Chapter 187: Shakespeare’s Love Letters ④
The hospital soon informed Nie Aifang that she could be discharged. Until the day of her discharge, Nie Aiwen could not persuade Nie Aifang to live in his apartment.
Nie Aiwen also knew that Nie Aifang was being discharged today, so he arrived at the hospital early to pick her up. Nie Aifang had wanted to go to the vegetable market early in the morning, but she also knew that businesses don’t make money early in the morning. So, she and Nie Aiwen went shopping for a while. It wasn’t until after ten o’clock that they went to the vegetable market together. She received a month’s salary from Zhang Qitian. Although it was called salary, it was agreed beforehand that the money earned would be split equally. So Nie Aifang received a total of over six thousand eight hundred yuan. Even though her house was demolished and she suffered a great loss, she was still happy when she held the money in her hand. She could foresee that if she worked hard, she would quickly recover her losses.
Nie Aifang had a habit of carrying her ID card with her, and she was also fortunate that she didn’t keep too much cash at home. So, after receiving the so-called salary, she went to the bank and used her ID card to reapply for two new savings passbooks. These passbooks contained some money she had saved over time. She had two passbooks; one was for fixed deposits. Every year, she would deposit ten thousand yuan into this account. Her thoughts for saving this money were very simple: if Nie Qiu couldn’t get into junior high school or university, she would let Nie Qiu work in this city when she got old. She would use this money to build two houses in her hometown in the countryside. She never thought about buying a house in her hometown town; she just wanted to have two houses to live in for her retirement. She had also thought that if Nie Qiu could get into high school and university, then this money would be used to fund Nie Qiu’s university education, fulfilling her duty and wishes as a mother.
The other passbook was for current deposits. The money in this account was entirely for emergencies. At the end of each month, she would calculate her accounts, set aside living expenses, and deposit the rest into the passbook. A City High School is a public school, meaning that one could attend school there for a few hundred yuan per semester. However, Nie Qiu’s household registration was not from here, and Qiu Qiu’s grades were very poor before. She paid money to send Qiu Qiu to high school, which cost at least over ten thousand yuan per semester.
Most of the money in this passbook was for Qiu Qiu’s tuition fees. If there was any left over, she would deposit it into her own fixed deposit passbook.
They say that those who know how to live are good at budgeting, and Nie Aifang was no exception. She received over six thousand yuan in ‘salary,’ and combined with the money she had saved in her current deposit passbook, she had over twenty thousand yuan in total.
Nie Aifang felt that this amount was enough to rent a house, buy some second-hand furniture, and get winter clothes for herself and Qiu Qiu! She withdrew three thousand yuan from her current deposit account and, combined with the over six thousand yuan she had on her, plus a little extra, she had ten thousand yuan in cash. She then went with Nie Aiwen to a real estate agency located very close to A City High School.
The houses introduced by the agent were all in residential areas, either two-bedroom or three-bedroom apartments. The closer to the school, the higher the rent. After all, in a big city, it was not easy to find the kind of residential area they used to live in. After looking at several suitable houses at the agent’s office and getting the landlord’s phone number, the two of them left the agency.
“Aiwen, you should go back to your company to work!” Nie Aifang looked at the rare sun in the sky and turned to Nie Aiwen, saying, “Recently, because of my affairs, you’ve been running to the hospital all the time. Your superiors must know about it, and you should also put on a good show. I’ll look for houses myself. If I find something suitable, I’ll call you to let you know.”
Nie Aifang did not know that after Nie Aiwen divorced Chen Yan, he had applied for a loan from the bank with the guarantee of a well-connected client and registered a company, and had already paid off the bank loan.
She only knew that Nie Aiwen and Chen Yan had divorced. Since they were divorced, he was no longer her son-in-law, so it was impossible for him to work in the Chen family’s company. He must be working for another company now. In Nie Aifang’s opinion, whether he worked for his own company or another, he had to perform well to gain the boss’s appreciation and get promoted faster.
Nie Aiwen didn’t know how to tell Nie Aifang.
To be honest, he had only finished junior high school. Unlike other talented students in the city, people like him who started a company from scratch, if it weren’t for his experience and knowledge that left no room for criticism, no one would respect his academic qualifications. After all, everyone in the company, except for the cleaning aunt, had a university degree.
Nie Aifang was a woman who sold vegetables in the market. Their social statuses were vastly different, and he didn’t want Nie Aifang to become distant from him because of this.
It’s a simple truth: people of their generation who go out to work, if they don’t have some ulterior motives, will remain laborers. If they claim to be a boss, no one will believe them. I remember a skit where a woman stayed home to farm, and the man went out to work. The man came home looking very well-dressed, claiming to be living a great life, but in reality, he was just carrying bricks and mixing cement at a construction site.
Nie Aiwen didn’t want them to become distant due to their status, but he also didn’t want to deceive Nie Aifang. He smiled, gently held Nie Aifang’s shoulders, and said, “Sister, I have something I want to tell you.”
Nie Aifang was stunned for a moment. Seeing Nie Aiwen’s serious demeanor, she couldn’t help but become serious too. “You speak, I’m listening.”
Nie Aiwen smiled. “After divorcing Chen Yan, I took out a loan from the bank and started…”
“What?! You took out a loan from the bank?” Before Nie Aiwen could finish speaking, Nie Aifang’s eyes widened in shock. For people from the countryside, a loan meant never-ending debt! She grabbed Nie Aiwen’s hands. “How much did you borrow? I… I have some money here. We need to pay it back first… How could you be so foolish? Why would you think of taking a loan from the bank! What did you use as collateral? It must have been something very valuable, right? Was it a house or land? How much property did you get in the divorce? Why did you mortgage it? I have money here, take it and pay it back first…” Nie Aifang was so anxious that she became incoherent. They didn’t understand bank loan interest. They only knew from movies they watched as children about landlords’ compound interest, which could ruin people. She was extremely worried at that moment.
“Sister, let me finish speaking…” Nie Aifang’s words deeply moved Nie Aiwen. He smiled helplessly. “Don’t worry, let me finish speaking first.”
“Okay, you speak!”
“I didn’t mortgage anything. A former major client of mine guaranteed me, and I took out the loan.” Nie Aiwen looked at Nie Aifang. “After taking out the loan, I rented a floor in Chengbin Building and registered a company. In three months, I have already paid off the loan.”
Nie Aifang didn’t understand what “registering a company” meant, but she could grasp the general idea. She also understood that he had rented a floor of a large building and paid off the loan.
“What that means is…” Nie Aiwen smiled slightly. “What that means is, I am now the boss of my own company. If I want to not go to work, will anyone be able to control me?”
