A hundred flavors of life

Chapter 1423 Every Family Has Its Own Troubles! (Please Subscribe!)

With the end of the semester approaching, it is a crucial time for the children in the Zhuang and Lin families' courtyards.

That evening, the two families gathered for dinner again. Before the meal, Zhuang Chaoying gave her son and nephew some instructions:

"This year's exams are very important for both of you. I hope you will both take them seriously and make sure you take them seriously!"

"Tu Nan will be a senior in high school, and Peng Fei will be a junior in junior high school. According to the usual practice of No. 1 High School, your exam scores this time will directly affect your class placement after entering high school. If you do well, you will be directly placed in the honors class. The quality of teachers in the honors class is far superior to that in the regular class. It can be said that if you are in the honors class, you two will be one step closer to getting into a good university!"

Zhuang Tunan nodded seriously, clearly having taken it all in.

Hua Shier didn't care much, because he always got full marks on his exams. To be honest, having taken the college entrance exam several times, it was really hard for him not to get full marks on these junior high school exams, unless it was a primary school question that even PhD parents couldn't understand in later years.

Seeing Hua Shier's attitude, Zhuang Chaoying wanted to say something, but considering her nephew's usual exam results, she only offered a reminder:
"Pengfei, just be careful not to be careless!"

The others knew what was going on and chuckled.

Song Ying then turned her attention to her son: "Teacher Zhuang, do you think my son Dongzhe's grades are good enough to get into the top high school?"

Zhuang Chaoying pondered for a moment and said:

"Dongzhe is smart enough, but he's a bit lazy. If he puts in some effort, he should have a chance. But even if he doesn't get into the top middle school this time, it's not a big deal. He'll still have a chance when he takes the high school entrance exam!"

Song Ying was a little dejected after hearing this: "If my little rascal doesn't pass the exam this time, I don't know what he'll do when he takes the high school entrance exam!"

Lin Wufeng smiled and comforted his wife, "Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. Dongzhe is no bad either. Let nature take its course."

Lin Dongzhe nodded vigorously: "Mom, as long as you buy me a popsicle every day, I will definitely study hard!"

Song Ying retorted angrily, "You look like a popsicle to me!"

Everyone at the table laughed.

Just then, a fierce argument suddenly broke out in Wang Yong's yard next door, with the sound of dishes shattering being particularly jarring.

Huang Ling put down her chopsticks and listened intently: "What's wrong now?"

Zhuang Chaoying shook her head and lowered her voice, saying:
"Wang Yong's sister, Wang Fang, is back. I even helped her with her daughter Zhou Qing's schooling today. It wasn't easy for her."

Song Ying also leaned closer, lowering her voice even further:
“Wang Fang also had a hard life. During the time of the Down to the Countryside Movement, her parents made her brother Wang Yong take over the family’s job at the cotton mill. Since no unit would accept Wang Fang, she could only go to the border region.”

"She ended up marrying a former educated youth from Shanghai, but when the policy for returning to the city was released, they were ineligible because they had started a family locally."

She sighed:
"The couple is quite bold. They actually sneaked back and went to their son-in-law's house in Shanghai first. But the house was too small, and the brother and sister-in-law couldn't accommodate them, so they kicked them out."

"There was no other way, so the son-in-law had to stay in Shanghai as an unregistered resident, doing odd jobs while waiting for policy changes. Wang Fang had to take her daughter back to her parents' home, where she also became an unregistered resident."

Lin Wufeng looked at his wife with amusement: "How do you know so much?"

Song Ying rolled her eyes at him: "We had a fight yesterday, it's all over the alley, except you didn't know."

She suddenly remembered something and pointed at Hua Twelve: "Speaking of which, Pengfei's situation is somewhat similar to Wang Fang's daughter, Zhou Qing!"

Fearing her nephew might misunderstand, Huang Ling quickly said, "That's different! Pengfei is no different from my own son, I would never send Pengfei away!"

Song Ying laughed and said, "You can tell Pengfei is lucky to have such a wonderful aunt."

She turned to Hua Shier and said, "Pengfei, remember how good your aunt is to you!"

Hua Shier swallowed the food in his mouth and said with a grin:
"I remember how kind my aunt and uncle were, and I also remember how kind Uncle Lin and Aunt Song were. These days it's so hot, and you always treat me to watermelon and popsicles!"

Everyone at the table burst into laughter, and the slightly heavy atmosphere from before dissipated considerably.

But the battle next door is escalating.

"Get out! All of you get out!" Wang Yong's roar came through the courtyard wall: "This is my Wang family's house! You, a married daughter, come back with a child in tow, and you still want to take up space, what right do you have?"

