Chapter 68, the forced repayment, is quite gratifying.
The argument between Zhao Yangyang and Chen Ruifeng caused a sensation throughout the entire residential compound. It was so shocking that people heard the newly arrived family members were forced to eat rice bran and chaff because they couldn't get water. This was something that had never been heard of before.
"We can't treat the new family members poorly. How can we let them come here and not have food to eat?"
"Zhou Lu went too far. It's one thing to borrow ten or twenty yuan a day, but how could she borrow all of someone's money?"
"The first thing to do is to solve the problem of meals and water for the family members."
The advantage of living in the family compound is that "when one is in trouble, all sides help." Sister Gao and a few others organized themselves and said that the new family member's family was in difficulty, so everyone should pool their money to buy her a water tank and rice.
"It's not a big problem. If everyone chips in, we'll get through this quickly. Don't worry, Comrade Zhao, I'll make sure you have water and food."
Qin Xiangxiang offered, "I'll borrow twenty. I live downstairs, so he can pay me back easily."
Sister Gao turned to look at Qin Xiangxiang and exclaimed, "Our Xiangxiang is such a good girl!"
Sister Huang said, "I'll borrow ten yuan from you."
"Okay, then it's your two families. Thirty yuan is enough. No need for the others to chip in. You've all done a great job."
Qin Xiangxiang went downstairs to go home and get the money. She and Aunt Huang from next door pooled together thirty yuan to lend to Chen Ruifeng and his wife. Chen Ruifeng felt as if he had eaten shit and felt suffocated and disgusted. His whole face turned red and turned into a liver color.
He really didn't expect that Zhao Yangyang hadn't left any money at all, and that she had actually gone to buy rice bran and wheat bran. He thought that if he pressured her, she would at least ask Zhou Lu for ten or eight yuan to get by, if not take out some of her own savings.
And then this guy...
Sister Gao sent someone to buy Zhao Yangyang thirty catties of ordinary rice, ten catties of ordinary flour, and half a catty of oil. She also asked two soldiers to buy a large water vat for five yuan, filled it with well water, and gave her disinfectant tablets.
The remaining ten-odd yuan was given to Zhao Yangyang as groceries for the next few days. After much persuasion, he managed to appease her.
"If you encounter any difficulties in the future, speak up, and everyone should lend a hand if they can."
Li Jianzhi brought his son, Xiaopang, home with a large bucket full of mantis shrimp. In addition to mantis shrimp, there were also a lot of mudflat seafood and shellfish. They also caught some mudskippers, which were very delicious.
Qin Xiangxiang told him to soak the octopus in water to purge the mud, and then make braised octopus for dinner. This small octopus has a very chewy and elastic texture, and it is not easy to break. After being braised, it is plump, juicy and elastic. In particular, it bursts with juice when you eat it, which is very satisfying.
"Take some sea snails and send them to the Chen family on the third floor." Qin Xiangxiang subtly nudged Li Jianzhi with her elbow.
Li Jianzhi asked in confusion, "What?"
Of course, we went to pretend to be kind and watch the show. We're such a perfect couple, with our little schemes and careful planning.
"Chen Ruifeng and his wife had a fight today. Apparently, they're broke and can only eat rice bran. They can't even afford a water tank, and the rice tank is empty. Tsk tsk, they can't get water or food—" As she spoke, Qin Xiangxiang almost burst out laughing. "Sister Gao came to mediate and said that when one is in trouble, all sides should lend a hand. I lent her twenty."
Li Jianzhi was shocked: "They've been eating rice bran and wheat bran?"
"Absolutely brilliant!"
Qin Xiangxiang: "There's something even more outrageous. Zhou Lu borrowed three hundred from Zhao Yangyang."
"Alright then, I'll send a few cephalopods over."
Li Jianzhi picked and chose from the bucket, selecting some "ugly" items. After all, he was quite stingy and only wanted to save the good ones for his wife.
The smaller the size of the baby sea snail, the more tender its flesh. Li Jianzhi carried a carefully selected pot of baby sea snails upstairs and knocked on Chen Ruifeng's door.
