Fang Hai's female colleagues at the front desk gathered around and cautiously asked, "Brother Fang Hai, was Brother Fang Lu arrested by the police?"
Fang Hai neither said yes nor no, waved his hand bitterly, and returned to the kitchen.
It wasn't lunchtime yet, so the kitchen wasn't too busy. People were washing and chopping vegetables, and everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.
The head chef, with an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips, was squinting as he instructed another junior chef on how to caramelize sugar.
Fang Hai could hear his irritable voice from a distance: "Add water! Add water! Add water! Hurry up! What are you standing there for? Just scoop a spoonful over, what are you dawdling for!"
"Oh dear, how many times have I told you? As soon as the sugar in the pot starts to bubble, add hot water. Don't dawdle, or the sugar will burn and turn bitter! You've wasted another ounce of rock sugar! You'll have to pay for this sugar yourself."
He caught Fang Hai approaching out of the corner of his eye, turned his head to glance at him, and asked, "Does your family need something from you?"
Fang Hai nodded: "Yes, Master, I have something to take care of. I need to go home."
"Okay, go back." The head chef readily approved the leave, then asked, "Are you coming back this afternoon?"
Fang Hai shook his head: "I don't think it will work."
"Okay, I'll grant you a day off. Come back first thing tomorrow morning."
"Thank you, Master."
After taking leave, Fang Hai took off his apron, came out through the back door of the kitchen, got on his bicycle, and hurriedly headed home.
He arrived home at the perfect time; just as he reached his doorstep, he saw his mother, Yang Fengxia, tearfully seeing off Section Chief Liang from the textile factory's security department.
Fang Hai's heart skipped a beat, but he called out, "Uncle Liang."
Section Chief Liang sighed heavily, patted Fang Hai on the shoulder, and turned to walk out.
Fang Hai hurriedly chased after him, asking anxiously, "My brother... will he go to jail?"
"You know everything?" Section Chief Liang sighed. "Your brother, he's confused. As for whether he'll go to jail, it's hard to say. The good thing is that he was caught red-handed on his first attempt, so compared to the mastermind and other accomplices, his crime might not be too serious. As for the specific sentence, we'll see how the police handle the case."
Upon hearing that there was hope, Fang Hai quickly grasped Section Chief Liang's hand, knelt down, and pleaded, "Uncle Liang, my brother... he was confused for a moment. He's still young. Can you think of a way to help him?"
"Don't do that, get up quickly." Section Chief Liang bent down and helped Fang Hai up, saying, "Prepare the money first. If you get arrested and taken inside, you'll need bail if there's a chance of being released on bail."
Upon hearing that money was required, Fang Hai was in a dilemma.
Because there was simply no money left in the family.
In order to save Dong Ping's baby, he not only took an advance on his salary but also incurred debts. Although he eventually paid off the debts, the cost of raising the child was still considerable.
My current salary is barely enough to cover my family's basic needs each month; I can't even scrape together a penny more.
He spoke with difficulty, asking, "How much...is it?"
Section Chief Liang held up one finger: "At least... one hundred yuan."
One hundred dollars isn't much for bail.
However, this amount of money was already quite a lot for Fang Hai, whose pockets were empty.
Nowadays, refined white flour without ration coupons only costs seven cents a pound on the black market. One hundred yuan is enough to buy one hundred and fifty pounds, which can last for many days.
Moreover, the family couldn't afford to eat white flour; they ate mixed flour, a combination of three types of flour, which cost only a little over two cents per pound.
Fang Hai gave a bitter smile. "If he has the opportunity to be released on bail but can't come up with the money... what will happen to him?"
Before Section Chief Liang could answer, Yang Fengxia became angry.
"What do you mean you can't pay? How could you not pay?" She grabbed Fang Hai's collar, tears streaming down her face. "Fang Hai! Are you even human? How can you say such a thing? That's your own brother! It's just a hundred yuan, you can't even pay it?"
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