Chapter 482: Chapter 482: The Fu Family Surprisingly Has No Money for Rice
"I’m not busy anyway, so I thought I’d wait for you, Jiaojiao, so we could head home for dinner together," Grandpa Gu said, his eyes crinkling in a smile.
"Grandpa, let’s go to Yuetai Restaurant instead. The grand opening is tomorrow, so we can go check on the final preparations. As for hiring a matchmaker, we can decide who’s most suitable tomorrow."
’Since I’ve taken full responsibility for the matchmaking, I need to think carefully about who to ask. It has to be someone who will give the Li family the most face.’
’Speaking of the Li family, I do know Mr. Li. I even invited him and his family to Yuetai Restaurant’s grand opening tomorrow.’
’I just wonder if Li Xiulan’s family is related to his.’
"Alright, let’s go to Yuetai Restaurant together." As long as he was with his granddaughter, Grandpa Gu was happy to go anywhere.
And so, the grandfather and granddaughter walked off campus arm in arm, laughing cheerfully. Grandpa Gu, in particular, was laughing heartily at something his granddaughter had said.
"Your Majesty, Professor Gu, where are you headed?" Han Jingyi and Xiao Rui spotted Gu Jiaojiao from their car on a campus road and pulled over to ask.
"We’re going to check on Yuetai Restaurant. Do you two have time?" Gu Jiaojiao had, in fact, been deliberately waiting for their car.
"Yes, of course we do! Professor, please get in." Xiao Rui quickly got out, opened the rear door, and helped Grandpa Gu into the car.
As the car passed a small plaza, they saw a large crowd gathered there. Gu Jiaojiao wasn’t in the habit of minding other people’s business.
She glanced over once before looking away, but Xiao Rui was stunned. "Uh, Jingyi, take a look. Isn’t that my fifth aunt?"
Xiao Rui rubbed his eyes, trying to see more clearly. Then he heard Han Jingyi’s voice, firm with certainty. "That’s definitely your fifth aunt."
"Your fifth aunt, is she the one married to Fourth Uncle Fu?" Gu Jiaojiao asked curiously.
"That’s the one. Every time she visits her maiden home, she’s just trying to sponge off us, wanting to haul everything she can back to her husband’s family."
Xiao Rui grumbled. He never held back and said whatever was on his mind in front of Gu Jiaojiao.
Gu Jiaojiao knew of Aunt Fu as well. Because Fu Junyuan often brought Fu Guoguo over to her place to freeload meals, she knew a great deal about the Fu family.
For instance, she knew that Jiang Ruyan had snatched control of the household from Aunt Fu and was now managing the Fu family’s finances.
However, the Fu family’s expenses had long exceeded their income. In the past, Aunt Fu had always supplemented their household budget with money and food she scraped together from her own maiden family.
’In this day and age,’ Gu Jiaojiao thought, ’even a top-tier scumbag wouldn’t stoop to making his wife go to her parents for spending money.’
’And yet, Fourth Uncle Fu spent her family’s money without a shred of guilt. His shamelessness knew no bounds.’
"Should we go take a look?" Gu Jiaojiao asked tentatively.
’I might not like to meddle, but I do love watching drama, especially when it involves "acquaintances."’
"Jingyi, pull the car over. Her Majesty and I are getting out to take a look."
Xiao Rui said, turning his head to Han Jingyi, who was driving. He also wanted to know what was going on.
As Gu Jiaojiao and the others made their way into the crowd, they heard Jiang Ruyan’s shrill voice. "Xiao Yuling, you better make yourself clear today."
"Did you deliberately hand over an empty shell of a household to me? It’s not even the end of the month when we get paid, and there’s already no money left to buy rice!"
With her hair disheveled, Jiang Ruyan grabbed Xiao Yuling’s sleeve and began to shout and curse without any regard for her image, her voice shrill and piercing.
"You’re the one who insisted on snatching control of the household. You’re a young woman who doesn’t know how to manage a home, and now that there’s no rice to last the month, you’re blaming me?" Xiao Yuling said coldly.
