A hundred flavors of life

Chapter 1517 Cui Xiaohong Has Great Potential! (Please Subscribe!)
No secrets stay hidden forever. Although Hua Shier didn't tell Zhao Hailong about Zhang Xiaomei, he still found out and called Hua Shier and Liu Ye for a drink.

I don't know what this guy was thinking. He was drinking and crying at the same time. When he got drunk, he cried and made a scene. Hua Shier really wanted to ask him, "If you're so reluctant to let go, why do you still want a divorce?"

Feelings are a complicated thing; they're hard to explain.

However, Hua Shier still felt no sympathy for Zhang Xiaomei. After all, if it weren't for his appearance, Zhang Xiaomei and Zhao Hailong's fates would have been reversed.

In the original storyline, Zhao Hailong's suicide was due to two reasons: first, Zhang Xiaomei's betrayal and abandonment of the family; and second, the insulting letter she left behind, which was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

It can be said that Zhao Hailong in the original story was killed by Zhang Xiaomei.

But Zhang Xiaomei's death has nothing to do with Zhao Hailong; it just goes to show that if you don't do stupid things, you won't die.

The day after drinking with Zhao Hailong, Hua Shier began a nationwide commercial tour. Well, Yang Baihui arranged dozens of commercial performances for him, covering almost every major city.

"You're trying to kill me with exhaustion!"

Hua Shier looked at his work schedule for the next three months in the first-class cabin of the plane and couldn't help but smile wryly.

Yang Baihui said with a smile, "Who told you to take half a year off every year? Ma Xiao even complained to me about it!"

The woman tactfully claimed that it was all Ma Xiao's fault; she just wanted to spend more time with her man, so what was wrong with that?
Hua Shier really couldn't say anything about this. After all, Yang Baihui was with him, never competing or fighting for anything. All she wanted was this position, so what could he say? He just had to cherish her.

First, he went to Beijing, held a concert, an autograph session, and participated in several commercial performances, earning millions before heading to Shanghai.

After arriving in Shanghai, my schedule was still packed, but thankfully, after completing all my work there, I had a three-day holiday to rest.

However, Yang Baihui did not intend to let him off the hook for the next three days. She put sunglasses and a mask on him and took him out shopping, eating, and watching movies.

During the three-day break, Hua Shier thought of something that hadn't been completed yet: the story in the original plot where Cui Guoming lost both his wife and his army because of stamp speculation.

He took Yang Baihui to the stamp and coin trading market.

In the previous world, Hua Shier bought one hundred sets of Gengshen Monkey stamps, but hadn't sold them yet. Coincidentally, in this world, Cui Guoming had an option in his notebook about failing at stamp speculation, so he decided to take out a few sets of Gengshen Monkey stamps to sell.

Some people say that these stamps become more valuable the longer you keep them, and you can sell them for several times their original price in a few years. That's true, but prices are also rising, my friend. What was the purchasing power of 1,000 yuan in 1996? What will it be a few years later? If you exchange it for money now, you can buy a house, and buying one is a sure win.

When I arrived at the stamp and coin trading market, I was amazed by how popular it was; it was packed with people.

The explosive scenes in the original storyline are not even a tenth of what's described.

Wearing a mask and sunglasses, Hua Shier pulled Yang Baihui to squeeze in front of what looked like a large counter. He asked the shop owner, who was busy answering questions from those around him:

"How much do you charge for the Year of the Monkey?"

His shout caused an instant silence, and everyone turned to look at him. The boss, realizing what was happening, shouted back:

"He asked me first, 'Nine hundred yuan, nine hundred for a single coin, I'll take as many as you have!'"

No sooner had the boss finished speaking than someone else shouted, "One thousand yuan! I'll offer one thousand yuan!"

Another woman squeezed through the crowd, shouting, "Brother, I'll offer 1,100!"

The shopkeeper shouted, "Brother, how many do you have? We can discuss the price!"

Hua Shier asked about the price, and the stamp speculators started arguing amongst themselves.

Hua Shier asked with a smile, "How much for a whole board of Gengshen Monkeys?"

The boss's eyes lit up: "Eighty thousand yuan, brother, that's the best price I can get!"

Those who had just bid also started bidding, all around 80,000, which shows that the boss's statement that 80,000 was the maximum was probably not a lie.

Hua Shier crossed his two index fingers, one horizontal and one vertical: "Stop arguing, I have ten full sets, can you handle that?"

Yang Baihui, who was standing next to him, was taken aback. The price was 80,000 for a whole page, and 800,000 for ten sets!

The boss shouted, "Brother, I'll take all ten units. Besides cash, I have two houses next door, each a 100-square-meter apartment, which is equivalent to five of your Gengshen Monkey units. Is that okay? Is that okay, brother?"

Hua Shier grabbed the shop owner's hand: "It's a deal! Double happiness!"

