He Yushui was eventually dragged home by Sha Zhu, but this incident made He Yushui see her older brother's true nature clearly, and also sowed the seeds for their later falling out.
These were none of Sha Zhu's concerns; he was currently busy warming up the atmosphere for Qin Huairu's donation. Just after Yi Zhonghai led the way with a 10 yuan donation, He Yushui ruined the atmosphere, and no one else donated. Liu Haizhong and Yan Fugui even looked elsewhere.
"Come on, I admire one old man in this compound the most. He's always willing to help anyone with any big or small matter. I may not be able to help everyone, but I'd like to do the same as him when it matters. So, I'll donate 10 yuan."
After saying that, Sha Zhu started taking money out of his pocket. But after pulling out a handful of bills, he only found 2.5 yuan. He had no choice but to search his shirt pockets, rummaging around for a while before finally finding 1 yuan.
"Shazhu, you don't need to spend this money. It's all going from one hand to the other, and in the end, it all means the same thing," said an old woman from the compound.
Sha Zhu was told that he and Qin Huairu were like left and right hands, but he was not ashamed but proud. He waved his hand with a smile, and then took off his shoes. Finally, he had collected 10 yuan.
"Shazhu, you count this money yourself, I won't count it." Yan Fugui, who was in charge of registering the money, looked at the smelly money and really didn't dare to start counting it.
"Second Uncle, Third Uncle, you are not only the managers of the courtyard house, but your families are also relatively well-off. Shouldn't you donate more? You can't possibly donate less than me, can you?" After counting the money, Sha Zhu began to pressure Liu Haizhong and Yan Fugui.
"Shazhu, you can't talk nonsense. What do you mean we're better off? Let me tell you, you know how many people are in my family. We have a heavy burden. We're one of the worst off in the compound."
Moreover, I was the only one working in my family before, and we accumulated a lot of debt to support us. Even though Jie Cheng and Yu Li are both working now, we haven't finished paying off the debts.
When Yan Fugui heard that Sha Zhu had categorized his family as wealthy, he immediately objected and began to complain bitterly, as if he wanted to tell Sha Zhu everything he had done for him.
"Uncle, please stop talking, I believe you, okay? Let's put everything else aside for now, just tell me how much to donate today?" Sha Zhu was a little scared by Yan Fugui's attitude, so he quickly got back to the point.
"I'll wait a moment, let Second Uncle donate first." Yan Fugui shrank back again.
Liu Haizhong didn't need Sha Zhu to urge him; he simply reached into his pocket. Actually, if you think about it now, Liu Haizhong has three sons and needs a lot of financial support, so his circumstances aren't necessarily much better than Yan Fugui's.
“I’ll donate 5 yuan. My family has 5 members, and my two children are still young. I have a lot of burdens, unlike you, Shazhu, who has no worries.”
Liu Haizhong is now a deputy head of a department, and he has a better understanding of his own capabilities. He no longer acts like he's the most important person in the world, thinking he can do anything. Now, as the deputy workshop director, he works in constant fear, afraid that if he doesn't do a good job, someone will target him and report him. He feels somewhat exhausted.
"Second Uncle, you beat the child every day and have a heavy burden. It's just a matter of giving him a bite to eat." Sha Zhu was a little dissatisfied with Lieutenant General Liu Hai's donation level being downgraded, and he spoke somewhat recklessly.
"Alright, Zhuzi, Second Uncle's family matters are none of your business. Besides, donations are entirely voluntary, and cannot be forced." Seeing that Liu Haizhong's face had darkened, Yi Zhonghai, worried that a donation protest might also occur, immediately stopped Sha Zhu from continuing.
Liu Haizhong donated 5 yuan, and Yan Fugui naturally followed suit, noting down 5 yuan for himself and then putting the money into the donation box.
When Sha Zhu saw that the donation amount had been reduced from ten yuan to five yuan, he felt embarrassed, as if the responsibility was entirely his. If he weren't so short of money, he would have liked to make up the difference himself.
But now he's penniless, so he can only try to make ends meet outside. Sha Zhu's eyes darted around, and his gaze swept over Xu Damao.
“Xu Damao, everyone has donated money. An old man and I even donated 10 yuan each. As the highest-ranking official and the highest-paid person in our compound, and with several members of your family receiving salaries, shouldn’t you donate more?”
Sha Zhu naturally didn't know that Xu Damao's salary, including subsidies, was now 115 yuan, but he knew it was at least over 100 yuan. The Xu family was now a wealthy household, so naturally, he couldn't miss out.
When Sha Zhu steered the conversation towards Xu Damao, Yi Zhonghai, sitting in the main seat, felt a little anxious. He knew Xu Damao was no good, and it was good enough that he hadn't caused any trouble so far; naturally, he didn't expect Xu Damao to suffer a major loss.
But since Sha Zhu had already spoken, Yi Zhonghai couldn't say anything. He could only sit nervously on the stool, ready to step in and save the day if Xu Damao had any bad reactions.
Xu Damao, who was originally just watching the show, never expected to become one of the actors in the blink of an eye. He was unhappy and was about to flip the table, but then he thought about it and realized that his body, which was about to stand up, had simply changed position and sat down.
“Shazhu, everyone in this compound is a neighbor. There’s no such thing as a leader or not. Look at me, I’m sitting here listening to the three old men talk, just like you.”
Regarding the donation, as the old man just mentioned, it's entirely based on voluntariness and individual ability. You donated 10 yuan, that's because you had the ability, and you're single, so you don't have to worry about anyone else.
But we're different. We not only have to take care of our own families, but also our own relatives and friends. So if everyone else is donating, I'll definitely donate too. But as for how much I donate, I can only do my best.
"Oh, by the way, sir, I also want to ask for your help on this donation platform today."
Xu Damao spoke at length, but in the end, he brought up his own affairs.
"Da Mao, what's up? You're not here to donate too, are you?" Yi Zhonghai asked uncertainly. If Xu Da Mao was deliberately trying to donate, then today's events would be completely ruined. If one or two of them wanted to donate, then everyone else in the compound would definitely have to.
"No, sir. This is a simple matter, and you don't need to do anything. It's like this: since we're adding someone to our family, we need to renovate the layout. According to the neighborhood committee, the renovation will inevitably disturb everyone, so I'm informing you in advance."
For Xu Damao, the donation was just a matter of a few dollars, so there was no need to stop it at all; however, the renovation would inevitably affect everyone, and some people would inevitably have opinions, especially the Jia family, who might cause trouble later. Therefore, Xu Damao put the two matters together to see what opinions Yi Zhonghai and the Jia family would have.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com