1990s: Spring Water Family

Chapter 182 My Cousin Quits Her Job and Starts Her Own Company
At 5:30 a.m., the uncle drove Gu Bin and Lin Xiyu home. The three of them entered the house wrapped in a chill. Grandma was already up and making breakfast in the kitchen.

"Grandma, why are you up so early?"

Seeing the light on, Lin Xiyu figured someone must be there. She went to the kitchen and, sure enough, saw her grandmother busy at work.

"Being older, I need less sleep, so I get up when I can't sleep?"

Grandma smiled kindly, glanced into the living room, and saw that her uncle had also entered with them. Her eyelids twitched involuntarily.

"It snowed last night, and I was originally planning to stay at Grandpa Gu Bin's house."

Lin Xiyu chuckled and explained on behalf of her uncle: "Uncle had a minor accident while driving late at night, but don't worry, it's nothing serious, just a small scuffle, and Gu Bin has already taken care of it."

"A car crash?"

Grandma was terrified; at first, she didn't think she had hit anyone.

"The car is fine."

Lin Xiyu started by saying nice things: "It won't affect the use. My uncle has already called my aunt's second brother and asked him to come and pick up the car."

"The car is fine, so someone must have been hit?"

Grandma wouldn't be so easily fooled, and her heart clenched painfully again.

"Everyone is alright."

Fearing that her grandmother would worry and hurt herself, Lin Xiyu quickly added, "To be precise, it's nothing serious, just a minor injury. We paid some medical expenses and that was it."

"How much did you lose?"

Grandma clutched her chest, her voice trembling slightly.

"500."

On her way back, Lin Xiyu had already discussed it with her uncle and asked him to keep it a secret from her family, so that her aunt and grandmother wouldn't know.

"500?"

Grandma didn't believe her and looked at her suspiciously: "Is 500 yuan really worth calling you in the middle of the night to summon Gu Bin?"

"My uncle had never encountered anything like this before, so he was a little panicked at first."

Lin Xiyu yawned, pretending to be sleepy, trying to fool him.

"Tell Grandma the truth, how much money is it?"

Her maternal grandmother raised her from a young age and could see through her little schemes at a glance.

"It's 500."

Lin Xiyu's eyes flickered slightly as she avoided her grandmother's gaze.

"to be frank!"

Grandma's expression changed, becoming somewhat stern.

"Five thousand."

Lin Xiyu was so shocked that her heart skipped a beat, and she dared not hide it any longer.

"Five thousand?!"

Grandma's vision went black, and her body swayed uncontrollably.

"Grandma!"

Lin Xiyu gasped in surprise and reached out to support her.

"mom!"

Hearing the noise, my uncle rushed over from the living room.

"You unfilial son!"

When Grandma saw who it was, she was furious: "I told you not to drive a taxi, but you wouldn't listen. Now look what's happened, all the money you earned has been lost. I'm going to see how you explain this to your daughter-in-law."

The uncle hung his head and remained silent, letting his grandmother pound his shoulders hard.

"Grandma, Uncle said he won't be driving a taxi anymore."

Lin Xiyu couldn't bear it and pleaded with him, "Please calm down. Don't get upset during the New Year."

"Clang."

A muffled thud came from the bedroom in the north room. My aunt was awakened by the noise. When she heard about the compensation, her legs went weak, and she stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Wow."

The baby was also startled awake and burst into loud crying.

The bedroom was in complete chaos. Grandma, no longer able to scold Uncle, rushed into the room and picked up the baby.

The uncle then went in and helped his aunt up. A short while later, the sound of his aunt sobbing could be heard from the bedroom.

Grandma gave Uncle another long lecture. Lin Xiyu, being a junior, didn't feel comfortable going in to persuade him. Thinking that Chen Xiulan should be waking up soon, she pulled Gu Bin upstairs and told her mother what had happened last night.

Chen Xiulan heard the gist of it and rushed downstairs without even combing her hair or washing her face.

With her mother's help to reconcile them, Lin Xiyu felt relieved. She and Gu Bin hadn't slept all night and both needed to catch up on sleep.

This time, Gu Bin wasn't kicked out of his bedroom by his fiancée and had to sleep alone on the cold sofa.

The two embraced and fell asleep, closing their eyes wearily shortly after lying down.

-

My cousin treated her boss to a meal out of her own pocket on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year in order to help him with his job transfer.

Wang Fan came to show her respect, and when she heard that she wanted to apply for a transfer to the Shanghai branch, she couldn't help but frown.

"I don't get along with Li Xiao; just seeing him annoys me."

My cousin kept complaining, getting angrier and angrier, and became very emotional: "If I'm not going to Shanghai, I'll go somewhere else. Anyway, I don't want to stay here anymore."