"I’ve only been spending what’s normal! You must have embezzled the Fu family’s money when you were in charge, and then you dumped this whole mess on me."
Jiang Ruyan was trembling with rage, wishing she could lunge forward and rip Xiao Yuling’s mouth to shreds.
"Don’t forget, you were the one who forcibly took control of the household. It’s not like I just *gave* it to you, you know."
Jiang Ruyan’s face instantly turned deathly pale. Her eyes went wide, and she trembled with fury. "You... you..."
"Me what? Let’s let everyone here be the judge. I’ve been married into the Fu family for almost twenty years. When has the family ever run out of money for rice before the end of the month?" Xiao Yuling asked mockingly.
Jiang Ruyan: ...
She stammered for a long time but couldn’t manage to say anything coherent. It was only after she took over managing the household that she realized the Fu family had always been spending more than they earned.
Although the factory salaries were high, her father-in-law was obsessed with keeping up appearances and loved extravagance. Despite relying on just a few salaries, he insisted on hiring a nanny and a gardener to tend to the garden, just like other wealthy families.
In the past, Eldest Fu’s first wife had used her dowry to supplement the household funds. Later, when Aunt Fu took over, she used money from her own family to cover the shortfalls.
But her own family not only had no money to give her, but they also tried to sponge off her. When she first took over the household, she had brought food back to her family to show off.
But the good times didn’t last. After just one month of peace, the Fu family had no money left to buy rice!
’If my father-in-law and husband go hungry, will I even be able to stay in the Fu family?’
’I willingly married an older man for his money, so I wouldn’t have to work or struggle just to eat.’
’If marrying an older man meant I still had to work and worry about every little thing, then what was the point of marrying him?’
The more Jiang Ruyan thought about it, the more furious she became. "Fine, let them judge! I’d like to see what other tricks you have, you cheap bitch!"
"Everyone, please listen to me," Xiao Yuling said. "My brother-in-law is a factory director. After he remarried, his three children stopped eating at home."
"My father-in-law has a pension, and my own family of four lives elsewhere and doesn’t eat at home. So why is it that now that my eldest sister-in-law is in charge, there’s suddenly no money for rice?"
"That’s right! The Fu family is so big and wealthy. They don’t just have a nanny and a driver, but a gardener too," a middle-aged woman in the crowd said with envy.
"Eldest Fu is a factory director, the fourth son is a government official, and Mr. Fu has a pension. No money? Who would believe that?"
"Exactly! If they had no money, would they hire so many servants? These rich wives just come out here to show off."
"I think you’re right. They’re just trying to mock us poor, working-class people."
"Tsk, tsk... what a shame. It’s true what they say: once there’s a stepmother, the father becomes a stepfather too. To think Eldest Fu’s children don’t even eat at home anymore."
"All of you, shut your mouths! Stop spouting nonsense!" Jiang Ruyan yelled, gritting her teeth.
Furious, she rushed toward Xiao Yuling, ready to strike her, but two sturdy middle-aged women grabbed her by the arms.
One on each side, they pinned her, making it impossible for her to move.
"Let me go! I’m going to kill that heartless woman! She embezzled the Fu family’s food money!" Jiang Ruyan roared in a frenzy.
Gu Jiaojiao listened for a moment and finally understood the situation. The Fu family’s new sister-in-law had been managing the house for just over a month, and before the second month was even over, they had run out of rice.
So, Jiang Ruyan had come looking for Aunt Fu, and the building right next to the small plaza happened to be where Aunt Fu worked.
She had deliberately waited at the entrance of Aunt Fu’s workplace, and when Aunt Fu came out for her lunch break, Jiang Ruyan had grabbed her.
The two sisters-in-law, one trying to leave and the other refusing to let go, had struggled from the workplace entrance all the way to the middle of the small plaza.
And so, the grandmas and aunties who loved a good piece of gossip had followed them, forming a circle in the plaza to watch the two sisters-in-law bicker.
Gu Jiaojiao smiled, filled with schadenfreude. She pulled Xiao Rui and Han Jingyi along as she quietly slipped out of the crowd.
