Qiao Yi swallowed, thinking it was unusual for Fang Yingdi to tell her about how terrible her family was. She used to be very shy about talking about her family, only saying a few words when her parents came to ask for money. After she gave them the money, she would emphasize how kind her parents were to her, even sending her homemade pickled vegetables.
Most of the time they brought pickles, but only once did they bring a very small piece of bacon. Fang Yingdi was very touched and ate it carefully. Then she was sent to the hospital because of a stomachache that night.
Thinking back to that incident, Qiao Yi found it absurd. Yet Fang Yingdi stubbornly insisted it wasn't the meat's fault, but rather that she'd gotten a cold wind, which was why she had diarrhea. It was hilarious. It was the hottest time of the year, so where would the cold wind come from? They only had one fan in the entire dormitory, and it hadn't even worked that day.
Fang Yingdi continued, "Qiao Yi, I really envy you. You go home once a month, and every time someone comes to pick you up, either your dad or your brother. Sometimes they even bring you food so you don't go hungry on the way.
But I went home every week, a three- or four-hour walk over mountains and hills. Once it got dark, all the roads were pitch black, and I walked in the dark. If I lost my focus for a moment, I could end up taking the wrong route, and it would take me five or six hours. I couldn't afford a flashlight. One time, I accidentally stepped on air and tumbled down a hill, hitting a tree. It took me a while to recover, and by the time I got home, it was almost dawn. My mom even complained that I was late and had left last night's dishes for me to wash.
Qiao Yi scratched her head, not understanding. "Then why do you go back every week? It would be fine if you didn't go back. It would be nice to stay in the dormitory. Don't hand over your salary. Your brothers and sisters have hands and feet and won't starve to death. You can keep it for yourself and go shopping with me. Buy some nice clothes and some delicious food. It's better than anything else."
Fang Yingdi: "You don't understand. If I don't go back, my reputation will be ruined. The whole village will say I'm an ungrateful person."
Qiao Yi: "So what? Isn't your household registration at the factory? Just don't go back. Are you going to marry someone from your village? You're a good worker, you should be able to figure it out."
Fang Yingdi was confused for a moment, then said, "But they raised me until I was this old. What I'm doing is the same as severing ties with them. It's really heartless."
Qiao Yi: "You've given them so much money over the years. How much did it cost to raise you? How much do you still owe them?"
Fang Yingdi fell silent again. How much would it cost to raise her? Before she started elementary school, she'd been helping out around the house, like a spinning top, finishing her chores and then heading to the mountains to pick wild vegetables and mushrooms. The money she'd given them for tuition and food, from elementary school through high school, was more than enough for a year.
She had never eaten anything good since she was a child. She only took some pickled vegetables and sweet potatoes to school. Those sweet potatoes were grown by her and her two sisters in their own private plot, and her parents didn't care at all.
Fang Yingdi: "If I really count it, I don't seem to owe them any money, but..."
Qiao Yi: "But what? You can't earn money for your parents and brothers your whole life, right? At worst, you can just pay half, like most of the workers in our factory who don't live at home and haven't started families yet. Although their half is saved for their parents and they will pay part back when they start a family, your family probably won't pay you back. That's better than just keeping five dollars for yourself."
Fang Yingdi: "But don't many people only keep five dollars for themselves and hand in the rest?"
Qiao Yi: "That's because they live at home, eat and drink at home, and that five dollars is just pocket money, money beyond three meals a day, food, clothing, housing and transportation. Are you stupid?"
Fang Yingdi: "But my mother said..."
Qiao Yi: "Has your mother ever worked in the factory?"
Fang Yingdi shook her head.
Qiao Yi: "That's it. How does your mother know who the person who gets five yuan in pocket money in our factory is? You might as well go and ask yourself instead of listening to her."
After saying that, she grabbed a worker she didn't know and asked, "How much do you spend on yourself every month?"
As luck would have it, the person who was grabbed was Jiang Wenhua, the one who was scolded by Old Lady Xia this morning. He was a worker in the unloading team of the textile factory. He had an argument with someone in the morning and was so angry that he didn't eat breakfast and almost couldn't hold on in the morning. He had originally planned to eat the pickles and sweet potato rice he brought with him, but he was really out of energy and could only come to the cafeteria to eat some meat to replenish his energy, as he still had a lot of goods to unload in the afternoon.
He had just finished getting his food and was about to find a familiar colleague to eat with him when he was stopped by someone. He was in a bad mood and spoke in an aggressive tone, "What are you doing?"
Qiao Yi: "I'm just asking. If it's inconvenient, forget it."
Seeing that the two women had made so much stuffed meat, Jiang Wenhua made a request, "If you want to know, give me a few pieces of the green pepper stuffed meat."
Qiao Yi: “?”
Jiang Wenhua: "If you don't want to, forget it. I'm too lazy to talk to you."
"I'll give you a piece." Qiao Yi took a piece from her lunch box and put it on the lid of the lunch box and handed it to him.
Jiang Wenhua immediately poured it into his own bowl, "My monthly pocket money goal is to spend one yuan."
Qiao Yi and Fang Yingdi: “?”
Jiang Wenhua: "Money is hard to earn, so every penny saved is a penny earned. What? You still look down on me?"
Qiao Yi was just about to ask what kind of person only spends one dollar a month, wondering if he was trying to trick them, when she heard Fang Yingdi humbly ask, "Excuse me, comrade, how do you manage to spend one dollar a month?" Even she couldn't do it, but a man with such a big appetite could do it.
This is a good trick, she should learn it, so that she can save a lot of money.
Jiang Wenhua didn't expect that a little girl would be willing to learn this. He was extremely unpopular among the men in the unloading team.
Because he was so stingy. Not only did he refuse to drink and brag with them, but when they asked him to go out for a nice meal, not only did he not pay, he also asked them to pay for his company. Is this fair? Is this even reasonable?
When Jiang Wenhua heard that someone was willing to learn his skills, he immediately wanted to tell them, but it would be a bit of a loss to teach them for nothing. However, he also wanted to say that Jiang Wenhua was wavering between his desires and his principles.
Seeing him hesitate, Fang Yingdi thought he was considering something important, so she said, "It's okay if you don't want to. Do you want another piece? I bought a lot today, so I can give you another one."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Wenhua put the lunch box next to her.
After getting the two pieces of meat as he wished, Jiang Wenhua wanted to sit down and carefully share his experience, but as a grown man, he would be talked about if he sat with two young girls. He was not afraid of that, but he was afraid that the two of them could not bear the gossip.
For the sake of the meat, Jiang Wenhua started talking to the two of them.
Just as they started, Fang Yingdi and Qiao Yi took out their small notebooks from their pockets and began to write. The door to a new world that they had never explored was about to open.
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