Chapter 195

Here, Jia Zhang opened the door curtain and let Li Zhiguo enter the house first.

"Brother, why are you here? I sent Guan Xiang back a long time ago, and Qin Huairu is back too."

Jia Dongxu was leaning back in his chair and reading a book, which was a very professional one called "Freshwater Fishing". It looked promising.

"I invited him here. Something big happened in our family."

Jia Zhang looked unhappy. Her 50th birthday was supposed to be a good one, but something went wrong.

"Mom, what's going on!"

Chen Bihua was busy at the stove. Inside the house, Banggeng and Xiaodang were playing there.

Jia Zhang first asked Li Zhiguo to sit down, and then told him about his resignation and taking over the position.

Jia Dongxu yelled when he heard this, "Mom, you have to let Bihua take over the job, otherwise you will only get a dozen yuan when you retire, which is not enough for you to spend."

"Dongxu, don't you want to take over?"

Jia Zhang was stunned. She thought her son wanted to work in the factory, as he had made a fuss about it before.

"No, I'm not going. My brother asked me if I wanted to work in the factory, but I said no."

When Jia Dongxu recalled how he had been standing there drilling screw holes, he felt bored.

"Well, there is such a thing!"

Li Zhiguo explained, "We are building a new factory outside Dongzhimen and we need to recruit 300 workers. I originally wanted to use my connections to get Dongxu into the factory, but he was not willing. In addition, Bihua's education level was not high enough to get into the factory, so I didn't mention it."

"Ah! Dongxu, you are confused!"

Jia Zhang was both moved and heartbroken. Li Zhiguo truly treated her son as a brother, but her son didn't know how to appreciate it.

She quickly asked: "Li Zhiguo, can Dongxu still be allowed to enter the factory now?"

"I can't get in. The quota is full. That's the factory Yan Jiecheng went to."

Li Zhiguo shook his head. What was he thinking about? It’s past the deadline.

"Hey!"

Jia Zhang wanted to slap her son on the spot. He had a job but didn't want it. He was even dumber than Sha Zhu.

"Mom, don't blame me. Once the disaster is over, I will continue to ride my tricycle. I will earn cash every day."

Jia Dongxu did not back down, it was not like he didn't make money.

Jia Zhang was still angry, "Bihua, tell me, why do you think Mom will continue to work in the factory?"

"I'll listen to Brother Li." Chen Bihua didn't respond and got out of the way.

"I listen to my brother too."

Jia Dongxu believed that his brother would not harm him. They had gone fishing together, cooked fish in restaurants, and even stole fish, back then...hadn't he figured it out a long time ago?

Li Zhiguo was silent for a moment before he said, "Ms. Jia Zhang, you should resign! A family must have a working person, and this involves the issue of medical treatment.

Otherwise, when you retire, Dongxu will be almost 40 years old, and Bihua is not young either. How can you still work in the factory? You will lose your job.

Also, after you resigned, Bihua re-entered the factory and your salary started at 22.5 yuan, which was lower than the minimum living standard for your family of five.

Your family can apply for a five-dollar subsidy from the street, and Banggeng's tuition can be waived.

All in all you can get is about 60 yuan, plus your severance pay, it’s over a hundred yuan, it’s free money.

Also, you have worked for more than five years, so maybe when times get better and there are new policies, you can still receive part of your retirement pay."

He really didn't cheat anyone this time, because this was the best option. Anyway, the Jia family had never been rich, so no matter how they optimized it, it would be like this.

"Okay, let's do as Li Zhiguo said. I will resign tomorrow and let Bihua take over tomorrow!
Dongxu, when you start riding a tricycle, you still have to pay four yuan a month for pension!"

Jia Zhang thought that she had saved more than 400 yuan over the years, plus the pension money Dongxu gave her in recent years, she had already deposited 600 yuan with Li Zhiguo.

According to Li Zhiguo's calculation just now, she can still get more than 100 yuan after leaving her job. With this 700 yuan as a fortune, she can live in peace in her retirement.

"Mom, the pension money is fine, then I will only pay ten dollars a month for living expenses, and let Bihua also pay ten dollars."

Jia Dongxu's plan was that when he earned more than 50 cents a day from riding the tricycle, the rest would be his and he could spend it however he wanted.

"Twenty dollars is enough!"

Jia Zhang thought that with the pension, she would get twenty-four thousand yuan a month and she wouldn't have to work, so she should have come back to retire long ago.

"Okay, that's settled then. I have to go back to eat."

After Li Zhiguo said this, he remembered that he had already eaten.

