It’s an ordinary residential area, a slightly older building. The Gou family of three currently rents the 5th floor of this building.

The environment here is not too bad. The community has good greenery and various leisure facilities. For many ordinary office workers, a room in such a place plus a car is their lifelong wish.

But for those who have seen better, such a place is a bit of a torture. It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality.

"It's not a good idea for us to just wait like this!" Zhu Qian pushed Gou Qi, who was lying on the sofa watching TV.

Gou Qi waved her hand away impatiently: "What are you arguing about?! Once the turmoil at my dad's head office is over, won't he reopen the subsidiary?"

Zhu Qian was no longer afraid of Gou Qi's temper: "Wait for your life! Did he tell you that he would definitely reopen?!"

"What are you talking about! How could it not be open anymore!" Gou Qi roared.

That spendthrift woman never says anything nice, it's so unlucky!

Zhu Qian took a deep breath and said, "I'm talking about the current situation. Now that the subsidiary is closed, our family is broke. You can't just sit there and wait. You have to go make money!"

"Do you think making money is that easy? Where can I make it?!" Gou Qi shouted again.

Gou Er was already in a bad mood because of living in this awful place, and he didn't want to listen to their quarrel. He stood up impatiently, opened the door and walked out, slamming the door shut with such force that the whole building could hear it.

Sure enough, soon there came the sound of cursing from a resident on an unknown floor. The curses were so harsh and made people feel uncomfortable.

The two fell into silence for a while, and gradually calmed down.

Zhu Qian asked softly, "Your previous business, the business you started before Dad came back, can you pick it up again?"

Gou Qi gritted his teeth and said, "As long as I rent a shop, find the original supplier, and tell a few old customers, I should be able to continue doing business."

Zhu Qian then showed a little happiness: "Then you can contact me now, and I will go to your store to help out when the time comes. It won't be too tiring."

This is how Liu Shuangyue helped Gou Qi in the past. She will definitely not lose to Liu Shuangyue, the woman from the village!

Gou Qi picked up his phone casually and wanted to contact the supplier first. However, after clicking on the contact list and flipping through it twice, he remembered that he had stopped doing that small business a few years ago. He found it troublesome to have old acquaintances calling him all the time, so he changed his SIM card and didn't leave anyone's phone number.

But Liu Shuangyue must have remembered everything. Gou Qi thought so and subconsciously turned around and asked, "What's Old Wu's phone number?"

Zhu Qian was puzzled: "Who? You ask me? How should I know?"

Gou Qi paused, saying nothing. Liu Shuangyue wrote down everything she needed for business in a notebook, so she should be able to find it by looking it up. He had mocked Liu Shuangyue for being unsophisticated, saying she had a cell phone and didn't need a pen and notebook to take notes. He hadn't expected she would actually need one now.

He stood up and wanted to look in the utility room, but he stopped after taking a few steps.

The Gou family moved here some time ago and sorted out all their things at that time. Gou Qi remembered that Liu Shuangyue's notebooks were not among them. They must have been taken away by Liu Ben.

Gou Qi sat back on the sofa, a dazed look on his face.

Zhu Qian was puzzled and nudged him: "What are you daydreaming about?"

Seeing that Gou Qi was still motionless and thinking that he was lazy again, Zhu Qian turned around impatiently and went to her room, not wanting to bother with him anymore.

"What's going on? When I was with you before, you ran your business in perfect order. Why is it that now...tsk."

Gou Qi knew it clearly because he had Liu Shuangyue's help at that time, but he didn't want to admit that he couldn't do it without Liu Shuangyue.

Liu Shuangyue is just dispensable, that's for sure.

But... Gou Qi looked up at the window, but his heart was empty.

At that time, Gou Wen suddenly appeared and gave Gou Qi the identity of a subsidiary company boss, allowing him to rise to fame. Now that the company has been closed down, he has lost everything he once had and has nothing left.

Such a short, beautiful and prosperous time seems like a dream. When you wake up, you return to your previous state.

No, it’s different now. The small business that he and Liu Shuangyue used to do, which was quite prosperous, is gone, and Liu Shuangyue is gone too.

Zhu Qian is beautiful, speaks nicely, and can act coquettishly. She is much more charming than Liu Shuangyue, but Zhu Qian actually can't do any real work. She is just a nominal secretary in the company, collecting a salary without doing any work.

Gou Qi blinked his eyes. Beautiful villas, big profitable companies, and high status, all of these are good and not fake, they really existed, but they are like flowers in the mirror and the moon in the water. It is so easy for people to give them to you, and it will be even easier to take them back.

