She won't clear her name; she'll throw away all the scum.

Grandma Xia was exasperated: "You, you..."

Halfway through the conversation, a head popped out of the window and repeated Old Lady Xia's words, "Comrade Xiao Fang, what can I say about you? You're a worker now, how can you be so stupid? It shouldn't be like this."

Grandma Xia watched as Jiang Wenhua pushed open her window, leaned his upper body on the windowsill, and rested his head on his right hand. His expression was even angrier than Fang Yingdi's.

"Comrade Jiang...?" Fang Yingdi was somewhat flustered. "What brilliant idea do you have?"

Jiang Wenhua glanced at Old Lady Xia and noticed that she was also waiting for him to speak. He immediately became smug, thinking that he was more professional at accounting than an accountant.

Back then, he helped the purchasing agent settle accounts with other factories. In the end, thanks to his smooth talk, they not only didn't pay a single penny, but the other supplier also owed their textile factory 7000 yuan. He and the purchasing agent were almost hunted down by people from the supplier's factory.

Jiang Wenhua: "How many people are in your family?"

Fang Yingdi answered honestly: "My family includes four sisters and three brothers. My parents are alive, my grandfather has passed away, and my grandmother is still alive."

Jiang Wenhua: "How much money have you spent on your family since you were a child? How many things have you done for your family?"

Fang Yingdi recounted in detail: "It was just ordinary farm work, picking wild vegetables in the mountains, taking care of my younger siblings, and all the household chores were done by my sisters and me. As for money, besides tuition, we had nothing else. My eldest sister wore my mother's old clothes, my second sister wore my eldest sister's, and I wore my second sister's. Even our shoes were..."

As Jiang Wenhua spoke, he took out a small notebook and started writing something down. After Fang Yingdi finished speaking, he asked her how much money she had given to her family, and Fang Yingdi answered him one by one.

Qiao Yi had witnessed firsthand how stingy this person was with himself, but despite his stinginess, he would even go to the factory's reading room to find books on how to eat healthier in order to avoid getting sick, all in an effort to do the most with the least amount of money.

Therefore, she and Fang Yingdi admired him; with such drive, it's no wonder he could come up with a way to spend one yuan a month.

When Fang Yingdi stopped, she took a sip of water and looked up at Jiang Wenhua. His eyebrows were so thick they could have trapped several flies.

His face showed confusion, heartache, resentment, and ambition—it was all too complicated for Fang Yingdi to understand, Qiao Yi to understand, and even Old Lady Xia was puzzled.

What's this kid thinking?

He sighed deeply, his face finally settling into a determined expression, and said with great enthusiasm, "Your parents owe you a lot of money."

Fang Yingdi, Qiao Yi, Old Lady Xia, and Xia Yu'e were puzzled: "...Huh?"

Jiang Wenhua coughed and cleared his throat before beginning his lecture, “First of all, your family has never given you anything good to eat or use since you were a child. The cost of raising you could be completely offset by the chores you did at home.”

Fang Yingdi: "How is this calculated? Isn't doing chores at home something every child should do?"

Jiang Wenhua shook his finger. "No, no, if we calculate the money based on every job I've done since I was a child, your parents would have to leave you the house."

Grandma Xia asked in surprise, "Were you paid for your work when you were a child?"

Jiang Wenhua was even more surprised than him: "Your child works for you and you don't get paid?"

Grandma Xia: "Besides my daughter, my son doesn't do any work for me."

Jiang Wenhua: "My God, then you should leave something for your daughter. She's being taken advantage of. What kind of family is this? They don't pay me for my work. Even though I'm not my stepfather's daughter, he still charges me."

Grandma Xia: "We're family, what's the point of calculating money? Do you calculate money with your mother? When you get married and have children, will you also calculate money with your wife? You provided that little thing, do you expect her to pay you?"

Jiang Wenhua exclaimed shyly, "What are you saying, old comrade? What do you mean by 'a little while'? I'm a respectable person, and I'm not just going to be here for a little while."

Grandma Xia: "Then who gave whom the money?"

Jiang Wenhua: "How can these be the same? This is married life, and it's equal between her and me."

Grandma Xia: "What about having children? She'll be at a disadvantage if she has your child."

Jiang Wenhua: "Then I will take care of her during her postpartum period. I will take good care of her during her postpartum period. I will take care of the baby so that she won't have to work hard at all. I will make sure that her body is better than before she gave birth, and that she can recover completely."

Grandma Xia: "What kind of pain did she suffer? Childbirth is so painful."

Jiang Wenhua: "What are you old comrades talking about with an unmarried young comrade like me? Taking care of a child in the middle of the night is hard work. She was in pain for ten months, and I took care of her day and night for one or two years. Isn't that unfair? Besides, even if I have to feed her in the middle of the night, I can just take care of her for another year. I will do her and the child's laundry, cook, and wash diapers. I won't let her lift a finger."

Grandma Xia: "I didn't realize you were such a good accountant, and such a money-grubber, yet you're so good to your wife."

Jiang Wenhua muttered, "What's this about good or bad? That's called fairness. Otherwise, there would be no peace at home, and I would be at a greater loss. Besides, none of what you're saying will ever happen. I don't want to get married at all. It's too expensive, and I can't bear to spend the money."

Grandma Xia's eyes widened. She found it quite strange that a man didn't want to get married: "But isn't marriage supposed to be about the man enjoying the woman's sacrifices? That's how it is most of the time. You pay a dowry and you get a woman who uses her own money to support you and serve you. Isn't that good?"

Jiang Wenhua: "Wouldn't that make me a landlord? That's exploitation, and I won't do that. The money I want is what I deserve. I can't bear the responsibility of letting others waste their whole lives on me."

Grandma Xia immediately became interested in Jiang Wenhua because very few people would think this way. She thought Jiang Wenhua only cared about money and not people, but she didn't expect that he still had a conscience. He even said that he didn't want anyone to waste their life because of him. This was really rare.

Fang Yingdi and Qiao Yi were also hearing this for the first time, and they started asking him questions.

As a result, Jiang Wenhua became impatient, "We're not close enough to talk about this kind of thing yet. I hope you have some sense of boundaries. Right now, we're talking about Comrade Xiao Fang's matter. Can you please understand that my time is very valuable? If you continue like this, I won't be so kind anymore, and I'll have to charge you."

Fang Yingdi immediately took out her notebook, wanting to hear what Brother Jiang was thinking.

Seeing that everyone had quieted down, Jiang Wenhua expressed his satisfaction. "I'll give you these ledgers I wrote later. You can study them carefully yourself. I won't say any more. If you don't understand them, come back here and find Comrade Xia. Anyway, I'm home every day. Just call me."

"Next, I want to say that you said your parents will definitely come to ask for money next time you get paid. Since that's the case, why don't you call us all? Comrade Xia and I will each use our own methods, and you can give us some compensation for our hard work."

Fang Yingdi: "A tip?"