Siheyuan: Starting from the driver

Chapter 725 Burning the bridge across the river
Xinhua Bookstore.

The four of them worked together on the exam paper, asking questions and getting explanations on the spot when they encountered problems they didn't know how to solve.

No need to review theoretical knowledge anymore, it's easy. All you need to do is deal with practical skills, which is a piece of cake for Li Kailang with his current level eight craftsmanship.

Most importantly, you don't have to deal with all the stuff from the materials science department.

For Li Kailang, the unique aroma of Xinhua Bookstore, a blend of the scent of new ink and the faint musty smell of old books, was a true relief.

"Finally finished!" Yu Xingmei rubbed her slightly sore wrists, then slumped onto the table.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Qi Mengru asked with concern.

"No, I'm just a little sleepy. I didn't sleep well last night," Yu Xingmei replied weakly, then let out a long yawn.

The three of them couldn't help but yawn.

The stone stirred up a thousand ripples, and many people in the bookstore began to yawn.

"The weather is so nice today, perfect for sleeping," Qi Mengru said.

“That’s true.” Kim Geon-hyun nodded in deep agreement.

"I can't stay here any longer, I'm going back now." After saying that, Yu Xingmei packed her things and prepared to go back.

For some reason, the three of them didn't want to stay any longer and packed their things to leave.

Li Kailang returned to the courtyard house.

I happened to run into Xu Damao at the door.

That kid must have been out of his mind last week, trying to cause trouble for no reason, and ended up getting beaten up.

Since that day, Xu Damao has indeed become much more obedient and no longer wants to show off his status as the second uncle.

"Li Kailang, why are you back so early?" Xu Damao greeted him.

"If you don't want to study anymore, then come back early. Did you come back from the countryside?" Li Kailang asked, noticing Xu Damao's travel-worn appearance.

"Yes, I just got back. By the way, are you going to the countryside tomorrow? Would it be convenient for me to give you a ride?"

"I'm probably not free tomorrow?"

They've all gone to work in the materials science department; there's no way they'd drive to the countryside anymore.

Li Kailang didn't plan to tell anyone about his transfer to the Materials Science Department; there was no need to.

"No time? Don't you, as a driver, often go to the countryside? How can you be busy? Don't tell me you don't want to take me?" Xu Damao guessed sinisterly.

Li Kailang rolled his eyes: "What nonsense are you thinking? I really have something to do tomorrow. Besides, this mission isn't even certain. How am I supposed to know for sure that I'll be going to the countryside?"

"That makes sense, alright then." Xu Damao didn't insist and pushed his bicycle into the yard.

The courtyard was quiet.

Apart from the Jia family.

With a gloomy face, Jia Zhangshi sat on a small stool by her doorstep, a stack of pasted matchboxes piled at her feet.

He was like a machine, brushing on paste, gluing boxes, and pressing the corners.

A few days ago, Jia Zhangshi successfully completed 1000 matchboxes. Qin Huairu immediately took her to the match factory, where they smoothly obtained 3000 matchboxes.

The nightmare hadn't ended when it started all over again, and he still hadn't gotten his 18 cents.

To this day, Jia Zhangshi still owes Qin Huairu 1.65 yuan.

The month is already halfway over, and given her nervousness, it's impossible for her to finish those 2 matchboxes.

Jia Zhangshi wanted to give up and quit, but she had to make up the shortfall with her own money, which she was not willing to do.

"Hahaha~"

"Let me tell you~"

Jia Zhangshi watched as several women around her chatted and ate melon seeds, their laughter jarring her ears.

"Bang Geng, hurry up!"

Fortunately, Jia Zhangshi is no longer working alone; he has also brought over Banggeng to "help," so he doesn't have to work so hard anymore.

Banggeng drooped its head, looking as if it had been tied to the execution ground, its body covered in glue.

He doesn't really want to work.
It was all thanks to Jia Zhangshi's money-grubbing promise: "Work hard, and once you've finished these three hundred, Grandma will give you two cents."

Two cents isn't a small amount; at least it can buy some good food.

Although it can't compare to the joy of running around in the wild, it's still better than nothing, right?

This task of pasting boxes together is so tedious!

He would glance at the matchboxes he had finished pasting on every now and then, calculating in his mind how many more he needed to finish before he could earn those two cents.

As Banggeng was lost in thought, his hand movements naturally mirrored his mind—unfocused and half-hearted.

Either too much paste was applied and squeezed out, making it sticky on my hands, or the wooden pieces weren't aligned and were glued crookedly.

"Oh my little darling! Are your hands crooked or your eyes crooked? How many times have I told you?"

"Yes! Correct! Again! Stick it on! This is a waste! Don't you want to earn those two cents?"

While Jia Zhangshi was busy working on a box, her eyes seemed glued to the stalk of a stick.