Then came the woman's tearful protest: "Brother, I'm a member of the Wang family too! Mom and Dad are still alive, and I have a share in this house!"

"Bullshit! The factory allocated this house to me! What does it have to do with you!" Wang Yong's voice grew louder and louder. "If you don't leave, don't blame me for being impolite!"

Then came a tugging and a woman's scream, mixed with the child's terrified cries.

Song Ying couldn't stand it anymore. She slammed down her chopsticks, got up, walked to her own water vat, scooped up a large ladle of cold water, and splashed it over the courtyard wall.

"Wow--"

From next door came Wang Yong's startled shout: "Who is it?! Song Ying, it's you again!"

Hua Shier couldn't help but laugh. Judging from Wang Yong's tone, this wasn't the first time he'd been splashed by Song Ying!

Song Ying, hands on her hips, shouted towards the wall, "What's wrong with me watering the flowers? Is it bothering you?"

Everyone in the cotton mill's residential area knew that Song Ying was shrewish. Wang Yong cursed a few times, but didn't dare to do anything, and was pulled back into the house by his wife.

But Wang Fang was clearly unwilling to be kicked out so easily. After dinner, when it was completely dark, the arguing next door could still be heard intermittently, but the voices were lowered and not clearly audible.

After finishing their homework, the children went to play and cool off at the entrance of the alley.

Under the sycamore tree at the alley entrance, a girl even younger than Zhuang Xiaoting stood alone, twisting the hem of her clothes with her hands, her eyes red. It was Wang Fang's daughter, Zhou Qing.

Zhuang Xiaoting looked at her for a while, then suddenly turned and ran home. A little while later, she came running back with a pastry wrapped in oil paper. She walked up to Zhou Qing and whispered:
"Here you go. This is mung bean cake from Suzhou, it's very sweet."

Zhou Qing glanced at her timidly, then at the pastries in her hand, and didn't take them.

Zhuang Tunan also came over and said gently, "Try it, it's alright."

At this moment, Wu Shanshan also came out of the house, holding a small bowl with two hard-boiled eggs in it.

She had obviously heard what the Wang family was saying, and that's why she took it out on purpose.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you? Have something to eat first." Wu Shanshan handed the bowl to Zhou Qing, her voice gentle.

Looking at the kind faces of these strangers, Zhou Qing finally burst into tears. She took the bowl, whispered "thank you," and began to eat in small bites.

Hua Shier looked at Wu Shanshan and teased her deliberately, "Why didn't you give me an egg? I'm hungry too."

Wu Shanshan blushed and glared at him reproachfully.

After Zhou Qing finished eating, the children stood with her at the alley entrance for a while until Wang Fang came out to look for her daughter, and then they dispersed.

As they lay down to sleep that night, Zhuang Tunan, lying next to Hua Shier, asked in a low voice:

"Pengfei, is something going on between you and Shanshan? I feel like something's not quite right between you two."

In the darkness, Hua Shier's lips curled up slightly. He didn't deny it; instead, he said in a matter-of-fact tone:

"I think Wu Shanshan is great. How about I marry her and make her your sister-in-law after you graduate from university?"

These days, puppy love is absolutely forbidden. Although Zhuang Tunan is already a high school student, he is still clueless about love. Hearing this, he blushed and waited for a while before kindly reminding Hua Shier not to let puppy love interfere with his studies, because the teachers all say that puppy love affects studies!

Hua Shier wanted to laugh, and retorted, "Besides doing my homework, have you ever seen me study?"

Zhuang Tunan thought for a moment, then shook his head in frustration.

Hua Shier laughed and said, "That's it then! I don't study anyway, so how could it be a problem!"

Zhuang Tunan felt miserable. He had to study hard every day to maintain good grades, but other people could get first place in the grade without studying and even have early romances. Where could he go to complain?

The next day, Hua Shier rode his bicycle with Wu Shanshan to school. In the summer, the two temporarily stopped taking the bus.

When they were almost at school, Wu Shanshan secretly slipped something into his school uniform pocket.

Hua Shier controlled the handlebars with his right hand, and with his left hand, he found a boiled egg, still warm.

He chuckled and said, "Thanks. By the way, what kind of cigarettes does your dad smoke? What kind of alcohol does he drink? I won't need to buy any more for him anymore."

Wu Shanshan couldn't understand what Hua Shier was saying, and he didn't explain either.

When she arrived at school and started her studies, Wu Shanshan suddenly remembered the jokes the adults had made during the New Year about Uncle Wang Yong going to her father-in-law's house to freeload. She realized then that this guy had taken advantage of her, and her cheeks flushed. Logically, she should have been angry, but for some reason, her heart was pounding like a rabbit's, and she couldn't muster any anger.

