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Chapter 11 - Expenses
Since Tong Yuwu had already decided to challenge the mission, she would not waste her time. After all, there were only less than 48 hours left until midnight of the 8th. After thinking about it, she thought of the smart and capable Sister Liu. In the afternoon, Sister Liu prepared a delicate afternoon tea for her as usual. Although she would probably only drink a few sips of black tea and would hardly dare to touch desserts, Sister Liu still prepared it carefully.
"Sister Liu, please sit down and have tea with me." Tong Yuwu said with a smile.
Occasionally, when Tong Yuwu was in a mood, she would invite Sister Liu to have afternoon tea together. But after two years of marriage, the number of times this had happened could be counted on one hand.
Sister Liu is not stupid. The husband and wife in this house are not people who are easy to fool. Although the husband is gentle and indifferent, he is seldom at home after all, and they don't interact very often. The wife doesn't seem to be arrogant, and she is always talking and laughing every day, but she is stupid enough to think that she is harmless.
If she really has no ability, can she still marry into the Fu family?
So, Sister Liu's heart skipped a beat and she had a bad feeling.
She restrained her smile a little, but still sat down obediently opposite Tong Yuwu. She didn't dare to touch the exquisite dessert on the table.
"Sister Liu, I'm a little curious, how much does an average family spend in a month?" Tong Yuwu picked up the teacup, took a sip, and raised her eyes again, her face full of an elegant smile.
Sister Liu really didn’t know what to say now.
She was trembling.
She is the most senior employee here. She had lived in the old mansion before the young master and his wife got married, and now she serves as the housekeeper here.
She is just a housekeeper.
Normally, the family's expenses are paid from the madam’s account, and she seldom checks her accounts.
As far as she knew, the madam would buy bags and clothes almost every month, often spending hundreds of thousands of dollars without blinking an eye.
Compared with the so-called family expenses, a bag worth hundreds of thousands is just a drop in the bucket, and the madam would be too lazy to care about it.
In fact, people in their line of work all act according to their circumstances. If the boss is very shrewd, they will only take a small amount of money. If the boss doesn't care about such small things, they will stick their feet out to test the waters.
Sister Liu knew that there was a senior employee who had retired in their circle, but he bought a house and a car in Yanjing with the help of his employer. Sister Liu was also an honest person, she did not dare to do too much, but in terms of living expenses, it was impossible to say that she was not greedy.
Although her greed was not small, it was definitely not much either. She controlled the degree well, and even if the madam investigated, she would most likely turn a blind eye.
Now that the madam is asking this…
Sister Liu didn't dare to play it safe. She thought quickly and decided to confess her crime. She rubbed her hands and looked helpless. "Madam, I have no other choice. My father-in-law has uremia and I have to spend money to support him every month."
Tong Yuwu was stunned. At first she didn't understand what Sister Liu meant. After she realized what she meant, she became distressed.
If the water is too clear, there will be no fish. This is not the feudal era where servants still have their indentures in the hands of their employers.
To put it bluntly, it is the relationship between boss and employee, and no one should expect anyone to be completely loyal.
Sister Liu is a very efficient person and she can manage her subordinates well. Even if she knew that she had embezzled money, Tong Yuwu would not just let her pack up and leave.
"Sister Liu, this is not your fault." Tong Yuwu said calmly, "You were by mom’s side long before I married Liheng. You can be considered an elder of the Fu family. That is not just an ordinary friendship. Why didn't you tell me that your family was in trouble?"
"I..." Sister Liu raised her head and looked at Tong Yuwu in surprise.
"I will not make trouble because of this. Next time you have trouble, just tell me," Tong Yuwu paused, "Mom values you so much that she asked you to take care of our daily life. You know that Mom can't tolerate any grain of sand in her eyes. If she knew about this, she would be hurt. I still remember what Mom told me before we got married. She said that Sister Liu, you are down-to-earth and honest, and she trusts you very much."
Sister Liu would never do such a thing if she was honest. She knew who was the boss of the Fu family, so she didn't dare to be careless and perfunctory when Mrs. Fu asked her questions. There can only be one mistress in this family! Tong Yuwu believed this without a doubt. This was not in the old mansion, but in her own home. Could she still tolerate her subordinates treating her as the second in command?
If Sister Liu had not been sent by Madam Fu and was capable, Tong Yuwu would have fired her long ago.
After shocking Sister Liu and wiping away tears of regret, Tong Yuwu really started to talk about business, "Sister Liu, I want to know how much an average family spends in a month, just tell me honestly."
"An average family?" Sister Liu was still a little nervous. "Some spend a lot, some spend less. A friend of mine spends more than 4,000 yuan a month for a family of four."
