An TV
After recounting what he had just witnessed to Xu Tangmian, Yu Chunsheng made up his mind: "Since he was the one behind it all, we have to settle all scores, old and new, including Zhi's."
Perhaps due to her pregnancy, Xu Tangmian had become somewhat timid and hesitant. After hearing what Yu Chunsheng said, she wondered if the beating she gave Liu Peng that day could really have made him hold such a grudge? Was he really willing to spend over five thousand yuan to register a new factory and hire workers, risking almost bankruptcy just to ruin them?
Her sixth sense told her that things weren't that simple.
She gently stroked her lower abdomen with her right hand, frowning as she reminded her husband, "I think you should be more careful. Look how much he hates you after you beat him up. If you really bankrupt him, I'm afraid he'll do something desperate."
"Now is not the time for the two of us to fight him head-on. You should think about the baby in your belly. We need to consider things carefully before we do anything."
Yu Chunsheng smiled confidently and said, "Don't worry, he definitely couldn't do something like this by himself. My goal isn't to bankrupt him."
"What do you mean?" Xu Tangmian asked, puzzled.
"Think about it, when we went to his house and made a scene, he went to your school gate the next day and almost made you lose your job. Do you think he would have the patience to open a factory to deal with us?"
Xu Tangmian suddenly realized, "That's right! Knowing his character, he would have come to our house to confront us long ago. But didn't we say that if he dared to do anything again, we would call the police to arrest him? How come he still dares to do this now?"
"Of course, someone's backing him up." Yu Chunsheng suddenly leaned down and pressed his face against Xu Tangmian's lower abdomen, asking foolishly, "Can he kick now?"
The topic was thus diverted. Xu Tangmian gently stroked his hair and said helplessly, "How old are you to kick people? If you want to be kicked, I can do it for you."
Yu Chunsheng slowly stood up, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her forehead meaningfully, saying, "It seems the baby's condition stabilized after three months, and we haven't had sex in a long time..."
Xu Tangmian sat up immediately without any hesitation and left without looking back.
Yu Chunsheng couldn't see her mischievous smile, so he could only call out "Hey" from behind before helplessly lying back and burying himself in the blankets.
After one night, Li Yutao was forcibly taken back to their house near the school by her brother. Under the pretext of policy research, he actually planned to stay there for a long time.
Living with her brother wasn't a big problem, but it made it less convenient to visit Song Weidong at the village clinic. Li Yutao thought and thought, but she really couldn't figure out what had happened between her brother and her boyfriend last night.
Now that she's on winter break and doesn't have to work, she should be on her way back to Beiping in previous years. But now her brother is blocking her way, and she's in a dilemma.
When she returned to Beiping, her parents wanted her to take Song Weidong with her, but her brother insisted on testing him first; if she stayed in Yilin City, he would act strangely all the time, not only refusing to go to the clinic himself, but also preventing her from going.
Tangtang is pregnant and can't go out. In winter, transportation is inconvenient, and if you go to her house to play, it's hard to come back at night. Li Yutao is practically suffocating.
At the printing factory, with the year-end approaching, Yu Chunsheng gave most of the workers a holiday, leaving only a few people to continue production.
He gave Wang Youli a sum of money and told him to go out for drinks with his childhood friend from the paper mill every few days, without saying anything. If the other man asked him why he was so free, he was to casually mention that the factory hadn't been producing anything for a while.
A week before the Lunar New Year, the two had their last drink of the year, during which the other tentatively asked Wang Youli when his printing factory would resume operations.
Most factories should resume operations around the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, while some busy factories might call back some workers as early as the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.
Yu Chunsheng's printing factory would not resume operations until after the Lantern Festival, which undoubtedly piqued the curiosity of his childhood friend.
The other party stammered, "Your factory isn't really going to go bankrupt, is it?"
Seeing that he had taken the bait, Wang Youli waved his hand, downed the wine in his cup in one gulp, and sighed, "Ah, don't mention it."
"What's wrong?"
“I feel a little sorry for our factory manager. He used all his savings to start the business, and his wife is heavily pregnant. How did he end up like this?”
The other person was also a sentimental person. After a few drinks, he became sentimental and patted Wang Youli on the shoulder, saying, "What can we do? He offended someone."
"Brother, I'm begging you," Wang Youli said, sobbing. "Can you go back and talk to your factory manager and ask him to give us some orders? Our machines are whirring and can't work without paper."
"Hey bro, don't be like that!" the other person said helplessly. "I'm just someone who does manual labor, what can I say?"
“You can say whatever you want, our factory manager is a really good person! Look, it's almost Chinese New Year, and we still can't pay our factory workers' wages, but no one has left. That shows how good our factory manager is.”
"You'd do it even without money?" The other person clicked their tongue in amazement. "Your boss must have cast a spell on you."
"I've never met such a good boss before." Wang Youli wiped his nose. "Brother, you should go back and talk to your boss. He can give us whatever he wants, just to help us get through this order so that everyone can have a good New Year."