When Chen Ruifeng opened the door and saw Li Jianzhi, his face stiffened. Looking at the basin of sea snails in the other man's hand, he didn't know whether to accept it or not. He felt too ashamed. He had just shown off his imported watch to Li Jianzhi, and now Li Jianzhi's wife, Qin Xiangxiang, wanted to borrow money, and Li Jianzhi even brought him sea snails...
It was a slap in the face to his boastful heart.
Chen Ruifeng: "Yangyang doesn't know how to cook this, she's scared, so why don't you take it back?"
Li Jianzhi nodded expressionlessly. He always had a poker face when he was out. He was just here to watch the show and didn't really care. He had worked hard with his son to catch the Wangchao, and he didn't want to give it away for free.
They have a refrigerator where they can freeze mantis shrimp. These small mantis shrimp on the island are a delicacy; fresh ones are braised, and frozen ones are perfect for hot pot.
"What is this?" Zhao Yangyang came out to take a look and saw the fresh seafood in the basin. She was a little hungry. She had just had a fight with Chen Ruifeng and was going all out.
Anyway, the organization promised to resolve the issue for her, and the matter was over. The family members around her were also very kind. In just a short while, they brought her a lot of fresh vegetables, including gourds, cucumbers, and snake gourds, as well as salted fish.
However, salted fish and dried goods are not as good as fresh seafood.
"This is called Wangchao, right? I heard from Sister Gao that it's delicious. Thank you, Comrade Li."
Seeing his wife Zhao Yangyang accept the Wangchao gift from Li Jianzhi, Chen Ruifeng's face turned extremely ugly and he felt extremely aggrieved.
Li Jianzhi took the empty basin home, feeling a little uneasy. He thought the guy didn't want it, but he still took the little magpie.
The wangchao (望潮) thing isn't worth much now, but it'll probably be worth at least tens of yuan a piece in the future.
Feeling a little wronged, Li Jianzhi went downstairs and hugged his beloved wife Qin Xiangxiang from behind.
"What's wrong with you? Didn't you see the show? Didn't Chen Ruifeng look awful?" Qin Xiangxiang turned around and hugged the man's neck, feeling like she was speaking in the tone of a sullen female supporting character.
"He even showed off his watch to you, but he was still pitifully eating the baby sea bream you gave him, tsk tsk."
Li Jianzhi laughed. He realized that his wife was quite vengeful, both forgiving and protective of him. She was also living off him and trying to lose weight.
Why is his wife so lovable?
"I was so angry just now. These were the food that my son and I caught for you, but Chen Ruifeng was too proud to accept them. I thought that was perfect, but then his wife wanted them, so I had to come back empty-handed."
Qin Xiangxiang suddenly realized: "Then we've lost Wangchao for nothing."
"It's okay, I'll catch more for you next time." Li Jianzhi lowered his head and nuzzled her cheek, embracing her affectionately.
Qin Xiangxiang didn't dare to cook mantis shrimp, so Li Jianzhi decided to make braised mantis shrimp. The main problem with this dish is that it's a bit troublesome to process. If you want it to taste good, you have to beat it and remove the slime from its body.
The simplest way is to wrap it in old newspapers and beat it.
The internal organs of the mantis shrimp can be removed or not, but Li Jianzhi removed the internal organs of the mantis shrimp that was to be placed in the refrigerator for freezing.
After simmering the baby octopus in the pot for a short while, the braised baby octopus is ready. Sprinkle with chopped green onions, and the chewy octopus is covered with braising sauce.
The food had just come out of the pot when my little chubby son rushed to eat it, exclaiming, "Dad, this is so delicious!"
Qin Xiangxiang tasted it and found it to be exceptionally crunchy.
If mantis shrimp are not pounded and tossed, they are difficult to chew after cooking. But pounded mantis shrimp are crispy yet chewy, and they have a burst of flavor when you eat them. They taste better the more you chew, especially when you eat the whole thing.
"Li Jianzhi, from now on you'll be in charge of burning Wangchao." Her dead husband finally had a specialty dish.
"good."
While Qin Xiangxiang and Zhao Yangyang's families were enjoying Wangchao (a type of seafood), Zhou Lu and Deputy Political Commissar Xue were starting to have a run of bad luck.
Because this incident had a significant impact—Zhou Lu's borrowing of money forced the new family members to eat rice bran and chaff, which was truly heinous and appalling—Zhou Lu's borrowing issue has become a focus of attention.
