Shi Ruan blinked, turning to her younger cousin in disbelief, "Darling, do you know how much my monthly salary is?"
At this moment, Shi Li didn't actually know, so she asked, "How much is your salary?"
Shi Ruan smiled, "After deducting social insurance and housing fund, I take home 7,000 yuan per month."
This salary was within Shi Li's expectations, so she wasn't surprised.
Shi Ruan asked her again, "Then how much is a housekeeper's monthly salary?"
Shi Li knew this as well, from the salary expectations section of the resume, which stated a desired salary of 20,000 to 25,000 yuan.
Shi Li therefore gave this figure, "20,000 to 25,000 yuan."
Shi Ruan knew that such a skilled housekeeper's salary would definitely not be low, which is why she had asked her cousin.
Shi Ruan slowly said, "With my monthly salary of 7,000 yuan, asking me to hire a housekeeper with a minimum monthly salary of 20,000 yuan, am I crazy? For every month I work, I'd owe the housekeeper 13,000 yuan. I'd have to work hard for three months just to afford one month of the housekeeper's salary."
Shi Ruan, with an expression that suggested she didn't understand her cousin's thinking, continued, "In that case, I might as well just stay at home without working, cook for myself and clean the house myself. Although I wouldn't be earning money, at least I wouldn't be losing money."
"Why do you think I go to work? For charity? Do you think our country's education system isn't sound enough, so I'm subsidizing my own salary to work, just for the development of education?"
"Or do you think I work to realize my personal value, because I'm worried life would be too boring, so I find a job to entertain myself?"
On this point, Shi Li understood Shi Ruan quite well. She was a person who loved leisure and hated labor, a severe sufferer of laziness. Shi Ruan was neither of the two types of people mentioned above.
Shi Li could also guess the reason. The only reason Shi Ruan was willing to work was not because she loved it, but to qualify for monthly withdrawals from the trust fund.
Shi Ruan had the capital to stay at home and live off her parents, so why did she choose to diligently go to work? It all stemmed from the family trust fund.
Every child in the Shi family had money deposited into a trust fund since birth, managed by professional fund managers. Although this fund was in their name, they couldn't use it freely. The only condition was that the Shi family children must have a job and couldn't sit at home waiting to die.
As long as they had a job, they could withdraw a sum of money from the trust fund each month.
At the same time, if they were unemployed for a period, they wouldn't be able to withdraw money from the trust fund. Only by finding a new job could they regain the qualification to withdraw money.
Shi Ruan had always disliked labor and preferred enjoyment since she was young. It wasn't until she realized that only a stable job would allow her to withdraw money from the trust fund each month that she started thinking about what kind of job was stable. After much consideration, she concluded that only jobs within the system would suffice.
The reason she chose to become a teacher was entirely because teachers had winter and summer vacations in addition to other jobs, allowing her to travel during these breaks.
After setting her goal of becoming a teacher, from what she learned from those around her, she also thought it was an easy profession, and she focused all her efforts on this goal.
It wasn't until after she started working that she realized being a teacher wasn't easy.
In addition to regular classes, there were meetings, all kinds of meetings, creating exam papers, grading papers, writing lesson plans, writing teaching plans...
Moreover, the salary received wasn't proportional to the labor put in. Shi Ruan was still okay with her family's backing, but it was truly difficult for her colleagues from ordinary families.
A monthly salary of 20,000 yuan wasn't an astronomical figure for Shi Ruan. Let alone the fact that her aunt gave her daughter pocket money every month, just the money withdrawn from the trust fund was enough to support a team of housekeepers.
However, when Shi Ruan thought about her own monthly salary of only 7,000 yuan, while the housekeeper she would employ would earn 20,000 yuan per month, she felt unbalanced.
The hard-earned money from her month of exhausting work couldn't even support a housekeeper.
Shi Li knew her cousin wasn't short of money, and was purely complaining. She said, "It's okay, I'll pay for the housekeeper's salary."
She had previously obtained 4 million yuan from Bo Yichen, enough to pay this all-capable housekeeper's salary for 15 years.
Shi Ruan couldn't possibly let her younger sister support her. She didn't often stay in this apartment, so usually calling a part-time cleaner would suffice. She could eat at the cafeteria or order takeout, and if she wanted home-cooked meals, she could either have the driver deliver them or make a special trip home herself.
"Let's talk about it later. I don't often stay in this apartment, so there's no need to hire a housekeeper to cook for me specifically."
Shi Ruan picked up some meat with her chopsticks for her little cousin, "Our dear Li is still the best, sister loves you the most."
Shi Ruan knew her sister was soft-hearted and not tough, and this approach always worked.
Sure enough, this tactic was infallible. Shi Li's face became a bit uncomfortable as she said, "I'm worried about you living outside alone. Why don't you go back home today?"
Shi Ruan was still thinking about her unfinished lesson plan. She said, "It's more comfortable living at home, but I have to work tomorrow. If I go back home now, I'll have to come back again tomorrow morning. It's too troublesome."
Shi Li reluctantly accepted her explanation. After the six of them finished dinner, they cleaned up the dishes together.
There was a dishwasher at home, so there was no need to worry about who would wash the dishes.
Logically, it was getting late, and the group should leave soon. Firstly, the host needed to rest, and the four of them had school tomorrow, so they needed to rest early. Secondly, Rongrong had moved in today and probably had a lot to organize. They had already taken up much of her time this afternoon and couldn't disturb her further.
Rongrong waved her hand: It's no bother, no bother. The more drama to watch, the better.
After dinner, under Ji Chunsheng's various hints, Shi Ruan urged everyone to go home quickly, saying it was already dark and dangerous to stay out late.
Shi Li left reluctantly, looking back every few steps. Shi Ruan told everyone to message her when they got home safely.
After leaving Shi Ruan's complex, the four of them turned into the neighboring complex, carrying small household appliances and kitchen utensils bought by taking advantage of Ji Chunsheng.
The round moon hung high in the night sky as the young men and women each carried two large shopping bags, their shadows stretching long on the ground.
After sending Rongrong home, the three of them let her start settling her things while they helped put the groceries in the fridge and the newly bought small appliances in the kitchen.
After making sure Rongrong didn't need any more help, the three of them asked her to lock the door and left the complex together.
Shi Li's family driver had been waiting at the complex entrance and dropped off Qiao Jingjia and Fu Huixing at their homes one after another.
On the way home, Shi Li became increasingly worried and made a video call to Shi Ruan.
Shi Ruan was a phone addict. Even when she was working, she would secretly use her phone, let alone when she wasn't working. She should be browsing her phone.
Shi Li's heart sank more and more until the call was finally answered.
