Chapter 421 - 208: You’ll Always Be My Best Brother!

Chapter 421: Chapter 208: You’ll Always Be My Best Brother!

Zhao Hong looked at the four brand-new Great Unity bills in her hand, then glanced at Zhou Yan in confusion. "Zhou Yan, wasn’t it twenty? This is... forty! You must have made a mistake."

"No mistake. The restaurant was swamped last month. You were here at six every morning, working from dawn till dusk. You did more work than two people at a state-run restaurant combined," Zhou Yan said with a smile. "So I gave you a twenty-yuan raise. Next month’s salary will be forty as well."

"I can’t take this. We agreed on twenty, so it should be twenty. There’s no reason to suddenly give me a raise." Zhao Hong shook her head, put down the lunchbox in her hand, and pulled out two Great Unity bills to hand to Zhou Yan. "We can talk about next month when it comes, but for this month, I’ll just take twenty. I can’t accept any more! It’s not even that hard. The food is great every day, and I’m really happy working here."

Zhou Yan took a step back, but Mrs. Zhao had already moved to stop her, pushing Zhao Hong’s hand back toward her pocket. She smiled and said, "Zhao Hong, take it. Don’t worry. This is the boss’s way of recognizing your hard work. He wouldn’t give you a raise unless you deserved it.

"Take it and save it up. When the New Year comes, you can get yourself a pair of leather shoes and have some new clothes made for your two kids. That’d be wonderful."

"Auntie Zhao..." Zhao Hong tried to refuse again.

Mrs. Zhao’s smile vanished. She took a step back. "You know what I’m like. When I tell you to take something, you take it. Now just grab your pork ribs and cold-dressed chicken and go home to have a happy dinner with your kids. It’ll save me a trip to deliver it to your door."

"Please, accept it. The work you do is worth this salary," Zhou Yan added with a smile.

"Auntie Zhao, Zhou Yan..." Zhao Hong looked at the four Great Unity bills in her hand, and her eyes suddenly reddened.

For all these years, she had only done housework and farm chores, or maybe helped wash some beef tripe. She had never earned any real money.

Last month, she worked for ten days, and Zhou Yan paid her seven yuan. She had been overjoyed.

This was money she had earned with her own skills and labor. It was clean money.

Seven yuan wasn’t a small amount, either. ’How many chickens would I have to raise to earn seven yuan by the end of the year!’

Who would have thought that Zhou Yan would pay her forty yuan this month!

’A new female worker at the textile factory only earns thirty-eight yuan a month. Why should I earn so much just for carrying plates and washing dishes?!’

It must have been because Zhou Yan and Auntie Zhao were being considerate of their personal bond.

"Alright now, put the money away safely and take your food home. Zhou Fei has been waiting for you for ages." Mrs. Zhao smiled, pushing the lunchbox into her hands. She said gently, "From now on, you can hold your head high at home. You’re a woman who earns money for the family now."

Zhao Hong chuckled, carefully tucking the money into her pocket. "Even if I didn’t earn money, I hold my head plenty high. Would Zhou Fei dare to rebel against me?"

"That’s right. You, Zhao Hong, are also a head of the household," Mrs. Zhao laughed.

"Then I’ll be heading back." Zhao Hong held the lunchbox and looked at Zhou Yan. "Don’t worry, Zhou Yan. I’ll keep working hard."

"I have complete faith in your work," Zhou Yan said, nodding with a smile.

Zhao Hong left with her lunchbox, greeting Comrade Zhou and Zhou Momo, who were chatting with Zhou Fei at the entrance, before getting on the back of Zhou Fei’s bicycle and riding off.

Once the bicycle was far from the restaurant, she suddenly burst into tears while hugging Zhou Fei from behind.

"What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Did Zhou Yan and Auntie Zhao scold you? Or did a customer give you a hard time?" Zhou Fei squeezed the brakes and looked back nervously.

"No... it’s not any of that..." Zhao Hong looked up at him. "Zhou Yan is too good to me. He paid me a salary of forty yuan."

