The child-rearing bill from Ji Ya shocked both Ning Yanfan and his granddaughter.
In 1985, the average salary in Hua Nation was minimal, yet Ji Jianyuan could take $2,500 annual fencing lessons ten years ago. One couldn’t say Ji Ya didn’t value Ji Jianyuan – when he was ten, they had only been in America for two or three years. Though the Ji family had given Ji Ya some money, a $2,500 annual fencing class exceeded the entire Ji family’s income level.
From this perspective, Ji Ya had been quite generous with Ji Jianyuan’s educational investment.
She was raising her son according to American elite standards.
In the early years, Ji Ya didn’t own property in America. She rented apartments with Ji Jianyuan, and now even part of that rent was calculated into the child-rearing bill. Ning Yanfan cursed it as “absurd” – children need to be raised once born, and family income determines the level of child-rearing. The poor raise children one way, the rich another. Going abroad wasn’t Ji Jianyuan’s choice, so why include rent?
“If Jianyuan stays in China in the future, he won’t even earn 6,000 yuan annually, let alone dollars! She’s indirectly forcing Ji Jianyuan to work in America. If Ji Jianyuan wants to return to America, Tang Hongen would naturally let her go abroad too. How convenient!”
Ning Yanfan shook his head.
It was originally a minor issue. Tang Hongen was broad-minded – even if they couldn’t be spouses, they were still parents. They could sit down and properly discuss Ji Jianyuan’s future, putting past rights and wrongs behind them.
But Ji Ya wouldn’t yield an inch, leading to today’s situation.
Ning Xue frowned in confusion. Everyone has their ideas about what major to study and what career to pursue. A job’s worth isn’t necessarily tied to income. But in China, jobs paying $6,000 annually simply don’t exist now.
Unless it was a foreign company’s employee dispatched to Hua Nation, earning wages at international standards.
“Ji Jianyuan said he’s moving out. Where will he live?”
Ning Xue’s question puzzled Ning Yanfan: “Why would he move out? The house where mother and son live now belongs to Ji Jianyuan’s maternal grandfather, who left a will giving the house to Ji Jianyuan.”
This house wasn’t state-allocated; Ji Huaixin bought it before liberation. It was nationalized for a while but returned to Ji Huaixin two years ago. Ji Huaixin felt sorry for Ji Ya and her son, believing Ji Ya’s divorce partly considered the Ji family’s interests. Feeling guilty about Ji Jianyuan being affected by adult matters, he left the house to Ji Jianyuan.
So if anyone should move out after their falling out, it should be Ji Ya.
Ning Yanfan’s confusion made Ning Xue even more perplexed – she didn’t even know why Ji Jianyuan and Ji Ya had such a falling out.
“Grandfather, should I give this bill to Ji Jianyuan?”
Even Ning Xue, who was usually indifferent to many things, felt giving Ji Jianyuan this child-rearing bill was too cruel.
Ning Yanfan thought for a moment. “Why not? Let Ji Jianyuan think it through clearly. He’s twenty now and can make decisions about his own life.”
Of course, regarding whether he needed to repay the $69,000 and pay $6,000 annual filial support after graduation, Ning Yanfan thought he could discuss it with Ji Lin. If Ji Ya wouldn’t listen to Ji Lin, she should have the backbone to learn from Ji Jianyuan and completely separate from the Ji family, never using their resources again.
…
Tang Hongen arrived on Wednesday.
His timing was unfortunate – Liu Fen had just left for Yang City to pick up goods. They missed each other, one arriving by plane, the other leaving by train.
Ning Xue had just given the ‘child-rearing bill’ to Ji Jianyuan. Before the bill could even warm in his pocket, his birth father came to show concern.
At this point, Ji Jianyuan didn’t want to see anyone, including his uncle Ji Lin who had visited yesterday – Ji Jianyuan had refused to meet him.
Tang Hongen rushing from Yang City so quickly must have been due to Xia Xiaolan’s message. Ji Jianyuan went to find her: “This is our family matter. You’re so clever, yet you dare to get involved. Well then, you can be a witness.”
Witness to what?
Xia Xiaolan was called by Ji Jianyuan to a small restaurant.
Both Ji Lin and Tang Hongen were there.
These two men – one the mayor of Peng City, the other from the Foreign Affairs Ministry – sitting at a greasy small table, truly looked out of place.
Xia Xiaolan noticed the restaurant owner’s strange expression earlier when bringing tea water – he didn’t dare appear again.
She was naturally the most awkward person there, and Ji Lin’s expression toward her wasn’t right either.
But Ji Lin’s main target was Ji Jianyuan. After glancing at Tang Hongen, Ji Lin didn’t mince words: “Jianyuan, I heard from George that you had a big fight with your mother. Don’t you know she can’t get angry? If someone behind the scenes is instigating you to do this, they’re truly malicious. You’ve disappointed your uncle too.”
These words were directed at Tang Hongen, though remarkably, he maintained his composure and didn’t argue with Ji Lin.
No one had instigated Ji Jianyuan – previously suppressed conflicts had simply erupted. Ji Lin didn’t believe this, and Tang Hongen couldn’t be bothered to explain. If he had to take the blame, so be it – why explain to Ji Lin?
Ji Jianyuan placed the ‘child-rearing bill’ from Ning Xue on the table. Ji Lin had already heard about it from Ning Yanfan and blushed when he saw it: “This was done in anger-“
“Uncle, it’s fine. I’m not angry. I asked my mother to make this bill showing how much it cost to raise me. Once the bill was made, she could have given it to me directly. I don’t know why it had to go through the Ning family. It’s not appropriate to trouble Grandfather Ning with our family matters, don’t you think, Uncle?”
Ji Jianyuan was emotionally stable, speaking politely.
Ji Lin was speechless. He understood Ji Ya’s approach – willful and arbitrary, wanting to show everyone how much she spent raising her son, so if he disobeyed, it wasn’t her fault.
Ji Lin believed family shame shouldn’t be exposed. Why air mother-son conflicts publicly when they could be resolved privately within the family?
Since Ji Ya had already let the Ning family know, Ji Lin held his tongue when Ji Jianyuan brought Xia Xiaolan.
“Jianyuan, your mother did this in anger. This child-rearing bill surely doesn’t count!”
Ji Jianyuan shook his head. “Uncle, I didn’t call you here today to avoid payment. I acknowledge all expenses on this bill. Mother wants me to repay the $69,000 in child-rearing costs after university graduation and start paying her $6,000 annual filial support. I generally agree, but I dispute the repayment timeline. I still have four years until graduation and hope she can give me one year’s buffer, letting me start repayment and filial support from 1990.”
Ji Jianyuan studied Economics and Management, also a five-year undergraduate program.
He was only giving himself one year between graduation and repayment to earn money.
Even counting the final year’s internship, he’d only have two years to earn $75,000.
Xia Xiaolan thought Ji Jianyuan was truly courageous in this burning-bridges approach!
Ji Lin was stunned silent. Instead of arguing with Ji Jianyuan, he turned his attack on Tang Hongen: “Mayor Tang, I don’t care what you promised Jianyuan, but I can’t watch him break the law. Even a university graduate couldn’t possibly earn that much money in just one year after graduation!”