Ran Qiu is an elementary school teacher. He earns 15 work points a day, which is 75 cents. This is the highest work point in the village. He should have a good life, but unfortunately he has adopted three children, and this little money suddenly seems not enough.
The three people gave him an extra subsidy of 9 yuan a month, which actually helped him relieve a lot of pressure.
Especially recently, after he injured his leg, he has not been to school to teach for a long time. After the loss of income, the family has become financially tight. Now they are so poor that he even wants to break a grain of rice into two halves to eat.
The three children who followed him were also so hungry that they looked pale and thin, and they looked really pitiful.
Seeing that the three of them had already discussed it, Ran Qiu had no reason to refuse.
But there was no plan for the outcome yet. Ran Qiu looked at Song Zhi's delicate and tender appearance, and thought about the condition of her own house. She felt that even this delicate young lady from the city might not be able to bear it.
He stood up and said to the three of them, "Let's go check out those rooms first."
He took out a bunch of keys and opened the three rooms that had not been opened for a long time. As soon as the door was opened, the scattered dust made several people cough uncomfortably, covering their mouths and noses.
After they came to their senses, the three of them were stunned by the situation in the room.
The room was filled with miscellaneous items, but they were all broken. There were stools with missing arms and legs, tables that were broken into several pieces, and most of them were wooden blocks and sticks that could not be seen in their original appearance.
The things in here can basically only be used for burning fire and cooking, and the surroundings and ceiling are covered with cobwebs.
This room is completely uninhabitable unless it is cleaned properly.
Song Zhi covered her mouth and nose and took two steps inside, only to find that there was not even a bed. It seemed that they could only sleep on the floor.
But at least it could shelter her from the wind and rain. She looked up at the roof.
"The roof is fine and won't leak." Ran Qiu saw what she was thinking and replied.
Hearing this, Song Zhi nodded, his eyes sparkling, and he seemed very satisfied with the room.
"fine."
When these words came out, even Nie Jinmei looked at her in surprise and touched her nose awkwardly.
To be honest, she was mentally prepared when she came, but she didn't think that she would have to sleep on the floor.
"Compared to having no place to live in a cowshed, having a house to live in is already very good." Song Zhi explained with a smile.
Besides, the room is spacious, so you won’t have to worry about living in an uncomfortable place after cleaning it up.
"Besides, we lived in a shared dormitory in the educated youth dormitory. Here, each of us has our own room, which is much more comfortable."
These words made Nie Jinmei and Rong Zhengqing feel a little moved.
“It’s really good.”
Seeing that the three of them had no objections, Ran Qiu breathed a sigh of relief and said to them, "You can't move in right now. In the next two days, Dabao and the others will move out the clutter and clean it up properly."
"Thank you for your hard work." Song Zhi agreed readily, with a smile on his face that became even wider.
When the time comes, you can just move in with your luggage, so what's there to choose?
"Let's just pay one-third of the rent as a deposit."
In order to avoid Ran Qiu's rejection, she simply took the money and paid four months' rent.
The other two followed suit and took out the purses they carried with them to pay him.
But Ran Qiu didn't take it and returned what Song Zhi had just given him.
"Just pay once a month." He added, "Pay after you move in."
"No, that won't work. What if you cheat and don't let us live here in the future?" Song Zhi's face was tense, and she stuffed the money into his hands without giving him a chance to refuse.
Having said that, Ran Qiu didn't know what to say.
Besides, his family was already broke, and this money was just enough to solve his urgent needs, so he didn't refuse and took the money.
"If you don't want to stay here, I can return it to you at any time."
"OK."
After several contacts with Ran Qiu, Song Zhi already understood his stubborn personality and did not refuse.
Knowing that Song Zhi could stay at home, the three little guys were very happy and quickly went to the kitchen to bring out a cup of hot water.
"Big sister, drink some hot water to warm yourself up."
Song Zhi thanked him and quickly took a big sip. The warm water immediately relieved the coldness.
"Why don't I have one?" Nie Jinmei looked at the three children with a smile and couldn't help teasing them.
When the three little ones heard this, their faces turned red. They quickly went to the kitchen to pour two more cups and handed them to her and Rong Zhengqing.
After drinking the water, the three of them agreed with Ran Qiu on the time to move in, and then happily returned to the educated youth site.
After solving the accommodation problem, the three of them walked briskly, feeling happy, and they felt that the wind was not so cold.
Ran Qiu stood at the door, frowning as he watched the three gradually disappearing figures, his face full of embarrassment.
San Ya looked at his tightly pursed lips, hugged his arms, and asked doubtfully, "Brother Qiu, are you unhappy?"
She bit her lip and asked cautiously, "Are you not welcome to stay here, Big Sister?"
Ran Qiu shook his head, raised his hand to rub her head, and said comfortingly: "No."
"Then why are you unhappy?" San Ya didn't believe it. If they hadn't forced her, Brother Qiu would not be willing to let her elder sister live in their house.
San Ya was a little hesitant for a moment. Did they do something wrong?
"I'm just worried that people in the village like to gossip and that it might tarnish her reputation in the future. It doesn't matter to me as a grown man, but she is just a little girl after all." Ran Qiu sighed, looked at the figure that was about to disappear, and said heavily.
San Ya didn't quite understand and said in a daze, "But didn't big sister and the others pay rent? It's not like we're living here for free."
Ran Qiu was stunned for a moment, met those innocent eyes, and said nothing more.
Song Zhi and the others returned to the educated youth site happily.
In one morning, more than half of the collapsed houses had been cleaned up and most people's belongings had been rescued, but they were basically unusable.
At this moment, the educated youth were queuing outside to claim their belongings. Seeing their belongings smashed to pieces by bricks and tiles, everyone had a look of grief on their faces. They picked and chose for a long time before they could pick out one or two usable items.
The educated youth stood in the snow in a daze.
The entire youth cadre site seemed to be covered by a layer of dark clouds.
Only a few educated youth who had found housing showed some joy on their faces.
At noon, the army cooked relief food for them, sweet potato rice and a spoonful of pickles.
There is a lot of shredded pork in the pickles, and the pork smells very fragrant. You can smell it from a long distance away as soon as you open the pot.
Everyone's appetite was immediately aroused, and they quickly lined up to get their meals. Eating was the most important thing in the world, and now that things were irreversible, they had to look forward no matter how difficult it was.
Song Zhi was also queuing with Nie Jinmei. Suddenly, she was pulled out by a pair of hands from behind. She raised her head in surprise and met Yin Ran's sparkling fox eyes.
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