I update my girlfriend's financial power every month.

Chapter 23 Happy Birthday, Sister-in-law

The staff of Speedy drove a BYD Qin at night and dropped Zhou Lang and Shen Wanrou off at the latter's residential area.

When the driver was dropping Zhou Lang off on his way back, they passed a dimly lit one-way road with a pile of felled tree branches on it. The driver didn't notice them and scraped the road.

"Boss, I'm sorry... just deduct it from my salary, I'll go get the screen protector reapplied..."

Zhou Lang got out of the car to take a look. The color-changing film on both car doors was scratched with a dense array of tiny marks, and one or two cuts were quite deep, revealing the blue paint underneath.

"It doesn't seem like the paint was damaged. Let's check it more carefully tomorrow."

Zhou Lang turned to his employee and said, "This car belongs to my friend. I'll pay for her to restore it to its original condition. It's alright, this happened while I was running some personal errands, there's no reason for you to pay for it. I even called you over to drive me at night, thank you for your trouble."

"It's no trouble at all, it's my duty, boss." The employee was very grateful to hear that his wages wouldn't be deducted. "We also have customers booking to see cars at night, and today is my night shift anyway."

"How was dinner? Was there a late-night snack?"

"Some bosses offer either a hot pot or noodles for dinner, or a 35 yuan reimbursement for takeout. For late-night snacks, they offer milk, fruit, and braised eggs and sausages."

"That's good."

……

The next day, Zhou Lang arrived at Feichi Power Technology.

He's working one less day of his shift. His resignation process on the OA system has been completed. He'll use up his annual leave this year, settle his salary, and graduate and leave at the end of the month.

In the break room, I told Michelle, and she waved her hand dismissively: "Just peel off the film, no need to replace it with a new one. I was thinking of changing the color anyway, so I might as well not put it on. The original color is fine too."

"Then I'll get you a car cover," Zhou Lang said.

"No need, buddy, you're being so polite with me."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't use expensive film on your car. I'll just find the cheapest domestic film from Kangdexin and put it on for you."

"Dinner's on me tonight! What would you like to eat?"

"I haven't decided yet, I'll listen to you."

"You're suffering from decision paralysis, aren't you? I'll make a shortlist of options—a few we frequent, and a few new ones. I'll report back to Director Zhou after get off work this afternoon!"

As the two were talking, Ling Yuanyuan walked towards them, carrying a mug.

Michelle sensed a hint of hostility in Lingzhi's demeanor today, and gave Zhou Lang a wink: "I'm leaving now."

Ling Yuanyuan calmly took the hot water and watched Mi Xue's retreating figure.

"Now that you're dating me, you should stay away from other women."

Zhou Lang didn't say anything, he just shrugged.

Seeing his lukewarm reaction, Ling Yuanyuan's eyes flashed, and she changed the subject: "Want to treat me to lunch? There's a fusion restaurant that always has long lines on weekends, and you can't get a table. Maybe it'll be less crowded on weekdays at lunchtime."

"I have something to do at noon, let's talk another day." Zhou Lang wasn't interested in this fancy meal and didn't want to eat it.

He thought to himself that if other female friends invited him to dinner, they wouldn't directly suggest a particular restaurant, but would first ask him if he wanted to eat there.

Just like Michelle did, we discussed it together.

Ling Yuanyuan opened her mouth, but at this moment, Chen Jieni from the finance department and several other colleagues came over to make tea and get water. She hesitated, picked up her cup, and left.

Zhou Lang returned to his workstation and received another WeChat message from Ling Yuanyuan.

[Ling Yuanyuan]: I just heard that Chen Jieni has a new bag, a Hermes Garden, a gift from her boyfriend.

[Ling Yuanyuan]: It seems you haven't given me a gift yet?

Zhou Lang typed a reply.

[Zhou Lang]: I understand. You must have prepared a gift for me in advance, but you were too embarrassed to say it outright?

