"Teacher Hu was surprised and asked me, 'Why do you feel sad?'"
“When I was filming ‘Rules Street,’ I came to the set to observe and met the neighbors who were bringing the crew a treat. Gu Wenhua introduced me to them, saying that without my authorization as the original author, there would be no movie. The neighbors surrounded me and kept praising me. In particular, Teacher Hu gave me a book as a gift.”
Shang Yechu frowned slightly: "What book?"
“Yesterday’s World.” Sheng Wenzhi ignored Shang Yechu’s sour expression. “I’ve already read this book, but I’m still very grateful to Teacher Hu… I’m getting off-topic again.”
“I told Teacher Hu that when I came to this street before, it was warm, quiet, and full of human touch. Just staying here for a while could quickly calm my mind and soul. This street is a rare tranquil place in modern cities.”
"Now, this street is packed with people. It's shoulder to shoulder, noisy and chaotic. Shop owners bow and scrape to serve customers, without any dignity. That auntie—who is also Teacher Hu's daughter-in-law—is even criticized by customers for adding the wrong sugar to her milk tea. Happiness Commercial Street is unrecognizable."
"Is this the kind of life you want, where you have to be at the mercy of others?"
From the moment he uttered the phrase "without the slightest dignity," Shang Yechu's face began to twitch. By the time he finished speaking, the veins on his forehead were throbbing.
Sheng Wenzhi is still the same Sheng Wenzhi; she only needs to stand there and move her lips to make her furious.
His words undoubtedly denied all the efforts Shang Yechu had made for Happiness Street. If this wasn't the kind of life the residents of Happiness Street wanted, then wasn't Shang Yechu's tireless efforts for the movie just harming them?
"What's going on in your head?" Shang Yechu said coldly. "I'm an actor, trying to please the audience; you're a writer, trying to please the readers. So, according to you, we both live without dignity?"
Before Shang Yechu could finish her barrage of words, Sheng Wenzhi cut her off:
Teacher Hu was stunned for a long time, then suddenly laughed and said, "Of course, this is not the kind of life I want to live."
Shang Yechu's heart pounded, and her surging anger faltered instantly. Could it be that Grandma Hu...
"Teacher Hu said, 'I want to lie in a chair, only serving one or two guests a day, arriving and leaving get off work on time. After work, I can go to a teahouse with old friends, buy gifts for my grandchildren, buy decent clothes for my daughter-in-law, and pay off the mortgage. If you ask me, I'd prefer it to rain money instead of rain!'"
The old lady's tone vividly appeared in his mind, and half of his anger dissipated. Shang Yechu burst out laughing.
Sheng Wenzhi lowered his eyes, his tone somewhat self-deprecating: "I said, is it worth it for money? Teacher Hu looked at me like I was a rare sight, and after a long while he said: 'You young man are quite interesting. According to you, this street will be quiet forever, and we old men and women are just destined to starve.'"
"I didn't know how to refute Teacher Hu. I felt that what she said was wrong. Teacher Hu noticed this and asked me again: 'Young man, if it were you, what would you do? How would you prevent this street from being rebuilt and still ensure that we can have enough to eat?'"
"I said, 'I'll probably write a novel to promote the simplicity and warmth of this street, and attract more customers...' Halfway through my sentence, I realized that this was exactly what you were doing. Feeling unconvinced, I changed my mind and said, 'I'll donate money to the street and set up a support fund...'"
Teacher Hu chuckled and waved his hand, saying: "This is incredible! So you think receiving welfare is more dignified than earning your own living!"
As a teacher, Old Mrs. Hu was far more aggressive than Shang Yechu. Although her tone was gentle, the mockery in her words was still palpable.
Shang Yechu chuckled coldly, "The great writer Sheng is really rich and has nowhere to spend his money, so he gives it away everywhere." This was a sarcastic remark that Sheng Wenzhi deserved to be entangled with the Shang family, but unfortunately, he was immersed in his memories and did not hear the sarcasm in Shang Yechu's words.
“I tried many methods, but none of them were as effective as yours,” Sheng Wenzhi said slowly. “In the end, I gave up, but I was still not convinced. At this point, it was time for Teacher Hu to cover for her daughter-in-law, so she left me sitting in the break room while she went to work. Her daughter-in-law…”
"Hongying," Shang Yechu reminded her. For some reason, she didn't want this annoying woman to be nameless.
“Hongying,” Sheng Wenzhi readily agreed, “Hongying came to the lounge to rest. She kept trying to chat me up, as noisy as Ji Ya, and I didn’t want to pay attention to her. She bothered me for a long time, and then I suddenly noticed that she kept sticking her feet out in front of me. Upon closer inspection, I realized that she was wearing a pair of shiny red leather shoes.”
"I really had nothing to say to her, so I just told her that the shoes were very shiny. Unexpectedly, Hongying became happy as soon as she heard that and started talking to me about the shoes non-stop. She said she bought them herself. What's wrong with buying a pair of shoes yourself? I buy everything myself. I don't know what she was so happy about, so I got a little distracted."
Suddenly, Hongying mentioned you.
"Hongying said that when 'Rules Street' was being filmed, you asked her to cook on set and paid her a large sum of money. She used the money to buy her husband a massager, her son a learning machine, and Teacher Hu tea. Finally, she secretly bought herself a pair of shoes."
"These shoes were too bright and expensive, so she didn't dare wear them out and hid them. It wasn't until she came to work at the opening of Xingfu Commercial Street that Teacher Hu told her to dress more presentably, and only then did she wear the shoes out. When the store opened, many girls complimented her on her beautiful shoes and asked her where she bought them, and she was very proud of herself..."
silence.
Inside the hotel, the atmosphere was lively with clinking glasses and laughter. On this small rooftop, only the moon quietly watched them.
After a long silence, Sheng Wenzhi said, "At that moment, I suddenly thought, if it were me, besides giving alms, what other way could I get a woman like Hongying to buy herself a pair of shoes?"
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