Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 333

Zhao Tiesheng followed the old man into the house. The interior was simply furnished. Zhao Tiesheng casually picked a seat and asked, "Uncle, how should I address you?"

The old man grinned and poured Zhao Tiesheng a cup of ginger tea. "My name is Li Yong. They all call me Uncle Li. You can call me Uncle Li too."

Seeing Zhao Tiesheng pat his legs, Li Yong knew they were sore from standing, so he brought over a wooden mallet. "Use this to massage your legs, it'll make them feel better. I heard you knocking on the door around noon, you've probably been standing for almost an hour now. Don't blame the old woman next door for coming out and yelling at you, the soundproofing isn't good here, the sound of someone knocking and leaving is very clear. You're waiting for the Zhao couple next door, right? Sit here for a while, I can hear them opening the door next door. Listen carefully, and if you hear them, it's not too late to go find them."

Zhao Tiesheng drank a cup of ginger tea and instantly felt much warmer. He was very grateful for Li Yong's help. If it weren't for Li Yong, he would have been standing at the door, freezing cold and hungry.

"Uncle Li, thank you so much. Don't worry, I won't make a mess here. As soon as I hear someone open the door next door, I'll leave immediately to go find my little sister."

Speaking of Zhao Chunqin, Li Yong couldn't help but look at Zhao Tiesheng curiously a few times. They really were siblings; they looked quite alike.

"Tiesheng, is there something important you need to discuss with your little sister today?" Li Yong couldn't help but ask.

Speaking of this, Zhao Tiesheng couldn't help but sigh, "Uncle Li, family scandals shouldn't be aired in public, but I really couldn't help it. My wife and I worked so hard to save so much money, which was originally kept by my elderly mother. But my younger sister came to borrow money from my mother and took all the money I had worked so hard to save. That was tens of thousands of yuan."

Forty thousand yuan is a considerable sum for an ordinary family; it can build several-story houses and be used for many other things.

If I had this money, my wife and I wouldn't have ended up like this.

Li Yong narrowed his eyes, a question forming in his mind. "Tens of thousands? What does your little sister need so much money for?"

Logically speaking, Zhao Chunqin and her husband are both civil servants with much higher salaries than the average person, and they live in a staff housing building. They shouldn't have fallen to the point of having to borrow money from others.

Zhao Tiesheng honestly said, "When I first heard it, I was also incredulous. I knew that my younger sister was employed by the government, had a secure job, and received excellent benefits. How could she take money from my elderly mother, and even take tens of thousands of yuan? Later, I found out that my younger sister used the money to start a business."

Zhao Tiesheng finished speaking in one breath, but he also had some complaints about Zhao Chunqin and her husband. It was one thing to borrow money, but now that he had come to see them, they wouldn't let him in even though there were people at home. Did they still consider him their second brother?

Li Yong was somewhat surprised and looked up to ask again, "Are you telling the truth? Did your little sister really take this money to start a business?"

Zhao Tiesheng drank a cup of warm tea and gradually felt warmer. He nodded and said, "This is what Mom told me. My younger sister has limited funds, so she took 40,000 yuan from me to start a business. I heard it's a tea business, but I don't know the specifics. Mom assured me that my sister would definitely make money with this money and would pay me back. But I'm having some difficulties lately. I need this money to build a new house, otherwise my wife and I will have a fight and she won't come back from her parents' house."

"So many things I've said have brought me to tears," Zhao Tiesheng sighed. "Every family has its own troubles."

Li Yong seemed to have thought of something and kept sighing. If he remembered correctly, the new batch of goods that had arrived at the government office was tea. He hoped that Xiao Zhao wouldn't make any mistakes, otherwise...

Thinking of this, Li Yong sighed repeatedly. Seeing this, Zhao Tiesheng asked curiously, "Uncle Li, what are you sighing about?"

Li Yong looked at Zhao Tiesheng as if he were looking through Zhao Chunqin, thinking that if Zhao Chunqin abused her power to buy this batch of goods, not to mention punishment, her promotion prospects for the next few years would be ruined. He hoped she wouldn't do anything foolish.

"It's alright, Tiesheng, sit down and have something to eat. I just thought of a principle: we people have to be down-to-earth in everything we do."

After saying this meaningful sentence, Li Yong poured himself a cup of ginger tea to warm his stomach.

