Chapter 92 Are you just going to watch them bully my sister-in-law?

Shi Xiaoai took out another ten yuan from her schoolbag and said, "Everyone has worked hard recently. Especially today, we introduced a new variety, and we may be even busier in the future. To reward everyone's efforts, we will give out a bonus today, two yuan per person. Not only you, but Cheng Yang and I will also get some."

At this point, she smiled and said, "We both worked hard."

When Cheng Yang heard that there was still a share for him, he quickly refused: "I don't want it, I don't want it."

Shi Xiaoai walked over and stuffed two yuan into his hand, saying, "Here. You get paid for your work. This is what you deserve."

Cheng Yang looked at her, raised the corner of his lips and did not refuse.

He took the money and put it in his pocket.

Anyway, his money is Xiao Ai's money, so it doesn't matter who holds it, right?

Wang Xiaofeng and Cheng Lin were so happy that they didn't even know how to refuse.

They both took the money and held it tightly in their palms.

Only when they felt the hard feeling of a handful of banknotes in their palms did they truly feel that they were not dreaming.

Because everything was sold out, everyone closed up shop after dividing the money.

When passing by the entrance of the alley, the two people shouting became louder, with an expression of undisguised boasting.

It was as if he was showing off to them how good his business was.

It’s a pity that their showing off in front of this group of people was like dancing for a blind man, and they didn’t get any response at all.

Even Cheng Lin, who usually gets angry the most, is absent-minded at this moment and doesn't take them seriously at all.

What’s the point of shouting loudly?

Is there any money to be taken?

Anyone got a bonus?

What's the point of showing off without you?

Because Cheng Yang had to report to school early the next morning, Cheng Lin and the others refused to let Shi Xiaoai go to the stall with him that afternoon.

Shi Xiaoai did not refuse and stayed at home to help Cheng Yang pack his things.

"I'll fry some pork floss for you, and make you some meat sauce. You can take it to school and eat it with steamed buns or rice."

She said this as she stir-fried the braised shredded pork in the pan.

"No, don't bother. We will definitely have a meal together and there will be no chance to eat." Cheng Yang said.

"If you don't have a chance to eat in the cafeteria, just leave it in the dormitory. You'll always be able to eat it. Your body hasn't fully recovered yet, so you can't not eat some meat every day.

Also, I just told Xiaofeng to make twenty more stone buns, ten with nut filling and ten with oil filling, and you can take them with you tomorrow. Didn't you say that your comrade is coming to school too? You can eat together then."

The comrade-in-arms that Shi Xiaoai was talking about was Qian Yingming, the person who had taken care of Cheng Yang in the field hospital before.

Qian Yingming is also a combat hero. Although he came back from the front line earlier than Cheng Yang, he also has two military merits.

This time, the division arranged for cadres to study at the military academy in order to train reserve forces for the unit, and the requirements are of course relatively high.

Having been to the front line, having military merits, being young and educated are all essential.

Although Qian Yingming's performance was slightly worse than Cheng Yang's, he was also an outstanding figure in the group, so he also got a place in this study.

Cheng Yang was of course very happy when he heard the news. It was an unexpected surprise for him to become classmates with his comrades who had fought side by side with him.

Of course, this also brought him convenience. He immediately asked Qian Yingming to help him bring back the salary that he hadn't had time to collect...

Hearing his wife mention Qian Yingming, Cheng Yang smiled and said, "He's always said he wanted to come visit us. He mentioned it several times when he was in the hospital. Now that we're close, I'll bring him back when I'm not busy."

"Sure." Shi Xiaoai agreed readily: "We'll open another bottle of wine when you come back!"

During the time when the two of them were drinking and chatting before, Cheng Yang told her many stories about their comrades-in-arms, how they fought side by side and how they relied on each other.

Shi Xiaoai's blood boiled when she heard this, and she felt even more respect for these real soldiers.

Cheng Yang also mentioned Qian Yingming to her at that time, and told her that this comrade had been taking care of him when he was in the hospital. Including the toys he brought back for the two little ones, they were all bought by Qian Yingming.

Knowing this, Shi Xiaoai naturally felt more grateful to Cheng Yang, a comrade-in-arms whom she had never met, so much so that she was willing to use the wine that she usually didn't want to drink to entertain him.

But Cheng Yang refused after hearing it.

He said, "No, I want to keep the wine for the two of us."

As he spoke, he moved closer to Shi Xiaoai and whispered in her ear, "Brother Guo and I have agreed to have them deliver the furniture this Sunday. I'll take a day off and won't be home tonight. We can have a drink together."

