Liang Qinxuan is a second-year high school student. Guan Baiyu asked him for the homework just to see what it was like, not thinking that she could do it herself.
But when Liang Qinxuan gave him the question...
Guan Baiyu suddenly realized that many of the questions were from the first year of high school.
Although they haven't taught him much of the knowledge yet, he's read the textbook and can figure out the problems by looking at them...
Liang Qinxuan said, "Those teachers said my foundation wasn't very good, and they all planned to start teaching me again from the first year of high school."
Guan Baiyu said, "The teachers are all very dedicated, you must keep up the good work! By the way, have you finished these questions? Could I borrow them to make a copy?"
Liang Qinxuan readily agreed: "I'll give you these test papers after the teacher finishes grading them."
He wouldn't keep the test papers he had done before; he would throw them away as soon as he finished them.
Guan Baiyu disagreed: "That's not a good idea. You should write down the questions you got wrong so you can review them later and avoid making the same mistakes again."
Liang Qinxuan felt that Guan Baiyu's words made sense, but he couldn't do it.
Liang Qinxuan had come to talk to Guan Baiyu. As soon as the bell rang for the second evening self-study session, he ran off quickly, but he left Guan Baiyu with a math test paper that the teacher had corrected.
That was a test paper that his math teacher gave him to do when he went to his tutoring session. It was a test paper to check his level. The teacher had already explained the wrong questions to him during his tutoring session, and he had corrected them on the side.
Guan Baiyu took the test paper back to the classroom, covered the answers and tried to do it himself. If he could do it, he would check the answers. If he couldn't do it... he would also look at the answers.
He could understand most of the questions by looking at the answers, but he couldn't understand a few because he hadn't learned the relevant knowledge.
After reading it, he took out a notebook and copied down the questions that Liang Qinxuan got wrong, intending to give it to Liang Qinxuan in the future so that Liang Qinxuan could redo them.
It wouldn't be right to take someone else's exam paper for free.
On the other hand, Shi Zhen got a few jobs through Guan Jianguo.
The 1990s were a period of rapid development in J City. With tools like tractors, there was no need to worry about not having work.
Generally speaking, some people are more diligent and will do more, while others are lazier and will do less.
Guan Jianguo has been driving a tractor for many years. Many people contact him to do things, and even people from his village and nearby villages will go directly to him to buy bricks or other items.
He went to the brick factory to buy a tractor of bricks for someone, and he could earn ten or twenty yuan. However, he had to carry the bricks, which was very tiring.
Another job is loading things for factories, which also makes money.
Shi Zhen doesn't plan to take on a fixed job; he prefers to take on odd jobs, which may not earn him much, but he doesn't intend to work as hard as Guan Jianguo to make money.
He didn't want his body to suffer.
Today, Shi Zhen went to buy bricks for someone in the next village.
Following Guan Jianguo's instructions, he first went to the brick factory to buy bricks, and then unloaded them from the truck and stacked them together when he arrived at the family's door.
Guan Jianguo gave him a pair of iron clamps for carrying bricks. They could clamp several bricks at once and then lift them up and put them on the pile of bricks next to him, which was much faster than carrying them by hand.
Shi Zhen helped the family unload the bricks and chatted with them. He learned that the family was thinking about buying bricks because they felt that bricks were getting more and more expensive. They planned to wait a few more years, save enough money, and then build a big house.
The male head of the household has two sons. He currently owns only one house, but in five or six years, when his sons get married, the house will be too small to fit in, so it will have to be rebuilt to make it easier for his sons to get married.
"Your house hasn't been built for very long, has it?" Shi Zhen asked.
"Not long after, only seven or eight years ago, my brother and I separated our households and built this house... It looks a bit small now."
"The changes are happening too fast."
“Yes…” The male head of the household took out cigarettes and offered them to Shi Zhen.
Shi Zhen refused.
Throughout the 1990s and into the early 21st century, some people in rural areas were constantly building houses and then spending all their savings.
Later, he became keen on buying houses.
It has to be said that people's enthusiasm for houses will never diminish.
Shi Zhen helped someone buy a truckload of bricks, which took him an entire afternoon, and he earned more than ten yuan.
