CH 6

After returning back from the sanatorium, Meng Zezhi, without stopping to rest, took the property papers and other relevant certificates to the bank.

There are no experiments that do not burn money. Generally university teachers apply for their scientific research projects themselves. After the approval of the university, the state pays for the research results, which are also the teacher’s own.

But Meng Zezhi was not the same. Not to mention that the time was pressing, now if he applied for a research project, he would have to wait for two or three months for the approval. After the funds are allocated, *the dishes would already be cold.

(T/N: idiom, meaning it would be too late then)

What’s more, he studied mathematics. Now if he suddenly got involved in biopharmaceuticals, and AIDS drug research and development, it was no less than a whimsical project. After the institution decided to abandon him, wanting to get the experimental funding from the school is just a dream.

So, if he really wanted to enter the laboratory, he had to pay for it on his own.

It’s just that the deposit left behind by the predecessor was not much, only less than 200,000. This money was certainly not enough, and the only valuable thing in the family was just this house.

This house was quite spacious, with three rooms and one living room. It was more than one hundred and forty square feet. It was bought less than two years before, that is, before the matter of the predecessor’s accident.

The predecessor’s appearance can only be considered as average, but he has a scholarly atmosphere. Coupled with good grades, gentle and elegant appearance, he was most sought after by the young girls. Among them, only Xu Jiaqing dares to come forward and pursue him.

Xu Jiaqing has a good family background. Her grandfather was the founding general. Her father, although not prominent, was also a deputy provincial ministry-level senior official.

When the predecessor was with Xu Jiaqing, he was just a poor student with nothing. It was certainly not enough to match with Xu Jiaqing. Fortunately, the Xu family was open minded. Plus the predecessor was indeed talented. He can be considered as a *promising potential stock. So they don’t have much opposition to them being together.

(T/N: having good prospects)

But the days after the marriage were not as good as expected.

The reason can only come from the predecessor.

The predecessor came from a poor background. After the early death of his father, the family was supported by his mother alone. So the predecessor can still soar to the sky, by relying on what?

By relying on the selling money of two elder sisters and the third brother!

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Elementary school was in the village school, basically it didn’t cost money. Junior high school was in the town, although it is compulsory education, but after three years, all the savings of the family were spent.

After the high school entrance examination, the predecessor successfully entered the city’s best high school. It was difficult for a poor family to produce a noble son, especially for families like the predecessor’s, education was undoubtedly the best and only way out.

With such good grades, how could his family bear to see him drop out of school?

So his two sisters got married.

Later, he graduated from high school and was admitted to the University of Geng Province.

In order to fill this bottomless pit, his brother went to be a live-in-son-in-law, and his wife’s family gave him 12,000 yuan.

It is precisely because of this 12,000 yuan, that the predecessor could smoothly finish university. After graduation, with a full scholarship, he was admitted into the Capital University for a master’s degree.

This kind of marriage which was based on impure purpose, how can it be good?

The predecessor’s brother was fine, at least the wife’s family was still good, and he didn’t have to worry about food and clothing.

When it comes to his two sisters, his eldest sister married a widower. His ex-wife left him three children, two sons and a daughter. Instead of marrying a wife, he wanted to spend money to hire a cheap nanny, who can be used for a lifetime.

His second sister married a lame orphan, who in order to marry a wife almost emptied the family’s money.

To think about it, what kind of life his two sisters would have after getting married.

So, did the predecessor dares to not return the favor?

But here’s the problem.

Xu Jiaqing comes from a wealthy background and has a kind heart. The predecessor always wanted to save money to repay his family. His whole body was inevitably filled with a small-citizen atmosphere.

That year, when the predecessor was promoted to associate professor, the family saved a sum of money, not much, just 80,000. When Xu Jiaqing and the predecessor married, they only took a wedding photo, set up a few tables of wine, and didn’t even have a honeymoon trip. Now that the family has money, they wanted to make up for it.

It was not easy for the predecessor to relax. As a result, his mother called, saying that his elder sister’s children are big. It’s time to start a new house. The family does not have enough money, so he was asked to get some.

This was the first time the family asked him for money. The predecessor was excited. Without saying a word, he sent all his savings back.

Although Xu Jiaqing was annoyed, it’s not that she could not understand the predecessor’s mood. The predecessor said two good words, she sulked for a few days, and the matter was over.

Most importantly, Xu Jiaqing has a clear heart. Although her salary was not lower than the predecessor’s, she can not help but spend a lot of money on buying clothes, fitness, beauty salon …… After all this, at the end of the month, there was not much money left. So the family’s money was basically saved by the predecessor. She did not have the courage to make trouble.

The work slowly gets on track. The predecessor has the ability and energy. He applied for more projects, and the profit naturally followed suit.

