pjbooks Chapter 13: [I'm a little short on cash lately]
Chapter 13: [I'm a little short on cash lately]
Liu Zhuohao's income has been kept very secret for the past month. Apart from Zhuang Zicong and Cai Jiahao, no one else knows that he has made money.
Even his own parents didn't know exactly how much he had earned.
Liu Zhuohao never mentioned his actual income to them.
Previously, Liu Zhuohao was unsure whether Zhuang Zicong and Cai Jiahao could keep their word and keep his secret.
But he was certain that if he told his parents, it would mean he would have no secrets left, and all his relatives would know.
There's a chance someone will comment under my video, and if that makes my customers realize I've made a huge profit, then my business will be finished.
Why are you so sure?
Because that's how it was in her past life, her mother felt proud to finally open a shop and started telling relatives that she was successful.
Liu Zhuohao hadn't heard of the specifics either, but he almost boasted that he was a big boss earning millions a year!
What's next?
One relative after another "came to pledge allegiance," claiming that it was easier to get things done if they were family.
Is he easy to get things done? Liu Zhuohao wasn't sure if he could get things done, but he was definitely "close" to him!
They're all arrogant and incompetent. They think they're bosses just because they're bosses. My cousin, who insisted on being the store manager, sits with his legs up and bosses the employees around. My second aunt tried to put her niece in as a cashier, but the accounts turned out to be a mess. My eldest uncle keeps talking about firing people...
Several close relatives got into a bunch of messy troubles, and after things went wrong, they all scattered and ran away, leaving me alone to clean up the mess.
After all that's done, they still have the nerve to go back!
After giving his parents a few perfunctory replies, Liu Zhuohao returned to his room and immediately dialed a relative's number.
He took a deep breath and took out his phone.
In the address book, there are all those "good relatives" who have been mentioned countless times by their parents.
His first call was to his cousin, who ran a small shop. He didn't mince words; he simply asked, "Cousin, you know I recently started a small stall. I'd like to borrow some money."
"Um, I'm not losing money, it's just that my stall is running out of cash. Could you lend me 20,000 to tide me over?...Hey? Cousin?"
After a long silence on the phone, my cousin's voice finally came through: "Oh? Doing business? That's great! But why didn't you say so sooner? I just received a shipment, and my account is full of tied-up cash. I can't touch a single penny of working capital! What bad luck! Why don't you ask someone else? I have something to do, I have to hang up now!"
Before Liu Zhuohao could even explain, the call was disconnected.
He looked at his phone screen; the call lasted forty-three seconds. He raised an eyebrow and saved the recording.
The second call was to my uncle, who works as a security guard: "Uncle, I... I'd like to borrow some money from you to start a business, not much, just 30,000."
"Borrow money?!"
The eldest uncle's voice suddenly rose, then fell back down, "Oh dear, you child... It's not that your eldest uncle doesn't want to help you, you have no idea how difficult things are at home right now. Your cousin just bought a house and is paying off the mortgage every month, and your aunt's health isn't good either... We really can't come up with the money."
"You silly child, why didn't you tell your parents first if you needed money? Let them think of a way! I have something to do here, let's talk later, let's talk later!"
Liu Zhuohao quickly interjected, "Uncle, I didn't..."
"Beep...beep...beep..."
The busy signal sounded, and he looked at his phone screen. This one was even shorter, with a call duration of seven seconds.
The phone kept ringing.
The reactions were similar: some said directly, "Your sister-in-law manages all the money, I can't make the decision," while others laughed it off after hearing the words "borrow money" and said the signal was bad. The most polite person said he would call his mother and then hung up.
Whenever Liu Zhuohao mentions the word "borrow money," they feel that their business has failed and they are heavily in debt.
No one had the patience to listen to him fully explain what he planned to do, how much money he needed, and how he planned to repay it.
And then what? Within half an hour, the mother's phone was ringing off the hook.
Hearing the sudden footsteps outside the door and his mother's furious voice, Liu Zhuohao demanded, "How much money did you lose? You're too scared to tell me?"
The sound of her mother knocking heavily came from outside.
Liu Zhuohao did not move aside and opened the door directly. His parents were standing at the door.
His mother hung up the phone, her finger almost poking his nose: "Just how big of a mess have you made out there? Even your uncle is calling me!"
Her chest heaved violently, her voice a mixture of shame, anger, and lingering fear: "Do you know how humiliated I was just now? Your cousin, your second aunt, you... you knew everything!"
"Liu Zhuohao!"
She called him by his full name, her eyes suddenly reddening, "Such a big thing, and you weren't even willing to talk to Mom and Dad first? How can I dare go to your grandma's house now? It's so embarrassing, so incredibly embarrassing!?"
Liu Zhuohao stood there with his eyes down, listening quietly without interrupting.
Is it embarrassing?
Of course it was embarrassing.
But he had no choice but to do it.
Liu Zhuohao was not angry because of his mother's scolding, even though he knew that his mother might cause him trouble in the future because of some vanity.
He's no longer at the age where he gets emotional over a few words.
Liu Zhuohao could understand that his parents wanted to boast about him after he had become successful.
Everyone has such thoughts.
It's safe to say that if one's children are successful in the future, one will inevitably mention it to others.
Moreover, the parents had no idea that their boasting about themselves and attracting relatives would bring them so much trouble.
