Yu Hai arrived home around nine o'clock. He changed into slippers as soon as he entered the house and went to the bathroom to wash his hands.

He went into the bedroom to check on his wife and child, and saw that they were both asleep. He then went into the kitchen and took a look around. Everything was clean and tidy, so he nodded in approval.

Even though I wasn't home, the three of them were all busy taking care of things. It seems that the older the child gets, the easier they are to raise, and everything is on track.

I had planned to sleep in the master bedroom tonight. I had just taken off my clothes and gotten onto the cot when I heard my son wake up again.

I quickly rubbed my hands together, changed the baby's diaper, and saw that the little guy had pooped again. I went to the bathroom to get some warm water, and when I came back, I washed the baby's bottom.

At this moment, Liu Lan also woke up, got up, washed her hands and cleaned her chest, and then prepared formula for the baby.

While breastfeeding, she talked to Yu Hai about the banquet, "Yu Hai, have you decided how many tables you want to have, and who you want to invite? How much should you spend per table?"

"Don't worry about it, I've already called and notified them. We've booked six tables, and each table, plus cigarettes and alcohol, costs 300 yuan. That'll cover everything for 2,000 yuan."

The restaurant menu is all booked; all you need to do is show up with the baby.

"So how much money will we make in total this time? We won't lose money, will we?"

Yu Hai couldn't help but ask in confusion, "What's wrong with you? Did having a baby make you stupid?"

If you can't even figure out such a simple calculation, why bother throwing a banquet when you're losing money?

You think this is a wedding banquet? All the money went to the wedding dress, ceremony, car rental, video recording, and showing off.

This time, we'll only provide the food and drinks; those who only spend fifty or a hundred yuan won't be allowed to come.

If we lose money like this, who would be interested in hosting banquets and parties for every little thing every day?

We spent a thousand on banquets for the birthdays of your aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Even if they don't raise the price, they'll still have to pay back a thousand, right? Just for the three tables at your parents' house, it'll cost over twenty thousand.

And your classmates, our colleagues, each of them has to give at least one or two hundred yuan, so three tables would cost eight or nine thousand yuan.

"Once everything's settled, we should have around 28,000 or 29,000 left. After the banquet, we'll have some money to spare."

Liu Lan couldn't help but sigh: "Since I started working, I've spent nearly 10,000 yuan a year on wedding gifts."

In addition, even though your family isn't in Jinan and you don't have many relatives back home, your colleagues at work alone cost you at least five or six thousand a year.

We spent a couple hundred thousand yuan to only get back twenty or thirty thousand yuan. It's really not worth it!

Yu Hai was also quite emotional: in his family, the woman's side always took the lion's share of the social obligations; his family really didn't have many relatives or friends!

They only interact with their own colleagues at the shop. In their hometown village, it's just the father and son who send messages, and at most, their uncle's and cousin's families will come.

Chen Honghua helped his fellow villagers with their relationships; they didn't spend a penny on his wedding, let alone his baby's one-month celebration.

Human relationships are connections, and that's probably why he didn't want to go back to his hometown, and why Chen Hong didn't want to leave Yujia Village! Yu Hai finally found the biggest excuse for divorce.

"Our family has few affairs. Including the wedding, we only had two banquets. Look at other people, they marry off their daughters, take in their wives, have children, and their children go to school."

There are banquets held for various occasions, including birthday celebrations, funerals, housewarming parties, housewarming parties, and even for patients undergoing appendectomy.

Do you remember how many banquets our logistics manager, Mr. Li, hosted last year?

Six times: once right after the New Year when we bought a house for a housewarming party; once in March for his father's 66th birthday;

In July, he held a banquet to celebrate his daughter's admission to a junior college; in September, he fell off his bicycle and was hospitalized for seven days for treatment.

His eldest son had an engagement banquet in October; then he married his wife in December, and they had another wedding!

Back then, the young people in our department were so overwhelmed by favors they'd been given away!

If it weren't for Sister Wang in the break room keeping a little notebook, we wouldn't know where all the money went! It was all spent on giving money as gifts to relatives and friends!

New employees get 100 or 200, while we veteran employees get 300 or 500.

I did the math, and last year, Manager Li's family alone received 3,000 yuan in gift money from me!

As a low-level manager, I managed to get a banquet for spending 500 yuan.

Those new employees spent five hundred or a thousand yuan, but they didn't get to drink a drop of water from his house all year. They accompanied him to give money at weddings and other celebrations, and they didn't even know which way his house faced.

Manager Li is particularly cunning; he always avoids holidays and schedules his banquets on weekdays, collecting money without providing the food. His reputation is terrible!

Liu Lan's eyes lit up: "Whether their reputation is good or bad doesn't matter. They're all just employees, and they can't affect their job positions anyway."

Profitability is the key. Yu Hai, have you finalized the dates with the restaurant? Let's learn from Manager Li.

If we hold the banquet on a weekday, fewer people will come to eat, and we can just collect the gift money!

Not only can my colleagues who work in the city not come, but also few of my relatives from the countryside come.

The children they bring are all toddlers who don't go to school, which saves them a lot of money.

We don't need to be picky about customers anymore; just send messages to everyone we have dealings with. There will definitely be many people who only send money and don't actually come!"

Yu Hai was speechless: "Liu Lan, do you think I'm seven years older than you just for free?"

I've thought about this before, but it's not suitable for us!

"Why? If others can do it, why can't we?"

"On what grounds? Because of the unequal social status!"

Manager Li manages hundreds of people, and we all have to curry favor with him. Whether we want to or not, we have to give him a gift, or we'll be treated badly.

As for us! Who are we in charge of? Who can we control? Everything that comes to our house is money we spent. We're lucky if we can get it all back intact.

Some colleagues have left the company, and the relationship has long been severed. It's certain that the favors and money given to these people will not be recovered.

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