The other party was still somewhat hesitant: "Why don't you... try asking other paper mills? I don't think this is going to work. They're determined to mess with you, and our boss needs to make money too."
"It's not that we haven't thought about it. Look, we can't even pay our own wages, so where would we get the money to negotiate with other paper mills? As soon as they hear that we're a small factory from out of town, they simply refuse to supply us. They're too busy just fulfilling local orders."
Seeing his hesitation, Wang Youli pressed his advantage: "Why don't you give it a try? Whether it works out or not, I'll treat you to a drink."
"Fine!" the other party gritted their teeth and agreed.
——
As her belly grew bigger, Xu Tangmian found herself bored, unable to go anywhere from home. She couldn't connect with her older sister, Li Youlan, who was from a different age group, and besides, Li Youlan had to accompany Yu Chunsheng to the printing factory every few days to handle some business.
Li Yutao often came to visit her, and Yu Chunsheng thought it would be good for Xu Tangmian to have another person to keep her company, so he simply bought another bed and a curtain and let Li Yutao stay at his house as well.
The two of them spent their days indoors by the fire, reading books, and after a while, they got bored.
Li Qingmang came here once and saw that the two girls were together and she didn't see any other men, so she left with peace of mind.
The next day, with a few honks, a truck slowly drove into the fifth team of Meixiang Village.
The villagers loved a good show, and when they heard the noise, they all came out of their homes and followed the people in uniform to Xu Tangmian's yard.
Hearing the commotion outside, Xu Tangmian and Li Yutao exchanged a glance. "Shall we go out and take a look?"
The two were sitting side by side in bed when they heard the noise. They put on their cotton trousers and coats and went outside. They saw several people carrying a bundle of electrical wire and a tripod, looking around in the yard.
Before Xu Tangmian could ask any questions, the villagers outside greeted her with smiles: "Teacher Xu, what are you doing here?"
Xu Tangmian was also confused and was about to ask a question when she spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.
Since Yu Chunsheng resigned from his job at the supply and marketing cooperative, she hadn't seen his colleagues for a long time. Now, however, she suddenly spotted someone who had previously dined at her home, and went up to ask:
"Brother, what's going on?"
The man chuckled and replied, "Sister-in-law, we're here to install a TV in your house."
"A TV!" The crowd erupted in excitement. "Wow! Teacher Xu's family is making money! We've only ever seen these things in department stores."
"Who says otherwise? Hey Teacher Xu, um... what's Boss Yu busy with these days? Hehe."
Xu Tangmian frowned and remained silent. With the factory so busy, how could Yu Chunsheng have the spare money to install a TV for her?
She asked with a displeased expression, "Can I return it? I don't want this TV, you can take it away."
"Why would you return it if it's perfectly fine?" the older brother replied with a smile. "It's even in color, you can't usually buy it even if you want to."
Xu Tangmian is going crazy!
In this dilapidated village, even the wealthy with ten thousand yuan in their homes only have black and white TVs. They live in a courtyard surrounded by wheat fields on three sides and a ditch on the other. What use is a color TV to them? Do they have more money than they can spend?
She asked with a stern face, "Was this ordered by Chunsheng? Take this back, I'll handle his side."
"It's not Xiao Yu." The older brother raised an eyebrow. The man said he was your brother and wanted to install the best TV for his sister.
“Brother…” Xu Tangmian turned to look at Li Yutao, who was looking up at someone installing an antenna, and tugged at her sleeve, “Do you know about this?”
Li Yutao walked over. "What brother?"
“Of course, I’m your brother.” Li Qingmang strolled leisurely in from outside the courtyard. “How about it? I saw you were bored here, so I installed a TV for you to watch.”
Xu Tangmian: "...But this is my home..."
"You wouldn't even take a TV I'm giving you?" Li Qingmang winked at her. "If you can keep an eye on Xiaotao, I'll build you a house, not just a TV."
Xu Tangmian was both amused and exasperated. "Then you should just install the TV at Xiaotao's place. I can't take that responsibility."
"Let's set up here, there are too many people here." Song Weidong also slowly walked in from outside.
Li Qingmang crossed her arms, turned to the side, and said quietly, "You really are a persistent ghost. I told you to stay away from here, but you still insisted on coming."
Song Weidong rolled his eyes at him, a rare occurrence for him. "I can find my aunt, okay?" He asked Xu Tangmian, "Why haven't I seen my aunt? My uncle sent a telegram saying he'll be here with my cousin in a few days."
"She went to the printing factory with Chunsheng."
Song Weidong nodded, seemingly unsurprised by the construction team in the yard, and then looked towards Li Yutao. But before he could take a few glances, a tall figure blocked Li Yutao's path again.
"Your aunt isn't here; only two women are home. How can you be so shameless?"
"Ugh, you're so annoying!" Li Yutao shoved her brother away. "Why are you everywhere?"
"You silly girl!" Li Qingmang shouted angrily, "Your brother installed the TV for you, where do you think you're going?"
Song Weidong took Li Yutao's hand and calmly said, "You ordered the TV, and I paid for it."
Xu Tangmian: "(￢_￢)"
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