In the end, only the small business that Liu Shuangyue carefully managed for herself truly belonged to them.

But now, he has lost them all and they are gone.

Gou Qi covered his face. He knew very well that he was a scumbag, but his childhood was really hard. Being an honest man like his mother was too hard. He was afraid of suffering and just wanted to live a good life, even if he had to be a scumbag. But now, he has reached this point.

Gou Wen is obviously even worse than him! Why can't he live like that? And what is the right thing to do?

The more he knew how good Liu Ben's life was and how happy the Liu family was under Liu Ben's care, the more uncomfortable Gou Qi felt. If only... those things could have been his, but now they were all gone.

What will happen if there is no income and the money from selling the house is used up?

If, if I ask Liu Ben for support, will he do it? I think he will, right?

But... Gou Qi shuddered, remembering the pain of being beaten.

Uh, forget it. If you can avoid going, then don’t go. Your life is more important.

"Is the house comfortable to live in now? Is there any wind?" Liu Ben asked with concern.

Sitting on a bamboo chair in front of him was a toothless, shriveled old man. With his age, his ears were not very sensitive. Liu Ben asked again in a loud voice, and he smiled and said, "It's comfortable. It's good that there is no wind!"

Seeing that he was wearing dentures, Liu Ben asked, "Grandpa Weng, are these dentures easy to use? Are there any problems with them?"

"It works!" Grandpa Weng looked at Liu Ben carefully and said, "It's dark."

"Uh, I got sunburned." Liu Ben touched his nose.

Grandpa Weng stood up and walked slowly to his old wooden cabinet with peeling paint. He took out a bag of pastries and wanted to give them to Liu Ben.

Liu Ben waved his hand: "Grandpa Weng, just eat it yourself. I have plenty left after you finish it."

"It's delicious." Grandpa Weng nodded, sat back on the bamboo chair, and began to eat slowly.

Liu Ben asked a few more questions about his life, then stood up and was about to leave.

"Wait, wait." Grandpa Weng seemed to suddenly remember something and hurried to his bedroom. The people around who came to visit him were a little worried and followed him to see.

I saw Grandpa Weng lying on the bed, taking something out of the secret compartment on the side of the bed.

Grandpa Weng’s bed is several decades old. It is not the common European style nowadays, but rather an old-fashioned carved wooden bed similar to those seen in costume TV dramas.

The most different thing about this bed from other beds is that there are four carved bedposts on the four corners of the bed. The bedposts are quite high, supporting the top of the bed. White gauze curtains hang down from the four sides of the top of the bed. The gauze curtains are divided into left and right and hung on hooks on the bedposts on both sides to keep out mosquitoes. It looks quite beautiful.

At first glance, this kind of bed seems to be a time travel bed. In fact, a few decades ago, this kind of bed was very common, and many families in the village still have this kind of carved wooden bed.

It’s not that they like it that much, but most people are just poor and want to save money and don’t want to change.

The edge of this bed is a bit high, which makes it inconvenient for the elderly to climb up and down, but he is unwilling to change it. So the village committee came up with an idea. In every home with such a bed, a large footboard is placed under the bed. When in use, the elderly can hook the board with their toes, step on it, and get on the bed easily. The next day, when they get up, they step on the board to get out of bed, and then kick it back under the bed.

It is convenient and does not take up space, very suitable.

Grandpa Weng got off the bed, kicked the board off the bed casually, and hurried back.

"Here, take it." Grandpa Weng stuffed the thing in his hand into Liu Ben's hand. Liu Ben didn't know what it was. When he picked it up, he saw that it was a bracelet. The bracelet was made of some unknown fruit core. It looked dark in color and had an oily surface, which had a unique charm.

"What is this?" Liu Ben looked at the others.

"I know that," an older woman said with a bit of surprise, "Old Weng used to like to roll up the fruit pits and make them into bracelets to give to people, but then his health got worse and he stopped making them for a long time. I didn't expect that he would make another one for you now!"

"Is Grandpa Weng still able to do this? He seems quite old, and doesn't he have much strength in his hands?"

“Maybe it was done before.”

Liu Ben looked at it carefully and found some powder scattered on the place where the fruit core was pierced. He could wipe it off by touching it.

"This is the new one, thank you, Grandpa Weng." Liu Ben said affirmatively, and then put it on his wrist.