"Brother, I'll take you there."

"Li Zhiguo, I'll give you one too. Oh, and here's a pair of new shoes I made for you."

The three members of the Jia family sent the person away together, and the relationship between the two families became different.

"Okay, stop sending it off."

Li Zhiguo hung a pair of new cloth shoes on the bicycle and pushed it back to the backyard. Jia Zhangshi had not changed and could still feel caring for others.

……

Across from the Jia family, Aunt Wang pointed out the window and said, "Mrs. Chen, look, I was right, wasn't I? The bad boy is starting to pull it out again."

"It's hard to say. Jia Zhang has been making shoes for him all these years."

Mrs. Chen had a good relationship with the bad boy and he basically never did anything to hurt her.

"This time is different. Li Zhiguo is out of work. I heard that the higher-ups are streamlining positions and freeing up vacancies for young people to take up the posts."

Aunt Jiang was chatting outside recently and overheard this.

"We still have to be careful and see what the trend is like later."

Sun Erniang thought for a moment and said, "Is Jia Zhang still at work? Who can go and find out?"

"No need to ask, he's definitely not at work."

Mrs. Chen felt that she had followed the bad boy's idea this time.

Before nightfall, the affair between Li Zhiguo and Jia Zhangshi spread throughout the courtyard, causing a sensation among the people. Everyone in the courtyard was in danger, worried about being fleeced.

Second Aunt found an opportunity to question Qin Huairu while she was washing dishes.

"Qin Huairu, did Li Zhiguo tell you how much salary you should hand over?"

The second aunt came to test the bad boy to see if he was short of money.

"No, the salary will be paid the day after tomorrow."

Qin Huairu didn't respond, fearing that she had given the wrong answer.

"Oh, Qin Huairu, then you have to give Li Zhiguo more. He has a bad stomach and can't eat bad food."

In the past, Second Aunt felt very sorry for Qin Huairu, but now she hopes that she can continue to feel sorry for her. If one person suffers, the whole hospital will feel at ease.

"Hey, I know that!"

Qin Huairu always felt that there was something wrong with what he said, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Qin Huairu, here are two dollars and fifty cents. It's the gift you gave me when Guangqi got married last time.

You two didn't come to the party, so my family can't accept this money. I'm going to return it to you now. Please give it to Li Zhiguo."

As the second aunt said this, she stuffed the money into Qin Huairu's hand, turned around and ran away, spending a small amount of money to avoid a big disaster.

"what!"

Qin Huairu was stunned. How could she get a refund? Her family was not short of money!

Since Qin Huairu entered the factory, she has been receiving a salary of 27.5 yuan as a third-year apprentice, which is an exception.

Now she is a second-level fitter, which still gives her an advantage. Otherwise, someone like Jia Zhang would basically be a first-level worker.

Because there is not an assessment every year, and generally only 40% are selected for promotion.

Qin Huairu saved all of her salary for the past seven years, except for the lunch she earned at the factory, and Li Zhiguo also gave her extra money from time to time.

This adds up to a lot, and she has also deposited it in the bank, so she is really not short of money.

After she washed the dishes, she went back to the room and told him what had happened. Then she asked, "Zhiguo, are we going to pretend to be poor like before?"

"Don't pretend to be poor. I have hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings. How can I pretend to be poor?"

Li Zhiguo shook his head and said, "Even if the hospital doesn't know about my situation, my family is not poor, even the third uncle has figured it out for me.

The bonuses and salary I've received over the years, uh, are the wages I've earned through hard work, and they add up to a lot."

"Oh, then I'll listen to you and not pretend to be poor."

Qin Huairu thought for a moment and said, "Zhiguo, save your money and I'll pay you a salary every month. I'm a second-level worker, and maybe I'll be promoted to a fourth or fifth-level worker in a few years."

"Huai Ru, you're overthinking it. It will be more difficult to upgrade as time goes by.

Don't even think about learning any skills, just do the easy work and save your salary. I have another income at the pump factory."

Li Zhiguo briefly explained what he did at the pump factory, but also warned him, "Don't tell anyone about my job. It will have a bad impact."

"Yeah! I understand."

Qin Huairu nodded. This was another case of drawing a salary without doing anything. She couldn't tell anyone about it and make them jealous.

"I'm going out to play chess. Ask Jingru to help our son with his homework and go to bed early."

Li Zhiguo took a palm-leaf fan and fanned himself all the way to Beixinqiao to find his chess friends.

On the way, I was thinking that until the year when the college entrance examination was resumed, there were only two promotion examinations in the period of eighteen years.

