How I Tamed My Wolfish Husband Back in 80s-Chapter 289 - 291: The Well-Educated Stand Out_1

"Don’t mention it," Cheng Cheng persisted.

Li Qiao flipped through the ledger on Qin Jin’s desk and interjected, "Jin, are you in charge of the money at your unit?"

"No, I do the accounting. Mrs. Fang handles the cash; she’s the cashier of our unit."

Mrs. Fang chuckled, "Aren’t you a university graduate? You don’t even know the difference between accounting and handling the accounts."

In just a few words, she had belittled the value of Li Qiao’s university degree to nothing.

"Now I know," Li Qiao added. "Going to university doesn’t mean you know everything." And she had thought that the finance and cashier roles in a small unit were handled by the same person.

Mrs. Fang’s lips curled in a mocking smile.

Li Qiao concentrated on flipping through the ledger with her head down.

Cheng Cheng turned to joke with Mrs. Fang, either complimenting her figure or praising her fair skin.

Li Qiao glanced at Cheng Cheng disdainfully. You have the nerve to call Jin a suck-up; you’re even worse!

Qin Jin had finished eating and went out to wash his lunchbox. When he came back, Li Qiao decided to leave.

Qin Jin said, "I’ll walk you out."

Cheng Cheng said, "Why don’t you take my car instead, it’s more convenient."

Li Qiao was annoyed.

Just as Qin Jin was about to retort, someone outside called for Cheng, and Cheng finally left.

After exchanging goodbyes with Mrs. Fang, Li Qiao and Qin Jin left the office one after the other.

Qin Jin cursed Cheng Cheng for being a lustful pest. "I’ll be sure to get back at him when the opportunity arises."

Li Qiao replied, "Forget it, he didn’t really do anything to me." They reached the bus stop outside, and she said, "I was looking at the ledger on your desk earlier and noticed that your unit had quite a bit of cash over the past three or four months. Why not deposit it in the post office in a timely manner? If deposited on time, you could earn over a hundred yuan in interest. Your cashier is just in charge of handling the money but doesn’t know how to make money with money."

"Also, you mentioned that the food in your cafeteria is not great, that you’ll eat whatever is cheap, but I saw that the money allocated to the cafeteria for purchasing groceries each month isn’t small at all.

"You have a full two hundred. How many people eat at your unit? Grandma keeps track of the daily price of vegetables, and for the three of us, according to her menu, we spend at most fifteen yuan a month on three meals a day, including fruit. You guys only eat one meal at noon, so is the money being embezzled by the cafeteria’s purchasing staff?"

Qin Jin’s eyes brightened, "Education really is different, always able to pinpoint the crux of an issue." He’d bring it up with the leadership later.

At that moment, the bus arrived.

Li Qiao and Qin Jin said goodbye and got off the bus. After walking a few steps, Li Qiao inadvertently recognized the girl who had been matchmade with Xue Jingyi. She was carrying a small black leather bag and was having a tug-of-war with a young man in the street.

She quickly hid behind a big tree to watch.

The young man was rather handsome, around one meter eighty tall, not inferior to Xue Jingyi.

The girl was not as shy as she had been the first time they had met. She was now overbearing, with an expression that was even a bit ferocious.

Li Qiao planned to get closer to eavesdrop, but before she could act, the two separated and went their separate ways.

Considering the direction the girl was heading, was she walking towards the Xue family home?

She made her way there first.

Xue Sufen thought Li Qiao was there to settle accounts and said warily, "What do you want? My grandparents and my little uncle are all at home."

Li Qiao replied, "I... I’m not here for you, I’m here to speak to Sir Xue."

Xue Sufen shot back, "You’re here for my little uncle, aren’t you? Grandma, she said yesterday she wanted to be my little aunt and deal with me."

Old Mr. Xue said, "Stop talking nonsense."

Xue Sufen challenged, "Ask her yourself if she ever said that."

Li Qiao didn’t answer but instead said, "Sir Xue, I have something to discuss with you. Let’s talk at my place, where it’s more private."

Old Mr. Xue’s expression changed into one of warm amusement. What kind of secret could it be that required him to visit her home? "Let’s go. Is it about Jin’s work?" he couldn’t help asking.

