"Honey, this place is very expensive. Let's just order something simple."
As soon as they sat down at the seafood restaurant, Yao Nan quietly said, feeling uneasy about the upscale decoration and the prices on the menu.
"No, we worked so hard yesterday. We deserve to treat ourselves."
Xu Bin opened the menu.
Hearing this, Yao Nan blushed and softly said, "Then I'll pay with my credit card, and you don't tell Mom."
"Don't worry, I'm not as poor as you think."
Xu Bin called the waiter and started ordering, "One iron plate snow flower beef, one cheese lobster, and one wind-sheltered crab stir-fried with paste."
Snow flower beef 168, cheese lobster 668, wind-sheltered crab 398…
These prices made Yao Nan's heart ache so much that she could hardly breathe. The waiter, having taken note of the order, asked, "Sir, would you like any drinks or soup?"
There weren't any drinks below 30, and more than half of the soups were over 50.
Yao Nan immediately said, "We don't need any. Water will do."
Xu Bin quickly stopped her and told the waiter, "Bring my wife a fish jelly soup, and I'll have a pigeon soup with wood ear mushrooms. That's all!"
As soon as the waiter left, Yao Nan leaned in and whispered, "Honey, are you crazy? This meal is going to cost almost two thousand!"
"You love seafood so much, I know."
Xu Bin gently held her hand.
"But we can't spend money like this!"
Yao Nan was a thrifty housewife and immediately started calculating, "If you're really craving it, I can buy it and cook it for you at home to save money."
She deliberately kept her voice low because she knew that she had to give her man face when they were out. Her mother-in-law had indeed taught her well, even if it didn't work on Yao Xin.
"If we pay next month, and Mom finds out, she'll tear me apart!"
Yao Nan was really worried.
She only had 5,000 yuan a month, 3,000 of which went to her mother, Shen Ruyu, who supposedly helped her save it. So, Yao Nan didn't have much spending money each month.
"Don't worry, I'm not really living off you."
Xu Bin handed her his phone. Yao Nan, who never checked her husband's phone, looked at the withdrawal record and was shocked.
"100,000? Where did you get this?"
Yao Nan was tense; to her, this was a huge amount of money.
"Keep looking!"
She saw the stock trading records and was even more surprised. Xu Bin smiled and said, "Honey, I'm not lazy. I've been working and saving money. Bank interest is too low, so I've been investing spare change."
"I had no idea."
"You never asked, so I thought you weren't interested!"
Men could lie effortlessly; it was a natural talent: "Last time, during the bull market, my stocks were almost worth 200,000. But I got greedy and didn't sell, so I lost seven-tenths of it. This time, I made some money, so I sold quickly and reinvested the profits."
Yao Nan finally relaxed, her face filled with admiration, and she playfully scolded, "Honey, you scared me. I thought you'd done something wrong."
"Your husband is incredibly smart. If I did something wrong, I'd be a billionaire."
Xu Bin laughed happily, boasting without any psychological pressure.
Yao Nan, now relaxed, was in a good mood. She hugged her husband's arm and suddenly softly asked, "Honey, since you're so capable, why don't you tell Mom about it?"
Xu Bin knew what she was thinking. Even though Yao Nan usually endured everything at home and was used to feeling wronged, she would speak up when Xu Bin was wronged.
Being a son-in-law who moved in, living off his wife and being seen as poor... actually put a lot of pressure on her, and she had some complexes. She hoped her husband could have some status at home, at least so her mother wouldn't always find faults with him.
In short, women have vanity, and Yao Nan's wife also had it, but she was too self-effacing to show it.