It gets dark early in the day; by six o'clock, it's almost completely dark.
At 6:30, Lin Yongnian and Lin Guodong, who had finished eating out, took Junjun home.
As soon as I stepped into the yard, I saw that the lights in the house were on.
"Why is the light on?" Lin Yongnian asked.
Lin Guodong glanced at her and said with a sneer, "Let Zhang Jiao come back."
Lin Yongnian pursed his lips and said, "She's still willing to come back."
She left her husband and children at home for more than ten days without returning home. What kind of wife stays at home like that?
With money in hand, Lin Yongnian regained his confidence.
"Oh, Mom's back!" Junjun was so happy to know his mother was back. He called out "Mom!" and ran into the house.
Inside the room, Zhang Jiao was tending to a table of cold dishes, constantly checking her watch.
"It's so late, why haven't they come back yet?"
It's almost Chinese New Year, and logically speaking, there shouldn't be any orders in the factory, so there shouldn't be any need for overtime work.
As she was muttering to herself, she heard a familiar voice call out, "Mom."
She immediately got up and walked to the door, where she saw her son running towards her.
Zhang Jiao bent down and hugged her son tightly, "Jun Jun."
"Mommy, where are you going? Junjun misses you so much."
"Mommy misses Junjun." Zhang Jiao's eyes welled up with tears. She turned her head to kiss the top of her son's head, but smelled a foul odor and immediately withdrew the kiss.
She gently pushed her son away from her arms and saw that his clothes were filthy, his fingernails were full of black mud, and his face was chapped.
During the days she was away, Lin Guodong obviously didn't properly wash Junjun's hair, face, hands, or apply face cream.
Zhang Jiao touched her son's red cheeks and felt heartbroken. A sense of guilt rose in her heart because she was not there, which was why Junjun was like this.
At this moment, Lin Guodong and Lin Yongnian entered the house and saw Zhang Jiao standing at the door without saying a word.
Zhang Jiao quickly stood up and said very attentively, "Guodong, Dad, you're back! I've made your favorite braised pork, but it's been too long and it's a bit cold. I'll take it to the kitchen to heat it up right away."
Lin Guodong went straight into the house, while Lin Yongnian sat on a lounge chair, smoking a cigarette and saying, "No need, we've eaten at the state-run restaurant."
"I've eaten them all," Zhang Jiao said somewhat disappointedly.
She specially prepared a table full of delicious dishes, but little did she know that they had already eaten out.
"It's alright, we'll save it for tomorrow morning."
After saying that, Zhang Jiao took all the dishes back to the kitchen, heated up some vegetables for herself, and ate them with a bowl of rice.
After washing the dishes, Zhang Jiao went back to her and Lin Guodong's bedroom.
Lin Guodong was lying on the bed smoking, wearing the clothes and pants he had worn outside. The room was filled with the smell of smoke.
She would have definitely said something about Lin Guodong in the past, but now she doesn't dare to.
"Guodong," she called out.
Lin Guodong pointed to the dressing table with the cigarette between his fingers, "I've taken your money out; it's on the dressing table."
Zhang Jiao saw a stack of money on the dressing table, walked over, took it, went to the bedside, sat on the edge of the bed, and said, "From now on, we won't manage our money separately; we'll save it together."
Lin Guodong sneered, "You think we can just break up like that?"
Zhang Jiao looked at him ingratiatingly and said, "I was too hasty before and said the wrong thing. We are husband and wife, a family. What kind of family is it if we separate the money? Let's save it together."
This time, Zhang Jiao spent money and effort to take care of her parents' family, but instead of receiving a thank you, she was blamed by her parents and accused of being unfilial.
This made her realize a truth: no matter how much a married daughter meddles in her natal family's affairs, she won't get anything good in return; no matter how much she does, her natal family will always feel that she hasn't done enough.
Therefore, it's really not worth it to cause discord between you and your husband just because you're meddling in your wife's family affairs.
As a married daughter, her first priority is to live her own life well.
Lin Guodong stared at Zhang Jiao for a while before saying, "We can still keep our money together from now on. I have to manage our family's money. You give me your salary, and I'll give you a living allowance every month. If you need money beyond your living expenses, then ask me for it separately."