"Li Xiao isn't as unreasonable as you describe, is she?"

Wang Fan listened patiently to her rambling, and even he thought he had a good temper.

Dingsheng Decoration was established by him, so how could he not know what happened at the main store?

Keeping a cat in the office and ordering subordinates to mind the shop—such outrageous things happening in his own company are truly astounding.

He didn't consider himself an easy person to talk to. If it weren't for his cousin's outstanding professional skills and her kinship with Lin Xiyu, he would have slammed his fist on the table and told her to leave long ago.

"He takes advantage of being the store manager and doesn't respect me at all."

His cousin didn't notice the subtle change in his expression and continued rambling on and on.

“Sister Lei, you seem to have overlooked something.”

Wang Fan couldn't listen anymore and waved his hand to interrupt her: "I'm not only your friend, but also your boss. Our positions are inherently opposed. Do you think that as the person in charge of a company, you would allow your subordinates to slack off and be lazy during work hours? It's already good enough that I don't exploit you. You still want to take care of your own business and earn extra money. You really don't respect me as your boss."

"I know I was wrong first, but Li Xiao's attitude was just too awful."

My cousin had never seen Wang Fan so cold and stern before. She lowered her eyes awkwardly to hide her shock.

"Sister Lei, listen to my advice."

Seeing that she had finally stopped nagging, Wang Fan breathed a sigh of relief: "Going to Shanghai is not suitable for you. Although Shanghai is developing rapidly, and Pudong is developing, it is the golden age of the decoration industry. However, Shanghainese are not as easy to deal with as you imagine. If you can't speak Shanghainese, you will lose the advantage of being eloquent and it will be difficult to truly integrate into the lives of the locals."

"Not everyone who buys a house in Shanghai is a local."

My cousin was resentful, and it showed on her face.

"That's true, I admit it."

Wang Fan nodded first, then changed the subject and said, "However, the renovation business relies not only on individual customers, but more importantly on large clients. It requires building relationships and cultivating connections, mainly with locals in Shanghai. You should understand how much profit margin there is in renovating a building, which is incomparable to the meager income from a few individual customers."

"Li Xiao has taken control of all the connections in Jinan."

My cousin complained, "Even if there are big projects, I won't get a chance."

"That's because he's very capable."

Wang Fan retorted coldly, "As a professional manager with an MBA from the United States, if he doesn't even have this much ability, what kind of store manager is he?"

"I can tell, you look down on me from the bottom of your heart."

My cousin felt discriminated against and was a little hurt: "They think I don't have a degree, unlike Li Xiao who's a returnee from overseas. Since you look down on me like this, there's no point in me staying at the company anymore. I'll resign after the New Year."

"Ah."

Wang Fan scoffed, "Sister Lei has quite a temper during the New Year; she even dares to embarrass the boss."

"You're the one who looks down on me, why should I give you face?"

My cousin's stubbornness kicked in, and she retorted quite forcefully.

"Fine." Wang Fan, having run out of patience, stood up unhappily: "If you want to resign, then resign. You don't need to wait until after the New Year; you can resign now."

"Cut~~"

Seeing that he left so easily without giving her any face, my cousin felt a tightness in her chest and couldn't hold back her anger: "What's with the attitude? If you quit, you quit. What's so great about that? I don't want to serve you anymore."

Wang Fan pretended not to hear with a dark expression, let his assistant open the door, and left the private room.

-

Qinglong Back Street.

My uncle had to pay compensation for the accident, and then my cousin quit her job at that moment. For the family, this was like adding insult to injury.

Grandma had been thinking of having her uncle quit his current job and work in the renovation business with her niece, but when she heard that her niece had also quit, she nearly fainted again.

"What, resign?"

The aunt was also incredulous when she heard that her daughter had quit her job.

"Wang Fan is a big boss now, and he's not as easy to talk to as he used to be."

My cousin was upset: "Not only did they refuse to let me transfer, but they also sided with Li Xiao and scolded me. I've finally figured it out. Working for someone else only means enduring mistreatment. I'll quit sooner or later anyway, so I might as well take this opportunity to gamble and start my own renovation team and go it alone."

"You child, you always do whatever you say."

The aunt was furious and felt a pang of pain in her heart: "Resigning is such a big thing, and you didn't even discuss it with the family first. Your mother was forced to retire, and you were doing just fine, but you messed things up by yourself."

"How is this considered a waste of time and effort?"

My cousin said confidently, "I've figured out all the tricks of the trade in home renovation. I'm confident that if I do it myself, I can definitely make more money."

"Since Leilei is so confident, why not let her give it a try?"

