When She Stops Being Dramatic

Chapter 52: Chapter 38: A Plain Wife from the 50s (38)

”This meal looks, smells, and tastes incredible, not to mention it’s filling. The cake is also quite beautiful. From now on, whenever we have important guests to entertain, we must serve one of these. It can absolutely become a specialty of our factory...”

Bright Machinery Factory was located on the outskirts of the Capital City, and its leaders were naturally all men of the world. Thus, they understood better than anyone just how rare a cake so exquisite—with its rich, sweet, tart, and crisp flavors—truly was. Even the restaurants that catered to foreign dignitaries couldn’t achieve this.

Chef Zhu earning two salaries was no loss at all. Who said only a master of machinery was a talent? Wasn’t a master of the wok in the kitchen one as well?

As long as someone could bring honor and revenue to the factory, they were worthy of special attention.

Besides, Chef Zhu—no, Director Yun—was going to train a group of apprentices!

That same day, photos from the factory’s collective wedding appeared on bulletin boards throughout the complex. There were group photos of the newlyweds, pictures of the exquisite meals on every table, the beautiful nine-tiered cake, and the little painted faces of children who had greedily eaten their fill.

Of course, the photos were accompanied by an article from the propaganda department staff. Zhu Yun had been promoted to Deputy Director of the First Cafeteria and was now respectfully called Director Yun, a title that replaced ”Chef Zhu,” which had become famous throughout half the factory in less than two months.

Zhu Yun didn’t have many belongings, just a few sets of clothes. Although she had moved into the family housing block, she had no intention of abandoning her small courtyard house. After all, she remembered the famine was only a year away, and for that, she had so much work to do!

The house had already been cleaned. Mr. Chu and Mrs. Chu chatted with the young couple for a while, had a cup of tea, and arranged to hold a make-up wedding banquet at their home the following Sunday before leaving in a hurry.

The lively room suddenly felt vast and empty, but because of the red decorations everywhere, it didn’t feel desolate.

Paper streamers adorned the ceiling, a red revolving lantern covered the lightbulb, and intricate paper-cuts decorated the windows. The sofa cover, television cover, chair covers, curtains, bedsheets, duvet cover, and pillowcases were all varying shades of fiery red.

With absolutely no chores to do, the two of them sat on the sofa, holding their enamel mugs and staring at each other.

Suddenly, Chu Shenyu stood up.

Zhu Yun tightened her grip on her mug and shyly lowered her head, only for him to stride into the bedroom...

A moment later, he returned carrying a small folding stool and sat down beside her. He placed a locked, half-meter-square mahogany box on the coffee table and handed her a key—a very old-fashioned one at that.

Zhu Yun took it curiously and opened the box. It was filled to the brim.

When she saw what was inside, she couldn’t help but gasp and look at Chu Shenyu.

”You’re my wife, so you’ll manage the household from now on,” he said as if it were the most natural thing in the world, then began to introduce the items inside one by one. ”Actually, my maternal grandfather’s family were prominent Confucian merchants in the south with a sizable fortune. During the wars, they were forced by villains and had no choice but to pretend to be addicted to gambling to sell off their assets at low prices. They took their whole family and headed north with the other refugees fleeing the chaos.”

”They say, ’gold in chaotic times, jade in prosperous times.’ The family didn’t have much else, so they converted almost everything into these. They were too heavy to carry, so as my grandfather fled, he buried them along the way. By the time they reached the Capital City, they were penniless, left with nothing but the knowledge in their heads. They changed their names and identities and finally settled down for good.”

”Later, my grandfather used official business as a cover to dig some of it up, and he distributed it among us, the younger generation. The gold bars are for emergencies, and the jade pieces are family heirlooms.”

”These books are all rare editions. They contain a lot of recipes and formulas.”

”This passbook is for my salary and bonuses. I don’t usually have many expenses, so I’ve saved it all up.”

’This young hunk—no, my husband—is just too honest,’ she thought. ’He’s laying his entire family fortune out for me without holding anything back.’

Zhu Yun took the passbook and glanced at it. ”Thirty-nine thousand, six hundred yuan? That’s so much!”

Chu Shenyu cleared his throat, a hint of pride in his voice. ”A small correction: to be precise, I’m a graduate student from a military academy, specializing in machinery. While I was in school, I worked on several projects with my advisor, and the organization gave me a lot of bonus money. Of course, I also receive a fourteenth-grade salary every month.”

”When I first joined the factory in ’55, I was paid at the ninth grade. Now I’m at the eighth grade. My base salary is one hundred fifty-six yuan, plus various bonuses and subsidies! All told, it comes to about two hundred thirty or forty yuan a month.”

”But if my work has a major breakthrough, the bonuses will increase several times over!”

Although he didn’t have much of a concept of money and never paid attention to it, he had learned from his few interactions with his wife just how particular Zhu Yun was about numbers.

Especially how much she enjoyed getting one over on their neighbor across the hall.