Chapter 27: The money was blown away by the wind
Auntie was almost shaking off the cumin on the skewers in her hands as she listened to Hua Hudie's exaggerated story. "Oh my, my daughter can fight, she's really good."
He Xiaolan is responsible for making delicious food on the small iron stove. Over the years, when summer comes in Beijing, the only thing she misses from home is this bite of fragrant grilled skewers. The sizzling, fat and lean pork belly is caramel-colored, brushed with honey sauce, and has a salty and spicy taste with a little sweetness. After being baked, it is dipped in sesame salt. The slightly burnt sesame aroma is stronger. It enters the mouth together with the chewy small cake. With every chew, the taste of different ingredients bursts in the mouth, and the oil and water slide down the esophagus, soaking the spleen and stomach that have been dry for a long time.
"Xiaolan, take me with you next time you go home, and we'll have barbecue together." Hua Hudie and Qin Tiantian didn't care about losing weight anymore. Usually, they had to take out their phones to record calories and check their fasting time after eating. But today, they didn't care and didn't even have time to take out their phones.
"Aren't you two going to work out today?"
"Yes, I am practicing right now, exercising my masseter muscles." Qin Tiantian chewed the skewers nonchalantly, and even started shaking her head when she got excited.
The agent called He Xiaolan and said they had found a new buyer and would be viewing the house the next day. "We'll go together. If you dare to cause trouble again, we'll give you a hard time." Ms. Zhang Xinrong, tired and no longer wanting to get involved in this mess, let the three of them go on their way.
Hua Hudie formulated a strategy to sell the house. She and Qin Tiantian pretended to be buyers and bargained with the house-viewing company. They were sure to sell it at a high price. However, when they arrived at the old house the next day, Hua Hudie couldn't find any reason to buy it, so she gave up the plan.
The couple who came to see the house were a young couple in their early twenties. The girl was pregnant and they wanted to settle down in the county town. They looked at many new houses but the prices were unaffordable. After looking around, they felt that although He Xiaolan's house was old, there was a kindergarten and primary school right outside the door. "When the baby is born, we don't have to get up early to send her to school. We'll still be there in time."
After chatting for a few minutes while signing the contract, the two of them opened a wedding company in the county town. There were few migrant workers in the county town and they didn't make much money. When there was work on weekdays, they would do it themselves if they could, and hire someone when they couldn't.
"Sister, you don't know, one day I was so tired that I fell asleep in the truck bed. He couldn't find me and was so anxious that he almost called the police." The girl was very talkative and kept talking about their past and their future. Qin Tiantian, who had just broken up with her boyfriend, felt sad and wanted to go out for a walk. As soon as she got up, Hua Hudie handed her her phone and said, "Someone called you. It's an unfamiliar number, but it's from Beijing."
Qin Tiantian felt a little strange, but she was afraid that the school might need her help, so she went to the balcony to answer the phone. "Hello, hello, I'm Qin Tiantian. Who are you?"
The person on the other end didn't say anything for a long time, "You've cheated me, you liar, get out of here."
"Tiantian, it's me, Jerry..."
"Oh, he is indeed a liar."
Qin Tiantian was about to hang up when she heard Jerry yelling at her from the other end, begging her not to hang up, "Stop talking nonsense, you hear me? It's your blessing that I slept with you. It's a blessing for your Niu Niu, do you understand? Don't bother me anymore in the future."
It was still civilized, and Teacher Qin still exercised restraint.
Qin Tiantian's voice was too loud, and the people who were signing the contract stopped chatting and just listened to her call. Except for He Xiaolan and Hua Hudie, the expressions of the other three people were all wonderful. "It's a scam call, it must be a scam call, hahahaha, let's ignore her." He Xiaolan quickly tried to smooth things over, trying to end the awkwardness.
"Let's go transfer the ownership tomorrow. We'll go when the government hall opens in the morning. You guys leave and we'll play for a while." The girl is still young and she can't form words after such a small storm. "She's pregnant and always like this, hahaha. Let's go transfer the ownership at nine o'clock tomorrow, is that okay?" "No, no, see you tomorrow." He Xiaolan got up and saw the young couple off. Seeing Qin Tiantian coming over with a gloomy face, the real estate agent hated that he could not turn into a gecko and lie on the wall.
"Sister, let's talk about our business tomorrow afternoon. I'm leaving first." The agent went downstairs at the speed of light. She probably tripped in the middle of the stairs. There was a plant growing in the corridor.
"Jerry called you."
"I'm Tom, a Chinese name is a foreign name. Are you done? Let's go have barbecue today. I didn't eat enough last night."
"Are you sure you won't get a sore throat?" It's not that I can't eat it, but eating so much greasy food is incredibly irritating, and irritation means constipation, which is a curse. I don't know when it started, probably around age 30, but my morning wake-up call became less regular. Sometimes I'd use it every two days, sometimes every four. I'd used a suppository on my face before, and it finally worked when I was constipated for five days.
Upon hearing the house had sold successfully, Ms. Zhang Xinrong spoke with more energy and straightened her back. Qin Tiantian, unbothered by the junk food, asked for barbecue again, sitting down at the barbecue stall. Ms. Zhang Xinrong, who hadn't drunk in a while, offered a drink. After one drink, Qin Tiantian wanted to be a sister to Ms. Zhang Xinrong. "Sister, no, no, Auntie, how did you and Xiaolan get through all those hard times?"