"Forty?! That much! Wasn’t it supposed to be twenty?" Zhou Fei was also stunned. He hesitated, "You... you can’t accept that, can you?"

"I said I couldn’t, but Zhou Yan and Auntie Zhao insisted I take it. You know Auntie Zhao’s temper. If I didn’t accept it, she’d just bring it to our house later. It was already getting dark, and Momo would need to sleep, so I had to take it." Zhao Hong sniffled, her voice still thick with tears.

"Tell me, why are they so good to me? All I do is carry plates, wash dishes, and peel potatoes. Any old woman from the countryside could do this work, yet he pays me such a high salary."

Zhou Fei looked at her seriously. "Zhao Hong, it’s definitely not the same. You’re a fast worker. Two ordinary women combined couldn’t do what you do. That’s why Zhou Yan gave you double pay. It’s a recognition of your ability."

"My wife is the most capable woman in the world!"

His words made Zhao Hong laugh. She playfully punched him. "What are you talking about, ’most capable in the world’? Auntie Zhao is way more capable than I am."

"But Zhou Yan did say that I do more work than two waitresses at a state-run restaurant."

"See? Wasn’t I right?" Zhou Fei smiled proudly, then said with some emotion, "That’s just the kind of person Zhou Yan is. He always thinks about the people around him. You can’t go wrong working for him. Don’t worry about things at home. Mom will help feed the chickens, ducks, and pigs. We’ll sell them at the New Year, and then we won’t raise any next year, so we don’t tire Mom out."

"Okay." Zhao Hong nodded and patted his stomach with a smile. "Let’s go home. Zhou Yan made us a portion of cold-dressed chicken with the leftovers, and there’s a portion of pork ribs too. The kids at home must be starving."

...

"Mom, this is your salary. A base pay of thirty yuan, plus a two-hundred-and-ten-yuan commission from the Kneeling Beef. That’s two hundred and forty yuan in total." Zhou Yan handed a stack of Great Unity bills to Mrs. Zhao.

"This much?" Mrs. Zhao took the stack of Great Unity bills and began counting them with a wide grin.

"Dad, this is yours. A base pay of thirty-eight yuan, plus a commission of eight hundred and ninety-nine yuan from the braised meats and vegetables. The total is nine hundred and thirty-seven yuan." Zhou Yan handed another thick stack of Great Unity bills to Comrade Zhou.

"Whoa! So much money!" Zhou Momo leaned in, her eyes shining.

"How much?!" Mrs. Zhao stopped counting the money in her hands mid-way, her eyes widening as she stared at the thick, rubber-banded stack of Great Unity bills in Zhou Yan’s hand.

"That much?" Comrade Zhou was also a bit stunned. He was so surprised he didn’t dare to reach out and take it.

"Take it. You earned every bit of it through your hard work." Zhou Yan stuffed the money into his hand and said with a laugh, "The braised meat is our flagship product now. It’s all thanks to your unique skill of slicing meat and weighing it by hand with perfect accuracy. You managed to do the work of three people all by yourself. We’re father and son, so there’s no need for all this back-and-forth, right?"

"Alright." Comrade Zhou took the money with a smile, weighed it in his hand, and chuckled. "This is the first time I’ve ever earned so much money at once! Incredible, truly incredible."

"Incredible is right! Old Zhou almost earned a thousand yuan in one month! We didn’t even make this much slaughtering cattle all of last year!" Mrs. Zhao was also grinning from ear to ear.

"Daddy is so amazing!" Zhou Momo said, clapping her little hands.

"Save the money. I’ll buy you a leather jacket for the New Year. When you wear it back to the village, you’ll dazzle everyone." Mrs. Zhao was already calculating how to spend the money.

"The padded jacket you made for me is perfectly fine. I’d be happier seeing you in a leather jacket," Comrade Zhou said with an honest smile. "The more beautifully you dress, the more capable it makes me look."

"Zhou Miao, you really know what to say."

