42 High-salary abduction
When Li Wei entered the room, Cheng Fei was happily munching on a bowl of green apricots the size of quail eggs. Li Wei's mouth watered as she watched, her teeth aching from the back of her tongue. She thought to herself, "Could it be that my aunt is pregnant?" But she dared not say it out loud, for it would be a matter of life and death.
Wiping away non-existent drool from the corner of her mouth, she leaned closer with a fawning smile: "Auntie, what do you want to eat?" She immediately regretted it. What an idiotic question! With a gulp, she realized her mouth was watering again.
Sure enough, Cheng Fei glanced at Li Wei out of the corner of her eye: "Are you nearsighted? What kind of look is that!"
Li Wei tried her best not to look at the sour apricots: "Auntie, don't curse me, being nearsighted is very expensive."
Crackling, gurgling.
Li Wei was simply at her wit's end.
Cheng Fei finally pushed the bowl of green apricots aside and wiped her hands with a towel: "How can nearsightedness cost money? I've never heard of that. I only heard from my classmate that it affects appearance."
"Oh, Auntie, once you become nearsighted, you have to change your glasses every six months on average, whether it's because your prescription has increased or your glasses are broken. Also, if your eyesight isn't good, you won't even see money on the street, and someone with good eyesight will pick it up. Isn't that a loss? It's an opportunity cost. Don't you think it's expensive?"
"You little rascal, you know quite a bit, you even know about opportunity cost. Look at your shifty eyes, do you want something from your auntie?" Cheng Fei's eyes were unusually sharp.
Li Wei immediately leaned in and hugged her aunt's arm: "Hey, Auntie, I'm just bored and wanted to ask you what your dreams are. Besides going to university, do you have any other dreams? Let's talk about our dreams and life!"
Cheng Fei chuckled, finding Li Wei's blinking eyes and the way she talked about ideals and life so amusing. Only Li Wei could say such things; if anyone else said them, it would make Cheng Fei's teeth ache with embarrassment.
Li Wei ignored her aunt's unserious attitude towards ideals and life. She continued, "As the saying goes, 'Preparation is the key to success, lack of preparation leads to failure.' If you don't set some goals now, as another saying goes, 'He who does not plan for the future will have trouble in the present.' Ah, Auntie, tell me, what kind of job do you want to find?" Li Wei also wanted to ask what kind of person she wanted to marry, but she didn't dare. It would be pointless to say it anyway.
If someone had mentioned college entrance exams to Cheng Fei a few days ago, she would have definitely stormed off. Now, thanks to Aunt Luo and Qingxing's help to relax and improve her condition, she's let go of a lot of that tension. It's exhausting to always be so tense. Besides, she wouldn't bother being rude to a little kid like Li Wei. However, after listening to Li Wei's long speech, she found it quite interesting. She looked at Li Wei with a half-smile: "Since you're so insightful, tell me first. What are your dreams?"
Cheng Fei was a beauty to begin with. Although she hadn't paid much attention to her appearance at school, for an eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl, youth is the best clothing and makeup. Now, with a half-smiling, alluring look in her eyes and a face full of peach blossoms, she was looking at Li Wei with such charm that Li Wei almost slipped off the edge of the bed. She quickly grabbed her aunt's arm, thinking to herself, "This is deadly! No wonder she changes men one after another. She's got the assets! I'm so envious!" *Ahem*... No…
She swallowed hard. Li Wei forced herself to calm down: "Ideals, Auntie. Don't underestimate me just because I'm young. I actually do have some (though they're not very ambitious). 'Ambition is not just about having rice cakes; without ambition, one lives a wasted life.' I think ideals can be divided into stages. For example, my first five-year plan (currently, I'm trying to persuade you) is to study hard, improve every day, and incidentally earn some money for retirement."
Cheng Fei continued to glance at Li Wei sideways: "You little brat, you don't need to mock me. 'First five-year plan,' you say! You're so young and already thinking about making money for retirement. You've certainly started preparing early enough. Tell me, how much retirement money have you made?"
"Auntie, haven't you seen the current state of the country? The one-child policy is being enforced so strictly, and it doesn't seem like it's going to loosen up anytime soon. So by the time we get old, we'll only have one child left. We'll still have to support their education, marriage, and buying a house. Not to mention how much that will cost, what if they don't amount to much and end up feeding us for life? We'll still have to support ourselves in our old age. Can we manage without enough money? Even for a regular government employee, their pension might not be enough. So you have to start saving money early. As for my retirement money, I'll show you later. Auntie, tell me about your dreams first?"
