"You're talking nonsense, Xu Damao! It was clearly you! You were spouting nonsense to that group of old women. I only told the truth when Liu Lan came over and asked me!" Sha Zhu immediately retorted.
"He Yuzhu!" Director Wang's voice rose several decibels: "Do you need me to have Comrade Liu Lan come over for a face-to-face confrontation?"
Sha Zhu fell silent, then mumbled, "Well... Xu Damao was the one who distributed them first!"
"Heh, you silly Zhu, you're really something. Didn't you get enough of the suffering last time?" Wang Shouren sneered.
The last time Sha Zhu reported him, he simply didn't take it to heart.
However, although he didn't hold it against her, if it weren't for the deaf old lady's intervention, he probably wouldn't have been able to stay at the steel mill and would have become unemployed. Now, only three years have passed, and he's already forgotten about it.
"Speaking of which, Comrade He Yuzhu, Wang Shouren is right. What exactly did he do to you? What grudge do you hold against him? Why are you always targeting him? Do you think you're living too comfortably? Fine, Comrade He Yuzhu, I'll give you two choices. First, quit your job at the steel rolling mill..."
"No! Director Wang, how could you resign..." Sha Zhu was dumbfounded.
"Little Wang..." The deaf old lady who had been listening from the side could no longer sit still.
Everyone knows just how important a secure job is.
"Grandma, please let me finish. And you, He Yuzhu, do you really think you could have gotten away with this so easily without your help?" Director Wang glanced at He Yuzhu, not out of disappointment, but out of pity for the deaf old lady. Why would she get herself into this mess at her age for such a good-for-nothing?
At this moment, everyone around quieted down.
This is a very big deal.
Director Wang glanced around, and everyone around him shrank back: "He Yuzhu, either you quit your job at the steel mill, or you sweep the streets every day after get off work. I don't care how late you sweep, you have to sweep them clean. If you don't sweep them clean, this matter won't be over."
"No, it must take time, right?"
"Three months."
"Huh?!" Sha Zhu was dumbfounded.
Sweep the streets for three months straight. Does Sha Zhu even care about his reputation anymore?
"What about Xu Damao?"
"Considering it's his first offense, Xu Damao wrote me a 3,000-word self-criticism. If he commits it again, he'll be punished along with me."
"No, why should I?!" Sha Zhu protested.
"You're not convinced, are you?" Director Wang glared at Sha Zhu.
"Yes, I'm not convinced."
"Come on, tell me, how did Wang Shouren offend you?" Director Wang's voice rose several notches.
Everyone looked at Wang Shouren.
"What did he do to offend me? Why did Sister Qin introduce this guy to someone instead of me? This guy isn't even old enough to get married yet. Why is that?!" Sha Zhu practically shouted these words.
“Zhu Zi…” The deaf old lady tugged at Sha Zhu’s hand, not wanting him to continue talking.
"I just want to know, why? Sister Qin, can you tell me?!" Sha Zhu looked at Qin Huairu with red eyes.
"Heh, you silly Zhu, are you really that silly, or are you just pretending?" Wang Shouren sneered.
"you!"
"What? You want to fight?" Wang Shouren rolled up his sleeves, stomped his foot, and guess what? Another 50 cents was gone (a floor tile costs 50 cents).
Staring at the shattered floor tiles, Sha Zhu paused, his anger momentarily subsiding.
“Let me tell you why. When I first came to this courtyard, you, Sha Zhu, would bully me all the time. Sister Qin took pity on me and would chat with me occasionally. I’m grateful for that, and I’ve always remembered Sister Qin’s kindness. Then, Brother Dongxu got into trouble.” At this point, Wang Shouren paused and glanced around.
"It's normal for neighbors to lend a hand or help each other out. But Sha Zhu, even I, a kid who was only seventeen at the time, knew to avoid suspicion and not get too close to Sister Qin to avoid gossip. What about you? What did you do? Did you really think no one noticed your filthy thoughts?"
"I was just trying to help Sister Qin out of pity. I didn't have any other intentions! Besides, it was an old man who asked me to help Sister Qin's family," Sha Zhu argued loudly.
"Reason doesn't lie in raising your voice, Sha Zhu. You know what you're thinking. I won't argue with you anymore. But any normal person would openly bring a lunchbox back to give to someone, letting the whole compound know. An old man in this compound has helped a lot of people, but do you know when and where he helped them?"
"Don't you really understand the consequences of giving out the lunchbox and getting close to Sister Qin?"
Sha Zhu trembled all over, wanting to say something, but was stopped by Wang Shouren.
"Fine, I'll pretend you don't know. I'll pretend you're kind-hearted, just a bit carefree. I won't even mention the time you reported me. I'll just ask you one thing: over the years, how many blind dates have you been set up with by this old man, this old woman, the old lady in the backyard, and that matchmaker next door, Li? Which one did you like? Look at the conditions you offered."
"First, she has to be pretty; second, she has to be educated; and third, she has to be a full-time employee." Wang Shouren counted on his fingers: "What? With these conditions, who would dare to introduce you to someone? With these conditions, which girl would even look at you? Don't you know how messy your room is? Don't you know what you look like? Don't you know what people say about you?"
The three of them, without any sense of the situation, simply let Sha Zhu Hongwen get what he wanted.
Adding to the commotion was Xu Damao grinning broadly beside him, making his temples throb.
“Silly Zhu…” Qin Huairu spoke up at this moment.
Sha Zhu looked over with bloodshot eyes.
Although Qin Huairu was a little scared, she still said, "It's not that I don't want to introduce you to someone, it's just that the person I introduce to Wang Shouren doesn't meet your requirements. Out of the three, only the first one is right."
"Then why would he agree!" Sha Zhu said in a hoarse voice.
“Silly Zhu, I’m not you. I know what I want. I just want to marry a virtuous wife to help me manage the household. My salary is enough to support a family. I know what propriety, righteousness, integrity, and a sense of shame are. I know what contentment means!”
Sha Zhu's anger surged higher and higher.
"Hahahaha... Sha Zhu, look at yourself! You don't actually think I ruined all your blind dates, do you? When people ask around, who would want to marry you? You spineless coward."
"boom!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
