Aunt Huang had a loud voice, and many people in the nearby courtyards could hear it. Even Ye Zhi, who had just come out of Zhang Lanying's house, happened to hear it.
But Ye Zhi didn't care. After all, she knew that in this era, there were still many people who found it difficult to accept the idea of "doing business", not to mention that this was a West City compound full of people who were paid by the emperor.
Almost all the people living here are from wealthy families. They are all proud and arrogant, and have a stable job, so they naturally look down on self-employed people.
Especially since the policy on self-employed individuals has only been implemented for less than two years, many people have been secretive when doing business. Although their wallets are fatter, they always feel ashamed, so some people despise self-employed individuals even more.
Ye Zhi looked at the fine snow falling, wrapped the scarf around her neck tightly, and walked slowly towards her own courtyard.
He Xiaomin looked at Ye Zhi's figure who paused for a moment, then sneered at Aunt Huang and said, "Mom, look at you, can you speak a little more quietly? People can hear us, it's so embarrassing!"
He Xiaomin doesn't like to gossip about others behind their backs, especially after she knew that Ye Zhi had opened a clothing factory.
In fact, she has always wanted to start a small business. She was an educated youth who went to the countryside. Although she returned to the city earlier than other educated youth and was assigned a job, she is now a small director in a brick factory.
However, she recently heard that the brick factory was going to move to a suburb farther away from Xicheng, and she was not so eager to go with them.
Her husband works as a buyer in a department store. He went to the south several times last year and heard that many self-employed individuals who opened small factories there were doing booming business and making a lot of money.
Moreover, many self-employed people in Beijing have started to open their own shops and do business. Although some of them are indeed secretive, He Xiaomin does not care about that. Instead, she also wants to give it a try.
So when she saw Ye Zhi's fashionable clothes, she was a little moved.
Aunt Huang sighed and said, "You have the guts to be a middleman, so why are you afraid of what others will say? I look down on those second-rate people who take shortcuts and don't abide by their duties."
After he finished speaking, there was still a look of contempt on his face.
Most of the people living in the alleys and courtyards in West City are descendants of military and political families. There is hardly any young person working as an individual business owner in the entire alley. In the eyes of the older generation, self-employed individuals are the abandoned children of the planned economy!
Not to mention those who work in state organs, at the very least they are small leaders in large state-owned factories, all of them are well-known people. Even she herself worked as a salesperson in the department store in Wangfujing. Although it was not a government agency, it was a good job that everyone envied.
Now, it is unexpected that a middleman would appear in their alley. It is really embarrassing.
Ye Zhi, who originally didn't intend to pay attention to other people's gossip, couldn't swallow that breath anymore and walked straight towards the other party. Zhang Lanying, who had just walked back into the house, also heard what the persistent Aunt Huang said and followed Ye Zhi.
Because Zhang Lanying's yard was adjacent to hers, Ye Zhi walked up to her in a few steps and said bluntly, "Auntie, what you said is a bit wrong. How can being a self-employed person be shameful?"
Aunt Huang never thought that the delicate and gentle Ye Zhi would actually argue with her, and she suddenly forgot how to react.
However, Ye Zhi did not give her a chance to speak. Instead, she raised a faint smile, looked at her, and said word by word: "First, I didn't steal or rob; second, I worked with my own hands and created value. How can it be shameful?"
Ye Zhi watched the expression on Aunt Huang's face change from contempt to surprise, and then to panic. Without giving her any chance, she continued, "Moreover, the leader also said at the individual representative conference: Self-reliant workers are glorious, and the organization also supports us to be self-employed and share the country's worries. So, Auntie, you have an opinion on the organization's policy?"
Zhang Lanying, who was following Ye Zhi, immediately strode up to Aunt Huang and sneered, "Hey, Huang Erdi, you are not going to violate the organization's policy. Are you a reactionary?"
Zhang Lanying couldn't stand Huang Erdi, who took advantage of her brother who was a leader in the Industrial and Commercial Bureau and often gossiped about the neighbors in the alley. I didn't expect that Ye Zhi would be bullied this time.
Zhang Lanying put a "reactionary" hat directly on Huang Erdi's head, which frightened her so much that her face turned pale. She subconsciously held her breath and stared at the two of them in disbelief.
She is a person of good family background, and her ancestors for three generations were either poor peasants or soldiers. How could she be turned into a reactionary now? !
Just as Huang Erdi was about to start cursing, He Xiaomin looked at Zhang Lanying and Ye Zhi, subconsciously stepped forward, stood in front of her, and apologized, saying, "Auntie Zhang, you are exaggerating. My mother was just confused for a moment and said nonsense. She didn't mean anything else."
Then He Xiaomin looked at Ye Zhi again, lowered her eyebrows and said: "Comrade, my mother is outspoken and offended you, don't take it to heart."
Ye Zhi obviously didn't want to accept He Xiaomin's words. She glanced coldly at Huang Erdi behind He Xiaomin and said, "Even if there is something wrong with me, it's not your turn to make irresponsible remarks."
Respecting the elderly and loving the young also depends on whether the other person is worthy of respect.
Ye Zhi originally thought that everyone in this alley was old acquaintances of Grandpa Lu and Grandma Lu, so she just went with what they said, since she wouldn't be staying for a few days anyway.
But it was obvious that some people were taking advantage of her, so she would no longer tolerate it.