Actually, if he were skilled enough, it wouldn't take him this long, but he hadn't done this job in a long time, so he wasn't familiar with it.
By the time all the bricks had been moved, Shi Zhen was covered in red brick dust.
His newly bought work gloves have also turned red.
Shi Zhen accepted the money but refused the pack of cigarettes offered to him and went home.
He has to go to town to sell cold drinks tonight, so he should go home early and take a shower.
Looking so dirty, she can't possibly run a food business.
Shi Zhen parked the tractor in front of Guan Jian's house, then called Shi Xingchao back: "Xingchao, I need to take a shower. Can you cook dinner tonight?"
"Okay!" Shi Xingchao readily agreed, got up to close the door, and even took a wool sweater with him when he left.
You can embroider a couple of stitches while you're tending the fire!
When Shi Zhen and Shi Xingchao arrived at Guan Baiyu's door, they saw a well-dressed young man in his early twenties, with hair mousse, no more than 1.65 meters tall, and a bit chubby.
You could tell at a glance that this man wasn't someone who did manual labor.
"Do you need something?" Shi Zhen asked. He didn't recognize the man, but judging from his appearance, it seemed like he had come specifically to ask for something.
"Yes, I have something to do. I'm Zhao Dongjuan's friend," the man puffed out his chest and looked at Shi Zhen and Shi Xingchao. "Which of you is Shi Zhen?"
"I am." Shi Zhen frowned as he looked at the other person.
After bringing Zhao Dongjuan out of the mountains, he didn't want to care about her anymore.
For the past two months, Zhao Dongjuan has been relatively well-behaved, at least she hasn't caused him any trouble.
He didn't have high expectations of Zhao Dongjuan. As long as she didn't cause trouble for him, he was fine with it. He didn't care if Zhao Dongjuan said a few sarcastic things occasionally.
Guan Baiyu's little grandma would cause trouble in front of him from time to time, but he couldn't be bothered to care.
But... this person was brought here by Zhao Dongjuan, what's he here for?
Upon hearing Shi Zhen's admission, the man immediately said, "So you're Shi Zhen! How can you be so biased? They're all sisters, you give your sister the business, spend a lot of money to send your sister to school, but why don't you care about Dong Juan? Your whole family is ostracizing her, she's so pitiful..."
Shi Zhen asked, "Did she send you to find me?"
“No! I’ve wanted to bring her to see you for a long time, but she wouldn’t agree. I came by myself today!” Zhong Liyang said.
Zhong Liyang met Zhao Dongjuan a little over a month ago; his home was not far from the house he rented in Shijiazhuang.
After they met, Zhao Dongjuan told him a lot about the grievances she had at home, which made him feel sorry for her and want to help her.
Unfortunately, Zhao Dongjuan was afraid of her family and dared not ask him to stand up for her.
Recently, Zhao Dongjuan couldn't stand staying at home anymore and wanted to establish a romantic relationship with him, so she moved out of her parents' house and into his place...
He finally mustered up the courage to talk to Zhao Dongjuan's family.
He had feelings for Zhao Dongjuan and had tested his parents, but his parents wanted him to marry a teacher or a civil servant.
He himself is an English teacher at the town's junior high school.
So his parents would most likely object to his relationship with Zhao Dongjuan, but if the Zhao family treated Zhao Dongjuan well, and she could pursue self-study or something similar to find a stable job in the future, then his parents would probably agree.
Zhao Dongjuan's parents lived closer to his home, and he originally wanted to go find Zhao Dongjuan's parents, but according to Zhao Dongjuan, her mother favored her older sister and wished she didn't exist.
And her stepfather? He doesn't care about her at all.
Zhao Dongjuan was worried every day that her parents would sell her for money. If he went to their door, would the Shi family hold him hostage?
If the Shi family makes a scene at his house, demanding a bride price or something, his parents will definitely not be happy for him to be with Zhao Dongjuan.
After thinking it over, he decided to go find Zhao Dongjuan's brother.
He had seen Shi Ting at school and had also seen Zhao Qiujuan selling rice balls from afar. He felt that since Shi Zhen was so good to his older and younger sisters, he should be able to be good to Zhao Dongjuan as well.
Shi Zhen didn't know Zhong Liyang, but judging from Zhong Liyang's appearance, he could roughly guess Zhong Liyang's background.
