Chen Xiu'e wiped away her tears and gritted her teeth.
"Xiaoling is hopeless. She's capable enough herself, but she has terrible judgment when it comes to people. She insisted on marrying that man from a 'black category' family. The hardships she's suffering now are the result of her own poor choices. She brought it on herself!"
Su Wenshan also spoke in a low voice.
"Raising children is the responsibility of their parents. I raised them to adulthood and fulfilled my duty. I've done more than enough."
Although they spoke harshly, Su Yun knew her parents were simply angry at the moment. Once they calmed down, they would inevitably start worrying about their children suffering away from home. Then they would spend their days sighing and their nights unable to sleep.
What Su Yun appreciated most about her parents was that they never sacrificed one child for the sake of another.
She hated seeing Su Wenshan and Chen Xiu'e upset. She was willing to help, but only within reason. If nothing else, it would ease her parents' minds.
Thinking this, Su Yun reached into her shoulder bag and secretly withdrew three hundred yuan from the system balance. Together with her monthly salary, she handed the money to Chen Xiu'e.
"Mom, take this. When you and Dad paid for my job, you had to draw three months of salary in advance. We agreed that the money would be deducted from my wages..."
Before she could finish, Chen Xiu'e was stunned.
"Where did you get so much money?"
Su Wenshan was equally shocked.
"Xiaoyun, isn't your salary only twenty-eight yuan and fifty cents a month?"
Su Yun quickly explained.
"My salary from the recycling station is twenty-eight yuan and fifty cents. The extra three hundred yuan is service fees I earned this month for acting as a middleman for that collector."
The moment she said that, Chen Xiu'e jumped to her feet.
"What?! You little brat! You actually dared to take kickbacks? Have you lost your mind? Do you know people get shot for that kind of thing?"
Su Wenshan nearly choked.
"Keep your voice down! Do you want the whole courtyard to hear?"
Chen Xiu'e immediately lowered her voice, but her sharp eyes remained fixed on Su Yun.
Su Yun felt danger approaching. She quickly stepped back, grabbed Su Baoguo, and used him as a shield.
With a guilty smile, she said,
"Mom, I already told you I was acting as a middleman..."
"But you never said you could earn this much in commissions!"
Chen Xiu'e shouted.
Then she turned around and grabbed the feather duster from the kang.
"I think you've gotten too bold! Today I'll teach you a lesson so you'll stop taking money from just anyone!"
Su Yun hurriedly defended herself.
"Mom, calm down! It's only three hundred yuan! Compared to that, it's nothing! Um... right! Gu Hai! Gu Hai earned more than a thousand yuan this month!"
The feather duster froze in midair.
Su Wenshan's mouth twitched.
"How much did you say?"
Su Yun continued dropping bombs.
"That collector sold tens of thousands of yuan worth of goods this month alone. My little three hundred yuan commission is practically insignificant. Dad, Mom, there's really no need to make such a fuss."
When they heard the phrase "tens of thousands of yuan," both Su Wenshan and Chen Xiu'e were left speechless.
Tens of thousands!
With their monthly salaries of only a few dozen yuan, they could work themselves to death, save every penny, and still never earn that much money in a lifetime.
Compared to tens of thousands of yuan, Su Yun's three hundred yuan commission truly seemed insignificant.
After a long while, the couple finally recovered from the shock.
Meanwhile, Su Baoguo was still counting on his fingers, trying to figure out exactly how much "tens of thousands" actually was.
It was too difficult.
The largest denomination he had ever seen was the ten-yuan note Su Yun had used to buy him the toy airplane at the department store.
Taking a deep breath, Chen Xiu'e stared at Su Yun.
"Tell me honestly. Who exactly is this collector?"
Without changing her expression, Su Yun smoothly improvised.
"Mom, he won't let me tell anyone. I promised to keep it confidential. Anyway, he's not from Beijing, but he's definitely someone important. He has huge quantities of supplies and all kinds of valuable goods. Plenty of people work for him. He doesn't need me in particular."
"Then stop doing it."
Su Wenshan immediately cut in.
"Isn't this just profiteering and speculation?"
Su Yun quickly dragged someone else into the argument.
"Dad, you don't understand. Even that Officer Zhou—the one Second Aunt keeps praising—is involved too. Think about it. If even a police officer thinks it's fine, what do I have to worry about?"
"What?!"
Chen Xiu'e looked genuinely surprised.
"Officer Zhou is doing this too?"
"Mom, I've told you several times already. It's not profiteering. The employees at supply and marketing cooperatives often sell defective goods privately too..."
"That is profiteering!"
Chen Xiu'e insisted stubbornly.
Then she pointed at Su Yun and warned her seriously.
"Listen carefully. I don't care what you've done before, but from this moment on, you're not allowed to engage in any profiteering activities."
"And tell Gu Hai to stop immediately too! You've already earned so much money this month. You should be satisfied."
"Oh, right! Tell Gu Hai to hide that money well. If people find out he was profiteering and they discover the cash, that'll be ironclad evidence. Nobody will be able to save him then."
Su Wenshan nodded solemnly.
"Your mother is right. This isn't something to joke about. Years ago, a sales department chief from the lumber factory in our alley got caught profiteering. He was sentenced and spent seven or eight years in prison."
Seeing how serious they were, Su Yun could only go along with it.
"Alright. I'll listen to you. I won't do it anymore."
At worst, she would simply come up with another excuse in the future. She could always fool her parents somehow.
Once that discussion ended, Chen Xiu'e took the three hundred-plus yuan Su Yun had given her and immediately began discussing it with Su Wenshan.
"This money can't stay in the house. We need to deal with it quickly."
After hesitating for a moment, she continued,
"How about we send some money to Weiguo and Xiaoling? Since we don't have any milk powder, they can use the money to buy a dairy goat instead. Didn't Su Xiu grow up drinking goat's milk? She's even taller than Xiaoling now, which proves goat's milk is perfectly good for raising children."
"As for the remaining money, hurry up and think of somewhere safe to hide it."
In truth, Chen Xiu'e also wanted Su Wenshan to hide their watches and other valuables. But all the neighbors already knew they owned those things, and everyone knew Gu Hai had given them as gifts. There was no point trying to hide them now, so she didn't even bring it up.
As long as they never admitted where the money came from, nobody could prove it was earned through profiteering.
Su Wenshan calmly tapped the ash from his pipe against the edge of the kang.
"Our sewing machine and bicycle alone are worth more than three hundred yuan. What's the point of hiding this money? What's done is done. As long as Xiaoyun stops now, nobody should find out."
Beside them, Su Yun obediently nodded.
"Mm!"
Meanwhile, Su Baoguo sat nearby with a deeply furrowed brow, still trying to calculate exactly how much money "tens of thousands of yuan" really was.
By the end, he was even using his toes to count.
Unfortunately, he still couldn't figure it out.