Ever since her last phone call, Lin's mother had been worried about Lin Fan's new job and kept wanting to call to inquire about the follow-up. At first, Lin's father tried to stop her, saying they needed to give Lin Fan some time. She felt that was right, and that they shouldn't be so impatient and should wait a few days before making any decisions.
After waiting for three days, she wanted to ask again on the fourth day, but an old sister of hers had a wedding at home and asked her to go to the countryside to play. So she went there and had fun for a few days, completely forgetting about Lin Fan.
When I got home and finally had some free time, I thought of Lin Fan again and couldn't wait any longer to call him.
Dad Lin tried to stop him but failed.
He told Lin's mother that since there had been no news from Lin Fan, there must be no follow-up, so she should not disturb the child.
But seeing that Mother Lin was determined not to give up until she got the truth, and thinking that ten days had passed, it might as well ask, he didn't try to stop her and just sat there to listen.
"I didn't hear it." Lin Fan said lightly.
"You kid, I always can't hear you when I call you. I don't know if you really can't hear you or if you are pretending." Mother Lin complained.
"Why are you saying this? Talk about the important things!" Dad Lin knew that Lin Fan didn't like to hear this, so he quickly stopped Mom Lin.
"What are you talking about when I'm on the phone?" Mother Lin turned the gun and yelled at Father Lin.
Lin Fan held the phone as far as she could and could still hear Lin Ma's loud shouting. She could even hear the sound faintly spreading in this empty seaside. She hurried back into the room, closed the doors and windows, and threw the phone on the bed.
I knew this would be the result.
After a while, the noisy sound on the phone stopped, and Lin Fan picked up the phone again.
"Xiao Fan, where have you been again?" Lin's mother's voice was still loud, but fortunately not as excited anymore.
"Go to the bathroom." Lin Fan fell on the bed and put the hands-free phone aside.
"What about the thing your Aunt Mao talked about last time? Did she talk to you about it again later?" Mother Lin finally asked the question that had been lingering in her heart for a long time.
"Yes." Lin Fan answered straightforwardly.
"What's the result? What was the conclusion of the discussion?" Mother Lin was anxious. This child couldn't speak properly and always blurted out words one by one.
"Signed."
"Signed? What signed?" Lin's mother didn't understand.
"contract."
"Signed the contract? Signed the contract!" Lin's mother was extremely excited and kept yelling at Lin's father, "What did I say? What did I say? You're not a liar, right? If I hadn't told Xiaofan not to let this opportunity slip away... See? Xiaofan signed the contract."
Father Lin was annoyed by Mother Lin's nagging. He didn't ask anything but kept yelling, "Why don't you find out what contract we signed?"
"Oh, right." Mother Lin calmed down instantly. Holding the phone with a smile, she asked gently, "Xiao Fan, what contract did you sign? Is it really one million a year?"
"The signed employment contract."
"Child, can you say more? Mom asked you how much money it was? Why did you say you would keep half and the other half?" Mother Lin was unhappy again and complained mutteringly.
"Stop talking about the child all the time." Father Lin intervened again, "Put your phone on speaker. I'll talk to Xiaofan."
For the sake of a million, Lin's mother didn't argue with him. She also knew it was easier for an old man to communicate with a child. She gave Lin's father a meaningful look, put her phone on speakerphone, and placed it on the table. She made the call at the dinner table, before finishing dinner.
"Xiao Fan, I'm your dad." Dad Lin's voice was as gentle as ever, as if he was afraid of scaring the child.
"Dad." Lin Fan's anxious mood subsided a little when he saw that someone else was speaking on the other end of the phone.
"Is that company confirmed to be reliable?" Lin's mother patted Lin's father's leg and shouted "One million", asking him to ask quickly. Lin's father waved his hand to indicate that he understood, rescued his leg from Lin's mother's clutches, and asked, "Did you really sign a one million contract?"
"The company is pretty reliable. The annual salary..." Lin Fan hesitated and lied, "Not even one million."
It’s not that Lin Fan wants to keep it secret, but it’s Lin’s mother’s personality that forces her to be cautious.
What kind of person is Lin Ma?
Actually, he is not a bad person, he just likes to compare with others and is very flamboyant.
It was mentioned before that when Lin Fan was a child, his father made a lot of money outside.
In an era when housing was allocated by work units and everyone's living conditions were basically the same, Lin's mother always liked to wear a mink coat and a gold necklace as thick as her little finger, and stroll around showing off. Later, almost half of the people in the community knew that Lin Fan's family was very rich.
Everyone at Lin's mother's workplace knew she had married a good husband. Even in the eastern part of their residential complex, many people knew her mother's name.
Fortunately, in that era, the crime rate in small cities was very low and there were no major disturbances.
There were quite a few relatives who came from the countryside to borrow money. They were very polite and gave Lin's mother enough face. When they left, they not only took away the money, but also a large bag of Lin Fan's clothes.
Although they were just children's clothes, you should know that at that time Lin Fan's clothes were all bought by Lin's father from Sijiu City and Gaohe City. They were fashionable and good-looking, but also expensive.
That was fine; children grow fast anyway and soon they'd outgrow their clothes. Lin Fan had a lot of clothes, so they were just sitting there anyway, so she didn't mind if a relative took them. What she couldn't stand was that the person also took her favorite story tapes and her tricycle.
Little Lin Fan had no idea why his mother gave away all the tapes as soon as someone said with a smile that his child also wanted to listen to stories on tape.
When he said that his child also wanted to ride a tricycle, her mother picked her up without hesitation while she was sitting on the tricycle and let the other party take her away.
If his child wants it, can't he ask his dad to buy it? This was clearly bought by Lin's dad for little Lin Fan.
