Chapter 324: Three hundred twenty-three, stingy Chapter 324: Three hundred twenty-three, stingy Gu XueMin immediately had a bad premonition upon hearing this. “You didn’t come to ask me for money, did you?”
Mrs. Gu nodded, her face filled with bitterness. “Your dad had an accident and fell, and now we urgently need money. I’ve already borrowed from relatives and friends, but we are still short of twenty thousand yuan.”
“Twenty thousand yuan? Where would I get that much money? Why don’t you try to think of another solution and ask someone else?” Gu XueMin said indifferently. Let alone twenty thousand, he wouldn’t even take out two thousand; that was the hard-earned money that he had struggled to earn. Why should he give it to someone else?
“It’s your dad who’s hurt. No matter how stingy you are, you can’t just watch him unable to pay his hospital bills, can you?” Mrs. Gu cried as she looked at Gu XueMin. She knew her son was very stingy and getting even a penny from him was harder than reaching the heavens. If there was any other way, she wouldn’t have come to him.
Gu XueMin waved his hand impatiently, reached for Teacher Lin’s bag that had just been placed on the shoe cabinet, took out the wallet, and found only some change. He called out to Lin Xiu in the kitchen, “Lin Xiu, come out for a second.”
Lin Xiu’s hand trembled slightly as she heard Gu XueMin call her name, and the potato she was peeling slipped into the sink. “Com… coming…” She had heard everything her husband and mother-in-law had said. Given her husband’s character, he certainly wouldn’t take out any money.
“Why is there only this much money left in your wallet?” Gu XueMin asked with a stern face, pushing the wallet toward Lin Xiu. He gave Lin Xiu one thousand yuan every month for expenses. Although living costs were high, if one lived frugally, one thousand yuan was sufficient—at least it was definitely enough for him.
“I… I left it in my office,” Lin Xiu hadn’t expected her husband to find out so quickly.
“Go and get it now. My dad is waiting for the money,” Gu XueMin ordered.
“I… I… It would waste another four yuan in bus fare if I go to school now. How about tomorrow?” After much thought, Lin Xiu finally came up with an excuse. With Gu XueMin’s personality, he definitely wouldn’t want to spend that extra four yuan.
Gu XueMin thought for a moment and nodded, then turned to Mrs. Gu, “Mom, why don’t you come and get it tomorrow?”
“XueMin, please, I beg you, lend your mom twenty thousand yuan. Your dad needs to undergo surgery right now; without the money, he could die,” Mrs. Gu cried, about to kneel down.
Lin Xiu stepped forward to support Mrs. Gu. “XueMin, please think of something. Saving dad is what’s important right now.” She knew her husband had the money; he just didn’t want to take it out.
“What can I do?” Gu XueMin huffed impatiently.
“XueMin…” Mrs. Gu looked at Gu XueMin pleadingly.
“Mom, it’s not that I don’t want to lend you the money; I really don’t have any,” Gu XueMin said helplessly. Lending them money was like throwing it into a bottomless pit; he would have to save for half a year to accumulate twenty thousand yuan. That was his lifeblood.
Lin Xiu couldn’t stand it anymore. “Gu XueMin, can’t you stop thinking about money all day long? This is your own mother, and the one who urgently needs money is your father, who gave birth to you and raised you. You’re even calculating money with them; do you still have a conscience?” It was one thing for him to be stingy with her, but it was outrageous that with his father in desperate need of money, he still held onto it so tightly.
Gu XueMin gave Lin Xiu a cold glance. “Forget it; I still have one thousand yuan on me. Take this for now, but don’t forget to pay it back,” he said, as he took out one thousand yuan from his pocket and handed it to Mrs. Gu as if he was giving alms.
“You!” Mrs. Gu trembled with rage. What sin had she committed to have birthed such a son?
“Mom,” Lin Xiu said softly, patting Mrs. Gu’s back. But she was also helpless to aid her mother-in-law, as all her money was in her husband’s control.
Mrs. Gu shook her head, looked at Gu XueMin with disappointment, and walked towards the door. She knew begging any further would be in vain; trying to get money from this son was harder than scaling the heavens.
Lin Xiu watched as Mrs. Gu’s figure retreated into the distance, her eyes filled with complicated emotions. A man who was so miserly even toward his own mother, what future could she possibly have with him? If one day she was lying in a hospital bed desperately waiting for money, would he also be so tightfisted, watching her die with his eyes wide open?
“What are you standing there for? Aren’t you going to cook? I’ve been busy all day; I’m starving,” Gu XueMin thought about Lin Xiu’s attitude toward him, and his heart was filled with resentment.
Lin Xiu closed the door and took a deep breath before looking at Gu XueMin. “I want to talk to you.”
Gu XueMin frowned, his demeanor displeased. “Talk about what? What’s there to talk about?”
“Gu XueMin, what’s more important to you, me or money?” Lin Xiu asked, looking at Gu XueMin. Although she already knew the answer, she still wanted to hear him say it. Hearing the answer might hurt her, but she could also completely give up on him.
“Are you crazy? Get on with cooking,” Gu XueMin shouted at her with a dark face.
Lin Xiu stood motionless, her gaze fixed on Gu XueMin, “Tell me.”
Gu XueMin forcefully suppressed the anger in his heart. “Money.” In his heart, only money was most important. Watching the numbers in his bank account slowly rise, he felt immense satisfaction. Nothing could compare to that feeling.
Lin Xiu pulled a bitter smile, “Let’s get a divorce.”
“What did you say?” Gu XueMin looked at Lin Xiu in amazement. She actually said she wanted to divorce him? She must be crazy!
“Gu XueMin, since you love money so much, then you can spend your life with it. I’m not going to serve you anymore. Tomorrow morning, I’ll be waiting for you at the civil affairs office,” Lin Xiu said, picked up her bag from the shoe cabinet, opened the door, and walked out.
Gu XueMin stepped forward, grabbed Lin Xiu’s hand, and pulled her back, giving her a chilling look. “Who gave you the courage to talk to me like that?”
“Gu XueMin, I’ve had enough. All these years we’ve been married, it’s been nothing but money on your mind every day. When I want to buy new clothes, you go ask your colleagues for a pile of old clothes. Am I only fit to wear old clothes?” Lin Xiu’s grievances burst out all at once, and she shouted through her tears.
“You can still wear them, can’t you? My colleague’s wife is a woman of status. What’s wrong with wearing her clothes? Besides, it saves money,” Gu XueMin felt he was in the right. He was doing all this to save more money.
“And what about the wedding gift from my aunt? She gave us three thousand yuan, and when her son got married, you made me return one hundred yuan. Where am I supposed to put my face? Because of you, I don’t even have the courage to go back home anymore. Plus, it’s just a few bottles of mineral water I offered to colleagues, yet you made a fuss about it for an entire week.” With each issue Lin Xiu brought up, the bitterness in her heart deepened.
“Am I not doing all this for our family? What’s wrong with giving a hundred yuan as a wedding gift? It’s the thought that counts,” Gu XueMin huffed.