Chapter 212: Heavens, Pinch Her

Fu Mingxue returned home, carrying the hefty bonus that felt like it was burning a hole in her pocket.

Mrs. Fu was very surprised to see her get off work and come home at five o’clock.

After all, ever since her daughter started this job, she had never once gotten off work at a normal time during the day; she was always working overtime.

"Why are you back so early today? And you look so happy. Did something good happen?"

Suddenly, a thought struck her and her eyes lit up. "Are you pregnant?"

Fu Mingxue, who was in the middle of taking out the money, froze.

"Mom, what are you thinking! There’s no way I could be pregnant right now. Don’t even think about it for at least another four years."

"Besides, aren’t the two kids at home enough for you to look after?"

Mrs. Fu was dumbfounded.

"Don’t you go saying I don’t treat them like my own."

Fu Mingxue’s words thoroughly angered Mrs. Fu, and her face flushed red.

If the broom hadn’t been out in the yard, she would have been tempted to grab it and give her a good few whacks.

"What nonsense are you spouting? When have I ever not treated those two kids as my own? Can’t you watch what you say? If anyone else heard you—what would they think?"

Fu Mingxue immediately pantomimed zipping her lips. "I was just joking, I won’t say it again. By the way, I have some good news—I got paid."

The moment Mrs. Fu heard she got paid, the displeasure on her face vanished without a trace.

"You really got paid? How much? Is it really one hundred and thirty yuan?"

Her daughter had said last time that her salary was one hundred and thirty yuan.

But deep down—she still hadn’t really believed it.

’How could a salary possibly be that high?’

"Mom, it’s more than that. I worked for a month and got a total of one hundred and forty yuan. I started on the third, but the factory paid me for the full month. The extra ten yuan is a reward for daily overtime."

’Officially, our overtime is unpaid. What researcher doesn’t work late into the night?’

’There’s no such thing as overtime pay.’

’It’s just that the factory still gave everyone a ten-yuan subsidy.’

’That’s not a small amount, either. After all, a regular worker’s salary is only about thirty to thirty-five yuan.’

Mrs. Fu was in shock.

"How much did you say? One hundred and forty yuan?" ’Heavens, someone pinch me.’

The heavens didn’t pinch her, but she pinched herself.

"Ouch! It hurts. It’s real."

Fu Mingxue was at a loss.

’One hundred and forty yuan is enough to shock her like this.’

’If I told her about the fifteen-hundred-yuan bonus, she’d probably faint from the shock.’

’Never mind. For the sake of Mom’s health, I’d better not mention the other fifteen hundred yuan.’

"Why are you pinching yourself? You could have just counted the money."

Fu Mingxue handed all the money over to her.

"There are also thirty jin worth of grain tickets, cloth tickets, and various other coupons. Take a look and make sure to use up any that have an expiration date."

Mrs. Fu was stunned.

’This much? The benefits are this good?’

She took the money and coupons, counting them several times over. Only after confirming it was all there did it finally feel real.

Then, she looked at Fu Mingxue very seriously and said:

"Honey, how about this—why don’t you go grab a quick bite and hurry back to work!"

’They’re paying you this much—you should practically weld yourself to that desk!’

Fu Mingxue was speechless.

’Is my mom being serious right now?’

"Mom, shouldn’t you be offering to cook me something nice? By the way, I also brought back a piece of meat and a thirty-jin bag of rice. I had someone help me buy them in town."

She couldn’t very well say they were from the factory.

After all, that wasn’t true.

These were all rewards from her ’space’—a prize for her diligent and painstaking studies.

She would often produce such rewards, always using the excuse that she had asked someone to buy them for her.