Self-employed people are already walking on thin ice in this day and age, and most of the discrimination comes from people they know.
If everyone could be more tolerant, it wouldn't be so difficult.
Huang Erdi was so choked by Ye Zhi's words that she was speechless. But just as she was about to say something, she saw a tall figure walking towards her at the entrance of the alley.
Huang Erdi immediately backed off.
Ye Zhi was right. Even if she was a self-employed person, it was not their family's turn to manage her. After all, they could not afford to offend the old Lu family.
Although Mr. Lu has retired, he was still a well-known figure in this compound.
Ye Zhi also noticed that figure. She didn't intend to pay any more attention to Huang Erdi. After saying hello to Zhang Lanying, she walked straight towards Lu Wei.
He Xiaomin saw Lu Wei's figure, nudged Huang Erdi beside her with her elbow, and said, "Mom, go back to the house."
Huang Erdi snorted unhappily, walked quickly towards her house, and closed the gate of the yard.
Because it had started snowing, Lu Wei got off the car at the entrance of the alley and planned to walk back to the courtyard.
Who knew that after walking a few steps, I saw Ye Zhi at the gate of someone else's yard. I didn't know what she was saying, but she seemed a little unhappy.
But after a while, Ye Zhi walked towards him.
Ye Zhi wore a red coat that showed off her skin color today, a long black skirt, and a pair of short leather boots. She had a furry scarf around her neck and a furry hat on her head that Pingping had bought at the department store today. Just now, when Pingping went out to deliver something to Zhang Lanying, she insisted on putting it on her.
Lu Wei looked at Ye Zhi walking, with the fur on her head and neck gently fluttering, and immediately stopped, looking at her and waiting for her to come over. Just quietly watching the other person walking towards him, Lu Wei also felt happy in his heart.
Before Ye Zhi even walked up to him, she smiled at him and asked, "Why did you come back so early today? I thought you had dinner outside before coming back."
Lu Wei came back quite late last night. I heard that the meeting lasted until nine o'clock, so it was already past ten o'clock when he returned to the courtyard.
Lu Wei was wearing a white military uniform, with an upright posture. Time seemed to have left no obvious traces on his face, but instead added a bit of firmness and steadiness to him. His angular features were handsome and stern, and he looked more and more handsome the more you looked at him.
When Lu Wei met Ye Zhi's smiling eyes, he subconsciously took a step towards her and took her hand: "I thought about coming back early to help you knead the dough."
Although Ye Zhi is a good cook, she used to ask Lu Wei to do the hard work of kneading dough. Especially after the dough has been fermented, if she wants the steamed buns to be soft and compact, she has to knead it for more than ten minutes.
She mentioned it to Lu Wei last night, but she didn't expect that Lu Wei actually remembered it.
Ye Zhi smiled and said, "Grandma has already mixed the dough. When it's ready, you can just knead it."
Then, Ye Zhi asked again: "By the way, is my hat cute?"
Lu Wei was about to touch the hat on her head, but when he heard her question, he gently bent his lips and said, "It looks good, but it's a little small."
Ye Zhi said with a smile: "It's your daughter. As soon as she entered the department store today, she fell in love with this hat and insisted that I buy it for her. I didn't want to buy it at first, because I wouldn't have many opportunities to wear it when I go back to Guangzhou or Qiongzhou Island. But..."
Lu Wei quietly listened to Ye Zhi talking about her shopping trip to the department store today. However, when passing by Huang Erdi's yard, Lu Wei frowned and asked, "Who did you talk to in this yard just now?"
Ye Zhi thought that it was New Year's Day and she didn't want to make things awkward, so she said, "Didn't they just say that a few children brought some things to Aunt Zhang, and she gave them some snacks and chocolates? I just sent some seafood and lotus roots to Aunt Zhang."
Lu Wei glanced at the tightly closed gate of Huang Erdi's house and did not ask any more questions. He just said, "When I was a child, Aunt Zhang also gave me a lot of food."
Ye Zhi smiled and said, "Could it be that she gets along so well with the kids? Why don't we make some dumplings tomorrow and send some to Aunt Zhang?"
Zhang Lanying said that she has two daughters and two sons, but her sons are in the army and will not come back to celebrate the New Year this year.
Lu Wei nodded: "Okay. I'll go with you tomorrow."
As the two of them were talking, they returned to the courtyard. When the children saw Lu Wei and Ye Zhi coming back together, they stopped playing and rushed towards them. Nian Nian shouted directly, "Dad, I just saw a cat climbing up the eaves. Take me to catch it!"
Sui Sui also said, "Dad, there are not only cats, but also birds on the roof, look!"
An An frowned: "It's not a bird, my grandmother said it was a pigeon!"
Sui Sui made a face at An An: "It's a bird! A white bird!"
"Illiterate brother, that's a dove, a dove of peace!"
"Lululu, it's a bird..."
The children were talking at the same time, and Lu Wei and Ye Zhi couldn't hear what they were arguing about. When the cat slowly walked past the eaves, the children pulled Lu Wei's hands and said, "Dad, that's the cat, go catch it!"
"Dad, climb up, or it will leave."
Lu Wei frowned and looked at Ye Zhi, intending to ask her to save him: "Wife, save me!"
Ye Zhi chuckled, then shook her head with a snicker. It turned out that history is always surprisingly similar!
Like father, like son!
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