At this moment, Chen Xiulan became the calmest person present: "It's just right that my eldest sister has retired. She can help with the accounting, and my younger brother can run errands. He can also have an excuse to turn down his second brother-in-law and stop driving a taxi, so that our mother won't have to worry about him anymore."

"My second aunt is absolutely right, that's exactly what I meant."

My cousin slapped her thigh and perked up: "We're family, let's work together, pool our strength, and split the profits. I don't believe I can't make money with my innate talent for business."

"Should I work with you guys too?"

My uncle was unwilling from the bottom of his heart, but he still wanted to drive a taxi.

"I agree."

Grandma was afraid that he would get into trouble again, so she immediately gave up on his idea.

"Let's listen to Mom."

His aunt nudged him from behind, her voice choked with emotion: "We still owe Xiyu ten thousand yuan, we can't afford to cause any more trouble."

"Ugh."

The uncle's eyes darkened, and he sighed deeply.

-

Lin Xiyu took a nice nap, and when she opened her eyes it was already one o'clock in the afternoon.

Gu Bin had already woken up and was in the living room playing Rubik's Cube with Xu Yi.

In order to cultivate her son's talents, Chen Xiulan pays great attention to the development of his intelligence. The Rubik's Cube is a good choice, as it can be entertaining and also improve the brain's calculation and reaction abilities.

Xu Yi had just started playing and was still enjoying it. He wasn't satisfied with playing by himself, so he kept pestering Gu Bin to teach him.

Gu Bin had been playing with this since he was a child, and he could play it in all sorts of ways even with just one hand.

Xu Yi watched as his fingers spun rapidly, and in no time all the hexagons of the Rubik's Cube turned into the same color.

The young boy was incredibly impressed, constantly exclaiming "Wow, wow!"

"Xiao Yi, what are you yelling about?"

Lin Xiyu was woken up by him. She rubbed her eyes helplessly, threw off the covers, and got out of bed.

"elder sister."

Xu Yi shouted in his small voice, "Brother-in-law is so amazing! He's so good at solving the Rubik's Cube!"

Gu Bin was pleased to hear the words "brother-in-law," and a slight smile appeared on his lips as he gave the young boy an approving look.

"It's just playing with a Rubik's Cube, is it really that big of a fuss?"

Lin Xiyu was dressed casually at home, wearing a small floral cotton-padded jacket with a red background and yellow flowers that her grandmother had made for her a couple of years ago. Her hair was loose as she walked out of the bedroom.

Gu Bin looked up, glanced at her cotton-padded coat, and a hint of a smile flashed in his eyes.

"What laughing?"

Lin Xiyu glanced at him sideways.

"The way you are..."

Gu Bin chuckled jokingly: "It reminds me of a movie that Gong Li starred in."

"Red sorghum?"

Lin Xiyu raised her eyebrows slightly.

"No."

Gu Bin's smile deepened: "Qiu Ju is going to court."

"Fine, you dare laugh at me!"

Lin Xiyu got angry and lunged at him to hit him, but she tripped and fell straight into his arms.

Gu Bin was pleased with her initiative in throwing herself into his arms, and opened his arms to embrace her tightly.

"Aren't you making fun of me, Qiu Ju?"

Lin Xiyu punched him in annoyance: "If I'm so ugly, why are you hugging me?"

"I'll love my wife no matter how ugly she is."

Gu Bin smiled slyly, then took the opportunity to lower his head and steal a sweet kiss.

"hey-hey."

Xu Yi grinned foolishly as he watched the two interact intimately.

Where's Mom?

Lin Xiyu was both embarrassed and annoyed, and glared at her younger brother.

"I've gone downstairs."

Gu Bin answered casually.

"I didn't ask you."

Lin Xiyu rolled her eyes at him: "You're not qualified to call me Mom."

"hey-hey."

Xu Yi chuckled and covered his mouth to stifle a laugh.

"It seems your cousin has run into some trouble again."

Gu Bin smiled good-naturedly and didn't hold it against her: "The whole family is downstairs discussing something."

"Sister Leilei?"

Lin Xiyu couldn't hide her shock: "What happened to her this time?"

"I quit."

Xu Yi reacted quickly this time, blurting out, "I heard it when I went downstairs for lunch."

Is she still downstairs? I'll go check.

Lin Xiyu panicked when she heard that her cousin had resigned and turned to leave.

“I’ll go down with you.”

Gu Bin put on his coat and went downstairs with her.

-

With her grandmother's support, my cousin suddenly felt confident and began to dream about a bright future. She talked animatedly, painting a rosy picture for the whole family.

Her uncle and aunt were also infected by her emotions and smiled.

When Lin Xiyu and Gu Bin arrived at their maternal grandmother's house, the family was chatting and laughing, having a lively conversation.