The feeling was strange, like shyness, a little sweet, and a hint of inexplicable anticipation.

When Hua Shier was walking home from school in the evening, he could hear a great commotion inside the alley before he even entered it.

When they squeezed in, wow, half the residents of the cotton mill's residential area were gathered outside Wang Yong's yard.

I heard from the neighbors that the conflict in the Wang family had escalated. Wang Yong even used a knife to drive Wang Fang away, which alarmed the factory's security department and leaders, who have now arrived to deal with the situation.

The conflict between Wang Yong and his sister Wang Fang stemmed from the fact that their home was not spacious enough. The housing department came up with a compromise: they demolished a section of the wall between the Zhuang and Lin families' courtyards, taking up some public space, and combined it with the space freed up in the Wang family's courtyard to build a small house for Wang Fang and her daughter.

However, this matter required the consent of Zhuang Chaoying's family and Lin Wufeng's family. When the people from the real estate department discussed it with Huang Ling and Song Ying, both of them were kind-hearted people. Although it would take up a little space in their own yard, they could help the mother and daughter who had nowhere else to turn, so they both nodded.

Wang Fang even made a special trip to express her gratitude. Hua Shier took the opportunity to remind her, "Aunt Wang, gratitude should come from the heart. If you ever see any of the children in our neighborhood being bullied, you can't pretend you didn't see it!"

Wang Fang nodded, puzzled, and said with a smile, "Look at what you're saying, child. How could that be? If anyone bullies you, just tell Auntie, and Auntie will stand up for you!"

Hua Shier smiled and didn't say anything more.

In the original storyline, Wang Fang was already a bit ungrateful. When she saw Zhuang Xiaoting being bullied by some young people, she pretended not to see it and walked away without even calling for help or the police. In the end, it was Li Yiming's mother, Aunt Li, who took Zhuang Xiaoting to the Li family first, which prevented anything serious from happening.

But this is enough to show that Wang Fang is ungrateful.

Hua Shier said this to give her a warning; if this woman is still the same as in the original story, then he shouldn't blame her for being ruthless.

The final exams are finally here.

Inside the classroom, the electric fan whirred, but it couldn't dispel the stuffiness and tension in the air.

Hua Shier just gave a casual answer and immediately gave himself a perfect score.

Teacher grading the papers: Then what am I?
Wu Shanshan was worried that she wouldn't do well on the exam and wouldn't be able to get into the top class. She still wanted to stay in the same class as Hua Shier.

As they walked out of the examination hall, Wu Shanshan caught up with Hua Shier and said somewhat nervously:
"I think I did poorly on the test. I think I got the second part of the last big question wrong."

Seeing her worried expression, Hua Shier deliberately teased her:

"It's okay. If you can't get into the honors class, you can stay in the regular class. I don't mind that you're not smart."

"You're the stupid one. No, I don't care what you have to complain about. I don't care at all," Wu Shanshan said, but she still chased after him and hit him all the way from the teaching building to the playground.

After the exams, the school will begin summer vacation, and the scores and class assignments will not be announced until the start of the new semester.

Huang Ling began preparing things for Hua Shier's return to Guizhou: two packages of Suzhou specialty pastries, a jar of pickled vegetables she had made herself, and a new shirt for Xiang Dong and Zhuang Hualin.

The train ticket is ready; it's for the afternoon of the next day.

The next day, after tricking Zhuang Chaoying, who had come to see him off, away in front of the train station, Hua Shier turned around and sold the ticket for two yuan less. Then he left the train station and headed straight for the bus station.

At noon, I met Uncle Qian at the bus station; he had become a full-time driver.

"Pengfei, what brings you here!"

Uncle Qian was delighted to see an acquaintance and took Hua Shier to the bus station canteen, insisting on treating him to a meal.

"I won't be able to go back this summer vacation. When you go back to Guizhou by yourself, be careful on the train. Keep your money safe and watch out for pickpockets!"

The two chatted as they ate. Uncle Qian then gave him some instructions on train travel, but Hua Shier interrupted him after a couple of sentences:

"Uncle Qian, how much do you earn a month now?"

Uncle Qian took a bite of rice and laughed:

"What, you want to be a driver too? I heard from your parents that you're a good student, so study hard and stop thinking about useless things. Getting into university is better than anything else."

Even so, he still answered the question:

"My basic monthly salary is sixty yuan, plus driving allowance, bonuses, and some... well, extra income. I should make about one hundred and thirty or forty yuan a month."

Hua Shier understood. This income was definitely considered high in the early 80s. No wonder Uncle Qian had to give gifts to get a promotion.

"Uncle Qian, could you please take the afternoon off?"

