Siheyuan: At the beginning, I can integrate everything!

"I want the biggest one!"

Yan Bugui's shout completely stunned the sales clerk.

Looking at the pile of crumpled coins on the counter, which even smelled of mothballs.

The saleswoman swallowed hard, but her professionalism kept her smiling.

"Sir, the largest one is 42 inches, and it costs more than two thousand dollars."

More than two thousand yuan!

In the early 1980s, that would have been a huge sum of money, enough to buy a small courtyard house in Beijing.

Even if the price is only half that of imported Japanese goods, it is still an astronomical figure for an average family.

"I...I know!"

Yan Bugui's voice trembled, his heart aching so much it felt like it was bleeding.

This was earned from his thirty years as a primary school teacher, from every penny he had saved, from his children's food expenses.

Every penny counts, the retirement savings I've accumulated over a lifetime!

But he seemed to be possessed today.

The thought that this was "miraculous technology" created by Zhang Huaimin, that little devil, is truly astounding.

Just thinking about the envious and jealous looks from the neighbors in the courtyard if this TV were moved back to the courtyard house...

Yan Bugui felt that the money was well spent!

"Not a single cent less!"

Yan Bugui pushed the pile of small bills in front of the salesperson, closed his eyes, and looked like he was ready to die.

Half an hour later.

On Wangfujing Street.

Yan Bugui hired a bicycle flatbed cart for a "high price" of five cents.

On the flatbed truck.

A huge cardboard box, as thin as a picture frame, was tied with a bright red ribbon.

The four large characters "Future Technology" above gleamed in the sunlight.

Yan Bugui did not take a car.

He strode confidently ahead of the flatbed cart like a general who had won a great victory.

He stood ramrod straight, wishing the whole capital would come to see him.

"Hey, buddy, are you buying that futuristic color TV?"

People on the roadside asked curiously.

"That's right!"

As soon as Yan Bugui heard someone respond, he immediately stopped in his tracks, his beady green eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses shining brightly.

"Forty-two inches! The largest one!"

"This is a miraculous television personally built by Zhang Huaimin, a great hero of our country!"

He deliberately raised his voice, as if afraid that others wouldn't hear him.

"Chairman Zhang and I are close friends despite our age difference; we live in the same courtyard house!"

"This television is a treasure that brings honor to our ancestors!"

Showing off the whole way.

Yan Bugui finally escorted his "treasure" back to the main gate of the Hongxing Courtyard.

"Old man! What...what have you been doing?!"

The three women were carrying a basin, ready to come out and pour out the water.

I spotted the flatbed truck immediately, with the eye-catching words "Future Technology" on it.

The three women felt a sudden darkness before their eyes, and the basin in their hands crashed to the ground with a loud bang.

She lunged at Yan Bugui like a madwoman, grabbing him by the collar.

"Where...where did you get the money to buy a TV?! Did you dig up our savings for our funerals?!"

The three women burst into tears instantly.

"You spendthrift old man! That's our money for our old age and survival!"

"If you buy this useless black box, how will our whole family survive?"

The three women cried and wailed, pounding their fists on Yan Bugui's chest.

Normally, Yan Bugui would have cried with his third aunt, heartbroken.

But today.

He shoved the three women's hands away and straightened his collar, which had been pulled askew.

That old face, full of wrinkles, radiated an unprecedented fervor and vanity.

"Women are all talk and no action!"

Yan Bugui pointed to the large cardboard boxes on the flatbed truck and roared righteously:

"Is this just a regular black box?!"

"This was made by Huai Min! It's high-tech that even foreigners can't buy!"

"You don't know anything! Put this TV in the main room, and from now on, our Yan family will be the most prestigious family in this courtyard, second only to Huaimin!"

"That's called prestige! That's called bringing honor to one's ancestors!"

Yan Bugui's twisted logic left the three women completely bewildered.

At this time.

The neighbors in the courtyard had already been alerted by the commotion.

Everyone rushed out of the house.

