Speculation and profiteering? Good heavens, they wish he were dead!

When we arrived at the factory's discipline inspection department, Uncle San was there too. A police officer was also there. Seeing that everyone was present, he said, "Section Chief Li, let's begin."

Section Chief Li from the Discipline Inspection Department first asked the fat man, "Tell me, what did you do yesterday?"

The fat man had basically guessed who had reported him, so he didn't hesitate: "It's like this, yesterday our third uncle, oh, that is, Comrade Yan Bugui, came to me and said that he had caught a few fish and wanted to send them to our canteen to improve everyone's meals."

Before Section Chief Li could say anything, one of the clerks started bluffing: "Did you improve things for everyone? You probably ate all of it!"

What kind of class do you think you are, to even speak to me?

The fat man didn't even bother to look at what he looked like, acting as if he hadn't heard anything.

The clerk got angry when he saw how rude he was: "Damn it, I'm asking you a question!"

As a result, the policeman slammed the notebook heavily on the desk: "You come here!" The bastard immediately became quiet.

The old man caught those fish, some weighing a little over a pound, others two or three pounds. Did he really think the cafeteria manager could eat them all by himself? Even if he were a glutton, he couldn't finish that many!

Of course, we gave them to the leaders privately! Director Yang, Deputy Director Li, Deputy Director Nie... Even this guy from the Discipline Inspection Department ate the fat man's braised fish yesterday, and he still smells of fish when he burps.

The matter was quickly clarified: Yan Bugui had used his spare time to go fishing and asked his neighbor, Fatty, to help cook the fish, and then he treated Fatty to a fish.

As for the fat guy, he didn't eat alone; he ate with the other people in the cafeteria, and everyone can attest to that.

As for the rest of the fish, Yan Bugui took them back to his family to eat. The fish bones are still buried in the flowerpot. If you don't believe me, go dig them up now.

As he left the disciplinary inspection office, the police officer gave the fat man a disapproving look, his words carrying a hidden meaning: "You're quite the charmer..."

The fat man was still very confident: "Even someone as selfless as you stood up for me, which means I'm quite popular!"

The police officer was both amused and exasperated, and shook his head as he walked away.

The fat guy shouted from behind, "I'll make a squirrel fish and send it to your house later!"

The police officer's face darkened...

Even darker than his face was the face of the clerk in the discipline inspection department.

Once downstairs and in a secluded spot, Yan Bugui started cursing: "Who the hell is so despicable! If I find out, I'll make sure he doesn't get away with it!"

The fat man glanced at him sideways: "Third Uncle, you really don't know? Did I have to remind you who you contacted yesterday?"

Yan Bugui chuckled twice, then gritted his teeth: "Shazhu! I'll never let you get away with this!"

"..."

When they got home that evening, Yu Li pounced into Fatty's arms like a chattering cockatiel.

Just as the fat man was about to ask her if she had eaten, she said mysteriously, "We had a fight this afternoon."

"Oh, who's who?"

Yu Li, with a gossipy look on her face, said, "Third Uncle and that idiot Zhu. They were arguing and then started hurling insults at each other, and the insults they used were really nasty..."

Once Li had spoken her mind, the fat man said at the opportune moment, "That bastard reported me too, saying I was a speculator."

Yu Li let out a scream, then gritted her teeth just like the Third Uncle: "That bastard, how dare he!"

The way they stood firmly by his side and protected him deeply moved the fat man.

Silly Zhu's baffling behavior has earned him another enemy; you really can't guess what he's up to.

Late at night, when all was quiet, the wise and sage-like fat man began to analyze Sha Zhu.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that he might be the kind of person who can't leave his comfort zone.

You see, he does terribly as soon as he leaves his comfort zone.

In the TV series, if Yu Li hadn't taken the initiative to recruit him, he would have stayed in the Red Star Factory canteen for the rest of his life without any ambition.

After leaving the cafeteria, he did try other restaurants. But he always quit for various reasons, sometimes after three days, sometimes after ten days or half a month.

If Lou Xiao'e hadn't returned from Hong Kong and invested in opening a restaurant for him, he would have been unemployed long ago.

Moreover, even at the restaurant, he only managed to cook. The restaurant's operation and maintenance were handled by professional managers hired by Lou Xiao'e.

The person who cooks is a worker, the person who runs a restaurant is a businessman. You must not confuse the two.

With Sha Zhu's personality, he's only suited to working in a government agency. You provide me with a workplace and raw materials, pay me a salary, and I'll just focus on cooking the best dishes.

So he often only uses the best part of the ingredients when cooking a dish. If the beef is cooked a little too late and overcooked, he'll throw it all away and cook it all over again for you!

※※※※※※

Horses gallop past the window, birds fly and rabbits dart by.

Time quickly passed to the winter of 1965.

The fat man's salary also increased from 18.5 yuan to 20.5 yuan.

Nearly a year has passed, and both Fatty and Yu Li have become more accustomed to life in the courtyard house and to this era.

A lot happened this year. People from all walks of life, gossip from one household to another, all sorts of trivial matters were mixed together, like a tangled mess.

If we really want to figure it out, we have to start with Chen Rong's marriage.

My eldest sister married Cao Zhengyang, a fifth-grade lathe operator in Workshop 7 of the Red Star Factory, which is the same workshop as Qin Huairu's.

The fat man nearly fainted from shock upon seeing the person!

Short and dark-skinned, he looked exactly like Yuan Hua, who worked in the sea...

Chen Rong chuckled and slapped him lightly: "He's 1.66 meters tall, he's not as bad as you make him out to be."

They were introduced by someone else. After getting to know Cao Zhengyang, Chen Rong found that he was honest and hardworking and didn't mind that Chen Rong was two years older than him, so she agreed to the marriage.

The whole family kept it a secret from Fatty until the betrothal ceremony was held.

After the older sister married into the family, the fat man would come to their house every few days. He just wanted to see if she was doing well and whether Cao Zhengyang was treating her well.

The more I learned, the more I discovered that Cao Zhengyang's parents were not around; they lived in his hometown of Foshan. He graduated from junior high school and was recruited by the Hongxing Factory. He also had a younger brother.

It's not that I've disgraced my elder sister.

But once my eldest sister got married, the family went back to the way it was before, even worse than before.

In the past, at least Fatty and Chen Rong were the two people earning wages, but now they've both gotten married and moved out to live independently.

Old Chen and Zhou Haiqin, along with Chen Yan and Chen Fang, had no income and relied entirely on odd jobs to make a living.

Fortunately, the fat man brought money back every now and then.

Zhou Haiqin initially refused, worried that Yu Li would be angry. It took a lot of persuasion from the fat man to convince them that Yu Li wasn't that kind of person.

Chen Rong tried to get money from home, but Zhou Haiqin unreasonably threw her out: "A married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl! Your father and I have hands and feet, how could we starve to death?"