Prices for properties in the Year of the Monkey will definitely continue to rise. For example, they will double next year, but certainly not as fast as the prices in Shanghai.

Hua Shier thought this guy would be crying his eyes out decades later.

He simply ignored the other offers and called out to the shop owner, "Boss, can we talk in private for a moment?"

The boss's eyes lit up, and he took Hua Twelve away. They ran to a less crowded spot near the back door, where the boss first offered Hua a cigarette.

"Brother, let's get to the bottom of this, how much stock do you have left? I'll take it all!"

Hua Shier couldn't take off his mask, so he tucked the cigarette behind his ear and pulled out a plastic-sealed set of Year of the Monkey cigarettes from inside his trench coat.
"Let's see if it's true. The year it was released, the Gengshen Monkey stamp cost eight cents a stamp. I bought a hundred sets. Can you handle that?"

The shopkeeper knew at a glance that it was genuine. When he heard that Hua Twelve had a hundred sets, his legs went weak and he almost knelt down.

Yang Baihui looked at Hua Shier with eyes full of admiration. Look at my taste in men! The stamps I bought for eight cents are now worth thousands. And I didn't just buy a hundred stamps, but a hundred sets. Where can you even begin to argue with how much money I've made?

Hua Twelve smiled and said to the shopkeeper:
"The Gengshen Monkey is a rare gem, with a limited edition. If you hold onto this, its value will at least double next year, not to mention the future!"

The shop owner nodded; as a stamp speculator, he certainly understood this. However, he was a little confused and asked curiously:

"Since you understand all this, why don't you keep it and wait for it to appreciate in value?"

Hua Twelve smiled and said:
"Because it's slow to liquidate. If I throw all 100 sets into the market at once, the market will crash. If I want to get a good price, I have to sell them in batches. It will take at least ten years to completely sell these stamps while ensuring the price. I'm impatient and can't wait that long!"

"And since this is what you do, boss, what's a problem for me is no problem for you at all. You can just wait until the price goes up each year and sell in small quantities, which will be more profitable for you!"

The boss nodded, agreeing that what he said was indeed correct.

But he also had his own difficulties:
“I’d like to take them all, but I don’t have the means. Just the ten sets you mentioned, I’d need half cash and half real estate. If you had fifteen or twenty sets, I could borrow money, but this hundred sets…”

Hua Shier smiled and waved his hand:

"I prefer houses to money. If you want to have everything, you have to exchange it for a house. Ideally, it would be a villa, and secondly, an apartment!"

Seeing the boss's troubled expression, he reminded him:
"You can find some powerful people to buy together. With such a big market and so many stamp dealers, each person could easily buy one set and then you could collect their referral fees!"

The boss's eyes lit up, because he thought this was a really good idea, and he immediately asked excitedly:

"Can you guarantee that all 100 sets will be in this condition?"

Hua Shier nodded with a smile: "Of course I can guarantee that!"

"Okay, wait for me all morning. I'll treat you to lunch and give you a definite answer!"

The boss exchanged phone numbers with Hua Shier before hurriedly leaving. He needed to contact his peers to buy up all 100 sets of Gengshen Monkey sets. If handled properly, this business could sustain him for three years!

Hua Shier took Yang Baihui back to the hotel first, pretending to take out a hundred sets of stamps from his suitcase.

Sure enough, I received a call from the boss at noon, inviting him out for lunch.

Upon entering the pre-arranged private room, it was already full of people, both men and women. The young owner, who had introduced Hua Shier that morning, was there to explain:

"These are all big bosses in Shanghai who speculate on stamps, and they're all interested in the Year of the Monkey stamps you have!"

One of the elderly men, dressed in a Zhongshan suit and wearing glasses, looked like a cultured person. He spoke to Hua Twelve:
"Would it be convenient for you to take out the Gengshen Monkey so that we can all take a look?"

Hua Shier had Yang Baihui take out one hundred sets of Gengshen Monkey costumes from her satchel and place them on the table:

"Look around as you like!"

Everyone gathered around, but no one touched the paper; the old man looked at it one by one.

The old man used a magnifying glass to examine all one hundred sets for more than half an hour, then nodded to the people around him.

The others immediately looked on with eager eyes.

The old man said to Hua Twelve:

"Xiaotian has already told us your request: you want a house, not money, right?"

Hua Shier nodded with a smile: "That's exactly right!"

The old man continued, "That's easy. We'll give you a property of equal value, based on the market price of 80,000 yuan for a Gengshen Monkey property. Both parties will give Xiao Tian, ​​the intermediary, a referral fee of 50,000 yuan each. Do you think that's a good idea?"

Xiao Tian was the small business owner that Hua Shier had found. He nodded and said, "No problem!" With the agreement reached, the next meal went very well. After the meal, everyone started calculating how many sets of stamps each of them could get for their properties.

