"Okay," Qi Zhifang said, giving a few more instructions before reluctantly hanging up the phone.

The teller said, "Long-distance calls cost eight cents per minute. Your 20 minutes and 58 seconds, or 21 minutes, only cost 1.68 yuan."

Qi Zhifang reluctantly gave him the money. It wasn't just the money itself that bothered her; it was because the money she'd left for Wang Fang was now even less. She regretted calling for so long. With a sigh, she was about to leave when she saw Lao Liang!

After finishing mailing something next door, I went to the bicycle shed, unlocked the lock, and was about to push the bike out when I heard, "Old Liang!"

Old Liang turned around, smiled at Qi Zhifang, and said, "Hello, Comrade Qi Zhifang..."

"Don't you know whether I'm good or not? Don't give me that nonsense. What do you mean? Why are you avoiding me?" Qi Zhifang suppressed her anger and roared in a low voice.

Old Liang pushed up his glasses, showing no embarrassment at being exposed, and said gently, "It's not that I'm avoiding you. If you just want some food and drinks, I wouldn't mind supporting you. But you're too much of a troublemaker. Last time, if one of your lovers hadn't been so powerful, I would have been dragged into this mess by you! Qi Zhifang, you're really something else. Not only do we men have to support you, but we also have to support your lover?"

Qi Zhifang couldn't believe that the usually gentle and refined Lao Liang would say such rude things. She said angrily, "Enough! Watch your mouth! If you slander my innocence again, I'll never forgive you!"

Old Liang seemed to have heard a funny joke. "You're innocent, Qi Zhifang. I always thought that although you were a bit thick-skinned and had no sense of shame, you still had a certain bottom line. I really didn't expect that your bottom line was 'depending on the situation.' How dare you say you're innocent?" He turned around, pushed his bicycle out, and was about to leave when Qi Zhifang grabbed the back seat of Old Liang's bicycle.

"I'm not going to argue with you about these things. What you think of me is your freedom. I have a clear conscience, and that's enough. And don't make yourself sound like some kind of victim. Is being with me some noble thing? Do you dare to say it openly? It's adultery, infidelity, and adultery. I'm not a good person, and you're no better!" Qi Zhifang was so angry that her face turned red.

"I'm not a good person, but I wasn't caught, criticized, or paraded through the streets! Qi Zhifang, for the sake of the time we slept together, I'll teach you a lesson. You need to know your place. If you want to be a player, being bad is fine—there aren't many good people in this world—but you can't be stupid. If you're both bad and stupid and still want to play the game, you're not a player; you're someone who gets played." These contemptuous and heartless words from Lao Liang revealed another side of this man to Qi Zhifang, sending chills down her spine.

His face turned pale, then flushed, then paled again. After much hesitation, he decided to get straight to the point: "My daughter is a sent-down youth in the countryside, and she's having a hard time. I'd like to borrow some money from you. Out of consideration for our past relationship, I hope you can help me this time. I…"

Old Liang interrupted, "Stop with the 'you,' I don't want to have anything to do with you right now." He then took out five yuan and a dozen or so loose bills from his pocket and handed them over. "This is out of pity for you, you don't need to pay me back, but I hope that if we meet on the street in the future, we'll go our separate ways and not pretend we've known each other!"

Qi Zhifang wanted to slap him hard in the face and say no with backbone, but thinking of Wang Fang, she took it anyway. Old Liang sneered and rode away.

She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. At that age and with that figure, he only had a few years left to enjoy himself, but he had to ruin it himself. He used to sell his body, and now he's sold his face too.

Qi Zhifang put the money in her pocket. For some reason, at that moment, she wasn't thinking of hating anyone, but rather feeling fortunate that she had earned 3.32 yuan and some tickets on this trip. This must be what they mean by "poverty makes one lose heart, and a thin horse has long mane."

Then, upon returning home, since Qi Zhijun was not in charge of the household, it wouldn't be easy to get anything from Xiao Cui. So, they automatically ignored Qi Zhijun and went to find Wang Dong with Qi's mother.

Wang Dong's salary has been reduced to only 20 yuan due to the incident, and he has 40 jin of grain coupons. Qi Zhifang has 30 jin of grain coupons and a salary of 18.5 yuan because of her mistake.

Qi's mother only had 26 jin of grain coupons. Wang Dong took out the money box. The 200 yuan that his uncle had given him before leaving was now down to 55 yuan. Wang Fang asked for 100 yuan for various reasons. He and Wang Hong spent 45 yuan.

With a heavy heart, Qi Zhifang took out 20 yuan and 15 jin of grain coupons. Qi's mother took out 20 yuan and 30 jin of grain coupons. Qi's mother gritted her teeth and added 5 yuan and 5 jin of grain coupons. Then she said to Wang Dong, "Starting tonight, you and Honghong will come to my place for dinner. I'm going to see if my nephew feels embarrassed to ask me to leave since he's having dinner at his uncle's house for the New Year!"

Wang Dong nodded. He really had no choice. He and Wang Hong definitely wouldn't have enough food this month. They would just have to make do for five days and see what happened at the end of the month.

The two went back, and Qi's mother sighed. There was still more to argue about. Qi Zhifang had given all her wages and food coupons to Wang Fang, and Wang Dong was also implicated and didn't have enough to eat. She even had some deducted from her own pay. Just thinking about Cui's face gave her a headache.

The mother and daughter exchanged a glance, and their eyes conveyed the worry between them.