One hundred thousand

"Oh, so you've got customers now. No wonder. But isn't paying someone five thousand yuan for that work a bit much? There's so little to do. You know, even in the city, it's hard to make five thousand a month these days. Look at Zichuan and his wife-they only make four or five thousand a month," his aunt said.

"And whose fault is that? You cried and clamored to move your household registration to the city back then. Was there no food to eat in the countryside?" The old man flared up again.

Ye Huan hurriedly had a drink with Grandpa to cool his temper. He was a part-time firefighter now.

"Grandpa, don't be angry. You can't really blame Mom and Dad. When Mimi starts school, being in the city really will make things much easier for us. You don't know how it is now-even getting a child into school is difficult if your household registration and property deed aren't for the same place," Mimi's mother said.

"Mm, mm. I'm not angry. I bought that apartment for you, after all." The old man was fairly easygoing with the younger generation. As long as Zichuan didn't run his mouth, he generally wouldn't lose his temper.

Besides, he was quite pleased with his grandson's wife. She was sensible, filial, and hardworking.

"How's work going?" the old man asked.

"Same as always. I'm at a factory in the suburbs. There's a shuttle bus, anyway, so it's all right. With some overtime every month, I make over five thousand," Mimi's mother said.

"Mm. Keep at it." The old man asked no more. His grandson's wife and her family often came back for the holidays, so he knew most of their circumstances.

Once everyone had finished eating, Ye Huan watched cartoons with the two little girls. His aunt and uncle pulled his parents aside to talk, while Zichuan smoked alone in the courtyard pavilion.

Grandpa called Ye Huan and Mimi's mother into his room. "Take this hundred thousand. It's for Mimi."

"Grandpa, I can't take this. We have enough money to get by." Mimi's mother thought the old man had taken out his savings to give her.

"It's from Great-Grandpa to Mimi. You keep it for her. If it were for them, I couldn't be bothered giving it. Here's another hundred thousand for Xiao Huan. Take it." Ye Huan played along with Grandpa's act and accepted the money without a word.

Seeing that Ye Huan had some too, Mimi's mother said no more. She thanked Grandpa and put the money into her big bag. Since they were coming to the countryside, she had deliberately brought a large bag for Mimi's formula tin, diapers, and such.

She had also taken two days of annual leave for this trip. When her parents-in-law said they were coming to see Grandpa, she had requested the time off in advance.

Lu Huan's parents had already tidied up the upstairs room and laid out a new sleeping mat and summer quilt. Their nephew and his family of three would stay in that room, while Ye Huan's aunt and uncle would stay over at the old man's house, where the guest room had also been cleaned.

Bai Jie didn't return until around nine. Only then did Ye Huan's aunt and her family learn that she and Jingjing were eating and staying at Ye Huan's house.

But after hearing that her house was being built, Ye Huan's aunt said nothing. She might be calculating, but she wasn't some sort of shrew.

"Mommy, I'm going to sleep with Uncle tonight. We can look at the stars there. They're so pretty." After her hair had been blow-dried, Jingjing told her mother.

"All right. Don't disturb Uncle's sleep, understand?" Bai Jie nodded.

"Mm, I know. Uncle's such a good boy." At Jingjing's words, Bai Jie, Ye Huan's mother, and his aunt all laughed.

Ye Huan could only shake his head speechlessly. Seeing that it was almost ten, he said goodnight to his aunt, uncle, and cousin's wife, then carried Jingjing and a plate of cured pork and sausages to the back hill.

"Where's Xiao Huan going?" Ye Huan's aunt asked.

"Him? He had so much time on his hands he couldn't sit still, so he built a little cabin in the woods on the back hill. He's been sleeping there these past few days." Ye Huan's mother had quite a few objections to her son spending two hundred thousand on that little cabin.

"What?" Li Zichuan was stunned too.

"He insisted on building it. The old man wouldn't even tell him off. It cost two hundred thousand." As Ye Huan's mother complained, she let the truth slip.

"How much?" his aunt shrieked. Only then did Lu Huan's mother realize her mistake, wishing she could slap herself.

"Two hundred thousand could build a three-story villa here, and he spent it on a little cabin? And the old man didn't say a word?" His aunt was dumbfounded.

"He's raising chickens, ducks, pigs, and sheep on the back hill. It's not going to waste, anyway." Ye Huan's mother began trying to patch things up.

"He's raising livestock now too? Does it make money?" His aunt's whole family grew unsettled. Something seemed different about this visit home.

"It's all right. Otherwise, we couldn't possibly have come back to indulge his nonsense," Ye Huan's mother said, indirectly admitting it.

"Does he make a hundred thousand?" Ye Huan's aunt asked. She meant per month.

Ye Huan's mother thought about it. For these days since the rain, that was about right, so she nodded. "Mm, about that. A little more, but not much." She meant these few days since the downpour.

The two were talking at cross-purposes.

"That really is a lot. I never imagined Xiao Huan had it in him," Ye Huan's aunt finally said with feeling.

"It's a headache too. I hear the people in the county town want to renegotiate the prices after New Year," Ye Huan's mother said.

But his aunt took that to mean the hotel wanted a price cut. "That's normal. Prices can't stay the same forever. As long as the difference isn't too big, it's acceptable." She meant that they could still sell if the other party didn't lower the prices too much.

Ye Huan's mother nodded. "Exactly. That's what I told him too. Not too much-something reasonable will do." She meant that Ye Huan shouldn't raise the prices so steeply that he scared the buyers away.

Once again, they had managed to talk completely at cross-purposes.

"Mm. Exactly." His aunt and the others all nodded along. Who knew whether they had understood.

Then Li Zichuan and his wife took Mimi upstairs to bed, while Ye Huan's aunt and uncle followed the old man and Saihu back to his house.

In bed, Mimi's mother told her husband about Grandpa giving them money. Li Zichuan remarked, "So stingy. That's all he gave?" His wife slapped him across the face.

"Have I let you get too full of yourself? How old is Grandpa? He gave you two cousins a hundred thousand each. How long would he have had to save for that? Have you really got no conscience? How can I dare keep living with you after this?" As Mimi's mother spoke, she began to cry.

"Honey, don't. I was wrong, all right?" Li Zichuan regretted it too. "Grandpa said he was leaving all his treasures to Ye Huan, so I just said it without thinking. Don't be like this."

"Grandpa's treasures are his. He has every right to decide how to divide them. Giving you anything is a kindness, not giving you anything is his right. Li Zichuan, you've really disappointed me."

"I wasn't after them. Ye Huan is his son's son, and I'm his daughter's son. Of course I know that. I was just making an offhand remark. Don't be angry."

"Hmph."

Mimi's mother ignored him and turned her head away to sleep.

Li Zichuan had perfectly inherited his mother's traits: a loose tongue, selfishness, and a calculating nature. He had grown up with Ye Huan, though he was a few years older, but he was crafty, lazy, gluttonous, slippery, and slow to get moving-fond of eating and averse to working.

He and Ye Huan had gone in completely opposite directions. He had been unwilling to endure the hardship of practicing martial arts since childhood, and his mother doted on him, which had shaped his character this way. But to say he was truly a bad person wouldn't have been right either.

When his wife told him Grandpa had given his daughter a hundred thousand yuan, he had felt grateful. But when he heard that Ye Huan had some too, somehow those words had slipped out of his mouth. It was probably a sense of unfairness, or perhaps jealousy.