When I saw that Yan Bugui had actually bought that legendary "future color TV".

Everyone's eyes widened instantly.

"My goodness! Uncle San, you've really gone all out!"

"This TV looks so thin, can it really project colorful little people?"

"Uncle, you're really something else! You're usually so stingy, but when it really matters, you're willing to spend money!"

Listening to the neighbors' words, which were filled with shock, envy, and even a hint of flattery.

Yan Bugui's initial heartache vanished instantly.

Instead, an unprecedentedly inflated sense of vanity has taken its place.

Cool!

So cool!

Yan Laoxi has been scheming his whole life, all for this moment of triumph!

"Come on, lend a hand! Let's move it inside!"

Yan Bugui called to several young men, and they carefully carried the television into the main room in the front yard.

To accommodate this 42-inch TV.

Yan Bugui even dismantled his old wooden bed, which he had slept on for decades, to make room for it.

Plug in the power.

Draw the curtains.

The room instantly went dark.

The neighbors in the courtyard, like a flock of curious ducks, crowded into the main room of the Yan family's house.

The windowsills were packed with people, three or four layers deep, making it impossible to move.

"Uncle, open it up! Let us see something!"

"Yeah, I heard this TV is a million times clearer than the Japanese ones!"

Everyone urged them on.

Yan Bugui took a deep breath, his hands trembling.

I pressed the power switch on the side of the TV.

"Buzz—"

A very faint electrical start-up sound.

next second.

The previously black screen lit up instantly!

There were no snowflakes, and there was no preheating.

A high-definition, color image, as if a real window were opening, leaps onto the screen!

It was a nature documentary that was playing.

on the screen.

Blue sky, white clouds.

Even the blades of grass swaying in the wind on the vast grassland.

They're all so clear they're chilling!

The colors are rich and delicate, without any graininess.

The intense visual impact shattered the souls of everyone present!

"My dear mother, my fourth maternal great-aunt..."

An older woman stared wide-eyed, her mouth agape enough to fit an egg.

"These people on TV look like they're standing right in front of us!"

"It's so clear! I can even see the water droplets on the tiger's whiskers!"

"A miracle! This is absolutely a miracle!"

The neighbors exclaimed in surprise, their voices of admiration rising and falling.

Some people couldn't resist reaching out to touch the lifelike tiger on the screen.

The three women gazed at the scene, which resembled a fairyland.

The tears stopped flowing.

She stood there blankly, muttering to herself:

"It was worth it... those two thousand yuan... it was definitely worth it..."

Yan Bugui stood next to the television, his hands behind his back.

Looking at the utterly shocked, even worshipful, gazes of everyone in the hospital.

His old face was so full of smiles that the wrinkles looked like they could trap flies.

He felt that he had never been so glorious or had such a great reputation in his entire life!

And all this.

It's all because of that young man named Zhang Huaimin in the front yard!

It was he who, with this incredible, miraculous technology, gave Yan Bugui the ultimate opportunity to show off!

At this moment, the entire Hongxing Courtyard seemed to have transformed into a sea of ​​joy.

however.

Behind this hustle and bustle.

Intermediate People's Court.

In the most remote and darkest corner.

Through the crack in the door of a dilapidated woodshed that was sealed with tape and let in drafts from all sides.

A pair of bloodshot eyes, filled with endless resentment and a sour stench.

He was staring intently at the front yard.

That was Xu Damao.

His hair was gray, his clothes were tattered, and he reeked of the stench of a dry latrine.

He listened to the gasps of amazement coming from the front yard and watched the occasional bursts of colorful light.

Xu Damao's fingernails dug deeply into the broken wooden door of the woodshed.

envy!

Insane jealousy and hatred!

It gnawed at his internal organs like a venomous snake.

Why should I?!

Why should Yan Bugui, that stingy old man, get to watch such a good TV and enjoy the envy of everyone in the hospital?

But Xu Damao could only live a life worse than death in this woodshed that resembled a pigsty!