On the other side, Zhao Da'e and Cheng Jinxiang went upstairs but saw that Zhao Tiesheng was not at Zhao Chunqin's door. The mother and daughter looked at each other and Zhao Da'e asked uncertainly, "Mom, did Dad go to Aunt's house?"

Zhao Da'e found it strange. Logically, this shouldn't be the case. Zhao Chunqin shouldn't have come out so early. Moreover, even if she did come out and let Zhao Tiesheng in, there should have been arguments inside about repaying the money. But at this moment, it was extremely quiet, without a sound.

Even Cheng Jinxiang was a little dazed. She was still carrying the food she had brought for Zhao Tiesheng. "Big Goose, let's knock on the door and see if your father is in there."

As she spoke, Cheng Jinxiang handed the lunchbox to Zhao Da'e and asked her to carry it for her, then went up and knocked on the door.

"Boom boom boom——"

I knocked several times but no one answered. Instead, the door next door opened.

As soon as Zhao Tiesheng heard someone knocking on the door, he immediately realized that his wife and daughter had come back to see him. He then said to Li Yong, "Uncle Li, my wife and children are here. Could you please bring them in and have a seat?"

Zhao Tiesheng scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly. He felt a little awkward, as it was a bit much to bring his whole family to visit someone he didn't know well. Finally, Zhao Tiesheng added, "If you think there are too many people, could you let me go out and let my wife and daughter come in and sit down? I'm a grown man and I can handle the hardship, but they might not be able to. I'm afraid they won't be able to stand for so long."

Seeing how considerate Zhao Tiesheng was of his wife and daughter, Li Yong couldn't help but smile. "This old man isn't that stingy. You all come in and sit down. My son has just gone to work, and I'm all alone here with no one to chat with. Please sit here a while and keep this old man company."

Upon hearing Li Yong's words, Zhao Tiesheng immediately smiled and said, "Alright, Uncle Li, I'll call my wife and daughter in right away to keep you company and have a chat."

Thus, the scene unfolded where Zhao Tiesheng opened the door and saw Zhao Dage and Cheng Jinxiang.

When Zhao Da'e saw Zhao Tiesheng come out of another room, she asked in surprise, "Dad, why are you coming out of someone else's house?"

Could it be that the door has been mistaken all along? The house Zhao Tiesheng came out of is the one Zhao Chunqin lives in, but the door they've been knocking on is actually someone else's?

Zhao Tiesheng immediately explained, "A kind-hearted Grandpa Li saw that Dad was standing outside and looked tired, so he invited Dad to come in and sit down. Come in quickly and have some ginger tea. Ginger tea will warm you up."

After he finished speaking, Zhao Tiesheng noticed the lunchbox that Zhao Da'e was carrying. He was touched. It seemed that Jinxiang and Da'e were thinking of him and were worried that he would go hungry, so they brought him a lunchbox.

The kind-hearted Grandpa Li?

Zhao Da'e was a little curious, but didn't think much of it; it was good that he could go in and sit instead of standing.

Cheng Jinxiang held Zhao Dage's hand and whispered to her, "Dage, when you go inside, remember to call him Grandpa Li, and don't touch his things, understand? Touching other people's things is very impolite."

Zhao Da'e replied helplessly, "Mom, I'm so old, of course I remember these basic common sense facts."

After entering the house, Zhao Da'e met the Grandpa Li that Zhao Tiesheng had mentioned. He looked to be about sixty years old, with sparse white hair, a kind face, and wearing a thick coat. This must be the Grandpa Li that his father had mentioned.

Zhao Da'e immediately flashed a sweet smile, "Hello, Grandpa Li!"

When Li Yong heard Zhao Da'e shout like that, he was overjoyed and kept laughing. There were basically no children as small and adorable as Zhao Da'e in his building, and given his age, he preferred children.

Li Yong took a liking to Zhao Da'e at first sight. He responded with an "Ah," then waved to Zhao Da'e and said, "You must be Da'e. I've heard your father mention you. He said you're quite mischievous. Come here, Grandpa has some good food for you."

Mischievous? Zhao Da'e's eyes widened. He pointed to himself and looked at Zhao Tiesheng with some annoyance. "Dad, am I mischievous?"

Zhao Tiesheng coughed a few times, pretending not to hear, and looked away, clearly feeling somewhat guilty.

Li Yong looked rather amused. He stood up, took a dark blue box from the cabinet next to him, opened the lid, and found it full of candy.

