Li Chu estimated that the old man in the play was thinking the same way the screenwriter thought: if there are no difficulties, I will create difficulties and still try to overcome them.
In the past two years, there has been widespread famine across the country, and many people have fled to Beijing. In some cases, all the adults in the family have passed away, leaving only the children. The government has required the street offices to properly resettle them, which has caused the staff of the street offices a great deal of trouble.
In this situation, it would be incredibly easy for the old man to adopt a child. He's a level eight worker, earning 99 yuan a month, plus other subsidies and bonuses, totaling over 100 yuan a month – the highest salary in the courtyard. With that salary, he could easily support three or five children, let alone one.
Comments say the old man is a hypocrite who likes to stand on a moral high ground and use moral blackmail to force others to do what he calls good deeds.
According to Li Chu's observations over the past two years, the old man is a pretty good person. Take taking care of the old lady in the backyard, for example. Although the neighborhood committee arranged for them to take care of her, the old man and the old lady did a good job, providing three meals a day and showing concern for her well-being.
And then there's He Yuzhu and He Yushui. In the two years after their father left them, it's uncertain whether they would have survived without the help of Uncle Yi's family.
Whenever someone in the neighborhood has a problem, this old man is always eager to help.
If someone does this for several years, would you say he's sincere or just being hypocritical?
Some time ago, Li Chu heard from her older sister that an elderly man and woman had secretly approached the staff of their neighborhood office, seemingly intending to adopt a child, but they hadn't found a suitable one.
They want to adopt a child who is too young to remember things, as they are afraid that children who are old enough to remember things will be difficult to raise and that the children will miss their biological parents. This is only natural.
Seeing that an elderly man and woman had this idea, Li Chu decided to help the elderly man.
According to his observation, as long as the elderly man and woman are not missing any parts, and they are only in their 40s, they may still have the possibility of having their own children after treatment.
If an elderly man has his own biological child and no longer needs to worry about his old age, the fate of many people in this compound may be changed.
Li Chu said he was really looking forward to it.
After thinking for a while, he left home and headed towards the central courtyard.
The middle courtyard was much larger than the front courtyard. An old man lived in the east wing of the middle courtyard, which had two rooms and was about the same size as Li Chu's house.
As he reached the door, he called out loudly, "Grandpa, are you there? I'm here."
An old man lifted the curtain and said, "Come in quickly, Dr. Li, we've been waiting for you."
Li Chu went inside and saw that He Yuzhu was also there.
An old man pulled up a stool for Li Chu to sit on. "Dr. Li, if there's anything I can do to help, I'll definitely do it."
Li Chu looked at He Yuzhu and said, "Zhuzi, could you leave for a moment? I need to talk to an old man about something private."
"Hey, what's wrong with keeping things from others?" He Yuzhu asked, his face full of displeasure.
Li Chu didn't speak, he just looked at He Yuzhu.
An old man looked at Li Chu and said to He Yuzhu, "Zhuzi, why don't you go back first?"
He Yuzhu had no choice but to reluctantly stand up and walk outside, muttering to himself as he went.
He Yuzhu stomped his foot in frustration as soon as he stepped outside and saw the door was closed. His heart was pounding with curiosity. He wanted to eavesdrop by the door, but felt too embarrassed. He paced back and forth in front of the door several times. Finally, having no other choice, he reluctantly turned back to his house.
After Li Chu got up and closed the door, he sat back down. At that moment, an older woman came out from the inner room.
Li Chu greeted the older woman, then said to the older man, "Grandpa and Grandma, I have a question for you two. Please don't be angry when you hear it."
An elderly man and woman exchanged a glance, and the man said, "Dr. Li, just ask me whatever you need."
"Uncle and Aunt, well then, I'll get straight to the point!" Li Chu organized his thoughts. "I'd like to ask if you two would like to have a child?"
An elderly man paused for a moment, looked at an elderly woman, and replied, "Dr. Li, you should have heard your older sister say that your aunt and I did indeed plan to adopt a child, but we just haven't met the right one yet."
An older woman nodded and chimed in, "Yes, we also went to see a few children, but they're all a bit too old. We're afraid... afraid we won't be able to raise them properly."
"I know you two are considering adopting a child, but that's not what I meant. I meant, would you like to have a child of your own?"
With a loud bang, an old man excitedly stood up, bringing his chair with him.
"What? What did you say?"
An older woman over there also stood up, staring wide-eyed at Li Chu, her mouth opening and closing as if she were saying something.
"You two heard me right, that's exactly what I meant."
No sooner had he finished speaking than He Yuzhu's voice came from outside the door, "Uncle, Uncle, are you alright?"
It turned out that He Yuzhu couldn't let go of the matter after returning home. He couldn't stay in the house and kept pacing around in the yard.
Hearing the commotion coming from the first uncle's house, he panicked. Not wanting to rush in alone, he ran to the backyard and called the second uncle. He told the second uncle that Li Chu might be arguing with the first uncle inside, and that it was making a lot of noise.
The second uncle got excited as soon as he heard this, wanting to show off his status as the second uncle and also to put the first uncle down, so he followed He Yuzhu over.
As soon as the old man opened the door, the two men squeezed in. As soon as they entered the room, the second old man started nagging: "Li Chu, what are you doing? You come here to argue with the old man. Don't you have any respect for your elders? Can't you talk things out properly? If you really can't, you can come to me. I'm the second old man appointed by the neighborhood committee."
Li Chu was baffled: "Second Uncle? Who did I argue with?"
"Still pretending? Sha Zhu told me everything. You ran over here, kicked him out, and got into a fight with an old man, even smashing a chair."
Before Li Chu could speak, He Yuzhu clenched his fist and charged at Li Chu, saying, "You dare to come here and start a fight? I'll beat you to death!"
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