Hope put her hands on her hips and said matter-of-factly, "Red envelope money! Didn’t you have any red envelope money when you were a kid, Mom? Dad said every child has it!"
Red envelope money...
Of course, there was.
It’s just that a lot of children’s red envelope money was righteously taken by their mothers, under the pretense of safekeeping to prevent it from being lost.
When Alia was a child, she did have red envelope money at first, but after her mother passed away, she never received it again in the Garcia Family.
Old Grandpa Hart, though, gave it every year.
Brought into mories by her daughter’s words, she was montarily lost in thought and hadn’t yet responded when she saw the little girl squatting down to count the banknotes.
She was startled, "Be careful! Those porcelain shards are very sharp and could cut your hand."
Pulling the kids away, she first picked out the broken porcelain pieces and threw them away, then sat down with the children.
Before counting the money, she took out her phone, snapped a picture, and sent it to a certain patient at the hospital.
"Mom, this is foreign money, one note is worth a lot of ours!" Hope explained as she counted the bills.
Noah accurately replied, "Sister, it’s called the exchange rate, like this one’s the Euro, one of its units equals more than six of ours."
Alia raised her eyebrows in surprise.
She knew her brother was smart, but not this smart; he even knew about exchange rates.
What surprised her even more was that her daughter was actually a little rich girl.
"Hope, is all this money your red envelope money from New Year?"
"There’s red envelope money, and there’s birthday red envelopes too."
"Who gave you all this?"
"Oh, all those uncles. Every New Year, Dad takes to visit those uncles, and they all give red envelopes. Dad tells to save it for my dowry later." Hope said as she organized the bills and curiously asked, "Mom, what’s a dowry?"
Dowry?
Alia’s expression twisted, "Your dad said that?"
"Mm!"
She put down the money in her hand, picked up her phone, and just as she was about to ask soone, a ssage popped up on WhatsApp.
Mr. Hart: What’s this? Where did you get all that money?
Alia: It’s your daughter’s red envelope money. As soon as she heard us talking about needing a lot of money in the video call, she smashed her piggy bank right away.
Mr. Hart: [Facepalm laughing]
Alia: Hope said you told her to save for a dowry?
Mr. Hart: Just sothing I said casually, and she rembered? Wow, what a mory!
While she was still chatting, Noah directed his brother, "Go get the calculator from the study."
The money was too much; counting it required brainpower.
Ethan, acting as the runner, imdiately fetched the calculator and tossed it to his brother, "I thought you were so smart, but you actually need a calculator!"
Noah replied disdainfully, "Using my brain on such elentary math is a waste."
Alia was speechless upon hearing that...
Since when did the little guy beco so arrogantly boastful?
The four of them, mother and children, squatted on the floor, ticulously tallying up the banknotes, recording them, and then converting the exchange rates — all the way to eleven at night until they finally had everything counted.
Knowing Christopher was still awake, she picked up her phone and sent a voice ssage, "Guess how much your daughter’s little treasure chest holds?"
Christopher casually guessed, "Around two hundred thousand?"
"Haha, after converting the foreign currency, it amounts to a whopping five hundred and ten thousand!" Just after calculating, Alia was also stunned.
This guy, is he out of his mind? Taking his daughter out every New Year to collect money like a "money-collecting child"?
"That much?" Christopher was also taken aback.
So, each year making a round and "sucking up" more than a hundred thousand, huh?
Hope got up, leaned against her mom, and said into the phone, "Dad, aren’t you and Mom out of money? You can take all my red envelope money!"
Both of them were amused, and Christopher on the other side said, "Mom and Dad need way more money than that, yours won’t even make a dent, you keep saving for the dowry."
"Alright, every ti with the dowry, are you so eager for our daughter to grow up and get married?" Alia feigned anger as she scolded him, then realizing it was getting late, hurriedly urged, "You go to sleep now, we’ll clean up and go to bed too!"
After hanging up the voice call, Alia went to the cabinet to find a box to pack the money.
"Mom will buy you a bigger piggy bank tomorrow, you can stuff the money back in. It’s late now, hurry up and go to sleep!"
Hope was puzzled, her delicate little face showing confusion, "Mom... Brother said you sold the company and won’t be going to work anymore, and said Dad’s company is in trouble too, needing a lot of money to solve... Brother said you guys are very busy and tired recently, and told us to be good..."
"Mom, Hope is too young to help you and Dad, just take all this money! It doesn’t matter if I don’t have a dowry; I don’t want a dowry."
The little girl, still not understanding what a dowry was, shook her innocent and sensible little face as she spoke the last sentence, and pushed the money-filled box towards her mom.
Alia’s heart ward as she listened to her daughter, and her eyes involuntarily beca moist and red.
The little princess who used to be a bit spoiled and willful had unknowingly grown up and beco sensible, even starting to share the worries of adults.
And her brother too.
He was aware of everything happening at ho, all the troubles adults faced, and he secretly instructed his younger siblings to behave and not cause trouble for their parents.
Uncontrollably hugging the kids tightly to her, Alia felt comforting, "You really are your mom and dad’s precious treasures, don’t worry, mom and dad will definitely solve the work problems, everything will be fine. All you need to do is grow up happily and healthily, that’s mom and dad’s biggest wish. The rest, leave it to mom and dad to worry about."
"Yeah! Mom and Dad are so amazing, smart and capable, you’ll definitely succeed!" Noah said, raising his fist, his clear eyes resolutely firm.
With the children’s encouragent, Alia suddenly felt all her anxieties and uncertainties vanish.
No matter what, for the kids, she had to give it her all.
Besides, face and dignity could all be put aside.
Once the children were asleep, Alia picked up her phone and found Thomas Smith on WhatsApp.
He had ntioned wanting to visit her mother.
No day like today, why not tomorrow?
After eting, she could find a chance to express her current difficulties. If he could offer help, all problems would be solved.
Even if he refused, so be it, just a bit embarrassed and awkward.
Leaving it untried was not an option.
After a few monts of consideration, she finally composed the ssage, took a slight breath, and sent it.
[Uncle Smith, sorry to disturb you so late. Last ti you ntioned wanting to visit my mom, I am available tomorrow if it’s convenient for you, I can accompany you to the cetery.]
After sending the ssage, she put down the phone, lay on her side, and waited quietly.
In her heart, she couldn’t stop formulating the words — how to ask soone to borrow a huge amount of eight hundred million.
With a relationship not too familiar, would he think she’s daydreaming? Deliberately exploiting her late mother’s affections from the past?
Would he even lose all his longing for her mother, imdiately drawing a line as if she’s a monster?
Sigh...
Feeling anxious, she hadn’t yet finalized her approach when a yawn overtook her, making her sleepy.
Suddenly, her phone chid.
She imdiately beca alert, picked up her phone, and saw it was a reply from Thomas Smith.
[Alright. Give an address, and I’ll have the driver pick you up.]
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