Cheng Fei was already overjoyed when Li Wei mentioned family planning. When Li Wei asked about her ideals, she replied without thinking, "Auntie doesn't have such lofty ideals as you. If I can go to university, I will. If not, I'll find a good job. I'm ashamed, haha."
Li Wei pretended not to understand her aunt's teasing and played dumb: "What do you mean by a 'good job'? Auntie, you study so well, if you don't pass this time, you can take the exam again next time. You'll definitely pass." Most importantly, you can get a stable job after repeating a few years. No matter how envious she was.
Cheng Fei scoffed, "I'm not going back to school. Besides, I'm sure I can find a better job with a higher salary." She was getting tired of studying.
Li Wei's eyes lit up, and she became much more energetic. "Hehe, I was just afraid you'd treat money like that: Auntie, actually I think with your intelligence and courage, it's too unfair for you to work for someone else. Why not be your own boss? Starting your own business is not bad either."
"Hmph, is being a self-employed individual something to be proud of? Look at your mother, rolling around in flour all day. The main thing is, all that hard work, and if things go wrong and she loses everything, wouldn't it be all for nothing? She wouldn't even have a good reputation, it's meaningless." Although it seems like she can make more money right now.
Li Wei inwardly scoffed, "This little brat is quite concerned about her image, huh? Don't I have an image to maintain now?"
"Auntie, you're really despicable. I won't even mention how you're afraid of hardship and fatigue (mainly because she herself is afraid of hardship and fatigue). I'm a part-time self-employed person now, and no matter how I look at it, my appearance is much better than yours. Look at your clothes, look at your hairstyle, look at your thick eyebrows, tsk tsk..."
Cheng Fei was furious: "You little brat, how dare you look down on me..." She raised her hand to grab Li Wei's ear.
Li Wei was so startled that she quickly dodged away: "Hey, Auntie, don't be angry. I'm just stating the facts. If you don't believe me, look in the mirror. With my daily income of making a fortune, why don't I dress myself up nicely? Besides, what I do is make people beautiful. So, not being a self-employed person means being disheveled. It's all about how you do it, hehe."
"You little brat, you didn't come here just to annoy me today, did you? I think you're asking for a beating. Do you want me to give you a good thrashing?" Cheng Fei suddenly realized that Li Wei's motives were a bit impure.
"No, no, Auntie, wait a minute, let me get you something to look at." After saying that, Li Wei crawled under the bed where her aunt was sitting, took out a small iron tea canister from the long-neglected rat hole, crawled out again, patted her hair and straightened her clothes, and then opened the canister and took out a small notebook.
He opened his little notebook and handed it to his aunt: "Auntie, look, this is my personal asset, which I earned myself."
Cheng Fei knew that Li Wei had made some money selling hair accessories, but she didn't know exactly how much. Curious, she took the hair accessory and looked at it, then her eyes widened in surprise: "So much!"
Li Wei said smugly, "It's nothing." She quickly took back the passbook, stuffed it into the small bucket, and put it away. It seemed she would have to find a new place to store it; her aunt already knew where the treasure was.
Looking at his aunt who was thoughtfully sizing him up, he said, "Auntie, I need to discuss something with you. If you get into university, then disregard what I said, but we need to be prepared for both possibilities. Anyway, while you're free, could you help me sell hair clips? Actually, you don't need to sell them yourself; you can just wholesale them to distributors. I'll pay you 500 yuan a month, payable in advance. If you can work for more than six months, I'll raise it by 100 yuan every six months. How about that?" This salary level is equivalent to hiring a CEO.
Although Li Wei was unsettling to look at, Cheng Fei was still quite tempted by the impressive bankbook that had just displayed her "stable" financial strength. After all, it seemed that the little hair accessory business was quite profitable, and she believed that with her own abilities, she could earn much more than Li Wei. However, it was really embarrassing to have a little kid work for her. Which was more important, money or face? That was the question.
Li Wei also thought of this: "Auntie, just treat it as a work-study program and participate in social practice. Anyway, you're idle these days. Of course, if you don't want a salary and just work for me for free, I'd be very happy to do so, hehe."
Cheng Fei was actually quite eager to try. It would be fun to make some money while she had nothing to do. If this little kid could make money, then she could too. Besides, money in the hands of this little guy might be spent recklessly, so it was better to let it circulate. So she readily agreed: "Okay, I'll do it. Give me five hundred yuan first." Hehe.
Without saying a word, Li Wei grabbed her schoolbag, pulled out her wallet, and quickly pulled out five bundles of money. She had originally intended to use the money to buy fabric for her second uncle tomorrow. Oh dear!
