Who Moved My Ashes Chapter 14
Translated by Novice Translations
Chapter 14
In the morning, Jiang Xichu’s cell phone rang. When it rang once, Jiang Xichu hung up immediately. When it rang the third time, she frowned at the cellphone and turned it to silent mode instead of hanging up.
Chen Man didn’t know, “Who is it?”
Jiang Xichu's tone wasn’t good, it seems that she was very annoyed with the caller. “No one, it’s harassment. After eating, let’s go.”
They left at 8 o’clock, dawdled and arrived at the company at 8:20. In fact, the company’s workday started at 9 o’clock. However, since they were the president and president’s chief secretary, it was better to set a good example by being early.
When she arrived at the office, Jiang Xichu began to be busy for more than an hour. At last, she finished all the urgent tasks and could rest for a while. As a result, the phone rang again.
Jiang Xichu frowned and turned over the cellphone. After a minute, the cell phone suddenly vibrated.
The vibration meant that there was a new notification. Jiang Xichu took the cellphone slowly and looked at it.
—I am downstairs at your company. If you don’t come out, I’ll go up.
Some people and some things can’t be solved by ignoring them. She had said many things on the phone, but the other side was unwilling to give up and made the situation extremely embarrassing.
Jiang Xichu stared at her cell phone screen for a long time, then took it in her hand. She stood up and said to secretary Yang behind her, “I’ll go out for a while, and if anyone comes to find me, tell them that I’ll be back in half an hour.”
Today was the day when the local finance department handed in the reimbursement forms and accounts. Chen Man asked for the accounts to be rechecked because she didn’t trust the people from the branch company. This job was originally done by Jiang Xichu, but recently she didn’t know, the many tasks were continuously delegated.
It's not that she wanted to push work to others, but she wanted to exercise the people under her hand.
Although there was a larger workload and there were more tasks available, secretary Yang was very happy. At this time, she raised her head from the pile of big and small things, blinked in confusion and then pointed with her chin. “I see.”
Jiang Xichu turned around and went out. The company’s decoration mainly consisted of four colors, bright yellow, dark blue, light green and milk white. Because the average age of employees in the company wasn’t more than 28 years old, the young people’s exclusive vitality was revealed everywhere. Jiang Xichu wore a light blue chiffon dress today which complemented the company’s decoration.
Downstairs, when passing the front desk, the little girl at the front desk smiled at her. Jiang Xichu quickly hooked her lips and looked ahead. Sitting on the sofa in the hall was a middle-aged woman in her fifties. Her clothes were wrinkled and old-fashioned. As if she had worn them for many years, the smile on Jiang Xichu’s face quickly receded. She frowned at the woman, walked quickly to her side, dropped a word, then went in a different direction.
“Go there.”
The middle-aged woman stood up and followed Jiang Xichu.
Because the entire building was on their company’s property and this land was Chen Man’s graduation gift from her father, it wasn’t meant for commercial purposes, so there was no basement level. If they wanted to talk about things, they could only go somewhere else. There was a business square opposite the company, the amount of people passing by wasn’t much, but it met the office workers’ needs.
At 10:30 in the morning, there weren't many people in the tea shop. Jiang Xichu looked at her expressionlessly. “I said, I will not give you any more money. You have a job and your son has graduated from college. Since you’re able to support yourself, why are you asking me for money?”
This middle-aged woman was Jiang Xichu's stepmother, her name is Li Shuyun. When Jiang Xichu was 10 or 12 years old, she married into her family with a boy that was 5 years younger than Jiang Xichu. When Jiang Xichu was 20 years old, her father had an accident at the construction site and died.
Jiang Xichu’s father was a construction engineer. The company was afraid that the Jiang family would appeal. The company’s pension was quite a lot, but the money fell into the hands of Li Shuyun. When her father died, Jiang Xichu was only a sophomore. Later, she earned all the money she needed from a part-time job to attend university. Li Shuyun only gave her 800 yuan a month for living expenses and always said how good she was towards her stepdaughter.
Li Shuyun originally wanted to talk about it, but she could see that Jiang Xichu’s attitude was firm. She hurriedly said, “How can I do that? I make less than 3,000 yuan a month and your brother just graduated from school. He just needs money for his future. I want him to marry a woman. If you don’t help me, what will we do in the future?”
Before, Li Shuyun used to cry to her like this often. Jiang Xichu admitted that she was soft-hearted and couldn’t be as ruthless as others expected. Because Li Shuyun was neither good nor bad towards her in the past few years. The two lived together peacefully. After her father’s death, she was afraid that Jiang Xichu would come and rob them of their money, so she slightly revealed her true face.
