Jiang Shiyue invited Liu Jianping into the house and said that she had made tea and was waiting for him to come back.

Liu Jianping said it was not appropriate for him to enter the new house now and insisted on standing under the shade of the trees in the yard to talk.

Jiang Shiyue wasn't surprised at all after hearing Liu Jianping's findings. Most people in the 1970s were simple, but simplicity didn't mean stupidity.

Zhao Caifeng usually likes to take advantage of others and is arrogant, which has offended many neighbors.

Jiang Shiyue is just the opposite. When she buys food, she will share it with her neighbors.

Her original intention was to maintain good relations with the neighbors, hoping that they would take good care of Chen Dingguo and Wu Xiu'e, but she didn't expect that the consequences would come back to her first.

Of course Zhao Caifeng refused to admit it. She cried and made a fuss, saying that all the money given by Chen Shanhe was spent on Chen Dingguo, and the 500 yuan snatched away by Jiang Shiyue was saved by herself and Chen Shanlin to help Chen Jiadong marry a wife.

"You're talking nonsense!" Chen Dingguo, who came out in a wheelchair, shouted angrily, "You only give us two yuan a month, and we have to buy medicine and groceries with that two yuan. Your mother is always frugal and spends every penny carefully. There were times when she ran out of money for medicine and carried you on her back to beg on the street. If you don't believe me, go ask Old Zhang at the commune newsstand."

Old Zhang grew up with him naked when they were young. When he saw Wu Xiu'e begging, he asked her repeatedly, and finally chased her home and left her ten yuan.

Only then did he know the whole story.

It is said that family disgrace should not be made public.

Chen Dingguo always cared about his reputation and never told anyone about the grievances he had suffered, nor did he allow Wu Xiu'e to speak about it.

Jiang Shiyue nodded gratefully to Chen Dingguo. Although she didn't need Chen Dingguo to reveal his scars, she appreciated his kindness.

"You're talking nonsense!" Zhao Caifeng snorted angrily. "Old..." Under Liu Jianping's gaze, she swallowed the "old immortal" back. "Your medicine costs more than two yuan a month. How could you have survived until now if I didn't give you money?"

"That's because Chen Shanhe gave me extra money for the medicine." Wang Bin, a childhood friend of Chen Shanhe, suddenly appeared at the gate, holding a stack of envelopes and handing them to Liu Jianping. "Liu Gongan, these are the letters Chen Shanhe wrote to me. Every time he wrote to me, he would put some money in the letter for me, most of the time it was five yuan. Occasionally it was three yuan, and during festivals it was ten yuan. It's all written in the letter. It's because he knew that Zhao Caifeng withheld the money he gave to the old man, so he asked me to buy medicine for Uncle Chen, and every New Year and other holidays, he asked me to buy wine and meat for the old man. I always go to the commune clinic to get the medicine. The doctor there knows me, and he can testify."

Liu Jianping took the envelope and read a few letters at random.

Jiang Shiyue also took out a piece of paper from his pocket. "I have an agreement signed with Zhao Caifeng in my hand. The agreement states that if Zhao Caifeng is a good filial son and serves Luan Fei well, we will give her an additional ten yuan on top of the twenty yuan alimony we already gave her. There is Zhao Caifeng's own fingerprint on it.

In other words, she admitted that Chen Shanhe gave her 20 yuan a month. She said the old man spent a lot of money and insisted that we give him another 10 yuan.

The neighbors who gathered around were all shocked when they heard this.

"Twenty dollars a month? That's two hundred dollars for ten months, and more than two hundred dollars a year, right?"

"Two hundred and forty yuan. With so much money, they only give Uncle Chen and his wife two yuan a month! And they come out all day long to complain about being broke. They're so mean!"

"Yes! They were selected as one of the five best families in the production brigade this year. I even voted for them! I thought Shanhe was a soldier, so his ideological and political thinking was fine, right? Uncle Dingguo has been paralyzed in bed for over ten years, and Auntie has taken such good care of him. The family is harmonious, and Zhao Caifeng and Chen Shanlin are frugal and supportive of the elderly. They're filial, right? Except for the neighborhood unity, which was a little lacking. Everything else was right. I didn't expect it to be fake! It's a good thing they didn't make the cut."

"People's hearts are so different! When we were working together in the fields, Zhao Caifeng always complained about being poor, saying that she worked so hard to save money and spent it all on the old man. I never thought that it was all money sent by Shanhe."

"That's right. Shanhe still has to send two payments. Since Shanhe has already paid for the old man's medicine and maintenance, there's nothing wrong with Zhao Caifeng giving the money to Shanhe as a betrothal gift to marry him off."

"Why is it okay? Two hundred and forty yuan a year, that's four hundred and eighty yuan for two years. Don't forget that Shanhe served in the army for eight years. He has two 500 yuan bonuses. Is that more than five hundred yuan?"

"You can't calculate it that way, right? I know my brother is in the army. Their allowance increases with the length of service. Shanhe couldn't come up with so much money when he first joined the army."

"It can't be just 500 yuan, right? You've been talking about this for eight years! Two years would be enough for 500 yuan. Shanhe grew up under our eyes. He's frugal and filial. The army provides food and accommodation, so most of his money must be sent back home. As long as he's not a spendthrift, he can definitely save 1,800 yuan!"

“…”

Liu Jianping took the agreement and looked at it carefully, while also listening to the discussions of his neighbors.

"Zhao Caifeng, do you have anything else to say?"

Zhao Caifeng never dreamed that she had signed an agreement with Jiang Shiyue and not received a penny, but now it had become evidence of accepting remittances from Chen Shanhe. For a moment, she was at a loss for words. I kept saying "I" for a long time, but I couldn't figure it out.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Wang Qian quietly raised her foot and tried to slip away among the crowd.

Jiang Shiyue had been keeping an eye on her, and seeing this, he said, "Wang Qian, you can leave if you want, but if you stole my things, you have to stay."

Wang Qian turned around in surprise, looking at Jiang Shiyue in disbelief, "Who did you say stole your things?"

"You and Zhao Caifeng are the only ones who have entered my room. Who do you think it was?"

The onlookers all looked at Wang Qian with subtle expressions.

They might not know Wang Qian, but everyone in the production brigade knew that Zhao Caifeng wanted to marry into the Wang family.

Most of the people in the production team were illiterate and had little education. They relied on their labor to earn a living.

Young people in particular are particularly envious of those who sit in offices and get paid by the government.

Since the cancellation of the college entrance examination, universities have only recruited workers, peasants and soldiers, and there are many restrictions. Not to mention that it is difficult to pass the political review, even if you pass the political review, there are still exams.

Rural educational resources are limited, and it is difficult to even get into a technical secondary school.

The Wang family had connections, and Wang Lei had to have good grades to be able to attend a technical secondary school and then work in the commune.

Moreover, in the 1970s, people who worked in the commune could convert their household registration into a non-agricultural household registration, and could also receive grain and meat coupons on demand.

As the saying goes, when one person succeeds, the whole family will benefit.

The entire Wang family's status in the commune has risen significantly. In addition to the obvious benefits such as Wang Qian working in the supply and marketing cooperative, there are also some hidden benefits.

Anyone who went to the commune to do something would go to the Wang family to give some gifts, hoping to make them talk better.

Some families had the same plan as Wang Caifeng, thinking of marrying Wang Qian to get support from their brother-in-law.

In recent years, the Wang family has really made a name for themselves in the commune, and the whole family is very proud of themselves.

Isn’t Wang Qian treated like a little princess wherever she goes now?

When had she ever suffered such injustice?

His face flushed with anger, he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth: "Who stole your things? Don't slander me!"