Ms. Zhang Xinrong did not say anything, but looked at He Xiaolan with tears in her eyes, "Mom, I'm sorry." He Xiaolan was the only one who was still sober at the table. Seeing this, Ms. Zhang Xinrong felt scared. She might as well scold herself. She would feel better after being scolded. She would have to find a test question when she got home to see if she had a masochistic tendency.
"Qi Meihua tells her story with He Guoqiang like it's from a melodramatic TV drama. Is their story really that ridiculous?"
"Listen to her nonsense, this woman doesn't tell the truth." Ms. Xinrong poured herself another glass, took a sip, and commented on Qi Meihua's character.
"It was she who took the initiative to contact He Guoqiang, wanting to move her household registration out of the village. At that time, she didn't run a barber shop and worked as a waitress in a small restaurant. I don't know how she got in touch with He Guoqiang, and the two of them started to flirt with each other. She got pregnant first, so they had a fight."
The conversation turned into a Rashomon, and the real reason was probably only God knows. As the wine became more and more drunk, people became more and more bold. Hua Hudie and Ms. Zhang Xinrong had a heated debate on whether to have children, but in the end, neither of them was convinced.
I don't remember how I got home. When I opened my eyes that morning, there were two people on the floor, and I was lying on the bed, still dressed. There was a clanging sound in the kitchen. I got up despite the headache, crossed the mountains and the sea to the kitchen, and found Wang Qingwei there, making breakfast.
"Why are you back? Has your company's program testing finished?"
"Are you up? Call your mother and those two to have some porridge. It's over. I gave you three days off including last weekend. Come back and see how it's going."
"It's all done. The transfer is done today and it's all over. It's just right, let's go back in the afternoon. I want to go to Tianjin to accompany Yueyue for a few days. I've been so busy these days that I haven't taken care of her."
"Let's leave after lunch and book a hotel near our home."
"Just spend the money and squeeze in at home. I always feel that Yang Fan is like a lunatic recently. I hope he will have an attack one day and give me prescriptions. It will be troublesome if we don't have any spare money."
Wang Qingwei was a little distracted while listening to He Xiaolan's words and didn't respond. He only reacted after being pushed by He Xiaolan, "It's okay, I will get a bonus after testing this new program, you don't have to worry too much."
"Mr. Wang is back! You're still late with your work," Qin Tiantian said, her head aching. She gently bumped into the door frame, but the resentment in her eyes still stung Wang Qingwei. Hua Hudie fumbled to put on her glasses and saw clearly that it was Wang Qingwei who had returned. "I've always said this, my husband is the same whether he's with me or not. He's always there for me in bed, but when other things happen, they go their separate ways."
"My mother is still at home, let's be careful with our words." If these two big mouths are not covered quickly, who knows what will come out of their mouths in the next second.
He Xiaolan looked at Wang Qingwei as if he had something on his mind, but after a few questions, he didn't say anything, so she simply stopped asking. Ms. Zhang Xinrong didn't want to go back to Tianjin and wanted to stay in her hometown for a while. He Xiaolan didn't force it, because her parents-in-law would probably get angry if they asked her to go back home after just a few days.
It was already evening when they arrived in Tianjin, and Qian Helin had already lined up at Cheeseland. No matter what, they had to have a good meal tonight. The three ladies had been eating so well these past few days, and with the wine from yesterday, they just had two plates of salad.
Qian Helin wiped his mouth and started gossiping, "You three were sent to the police station for a fight? Great, three middle-aged female heroes."
"If you can speak, say it. If you can't, shut up. Who's middle-aged?" Hua Hudie had some objections to her appearance in recent days, and Qian Helin's words made her even angrier.
"I'll give you a surprise later. I did something big while you were gone." Hearing Qian Helin's words, everyone except Hua Hudie perked up, eager to follow and see what the surprise was. Hua Hudie was unsure, but in order to avoid awkwardness, she tried her best to show her anticipation.
Qian Helin has always been like this, doing whatever he wants to do, working day and night, never considering what to do if he makes a mistake tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Just like the grand wedding that He Xiaolan had been obsessed with, it was actually Qian Helin's idea. He is not a princess, but he has princess syndrome.
At the time, Hua Hudie suggested keeping it simple, letting her parents accept the gifts. They could then go to Europe, the Maldives, or buy a small house in Fengtai worth a few million yuan and wait for it to appreciate in value. Qian Helin, a natural fan of excitement, thought it wouldn't work. He wanted it to be grand and lively. In the end, they spent all the money for the down payment on the house, and they hadn't even watched the wedding video from the day the ceremony ended until they were getting ready to divorce.
The group strolled from Cheeseland to Hisense Plaza. Wang Qingwei kept asking what they were looking for. Could there be another store there? They headed straight for the underground parking lot. Qian Helin pressed the key, and Hua Hudie's heart sank. A brand-new XC90 was displayed before them. While Qian Helin was still expounding on the car's many advantages, Hua Hudie couldn't hear a word, only the price: 590,000 yuan.
The money was blown away by the wind in an instant.
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