"Why should I do this, Uncle Liu... I'm telling you, this punishment is too harsh. I was just delivering a bowl of noodles."
Sha Zhu immediately became anxious upon hearing this, "That brat Yu Shui begged me for ages before I finally agreed to help her out of pity, and now I'm being punished by sweeping the yard for a week? This is so unfair!"
Sha Zhu isn't stupid. He lives in the central courtyard. Last time, after a movie screening, he was so shocked when he opened the door early in the morning that he was almost dumbfounded.
Good heavens, there wasn't a single clean spot in the entire courtyard. It was covered in sunflower seeds, peanuts, and sugarcane peels. Cleaning this up would be exhausting.
Now that Liu Haizhong has brought this up, isn't that just deliberately making things difficult for him?
His name is Sha Zhu, but he's not really stupid.
Liu Haizhong's face darkened, and he snorted coldly: "Shazhu, you're still being stubborn. Have you forgotten that you made a promise last night, only to break it this morning? This matter can't just be left like this. If everyone acted like you, the compound would be in chaos, and what would be the point of having us mediators?"
Yan Bugui adjusted his glasses and, seeing that Sha Zhu's momentum had been suppressed, also stepped forward to speak.
“Silly Zhu, you can’t blame anyone else for this. You broke the agreement first, so you can’t escape punishment. Have you forgotten that Xu Damao was also punished a couple of years ago when Lao Yi was around? I remember he was punished for half a month back then.”
“That’s right. I made a mistake back then, and Yi Zhonghai said I would be punished by cleaning. I accepted it, and I did clean.”
Xu Damao said with a hint of pride, "I don't have many merits. I know how to correct my mistakes, unlike some people who are no different from stones in a public toilet."
Just as Sha Zhu gritted his teeth, about to retort, he heard Xu Damao continue speaking.
"Silly Zhu, if you don't accept the punishment, we'll discuss giving you an even harder one, guaranteed to make you feel comfortable. If you don't accept it, then no one in this courtyard will want to talk to you anymore."
"Xu Damao, stop making sarcastic remarks. You'll get your comeuppance someday."
Sha Zhu glared at Xu Damao, then looked at Liu Haizhong and said, "Uncle, it's not that I don't accept the punishment of cleaning, but since you've mentioned Xu Damao's punishment last time, let's have a thorough discussion."
"If I remember correctly, Xu Damao only cleaned the central courtyard. It's such a small place, and it wasn't dirty even in the dead of winter. He finished in a few minutes. At the time, Grandpa Yi was just going through the motions with Xu Damao."
"But look at you guys. Let's not talk about anything else. Just look at the movie we're showing tonight. I don't need to tell you about the hygiene situation."
“It would take Liu Guangtian and the other three half a day to do it, and now you’re asking me to do it all by myself. Do you think I can accept that? How can I accept that? Will I even be able to go to work?”
Sha Zhu launched into a long explanation, leaving everyone momentarily silent.
Wang Dabao watched from the side, not wanting to pull Sha Zhu away or dig a hole for him in front of so many people.
After thinking it over for a while, he stepped forward; this matter couldn't be left to drag on like this.
“I think Zhu Zi has a point, but since this happened today, we can only blame Zhu Zi for being unlucky. How about this, it’s definitely not fair to let Zhu Zi do it all by himself. The yard is full of melon seeds and peanut shells, it’s not realistic for one person to do it all.”
"How about we designate one area and let Guangtian and the others handle the rest? What do you think?"
Liu Guangtian's heart sank immediately; he wanted to shout that it was terrible.
But it was Section Chief Wang Dabao who spoke; what could he do?
Liu Haizhong would definitely agree with Wang Dabao's words, and Yan Bugui and Xu Damao would also have to give him face.
It's almost certain that this matter will be settled this way.
Liu Guangtian, on the other hand, only had a small portion of sanitation work to do, and he was probably still exhausted.
As Liu Guangtian had predicted, things went exactly as he had expected.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
From what Sha Zhu just said, everyone could tell that he accepted the punishment, but he didn't accept the workload.
After hearing Wang Dabao's words, Sha Zhu figured that this would reduce his workload considerably and prevent him from offending everyone in the hospital.
Liu Haizhong turned to Sha Zhu and asked, "Sha Zhu, do you think Da Bao's idea will work? Give me your opinion."
"Okay, I agree with Da Bao's statement."
Sha Zhu nodded in agreement.
“Then it’s settled.” Liu Haizhong made the decision, then frowned. “Shazhu, let’s make this clear first. If you do something like this again, don’t blame us for being ruthless. We won’t punish you so lightly next time.”
Seeing this, Xu Damao curled his lip and muttered under his breath, "Hmph, this idiot Zhu got off easy."
Sha Zhu, with his sharp ears, glared at Xu Damao, but was too lazy to argue anymore.
Seeing that the matter was resolved, Liu Haizhong waved his hand and said, "Alright, everyone go about your business."
Sha Zhu turned and walked home, seething with anger. As he walked, he thought to himself, "I really deserved it. Why did I have to serve noodles in front of Liu Haizhong? Wasn't that just asking for trouble?"
They gained neither face nor substance.
Every day, all sorts of trivial matters unfolded in this courtyard, and soon everyone forgot about Sha Zhu's affair and headed towards the front yard.
Liu Haizhong and his son also went to the front yard. Along the way, Liu Guangtian muttered that he would never let Sha Zhu get away with it next time.
Xu Damao just wanted to annoy Sha Zhu, he didn't intend to do anything to him, he was content to see Sha Zhu cleaning.
His mind was now entirely focused on the female teacher who would be arriving that evening.
He kept asking Yan Bugui all sorts of questions, which really annoyed Old Yan. Only after Xu Damao told him all the information about the female teacher did Xu Damao regain his spirits.
As noon approached, Yan Jiecheng returned on his bicycle, carrying a full basket of sweet potatoes.
Upon seeing Yan Jiecheng return, everyone busied themselves preparing to roast sweet potatoes and test the stove.
Everyone gathered around the stove, waiting for the first batch of sweet potatoes to be cooked so they could share and enjoy them.
Yan Bugui was generous this time; he ate a sweet potato from his family without mentioning the cost.
In the dead of winter, Yan Jiecheng and Yu Li were sweating profusely by the stove. Xu Damao leaned over and asked, "Yu Li, when you said you were going to introduce Da Bao to someone, were you really serious?"
After hearing Xu Damao's words, Yan Jiecheng also looked up at Yu Li.
"No, that's not true. I was just saying. Besides, Uncle Dabao doesn't have that idea." Yu Li didn't even look up, trying to brush Xu Damao off.
As a result, Yan Jiecheng next to him slapped his thigh.
"Oh, right, how come I didn't think of introducing Haitang to Uncle Dabao?"
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