Siheyuan: Return to the Era of Prosperity

Chapter 16 Rhetoric
Shen Zhiyu didn't know why Yi Zhonghai was looking for him, but it was definitely not a good thing.

He did not point out the other party's little thoughts, and followed Yi Zhonghai's words and said: "Well, I'm already at work, and the work is going well. The leaders and colleagues are taking good care of me, so I won't bother you anymore."

Seeing that Shen Zhiyu did not take the initiative to ask him about his reasons, Yi Zhonghai could only take the initiative to bring up the topic.

"Zhi Yu, I heard that you have already started working. So how are you going to deal with the remaining jobs in your family?" Yi Zhonghai asked casually.

Shen Zhiyu's eyes gleamed, and he finally understood the old man's intention. He smiled and asked, "Why? Uncle, your salary as a level 6 worker is not enough, so you plan to let Aunt go out to work?"

"That's right, he's an old man, you can't do this, my Jie Cheng is still a temporary worker." As soon as Yi Zhonghai arrived at Shen Zhiyu's house in the morning, Yan Bugui paid attention to him and had been listening outside the door. As expected, when they talked about jobs, how could he not be anxious, he hurriedly spoke.

When Yi Zhonghai saw Yan Bugui, he knew that things were complicated. Given the Third Uncle's personality of calculating every penny, it would be unlikely for him to get the job from Shen Zhiyu.

However, he did not take Yan Bugui to heart. Given the other party's desire for money, there were plenty of ways to solve the problem.

"What nonsense are you talking about? How could I ask for a job? I'm asking for this on behalf of the needy residents in our compound." Yi Zhonghai still maintained his image as a good guy on the surface.

"Zhiyu, your job..." Yan Bugui also hurriedly began to ask about Shen Zhiyu's job situation.

Shen Zhiyu interrupted Yan Bugui and said, "Don't even think about it, gentlemen. I'm going to keep this position for my daughter Zhifang. She will graduate from junior high school next year."

Yan Bugui said, "Zhiyu, Third Uncle knows that your Zhifang is a good student and will definitely be admitted to a technical secondary school. Why does he want to take over?"

Yi Zhonghai took over the conversation and said, "Yes, Zhiyu, we live in the same courtyard, we should help each other and not be too selfish."

Shen Zhiyu had experience in his previous life and had read the original novel of "Qin Man". He was not that idiot Sha Zhu, so how could he be fooled by Yi Zhonghai's words.

"What if? Who can guarantee that Zhifang will pass the exam?" Shen Zhiyu asked back.

Yan Bugui stopped talking, he knew that what Shen Zhiyu said made sense, because of his personality and salary, he would be calculating and petty, but he was not a bad person by nature, and he still had his bottom line.

Yi Zhonghai said, "It doesn't matter. Some people in our hospital still have rural household registration. They don't have food rations and their lives are very difficult. Let her family use your job first and change her household registration to a town household registration. If your sister fails to pass the technical secondary school entrance exam next year, we will return it to your family."

Shen Zhiyu knew that he was talking about the Jia family in Zhongyuan. Qin Huairu had a rural household registration, and the children followed their mother's household registration. There was no food ration for rural household registration, and the food ration for his family relying solely on Jia Dongxu was indeed not enough, so Jia Dongxu had been buying food from Pigeon City.

But asking him to give up his job to the Jia family was impossible.

My younger brothers and sisters are all good at studying, and with my own encouragement, just as Yan Bugui said, it is almost certain that they will be admitted to a technical secondary school, but there is indeed a chance of that happening.

Putting them aside, my younger sister Zhiwen is in the fourth grade now. If she succeeds in getting into technical secondary school, she would only be in the second grade in 1966. Who knows what the situation will be like at that time? It is very necessary to keep a job just in case.

Thinking of this, Shen Zhiyu became more determined to keep this position.

"Uncle, you are asking me to deceive the organization. Abiding by the party rules and regulations is the obligation of every member of the organization. You are asking me to violate the rules and regulations. As a probationary member of the organization, I will never agree to it." Shen Zhiyu made up his mind that he would never give up his job, let alone sell it. With the nature of the birds in the courtyard, if they knew that I sold my job, they would probably go to the factory to report me.

"This..." Yi Zhonghai didn't know how to respond. He didn't expect Shen Zhiyu to do this to him.

He was fully prepared. If Shen Zhiyu refused to give up his position for other reasons, he would use the excuse of selfishness to force him to give up his position.

But he didn't expect Shen Zhiyu to do this, bringing up all the violations of rules and regulations. This made all the excuses he had prepared helpless, and he felt very uncomfortable.

But who is he, Yi Zhonghai, a moral gentleman, quickly thought of an excuse: "Zhiyu, legal principles are nothing more than human feelings, you are also helping the needy, the organization will understand."

Shen Zhiyu looked at Yi Zhonghai with an idiotic look in his eyes and said, "Uncle, why don't you tell this story to the organization or the steel mill and see how they deal with it. I'm still young and inexperienced, so I need to learn."

Yan Bugui, who was listening nearby, burst out laughing. He originally thought that Shen Zhiyu would be forced to give up his job by Yi Zhonghai, but now it seems that the child has grown a lot since his parents passed away and can now set up his own household.

"I'm sorry, I just thought of a joke." Yan Bugui also knew that it was inappropriate for him to laugh, so he hurriedly explained.

"Kid, how could you not understand? You can give the jobs to the needy residents. This is to help them. We three uncles will praise you." Yi Zhonghai knew that Yan Bugui was laughing at him, but he pretended not to hear it.

"Uncle, you love to help the needy so much! I remember that Grandma Chen's family of three in our front yard relied on the old lady to sweep the streets. Her family was the most difficult. There was also Meng San's family in the backyard and Niu Fugui and his family in the middle yard. The average income was less than 5 yuan. As a level 77 worker, your monthly salary was as high as 10 yuan. Your medical treatment did not cost money, and even if Aunt Yi spent more on medical treatment, you could at least save 8 or yuan a month. Otherwise, you can donate or yuan to the needy residents in our yard every month. What do you think?" Shen Zhiyu retorted sharply.

"Old Yi can save at least 50 yuan." Yan Bugui calculated in his mind and said silently, perhaps thinking of the disparity between his own family's situation and Yi Zhonghai's.

"Your aunt and I are not feeling well, so we need to save some money for self-defense." Yi Zhonghai didn't expect that he would be in trouble, so he hurriedly explained.

"Okay, you know to save money for old age, but we don't know to keep our jobs just in case." Shen Zhiyu choked.

"Uncle, Zhiyu, you guys chat, I have to go to class." Yan Bugui felt that there was no point in staying any longer. If he was late, it would be even more unworthy to have his salary deducted, so he offered to leave.

"Okay, you go ahead, I have to go to work too." Shen Zhiyu turned around and said to his brothers and sisters, "Hurry up, or we'll be late."

"I got it. Let's go now." said my sister Shen Zhifang.

As they spoke, the three of them walked out the door with their schoolbags on their backs.

After walking out of the door, I heard Shen Zhihua say, "Bah, shameless old bastard, why should he be a good person in our job?"

"That's right." The two younger sisters also echoed.

(End of this chapter)