The next day at noon, the family was having lunch when there was a knock on the door. Zhang Guoqing gestured to everyone to continue eating and went to open the door.

Standing outside the door were Zhang Laoer and his wife, carrying stones and wheat ears and holding a basket in their hands.

"Why is your door locked now? Have you eaten?" Zhang Laoer asked as soon as he saw him.

Zhang Guoqing quickly let them in and said with a smile, "Come in and have something to eat with us. Dad and Mom just mentioned you. Second sister-in-law, why are you carrying a basket? Are you here to deliver food again?"

"It's not a good thing. Mom and Dad are in there, right? We have something to discuss with you." Lin Juhua said with a smile.

The group entered the kitchen, and Zhou Jiao invited them to eat together. Zhang Laoer quickly declined, saying that their family had just eaten in the cafeteria and there was no need to be polite to their brothers.

After drinking a bowl of soup, Father Zhang put down his chopsticks and looked at the second son.

"Dad, you eat first. There's no rush for what I want to say."

"Stop talking nonsense. You have to go to work in the afternoon, so why don't you bring your whole family over? Go ahead." Father Zhang said with a smile.

Zhang Guoqiang chuckled and pointed at Lin Juhua.

Seeing this, Lin Juhua quickly sat down and said, "Dad, Xiao Shitou is an accountant, and my brother-in-law's father is coming down one of these two days. There was another fight at their house this morning, and his mother collapsed this time, and they were just about to send her to the county town. Except for the eldest son, everyone else ran back home and disappeared. I saw something was wrong, so I hurried to find the child's father. Do you think we should send a letter to my eldest sister's house?"

Father Zhang nodded, but didn't say what to do. He then asked, "Apart from this, is there anything else?"

"Yes. The old captain asked Xiaowu to go back this weekend. I asked him what was going on, and he said it was good, nothing else. My uncle and uncle also asked Xiaowu to go back to his hometown, saying that he didn't know how to go home after going to Beijing. There's nothing else to worry about, and everything is fine at home."

Zhang's mother listened and laughed, "Xiaowu does have to go back. When you get home, tell him he's off work this weekend and we're all going back. Dad, do you think we should talk to Chunming about this?"

Father Zhang nodded and said, "Well done, the second family! Now that we know about this, we should notify Meihao and have them return home immediately. At the very least, they should be taken to the hospital first. No matter what's going on in their family, we can't have unfilial descendants. The child's mother and I will go to Meihao's house first. I'll leave the house to Jiaojiao."

Zhou Jiao quickly replied, telling them to go ahead without worry, but she secretly worried about Zhang Meili. "Poor old sister, she's going to have to endure this again." She looked at Zhang Guoqing, only to see him wink and slightly shake his head.

After Zhang's father and his partner left, Zhang Guoqing said, "Let's not go. Let's see how my brother-in-law and his brothers handle it first. If we go, it won't all fall on my eldest sister. No one's money comes from the wind. Oh, I only make about thirty yuan a month working so hard. I'm so worried."

Zhou Jiao and others burst into laughter when they heard this. It was rare to hear that Zhang Guoqing was worried about money.

Zhang Laoer laughed for a moment, then came to his senses and quickly asked, "Did you spend all your money this time? I have some money on hand, you can use it first. Anyway, I'm not in a hurry to buy a house, and there's no point in leaving the money sitting there."

Lin Juhua then said, "Well. We've saved all the money we've divided up and haven't used it yet. Let's use ours first. We'll ask you for more money in a few years if it's not enough to buy a house. We have money at home, but I'm always afraid of people borrowing it, so I'll just leave it with you."

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone laughed again.

Zhang Guoqing winked at his second brother and jokingly said, "Can't you sleep peacefully at night because you're afraid someone will steal? Are you scared when someone comes in the middle of the day because you're afraid they'll ask for money?"

"Stop talking nonsense, I'll send it over tomorrow. Is it in time?" Zhang Laoer kicked him and said with a smile.

Zhang Guoqing quickly stopped him, "Don't take it seriously. We have money. Not to mention the red envelopes my father-in-law gave us, how much is Ping An's? This time when we came back, we received red envelopes all over the provincial capital, not to mention anything else."

Zhang Laoer listened and thought, it's true. The child had a lot of red envelopes that day. He rolled his eyes at Zhang Guoqing. Is it fun to tease him?

Zhang Guoqing quickly urged him to start buying a house. Keeping money at home wouldn't generate any extra income. Buying a house early would provide rental income, transfer his household registration, and provide food. It was a win-win situation, no matter how you looked at it.