That evening, a number of people came to their house to investigate and inquire about the situation.
"You still have an electric fan at home? Was it newly bought?"
"It seems like your family often buys candy and chocolate."
...
The next day, Deputy Political Commissar Xue was asked to write a self-criticism, and Chen Ruifeng also had to write one. One of them had a problem with borrowing money, and the other had a problem with extravagance. Chen Ruifeng's problem was a little smaller; he shouldn't have bought so much cigarettes and alcohol. But then again, Chinese people value etiquette, especially birth, marriage, and death, which are the three most important events.
Many people are frugal in their daily lives, yet they hold extremely grand weddings and funerals, considering them the most important events in their lives. It's not uncommon for many villagers to go through debt for over a decade after the wedding just to have a respectable ceremony.
Chen Ruifeng shouldn't have spent too much money and didn't calculate things properly, causing his wife to have to eat rice bran... But since he married a city girl, it's understandable that he should be given the respect he deserves.
However, Zhou Lu's problem of borrowing money is a big one.
The women's committee members of the family compound and Sister Gao and others began to compile and register the current debts of Zhou Lu and his wife in the compound. They also made phone calls to inquire about the debts of some transferred military officers' families.
Upon calculation, it was discovered that Zhou Lu and her husband had an astonishing amount of debt.
"Twenty or thirty here, ten or twenty there, after a few rounds... this number is a bit frightening."
"She's usually quite generous; she's really like someone who doesn't care about having too many lice or too much debt."
"You owe this much?"
"Her children often eat candy and chocolate, and the money for it is all borrowed?"
"My God, this Zhou Lu."
...
Paying back debts is a matter of course. After discussion in a meeting, it was decided that half of Deputy Political Commissar Xue's salary would be forcibly deducted each month to pay off the debt.
"You two should learn to live within your means and be frugal!"
"Thirty-six yuan is enough for an average family. Do you think you're raising a golden fairy?!"
"Comrade Gao, you are spreading the word in the compound that the family members can no longer lend money to Zhou Lu. No matter how difficult their situation is, everyone can give them rice and grain, but they absolutely cannot give them money directly."
"The money for buying grain will also be deducted directly from Comrade Xue's salary and subsidies."
"You ladies, please work hard to gather all the family members together and register all the loans given to Zhou Lu, and deduct the money from the accounts in order to repay the debts."
"By the way, the money for Zhao Yangyang, this new family member, should be returned to her first. It wasn't easy for Xiao Chen to get a wife, so we can't scare away the new family member. This situation must never happen again."
After handling the situation this way, Zhao Yangyang was satisfied. Now that things had come to this, Zhou Lu had to repay the money she owed.
Sister Gao led several women to register at Zhou's house, asking Zhou Lu to confirm the debt. If there were any disputes, they would have to discuss them further. Meanwhile, another group of people were contacting the families who had moved out of the telephone booth.
"Zhou Lu? Zhou Lu borrowed money from me and hasn't paid it back yet, just ten or twenty yuan."
"Okay, okay, let's register, right? What's the exact date? I remember it."
Some family members were quite straightforward and said, "Forget it, it's only ten or twenty yuan, we don't need it."
...
“Zhou Lu, your current situation is quite complicated and serious. You need to reflect on your mistakes.”
"It's only right to pay back debts. You two should work hard to pay them back. If you save some money, you can pay them back quickly."
"Next time there are job openings for family members, you'll be given priority, and half of the money will be used to pay off debts..."
Sitting at home, facing enormous debt, Zhou Lu felt like the sky was about to fall.
The matter escalated, and she was forced to repay the money. Half of her husband's salary was gone, and she could no longer borrow money from her family.
How will we live in the future?
Qin Xiangxiang lives across from Zhou Lu's house. Since their houses are right next to each other, she inevitably sees them coming and going. In the past two days, many family members have come to verify the debt situation.
Zhou Lu now has to pay back the money.
Qin Xiangxiang admired Zhao Yangyang, the new female lead, for using the "better to be a broken jade than a whole tile" approach, going all out to make a big scene and take down Zhou Lu and her husband.
It's quite gratifying.
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