This time, Yu Li and Chen Yan were unusually in agreement: "Yes! We'll pay your tuition!"
Little Dang nestled in Yu Li's arms, too ashamed to show her face.
Yu Li was so angry that she called out Yi Zhonghai and Yan Bugui, but not Liu Haizhong.
Upon hearing Xiao Dang's story, the two old men slammed their fists on the table, exclaiming, "This Qin Huairu is really going too far!"
"Of course! I thought she was a good person before, someone who was kind to others. How did she become like this in the last few years?"
The fat man snorted coldly: "It's easy to draw the skin of a tiger, but hard to draw its bones; it's easy to know a person's face, but hard to know their heart! You call yourself a teacher? How come you can't even understand this?"
Yan Bugui said dejectedly to Yi Zhonghai, "Old Yi, what do you think we should do about this today? Should we hold a hospital-wide meeting?"
Yi Zhonghai glanced at Xiao Dang, thought for a moment, and said, "Then let's notify everyone to hold a general meeting of the entire institute!"
"..."
At the meeting, Qin Huairu saw Xiao Dang hiding behind the fat man and her eyes almost spit fire.
Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, and Yan Bugui gave her a thorough dressing-down! They called her a stepmother, a snake-hearted woman, and said she was trying to drive her own daughter to her death... Listen to that, is there a single human word in her speech?
Madam Jia turned pale with fright. She didn't think much of Xiao Dang, but Xiao Dang was still her granddaughter, and she never intended to force her to her death!
Yi Zhonghai glanced coldly at Qin Huairu and said to the people in the courtyard, "That's the gist of the matter. Everyone, let's discuss what to do."
Yu Li was the first to stand up and say, "Qin Huairu, if you can't live anymore, give me Xiaodang. From now on, she will be my daughter!"
Before Qin Huairu could object, someone stood up and said, "No, no, I think Xiao Dang is a good match for me, so give her to me."
Everyone in the courtyard looked at Sha Zhu in surprise.
Thinking about it carefully, Ran Qiuye ran away in the middle of the night back then, and he's still single to this day. Now it seems he's given up on remarrying and wants to take Xiao Dang in and raise her as his daughter.
Actually, Xiao Dang has no trouble finding a buyer.
Yi Zhonghai and the old lady had no children. He had already decided that if Qin Huairu couldn't tolerate Xiao Dang, he would raise Xiao Dang under his own name.
On the other hand, Yan Fugui had similar thoughts. Despite having many children, none of them could lay eggs.
I don't know what's gotten into them, but Yan Jiecheng and Xu Damao are the same age, both 35 this year. If all else fails, maybe we should just take this little pawnshop from them…
As a result, Yu Li and Sha Zhu started arguing, but Fatty waved his hand and said, "Stop arguing, you'll pay half of Xiao Dang's tuition from now on." And that settled the matter.
Jia Zhangshi was furious: "What are you doing? What are you doing? I'm not dead yet! Do you think this is the old society? Do you want to force people to sell their children?"
Madam Jia strongly objected, and the people in the courtyard couldn't do anything about it.
Unexpectedly, after the meeting, Xiao Dang stubbornly went to stay in Sha Zhu's house!
He brought nothing but these clothes, and when he walked into the house, he almost scared Sha Zhu to death: "I'm never going back to that house again, Sha Zhu, do you want a wife or not!" He didn't even call him Uncle Sha anymore...
Sha Zhu thought to himself, "You're too cruel. What grudge do you hold against me?" Helpless, he said to Xiao Dang, "Little ancestor, you can stay in the rainy room for now. As long as your Uncle Sha has something to eat, you'll have something to eat too."
Xiao Dang blinked: "Then I won't call you 'Silly Uncle' anymore, I'll call you 'Dad,' 'Silly Dad'!"
Sha Zhu was overjoyed: "Hahaha, good, good! Call me Dad, I'll call you Dad!"
"..."
And so, Bang Geng didn't speak a word to Sha Zhu for eight years; Xiao Dang was even more ruthless, not stepping into that door again for eight years.
※※※※※※
Speaking of what happened back then, even Xu Damao sighed and lowered his voice to say, "Actually, I think Xiaodang is a pretty good girl, but you two beat her to it."
He and Qin Jingru have been together for so many years, but they don't have a child. Having a child is becoming a major worry for him.
Moreover, he firmly believes that it is not his own problem and that no one can persuade him; he will get angry with anyone who tries to persuade him.
In fact, Fatty knew that Xu Damao already knew the truth in his heart, but he just didn't know how to face it.
After Qin Jingru carried away Xu Damao, who had blacked out from drinking, Chen Yan came over to clear the table. She smiled and said to the fat man, "No wonder you come from the countryside, you've got some strength."
The fat man quickly stopped her: "Second sister, don't bother. By the way, what about that thing I told you about last time? What have you thought about?"
Chen Yan hesitated for a moment, looking somewhat unsure: "Is it really just me, your wife, and Xiao Dang, the three of us women going to do it?"
"No way, I've also found Thunder Tiger, Smiling Tiger, and Dragon-Capturing Tiger to help you. Let them handle the heavy lifting."
Chen Yan shook her head: "What I mean is that we lack a leader. How about you take charge of us for a while, little brother?"
This time, the fat man shook his head: "No, no, you can't become dependent on him. He'll be handling all that stuff in the future, so you have to stand up for yourself now."
Chen Yan thought for a moment and said, "Alright then, I'll give it a try."
"..."
The siblings were obviously talking about the moving company.
The environment is different now than before. Undercurrents are swirling beneath the surface of Beijing. As more and more unemployed youths like Bang Geng emerge, more and more people are quietly starting to make money.
In fact, as early as 1978, people in Beijing were already running small restaurants, auto repair shops, and street stalls. (You can find this on Baidu.) Chongli Auto Repair Shop was one of the earliest self-employed businesses in Beijing.
They were already turning a blind eye to it, and the Industry and Commerce Bureau officially started issuing business licenses in 1978.
Not only in Beijing, but also in other parts of the country, a small number of these applications began to be processed starting in May 1978.
People in Beijing are moving quite frequently these days. With some people coming back to power, the old houses and those old-fashioned things always have to be moved to new homes.
This kind of work is beyond the capabilities of most people, and they wouldn't dare to take it on.
The fat man saw the huge market vacuum and encouraged Chen Yan to enter the market as soon as possible.
He had already smoothed out the connections. Although Director Wang had stepped down, his network of relationships remained, and another high-ranking leader was about to return from the south.
These relationships are already in place, so why not use them?
In addition, the fat man also started planning to open his own restaurant.
The locations are all readily available. Like the place the high-ranking official helped Sha Zhu find in the TV series—a prime location within a prime location.
Gold prices have been quietly rising in recent years. With the four gold bars Lou Xiao'e gave me back then, plus what I've saved over the years, I already have enough money to open a shop.
Xiao Dang is such a lovely girl.
Over there, she helped Sha Zhu wash the dishes, boiled water for washing his feet, and forced his father, who didn't like washing his feet, to wash them.
Then we came over here again to see if there was anything else that needed to be done.
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