Chapter 13

“Honey, this place is really expensive. Let’s just grab something simple.”

As soon as they sat down in the seafood restaurant, Yao Nan whispered nervously, the upscale decor and the prices on the menu making her uneasy.

“No way, we were both exhausted yesterday. We need to treat ourselves properly.”

Xu Bin flipped through the menu.

At his words, Yao Nan blushed and said quietly, “Then I’ll use my credit card later. Don’t tell Mom.”

“Don’t worry, wife. I’m not as broke as you think.”

Xu Bin called the waiter over and started ordering: “Hello, one sizzling snowflake beef, one cheese lobster, and one typhoon shelter-style fried crab.”

Snowflake beef 168, cheese Australian lobster 668, typhoon shelter crab 398…

The prices made Yao Nan’s heart ache so much she could barely breathe. The waiter noted it down and asked, “Sir, any drinks or soup?”

No drink was under 30, and more than half the soups were over a hundred.

Yao Nan immediately said, “No need, just tea will be fine.”

Xu Bin stopped her right away and told the waiter, “A fish maw stew for my wife, and a pigeon with morel mushroom stew for me. That’s all!”

As soon as the waiter left, Yao Nan leaned in and whispered, “Honey, are you crazy? This meal is over a thousand, almost two thousand.”

“I know you love seafood the most.”

Xu Bin gently took her hand.

“But we can’t spend like this!”

Yao Nan was a thrifty and good homemaker. She immediately started calculating and said, “If you really crave it, I could buy it and cook it at home for you, saving a lot of money.”

She deliberately kept her voice low, knowing she had to give her man face in public. It had to be said, her mother-in-law had taught her well in this regard, though it clearly didn’t work on Yao Xin.

“If we have to pay this off next month and Mom finds out, she’ll tear me apart!”

Yao Nan was very anxious.

She earned 5,000 a month and gave 3,000 to her mother, Shen Ruyu, who sweetly claimed she was saving it for her. So Yao Nan didn’t have much disposable income each month.

“Don’t worry, wife. I’m not really living off you!”

Xu Bin said as he handed her his phone. Yao Nan wasn’t in the habit of checking her husband’s phone, but when she looked at the withdrawal record, she froze.

“100,000? Where did you get this money??”

Yao Nan was suddenly very nervous. To her, this was a huge sum.

“Look again!”

Seeing the stock trading records, Yao Nan was a bit stunned. Xu Bin chuckled and said, “Wife, I’m not a lazy person. I’ve been working and saving money all along. Keeping it in the bank with that tiny interest isn’t worth it. Actually, I’ve been making some scattered investments.”

“I… I didn’t know.”

“You never asked, so I thought you weren’t interested!”

When a man lies, it’s a natural talent: “During the last bull market, this stock was close to 200,000. But I got greedy and didn’t sell, and lost 70%. This time, I made a profit and quickly sold it, taking the gains to invest in other things.”

Yao Nan finally breathed a huge sigh of relief, her face full of admiration, but she scolded him playfully, “Honey, you scared me to death. I thought you’d done something bad.”

“Your husband is incredibly smart. If I really did something bad, I’d be a billionaire.”

Xu Bin laughed heartily, bragging without any psychological pressure.

Yao Nan relaxed and felt very happy, hugging her husband’s arm. Suddenly, she asked softly, “Honey, since you’re so capable, why didn’t you tell Mom and the others?”

Xu Bin understood her thoughts. Even though Yao Nan had always been submissive at home, used to enduring grievances, she couldn’t help but speak up when Xu Bin was wronged.

Finding a live-in son-in-law who was a freeloader and broke… actually, she was under a lot of pressure and had her own worries. She also hoped her husband could have some standing in the family, at least so her mother wouldn’t constantly glare and nitpick.

To put it bluntly, every woman has vanity, and his wife Yao Nan was no exception. But she was too insecure to show it at all.