“This…this is not the kind of family where the man manages the money. In other families, it’s always the woman who manages the money,” Zhang Jiao said, frowning, clearly unhappy with the arrangement.
Lin Guodong looked at her and said, "Don't you know why I should manage the money? How much of the five hundred yuan you took back is left? Will you give me back the medical expenses you paid for your parents?"
Will they give it to you?
Zhang Jiao: "..."
Seeing that she didn't want to say anything, Lin Guodong knew he had guessed correctly. That five hundred yuan had been spent by her family again, and there was no going back.
Lin Guodong: "I want to manage the money so that I can prevent you from taking our family's money and spending it on your family."
"I promise I won't do that again. If I need to give my family any money or buy them anything, I'll definitely ask for your permission first. I won't give it to them if you don't agree," Zhang Jiao assured her.
Lin Guodong flicked his cigarette ash. "I don't believe you. If you don't agree to me managing the money, then we'll stick to what we agreed on before, and each of us will manage our own money from now on. I don't really care."
"To be honest, Zhang Jiao, spending time with you is really quite boring," Lin Guodong said, shaking his head.
These words startled Zhang Jiao, who quickly agreed, "Okay, you can manage the family finances from now on."
Zhang Jiao agreed for two reasons: first, she was afraid that Lin Guodong would consider divorcing her; second, she wanted to salvage her relationship with Lin Guodong.
But at that moment, she could not have imagined that this matter would later become a huge hidden danger, causing her endless regret.
January 25th is Lunar New Year's Eve, and government agencies, state-owned factories, and state-owned shops all have a holiday.
Li Yunshu, Zhenzhen, and Xiaoyu brought the freshly cooked dumplings to the table and said to the children sitting in the living room, "Let's eat dumplings."
These dumplings were made by Li Yunshu early this morning with the help of several children.
During the Lunar New Year, Sister Wang went home for the holiday, so Li Yunshu became the head chef of the Li family.
At 7:30 in the morning, a family sat around the table and ate dumplings.
Li Zhanxiang swallowed the dumpling in his mouth and said, "The dumplings with the filling made by my aunt are still the most delicious. I haven't eaten such delicious dumplings in more than half a year. I just want to have a bite of this."
"Eat more if you like it, there's more in the pot if you're not full," Li Yunshu said with a smile.
While eating dumplings, Grandpa Li said, "Boyan and Bowen both called this morning. Boyan will probably be home around 7 p.m., and Bowen and his wife will be a little later, around 7:30 p.m.
Li Yunshu said, "Then let's take our time preparing the New Year's Eve dinner tonight and eat a little later."
As long as the family can sit together for a reunion dinner, it doesn't matter if it's early or late; the important thing is that the family can be together!
Li Zhenzhen smiled and said, "I'll help my aunt."
Li Zhanxiang raised his hand and said, "I'll help my aunt."
Although Li Xiaoyu and Qin Ye didn't speak, their eyes conveyed that they were about to make their move.
Li Yunshu said, "Okay, let's work together tonight to prepare a delicious and heartwarming New Year's Eve dinner."
After breakfast, Li Xiaoyu and Zhenzhen washed the dishes in the kitchen, while Grandpa Li, along with Qin Ye and Li Zhanxiang, pasted up the Spring Festival couplets with paste.
After a simple meal of a vegetable dish and soup, and after washing the dishes and resting for a while, Li Yunshu led the children to prepare food in the kitchen.
Just as I was preparing the food, the Gu family of three arrived.
The Gu family's nanny went home for the holidays, and the Gu family's eldest daughter was going to spend the New Year at her parents' home. Old Mrs. Yu thought that it would be a bit lonely for the three of them to spend the New Year together, so she invited them to celebrate the New Year together that evening and have New Year's Eve dinner.
Gu Zhenyuan didn't come empty-handed; he brought something with him.
Hearing that Li Yunshu was preparing dishes for the New Year's Eve dinner in the kitchen, he took off his coat and went into the kitchen to help.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com