One was to select the best, and the other was to raise the salary of low-level workers. So after 18 years, Qin Huairu was at most a third-level worker.

Sha Zhu is currently a level nine cook. In seven years, when the special period begins, his salary will be raised to level eight at most, with a monthly salary of 35.5 yuan, plus a 2 yuan squad leader subsidy, which is the same as the original plot, with no changes.

People like Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong were already senior workers when they were initially classified, and only became eighth- and seventh-level workers after a few years.

Therefore, there is no future in being a worker, especially for today's young workers. By the time they are in their forties, there are many second-level workers, and some even first-level workers.

It’s better to play chess, one game decides the fate of the world!
……

Daqianmen Hutong, small courtyard.

Xu Huizhen came out of Han's house and had not walked a short distance when she saw Sha Zhu rushing out.

"Sister, what's going on? Did the Han family agree?"

Xu Huizhen shook her head: "Silly Zhu, you were born in 1935 and you are 24 years old this year. You can't afford to waste time, find another partner!"

"What's wrong? The Han family didn't agree. This is not possible. My conditions are not bad."

Shazhu was confused. He thought it was a sure thing, but now something went wrong.

"Shazhu, you are not bad in terms of qualifications, but in this case, how can you go on a blind date with someone else's elder sister but fall for the younger sister?

Han's mother refused. If she agreed to this, Chunxue and Chunyan would not even be sisters. Then Han Chunxue has taken a fancy to you!"

Xu Huizhen shook her head. She had never thought about this before, but if she put herself in his shoes, she and her cousin Xu Huizhi had become enemies because of He Yongqiang.

If Sha Zhu married Han Chunyan, the end result would be chaos for the Han family.

“What? How could Haruyuki like me? I never said a word to her!”

Shazhu was confused. This guy was too good. There was nothing he could do. In the courtyard, apart from Li Zhiguo, he was the most handsome. It was rare for young ladies to recruit him.

"I can't fancy you without saying anything!"

Xu Huizhen persuaded him, "Silly Zhu, Chunyan is still young after all. If you wait for two or three years, you will be so old by then, and people will gossip about you!

Besides, Chunyan has also refused. She doesn’t want to lose her sister, so let it go.

I will continue to look for someone who is about your age and looks good, so that he can be a good match for you!"

"Sister, I'm so sad!"

Sha Zhu sighed and wondered why he lost to his uncle in the first place, otherwise he would have a child now.

"Don't be miserable, go back!"

Xu Huizhen saw that Sha Zhu didn't cry, so she thought it was a good thing and not serious.

Suddenly she thought that even Brother Li didn't care about this matter anymore, so why should she care? Let Sha Zhu wait for his fate on his own!
"Ugh!"

Sha Zhu sighed, looked over there again, and finally left. Otherwise, he could go to someone else's house and make trouble, which would be unreasonable!
……

"Li Zhiguo, hurry up, you have to help me!"

"Silly Zhu, what's wrong with you?"

Li Zhiguo had an elephant in his hand, but he couldn't make a move. If he made one, he would lose. It would be good if he could delay it for a while and make the old man on the opposite side anxious. But who knew that Sha Zhu would actually come.

"Let's talk on the other side."

Sha Zhu pulled Li Zhiguo and was about to leave.

"Hey! Finish the game of chess."

The old man on the opposite side was getting anxious. He had finally won a game, and he was determined to wait until dawn. He couldn't let anyone disturb him.

"Master, I'll save this chess game for now and continue it next time."

Li Zhiguo threw the chess piece in his hand onto the board and ran away. He thought that as long as the old man was there, he would not play anymore. He would wait until the old man left so that he would not lose.

"Don't run..."

The old man chased out, but couldn't catch up. He was so angry that he almost fainted.

Sha Zhu also ran after them, and when he caught up with them, he told them why the Han family disagreed.

Li Zhiguo was quite surprised. The Han family was poor, but when he thought about it carefully, he felt that this family was responsible. Apart from the conflict between the two sisters, they probably didn't want people to say that they were selling their daughter. This was a bit similar to a child bride.

"Okay, Silly Zhu, just look for it slowly later.

From now on, I will no longer be involved in your marriage. I am unemployed and have resigned from the steel mill. I have to earn money to support my family and I don’t have time.”

He made up an excuse, thinking that Xu Huizhen couldn't take it anymore, so he introduced the fifth one to Sha Zhu.

"No, you have to help me! I won't lose your red envelope."

Sha Zhu was anxious, because Li Zhiguo was the best at finding a wife in the courtyard.

