The Ace Bigshot Becomes A Farmgirl

Ms. Yu deliberately raised her voice, clearly intending for Shu Yu to hear, wanting her to know she was putting in great effort.

Aunt Hong, on the other hand, felt a bit awkward and forced a smile at Shu Yu, saying, ”She’s just narrow-minded, Lady Lu, don’t bother with her.”

Shu Yu was well aware of Ms. Yu’s character, but what surprised her was that someone like Ms. Yu would go out of her way to throw a grand birthday celebration for Aunt Hong. Could it be for the sake of collecting gift money?

But that didn’t make sense. In these times, gift money wasn’t much. Families like Aunt Hong’s, the most guests would give are some eggs, persimmon cakes, or brown sugar, which don’t come close to covering the cost of the fish and meat on the round table. The Hong Family definitely couldn’t break even.

As Shu Yu was thinking, Little Song Le next to her had already started rummaging through her personal bag.

She snapped back to reality, witnessing the little guy, after the people at the door had left, hurriedly stuffing all the money from his bag into Aunt Hong’s arms.

Aunt Hong felt a weight in her arms, ”Gouwa, what are you doing?”

She looked down and instantly gasped, hurriedly gathering the pieces of silver in her hands, her eyes wide open as she asked, ”Where did you get so much money?”

Little Song Le grinned widely, ”I saved it up. Each New Year for the past three years, my cousins, uncles, aunts, Grandma Lu, Second Grandpa Lu, Eldest Grandpa, Third Grandpa, Eldest Aunt, Fourth Aunt, Third Uncle, Uncle Daniu, Aunt Lanhua, Aunt Cuihua, and others... have all given me New Year’s money.”

He counted them one by one on his fingers, leaving Aunt Hong dumbfounded by the sheer number.

”My cousins and aunts say I’m young, so they let me keep all the New Year’s money others give me. I don’t usually need it since my cousins and aunts prepare my clothes, and I have enough to eat. When I need money outside, Aunt Niu takes care of it for me. On my birthday, I also received many gifts and red envelopes that I’ve been saving up, so that’s why there’s so much.”

Aunt Hong swallowed hard, ”...”

Shu Yu explained, ”Originally, all this New Year’s money was kept by his cousins for him, to be given to him when he grows up. But since he wanted to buy you a gift this time, his cousins handed it all over, letting him choose for himself. He ended up picking that cotton-padded jacket, and I was wondering why he’d choose just that, but it turns out the rest he intended for you.”

Little Song Le nodded beside her, ”This way, Aunty will be able to buy whatever you want, but you need to keep the money safe and not let others know you have it. This is called keeping wealth from showing.”

Aunt Hong’s eyes turned slightly misty, as she patted his little head, ”Your auntie doesn’t need so much, you keep it for yourself!”

With that, she resolutely stuffed it back into his bag, refusing to let him take it out again.

Little Song Le, seeing she wouldn’t accept it, was at a loss and turned to look at Shu Yu.

Shu Yu, ”Just keep it, Aunt Hong. It’s not much, but it’s Lele’s token of appreciation.” Indeed, it wasn’t much, though Little Song Le received quite a few red envelopes, each time after Meng Yunzheng’s exams, he would buy some small trinkets as a celebration.

On Shu Yu’s birthday, when the old lady was in a bad mood or Quanquan cried, he would also buy little toys.

Zhao Xi once jokingly said, maybe this is what they call taking from you and using for you.

But Aunt Hong still shook her head, ”I can’t accept it. Boss and others will come searching, and the money will just be wasted away by them.”

Shu Yu was taken aback, ”What do you mean by that?”