Early the next morning, Hua Shier went to the real estate transaction site. In this round, he exchanged one hundred Gengshen Monkeys worth eight million for a small villa worth four million, and used the remaining four million to exchange for twenty apartments worth two hundred thousand each.

Hua Shier felt that he was already set for life in this world, even without striving for anything else!
What does it mean to own 20 apartments in Shanghai, especially in prime locations that will become increasingly prosperous?

Back at the hotel, Yang Baihui was still in a daze. This guy handled the house purchase much more smoothly than she and Li Xiaozhen had done when they went to buy a house.

Hua Shier laughed and said, "Are you stupid!"

Yang Baihui nodded: "Eight cents a stamp, a set sells for 80,000 yuan, it feels like robbery!"

Hua Shier ignored this topic and instead said:

"Ten of these twenty houses will be for Mengmeng, and the remaining ten will be for our future child!"

Yang Baihui's body stiffened, then her eyes reddened, and she hugged Hua Shier:
"Honey, you're so good to me!"

They were already without regrets, and now they are even more devoted.

After finishing his commercial performances, Huo Dongfeng returned to Donglin in June. Before he could even have a couple of days of peace and quiet, he got into trouble.

Just like in the original story, after Er Mei fell from power, some gangsters wanted to rise to the top. Knowing that Huo Dongfeng was Er Mei's older brother, they wanted to step on him to take his place.

Huo Dongfeng tolerated those thugs dining and dashing at his restaurant several times, but one time when Cui Xiaohong went to the restaurant, she happened to catch them trying to leave without paying. This woman stopped them, which led to a conflict.

During the self-defense, one person on the other side died and another was injured.

Huo Dongfeng was arrested by the police and will be brought to trial on charges of "negligent homicide".

As a lawyer, Hua Shier naturally took on Huo Dongfeng's case. He reviewed the restaurant's surveillance footage and saw what happened.

After stopping the thugs, Cui Xiaohong asked them why they wouldn't pay.

A thug whistled at Cui Xiaohong, and Cui Xiaohong couldn't help but say:
"What the hell are you doing? Your mother's a woman too, you know? Show some respect to women from now on!"

It turned out that they were just looking for trouble. Upon hearing this, they immediately became enraged and smashed up the restaurant. Huo Dongfeng was severely beaten in order to protect Cui Xiaohong.

Cui Xiaohong not only didn't appreciate it, but also hid behind Huo Dongfeng and shouted:
"Huo Dongfeng, are you even a man? Where did your fighting spirit go?"

No sooner had Huo Dongfeng finished speaking than he was shot in the stomach, causing him to bend over in pain. Then, the thug grabbed Cui Xiaohong's hair and slapped her across the face.

This knocked Cui Xiaohong to the ground, and a large clump of her hair was pulled out because she was being grabbed.

When Huo Dongfeng saw Cui Xiaohong being beaten, he immediately flew into a rage. His face turned bruised and purple as he rushed forward and used the Bajiquan he had practiced since childhood to deliver a powerful blow, "Tiger Climbs the Mountain," crippling one of them. Then, with a "Heart-Piercing Elbow," he sent the other party's leader to his death.

After watching the video, Hua Shier went to the police station again to find out about the situation from his classmate Da Zeng. When he returned to Grandpa Cui's house, the whole family gathered around to ask how it went and whether he could be released.

Hua Shier shook his head:
“Under the current criminal law framework, as long as the court determines that the retaliation ‘exceeded the necessary limits,’ it constitutes excessive self-defense and must bear criminal responsibility.”

"The consequence of Huo Dongfeng's 'one dead and one injured' will almost certainly be considered 'exceeding the necessary limits' at present, so Huo Dongfeng is definitely going to be imprisoned!"

Cui Xiaohong quickly pressed on, "Then how many years can he be sentenced to?"

Hua Shier glanced at Cui Xiaohong:

“It shouldn’t have been many years, but Huo Dongfeng has been out of prison for less than three years. According to the current law, he is a repeat offender, and the court will definitely punish him severely!”

Cui Xiaohong turned pale instantly, and she couldn't even bring herself to ask how many years she would be sentenced to.

Grandpa Cui quickly asked on her behalf, "Then what is the maximum penalty of several years?"

Hua Shier pondered for a moment: "Fifteen years, I suppose!"

Everyone was startled, and the old woman's voice trembled: "Why such a heavy sentence?"

Hua Shier sighed and said, "Just like in 1983, we've caught the right wave this year!"

This isn't something he made up; it's from the original storyline where Huo Dongfeng was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for excessive self-defense due to these factors.

Of course, with Hua Shier around now, he certainly can't let Huo Dongfeng be sentenced to such a long time. He has a way to help Huo Dongfeng get through this.