"No."

Just as Old Mr. Xue was about to leave with Li Qiao, the girl from yesterday arrived, holding a box of pastries. Li Qiao glanced at them; they seemed to be freshly bought.

The girl first greeted Old Mr. Xue and Jiang Wanqiu, then turned to greet Xue Sufen.

When facing Li Qiao, she nodded her head and said gently, "Hello."

Having experienced the girl’s toughness firsthand and taken a poor impression, Li Qiao didn’t respond.

Old Mr. Xue glanced at Li Qiao and said, "Meiyu, why don’t you chat with Madam Xue for a bit? I need to step out."

Tong Meiyu didn’t understand why Li Qiao was acting so aloof, as if she was the lady of the house—an outrageous thought. Tong Meiyu replied softly, "Okay."

The elder and the younger left the house. Old Mr. Xue asked, "When did you and Sufen start having conflicts again?"

Li Qiao repeated to Old Mr. Xue what Xue Sufen had said the day before.

Old Mr. Xue became visibly upset. "I’m going to sort her out when I get back. And your Madam Xue, how dare she spout nonsense in front of the child."

Li Qiao stopped him and took the opportunity to ask for the full story.

It turned out that Madam Xue’s parents and elder brother might still be alive and had two nephews as well.

They were all living abroad now.

Back then, the smoke of war hadn’t reached the southern regions, and Madam Xue’s family had begun preparations to leave—and had even wanted to take Old Mr. Xue’s family with them.

But Old Mr. Xue’s parents didn’t want to leave their hometown, so the move never happened.

And the Qin family was at the height of its power; the family head was reluctant to abandon their assets.

What happened afterwards, Old Mr. Xue said he couldn’t recall clearly.

He paused as he said, "Your grandfather was a ruthless man, with a killer instinct. I’ve seen him chopping off someone’s arm with my own eyes. I repeatedly advised him to be more forgiving in his actions, yet he never listened."

Li Qiao understood the implication; it was a caution that her grandfather had made many enemies.

It also indirectly meant that the downfall of the Qin family was not in any way related to Madam Xue.

She decided to tell Qin Jin that night to prevent him from overthinking and needlessly worrying in the future.

....

After finishing his story, Old Mr. Xue had also arrived at the Qin household. Li Qiao served him tea.

Old Mrs. Qin, hearing the commotion, came out and said politely, "Oh, Brother Xue, you’re here? We have some apricots."

Old Mr. Xue took one and ate it, "Sweet, and tastes good." He then asked Li Qiao, "So why did you call me over?"

Li Qiao described the scene she had witnessed earlier to Old Mr. Xue and said, "According to my intuition as a woman, I feel like they’re a couple." She took out her drawing tools and sketched the young man’s appearance.

Old Mr. Xue squinted his eyes, "I’m not wearing my glasses, can’t see clearly."

"Here, you can borrow mine," Old Mrs. Qin offered her reading glasses.

Old Mr. Xue put them on, "Yours are a bit weaker, but I can still see clearly. This young lad is not bad, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. Probably more handsome than my Jingyi. I’ll have to ask around about the relationship between this young man and Tong Meiyu."

Old Mrs. Qin understood the situation. "The girl has taken a fancy to Jingyi, huh? But is Jingyi interested? You two can discuss that here."

Old Mr. Xue said, "That boy likes any girl that’s even remotely pretty. I wasn’t worried before, because those girls really weren’t anything special. But now I am a little concerned. Both Qiaoqiao and Sufen said she’s beautiful. That girl speaks slowly and softly, gentler than Qiaoqiao. Jingyi said she’s very nice, and he loves that kind of girl. If she starts to act coquettishly in front of him, it could satisfy his male ego. Wouldn’t that mean he’s taken with her? I need to find out more—if they’ve broken up long ago, then I can accept that. But if he’s courting her after dumping someone, that’s unacceptable."

Old Mrs. Qin chuckled, "Jingyi should be able to see through her, right?"

"He can’t see through shit!" Old Mr. Xue suddenly felt restless and took his leave.