Is this the man Zhao Dongjuan fooled?
Zhao Dongjuan was quite good at deceiving people in her past life. She specifically targeted men from well-off families who weren't particularly good-looking.
The only problem was that while those men liked her, their families generally disapproved.
And the men who can be won over by her... are mostly those whose families disagree with them, and who can't make their own decisions.
So she spent a long time choosing, and finally found a person who was being relocated due to demolition, but that person also had his shortcomings.
"You can pay for Shi Ting's tuition, so why can't you show some pity for Zhao Dongjuan..."
"Zhao Dongjuan has been away from home these days. Did she go to see you? You feel sorry for her, right? You must have spent a lot of money on her, right?" Shi Zhen asked.
Zhong Liyang paused.
He did spend a lot of time with Zhao Dongjuan during his summer vacation, but recently he's only free on weekends and evenings: "That's not the point. I haven't spent much money on her. What I want to say is..."
"Brother, have pity on me!" Shi Xingchao suddenly interjected, saying to Zhong Liyang, "I'm really pitiful, much more pitiful than Zhao Qiujuan! Look at Zhao Qiujuan, she doesn't have to do anything and she still has food to eat, but I have to embroider clothes every day just to have enough to eat. My parents in my hometown village are waiting for me to bring money back to support them... Can you help me out?"
Zhong Liyang was taken aback.
Shi Xingchao immediately showed off his clothes: "Look at these clothes of mine, I've been wearing them for who knows how many years, and I can't bear to throw them away."
Shi Zhen wanted to buy clothes for Shi Xingchao, but Shi Xingchao refused, even saying that he wouldn't accept clothes from Shi Zhen and would rather have money!
So Shi Xingchao was still wearing his old clothes from his hometown, which had become very thin and torn in some places after being worn for so long.
Shi Zhen couldn't stand it, but Shi Xingchao was very satisfied and felt cool.
In addition, Shi Xingchao has only been here for a week. Before that, he was in the mountains, working every day in the sweltering summer to water the land, and he got so tanned!
Shi Xingchao then stretched out his calloused hands to Zhong Liyang: "Look at my hands, they're covered in thick calluses. I was never full when I was little..."
Zhong Liyang was stunned.
After crying about himself, Shi Xingchao pulled Shi Zhen aside and said, "Look at Shi Zhen again. He's only two months older than Zhao Dongjuan. He works every day carrying bricks to earn money so his sister can go to school... He's so thin! Have some pity on him!"
Shi Zhen has indeed lost weight these days. Today, he is going to work, and he is wearing similar tattered clothes as Shi Xingchao, covered in brick dust.
Zhong Liyang: "..."
That was all. Just then, Shi Xinghuo returned.
Shi Xinghuo went to read water meters again today. In the countryside, water meters are usually placed underground outside the kitchen, where there are often kitchen sewage pipes... Many water meters are soaking in sewage, and it smells terrible!
Shi Xingchao pointed at his brother and said, "You should have pity on my brother. He works hard every day, getting up early and working late!"
Shi Xinghuo, who exuded a strange smell and was tanned dark, was in an unknown situation. He smiled at Zhong Liyang, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.
Yeah, his teeth aren't very good.
Zhong Liyang looked embarrassed and wanted to cover his nose, but he didn't dare to because the three adult men opposite him looked imposing and a bit fierce.
Shi Zhen laughed at this point: "Zhao Dongjuan is an adult, but she refuses to find a job. Her mother broke her leg, but she doesn't take care of her. She's always running around... You even pity her, so how can you not pity us?"
Shi Xingchao immediately said, "Yes... Did you bring any money? Your clothes look really nice. I've never worn such nice clothes before. Can you give me your old clothes?"
Zhong Liyang fled in panic.
Shi Xingchao was still a little disappointed: "How stingy! He won't even give away his old clothes!"
Shi Zhen smiled and told Shi Xingchao to cook, while he pulled up a curtain at the front door and fetched water to take a bath.
He also sets up a stall at night!
On the other hand, after Zhong Liyang left, he also felt that something was wrong.
Zhao Dongjuan actually looked quite well, her clothes were clean and tidy, and her hands had no calluses.
