Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Zhang Dabiao had no choice but to vehemently shift the blame to Zhang Banxian again: "My old man has seen all sorts of people. Sometimes when he helps someone and they can't pay him back, he'll offer some kind of family skill to settle the debt."

"My dad just accepted it, but I never expected that it would all end up benefiting me."

"We don't have much money at home, but we do have quite a few recipes and secret formulas."

Anyway, Zhang Bansian has already passed away, so it's not a problem for him to take the blame for Zhang Dabiao a few more times.

Director Wang, Li Huaide, Qin Jingru, and Lou Xiao'e exchanged glances and accepted this explanation.

Zhang Banxian was able to defy fate and even manage to restore the soul of Zhang Dabiao, that idiot.

For a master like that to ask for a few recipes or secret formulas, it's just a way to save face for the other party, a token gesture.

So, it's entirely possible!

No one dwelled on the issue.

Li Huaide still had to do some work. In this era of urban-rural dualism, changing Qin Jingru's household registration from rural to urban was, frankly, harder than climbing to heaven.

Moreover, Qin Jingru was only 12 years old, so it was impossible for her to get married or be recruited to work in the city, not to mention that the city was still downsizing at that time.

As for adoption and changing household registration—don't even think about it.

In rural areas, there are communes and land to cultivate. There's no way a child would be sent to the city to be adopted unless the entire family has died, which can be easily verified.

Therefore, Li Huaide cannot resolve this matter directly; it will take time.

However, the "Nanluoguxiang Food Processing Society" was established in just two days.

------------

Just a short walk from the next alley, there are four houses facing the street, but the neighborhood committee doesn't have the funds to renovate them.

But Miss Lou generously advanced two thousand yuan to repair the house, buy equipment, tools, and raw materials. Of course, the neighborhood committee would also apply to some state-owned factories for scrap materials, enough for this "food processing cooperative" to make do temporarily.

We help our neighbors process wild vegetable biscuits, and we've also developed a new type of dehydrated wild vegetable bun—just rinse it with water and you have a bowl of soup. We also help the steel mill make butter bread, sour cream, rye bread, pickled salted fish, and pickled sauerkraut and other salted vegetables...

Most of it is processing supplied materials, and a small part is accepting orders from steel rolling mills.

The staff, including Lou Xiao'e, only needs to be 10 people. Li Huaide also arranged for a nephew to be in charge of coordinating raw materials for some factories, such as milk, eggs, flour, butter, etc. The quantity is not large, but someone must go to get fresh materials and deliver them to the steel rolling mill every day.

So only 8 people need to be recruited in total. Zhang Dabiao left the personnel arrangements to the street office, but he asked Aunt Mu for a spot.

The treatment here is much better than at the sewing workshop. At least there's no shortage of food here, and the work is much easier than at the sewing workshop.

That day, he went to find Mu Wanqing. Since they last talked about Mu Wanqing taking the college entrance exam, this girl hadn't come to see Zhang Dabiao for several days.

Zhang Dabiao didn't know what she was thinking, but with such a good opportunity this year, why wouldn't you go to university?

Isn't that a waste of resources?

"Is Mu Wanqing home?"

He came to the tenement to find someone. It was just a tiny place, the front yard of No. 95, crammed full of illegal buildings. The path between the two houses was only one person wide, about 1.5 to 1.78 meters, and the widest corner was only a little over two meters.

Sewage flowing everywhere, dark and damp—

It was even worse than Zhang Dabiao's side room.

People with poor health who live here will get sick every few days.

"Mu Wanqing—"

—Squeak—

The Mu family opened their door.

"Oh my, it's Da Biao! Come in and sit down." Aunt Mu naturally welcomed Zhang Da Biao and opened the door to welcome him into her home.

But Mu Wanqing came out.

"Mom, no need. I'm going out to talk with Da Biao for a bit."

Zhang Dabiao — [?]

【I'd also like to see your bedroom. Just out of curiosity.】

Then Mu Wanqing pulled him out, and the two of them strolled through the alley and onto the street.

After walking for several minutes, Zhang Dabiao, seeing that Mu Wanqing remained silent, could no longer hold back and asked her a question.

"What's wrong, sis? You're not really going to drag me out for a walk, are you?"

"Let's get down to business, stop making that long face, okay?"

"Did I offend you or something? Tell me!"

"I'm here today to introduce a job to Aunt Mu. It's at the food processing plant run by the neighborhood committee. The conditions there are much better than at the sewing plant. Aunt Mu is an expert at pickling sauerkraut, so working there would be much easier for her—"

Suddenly, Mu Wanqing stopped and turned around.

Zhang Dabiao almost bumped into her chest—and to be honest, this girl has been eating and drinking well lately, and seems to have developed a bit more.

Plus, with the weather in May, we're not wearing as many layers, so her figure is absolutely amazing!

Qin Huairu, He Yushui, and Lou Xiao'e are no match for her at all!

"Zhang Dabiao, please stop helping me, okay?"

Mu Wanqing looked worried; she didn't know how to express her conflicted feelings.

"ha?"

"What's wrong?" Zhang Dabiao was a little confused. What was wrong with this girl?

"I'm afraid I won't be able to repay it," Mu Wanqing said, biting her lip with difficulty.

"Why can't I pay it back? I don't need you to rush me to pay it back. I have enough to eat and drink and I don't need this little bit." Zhang Dabiao thought it was about the 70-plus jin of grain, but this was nothing.

As for giving Aunt Mu a different job, that was just something he did on the side, and mainly because Aunt Mu's sauerkraut was really delicious and he liked it.

I did offer some assistance, but the other party has to have the ability to do so. You still have to earn money through your own abilities.

Their sewing cooperative didn't have a centralized workspace, so Aunt Mu spent all her time sewing at home. Her eyesight was failing, and the wattage of light bulbs in those days was extremely low. In addition, the lighting in her house was poor, and Aunt Mu's health was also not good, so this wasn't a long-term solution.

Going to the processing plant to make sauerkraut, helping everyone make some snacks, blanching and dehydrating wild vegetables, and baking some biscuits are all better than staying cooped up in a cold and damp house.

Zhang Dabiao didn't feel that he had paid much for helping out; it was just a small favor.

But Mu Wanqing didn't see it that way: "What I said—"

"It was you who took a knife for me and saved my life."

"That incident, didn't you later give me a blood transfusion and save my life?"

"This is different..."

"He Yushui, and Sha Zhu also gave you a blood transfusion..."

"Even if I hadn't donated blood, the two of them could have saved you..."

"Da Biao, I really don't know how to pay you back, my family can't afford it..."

It turns out this woman was still holding a grudge about saving someone's life. Zhang Dabiao never intended to take advantage of her kindness, but upon closer analysis, the issues of being pressured by neighbors to repay debts, usury, and saving her life...

Seeing through the usury scheme was already a lifesaver for her, and then he took a knife for her, so he saved her two lives.

Thinking about it carefully, this woman owes me too much.

Then Zhang Dabiao had another brain fart—

"You'd encounter something like that in a play, right...?"

"If the man is handsome, then I'll repay him with my body."

"If a man is ugly, then in the next life he should be reborn as a cow or a horse, carrying grass in his beak to repay his kindness."

"So, do you think I'm handsome or ugly?"