Cheng Fei's eyes widened even more as she stared at her, suddenly realizing that her little niece seemed to have quite a bit of courage.
However, Li Wei wasn't going to be foolish enough to just give it to her aunt like that. What if her aunt changed her mind and refused to work for her anymore, and then confiscated her money? She would be in big trouble: "Are you sure you want to sell hair accessories for me for a month?" She didn't dare to say that she would work for her aunt for a month, for fear of upsetting her aunt and ruining things.
Cheng Fei was already a little unhappy about having a child pay her salary, and seeing that Li Wei still didn't quite believe her, she was even more annoyed: "Do you think I would lie to your child? If you don't believe me, fine."
Li Wei wasn't a child. She knew how to keep clear accounts even between close brothers, and Cheng Fei wasn't her brother. Rank and seniority both held immense power. She immediately pulled out her exercise book and quickly wrote a simple employment contract—it was simply a matter of Cheng Fei working for her for a month and her paying Cheng Fei 500 yuan—and handed it to Cheng Fei to see.
Cheng Fei twirled it between two fingers and looked at it, somewhat disapproving of Li Wei's distrust of her character. She deliberately made things difficult for Li Wei: "Didn't you say that if I work here long-term, I'll get an extra hundred yuan a month every six months? Write it down, write it down. This space is so empty, it's such a waste of paper."
You little brat, I told you to put in a little more effort to write a few more words, and I told you to be lazy, but you actually want to pay someone to do the work! You're already taking the capitalist road at such a young age.
Li Wei suppressed her excitement and quickly added it.
Cheng Fei picked it up again and looked at it. The little girl's handwriting was not bad, and she couldn't find any fault with it. However, she said, "It can't be too short these years. What if you don't like me when I get old? If you add the years, how many years is that? It has to be at least twenty or thirty years. You have to support me in my old age, so I won't have to earn money for my old age. Hehe, add it, add it." Cheng Fei smugly made things difficult for Li Wei.
Li Wei almost burst out laughing, but deliberately made a bitter face: "Auntie, twenty or thirty years is too long, let's seize the day." After saying that, she hugged her little iron bucket of private retirement money tightly, as if she was very afraid that her aunt would take it away in those twenty or thirty years.
Cheng Fei waved her hand dismissively: "No way! I'll work for you when I'm young, but I can't be old without anyone to take care of me. I'd be at a loss if that happened. Add me, add me, hurry up, or forget it!" Cheng Fei was secretly delighted.
Li Wei replied very reluctantly, "Okay, but can you work for me?"
"Oh dear, Auntie, when have I ever lied to you? If I hadn't gone to university, I would definitely have worked for you. Your retirement money wouldn't have been wasted. Really, you're a dog if you're lying. Write it down, hurry up."
Li Wei added another line, specifically noting her aunt's guarantee that she was a puppy who would lie, and deliberately drew the puppy as a simple cartoon of a cheeky black-eyed dog.
Cheng Fei had only meant it casually to tease Li Wei, but now, looking at the strange dog, she felt a little uncomfortable. She could go back on her word, but she couldn't be a dog as ugly as this. Was the girl doing this on purpose?
Seeing her aunt's hesitation, Li Wei pretended to be stingy: "Auntie, you're not lying to me, are you? Why won't you sign? If you don't agree, I'll take this money to Aunt Lin or Aunt Wu Feng. They'd be very willing to help me sell hair clips. They'd be happy to earn a few dozen yuan a month." If you don't do it, someone else will. In the end, the good stuff will go to outsiders.
Cheng Fei was getting a little impatient: "Alright, alright, stop nagging. I'll sign, and give me the money." She didn't know if this girl was clever or stupid. She just gave away so much money like that, even though it was her own money and no one else could interfere. She couldn't just spend money like that; she had to keep an eye on things.
Li Wei was overjoyed when she saw the contract. Looking at her aunt busily organizing the raw material warehouse, she thought, "Hmm, not bad, very dedicated. She'll be on the job soon. This money wasn't wasted."
Of course, Li Wei wasn't naive enough to think that a ridiculously simple, all-handmade contract could really do anything to her aunt. But given this opportunity, and considering her aunt's lifelong arrogance and haughtiness, she had to give it a try. If she succeeded, she'd have a long-term worker, someone to help her earn money—essentially adding a gilded edge to her planned secure job, making her life comfortable and happy.
Besides, at worst, she'd have something to laugh at her aunt for. Whenever her aunt dares to treat her like she did last time, or make things difficult for her, she could use that to deflate her ego. Just thinking about it is satisfying, hehe…
You think you're so tough?
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