Yi Zhonghai stood up abruptly, his expression changing drastically in an instant.
He does have money, and he is indeed a millionaire, but he doesn't have as much as Wang Dabao claimed.
Because they have no children, he and his wife have always felt insecure in their lives over the years. They can only try to save money to numb themselves, hoping to have enough money in their hands to ensure they won't have to worry about retirement.
“Wang Dabao, don’t talk nonsense. Just because there are only two people in my family doesn’t mean we don’t have enough to live on.”
Yi Zhonghai retorted loudly, "Besides, we're talking about donations today. Everyone else has donated, so why shouldn't you?"
Yi Zhonghai tried to change the subject, but no matter how hard he shouted, it was to no avail. At this point, everyone was following Wang Dabao's train of thought.
Upon reflection, it was indeed as Wang Dabao had said: Yi Zhonghai truly deserved to be the richest man in the compound; he was definitely a millionaire!
From this perspective, donating twenty yuan is really not much.
"Oh my, I knew before that Lao Yi earned a good monthly salary, but I never really calculated it for his family. Now that Wang Dabao has mentioned it, Lao Yi must have saved up quite a bit of money over the years!"
"That's right. The other day, I was chatting in the courtyard, and an old lady was complaining about being poor. She kept saying that she hadn't saved much money after all these years. So she meant she hadn't saved up enough to be considered a 'ten-thousand-yuan household' (a term for someone with ten thousand yuan in savings)."
"I knew Old Yi was the richest man in this compound, but I didn't know he was this rich."
"Goodness, he said all that before, that he was brothers with Lao Jia, neighbors for many years, and even Jia Dongxu's master. When his apprentice couldn't afford medical treatment, this master, who was worth ten thousand yuan, just gave him twenty yuan. In the end, he even organized everyone to donate money. He's really something!"
"If you ask me, Wang Dabao is right. It's no big deal for an old man like him to spend five hundred. Anyway, he has no children, so he only needs a little money to support himself in his old age. Why keep so much? He won't be able to spend it all when he dies."
"Then why are we all still donating? Even though I only donated two cents, I'm already heartbroken. It's like throwing money down the drain!"
Yi Zhonghai's face turned ashen; he was practically furious with Wang Dabao. He regretted not having asked anyone to call that little bastard again and again.
He wanted to squeeze some money out of this kid, but instead he ended up getting splattered with excrement. Now, everyone's looking at him differently, and they have a lot of opinions about the donation.
Wang Dabao ignored Yi Zhonghai and instead said, "Of course, Yi Zhonghai said before he donated that it was up to the individual to donate and that he wouldn't force them. If someone is willing to donate twenty yuan, it's none of our business, right?"
"What I want to say is, does the Jia family really need our donations? As far as I know, the Jia family's difficulties are not that great."
When Jia Zhangshi heard Wang Dabao say that Yi Zhonghai was worth several million yuan, her expression changed repeatedly. Like everyone else, she knew that Yi Zhonghai was rich, but she didn't expect him to be this rich.
Just as they were thinking of ripping off Yi Zhonghai, Wang Dabao unexpectedly turned his guns on their family.
“Dongxu is the only one in our family who works. Before, he had to support a family of five. Now, with the addition of Huaihua, how could we not have a difficult life?”
Jia Zhangshi jumped up in a fit of rage, "Now that my son has had an accident, everyone is showing sympathy, but you're rubbing salt into the wound, how can you be so heartless?"
"I haven't lived in our compound for long, so I don't know much about the Jia family's situation. But judging from what Yi Zhonghai said earlier, it seems that everyone has donated a lot to the Jia family."
Wang Dabao knew he had stepped on Jia Zhangshi's tail. If he hadn't slapped her a few times before, making her remember, she would have pounced on him and fought him to the death.
"Let's all do some calculations for the Jia family. Let's not talk about the distant past, but just ten years ago. Jia Dongxu's apprentice salary should have been eighteen yuan and fifty cents. At that time, there were only the mother and son in his family. Do you all think it was difficult?"
"You have to understand that the poverty line in Beijing is set at five yuan per person per month. If the Jia family is struggling, how are other families supposed to survive!"
"At five yuan per person, his family can save eight yuan and fifty cents a month, which is one hundred yuan a year."
"After that, wages gradually increased, and everyone can calculate for the Jia family how much money they could save. Also, Jia Dongxu's father worked for quite a few years back then, and it seems his salary wasn't low, so he couldn't have no savings!"
After Wang Dabao stirred things up, the residents who had donated money in the compound started talking like ants in a pot that had been stirred up.
"Old Jia received quite a lot of compensation back then. I remember Jia Zhangshi even showed it off back then, but later she changed her story because she was afraid someone would borrow money from her family. She said she hadn't received any money."
"How could they not give him a pension? Back then, the country had just been founded, and the higher authorities paid great attention to this during that special period. Old Jia's pension would definitely not be less than five hundred yuan. And what Wang Dabao just said is that Old Jia had worked for more than ten years, so he probably had several hundred yuan in savings. He's just pretending to be poor to everyone!"
"So the Jia family has been richer than us for a long time, and yet everyone keeps donating money to the Jia family. What kind of nonsense is this?!"
"Fortunately, Wang Dabao, a sensible person, came to the compound, otherwise everyone would have been swindled by the Jia family again."
"Yi Zhonghai truly lives up to his reputation as Jia Dongxu's mentor. He advises the Jia family on everything. Isn't this just a conspiracy to trick everyone?"
Hearing the murmurs of the crowd, Yi Zhonghai's face turned green, and he was trembling with fear. He glared at Wang Dabao, thinking that this kid had laid the matter bare before everyone, and things were not going to end well now.
Jia Zhangshi was also extremely anxious. Now that everyone had been fooled by Wang Dabao, this donation might have to be canceled.
"Everything proves that the Jia family has a lot of savings, and even if they don't, they have Yi Zhonghai, their master who is a millionaire, to back them up."
Wang Dabao noticed the glances from Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhangshi, smiled slightly, and announced loudly, "Now I announce that the donation is cancelled. Everyone, hurry up and take your money back!"
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