Chapter 45: All Troubles Caused by Money

  As soon as she got up in the morning, Sima Youlan did not see Wang Weiye's figure. She was alone at home, after finishing breakfast, she saw off her father-in-law and mother-in-law to work, and then she strolled around the courtyard, admiring the various flowers in the yard.

  August in Harbin, although it has already entered summer, the cool air in the early morning makes people feel a little relaxed and comfortable.

  Simar Yulan sat on the long chair beside the flower bed, lost in thought. Ever since she arrived at this house, surprises aside, but now she was getting more and more puzzled by Wang Weiye.

  Yesterday evening, just before going to bed, Sima Youlan walked into Wang Weiye's study and looked at the tall wooden bookshelves on both sides of the wall. Through the glass doors of the bookshelves, she saw rows and rows of foreign language books, with more than a thousand volumes stored inside.

  Although Sima Youlan was in school, she also studied 900 English sentences, and her grades were excellent in class. However, if she were to read such foreign books, without an English-Chinese dictionary in hand, Sima Youlan would not be able to understand what the book was saying.

  Simar Youlan saw so many foreign language books, she couldn't help but laugh in her heart, feeling that this stinky rascal really knew how to put on a show. The bookcase was filled with countless foreign language books that looked like they couldn't be understood, and it was really unknown what he was thinking.

  Simayoulan casually opened a bookcase door beside her, and randomly picked up a hardcover blue leather book from the bookshelf. However, when she flipped open the book, Simayoulan was stunned. She didn't recognize a single word of the foreign text on the pages, so she had no choice but to call Wang Weiye in.

  Wang Weiye, who had just come out of the bathroom, wrapped in a large white bath towel around his lower body, heard Sima Youlan calling him from the study and walked in directly. When he saw the French version of "The Count of Monte Cristo" in Sima Youlan's hand, Wang Weiye felt strange in his heart. There are really not many people who can understand French now, unexpectedly this stinky girl also understands French?

  Seeing Wang Weiye walk to her side, Sima Youlan looked at Wang Weiye with a very strange gaze and asked: "Stinky rascal, whose books are these? Why are they all in foreign languages? Doesn't your family have Chinese versions?"

  Wang Weiye didn't know why Sima Youlan was asking this, and he thought Sima Youlan understood French, so he teased her: "Hey, wife, are you feverish? This is my home, after all. Everything in this house, of course, belongs to me. But, I say, wife, it really hasn't occurred to me that you can actually read French books."

  When Sima Youlan heard Wang Weiye say that the book in his hand was a French book, she was shocked. When she heard Wang Weiye's sarcastic tone, she got angry and pouted her small nose tightly, making a "humph" sound from her nostrils, and said: "Stinky rascal, when did I ever say I could understand French? I'm not like some people who can't even read foreign languages but still put them at home to show off shamelessly."

  Wang Weiye, upon hearing Sima Youlan's words, was no longer willing to continue. He thought to himself: "I, Wang Weiye, am a young man with great ambitions, with exceptional talent and extensive knowledge. How could someone dare say that I don't understand foreign languages and am just pretending to be knowledgeable?" It was truly laughable.

  To Sima Youlan's words, Wang Weiye responded with a laugh. After he finished laughing, he said to Sima Youlan: "Listen, wife. You say the foreign books on my bookshelf are just for show. Well, let me tell you, your husband is proficient in five foreign languages: English, French, German, Russian, and Japanese. If I wanted to learn more, I could master all official languages of the world within two years. I've read every book on this shelf at least twice. If you don't believe me, you can go ask my mom right now. Take the book in your hand, for example. It's a 1926 French edition of 'The Count of Monte Cristo' by Alexandre Dumas, a famous French author. The protagonist is Edmond Dantès, an honest sailor who also has a beautiful lover. During a voyage, he was framed and imprisoned while delivering a letter for a Bonapartist. After learning the truth, he escaped from prison and, under the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo, carried out a series of revenge stories."

  Wang Weiye took the book from Sima Youlan's hand, and he gently stroked the cover with his hand, as if he was caressing a young girl, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

  Wang Weiye seemed to have entered the world of books, and he whispered to Sima Youlan: "I still remember Dejunma's most famous passage in this article. He wrote: There is no happiness or suffering in the world, only a comparison of two situations. Only those who have experienced the greatest misfortune can truly feel the joy of life and enjoy it wholeheartedly. Always remember that before God reveals the future of humanity, human wisdom lies in two words: 'Wait and Hope.'"

  Now Sima Youlan has gone mad, she doesn't know whether the Wang Weiye in front of her is real or not. Because now Wang Weiye's body is full of elegance and refinement, which is completely different from his past self who was always spewing dirty words whenever he opened his mouth, it's like they are two completely different people.

  Just now, Wang Weiye used calm and elegant language to roughly tell the story of "The Count of Monte Cristo", listening to Sima Youlan as if she was drunk. She felt surprised in her heart that Wang Weiye was absolutely not an ordinary person. She suddenly thought of the two sentences: "Qilin is not a thing in the pool, and it will change into a dragon when it encounters wind and cloud." Sima Youlan walked excitedly to Wang Weiye's side, hugged his body with both hands, and whispered in Wang Weiye's ear: "I want to know you, long life without decline. The mountain has no peaks, the river water is exhausted. Winter thunder shocks summer rain snow, heaven and earth merge, only then dare I be separated from you. Weiye, will you teach me French in the future?"

