not as busy as Hongjun and able to lend me a hand," Wang Dan made the most advantageous choice. Not only would this avoid offending the second brother’s family and maintain a good reputation, but there would also be an extra twenty-five yuan coming in each month. No matter how you look at it, this was the right choice.

"Since that’s the case, I’ll have to trouble you from now on, big sister," Li Hongjun breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

He didn’t lack the desire to care for Dad, but as his sister-in-law said, given the nature of his job, he might have to leave for task any day, and he didn’t feel comfortable leaving Yunfang alone at home to take care of the elderly. Besides, their home wasn’t that big; if Dad came to live with them, the kids would have to sleep on the living room floor. It would be manageable for a day or two, but not over the long term. But most importantly, what was this about a male caregiver his wife mentioned? If he had to leave for task and his wife was at home alone with a male caregiver... he wasn’t foolish. He wouldn’t even consider it. All things considered, if Dad could stay in his hometown and be looked after by his older brother and sister-in-law, that would be the best option.

"No worries, we understand that you’re busy. We’re your siblings; we can’t offer much help other than not to be a burden on you," Wang Dan spoke sensibly after making her choice, making sure everything she said sounded nice.

Shen Yunfang was very satisfied, and with satisfaction, she was generous, "Of course, we know how good big brother and big sister have been to us, taking care of us for so many years. Now that Dad will stay in his hometown, you’ll definitely be put to trouble. We can’t help much physically, so we’ll contribute more financially. Just now you mentioned twenty-five yuan a month, right? I’ll round it up to an even fifty yuan a month so that you have more leeway and can get more nutrition for the elderly and the children. And we’ll still give Dad his yearly pension as we have always done. Now Dad can’t spend it himself, so big sister, you can help Dad manage that money. Whenever he wants something to eat, just buy it for him."

With Shen Yunfang being so generous, she almost gave Wang Dan a heart attack. What? Fifty yuan a month, that’s six hundred a year, plus a hundred yuan in pension money, their household would be getting seven hundred yuan a year. That’s much more than she could earn from farming.

"Yunfang, are you serious?" Wang Dan asked with a face that feared she had misheard.

"Of course I am," Shen Yunfang said as she reached for her purse beside her, pulled out her wallet, and counted seven hundred yuan onto the table. "Since we’re all here, we might as well settle this year’s payment now. Here’s seven hundred yuan, big sister, please keep it safe. From now on, caring for dad will be a bother for you and big brother."

Wang Dan took the seven hundred yuan from the table, visibly elated, while Li Hongxing, seeing his wife’s reaction, felt a bit embarrassed. He wiped his hands on his trousers and muttered, "No need for this, no need for this."

Wang Dan quickly pinched her husband secretly— who would ever give back money once it was in hand? Besides, her husband and she would not have it easy taking care of the elderly, and if the second brother’s family could afford to give more, it was certainly welcome.

Li Hongjun glanced at his wife, and Shen Yunfang threw him a meaningful look.

"Big brother, this money is what you deserve. You have contributed more than us, so it’s right that we give more. Of course, if we were only relying on my salary, I definitely couldn’t contribute fifty yuan each month. Even twenty-five would be tough to manage. Now that your younger siblings have the ability, we should be more generous. Should the day come when we’re unable to contribute, I hope you and sister-in-law won’t fuss too much," Li Hongjun said.

"No, we can’t do that. We’re all brothers; it’s not right," Li Hongxing quickly shook his head.

After they discussed the matter of their father, Wang Dan remembered something else.

"Right, although we’ll be taking care of the old man, our house is so small. If he moves in, we’ll be squeezed so tight we won’t be able to move around. Erdan and Sandan are grown up now; they can’t sleep on the same kang with me and their dad," Wang Dan thought of her own two-room house. If they were to take their paralytic grandfather in, there wouldn’t be enough space. The kids couldn’t share a kang with their grandfather, nor could they all squeeze together onto one with their parents. So, either way, it wouldn’t be convenient.

"That’s easy to handle. The house next door and ours are originally one building, only separated by a wall. You could have the old man stay there, and we can knock down the wall or put in a small door between the two homes. Wouldn’t that be the same as living in the same house?" Shen Yunfang obviously understood what her sister-in-law meant. Since she had taken on such a big task, she might as well do her sister-in-law a favor.

Wang Dan smiled, "That would work; we’ve lived like that before. But Zheng Family’s mother and daughter are still over there, going back and forth like this might not be convenient."

"There’s only the paralyzed old man at home. It’s already inconvenient for the mother and daughter to be staying there. I’ll talk to them in a while and ask them to move out as soon as possible." Li Hongjun had already been disappointed by Zheng Huilan’s behavior during the funeral. After all, the old lady was Zheng Huilan’s mother-in-law, an elder. During the funeral of an elder, for a daughter-in-law like her to just hide away and not even show up, much less dress in mourning – what was the point in having such a daughter-in-law in the Li Family, just to feed her well?

"That’s not very nice," Li Xianglian began her unwarranted kindness again, feeling bad about kicking out the widow and orphan.

"What’s not nice about it? The old man should never have let them move in in the first place. They’ve lived here for so long without doing a thing, just waiting for the Li Family to support them. If it were only Huilan, we might not say anything, but now we have her own mother as well. No family can afford to just support two able-bodied people like that," Liu Jianjun pulled his wife back. He had also long been dissatisfied with the Zheng mother and daughter; they say ’birds of a feather flock together’, and Li Hongqi finding a girl from the Zheng Family was quite the match indeed.

"Then it’s settled. I’ll go talk to them in a while. Big sister, is that alright with you?" Li Hongjun made the decision.

"Sure, sure, I think it’s a good plan," Wang Dan was thrilled. By the looks of it, those two rooms next door would be theirs too. Her family was really going to benefit from this.

As for what to do after Li Hongqi got out, that would be a matter for another day.