"It's okay, I've already figured it out! As the saying goes, if the old doesn't go, how can the new come?"
“These things have been with us for over a decade. To be honest, I’ve been thinking about replacing them with new ones for a long time, but I just couldn’t bear to part with them! Now it’s just right, and I won’t feel reluctant to part with them anymore.”
As Ma Aning spoke, she forced a slightly strained smile.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she continued, "Is everyone hungry?"
"Look at this whole morning, we haven't gone to work in the fields at all, we've just been spending it all here organizing things. How about this, let's just have something simple for lunch, like some noodles, okay?"
After saying this, Ma Aning turned her gaze to the crowd, seemingly waiting for their response.
Seeing that no one objected, Ma Aning turned around and strode into the kitchen to start cooking noodles.
Before long, an enticing aroma wafted from the kitchen.
In no time at all, the fragrant noodles were cooked.
Ma Aning deftly carried bowls of steaming noodles to the table, urging everyone to come and eat.
Everyone gathered around, each picking up a bowl of noodles and slurping them down.
For a moment, the only sounds in the room were the sounds of people eating noodles.
I had only eaten half of my noodles when a familiar yet noisy tractor sound suddenly came from outside—"putt-putt-putt..." The sound grew clearer and clearer as it approached.
Hearing the commotion, the villagers put down their bowls and chopsticks and curiously came out of their houses to see what was going on.
As soon as they stepped outside, they saw a dilapidated tractor wobbling toward them.
Several people wearing red armbands were sitting on the vehicle, which was filled with all sorts of furniture.
Upon seeing this, the villagers were terrified and turned pale. No one dared to approach the tractor, let alone follow it.
Finally, the tractor slowly came to a stop, just as expected, right in front of the Shen family's gate.
Just then, a commotion arose, and Shen Xiaoxiao and the group of people around her came out in response.
A tractor slowly came to a stop at the entrance. After the door opened, Fang Hu nimbly jumped off the tractor and walked straight towards Shen Xiaoxiao.
"Comrade Shen, we are so sorry! We are so sorry this morning. We accidentally broke all the furniture in your house. We feel really bad about it."
"Here, I specially brought you a new batch of furniture as compensation. Please accept it!" Fang Hu said with a smile on his face and a sincere tone.
Before anyone could react, Fang Hu quickly turned around and began to methodically direct his men to unload the goods.
In the blink of an eye, pieces of brand-new furniture were unloaded from the tractor and neatly arranged on the ground.
Then, they worked together to move all the furniture into the house.
Stepping inside, you can see that the once neatly arranged rooms are now empty, and the house appears even more spacious after being cleaned.
Without hesitation, Fang Hu took the lead, picked up a heavy cabinet, strode towards one of the rooms, and then carefully placed it in place.
Seeing this, the others followed suit, and in no time, all the furniture loaded on the truck was moved into the house.
At this moment, the villagers who had quietly followed looked at each other, completely baffled.
They simply couldn't understand why those people who had stormed into people's homes and smashed things so violently before would now be bringing new furniture. What kind of show was this?
Shen Xiaoxiao stood aside, quietly observing everything that was happening before her eyes, thinking to herself: Fang Hu must have probed about this matter with Director Wei after he went back, and it just so happens that Director Wei still remembers her.
Sending furniture was a gesture of goodwill, hoping to prevent me from complaining to Director Wei.
Shen Xiaoxiao stood quietly to the side, without making a move to stop her.
She watched silently as the people busied themselves filling in the gaps left by the furniture they had previously smashed.
Not only that, they even bought a new water vat of the same size as the original and placed it in the yard.
At this moment, Fang Hu raised his hand to wipe the large beads of sweat from his forehead, his face beaming with a bright smile, and said to Shen Xiaoxiao, "Comrade Shen, look, we've arranged all the furniture for you exactly as it was!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Xiaoxiao slowly withdrew her gaze from the neatly arranged furniture and placed it on Fang Hu.
She nodded slightly, indicating that she had seen it.
Then, she said calmly, "I know very well what you are trying to do. Don't worry, I won't go to Director Wei to report what you've done."
"However... I still hope you can help me find the person who wrote that whistleblower letter, the one who reported my family."
After speaking, Shen Xiaoxiao stared at Fang Hu and the others with a meaningful look.
Upon hearing this, Fang Hu immediately patted his chest and assured him, "Comrade Shen, even if you hadn't made this request, we would have done everything in our power to find this person's whereabouts!"
His expression was fierce and resolute as he spoke, as if he would not rest until he had dragged that person out.
"This is the 224 yuan you gave me as compensation. Since you sent over new furniture and everything, we got a good deal. You can take this money back," Shen Xiaoxiao said, taking out all the money they had lost that morning.
"Oh dear, no need! This is unacceptable! Please accept it; these pieces of furniture were specially sent as an apology."
Fang Hu blushed and kept refusing, pushing the money away with both hands, refusing to accept it no matter what.
"Don't be polite with us! Take it, we're not the kind of people who like to take advantage of others."
Shen Xiaoxiao, however, was adamant and held the money tightly, trying to stuff it into Fang Hu's hand.
Seeing Shen Xiaoxiao's insistence, Fang Hu felt a little embarrassed, but in the end he couldn't persuade her otherwise and had to carefully accept the money.
"In that case, alright. We'll take our leave now! If you need any help later or have any issues to report, feel free to come to the Revolutionary Committee."
"By the way, regarding that anonymous whistleblower letter, we'll start investigating it as soon as we get back." After saying this, Fang Hu smiled at Shen Xiaowei, then waved his hand, and his men climbed onto the tractor.
With a series of "putt-putt-putt" sounds, the tractor slowly started and drove away into the distance.
The wheels kicked up clouds of dust and gradually disappeared from people's sight.
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