Ling Yuanyuan is no longer replying to messages.

Zhou Lang pinched the bridge of his nose. Why did contacting her feel so troublesome and tiring?

When Zhou Lang finished get off work in the afternoon, he went to Michelle's car.

However, there were already people inside the Tank 700.

Michelle sat in the back row, helplessly trying to comfort Shen Wanrou.

Shen Wanrou clutched a tissue in her hand, her eyes red and swollen, looking like she had already cried once.

When Michelle saw Zhou Lang outside the car, she grabbed at him like a lifeline, her little hand waving quickly, signaling him to get in the car and help her.

Zhou Lang got into the driver's seat and looked at Shen Wanrou, who was on the verge of tears, through the rearview mirror.

Michelle placed her hand on Shen Wanrou's knee and felt a pang of sadness seeing how haggard she looked recently.

"My sister-in-law's mother has always been in poor health. She had surgery before, and Tian Wenming didn't contribute a single penny. It was my sister-in-law who secretly took out a loan to raise the money for the surgery."

Michelle sighed softly, feeling sorry that Shen Wanrou had ended up with such a useless person.

"After my sister-in-law's mother-in-law found out, she paid off the loan, but the subsequent medication costs were still quite high every month even after reimbursement."

As Zhou Lang listened, he remembered that they had talked before that Tian Wenming had secretly misappropriated the money Shen Wanrou had saved.

After the divorce, Tian Wenming was required to pay a monthly repayment of 10,000 yuan.

"Did Tian Wenming cheat you and not give you the money?" Zhou Lang asked, frowning.

Shen Wanrou nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

"He...he said he's having a tough time financially lately, and when I pressed him to pay me back, he was heartless and was driving him to his death..."

Zhou Lang frowned even more as he listened: "Why is he short of money again? Even in this situation, he still has the mind to gamble? Or has he fallen for another scam?"

Shen Wanrou's voice was weak, and she didn't dare to look at Zhou Lang: "He'll compensate you 500,000..."

Zhou Lang was stunned.

"Sister-in-law, wait a moment."

"When did he pay me 500,000?"

Michelle was also stunned. She felt that there were some things that Zhou Lang and Shen Wanrou couldn't say openly while she was there.

"Zhou Lang, let's reschedule the dinner. Why don't you and your sister-in-law chat first, and then you can take her home?"

After saying that, Michelle deftly opened the door and ran to hitch a ride home with another colleague.

Zhou Lang sighed: "There must be some misunderstanding here. I thought to myself, when dealing with certain people, it's absolutely necessary to leave traces and evidence."

He took out his phone, played a recording, and adjusted the progress bar: "Sister-in-law, this is the content of my conversation with Wu Daxing. Listen to it."

After the recording lasted a few minutes, Shen Wanrou stared blankly, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Wu Daxing... yesterday took the video you filmed in your car showing Tian Wenming scratching the car to my mother-in-law..."

Shen Wanrou held back her sobs: "He begged his ex-wife for help to save their son, saying that he had reached an agreement with you so that the police wouldn't be called and Tian Wenming wouldn't have a criminal record and could keep his job, but his asking price for a private settlement was 500,000 yuan..."

Zhou Lang rubbed his temples, looking exasperated. "I didn't take a single penny from them. I just told them to sort out the subsidies they'd embezzled over the years and return them to their colleagues. I didn't force them to give it all back at once."

"Did your mother-in-law give it to you?"

"...I gave you 300,000 yuan first." Shen Wanrou was extremely disappointed. She wiped away her tears and smiled with relief. "I never thought that someone who almost went to jail would be spared by you. Instead, you thought of using this to swindle a large sum of money from my mother."

The two remained silent in the car for a while.

The truth left them speechless, and they silently processed their emotions for a while.

Shortly after, Shen Wanrou's phone rang.

"Feed? Sister~"

A sweet voice came from the other end of the computer.

Happy birthday, sister!