Looking at the continuously rising number on the bank card, Xu Jiaqing had some thoughts in her heart. She was distressed that the predecessor had to get up early every morning to catch the bus to go to work, thinking about whether the family should buy a car.

As a result, the predecessor’s mother called again, saying that his second brother-in-law had a car accident, and injured his crippled leg. The driver who caused the accident, escaped. The doctor said this is a good thing as well as a bad thing.

The good thing was to take advantage of the opportunity of injury to perform the operation quickly. There was a 70% chance that his second brother-in-law’s leg will be completely cured, otherwise, his leg will be completely necrotic and he will never be able to walk again.

To put it bluntly, it was still the money.

This time, the predecessor did not blow up his mind.

But things have come to this point. Does he have a choice?

Just like that, a phone call, and more than 300,000 were gone.

Xu Jiaqing was angry , but what can she do, anyway, the one who has to catch the bus to and from work everyday was not her.

Finally, when the predecessor turned professor that year, Xu Jiaqing also changed her job. The two’s workplaces were also quite far from home. Xu Jiaqing was thinking about selling the house, adding some more money and buying a new house closer to the place where the two work.

At that time, the house they lived in was the Xu family’s dowry to Xu Jiaqing.

The predecessor listened and his heart also moved. After all, he has been living in the house given by his wife’s family. It was not very nice to hear.

Yes, it was this time, the predecessor’s mother made another phone call.

This time, the predecessor’s third brother’s father-in-law had an accident. He got nasopharyngeal cancer of the middle stage, had an operation, and relapsed again.

The family has no money, but his sister-in-law does not want to give up. She proposed an idea, which hit the Meng family.

She said that as long as the Meng family was willing to cover her father’s medical expenses for the next surgery, she would let her youngest son follow the surname of his predecessor’s third brother.

The predecessor’s third brother was a matrilocal son-in-law.

And the predecessor, he had been married for eight years, was thirty-one years old, and still didn’t have a child under his name. And yet, he was hell bent on Xu Jiaqing and refused to agree to the advice of divorcing Xu Jiaqing. 

When this proposal came out, the predecessor’s mind inevitably became active.

Whether it was for the Meng family, or for her eldest son.

The predecessor still has no choice. First, because he didn’t want to disappoint his mother, second, because he tried his best to take care of the elder and the second sister, so when it comes to his third brother, he could not just favor one and discriminate against the other!

In this way, the 600,000 that the family was going to use to buy the new house was gone.

Xu Jiaqing could not stand it anymore. She made a big fuss, and in a fit of anger drove the predecessor out of the house. If not for the Xu family’s persuasion, maybe the two of them might have divorced at that time.

After the predecessor’s mother heard about this matter, she hated Xu Jiaqing even more.

It didn’t take long for the predecessor to win the Chen Xingshen Maths Prize. The Chinese Mathematical Society gave a bonus of 100,000. The Capital University added another 500,000.

One year later, the predecessor was selected as a Changjiang Scholar, with an annual basic salary of 180,000, less than 100,000 after tax. The Changjiang Scholars yearly allowance was 200,000, and the school’s allowance was 250,000 a year, another 500,000 for the settlement fee, and three million for research start-up funds.

Together with the other miscellaneous projects, the predecessor’s annual income was steadily into the millions.

In a few years, in order to solve the housing problem of teachers, Capital University built welfare housing and sold it to teachers at half of the market price. The predecessor was lucky to get this big house.

After the predecessor’s mother learned the news, she pressured the predecessor not allowing him to add Xu Jiaqing’s name on the property deed. How satisfied she was with Xu Jiaqing’s at that time and how disappointed she was now. She always hoped that the predecessor would divorce Xu Jiaqing and marry another woman who can bear children. Naturally, she did not want the predecessor to share half of the house with her. Just like the house that the Xu family gave Xu Jiaqing as a dowry never added the predecessor’s name.

Family conflicts were on the verge of breaking out.

The predecessor had no choice but to listen to her and only wrote his name on the property certificate. Behind the scenes, he gave Xu Jiaqing two million, so that she could sell that old house of hers and replace it with a new one.

Fortunately, now that he and Xu Jiaqing had signed a divorce agreement and had not yet applied for a divorce certificate, he was able to take the property deed of this house and go through the home mortgage procedure alone.

When the predecessor bought this house, it only cost a little more than four million, but in two years, the price of this house rose from the original 60,000 a square foot to 90,000 a square foot.

Meng Zezhi used the house to borrow seven million at an annual interest rate of 5.31 for five years.

After knowing Meng Zezhi’s identity as a professor at Capital University and having received two *soft China policies, the bank staff readily informed him to come back after three days.

(T/N: I’m not sure what they are talking about here, but it’s what MTL gave me so ¯_(ツ)_/¯ )

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After dinner, just returned home, Meng Zezhi received a phone call from Professor Wan, saying that he agreed.