Li Yong placed the candy on the table and said to Zhao Da'e, "Come on, Da'e, have some candy. Don't be shy, take as much as you like."

When Zhao Da'e saw that the candy wrapper was covered in English, his eyes widened. It looked like a foreign candy.

Zhao Da'e's first thought was that this box of candy was very expensive, a luxury she couldn't afford. Zhao Da'e hesitated whether to eat it or not, since it was so expensive and she felt a little embarrassed to eat someone else's food. However, she was also a little tempted and thought the candy must taste delicious.

Seeing the shocked look in Zhao Dage's eyes as he stared at the candy box, and the hesitant expression on his face, Li Yong immediately made a connection. He smiled gently and said, "You can have it. This candy is very cheap and won't cost much. Besides, I'm old and my teeth aren't good enough to eat anything too sweet. It would be a waste to leave it here."

Hearing Li Yong's words, Zhao Da'e didn't stand on ceremony. She picked up the candy, tore open the wrapper, and started eating. Before eating, she smiled sweetly at Li Yong and said, "Thank you, Grandpa Li."

However, Zhao Da'e seemed to have thought of something. He looked at the bag containing the lunchbox, then ran over with a grin, took out a hard-boiled egg from it, and ran to Li Yong, handing the hard-boiled egg to him. "Grandpa Li, here you go. You treated me to candy, and I'm treating you to an egg. This is called reciprocity."

Zhao Tiesheng's eyes widened. If he wasn't mistaken, the child had taken the hard-boiled egg from the lunchbox. It was meant for him, how could it have been given to Uncle Li in the blink of an eye?

Zhao Tiesheng sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation. This little dummy was like a leaky cotton-padded jacket

Li Yong smiled as he looked at the egg and naturally took it. The egg was a little cold now, but Li Yong's heart was warm. He hadn't seen such an interesting child in a long time.

He asked curiously, "You even know the meaning of reciprocity. It seems you've learned quite a bit. Goose, what grade are you in?"

Seeing that Zhao Dage knew English and knew how to reciprocate, Li Yong thought that the child must have read a lot of books. It seemed that Zhao Tiesheng and his wife had raised their child very well.

When the topic of Zhao Da'e's reading came up, the couple visibly froze, even sitting up straight and not sitting still.

Li Yong found the couple's reaction strange; they seemed so guilty, as if they had done something wrong.

Zhao Tiesheng stammered, "Uncle Li, Da'e hasn't started school yet."

Li Yong frowned and asked in confusion, "Didn't you study?"

Li Yong thought about the many things he had talked about with Zhao Tiesheng earlier, including Zhao Da'e's age. "I remember you said before that Da'e is seven years old now, right? Aren't you going to send him to school at this age?"

In normal families, children start school at six years old; starting at seven is considered a bit late.

Zhao Tiesheng recalled his mother's words: "Girls are a money-losing commodity. Once a daughter is married, she's like water spilled from a bowl. It's better to educate a son than a daughter. I think you should keep this money with me and I'll help you and your husband keep it safe."

Zhao Tiesheng felt a bit aggrieved. His younger sister and his daughter were both daughters, so why could his younger sister go to school and attend university while his own daughter couldn't? But he didn't dare to say it out loud, knowing that Wang Guixiang would scold him if he did. So Zhao Tiesheng chose to remain silent.

And so, Zhao Tiesheng's plan to ask Wang Guixiang for money to help Zhao Da'e go to school fell through.

Coming to his senses, Zhao Tiesheng dared not look Li Yong in the eye. He also felt guilty about this matter. However, he remembered that Jin Xiang had said that now that they had money, they would send Zhao Da'e to school in the spring. He immediately added, "But Da'e will go to school in the spring."

After saying that, Zhao Tiesheng breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to see the strange look Li Yong gave him, as if he had mistreated Zhao Da'e. He hadn't skimped on Zhao Da'e's food or clothes, and she was still well-fed and plump. Thinking of this, Zhao Tiesheng felt less guilty and even straightened his back a bit.

But he completely forgot that Zhao Da'e started earning money while living at his aunt's house, and that's when his meals started to improve. Originally, Zhao Da'e was so thin that he had almost no meat on his bones, and even his hair was dry and yellow due to malnutrition. It was only now that his meals were better that Zhao Da'e became plump, his face had a healthy glow, and he looked much more pleasing to the eye.