Zhou Qingfang was very anxious: "Uncle Pu, I have an ergency and need to take a trip to Beidaihe. It’s very urgent, and it might take two days."
Pu Jianxin frowned. There were only four people at the savings counter now, and another was dispatched to handle corporate business. How could they afford to have soone take a two-day leave?
Zhou Qingfang was very restless, insistent on taking the leave.
Pu Jianqing’s mood wasn’t great as he spoke, "You already took a day off at the beginning of July, saying you were sending your child to your mother-in-law’s place. Now we’re only halfway through the month and you’re asking for another two days off. Fine, but half a month’s salary will be deducted!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Qingfang’s face darkened but she persisted, "Then deduct it!" yet she didn’t mind it in her heart.
The next day, Zhou Qingfang indeed did not show up, which greatly increased the workload. Li Xianglu could still cope, albeit having a tough ti with the nightti storage. Fortunately, so security personnel helped, but it still increased the workload of counting and sorting the money into the vault.
On the third day, Zhou Qingfang still hadn’t returned, and Pu Jianxin’s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. Everyone worked quietly, not daring to say much.
It wasn’t until around four o’clock that the Post Office delivered a batch of money. Li Xianglu and Sister He were nad to count and store the cash, but after counting the money, they realized sothing—the key to the underground vault was missing.
The key wasn’t for the final layer, but for the first two doors. It was supposed to be in a drawer.
Eventually, after everyone looked for it, it was unexpectedly found in the trash can. No one could make sense of it, but as long as the key hadn’t left the counter, it was fine.
Li Xianglu felt that since the key was missing for nearly half an hour, this incident had to be reported to the bank manager.
Sister He, however, used gestures to signal Li Xianglu not to speak any further.
Pu Jianxin frowned for a long ti before saying, "The bank manager has gone to a eting and won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon."
Seeing this, Li Xianglu didn’t say anything more, after all, they had ntioned the manager was in a eting and didn’t say they wouldn’t report it.
But what puzzled Li Xianglu was that in the following days, Pu Jianxin stopped assigning her to the vault duty, and instead, she was transferred to corporate business. Was it because she spoke out that day?
Yet Li Xianglu felt that this was part of her job. If she spoke out and others didn’t follow through, that was their problem. If she didn’t speak up, then it was a fault in her own conduct.
On Saturday, the bank still had a day of work. Li Xianglu ca to work as usual, but to everyone’s surprise, Zhou Qingfang did not co again.
Pu Jianxin directly instructed Sister He to deduct a month’s salary from Zhou Qingfang’s on the attendance record as a warning.
Just as the lunch break began, before Li Xianglu could even change her clothes, she heard Sister He shouting, "Xiao Li, your sister-in-law has co!"
Sister-in-law? The naughty kid is here.
Li Xianglu turned around to see Xiong Youxin anxiously standing at the bank entrance, pulling soone to the backyard while asking, "Why are you picking up again? Didn’t I tell you to stay at ho, watch out so you don’t get sunburnt?"
Xiong Youxin carefully pulled Li Xianglu aside and checked the surroundings. Once she saw no one around, she said, "Soone ca to our house claiming to be Grandpa Li’s relative, here to recognize kin."
What! Recognize kin?
Li Xianglu frowned. Although Mr. Li was not truly Li Huai Ren, his public identity was unquestionably genuine. Everyone in Li Family Village recognized him, and after Mr. Li’s death, he really had no more relatives, so how could soone co to claim kinship?
Li Xianglu rode her bike carrying Xiong Youxin, who muttered from behind, "That woman said Grandpa’s last na is Zhou, not Li, which is really strange. Grandpa Li is clearly surnad Li."
Li Xianglu squeezed the bike brakes hard and stepped off to ask, "What did you just say? Repeat what you just said."
The naughty kid didn’t know what had happened but repeated his words as Li Xianglu had requested.
It was only then that Li Xianglu realized that the relatives who had co to claim kin were not from the Li Family but were actually the Zhou family, Grandpa’s original family na.
Li Xianglu didn’t know how these people had found them, but once the two of them arrived at the courtyard, Old Geng and Hu Zi were already waiting at the gate. Seeing Li Xianglu, they said, "Go sit in the backyard for a while; the place is full of visitors at the front."
Li Xianglu frowned but obediently went to the backyard where the food had already been served. Xianglu picked up her rice and braised pork to eat while the naughty kid mimicked the words she had learned and ate alongside her.
There were six visitors, four won and two n. One of the older ones, in her fifties, claid to be Grandpa’s first cousin. Another woman in her late forties claid to be the wife of Grandpa’s brother’s child, and the two younger won were the daughters of this brother. The man was the husband of the elder daughter.
Copying the wailing of the brother-in-law’s wife, the naughty kid exclaid, "Oh my, Uncle, Ah Tong passed away so early. I raised Qingfang and Qingxue by myself, taking care of every little thing. Look, now Qingfang is a junior college student and works at a bank, not bringing sha to the Zhou family at all."
Li Xianglu had just picked up so sweet and sour fish with her chopsticks when she froze. Qingfang, Qingxue, those nas sounded so familiar. If their surna was Zhou, then they must be Zhou Qingfang, Zhou Qingxue.
For a mont, Li Xianglu felt like she had instantaneously uncovered the truth; the world was indeed small.
These days Zhou Qingfang was going to Beidaihe. Could it be to confirm with that confused old Mr. Li?
It seed quite possible. But were these two girls really Grandpa’s biological nieces? If they were, then they shouldn’t be turned away just like that.
But what exactly did these people intend to accomplish by going to such lengths to acknowledge kinship? What did they want to gain?
Mr. Li, in his earlier years, certainly had so money, but later on, he had given it all to Grandma Su who was headed to the United States.
The money had multiplied thousands of tis in Grandma Su’s hands, and Mr. Li had never asked for any of it back. He would take it if Grandma Su gave so, but if not, he wouldn’t bother. Any money given was simply saved for her; Mr. Li had almost no concept of money.
Having filled her stomach, Li Xianglu imdiately felt sleepy and dozed off on the sofa.
Qin Xi entered and quickly covered her with a light blanket.
Half an hour later, she was awakened, rubbed her eyes, washed her face, and was taken out by Qin Xi.
Qin Xi rode Li Xianglu to her work unit, informing her along the way that the visitors had left.
Li Xianglu curiously asked, "Were those two won really Grandpa’s biological nieces?"
From the front, Qin Xi nodded and said, "They are nieces, but not from his brother. They are from his first cousin."
Ah, so why did Zhou Qingfang and the others claim to be the children of a close brother? Mr. Li was old but not senile or foolish; he would know his own relatives.
What the two hadn’t noticed as they left the house was that a person waiting for a bus at the roadside had seen them exit the back door.
And Zhou Qingfang had also clearly seen Li Xianglu sitting on the back seat, her mouth agape in disbelief.
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