Tong Yuwu held her forehead helplessly. More than 4,000 yuan to make ends meet in a month, especially for a family of four. It was simply unimaginable.
Now the system challenged her to spend a thousand for a week...
It’s difficult, it’s so difficult for her.
***
When Fu Liheng came back, Tong Yuwu was watering the flowers in the small garden of the villa.
Normally, this kind of thing would be done by servants, but Tong Yuwu was in a good mood today. The flower varieties in the garden were not that rare, but they were all her favorites. She could see the garden from the large balcony of their master bedroom.
In Fu Liheng's opinion, although Tong Yuwu was not wearing an exquisite and beautiful dress today, she still had a different flavor.
Maybe because she was at home, she was only wearing a loose white T-shirt that reached her thighs and a light blue denim shorts. Her black hair was casually tied into a loose bun, which was made her look simple, fresh and beautiful.
"You're back?" Tong Yuwu heard the sound, turned around, put down the watering can in her hand, and came to him with a bright smile on her face.
Fu Liheng then realized that she was bare-faced, with no makeup on her eyebrows and eyes. Her complexion was lighter than usual, like a lotus in clear water.
When he returned home and saw this scene, and there was no smell of makeup on her body and face, Fu Liheng, who had been working all day, felt inexplicably relaxed.
"Yes." Fu Liheng nodded, "You didn't go out today?"
Tong Yuwu's face turned red. "How can I go out? I slept until almost noon." She covered her collarbone with her hand awkwardly.
Fu Liheng knew that Tong Yuwu was not someone who could stay idle at home.
He raised his hand and glanced at his watch, then suggested for the first time: "It's still early. If you're interested, would you like to go out for dinner together?"
Some people are conscious, some are not. Fu Liheng is a capitalist without conscience. Most of the time he is not conscious. Only when he is in a very good mood will he have a little bit of self-consciousness, and this rarely happen.
During the year that Fu Liheng and Tong Yuwu were engaged, he had just accepted the responsibilities from the Fu family and they rarely saw each other once a month. Tong Yuwu counted and found that they had only met seven or eight times before they got married.
After getting married, the situation did not get much better. He was still very busy. Fu's company was in a period of transformation and had several cross-border mergers and acquisitions on hand. He was so busy that he naturally had no time to deal with the relationship between husband and wife. So in the past two years, they were together less and apart more.
Tong Yuwu had no objection, and Fu Liheng would not feel sorry.
Sometimes when they have time, both of them are at home. Fu Liheng's time is different from others'. Others' time means they have a lot of free time to accompany their wives, but the best he can do is just go home for dinner.
Tong Yuwu didn't expect Fu Liheng to ask her out for dinner. After being shocked for a second, she said in a daze, "Then I want to change my clothes."
She paused, then said tactfully, "It may take a while."
Normal people know that for a sophisticated girl to spend an hour dressing up before going out is already considered fast.
A perfectionist like Tong Yuwu won't go out unless she spends more than two hours each time.
Fu Liheng glanced at her and said calmly, "It’s fine."
What a load of bull.
When has she ever been bad? There is not a single ugly piece of clothing in her cloakroom. With her nitpicking, even the cotton socks she wears at home in winter are carefully selected. The clothes she wears today may seem casual, but in fact they are carefully matched. The clothes in her cloakroom can be divided into several categories: clothes for gatherings with sisters, clothes for important social events, clothes for meeting parents-in-law, and home clothes.
Don't think she can be casual at home. She carefully observed, studied, and summarized Fu Liheng's preferences before deciding on these clothes.
In her 25 years of life, apart from her parents, no one had ever made her care so much. When she thought about the plot of the novel in which this bastard of a man divorced her, she felt that his conscience had been eaten by a dog.
"But I didn't even put on any makeup." Tong Yuwu said softly, "I always feel like it's not good to go out like this."
It's impossible for her to not wear makeup.
The makeup she wore was the ‘no makeup’ makeup that was popular in the past two years. Since it has the word "makeup" in it, it is fake natural makeup.
The makeup was very clear, making her already fair skin look even more like white porcelain.
She also asked a famous makeup artist to improve this makeup. There are people in this world who are born beautiful, like her, but not all people who are born beautiful are willing to risk work hard for beauty. Can she, who has won at the starting line, be lazy? Of course she has to work harder than others!
Fu Liheng didn't care. She looked pretty like this anyway. "It's okay. Let's go."
Tong Yuwu was not afraid of meeting acquaintances, but she felt that after what happened yesterday, she could show off her little feet and be spoiled for once. Thinking of this, she tilted her head and smiled at him, "If I change clothes and put on makeup, it will definitely waste a lot of time. But I'm wearing such homely clothes, and you're wearing a suit and tie, it doesn't look very coordinated. Or maybe you can change your clothes, hmm?"
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