Hua Shier put down his chopsticks and said seriously, "I'll take you to meet someone and introduce you to a better job."

Uncle Qian was skeptical: "You kid, don't joke around with your uncle."

"I'm not joking." Hua Shier's expression turned serious. "You know about Pengcheng Electronics Factory's sales office in Suzhou, right?"

"I know it, that shop on Guanqian Street, the one that sells electronic watches, business is booming." Uncle Qian nodded.

"Yes, they still sell calculators, small radios and things like that."

Hua Shier lowered his voice:
"The manager there is my uncle's neighbor, and we have a very good relationship. They happen to be short of a driver right now. The salary is 200 yuan a month, with room and board included, and there is also a subsidy for business trips."

Uncle Qian was somewhat tempted: "Is it a permanent position or a temporary one?"

Hua Shier smiled:

"Does it matter? I heard that your passenger transport industry has begun to gradually implement contracting reforms, and the permanent jobs will soon no longer be secure. It's more worthwhile to earn more money. Besides, driving a car only serves the leaders, which is much easier than driving a passenger transport vehicle!"

"And—" He paused deliberately, "that manager owes me a huge favor. This time, we're hiring drivers to go north to Beijing and Tianjin with him to expand the northern market. You can go with him and learn how to do business. When the new store opens in the future, if we need a trustworthy manager, I can recommend you."

Uncle Qian was skeptical: "You're just a kid, what favor could someone possibly owe you? Stop talking nonsense!"

Hua Shier said casually, "The first time I came to Suzhou, I met the sales manager of Pengcheng Electronics Factory on the train. My neighbor got in touch with him through my introduction. Tell me, doesn't he owe me a favor?"

Seeing his certainty, and given that Uncle Qian had always had a very good impression of Hua Twelve, he believed him to some extent and immediately pondered:
"Okay! I'll talk to the class monitor this afternoon and ask for half a day off to go with you and see if it's alright. We'll see after we meet!"

2 PM, Guanqian Street.

There weren't many customers at Pengcheng Electronics' sales outlet. After Hua Shier finished introducing the two parties, Li Yiming got straight to the point:
"Brother Qian, to be honest, our sales department is developing very quickly. Our products are now sold in Hangzhou and Nanjing. Next, we want to expand into the Beijing-Tianjin market. We also just applied for a quota from the Planning Commission and bought a new car."

He got up, walked to the window, and drew back the curtains. Outside, a brand-new black Toyota Crown sedan was parked on the side of the road, gleaming darkly in the sunlight.

Uncle Qian's eyes widened instantly. These days, cars are a rarity, let alone an imported Crown!
He had been driving at the bus station for so many years, and the best vehicle he had ever handled was a domestically produced Dongfeng bus. He had never seen such a magnificent sedan before.
Li Yiming observed his reaction and said with a smile:
"Brother Qian, if you come, drive this car and come with me north to Beijing and Tianjin."

"A basic monthly salary of 200 yuan, a daily allowance of 5 yuan for business trips, and all-inclusive meals and accommodation. There are also bonuses for completing tasks. What do you think?"

Uncle Qian's throat bobbed, and it took him a while to find his voice: "You're really letting me drive this car?"

"Of course!"

Li Yiming took the car keys out of the drawer and placed them on the table:
"All the formalities have been completed, and we're just waiting for the driver to arrive."

Uncle Qian stared at the key, his mind racing with calculations.

The job at the bus station is stable, but the income is so-so. Here, on the other hand, you can start driving a car as soon as you join, with a basic salary of 200 yuan, plus subsidies and bonuses, you can earn at least 250 yuan a month!
Even without mentioning the manager position, it's still better than him just loafing around at the bus station.

That evening, he bought some gifts and went to the bus station leader's home to deliver them. The next day, he completed the suspension procedures and started working on Guanqian Street the day after the procedures were completed.

Hua Shier, as usual, arranged for Uncle Qian to obtain a temporary worker status at Pengcheng Electronics Factory.

After the temporary worker's paperwork was completed, Hua Shier smiled and said, "Uncle Qian, now it's time to get down to business."

"What important matter?" Uncle Qian was taken aback.

"Before you go north with Yiming, come back to Guizhou with me first!"

Hua Shier thought his father's job as a road patrolman was too tough, so he planned to get his parents both new jobs and move to a big city. However, as a junior high school student, he felt powerless and worried that his parents wouldn't believe him.

Now that's settled, we've got Uncle Qian, this tool, on our side, so we can help him persuade Xiang Dong and Zhuang Hualin.

　Thanks to 08a, Little Tiger of the Demon Realm, and MICL for their generous donations, and to all the brothers who voted with monthly tickets and recommendation tickets. Thank you so much!

　　(End of this chapter)