His breath was hot, and when he spoke, the hot air brushed against Xiao Ai's ears, making her feel itchy and her earlobes soon turned red.

Although the house was built, the furniture that Xiao Ai wanted at the beginning had not been moved back yet.

The furniture has actually been made, but Shi Xiaoai is a little worried about the current paint, as she always feels that it has a strong smell.

So Cheng Yang discussed with Guo An and decided to put the finished furniture in their sawmill first to dissipate the smell, and then move it here after the cleaning was completed.

Apart from the bookcases and desks that Xiao Ai sometimes specifically requested, the largest piece of furniture was the big bed that Cheng Yang specifically requested.

He attached great importance to the bed and even went to the lumber mill to pick out the pattern.

Shi Xiaoai didn't go with him to see it, but from what he said when he came back, she could tell how much he was looking forward to it.

Since she has decided to live with this man, Shi Xiaoai naturally will not refuse his request for intimacy.

And deep down, she actually had some vague expectations.

But no matter what she thought, she still felt a little embarrassed when this person said it so bluntly.

Shi Xiaoai reached out and pushed Cheng Yang out, saying fiercely, "Go, go, go, pack your things quickly, don't stand here and get in the way."

Cheng Yang was pushed back a step by her, but did not leave.

Seeing that his wife was embarrassed, Cheng Yang didn't dare to say more on this topic, for fear that he would really anger her and then he would be in trouble.

He quickly changed the subject and said, "Don't rush to chase me away. I still have something to tell you!"

Shi Xiaoai glanced at him and asked, "What's the matter?"

That look was threatening, clearly telling him - no more nonsense!

Cheng Yang smiled, cleared his throat, sat down next to Shi Xiaoai, and said to her, "When I came back at noon, I saw Shi Daxi's people going to Courtyard No. 1 to get water. It seems that they are very familiar with the people over there."

Shi Xiaoai actually saw it too.

She didn't see anyone going to Yard No. 1 to fetch water, but she saw the two men coming out of the alley carrying water.

Yunshui Lane was once considered a wealthy area in Yuncheng.

The alley wasn't very long, and the total number of households on both sides was only about forty. But all of these forty or so families lived in independent small courtyards.

Although the sizes of each house are different, even the smallest yard has five or six houses, and the larger yards have as many as ten or twenty houses.

Before liberation, the people who lived here all had some assets, equivalent to the middle class in the city.

Mr. Shi's family owned a restaurant and had considerable wealth. After liberation, he voluntarily handed over the restaurant and his savings to the state, with only two requests: a job in a state-owned enterprise and a place for his family to live.

This house was allocated to him by the state at that time.

There are basically three types of people living in this alley. The situation of some families is similar to that of the Shi family. They also gave away their family property in exchange for such a shelter.

Uncle Wang and Aunt Liu's family is also in this situation.

Some others are old residents of the alley, and their houses have been passed down in their families.

Apart from these two types, the rest are the poor people who were originally resettled by the government.

During the war, most of the people in this alley fled, and there were only a few real old families left.

Those houses whose owners could not be traced eventually became state-owned.

Some of these houses were distributed to families like Mr. Shi's, and the others were built into small rooms to accommodate the poor.

Later, during the movement, some old households’ houses were taken away and used to house factory workers who had no place to live.

By this time, the people living in Yunhe Lane had become quite diverse, coming from all walks of life, and it was no longer as quiet as it was at the beginning.

Courtyard No. 1 is such a large courtyard, with about twenty households living in it.

Because there are so many people living there, the gate is usually not closed until night. Shi Xiaoai and her friends pass by the alley entrance every day, so they can see the situation inside very clearly.

When she heard Cheng Yang say that they were fetching water in Yard No. 1, she was not surprised. On the contrary, she felt that it was as she expected.

After all, the Shi family has lived in this alley for so many years, and they should be much more familiar with the people in the alley than his own family.

Seeing that she had remained silent, Cheng Yang said, "If they were just carrying water, it wouldn't be a big deal. I just don't know what their relationship is with the people in that courtyard. Will it have any impact on us?"

"It shouldn't be a big problem." Shi Xiaoai said.

"There are over twenty families living in Courtyard No. 1. It's impossible for Shi Daxi to have a good relationship with every one of them. Given the complexity of their courtyard, you can imagine that this water collection issue will cause trouble sooner or later."

Shi Xiaoai had a reason to say this, because they had dealt with people from that courtyard before.