"Brother, what about me?" Zhou Momo shuffled closer, looking at him with eyes full of expectation.

"Here you go. Your sales champion bonus. One-eighty, for a prosperous road ahead!" Zhou Yan took out a pre-prepared stack of five-fen coins and handed it to Zhou Momo with a smile. The little one worked on a daily settlement, so on the first of the month, she only got her bonus.

"Whoa! So much money!" Zhou Momo took it with both hands, her eyes sparkling. She started jumping up and down happily, shouting at Zhou Yan, "Brother! I will be loyal to you forever! You’re forever my best brother! I love you!!!"

"Okay, okay, I believe you." Zhou Yan couldn’t have been happier. This 1.8 yuan gave him far more emotional satisfaction than gifting a streamer 18,000 yuan ever could.

Watching his beaming parents and the happily bouncing Zhou Momo, Zhou Yan felt a sense of satisfaction he had never experienced before.

’So, earning money can be this joyful, this happy. It’s not just a cold number increasing in a bank account.’

Zhou Yan looked at Comrade Zhou and said, "Dad, I’ll be able to save up ten thousand yuan this week. I plan to go see Mrs. Qiu on Sunday. If I’m still a little short for the house, I’ll borrow from you, okay? I’ll write you an IOU."

"An IOU?" Comrade Zhou laughed. He pulled three Great Unity bills and the rest of the loose change from the stack, then slapped the remainder into Zhou Yan’s hand. "Nine hundred. Take it and use it. Later, after the house is bought and you have money again, you can deduct what you spent on your mom’s earrings and give the rest directly to her. You know me, I can’t even be bothered to manage money."

"Here’s another two-forty. You can pay me back after the New Year." Mrs. Zhao also stuffed the money, which hadn’t even warmed in her hand yet, into Zhou Yan’s. She said with a smile, "Buying a house is the number one priority! If you’re still short, we have a little more saved up that we can take out anytime."

"It’s enough. We agreed on ten thousand, so it’s ten thousand. I trust that Duan Yu Yan and Mrs. Qiu aren’t the type to jack up the price at the last minute." Zhou Yan shook his head with a smile, but his nose suddenly felt stuffy, and a warmth spread through his heart.

"Here, Brother! I’ll contribute money for the housey!" Zhou Momo held up her handful of coins and said in a sweet, child-like voice, "You have to give me a biiig room~~"

Seeing the little girl’s serious expression, Zhou Yan bent down and took the money from her hand, replying with an equally serious expression, "Okay. We’ll count this as Momo becoming a shareholder in the house purchase. When the time comes, I’ll definitely save the biggest room with the best view, one where you can see the great river, just for you."

"Yay!" Zhou Momo jumped up and down, ecstatic. "Big room! See the great river!"

Mrs. Zhao and Comrade Zhou’s faces were also filled with smiles.

Zhou Yan didn’t go for a run today. After finishing the accounts, he went upstairs early.

He pulled out his copy of *Modern Chinese History* from the headboard and opened it to the page marked with the corner of a ginkgo leaf. A dried, golden ginkgo leaf fell into his palm. He carefully placed it on the chest by his bed and continued reading.

’Opening the book of modern history, every page is filled with humiliation.’

’But behind each of the heroes’ names carved into the annals of history lies a moving story.’

’Unfortunately, the history books are too thin to record the aspirations of all our countrymen.’

As Zhou Yan slowly savored the words, his mind grew calm.

...

In a room at the other end of the second floor, Zhou Momo was already sleeping like a log, rolled to one side of the bed wrapped in her little quilt.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Zhao and Comrade Zhou were too excited to sleep.

"Ten thousand yuan! In just over a month, we’ve become a ’ten-thousand-yuan household’! Zhou Miao, am I dreaming? Pinch me. This doesn’t feel real at all."

"Tsk... where are you pinching? Getting ready to ’hand over the public grain’ tonight, are you?"

"Bring it on. Who’s afraid of who!"

"Hiss... be gentle..."

...

P.S. An extra Chapter for your monthly votes~~