  When Wang Weiye heard Sima Youlan's words, he knew that he had finally won her heart. But then he heard Sima Youlan ask him to teach French, and this rascal's lustful intentions arose again. He shamelessly said: "Alright, there's a saying in our underworld, if you want to learn, you have to sleep with the master."

  Wang Weiye finished speaking, picked up Sima Youlan and walked towards the room. Frightened, Sima Youlan shouted loudly: "Stinky rascal, put me down quickly, I haven't taken a bath yet!"

  "Alright, I don't mind washing again, let's go take a bath together now." Wang Weiye didn't care about Sima Youlan's objections and quickly carried her into the bathroom. For a moment, the bathroom was filled with endless spring scenery.

  Hearing the sound of a car at the gate, Sima Youlan woke up from her meditation. She got up from the long chair and walked quickly over to see Wang Weiye getting out of the car with a canvas travel bag in his hand, which was stuffed full of something unknown.

  Wang Weiye saw Sima Youlan walking out from behind the flower stand, and smiled to greet her: "Wife, good morning!"

  When Sima Youlan heard Wang Weiye loudly calling her "wife" in the courtyard, in front of so many guards, she felt extremely embarrassed and lowered her head, stretching out her hand to take the travel bag from Wang Weiye.

  Simar Youlan wanted to take over the travel bag, but Wang Weiye didn't hand it over to her. Instead, he said, "No need, it's too heavy, I'll carry it instead. Let's go back to our room and I'll show you what's inside."

  As soon as he returned home, Wang Weiye casually threw his travel bag to the ground and said to Sima Youlan: "You open it yourself, I'm going to wash my face."

  Originally, Sima Youlan thought that Wang Weiye had something precious in the travel bag and didn't give it to her because he was afraid she would damage it. But when she saw Wang Weiye return home, he casually threw the travel bag on the ground and ignored it. Sima Youlan immediately understood that she had been fooled by this scoundrel again. Seeing Wang Weiye go into the bathroom to wash his face, Sima Youlan squatted down and opened the zipper of the travel bag.

  When the zipper was opened, Sima Youlan was so scared that she sat on the floor. The travel bag was filled with RMB. In her life, Sima Youlan had never seen so much money. She trembled and took out a stack of RMB from the travel bag, carefully identifying whether it was real or not. To confirm its authenticity, Sima Youlan pinched her thigh hard, and the pain made her scream "Ah!" Now she knew she wasn't daydreaming. Immediately, she shouted loudly towards the bathroom: "You scoundrel, come here quickly!"

  Wang Weiye heard Sima Youlan's scream in the bathroom and immediately ran out of the bathroom. He saw Sima Youlan sitting on the ground, still holding a stack of RMB bills in her hand, staring blankly. Wang Weiye didn't understand why Sima Youlan was sitting on the ground. Without even wiping off the water marks on his face, he hastily walked to Sima Youlan's side and asked: "Wife, what are you staring at while sitting on the ground?"

  Wang Weiye's voice startled Sima Youlan out of her daze, and as soon as she saw Wang Weiye, she anxiously asked: "You scoundrel, why is there so much money in this bag? What kind of evil deed did you go do early in the morning? You...you didn't go rob a bank, did you?"

  I thought something had happened to Sima Youlan, but he didn't expect Sima Youlan to ask him about RMB. Wang Weiye looked at Sima Youlan with a very amused expression, wanting to tease this silly girl. Thinking that now is not the time, if this silly girl really believed it, the consequences would be very serious. Wang Weiye squatted down and gently patted Sima Youlan's head, saying: "What robbery? I just took it out from the bank, wait a while and I'll take you shopping on the street. Your little brain, what are you thinking every day? Robbery, you're really something."

  Simayoulan heard Wang Weiye say that the money was taken out of the bank, and her heart, which had been hanging in mid-air, finally fell back down. She asked with great puzzlement: "Then how did you get so much money? Even if we go shopping on the street, we wouldn't need this much money."

  "Is this a lot of money? I don't feel like it's that much. Do you think our backyard tree grows RMB? Of course, this money is what I earned from my hard work in the past." Wang Weiye couldn't help but laugh, it seems that this little girl wouldn't even spend money if given to her. There's only 100,000 RMB in this travel bag, if he told her that he just handed over more than a million from his savings account to the gang as circulating funds for smuggling, she would probably be scared half to death.

  Half-believing and half-doubting, Sima Youlan looked at Wang Weiye with a suspicious gaze, asking him in puzzlement: "You're deceiving people, you've earned so much money, how did you earn it? My dad has worked for almost thirty years, and his monthly salary is only 106 yuan. Adding various subsidies, it's just over 130 yuan. And I'm studying, with a monthly stipend of only 18 yuan. Even if my dad works his whole life, he won't be able to earn that much money. You're still young, how can you have earned so much? Tell me the truth, where did this money come from? If not, I'll go tell mom that you went out and did something bad this morning."

  Haha, "You go tell mom, my silly wife. The bank deposit slips have always been kept at home in the drawer, of course, mom knows about this money. You ask me how I can make so much money, well, let me tell you, this money was earned with my life. Think back to when I was ten years old, I led a group of brothers to conquer the world. To support these brothers, I've done all sorts of things. Your dad's salary wasn't even enough for a meal at a restaurant. Now I'm begging you, wife, please don't mention that broken military subsidy again. If you don't have money in your pocket, take half of this as spending money."