I, Yan Jiefang, will live to 2025 in this courtyard house.

Xu Fugui donated 5 mao, which is ten or even dozens of times less than the donations made by the three old men and Sha Zhu.

Not only was Yi Zhonghai dissatisfied, but the three members of the Jia family sitting below also had ashen faces.

But Xu Fugui was not someone to be trifled with, so the members of the retirement group had no choice but to suppress their dissatisfaction.

With his example set, other residents, though forced to donate, naturally didn't contribute much.

Most of them cost one or two cents, at most three or four cents, and some were as little as five cents.

The person who donated 5 cents was a middle-aged woman whose clothes were covered in patches and whose body was extremely thin.

She walked slowly and unsteadily to the donation box, as if she might collapse at any moment. Her outstretched hand trembled slightly as she tightly gripped a five-cent coin.

When she dropped a coin into the donation box, her hands were shaking so badly that the coin didn't go into the designated slot accurately, but instead flew in an arc and fell to the side of the slot.

It made a crisp "ding" sound, then bounced and fell to the ground.

The woman glanced at Yi Zhonghai fearfully, then quickly squatted down. Trembling, she fumbled on the ground for several seconds before picking up the coin and carefully placing it into the donation box.

Yan Jiefang stood at the back of the crowd, looking at the scene before him with a slight frown, and quickly retrieved the woman's information from his memory.

Her surname was Zhou, and the neighbors in the courtyard all called her Li Zhoushi.

It is said that her husband and children were killed by the Japanese puppet army before the liberation.

She was left alone as a widow in a side room in the backyard.

She is said to be the only household in need identified by the neighborhood committee in courtyard number 95.

He survives on matchboxes allocated by the neighborhood committee each month, barely hanging on the brink of death.

If a truly impoverished family were to donate to the family of the fat pig, it's estimated that you couldn't find another such civilized courtyard house in the entire 49 cities.

Indeed, it is a courtyard house of beasts among civilized beings, living up to its reputation.

After Li Zhoushi made her donation, the donation ceremony came to an end.

Yan Jiefang, who watched the whole thing, silently calculated in his mind that, apart from the 50 yuan from the three old men and Sha Zhu, the other neighbors donated a total of 3.55 yuan.

Yi Zhonghai picked up the donation box and took Jia Zhangshi home.

Upon entering, Jia Zhangshi, who had been cursing, immediately fell silent and followed Yi Zhonghai to the dining table with a slightly greedy expression.

An older woman named Li Cuilan conscientiously locked the door and then went inside without coming out.

This scenario had clearly been repeated many times before, and all three were extremely skilled at it.

Yi Zhonghai opened the donation box and picked out the most conspicuous large bills, holding them in his hand.

Jia Zhangshi, that fat pig, then began to quickly clear out the remaining small-denomination banknotes and coins.

Because of the limited quantity, she quickly finished counting it.

After confirming that she indeed only had three yuan and fifty-five cents, Jia Zhangshi's expression turned very ugly.

This time the amount was one or two dollars less than the previous times.

"These despicable bastards are getting more and more outrageous! They only donated three yuan and fifty cents today! Old Yi, you'd better teach them a lesson!"

Yi Zhonghai agreed with this statement and nodded:

"They have indeed been a bit lax lately. Okay, enough nonsense. According to the rules, I'll take 40, and the remaining dozen or so are yours."

Although Jia Zhangshi wanted more, she dared not show it in front of Yi Zhonghai.

Having been neighbors for so many years, she knew Yi Zhonghai quite well; he was a ruthless man!

If we offend him, my son Jia Dongxu will be in danger.

She didn't want to experience the life of a widow raising children alone again.

Jia Zhangshi carefully put away the two five-yuan notes and a stack of small denomination bills, then opened the door and left.

As Yi Zhonghai watched Jia Zhangshi's departing figure, he thought to himself: Yan Laokou is getting more and more unruly!

The two of them had clearly agreed yesterday that he would take out 10 yuan and donate it in Yan Bugui's name when it came time to make the donation.

But this guy did it differently, he just deducted half!

Things can't just end like that, otherwise this guy would cause a huge uproar.

This unhealthy trend must be suppressed!

Nothing can affect my retirement!

He glanced at the night outside, then got up and walked towards the front yard.

Yan Bugui returned home in a good mood and instructed Yang Ruihua to prepare some hot water for him to soak his feet.

I was enjoying a relaxing soak when I heard a knocking sound on the window.

"Bang bang, bang bang bang~"

His expression changed, realizing that it was Yi Zhonghai, the childless heir, who had come.

This tapping method is their agreed-upon code: two taps followed by three.

I knew immediately that this person with no descendants was here to ask for money, and it seemed unlikely that I could keep those five dollars.

Yan Bugui looked slightly distressed and could only put on his shoes and open the door to go out.

The two stayed in an uninhabited, back-facing room for more than ten minutes.

After coming out, Yi Zhonghai held a 5-yuan note, looking completely calm, as if he had done something trivial.

Yan Bugui grinned, looking displeased, and the slight pleasant sensation he had experienced from soaking his feet earlier had vanished.

What pained him most was that he lost 10 yuan!

That's a full 10 yuan!

Some readers may be wondering, if it's clearly a break-even situation, how did it turn into a loss of 10 yuan?

Yan Bugui's algorithm is naturally different from that of ordinary people.

That's why he's such a shrewd strategist.

In his calculations, the five yuan was what he had kept from Yi Zhonghai, representing that he had earned five yuan.

Is there anything wrong with this?

Since it's money he earned, it becomes his own money.

There's nothing wrong with that, right?

Now that Yi Zhonghai has taken 5 yuan from his pocket, it naturally means that he has lost 5 yuan.

Is there anything wrong with it?

From earning 5 yuan to losing 5 yuan, isn't that a total loss of 10 yuan?

...

To make up for the loss of 10 yuan, the Yan family reduced their food portions again.

Yan Jiecheng, together with his two younger brothers, lodged protests multiple times.

But the protests were ineffective, and Yan Bugui and his wife continued to do as they pleased.

It's only because Yan Jiefang eats three big meat buns every day that he's full; otherwise, he would have gone to the Women's Federation to complain long ago.

If the Women's Federation were to send someone over at this time, Yan Bugui would definitely be in deep trouble.

Furthermore, if he were to file a report with the Women's Federation, it would also significantly damage his reputation.

Therefore, unless he is desperate, he will absolutely not go to the Women's Federation.

However, he secretly gave most of the extra cornbread he had each day to Yan Jiekuang.

This child was born in 1951, so it's fair to say he was born in the new China and grew up in the spring breeze.

But he is not even 10 years old this year, and he has indeed suffered a lot.

Among his peers in Building 95, he probably suffered more hardships than all the others combined.

Although he couldn't understand how his second brother left over the cornbread every day, his extreme hunger made him too lazy to think too much, and he would eat whatever his second brother gave him.

At the same time, his gratitude towards his second brother grew stronger and stronger.

My second brother has really changed since the beginning of this semester.

Is this what Dad meant when he said I've grown up and become more sensible?

That older brother is already in his twenties, why hasn't he grown up yet? Instead, he looks more and more like his father.