All the courtyards in Yunhe Lane have running water and electricity meters. However, each courtyard only has a single master meter for both water and electricity, and neither meter is connected to the households.

This doesn't matter to a single-family family like Shi Xiaoai's.

But in the slum, there would be endless arguments if someone used too much water or left the lights on too long at night.

Shi Xiaoai's tent was at the entrance of the alley, and behind the tent was right next to Courtyard No. 1.

When the tent was set up, she suggested pulling an electric wire from Yard No. 1 to install a light bulb in the tent.

At first, she wanted to talk to the people in the courtyard herself, but she was immediately stopped by Aunt Liu as soon as she brought it up.

Finally, at Aunt Liu's suggestion, the office took the initiative to discuss the matter with those people.

The result of the negotiation was that Shi Xiaoai paid one yuan of electricity bill to the office every month, and then the office deducted this money from the total electricity bill that No. 1 Courtyard should pay.

In this way, all households in the courtyard benefit, so naturally no one will raise any objections.

And now, Shi Daxi and the others are going to the yard to fetch water.

If they had solved the problem through the office like she did, Director Yu and Aunt Liu would have known about it long ago and would not have hidden it from her.

The two of them didn't mention it, so naturally the matter of getting water was handled privately by them.

Judging from the personalities of Shi Laoer's family, Shi Xiaoai suspected that they would never mention the water bill at all.

Then there will definitely be some trouble in the end.

That night, Cheng Lin and the others came back a little later than usual, and they were all in high spirits.

As soon as he entered the room, Cheng Lin slammed his schoolbag and said to Shi Xiaoai, "Sister-in-law, guess how much we made from this meal tonight?"

Because most people around would choose to go home and cook at night, and there was no one else in the hospital except the inpatients, so the tea stall would not make much money from this meal in the evening, ten yuan at most.

But because they had braised pork rice today, and Cheng Lin's expression at the moment, Shi Xiaoai still guessed the highest number: "Fifteen?"

"Seventeen dollars and fifty cents!" Cheng Lin's voice was full of excitement.

"Wow, that's quite a lot." Shi Xiaoai was also very happy.

"Well, it's mainly because we sold fewer stone buns in the afternoon. If we sold more stone buns, we could have sold more!" Cheng Lin's tone was filled with regret.

"Okay, don't be ungrateful, it's already very good."

Shi Xiaoai said, "Tomorrow there will be even fewer people buying stone buns, so you all should be mentally prepared."

Wang Xiaofeng came back with brothers Cheng Lin and Cheng Kai.

After hearing this, he nodded in agreement: "I think so too. Everyone around us has bought almost everything. I guess what they bought alone will last them for several days."

"Well, in addition to stone steamed buns, the sales of steamed buns with vegetables will also decline."

Shi Xiaoai looked at the two people and expressed her thoughts: "I want to discuss with you, let's cancel the steamed buns with vegetables for the time being and focus on stone buns and braised pork rice. What do you think?"

Cheng Lin and Wang Xiaofeng looked at Shi Xiaoai together, both showing surprised expressions, and no one spoke first.

Shi Xiaoai smiled: "What's wrong? It's just a change of breed, it's not a big deal. Why do you two have such expressions?"

Wang Xiaofeng said, "Sister, you are the one who makes the decision on this matter. We will do whatever you say. You don't need to discuss it with us."

Cheng Lin also nodded in agreement.

"One person's plan is short-sighted, and two people's plan is long-sighted. Although I am the one leading this tea stall now, you are also part of it. This business belongs to all of us." Shi Xiaoai said to the two of them.

"The varieties that Shi Daxi and his team produce overlap significantly with ours. Although we are not afraid of them, there is no point in fighting them so hard. It is just a waste of our time.

And I heard customers talking today about how they serve the same side dishes with their steamed buns as we do, and they say the taste is pretty much the same. So I'm thinking they might also be buying their peppercorn oil from Chef Zhou. If that's the case, we really can't compete with them if we don't lower our prices too."

"How can you be so shameless!" Cheng Lin was furious.

He rolled up his sleeves and cursed, "If this were in the capital, I'd beat him to death!"

Cheng Yang, who had been listening, slapped his brother on the head and cursed, "Who are you, my father? If you keep talking nonsense, I'll beat you up first!"

Cheng Yang pouted in grievance: "Brother, are you just going to watch them bully my sister-in-law?"

Cheng Yang did not respond to his brother's words, but the light in his eyes became darker.