If Liu Zhuohao had known in advance, he believed they would have stood by his side and wouldn't have boasted to their relatives or asked him to arrange jobs for them.
Because they are the closest people to them.
Liu Zhuohao waited until his mother spoke before he spoke:
"Isn't this great?"
His parents were stunned when he said that.
He picked up his phone and pressed play. His cousin's slick voice immediately filled the small living room: "Hey Xiao Hao, it's not that I don't want to help you... I'm really short on cash lately because of the backlog of payments... Hey? My signal's bad, I'll hang up now!"
The busy tone of the recording being disconnected was particularly jarring.
The mother turned her face away, and the father stared at the floor; both felt ashamed of the phone call to borrow money.
"This is my maternal uncle." Liu Zhuohao clicked on another passage. The relatives' routine of shirking responsibility was exactly the same: first, they would praise him a couple of times, then they would complain about their hardships, and finally they would hang up in a hurry.
One recording after another played, and those relatives who were always so enthusiastic during holidays revealed a different side of themselves amidst the static.
The mother's voice rose: "What exactly do you mean?!"
These recordings felt like needles pricking her face; she had never been so humiliated in front of her relatives in her life.
"Let the child finish speaking first!"
The father called out to the mother, his voice not loud, but it made the living room suddenly fall silent.
He glanced at his mother, his eyes conveying a sense of restraint, then turned to Liu Zhuohao, his tone calm: "I've been taking the same route to work lately, often passing by your stall."
As he spoke, he walked back to the coffee table, sat down, and made a cup of tea. "Your business is doing well, you shouldn't be losing that much money."
Liu Zhuohao nodded, walked over and sat down, and replied:
"Yes, I didn't lose money. It's just that business at the breakfast stall has been a bit more stable recently because of the holidays. I'm planning to set up a stall in the night market as well, but I need money."
After listening, the father remained silent for a long time, his brows furrowed tightly.
"Getting up at three in the morning and staying up until midnight... People aren't made of iron." He said in a deep voice, "When you're scheming about business, have you ever considered whether your body can handle it?"
This time, he spoke without reproach, only with heavy worry.
These words struck a nerve with the mother, who immediately forgot her earlier embarrassment and quickly sat down, replying, "Yes, Xiaohao! You can never earn all the money in the world!"
"Can't we take it one step at a time? You've only just started to see some progress. What's the point of making so much money if you overwork yourself?"
Her face was full of worry.
As Liu Zhuohao listened to his parents' anxious admonitions, his throat suddenly tightened.
That's why he was trying so hard to run faster and stand more steadily.
It's not for the vanity of getting rich overnight, but so that one day, if my parents really encounter something, I can calmly turn around and say to the two eyes that are always staring at me, "It's okay, I can handle it."
Instead of having to pretend to be deaf and dumb like in the previous life!
These are the two people I care about most after my rebirth.
Regardless of how much money they earn, they care more about their health.
In fact, they would rather stay in their hometown than work hard outside, even if they only earn three or four thousand yuan a month.
I don't ask for great wealth or status, I only hope that my family is safe, healthy, and harmonious.
"Look..." Liu Zhuohao brought the topic back on track, his voice calm, "I didn't even have time to tell them what I was going to use it for or when, before they hung up."
"This isn't a bad thing, it's a good thing."
He looked at his mother and said, "In our Chaoshan region, we value our own family. If we set up a factory or open a shop, we like to find a few relatives to help us out."
"But given how they are, I really have no intention of contacting them."
"If something really happens to me and I really need money to save my life, they'll just run away. Now I can see things clearly..."
He paused, not finishing his sentence.
But the parents understood, and the room was so quiet that they could hear the refrigerator humming.
"I've asked almost everyone I regularly contact."
Liu Zhuohao swiped his phone screen, his fingertip pausing on a contact labeled "Liu Zhuoyue".
He looked up. "And Brother Yue."
This is his cousin, a member of his own family.
The mother and father exchanged a glance, their expressions both somewhat complicated.
"He..." the mother hesitated before speaking, "He should still be pursuing his master's degree in Chongqing, right? He's supported by his family, so where would he get the spare money?"
"You're mistaken, Zhuoyue has already graduated." The father replied to the mother first, took a sip of tea, looked at himself, and said, "You can call if you want, or... call your uncle directly."
Liu Zhuohao remained silent.
Their family and their uncle's family are not close.
It's not that there's a conflict, it's just that we're too far apart.
My eldest uncle and grandfather didn't get along. He married my aunt from the mountain town and moved there.
Thousands of miles apart, and since my parents don't drive, we don't visit each other as often, and our relationship has become distant.
Greetings during holidays and festivals are more polite than warm.
But Liu Zhuohao's finger hovered over that name, yet he was more certain when tracing the previous name.
He didn't even need to dial the number; he already had the answer in his heart.
The receiver only beeped twice before it was picked up.
Instead of a concerned or questioning "Feed?", the voice that came through was unusually familiar, even somewhat anxious and overly familiar, as if it had been waiting for this call:
"Hey, Xiao Hao? I was just thinking of calling you!"
On the other end of the phone, his cousin Liu Zhuoyue's tone was unusually warm, "Well... you're a high school student, you probably don't have many expenses, right? I'm a little short on cash lately, would it be convenient for you to lend me some money to tide me over?"