Jiang Xichu remembered that she had given her some good things in the past and her son would call her sister, so she would occasionally give Li Shuyun some money.
Li Shuyun came to ask three times, but she only gave once. What she feared was that she would become more and more severe.
However, no matter how she prevented it, the human heart was greedy. From the beginning, she shouldn’t have given a single cent.
After her death, Li Shuyun moved all her savings out, which Jiang Xichu had no feelings towards. Li Shuyun was her legal guardian. She had raised her for six years, so legally speaking, the inheritance was hers.
But after her first death, she saw things more transparently. Now she understood that she doesn’t owe Li Shuyun, only Chen Man.
Her heart and energy were so great that if they were given to Chen Man, it couldn’t be given to others. She wanted to be wholeheartedly good to Chen Man. Therefore, all the people who caused her trouble, thus, indirectly would cause trouble for Chen Man and she needed to solve it as soon as possible.
Now Li Shuyun asked her for money. In the future, she will know that Chen Man and her will be together. She will definitely go to Chen Man to ask for money. At the thought of that image, Jiang Xichu was physiologically disgusted.
Jiang Xichu didn't want to talk to her anymore. Her fingertips unconsciously tapped the table. “That’s your business. It has nothing to do with me. Your son is an adult. He can support himself very well. Even if he can’t support himself, he’s not my responsibility, but yours.”
Li Shuyun looked at Jiang Xichu incredulously. “How could you say such words? We are a family. Although I’m not your mother, I have raised you for so many years. Are you disregarding your family?”
Jiang Xichu stopped talking. She didn’t speak, not because she didn’t know what to say, but because she was too lazy to speak.
Li Shuyun saw that she was really iron-hearted. She immediately smacked the table and wanted to take out her elder’s momentum to crush Jiang Xichu. “Jiang Xichu! Don’t think you can open your mouth and refuse. You are so ungrateful, I will sue you! I checked the law, I’m your foster. You should pay me!”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Xichu smiled, “Well, wait until you're 60 years old, out of obligation to support, I will pay you according to the national minimum standard, that is, four or five hundred yuan every month. Although I am poor, you can be at ease that I can afford it.”
Li Shuyun’s eyes were big, what can four or five hundred yuan be enough for?
She wanted to say more, but Jiang Xichu had already stood up and looked down at her. “It’s no use saying those grand words all day. We both know what kind of people we are in each other’s eyes. I have to go back to work. You can go now. Don’t come back to find me later. Otherwise, if you come back, I will call the police.”
With that, Jiang Xichu left the tea shop and returned to the office, it was only half an hour since she left.
Secretary Yang was happy, “Secretary Jiang is punctual.”
Jiang Xichu smiled and continued to look at the half-written document on her computer.
Originally, she thought that the matter passed, but Jiang Xichu underestimated her stepmother’s shamelessness.
Before long, Secretary Xiao Zhou walked in hesitantly, she looked at Jiang Xichu, “Secretary Jiang…there’s a woman out there who says she’s your mother. She wants to see you.”
Jiang Xichu’s movement paused and she didn’t speak. Secretary Li stood up first, “What? What kind of joke is this? Secretary Jiang’s parents have passed away, aren’t they liars?!”
Secretary Xiao Zhou didn’t think so either, because at first glance, that person looked like a shrew and pulled the staff to complain and didn’t speak cleanly. How could this kind of person be Secretary Jiang’s mother? If such a daughter was born, Secretary Jiang’s father must be a sage.
The three secretaries turned their heads to Jiang Xichu. Jiang Xichu’s face wasn’t very good. She frowned and simply explained: “It’s my stepmother. She came to ask me for money, but I didn’t give it.”
In a few words, the three secretaries immediately produced a central eight sets of a golden stage drama of bitterness. When she heard the noise getting closer and closer, secretary Yang stood up unhappily. “What is the security team doing? Can’t stop a middle-aged woman.”
Secretary Yang saw that she was completely treated unjustly, she was unstoppable and wasn’t afraid to be stopped. As soon as they touched her, Li Shuyun wouldn’t be able to live. As the saying goes, when a scholar meets a soldier, it’s unreasonable to say no. Although the employees of the company weren’t scholars, Li Shuyun wasn’t a soldier, so it was reasonable.
Secretary Yang’s face grimaced and was very cold as she left the office. Jiang Xichu and the remaining two people looked at each other, then hurriedly followed the person. They weren’t at the door when they heard secretary Yang’s roar, “Noisy! Noisy! Don’t you know this is a private place? If you are noisy, you will be delivered to prison!”
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Novi’s Notes: Li Shuyun – means plum warm and virtuous cloud.