But now he doesn't see it that way at all. What family that can't even afford to eat has the time and inclination to keep so many flowers at their doorstep?
Furthermore, with Yan Bugui's salary as a primary school teacher, plus the occasional fishing trips to Shichahai to supplement his family's income, his family was not as poor as everyone perceived. It's just that he's gotten used to calculating and has brainwashed himself.
Perhaps it won't be until the day Yan Bugui takes out his savings that he will realize he is not actually poor.
Then comes the reflection: "You won't get poor from eating or dressing; it's only from poor planning that you become poor."
Wang Dabao didn't want to bother with this old man at all. The property deeds showed the location of his uncle's house, so he could just go there himself.
As Yan Bugui turned around to water the flowers, he caught a glimpse of a figure walking in. He bent down, squinted his small eyes, and was stunned when he saw who it was. He then hurriedly picked up the small iron kettle and trotted towards Wang Dabao.
"It's Old Wang's nephew back. Has everything been taken care of for your uncle's funeral?"
Yan Bugui lowered his arm holding the iron kettle and sighed deeply. "Yesterday when I came back, I talked to your third aunt about your uncle. We both cried our hearts out. I was planning to go and see Old Wang off this weekend."
"But I was afraid that if I cried my eyes out there, I would upset everyone, so I stayed at home. When I felt upset, I would go out and water the flowers."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Bugui blinked his small eyes hard and even wiped his eyes with his hand.
Wang Dabao glanced at him and thought, "Good heavens, Yan Laoxi has moved me to tears."
Are you kidding me?
Wang Dabao nodded indifferently, then continued walking into the courtyard.
Yan Bugui completely ignored the indifferent expression on Wang Dabao's face, turned around, put the watering can on the windowsill, and quickly caught up with him. "I guess you don't know which house is your uncle's, right? Come on, I'll take you there."
"No need." Wang Dabao didn't stop walking.
Yan Bugui straightened up and pushed up his glasses. "Why are you being so formal, kid? Besides, I'm the third uncle of this courtyard. It's only right that I take care of you, the new resident. Don't stand on ceremony with me."
Wang Dabao frowned, wondering if Yan Bugui was of the "lowly" type.
The more you ignore him, the more enthusiastic he becomes, eagerly trying to get close to you.
ill!
Sigh, something's not right. Something's not right. Is this old man plotting against me?
Just as Wang Dabao was pondering this, the two of them went to the backyard.
"The projectionist from the steel mill lives here. His name is Xu Damao. He's not much to look at, but he's not a bad person. You'll see once you get to know him."
Yan Bugui lowered his voice and said, "The second uncle of our compound, Liu Haizhong, lives in the east wing across the street. I can't really comment on him, but he's arrogant and likes to bully people."
Wang Dabao nodded. "You call this not giving an evaluation?"
Yan Bugui continued explaining to Wang Dabao, pointing to the deaf old lady's house, "These two rooms are where an old lady in the courtyard lives. There used to be three rooms, but I sold one to your uncle."
"The old lady was a recipient of the Five Guarantees (a government-provided social welfare program for the elderly, disabled, and orphans). I heard that she gave a lot of straw sandals to our soldiers back then."
Wang Dabao clicked his tongue, "You delivered straw sandals to the soldiers? Where did you deliver them? Who saw you?"
"Well... I don't know, but that's what everyone's saying." Yan Bugui frowned in thought. "The old lady with bound feet couldn't have gone far, so it must have been delivered in Beijing, right?!"
"Bullshit!"
Wang Dabao scoffed, "Back when Beijing was peacefully liberated, where did she send those straw sandals?"
"I am a soldier of the people. Our policy is not to take a single needle or thread from the masses. If we don't even take a needle and thread, why would we take her straw sandals?"
"Besides, which soldier doesn't know how to weave straw sandals? Why would they need someone to deliver them to them?!"
Yan Bugui was stunned by Wang Dabao's barrage of questions. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that Wang Zhen's nephew was right. Everyone in the compound was talking about the old lady's deeds, but no one had mentioned the details.
Without details, isn't that just making things up?
Yan Bugui glanced at Wang Dabao in surprise. This young man was much smarter than Sha Zhu. He probably wouldn't be so easy to outsmart in the future!
"What are you doing?"
While Yan Bugui was still in a daze, he was startled by Wang Dabao's shout. Following Wang Dabao's gaze, he saw a child dart out from the small courtyard behind Xu Damao's house.
"Stick?"
Yan Bugui recognized the child trying to slip away along the corner of the wall as Jia Geng from the Jia family in the middle courtyard. "No doubt, this little brat is trying to steal something."
After Yan Bugui's reminder, Wang Dabao looked at the child with the pot-lid hairstyle again and immediately recognized him. It turned out to be the thief who was always caught when he made a move in the courtyard.
Yan Bugui was right; Banggeng really was there to steal things.
Last night, he overheard people in the compound discussing Wang Zhen's death.
However, he was too scared to come at night. It was only when the sun was strong that he mustered up his courage and came over. After all, the person was dead, so stealing it would be pointless.
After trying to pry open the window for a long time without success, just as they were getting anxious, they heard someone coming, so they had no choice but to hide.
Upon realizing that the two had spotted him, Bang Geng immediately knew something was wrong and turned tail and ran.
This idiot kid clearly came to ransack his house, so how could Wang Dabao let him get away so easily? He took two steps and tripped the stick.
"puff!"
The pheasant was incredibly fast, and when Wang Dabao tripped it, its little body flew out and landed squarely on the ground.
After a moment of stunned silence, Banggeng, who was lying on the ground, touched his face and found his hands covered in blood. Then he felt something in his mouth, spat it out, and found it was a front tooth.
With a loud "waaaah," Banggeng cried his heart out!
Wang Dabao smirked and patted the dumbfounded Yan Bugui.
"Master Yan, don't these kids in the yard watch where they're going when they run around?!"
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