"I'm not short of money. Okay, Shazhu, go back and have a rest. You still have to go to work tomorrow. I have something else to do, so I'm leaving first."

Li Zhiguo ran away again. He was not satisfied with playing chess just now. He still had time, so he ran to Chunqiao Grocery Store to play another game with an old man.

"Brother-in-law, goodbye!"

"Bye, Dad!"

Early in the morning, Qin Jingru and Guan Xiang, one big and one small, came to the bedside to say goodbye after breakfast.

"Well, bye, and go slowly on your way."

Li Zhiguo opened his eyes drowsily. He couldn't hold on any longer today and had to sleep in.

"Alright you guys, go ahead!"

Qin Huairu came in and took the two of them out. She had already put on her bag and was about to leave for work.

She went to the market at dawn to buy meat and leeks, and made dumplings in the evening because today was the Mid-Autumn Festival, September 17th.

Chives are particularly expensive this year, several cents per pound, and are difficult to buy.

Now they went out to the middle courtyard and Qin Jingru went to school with Yu Shui. The journey was a little far.

"Qin Huairu, you should go to work. I'll take Guan Xiang to school."

Jia Dongxu came out of the house with Banggeng. He volunteered to do it because his wife had gone to work in the factory, so he and his mother were the only ones at home.

If he doesn't go out and hide, he will have to do housework.

"Jia Dongxu, thank you."

Qin Huairu sometimes thought it was ridiculous, as she had been on a blind date with Jia Dongxu in the past!
As a result, her husband Li Zhiguo and Jia Dongxu became brothers, and Jia Dongxu even picked up and dropped off her son Guan Xiang from school every day. This would have been unimaginable seven years ago.

"What are you thanking me for? It's just a side trip, I'll give you a stick too."

Jia Dongxu was smiling. Even though he didn't succeed with Qin Huairu back then, they lived in the same courtyard and could see each other every day.

"Well, I'll be leaving first. The factory has been very busy lately."

Qin Huairu pushed her bicycle and left the yard first.

After watching the people go away, Jia Dongxu took Banggeng and Guan Xiang and set off for Hongxing Primary School.

The busiest time of day in the hospital is the morning. Everyone has to get up regardless of whether they go to work or not.

"Hey! Why do I feel something is wrong every time I see Jia Dongxu sending Guan Xiang to school?"

"I feel the same way. Jia Dongxu's life is over. He can even let go of the hatred of having his wife taken away. He has no future."

"That's why people say Li Zhiguo is so great. His wife works to support the family, and his wife's former blind date helps pick up and drop off the kids, but he just stays at home and sleeps all day."

"That's right. If others were unemployed, they would be so panicked in this disaster year, but he still lives like that. It's not that he can't find a job, but he doesn't want to find one. He's sick."

Several middle-aged women shook their heads and thought that Li Zhiguo would be thirty years old next year, and he still lived like this, which made hardworking people like them feel a little uncomfortable.

"Mom, woo woo..."

In the Jia family's house, Xiaodang suddenly started crying.

"Hey, why are you crying, isn't grandma here?"

Jia Zhang got up from her crib. She originally wanted to sleep in, but she still had to take care of her granddaughter.

This is different from when my daughter-in-law started working.

Jia Zhang had no choice but to get up and hold Xiaodang and coax him for a long time, but he couldn't fall asleep.

"Dongxu, Dongxu..."

Jia Zhang lifted the door curtain and shouted a few times, but there was no response.

"Don't shout anymore. Dongxu hasn't come back since he sent the child to school early in the morning."

Sun Erniang was washing clothes at this time. As a close neighbor of the Jia family, she hoped that the Jia family would live a hard life. Now things are pretty good. Chen Bihua is the only one working and earns 22.5 yuan, the same as Jia Dongxu did back then.

The Jia family has five members and each person has an average living standard of less than five yuan, which makes them all poor households.

"Where has this kid been slacking off again?"

Jia Zhang was helpless. Dongxu was old, the same age as Li Zhiguo, already 29 years old. She didn't dare to beat him anymore, fearing that if he continued to beat him, he would not support her in her old age, and that would be the end of her.

"Sun Erniang, has Li Zhiguo woken up?"

"Not yet. He has been sleeping until noon recently and never eats lunch at home. He still spends money lavishly."

Sun Erniang shook her head, hoping that he would not make trouble in the yard again.

"He is lucky to have Qin Huairu to raise him."

When Jia Zhang mentioned this, she still felt a little sad, but Bihua was not bad either, and in the future, she would be able to catch up with Qin Huairu's salary.

(End of this chapter)