Zhang Laoer and Lin Juhua were very excited after hearing this. After discussing it, they decided to buy it. They didn't plan to rent it to others, but it was enough for basic food.

Seeing that it was almost time to go to work, Zhang Guoqing asked Lin Juhua to stay and wait for Zhang's father and mother to come back, and then they went to ask Aunt Wang from the neighborhood committee for news. The two brothers had to rush to work.

After an hour or so, Zhang's father and his wife returned home. Lin Juhua told them about Zhang Guoqing's suggestion and asked them to take her with them to find Aunt Wang.

Zhang's mother told her not to worry and took her back to the living room. After everyone was seated, Zhang's mother mentioned the news she had heard from Aunt Wang next door.

One of her colleagues had a yard for sale, just a five-minute walk behind the supply and marketing cooperative. It consisted of five old adobe houses. She was asking 500 yuan, with room for negotiation.

Lin Juhua immediately looked at Father Zhang when she heard this. She didn't know if this was a good idea, so she could only let her father-in-law make the decision.

Zhang's father thought for a moment and asked his wife to take their two daughters-in-law to the neighborhood committee to inquire about any houses nearby. He still liked this neighborhood because it was clean and the neighbors were kind and easy to get along with. The ground across the street was low, and it was said that heavy summer rains often prevented the water from receding. Last year, when he passed by there, he saw a fight and a disturbance.

The mother-in-law, daughter-in-law and three of them went to the neighborhood committee. As soon as they arrived at the door, Aunt Wang smiled and pulled them into the house to talk.

Inside, the office was filled with people, all from the neighborhood, who knew each other well. They exchanged pleasantries and cracked a few jokes.

Zhou Jiao got down to business, asking everyone to help her find an apartment. She didn't specify any conditions, but smiled and said she wanted one in a residential complex managed by the aunts and sisters; she wouldn't feel comfortable in other places.

Everyone was delighted by her flattery and began to discuss the matter, each one adding their own, even naming the potential sellers who hadn't registered their properties.

Zhou Jiao, listening nearby, broke out in a cold sweat. It seemed like most families around here couldn't keep any secrets from this bunch of women. She was inwardly amazed that they even knew how much some couples were secretly subsidizing their parents' families, let alone which men were being unfaithful and keeping mistresses.

Zhang's mother and Lin Juhua were so engrossed in the story that they'd forgotten about buying a house. Today, they'd heard some great news: you could actually estimate a family's wealth based on the number of toilets at the doorstep early in the morning. They'd never noticed these details back in the countryside. Lin Juhua couldn't help but wonder, what if someone used a public restroom?

Zhang's mother overheard them discussing how many times a month a daughter-in-law went to the bathhouse and how much money it cost, wondering if that was enough to blow through their entire salary. She quickly glanced at Zhou Jiao, and the two of them exchanged glances, not daring to laugh. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law felt guilty. They went to the bathhouse every few days, each spending two cents each time, and were even more wasteful than others.

An hour later, Aunt Wang showed everyone the list. When asked if these were the only families, she exclaimed in amazement that several families were selling their homes in February, just after the Lunar New Year.

After that, she called Zhang's mother, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to go with her to look at houses. According to her idea, they should go to every house to look at, anyway, it would be like shopping.

After visiting five properties in a row and asking for the lowest price, Zhang's mother and Lin Juhua agreed to select two and asked Aunt Wang to help them find out the lowest price. They agreed to bring their son over after work to confirm the deal.

When Zhang Laoer learned the news after get off work, he chose the yard that was close to his workplace and closest to Zhang Guoqing's home without saying a word.

His explanation was that the family had become wealthy and moved to another county. Buying that house had good feng shui, making it easier for his parents to travel between their two sons' homes in the county town. He was annoyed by the other family's unfilial children.

His words made Zhang's father very happy, and he urged him to pay the money quickly.

The whole family, except for Zhou Jiao who waited for Zhang Guoqing to get off work, went to look at houses. When they returned an hour later, everyone was smiling and wanted to celebrate.

The area is almost the same as Zhang Guoqing's yard. It takes less than ten minutes to walk to his house by taking a shortcut. The final price is 600 yuan, which is really not expensive.

Zhang Guoqing had already prepared the food and wine and wouldn't let Zhang Laoer go to the restaurant. He'd spent six hundred yuan, and since his second brother probably didn't have much money, it was worth it just to make his parents happy.