"That's strange," another old man asked Grandpa Weng, "Can you use your hands now? Can you even pierce the fruit core?"

"Yes," Grandpa Weng patted his chest and said solemnly, "I am in good health and have strength."

It was good news and everyone was very happy. Liu Ben was especially happy. Although the fruit core bracelet was not an expensive gift and it was very easy to make it in batches with machines in factories nowadays, the difference between those made by hand and those made by machines was that even if the materials and the appearance of the finished product were the same, the intention behind it was different.

After saying goodbye to Grandpa Weng, Liu Ben and others continued walking towards other homes.

There are always some elderly people in the village who, for whatever reason, have no income and cannot work when they reach old age, but have no descendants to support them, and live even poorer than other farmers.

In the past, the village committee could only apply for a little subsistence allowance for them, visit them during festivals and holidays, and give them some subsidies from the Poverty Alleviation Office. They were unable to do anything else.

But this year was different. Liu Ben wanted the entire village to be prosperous and for all villagers to be happy, so he couldn't abandon these helpless elderly people. It was difficult for the elderly to earn a good life with their own hard work like other villagers, so they needed the support of the younger generation.

"Grandpa Weng is right," Auntie asked Liu Ben, "How come you got tanned even though there's no sun?"

Liu Ben: "...Oh, I went on a tropical trip some time ago."

"That's it." The others believed it and didn't ask any more questions.

"Last week, we took all the elderly people in the village over 60 years old for physical examinations. Most of them had some minor health problems, and a few had serious illnesses, but they were basically all undergoing treatment and recuperation. The elderly who were missing teeth had their teeth filled or had dentures made." Wang Caiqing said that she is still working in the village committee. The village committee now has more work to do than before, but with Liu Ben's funding, work is more organized and convenient than before.

Liu Ben nodded. "Okay, now that the weather is getting colder, I'm thinking about clothes and heaters for the elderly. I need to arrange for them. I remember that the electricity in our village seems to be a bit unstable..."

Wang Caiqing said helplessly, "We can't do anything about this. This is the power company's problem."

"Then find some other ways to keep warm, but they must be safer."

Another village committee member was shocked: "These expenses are not small."

"Yes, alas, but these old people are also pitiful. When they were young, they were hardworking and kind, but now they are old and have no one to support them."

"Don't worry about that," Liu Ben said confidently, patting his chest. "I still have this little bit of money. I pay for the support of all the elderly and helpless people in the village."

Everyone in the village is very hardworking. As long as they have the strength to work, they don't like to be supported by others. Like Liu Quanyou, he is not in good health, but he still has to go to the fields to farm every year. So when they need to rely on low-income people for support, there is really no way out.

"Aben is so kind to the elderly. No wonder Grandpa Weng specially made a bracelet for him."

"Aben is really good with children. He even built a playground, a kindergarten, and a gymnasium. The nearby villages are so envious and even asked how we're recruiting students. But Aben's kindergarten currently only accepts children from the village, haha!"

Liu Ben turned around and smiled, "We don't have enough teachers right now, so we've only opened one kindergarten class. We'll be able to open classes soon after we recruit more. However, our village will be free, but other villages will still have to pay a symbolic fee."

Otherwise, how can we show how good You Ying, Liu Ben’s partner, is to the villagers?

"Hey? Where's Uncle Fuxiang?" The next time a few people went to Liu Fuxiang's house, they didn't see Liu Fuxiang who often sat at the door.

But the door was open, which meant that guests were welcome to come in, so several people walked straight in, calling out the names of Liu Fuxiang and Liu Fengnian as they walked.

"We are here!" Liu Fengnian's cheerful voice came from inside in the distance.

The workshop behind Liu Fengnian's house has been transformed into a more process-oriented, rigorous and hygienic factory. Every day, he, his wife, and their employees are busy here, preparing rice products for sale in Liu Ben's store.

Today, when Liu Ben and his friends entered, they unexpectedly saw Liu Fuxiang, who was already in retirement, making rice noodles with the workers. While doing so, Liu Fuxiang also gave the workers instructions on how to make the rice noodles thinner and more delicious after cooking.

Liu Fengnian smiled and said to Liu Ben and the others, "My dad's mind is getting clearer and clearer now. He's been helping make rice noodles lately and he's very energetic."

"The conditions of other elderly people in the village are also better now. Grandpa Weng even made a bracelet for Aben!"

"Good news," Liu Ben said with a smile, "The Liu family really has good news every day!"

"Of course not!"

"Ha ha ha ha!"