The reason I said this was simply to see how Cui Xiaohong would react. This was a test for her stepsister; if she couldn't pass, then...
Cui Xiaohong cried her heart out and went to the hospital for an abortion the next day. It turned out that she was pregnant with Huo Dongfeng's second child.

After the abortion, she began to secretly contact people to sell Huo Dongfeng's hotel.

Before Huo Dongfeng's case even entered the trial stage, Cui Xiaohong dragged her luggage and said goodbye to Grandpa Cui and Grandma Cui, saying that she was going to venture south.

Grandpa Cui, Grandma Cui, and Erpang couldn't believe it. Grandpa Cui said:
"Girl, the verdict hasn't even been handed down yet, and you're already leaving? Don't you have any conscience?!"

Cui Xiaohong wiped away her tears and began to talk nonsense:
"Huo Dongfeng borrowed a lot of money to run that restaurant. He's not here now, so I can't pay it back at all. The hotel has been taken back by someone else. If I don't go out and earn money, what will Erpang do?"

"Cui Xiaohong, can you stop pretending? I feel disgusted just looking at you!"

Hua Shier couldn't stand her attitude any longer, so he went over and snatched Cui Xiaohong's handbag, then turned it upside down and dumped all the contents onto the ground.

Stacks of banknotes lay on the ground, and the whole family stared at the money in disbelief.

Hua Shier said to Erpang, "Nephew, did you see that? Your mother sold your father's restaurant and is trying to run away with the money!"

Old Master Cui clutched his heart. Although Hua Shier had cured his heart disease long ago, his heart still felt uncomfortable in his rage.

The old lady was so angry that she slapped Cui Xiaohong hard across the face.
"Xiaohong, what are you trying to do? How did your mother teach you to be a decent person? How did you end up like this!"

Erpang cried hysterically, shoving Cui Xiaohong hard and knocking her to the ground. Then the chubby boy cried out:

"You're no longer my mom. I don't have a mom anymore!"

After saying that, she ran back to her room and started crying loudly.

Cui Xiaohong looked pale; she had fallen and aggravated her wound, causing blood to seep into her pants.

When Grandpa Cui and Grandma Cui saw this, they were both startled, thinking that Cui Xiaohong had suddenly fallen ill.

Hua Shier immediately exposed her: "She had an abortion before, probably Huo Dongfeng's!"

The old man pointed at his daughter: "You"

He wanted to curse, but utterly disappointed, he didn't even want to curse anymore. He turned to Hua Twelve and asked:
"Then why didn't you stop them!"

Hua Twelve was amused:
"What, you want to raise her child and then dump it on Huo Dongfeng? Does Huo Dongfeng owe him that much? Please, just leave Huo Dongfeng alone. Wouldn't it be better for him to find someone better after he gets out of here?"

Grandpa Cui sighed; he knew his son was right.

Cui Xiaohong glared at Hua Shier resentfully, then squatted down and began picking up the money, stuffing it all into her bag before speaking to her parents:
"Mom and Dad, even if it's my fault, I can't stand suffering, and I can't wait for Huo Dongfeng for fifteen years. If you resent me, just pretend you never gave birth to me!"

After saying that, he slung his bag over his shoulder, picked up his suitcase, and left.

The old woman cried, "I was wrong, I was wrong, I shouldn't have let her come back in the first place!"

There was still some hope when she wasn't coming back, but now there's none left.

Cui Xiaohong bought a plane ticket to the south. She planned to try her luck in Shenzhen. Everyone said that the city was open and doing well. She planned to go back to her old business of selling cosmetics, work hard quietly, and then amaze everyone.

Yes, that's what she thought, but she disappeared in a small hotel on the very night she arrived in Shenzhen. When she woke up, she was in a prison full of Mao's women.

After figuring out what was going on, she shouted loudly in Mandarin and English that she was innocent and didn't know why she had come here.

However, after confirmation from the prison authorities, it was proven that she was sentenced to 9 years in prison for smuggling drugs and was a prisoner under 'ordinary supervision'. Therefore, her 'lying' behavior was punished by being placed in solitary confinement.

All of this was arranged by Hua Shier, so of course it was foolproof.

Cui Xiaohong was on the verge of a breakdown after being released from the dark room, but she still insisted that she was innocent, and then she was locked in the dark room again.

After several times, Cui Xiaohong shut up.

Then came Cui Xiaohong's days of hardship. At the Goose Farm, prisoners under "ordinary supervision" were forced to work 10-12 hours a day.

She was lazy and loved to eat, and the easy life she gained by shirking responsibility would be made up for tenfold in the following nine years.

With a variety of jobs available, including sewing, machine tools, agriculture, animal husbandry, and cleaning, Cui Xiaohong has a promising future ahead of her!
Thank you to 08a and Little Tiger of the Demon Realm for the donations, and thank you to all the brothers who voted with monthly tickets and recommendation tickets. Thank you so much!