blogombal Chapter 164 Qin Huairu Meets Her Father
Chapter 164 Qin Huairu Meets Her Father
The scrap collector opened a sack, looked at the contents, and said, "These things are worth at most 30 cents a pound."
Yan Jiecheng calculated in his mind and said, "No! It's too little, add some more!"
The junk collector asked, "How much do you want?!"
Yan Jiecheng calculated in his mind and said, "At least 50 cents per pound."
"50 cents?!" The junk collector yelled in surprise, looked at Yan Jiecheng and asked, "Brother, are you really willing to sell it?! 50 cents?! Absolutely impossible! I see that you are straightforward, so I will give you a little more. 35 cents per pound. If you are willing, I will take it. If not, forget it." After saying that, the junk collector made a move to leave. Yan Jiecheng grabbed the junk collector and said impatiently, "35 cents is 35 cents, I will sell it to you!"
The scrap collector smiled and weighed the parts in the sack and asked, "Brother, where did you get so many bicycle parts?"
Yan Jiecheng replied: "Where else can I get it from? From a recycling station, of course. I went to many recycling stations to build this bicycle."
In fact, the junk collector had noticed this bicycle a long time ago, but he was not sure whether it was assembled from scrap parts. Now he got the answer from Yan Jiecheng. The junk collector breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Brother, I didn't expect you to be so skillful!!"
Yan Jiecheng said: "It's not that I'm dexterous. It's that my brother can do it."
"This is a technical job, not everyone can do it." The scrap collector weighed the last sack and quickly quoted the price: "It's less than 52 kilograms in total. I'll give you 52 kilograms, a total of 15.70 yuan."
"Okay!" Yan Jiecheng responded, took the money, and helped the scrap collector carry the sack out.
Soon, the news that the Yan family had four bicycles spread throughout the alley. However, the neighbors, the street office, and the police station all knew where the Yan family got the bicycles, so no one reported it. At most, they just said a few sour words. Because the children in the family were capable, the third aunt became the most popular person in the alley and even the whole lane.
The Yan family's life was getting more and more prosperous, while the Jia family's life was really hard to describe. Since Jia Dongxu followed Xie Laoliu to the abandoned warehouse, Jia Dongxu became a frequent visitor there. At first, Jia Dongxu could still win, but as time went on, Jia Dongxu began to lose more and win less. Slowly, he poured out all the previous wins, and also lost some of his old capital.
But gambling is addictive. The more you lose, the more you want to make up for it, and then you enter a vicious cycle. Slowly, Jia Dongxu began to get addicted to alcohol again. From two or three taels at the beginning, to half a catty or a catty later. Anyway, Jia Dongxu drank more and more. After get off work, he either went out to play a few games or was on his way to drink.
Yi Zhonghai saw the changes in Jia Dongxu. Yi Zhonghai was so happy! Qin Huairu also noticed something strange. But Qin Huairu was afraid of being beaten, so she didn't dare to persuade him. In this way, time passed from 1960 to 1961. One morning in early March, Qin Huairu went out with a basket at about the same time as usual.
Qin Huairu just walked to the entrance of the alley and saw an old man squatting under a telephone pole. Qin Huairu looked at the old man carefully and called out unconsciously: "Dad!"
The old man heard the shout, raised his head, saw the person standing in front of him, and shouted excitedly: "Huai Ru!"
Qin Huairu immediately pulled the old man to the corner and asked, "Dad, why are you here?! You're here, but you're not going home?!"
The old man said, "Huai Ru, it's not that I have no other options. I won't come to you either. We can't even afford to eat at home."
Qin Huairu thought that this was not the place to talk, so she hurriedly pulled the old man to a deserted place and said, "Dad, wait for me here. I'll be back soon." After that, Qin Huairu turned and left. About seven or eight minutes later, Qin Huairu came back. She stuffed ten pancakes into her father's hands, then took out ten yuan and two one-jin Sijiucheng food coupons and said, "Dad, you know that my household registration is still in my hometown. The whole family depends on Dongxu. These are all I have, so you take them first."
The old man collected the money and receipts and asked, "Huai Ru, are you pregnant again?!"
Qin Huairu nodded silently and said, "Dad, it's getting late. You should go back soon! Be careful on the road."
"Hey!" The old man responded and said, "You are pregnant now. You should be more careful. I'm leaving now! I'll go home when I have time." After that, the old man put the pancake in his arms and turned away. Qin Huairu watched her father's back gradually go away, sighed unconsciously, and turned to walk towards the vegetable market.
At the same time, Xu Damao rode his bicycle out from the corner, glanced at the old man's back, then looked at Qin Huairu's back, and thought to himself: "I really didn't realize that Qin Huairu is really an extraordinary woman. She actually got so much money from Jia Zhangshi and Jia Dongxu?!" Then Xu Damao remembered that he saw Jia Dongxu go to the abandoned warehouse a while ago, and frowned tightly. Xu Damao always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't put it into words. Anyway, Jia Dongxu didn't have a good relationship with him, and they were not related or friends, so there was no need to care so much.
"Qin Huairu! Why did you take so long?! Do you want to starve us to death?!" Qin Huairu had just returned home with a basket at a little after six in the morning. Jia Zhang's roar rang out. Qin Huairu put the basket next to the stove, took out the warm steamed bread from the pot, walked to the table, put it on the table, and said, "It's time to eat!"
Jia Dongxu walked to the table, took two steamed breads and two pieces of pickled vegetables, and said, "I'm leaving first!"
"Yes!" Qin Huairu responded, took down the net bag containing the lunch box hanging on the wall and handed it to Jia Dongxu. Jia Dongxu took the things and went out directly.
After Jia Dongxu left, Jia Zhang walked to the table, looked at the steamed bread and pickled vegetables on the table, and complained: "It's either cornmeal porridge or steamed bread every day. Can't you change it up?!"
Qin Huairu said with a bitter face: "Mom! It's good to have something to eat now! Many places outside are out of food now."
Jia Zhang sneered and asked, "Who are you crying for?!" Then she said, "Qin Huairu! I'm telling you! Don't think you're pregnant. I wouldn't dare do anything to you with your big belly!"
Before Jia Zhang could finish her words, Qin Huairu interrupted, "Mom! How did I offend you?!"
Jia Zhang asked coldly, "What?! If you dare to do it, you can't let me say it?!"
Qin Huairu thought about it for a while, and then she realized that someone must have seen her taking her father away. Someone spread the news to Jia Zhangshi's ears. Qin Huairu said hurriedly: "Mom! You can't listen to other people's nonsense! My father just came. There was no food in his hometown, and he came to me for help. But I rejected him. I also sent him away. I guess he hasn't gone far yet. If you don't believe me, you can come with me to find him."
Jia Zhang stared at Qin Huairu for a few seconds and thought to herself, "Did I really misunderstand her?!"
Qin Huairu saw that Jia Zhang's expression had eased, and she knew that she had made the right bet, and she finally let go of her worries. Jia Zhang said, "Forget it this time! Next time, if I find out that you have done something to let my son down, I will show you how I will punish you!" After that, Jia Zhang grabbed a steamed bread and started to eat it.