Rebirth 1983: Building My Business Empire

Chapter 123: Chapter 116 Borrowing Money to Help the Maternal Family

Two days later, while Lu Jiaxin was reading English in her house, Fatty Aunt from the grocery store came to tell her to answer a phone call. Only then did she learn that it was Lu Jiajie who had called.

Over the past month, Lu Jiajie had called her every few days to talk about production numbers and to chat about family matters. So, she didn’t think much of it. When she picked up the phone, she even asked how many shoes in the second batch had been made. The first batch of ten thousand pairs had already been delivered in early December, and the remaining ten thousand pairs were being made with overtime work.

With New Year’s Day approaching, the shoes she had produced were not being sold in the Forty-nine City, which showed that Su Heyuan had the same thought as her to stockpile the goods before selling them all at once.

Lu Jiajie said, “Today, ten thousand pairs of shoes were turned in, and the rest are still being made with overtime work. Jiaxin, what did Fifth Sister-in-law do to make you so angry?”

A sense of alarm rose in Lu Jiaxin’s heart. Could it be that her eldest brother had told her? But on second thought, she felt that wasn’t the case; her brother was not that kind of person. She didn’t try to smooth things over and said, “You shouldn’t be asking me about this; you should go ask Fifth Sister-in-law.”

Lu Jiajie replied, “I just called and asked her; she said she hadn’t quarreled with you. Xinxin, what exactly happened? Don’t cover for her.”

Lu Jiaxin didn’t bother to ask who had told him about it; it wasn’t necessary. “I have nothing to say. You should ask Fifth Sister-in-law! I’ve got things to do over here, so I’m going to hang up now.”

Having said that, she hung up the phone.

Lu Jiajie knew Lu Jiaxin’s temperament very well; she wouldn’t fuss over trivial matters and was very generous with money. For her to be so angry that she wouldn’t even help with moving, there must be a serious issue at hand.

With this in mind, he immediately dialed Lu Jiaguang’s number and, as soon as the call connected, asked what the disagreement was between his wife and sister-in-law.

Lu Jiaguang disdained lying; he made it clear that he knew the reason but wouldn’t tell him: “I promised Jiaxin not to talk about this matter with you.”

Lu Jiajie was nearly frantic, “Big brother, what exactly is the problem?”

Lu Jiaguang naturally wouldn’t reveal anything, “Since I promised Jiaxin I wouldn’t say anything, I can’t go back on my word. Don’t you have lots of friends? Get one of them to find out for you.”

“Find out what?”

Lu Jiaguang scolded, “Can’t you use your brain to figure out what to inquire about? How many times have I told you to think before you speak or act, but you never take my words seriously, letting them go in one ear and out the other.”

Before Lu Jiajie could respond, he heard the dial tone from the other end. The phone was hung up, and he too became irritated. Even big brother was angry; the situation was more serious than he had expected.

After a long thought, he called Ah Le over, “Call your aunt and ask if my wife has been up to anything unusual lately.”

He had Ah Le make the call because Ah Le’s mother was well-informed; if his wife had done something improper, she would surely have caught wind of it.

Indeed, Lu Jiajie’s approach was right. As soon as the call was made, Ah Le’s mother said that Ma Lili had been asking around to borrow money a few days ago.

With puzzlement, Ah Le’s mother said, “She told people she spent all her money on buying a house and had none left to buy furniture, bedding, and kitchen utensils. But from what I know, it seems she borrowed just a thousand or two.”

It’s common for people to exhaust their savings when buying a house and have no money left for furniture and bedding, but it wouldn’t cost that much. She was also planning to have her son call back and inform him about this.

After hanging up the call, Ah Le asked, bewildered, “Ah Jie, didn’t you say that the shortfall for buying the house was voluntarily covered by your sister? The loan she gave was enough for furnishing and daily necessities. Why is sister-in-law now borrowing money again to buy bedding and other small items?”

Lu Jiajie started to calculate the household expenses, “Including the money my eldest brother and Third Uncle borrowed, our family has savings of four thousand. To buy the house, Jiagxin advanced my wages and bonuses to my wife. Later, we borrowed another two thousand. The house cost eight thousand six hundred, and after purchasing the house, we only had four hundred left. I told my wife to hold off on buying furniture. Just getting the necessities would be fine, and four hundred yuan should suffice without borrowing from anyone else.”

After hearing this, Ah Le couldn’t understand, “Then why would your sister-in-law still need to borrow money? Surely it can’t be because Third Uncle or your eldest brother are pressing for their debts, right?”

The speaker was unintentional, but the listener took it to heart.

Upon hearing this, Lu Jiajie’s heart started to panic, “Ah Le, please ask your aunt to find out if my in-laws or Yan Fang have had any major expenses recently?”

Ah Le exclaimed in surprise, “You mean your wife borrowed money for her parental home? That can’t be right. With so much debt from buying your house, how could your sister-in-law possibly borrow more money to help her family?”

Lu Jiajie’s face darkened, “Other than that reason, I can’t think of why she would borrow money and keep it a secret from me.”

Ah Le felt Ma Lili couldn’t be that foolish but still made the call.

The next day, Ah Le’s mother told him that the Ma family had bought a large mansion for the grandson they had just adopted, costing six thousand eight hundred.

Ah Le didn’t even know how to begin to tell Lu Jiajie. Siblings help out each other when faced with difficulties if they can afford it. But for Ma Lili to do this — still deep in debt and not knowing when they could pay it off, yet willing to borrow such a large sum for her parents’ house — was just too much. How were they expected to live like this?

When Lu Jiajie found out, he was furious and wanted to confront Ma Lili over the phone. But then he remembered what Lu Jiaguang had said and put the phone down after picking it up.

Ah Le was puzzled and asked, “It’s wrong for your wife to borrow money to help her family, but that doesn’t affect your sister and your eldest brother. Why would they get angry?”

Even if Ma Lili borrowed money from outsiders, it would be Lu Jiajie who has to repay it, none of their business. Could it be they were afraid she would borrow from them? But that made no sense, as they had willingly lent money to Ah Jie to buy a house!

After thinking for a moment, Lu Jiajie called Lu Jiaxin, “Jiaxin, did Fifth Sister-in-law borrow money from you a few days ago?”

Lu Jiaxin sounded somewhat surprised, “How did you find out?”

Lu Jiajie felt like exploding with anger, scarcely believing she actually borrowed money from Jiaxin. How could she have the audacity to ask? After a while, he managed to calm down, “Ah Le called, his mom said Fifth Sister-in-law has been borrowing money lately. Ah Le found it strange and told me.”

Lu Jiaxin stayed silent, realizing Ma Lili eventually did borrow money to help her own family, which was admittedly a commendable show of filial piety. She merely criticized inwardly and offered no opinion to Lu Jiajie, “We’ve only delivered ten thousand pairs of shoes; we still need to work overtime to complete the other ten thousand pairs before the New Year. If you come back now, nobody will supervise the work, and if any problems arise, we won’t be able to deliver on time, and I’ll lose money.”

Before, she wanted him to come back to deal with the issue, but now she felt Lu Jiajie’s return would be of no use. The money had already been borrowed; his return would only hinder her work.

Lu Jiajie said with some frustration, “Xinxin, why didn’t you tell me about such a big issue immediately?”

“Why didn’t I tell you? Don’t you have any idea?”

Lu Jiajie was confused, realizing from her tone that the problem seemed to lie with him; but upon reflection, he couldn’t figure out what he did wrong.

Lu Jiaxin didn’t wait and said, “If you don’t know, then think it through. Call me back when you understand.”

 

Source: Webn0vel.com, updated on Novg0.co