Chapter 26: Wang Xiuhua Takes the Account Book? Ma Yulian: Are You Out of Your Mind?

Although Ma Yulian insisted she had no money left, Li Guojun and his wife didn’t believe a word she said. Instead, they stared at her with obvious displeasure, convinced she simply didn’t want to hand over all her savings. After all, she couldn’t take that money with her to the grave, so why not share it with them? It wasn’t as if the money would magically multiply just by sitting there.

“Mom, don’t be unreasonable. Keeping that money won’t make it grow. I’m your own son!” Li Guojun protested.

Wang Xiuhua chimed in, “Exactly! How could you possibly have no money? Or do you plan to use it to help out your own family instead?”

As Wang Xiuhua sized up Ma Yulian, the more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that her mother-in-law planned to send the money back to her own family. After all, Ma Yulian still had a younger brother back home, and who could say she wouldn’t give him the money? Regardless, even if she did, they would demand it back to be split among everyone.

Li Junsheng purposefully began tallying up the numbers for Ma Yulian. “My own monthly wages are several dozen yuan, and the factory gives us ration tickets for grain, meat, cigarettes, and liquor. This house is ours, so there’s no rent. Most of our food comes from ration tickets, and the rest of our expenses never exceed ten yuan. We’ve managed to save money every year. The younger siblings have all gotten married these past few years, and they all have jobs now, so we no longer have to support them. Fourth Brother even hands his wages over to you every month. How could you possibly be out of money? Where has it all gone?”

Li Guojun quickly agreed, “Dad’s right! When Third Sister got married, we received a hefty bride price, but Mom, you didn’t let her take it—you kept it for yourself!”

The matter of Li Chun’ya’s bride price was still a sore spot for Li Junsheng. Because his daughter hadn’t taken the money with her, she’d had to endure her in-laws’ cold looks for quite some time.

Faced with this accounting, Ma Yulian grew flustered and anxious. Her eyes darted around as she desperately searched for an excuse. At this point, she could only stick to her claim of having no money.

“I really don’t have any money left! Li Junsheng, stop with your calculations. Haven’t I already spent the money on you and the children? Especially when your parents died—I was the one who paid for their funerals! And what about the gifts and money we spent keeping up with your relatives? When your eldest aunt was hospitalized a few years ago, who lent her money and bought her things?”

“Can’t you count those expenses? How could I possibly have saved any money all these years? It’s good enough I haven’t gone back to live with my own family!” Ma Yulian rattled off one expense after another, even dragging Wang Xiuhua into it, insisting that every time Li Guojun accompanied his wife back to her family, they brought plenty of gifts and spent a lot of money.

Wang Xiuhua hadn’t expected her mother-in-law to push blame onto her. With a cold laugh, she returned to her room and emerged with a thick ledger.

“Luckily, I’ve always kept careful accounts, or else we’d never sort this out today. Since the day I married into this family, I’ve recorded every monthly expense. The money spent on Grandpa and Grandma’s funerals, the returns from the condolence money, other family obligations, even the costs for my own childbirth—every penny is listed here.”

“From these records, it’s clear we never spent as much as you claim each month. At least half of Dad’s salary was left over. How could you possibly have no money?”

Li Junsheng’s heart soared when he saw his eldest daughter-in-law produce the ledger. Let’s see what Ma Yulian could argue now.

Li Guojun nodded repeatedly in admiration. “Good thing Xiuhua is meticulous and always keeps records, or else it really would be impossible to sort things out!”

“Mother, are you just refusing to share? Why else would a housewife hoard so much money? What are you planning to do with it?” Wang Xiuhua’s questioning was sharp and to the point.

With the ledger in hand, every family expense over the years was clear. Ma Yulian was dumbstruck. She stood stupefied for a while, and when she finally came to her senses, she immediately began to curse Wang Xiuhua.

“Wang Xiuhua, are you crazy? What’s the point of keeping all these records? You must be bored out of your mind! If you have the time to keep accounts, why not get a job and help improve the family’s fortunes?”

Unwilling to back down, Wang Xiuhua argued fiercely with Ma Yulian, no longer caring about the etiquette between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

“If I hadn’t kept these accounts, you’d have saddled me with all sorts of blame. I never spent as much as you claim, so why are you accusing me of wasting your money?”

“I’ve never seen a mother-in-law like you! You’re the crazy one—a miser! If you have the nerve, why don’t you take your savings with you to the grave?”

“You’re just unwilling to give us the money. Let me tell you, if you keep this up, when you’re old and sick, don’t expect Guojun or me to look after you. When you die, we won’t even give you a funeral!”

Enraged and humiliated, Ma Yulian pointed at Wang Xiuhua and shrieked, “You wretch! You dare curse me? You want Guojun to be unfilial? I’ll rip your mouth off!”

Wang Xiuhua shot back, “Calling me a wretch? Look in the mirror yourself! You’re old and still acting shameless. What kind of person are you?”

Seeing that the two women were about to come to blows again, Li Guojun stepped in to block Ma Yulian and questioned her with a grave expression. “Mother, do I even matter to you as a son? Why are you so unwilling to help us when you have money? You know Dad lost his job; things are only going to get harder for us!”

Li Guojun thought his wife wasn’t wrong. If his mother was determined not to give them any money, then she couldn’t blame him for being unfilial!

At this point, Ma Yulian was caught between a rock and a hard place. She couldn’t take back what she’d said. Now, if she didn’t hand over at least some money to placate her eldest son and daughter-in-law, it would be impossible to calm things down.

Ma Yulian sat off to the side, racking her brain for a suitable excuse—something that could fool the eldest couple and keep them from pestering her for money. She knew full well she had nothing left to give. She had only ten yuan left, hardly enough for anything.

After some thought, she decided to fabricate a story. In a gentle voice, she told Li Guojun and his wife, “Fine, I won’t hide it any longer. I really don’t have any money left. I thought it was a waste to just let it sit there doing nothing, so I lent it all to my family so they could invest it and bring back more interest later. That way, the money could grow and multiply.”

“I never expected the two of you to be so heartless, caring more about money than your own mother. Without money, you’d even refuse me a funeral!”

Ma Yulian played the role to perfection, pulling a cotton handkerchief from her pocket and dabbing at her eyes, pretending to weep. In truth, there wasn’t a single tear on that handkerchief.

Li Junsheng watched her, surprised she could come up with such an excuse. Seeing that Ma Yulian had found a way to avoid handing over the money, he wasn’t anxious at all. In fact, he let out a cold, mocking laugh.