Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

"It's useless..." Yi Zhonghai replied with a long sigh.

"If we really use this matter to threaten Yi Zhonghai, he will immediately force Banggeng to move out of the house he is living in now."

"Eat separately from us..."

"If I didn't have the ten yuan living allowance that Yi Zhonghai gave me every month, the Jia family would have to go back to the days when we had to eat cornmeal for every meal."

"And we will have to live through such hard times for the next five years."

"After all, Banggeng can only be hired as a regular employee after five years, and can only receive 18 yuan a month, and only hand over 15 yuan as living expenses for his family."

"Fifteen dollars is enough to feed five people for a month. It's good enough if they don't starve to death."

Jia Zhang subconsciously replied: "Huai Ru..."

"Can't you make money too?"

“I don’t make much money from pasting matchboxes, but I can definitely earn seven or eight dollars a month.”

"With your seven or eight yuan, the Jia family will have more than twenty yuan for living expenses every month. Although we can't eat white flour every meal, we can't eat corn flour every meal, right?"

Qin Huairu glared at Jia Zhang's murderous face and replied, "Mom..."

"We already agreed on this when we gave the job to Bang Geng."

"Before I found a formal job, the money I earned from making matchboxes at home was all my pocket money..."

"Mom, do you want to regret it?"

Now Qin Huairu is no longer under Jia Zhang's control. Facing his threatening gaze, he is afraid that Qin Huairu will abandon the Jia family and remarry, so he quickly shakes his head.

"Don't worry, Huai Ru."

"Mom keeps her word and will never go back on her word."

"The money you earn from making matchboxes is yours. Mom will never take it."

After saying that, he stared at Qin Huairu and asked, "What about that great joke?"

Qin Huairu thought for a moment and replied, "We must first find a way to control Yi Zhonghai, and then we can ask Yi Zhonghai for compensation, and let him do his best to teach Bang Geng the benchwork skills, and find ways to cancel the punishment on Bang Geng."

After hearing Qin Huairu's answer, Jia Zhang also showed a thoughtful expression on her face.

…………

The east wing of the front yard.

Sister-in-law Chen Li chattered non-stop as soon as she entered the room: "Brother-in-law..."

"That old fellow Yi Zhonghai is too shameless."

"It was clearly him who used Banggeng as a gun, causing Banggeng to be punished at the steel mill, and you want to put the blame on you. That's simply too much."

"You shouldn't have let them go so easily just now."

"If it were me, I would at least ask them to pay me ten dollars each."

“Otherwise they won’t learn their lesson.”

“And so are those neighbors in the yard.”

"It's not like they don't know who Qin Huairu is. They listened to Qin Huairu's instigation and dozens of people came together to cause trouble for you."

"It's just too much."

"If my sister hadn't stopped me, I would have really wanted to scold them severely."

"My brother-in-law didn't provoke them. Why does Qin Huairu keep causing trouble for my brother-in-law based on just one sentence, like he was interrogating a criminal?"

"Brother-in-law, you are still too polite to them."

"When Yi Zhonghai was still a big shot, he tried every possible way to scheme against them and make them donate money to the Jia family. In the end, no one dared to stand up and resist, so they could only swallow their anger."

"If you hadn't exposed Yi Zhonghai's true colors and driven him out of office, they might still be being schemed by Yi Zhonghai." "As a result, these people are not only ungrateful, but repay kindness with hatred."

"Join Qin Huairu to denounce you together."

"As a younger sister, I can't stand it."

"If I were you, I would definitely write down the people who denounced you just now."

"If there are people working in a steel mill, ask the kitchen staff to give them a good shake of the spoon after work tomorrow, so that they will know the consequences of offending you for no reason."

"Shut up..." Seeing that his second daughter was getting more and more outrageous, father-in-law Chen Dehui frowned and couldn't help scolding.

"If everyone was like you, you would retaliate against me today and tomorrow, then our yard would have been in chaos long ago."

"Don't give your brother-in-law any bad advice."

"Just do your job well."

"Your brother-in-law got you a job as an officer in the financial department of the steel mill. This is a real cadre position. You must work hard and never let your brother-in-law down."

"As for what happened in the yard tonight..."

"If you really want to put it this way, I can understand it."

Having said that, Chen Dehui did not continue speaking, but looked at Wang Dong who had a calm face.

"Donzi...what do you think?"

"I'm jealous..." Wang Dong answered without thinking.

"Although our family was not the poorest in the Siheyuan, we were still among the best."

"As a result, within a few years, there were three employees, two cadre positions and one technical position, and each of them earned more than 150 yuan a month."

"Anyone would be jealous, let alone those neighbors in the yard who are jealous of others' success."

"As the old saying goes, we should not worry about equality but inequality."

"Other families only have one employee, and those who are less fortunate have two employees. Earning 50 or 60 yuan a month is considered good."

"Not only do we have three employees in our family, but they are all in cadre and technical positions that others envy. The meat coupons, cloth coupons, oil coupons, and non-staple food coupons issued by our superiors every month are several times more than others."

"How can I not be jealous?"

Chen Li became anxious when she heard this: "What should we do then?"

"You can't possibly want me to go to the countryside without a job, right?"

Wang Dong quickly interrupted: "What are you thinking about, little sister?"

"Even if you don't have your current job, those who like to be jealous will continue to be jealous."

"All we can do is live our own lives well. Let them be jealous if they want to."

"Besides, with such a large courtyard, not everyone would be jealous of our income."

"The Dashan family in the front yard, the Longfei family in the back yard, the Third Master family in the middle yard, and the Liang Layi family all stood on our side just now and did not help Qin Huairu deal with me."

"I don't expect everyone in the courtyard to stand on our side. As long as there are people who stand on our side and remember our kindness, that's enough."

“But this incident also taught us a lesson.”

"From now on, whether you are at work or in the yard, try not to make mistakes and don't let others catch you."

"Qin Huairu is not a good person. He is ruthless. If he really catches us, given the relationship between the Jia family and us, he will definitely not let us go easily."

"So if you have any problems at work or in life in the future, don't hide them or feel embarrassed. You must speak up and we can solve them together."

"After all, I am the kitchen manager of a steel mill. I have some connections."

"Dad is the eldest uncle in our courtyard. Although he is not a real cadre, he still has some prestige in the courtyard. There will be no problem in solving some simple problems." (End of this chapter)