Has the Little Money-Grubber Saved Enough for a 'Wife Fund' Today? - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Mu Yiyan’s return to the country this time wasn’t a resignation; it was a transfer, the same maneuver she had pulled two years ago.

The only thing that kept changing was her work location—from domestic to international, then back again. For several years now, her old employer had remained the same.

Of course, it shouldn’t have been this troublesome.

It was all because of this “Dull Dragon,” who insisted on talking to her about some “wife-fund.” In this day and age, who talks solemnly about a wife-fund before they even start dating? Worse, she made saving enough of it a prerequisite for the relationship—if it wasn’t enough, they couldn’t date. Mu Yiyan had been left completely bewildered. She didn’t understand it and assumed it was an excuse to reject her; consequently, she retracted her probing feelers and spent two years abroad in vain.

Dragons truly have some strange mental wiring.

The accounts between her and Long Xuan weren’t urgent; they could be settled slowly. She had plenty of time now to deal with this Dull Dragon. However, work matters were critical. The company didn’t even give her time to get over her jet lag, requiring a seamless transition with a report-to-duty at the branch office this Monday.

That was the price of the transfer.

The headquarters of Mu Yiyan’s company was based in the UK, with several branch industries in China covering real estate development, finance and trade, logistics, and transportation. The mess she was about to clean up was the lowest-earning among these branches. Word was that management was chaotic, employees were lazy, and the accounting had significant issues.

Using the move as a pretext, Mu Yiyan had summoned them all. She wanted to understand their operational models and management flaws in advance, preparing “fuel” for her first day as the new boss on Monday.

Naturally, there were many problems. From her interactions since morning, Mu Yiyan was extremely dissatisfied, but she didn’t say much; her task for today was to observe more and speak less.

She hadn’t expected to run into this Little Dull Dragon. Mu Yiyan was even surprised that Long Xuan appeared at the foot of her building. Previously, it had always been Mu Yiyan who eagerly sought her out; Long Xuan had never taken the initiative like this.

Upon hearing about the pay docking, Long Xuan’s eyes instantly lit up. The corners of her tensed mouth lifted so high that if you picked two pounds of Jabuticaba, you might be able to hang them there.

She felt that this was the same logic as when she couldn’t wake up on workdays and arrived late: the financial supervisor would dock her pay. If it is indeed one’s own mistake, punishment should be delivered in a way that is “heart-wrenching” and ensures you’ll remember the lesson. This method couldn’t be more appropriate.

Long Xuan had lived through this herself. Ever since her company added “pay docking for lateness” and “perfect attendance bonuses” to the regulations, she had tried every possible way to make sure she woke up on time. Who told her she was someone who struggled to get out of bed?

Her mother had once performed a statistical analysis.

Assuming the goal was to wake up within ten rings of the alarm, the probability of Long Xuan waking up on time during holidays was $0text{–}2.94%$. In other words, over two months of weekends, there might be one morning where she woke up on time—or none at all, having slept like the dead.

But workdays were different.

On workdays, under the same assumption, the probability of Long Xuan waking up on time was $95.45text{–}100%$. This meant that in a month, she might be late once, or not at all, successfully and happily pocketing the perfect attendance bonus.

“Don’t dock them too harshly, though.” The issue wasn’t massive; those three young men just lacked a sense of service and were clumsy. Long Xuan hoped they would take it as a warning.

A slight smile played on Mu Yiyan’s lips, her beautiful eyes curving. “You don’t need to worry about that. I’ll handle it.”

She looked behind Long Xuan and added, “Alright, the last few boxes have been moved over. Shall we move?”

Long Xuan was blocking the way; she obediently moved to the side, but didn’t go far. She shifted to a spot that wouldn’t affect the moving process, keeping a straight-line distance from Mu Yiyan of no more than one meter. This was the distance where she felt the “aura” was pleasant; any further wouldn’t feel right.

Once everything was loaded, Mu Yiyan casually slid the truck door shut. Her slender, strong arm flashed before Long Xuan’s eyes and then vanished.

Long Xuan hurried after her, her face flushing as she asked in a low voice, “Do you need help? I happen to have… nothing to do today.”

Mu Yiyan locked the truck door and declined with a smile. “No need. I have so many hands here; we can manage. It’s the weekend; you should rest well. You have several days of work ahead and you won’t get a chance to sleep in. You should cherish it.”

Long Xuan didn’t need rest at all now. That one long sleep had made up for all the sleep she’d missed recently. But she couldn’t say that directly, so she looked for an excuse. “I don’t have anything to do. My mom gave me an order to wander outside for a while. I’m not allowed… not allowed to go home for at least two hours.”

Mu Yiyan leaned against the truck door and looked at her, finding that the hat suited Long Xuan quite well—she looked like a dorky, adorable celestial being.

She asked the slightly nervous “Little Celestial”: “Auntie Shen really said that?”

Long Xuan nodded like a woodpecker. “Yes. She wants to video call my other mom and doesn’t want me listening, so she kicked me out. My mom has been very busy with work lately and can’t come home, so the two of them can only video call.”

Mu Yiyan smiled, a trace of unavoidable envy in her tone. “Your two mothers have such a good relationship.”

Envy aside, Mu Yiyan maintained her stance. “But I really don’t need help here. As you can see, there are plenty of people. I’m already using them all up.”

As evening approached and the peak heat subsided, the number of dragon cubs at the foot of Building No. 3 was even greater than at noon. This was the residential area for Dragon Observers—a bit far from Building No. 3, but the sounds of the dragon cubs playing could still be heard.

It was time to go. Once it got dark, all the dragon cubs from Building No. 3 would come down for a stroll; there would be a massive swarm of them, making it difficult for the truck to drive out.

Long Xuan forced her brain to spin at its maximum possible speed, frantically searching for a pretext. Her sister had said her situation wasn’t optimistic, and she felt the same. She had to fight for something for herself.

“This truck looks pretty crowded, it probably can’t fit that many people. How about I drive you over?” Long Xuan finally found an excuse. After feeling a sense of relief, a bit of petty pride immediately welled up.

Mu Yiyan’s lips curled again. There was a hidden meaning in her smile that Long Xuan didn’t notice.

She said, “My mother is coming in a bit. I’m moving into her place this time.”

Long Xuan froze, her expression changing abruptly. “Au-Auntie Ren’s tour has ended?”

Mu Yiyan nodded. “Yes. She can rest for quite a long time this time.”

Long Xuan asked cautiously, “Then… will she be staying at home the whole time?”

Mu Yiyan smiled and asked back, “Where else would she stay while on vacation? We’ve given up the apartment here in Building No. 5; we can’t live there anymore.”

Three years ago, Mu Yiyan’s mother, Ren Suiqing, had moved into Building No. 5 as a Dragon Observer, and Mu Yiyan had moved in with her. Now that the observation period was over, they had to move out to make room for the next observer. Each observer’s term was three years.

Long Xuan bit her lip, thinking to herself that the new residence was truly awful. In the future, when she saw that place, she’d simultaneously want to take a shortcut to get there faster and want to make a wide detour to avoid it.

This was because she and Mu Yiyan’s mother didn’t get along very well. She knew Auntie Ren didn’t like the two of them being too close, so every time they met, the older woman would always have a few biting remarks.

Was there any way she could find Mu Yiyan without running into Auntie Ren?

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