Putting aside what Zhao Dongjuan said, just looking at their appearances, those three men from earlier were definitely more pitiful.
Zhong Liyang had no classes this afternoon and had asked the school for leave to come out specifically, but he didn't tell Zhao Dongjuan about it... After thinking about it, Zhong Liyang went to the Shi family's place.
The gate of the Shi family's house was open, and Zhao Qiujuan and Zhao Meiyun were embroidering clothes at the door, along with two middle-aged women who lived nearby.
Zhao Meiyun originally wanted to stay in bed to recover from her injury, but staying in bed without moving was not good for her health, so Shi Zhen asked Zhao Qiujuan to buy her a pair of crutches so that she could move around a bit.
So she started embroidering clothes in front of her house. After a few days, people from the neighborhood came to embroider with her because they knew that embroidering sweaters could earn money.
Although Zhong Liyang is a local, he used to study at school and hasn't been a teacher for long. When he walks through this area, no one recognizes him.
However, he saw clearly that Zhao Meiyun had indeed broken her leg.
But just two days ago, over the weekend, Zhao Dongjuan was still with him. The two went to the park and ate noodles. During that time, Zhao Dongjuan didn't tell him anything about what was going on at home.
"What are these clothes for?" Zhong Liyang asked. The man who had begged him for pity earlier was also holding similar clothes.
“You can earn 50 cents for embroidering one of these garments,” said a local woman who was embroidering.
Zhong Liyang took a deep breath.
So all these people are making money?
But he didn't see Zhao Dongjuan.
Trust between people is actually very easy to destroy. Sometimes, if you find that one thing someone said is false, you will doubt that everything else they said is also false.
When Zhong Liyang returned home, he immediately made a decision: he no longer intended to be with Zhao Dongjuan.
Shi Zhen didn't take Zhong Liyang's matter to heart and continued living his life as usual.
The next morning, while he was at home collecting sweaters, he suddenly heard the driver who delivered the sweaters say, "Shizhen, there are other people doing your job now, and they're asking for less money than you. Be careful."
Shi Zhen had a good relationship with the driver and knew that the driver had come specifically to remind him, so he thanked him immediately, but also felt a little helpless.
That's just how the world works. If any business that doesn't have a high barrier to entry is very profitable, countless people will quickly scramble to get involved.
He will probably earn less money from receiving and sending sweaters in the future than before.
Because it's highly likely that Mr. Zhou will ask for more kickbacks, or the factory will simply lower the price.
He didn't offer the villagers too high a price at first, which was also because of this.
However, this is normal and he can accept it.
This job is actually quite easy.
He used to earn about four thousand a month, but recently he's been handling more clothes, so he can earn five or six thousand more.
Even if I can't earn that much in the future, I can still make three or four thousand by sending and receiving more sweaters.
He doesn't spend much, and he can even save all of that money.
Shi Zhen was busy at home in the morning, and in the afternoon he took on a job at the cement factory, delivering cement to a household.
These days, people usually buy bricks and tiles in advance when building a house, but cement is definitely bought only when needed, since it will harden if left for too long.
When Shi Zhen arrived, he saw that people were building houses.
He helped unload the cement from the truck and chatted with the bricklayers along the way. He also discovered that their bricklaying skills were really mediocre.
This is normal, though, as many people are new to this field and are just starting out.
In fact, besides the fact that the workers' skills were average, the house layout was also quite ordinary.
Nowadays, when it comes to building houses in rural areas, people either figure it out themselves, copy someone else's design, or simply let the person building the house come up with a design... Generally, they build square, rectangular houses with nothing special about them.
Most of these houses will be demolished and rebuilt in the future—in twenty years or so, many self-built houses in rural J City will be more beautiful than villas in the city.
Building a house is a big deal, especially for this particular house builder, who is going to demolish the original two-story building from the 1980s and build a three-story one.
This is said to be their first point.
Shi Zhen talked to the workers and told the homeowner that he knew a worker who could paint and lay tiles, and that he could contact him if needed. He then left Guan Jian Guo's address.
Over the next few days, Shi Zhen familiarized himself with the prices of various building materials and looked for people interested in building their own houses.
If he can build a house here that catches the eye, he won't have to worry about business in the future.
Of course, there's no rush; we can take our time.
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