Everyone was smiling and having a great time, except for Xiao Linfan, who was very sad. She cried and wanted to come back, but no one cared about her wishes.
Several years passed like this.
One day, a thief broke into Lin Fan's downstairs apartment and turned the house upside down. Fortunately, the actual damage wasn't significant. This was Lin Fan's first time seeing the police handle a case.
The onlookers said that the thief had pried into the wrong house and was originally planning to steal from Lin Fan's house.
Lin Fan was still in elementary school, so he didn't think much of it. But Lin's mother started to restrain herself from that day on.
I no longer wear the gold necklace as thick as my little finger. I replace it with a thin chain with a heart-shaped pendant. I hide the pendant in my collar and only the thin gold chain is visible from the outside. It is not worth much.
She no longer wears the big gold ring and has replaced it with a ring in the shape of a small flower, the kind that ordinary people often wear.
I no longer wear mink coats, but cashmere coats, silk shirts, etc. Those who understand know how expensive they are, but those who don't understand don't understand the value of them.
Perhaps it was due to this low profile, or perhaps it was due to the subsequent crackdown. In short, there has been no theft in the community since then, and the town's public security has been very good.
She couldn't show off in public, but Lin Fan had heard her mother nagging a lot in private.
Anyone else's new color TV isn't as good as hers, anyone else's new telephone isn't as expensive as hers.
Perhaps because she was too frustrated, these comparisons of wealth and possessions couldn't satisfy Lin Ma, so Lin Fan was also dragged into the comparisons. Instead, she became the one who could never compare to the others.
Lin Fan wasn't as pretty as the kid next door; Lin Fan didn't do as well on the test as the classmate downstairs; Lin Fan's piano playing didn't earn praise from the teachers at the Children's Palace; Lin Fan's cousin was the team leader in elementary school and was well-liked by the teachers, while Lin Fan could only be a group leader; Lin Fan's cousin was a boy, so his grandparents favored his uncle's family, and because Lin Fan was a girl, her mother always got bullied...
Lin Fan still didn't know whether her mother's competitive nature was sparked by Lin's father's wealth, or whether it was innate. But she knew that once such a personality trait was formed, it was difficult to change.
When Lin was in high school, his father's business failed and he lost a lot of money.
The family wasn't completely destitute, but their quality of life had plummeted three notches. Even Lin Fan's milk supply had stopped. Lin's mother had stopped buying him new clothes and jewelry.
Even in that situation, Mother Lin managed to hide the fact from everyone who knew her, and no one realized that the Lin family was almost bankrupt. Everyone kept calling Mother Lin "the boss lady", and it seemed that their family had always been rich, but had just become more and more low-key.
This disguise skill is also amazing.
Maybe Lin's mother was too focused on pretending and arguing with Lin's father to care about Lin Fan.
Lin Fan's mindset shifted dramatically around that time. Even when filling out his college entrance exam application, no one in his family paid attention, leaving an 18-year-old to figure things out on his own. Sure enough, things went wrong. Fortunately, Lin Fan's hard work during college helped him turn the tide.
As for Lin Fan's father, while he was still in college, he started a business in Gaoshi, an hour's drive from home. It wouldn't be a comeback, but at least the family's finances had been revitalized, and they were back to a comfortable level. They even bought a house in Gaoshi.
Of course it was bought by Lin's mother. She said that instead of renting a house and giving money to others, it would be better to buy one for herself. After all, she has money.
Lin's father was angry at first. Buying a house was such a big deal, but Lin's mother paid the deposit without consulting him.
After the previous business failure, Lin's father was not as generous with money as before, so his business was somewhat restrained and could not return to the level of the past.
At that time, Lin's father was almost 50 years old. He was thinking that Lin Fan would get married soon after graduation, so he had to save some money for Lin Fan as a dowry. If the man's conditions were not good, he would have to buy an apartment.
He was thinking about buying a house, but not in Gao City, but in his hometown, or Gaohe City, where Lin Fan planned to live in the future. Lin Fan almost never went to Gao City.
But he bought it anyway, and the deposit he paid wasn't easy to get back, and the house itself wasn't bad. After a week of arguing with Lin's mom, Lin's dad finally relented, with the only requirement being that the title deed to the house be in Lin Fan's name.
So even though Lin Fan is now broke and relies on her parents for support, she actually owns a house. However, her parents have always lived in that house, and Lin Fan has only been there a few times.
Now financially well-off, Lin Ma started to attract friends in Kaohsiung City. She was particularly happy to hear everyone calling her "Boss Lady." She also started to spend money lavishly.
It's not uncommon for Lin's mother to still buy gold and silver jewelry, but I wonder if she's getting older and doesn't like to dress up anymore. She only buys health-promoting black tea, famous calligraphy and paintings...
Lin Fan had also seen a large, half-human-height famille rose vase in a house in Gao City. There were two thick scrolls of calligraphy and paintings, various meticulous paintings and long scrolls of calligraphy. Upon opening them, he discovered a painting of a galloping horse...
Lin Fan was speechless. Their family had never been one of those cultured ones who would hang traditional Chinese calligraphy and paintings on the walls to add an artistic touch. These two thick rolls of dozens of pages were obviously fake. Lin's mother unhappily slapped the certificates, accusing Lin Fan of having poor taste.
The so-called health-promoting black tea is said to be effective in preventing and treating the three highs. Even Lin's father found it so effective that it lowered his blood pressure without medication. There are several boxes piled up at home. Lin's mother said it was at a limited price and that if she didn't buy it, she would be missing out.
Lin Fan really couldn't bear to watch it. He rarely went to Gao City to begin with, and now he didn't want to go even more. Out of sight, out of mind.
It wasn't until one day when Lin's mother called Lin Fan to ask for money that Lin Fan realized that something had happened again.