Chapter 54 - 39: The Chaff Wife of the 50s

Chapter 54: Chapter 39: The Chaff Wife of the 50s

"Definitely." Chu Shenyu hated dealing with these domestic trifles. In his eyes, scheming and backstabbing were purely a sign of one’s own incompetence. Capable people were busy striving for bigger and better things.

"Even if the neighbors are having a baby, you are not to get involved. At most, you go and call for help!" Zhu Yun reminded him again.

He nodded. "I get it. After you squeezed so much money out of them, they’re looking for ways to get it back from me. I’ll avoid them whenever I can."

Zhu Yun’s smile froze for a moment. She shot him a glare. "If I’d known back then that I’d be earning over two hundred yuan a month and that you were secretly rich, I’d have played the grand philanthropist right in front of Old Mrs. Wang. I’d have handed out ten-yuan bills to every last family member and child, just to watch her die of spite!"

Chu Shenyu couldn’t help but shudder on Old Mrs. Wang’s behalf. ’That’s vicious,’ he thought.

But thinking about what his wife had been through before, he couldn’t help but find the thought immensely satisfying.

Zhu Yun’s eyes shifted. She went back into the room, rummaged through her bag, and pulled out a stack of gift money, beckoning him over.

This was gift money from Mr. and Mrs. Chu’s social circle, so the young couple wouldn’t have to reciprocate.

Zhu Yun and Chu Shenyu took out the bills and envelopes one by one, spreading them out until they covered half the bed.

The guests Mr. and Mrs. Chu had invited were all close friends and relatives, so each gift was quite generous. Amounts like five or ten yuan were considered small.

However, besides his parents’ friends and relatives, Chu Shenyu also had many colleagues and friends. Since they were all talented and from prominent families, their gifts were also substantial. These had to be recorded one by one, as they would have to be reciprocated in the future.

Even though Zhu Yun had been a head chef for less than three months, she also had her own group of colleagues, twelve unofficial apprentices and their families, and a few friendly acquaintances she’d made while serving food.

They all came to join in the celebration and show their support, giving a gift—no matter how small—in the hopes of building a closer relationship with her.

It was a group wedding, after all. On the surface, seventeen couples were getting married at the same time in the cafeteria, wearing identical outfits, holding identical receptions, with the same leaders officiating. But underneath it all, a strong sense of competition still lingered among everyone.

Even if the couples themselves didn’t say a word, their families would be gossiping for a long time to come.

So, keeping up appearances was crucial at a time like this, especially since they were getting married on the same day as their upstairs neighbors.

Zhu Yun counted the money while Chu Shenyu recorded each amount in a notebook.

Chu Shenyu watched how happy Zhu Yun was counting the money and found the scene quite novel. It was the first time he’d ever done something so goofy, poring over a bed half-covered in cash and counting it bill by bill.

He even felt like asking, ’If I withdrew all the money from the passbook and let you count it, would you be even happier? After all, thirty or forty thousand yuan in cash would be a very impressive sight.’

The gifts from Mr. and Mrs. Chu’s network totaled over five hundred yuan, Zhu Yun’s came to over two hundred, and Chu Shenyu’s reached a whopping six hundred-plus—and that was supposedly without even counting the gifts from his childhood friends and classmates in the city!

The grand total was 1,427 yuan. After getting a clear count, Zhu Yun clutched the money and began pacing around the room.

Chu Shenyu slowly trailed after her and asked, puzzled, "You’ve circled the room three times. Is something wrong?"

’In the time this is taking, I could have figured out the startup sequence...’

Zhu Yun shot him a glare and muttered, "You, sir, will never understand the joy a little squirrel feels when storing its nuts for the winter!"

With that, she pulled open a drawer and reached a hand inside, feeling the top panel. An idea struck her. She cut a piece from a cardboard box, strapped the money to it, and taped the bundle to the underside of the drawer’s top panel.

Dusting off her hands, she looked at Chu Shenyu and said with a light chuckle, "Good husbands don’t keep a secret stash of cash, you know. From now on, I’ll give you fifty yuan a month for your social expenses. The rest gets turned over to me. Got it?"

Chu Shenyu nodded, then pulled her to wash their hands before steering her back toward the bedroom.

Zhu Yun pressed her lips together to suppress a laugh. "For the sake of Comrade Chu Shenyu’s physical well-being, I suggest you behave yourself for the next two or three days. Don’t you get *any* ideas about me!"

Chu Shenyu’s body went rigid.

He might be the "perfect son" every parent wanted, but he was also a perfectly normal man. In the past, he’d paid other women no mind, but now he had a wife!

Ever since he and Zhu Yun had made their relationship public, his married coworkers would huddle around him during every break, smoking and giving him lessons on how to be a "driver."

A door to a world of lewd humor had swung open right before him, and he couldn’t refuse to look through.

’But in his eyes, she was a delectable feast, and it filled him, a novice about to get his ’license,’ with excitement and anticipation.’

’They say a woman’s heart is a needle at the bottom of the sea. He had handed over his salary, so why wasn’t he being allowed to take the car for a spin now that he was licensed?’

He pressed his lips together, his gaze turning soulful as he looked at her. In a husky voice, he said, "Honey, we have to cross this bridge sooner or later. You’re going to need a very convincing argument to stop me!"