1994: Starting with unpaid leave

Liang Qiuyue was taken aback. Looking at the smiling Dong Jianguo, she couldn't tell whether her brother-in-law was joking or targeting her.

Ignoring his sister-in-law's surprised look, Dong Jianguo turned and raised his wine bottle to clink glasses with his two older brothers:

"Come on, let's drink!"

Human hearts are made of flesh and blood.

The last time I visited my parents, my sister-in-law sat by the pot of swimming crabs and kept making sarcastic remarks, her disdain practically written all over her face.

Today was a housewarming party, and as soon as I entered, they started shouting strange things like, "Don't prepare red envelopes, don't complain."

If it weren't for the decades of accumulated resentment in their past lives, they probably would have turned on each other on the spot.

Seeing that Dong Jianguo acted as if nothing had happened, Liang Qiuyue turned her head to Xiuyun.

"Sister-in-law, what does Jianguo mean by this?"

"Huh? What happened to him?"

Xiuyun blinked and pretended to be confused.

She didn't particularly like this sister-in-law either.

Although the color TV in our house was given to us by my sister-in-law when I married Jianguo, the screen was already cracked when it was given to us.

It was only after I found a repairman that it was able to be used.

Normally, one should also be grateful to the other party.

But since they were newlyweds, receiving such a gift inevitably made them feel a little uncomfortable.

Now that her husband had spoken up and retorted to her sister-in-law, Xiuyun felt a secret sense of satisfaction.

When the eldest brother, Dong Baoguo, saw his wife's face fall, he frowned.

"Alright, alright, shut up. Jianguo's moving to a new house, why are you making such a fuss?"

Liang Qiuyue glared at her husband, knowing that this was indeed not the right occasion to lose her temper, but she still muttered under her breath:

"Fine, don't teach me then, I don't care to learn anyway!"

As she spoke, she kept poking at the remaining half of the sea cucumber in the bowl with her chopsticks, as if she were taking her anger out on the other person as if he were her brother-in-law.

Dong Shaoying changed the subject: "Jianguo, your brother-in-law and I are also discussing moving to a new house. Your house and all the new furniture and appliances must have cost a lot, right?"

"Tell us exactly how much it cost, so your brother-in-law and I can give up."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the room stared intently at Dong Jianguo.

Although Tung Chee-kwok has been trying to avoid this question, everyone is very curious.

New house, new furniture, and new appliances—none of them are cheap.

The purchase of this house alone would probably cost tens of thousands of dollars.

"Sister, if you and your brother-in-law live a good life, the house you live in in the future will definitely be no worse than the house in Xiju."

Dong Jianguo smiled, still avoiding the answer to the question.

"What's wrong? What's your secret that you're afraid to tell us?"

Dong Shaoying was furious and glared at Dong Jianguo.

As siblings who have fought since childhood, there is still some bloodline suppression between them.

Dong Jianguo forced a smile for his sister:

"My dear sister, I'm afraid if I say too little, you'll think I'm being hypocritical; if I say too much, you'll think I'm being arrogant... Brother-in-law, you're knowledgeable and understanding, what do you think? Isn't this the truth?"

I worry that my brother is having a hard time, but I'm also afraid that he'll be driving a Land Rover.

This applies to friends as well as family.

Dong Jianguo understands this principle.

Upon hearing this, brother-in-law Wang Zhenglong felt that Dong Jianguo's words made sense. Just as he was about to speak up to persuade his wife, Dong Shaoying stood up and walked directly to Dong Jianguo:

"Oh ho, you've grown wings, haven't you? We'll settle our own business between ourselves. If you're so capable, don't drag your brother-in-law into it!"

As she spoke, Dong Shaoying grabbed her younger brother's ear.

Having been beaten by his older sister since childhood, Dong Jianguo had long developed the habit of shaking his head to dodge.

Unfortunately, the devil is always one step ahead. Just as he turned his head, his sister Dong Shaoying's other hand was already waiting on the other side.

"Mom, my sister is bullying me right in front of you, and you're not doing anything about it!"

"You can sort this out yourselves. Killing one of them would give me some peace and quiet!"

Zhang Guifen's words made Dong Xiaojun and Dong Aiyang, the two children at the table, burst into laughter.

Seeing that his mother was not taking any action, Dong Jianguo could only look to Zhou Xiuyun for help.

But his wife just covered her mouth and giggled, completely ignoring him.

Seeing that there was no hope of getting help, Dong Shaoying gradually tightened her grip on his ear, and Dong Jianguo grimaced and said:

"Dong Shaoying, you could kill me and I still won't tell!!"

"Virtue!!"

Seeing that her younger brother was unmoved by her words, Dong Shaoying let go and returned to her seat.

"Don't think you're the only capable one in the family. You think I can't do the math even if you don't tell me!"

"The house must cost fifty or sixty thousand, right? New furniture will easily cost at least ten thousand, not to mention appliances! Just that VCD player, the same model I saw in the department store cost 4000. I think fifteen thousand isn't unreasonable, is it?"

"Sixty thousand, ten thousand, fifteen thousand... Brother, you've made eighty-five thousand in a month?"

After Dong Shaoying finished counting on her fingers, she was astonished!

Not only her, but the expressions on the faces of the Dong family members at the dinner table were similar to hers.

They could imagine that the house they were in was valuable, but they never expected the price to be so outrageous!

Eighty thousand yuan!

At a monthly salary of 500 yuan, it would take 160 months of working without eating or drinking to earn that amount!

But how many people actually earn 500 yuan a month right now?

Among the people in this room, Dong Baoguo, who was the section chief, had the highest salary, but it was only 450 yuan a month.

For a moment, everyone's gaze toward Dong Jianguo became extremely complicated.

Feeling stared at like that, Dong Jianguo simply spread his hands towards Dong Shaoying:

"You said it, not me. Be careful, or I'll sue you for defamation!"

"Go ahead and sue! Sue wherever you want!"

After saying that, she leaned forward and asked Dong Jianguo, "Jianguo, tell me, where did this money come from? Don't tell me it all came from selling eggs! How much money can you make from eggs!"

"I really did make money selling eggs. The profit margin isn't high, only a few cents per pound, but the volume is large, so I can still make a little money."

"Large quantity? How much can you sell in a day?"

"About four or five thousand catties a day... and maybe more in the future."

Upon hearing the weight, the Dong family members were all astonished.

Dong Shaoying turned to look at her equally surprised second uncle, and couldn't help but frown: "Second uncle, aren't you being too biased? They're all Dong family children, why did you give Jianguo so many eggs?! You're not treating them fairly!"

As soon as she took the lead, the eldest and second eldest brothers at the dinner table all turned their attention to the second eldest uncle.

Second Uncle Dong Xuefeng was also confused. He looked at Dong Jianguo, then at Dong Shaoying, and his lips twitched.

"Shaoying, you can't just talk nonsense like that! My old face isn't worth that many eggs!"

"I swear to the lamp, the farm didn't promise to allocate this many eggs to Jianguo!"

Seeing that Dong Shaoying was about to make things difficult for the second uncle, Dong Jianguo interrupted:

"Sister, don't talk nonsense. The number of eggs that my second uncle gave me at the beginning wasn't that many."

"The number of eggs delivered to us every day is the result of me knocking on the doors of farms in Angxi District and Mei District, smiling and offering cigarettes to each one."

"You can't just see the thief eating meat without seeing him getting beaten, can you?"