When I saw that he had missed one of the spots, my heart ached. It was such a waste of time!
Banggeng was angered by this nonsensical reprimand, his eyes welling up with tears of grievance. He retorted defiantly, "I'm doing fine! Why are you yelling at me? If you yell at me again, I'll quit!"

"Let whoever wants to do it do it! I don't care about those two cents!"

He was really about to quit.

Upon hearing the words "I won't do it," Jia Zhangshi's heart tightened. This was outrageous!
She doesn't know how long she'll remain unknown on her own.

She quickly lowered her voice, forcefully suppressing her anger, and replaced it with a kind and coaxing tone:
"Hey, my good grandson! Grandma was just worried you wouldn't do a good job and it would all be for nothing. Look, let's do a good job, and Grandma will keep her word and give you two shares!"

"Hurry up, sweetie, do it well. I'll have your mom make you something nice to eat later!"

"Have her fry some pork cracklings for you! They'll smell delicious!"

Before the little one could be properly settled, two and a half months old Kuihua on the kang (heated brick bed) inside the house suddenly burst into a heart-wrenching cry.

"Wow—wah wow wow—"

"My God!"

Jia Zhangshi's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot!

She angrily threw down the half-finished matchbox in her hand, smearing the sticky paste all over her clothes, but she didn't care.

She got up and rushed into the house, muttering angrily, "Crying, crying, all you do is cry! What's the use of raising a money-losing brat!"

"They're all such nagging devils! The old ones are nagging, the young ones are crying, so I'm the only damned old woman who deserves to be worked to death?!"

Jia Zhangshi entered the room to comfort Kuihua.

Banggeng breathed a sigh of relief. Taking advantage of his grandmother's absence, he quickly stood up and shook his numb legs, but his eyes darted toward the courtyard gate, plotting in his mind when to sneak out.

He felt that Jia Zhangshi earned those two cents more tiringly than fighting with the people in the alley.

Inside the house, Jia Zhangshi was feeding Kuihua with a baby bottle.

Logically speaking, Xiao Dang should be taking care of Kui Hua, so why is she gone?

It turned out that Qin Huairu had taken Xiao Dang out early in the morning, but Jia Zhangshi didn't know where they were going.

Banggeng wanted to go too, but he didn't go because of the 2 cents.

As soon as Li Kailang and Xu Damao entered the courtyard, they heard Kuihua crying, which gave them a slight headache.

"Oh my, this little rascal has quite a loud voice! What's the Jia family up to now?"

Xu Damao muttered to himself as he glanced at the Jia family with disgust.

But then he saw Banggeng tiptoeing up from his little stool, standing on tiptoe like a little mouse trying to sneak away.

It was obvious that she wanted to slip away while Jia Zhangshi was inside comforting Kuihua.

"Where are you going, Bang Geng?" Xu Damao suddenly barked. Bang Geng froze, and upon seeing Xu Damao, his expression changed drastically: "None of your business!"

"Hey! What kind of attitude is this little brat!"

"Xu Damao, who are you cursing!" Jia Zhangshi came out carrying Kuihua.

Upon seeing Jia Zhangshi, Xu Damao was too lazy to argue with her, so he pushed the cart away, merely pursing his lips:

"Hey! The Jia family is really strange. Why aren't they out for a stroll on such a beautiful day? Instead, they're busy with this pile of paper scraps? And Banggeng, he's a grown man, doing this here."

Bang Geng's face flushed red, half from embarrassment and half from anger, and he glared at Xu Damao.

Madam Jia didn't pay much attention to what Xu Damao was saying; instead, she looked at Kuihua, who was crying and making a fuss again, with disgust.

"You jinx! You money-loser! All you do is cry! You're giving me a headache! Are you some kind of reincarnated starving ghost?"

"Hey, hey, hey, you've already drunk half a bottle of milk! Keep crying? If you keep crying, I'll throw you outside to feed the dogs!"

Whether Jia Zhangshi's scare tactics worked or not, Kuihua indeed stopped crying.

"Hmph! He needs to be taught a lesson!"

Xu Damao couldn't be bothered with Jia Zhangshi's behavior.

After returning to his room, Li Kailang took out the report he had written in the Materials Department the day before and checked it again to identify and fill in any gaps.

Check if you've included anything that shouldn't have been written.

If he graduates smoothly, he won't stay in the materials science department for more than two months, so there's no need to break the unspoken rules.

If he doesn't graduate, then he'll be able to really show his talents.

After thinking it over, there's no need to rush.

Before long, drowsiness gradually crept in, and Li Kailang went back to bed to sleep.

The tranquility of the courtyard was broken once again.

Qin Huairu returned happily, holding Xiao Dang's hand.

As soon as Banggeng saw his mother return, he rushed over as if he had found a savior, dropping the matchbox he was holding.
"Mom! You're finally back!"

"What's wrong? Did Grandma bully you?" Qin Huairu patted Banggeng's head.

"Nonsense, I never bullied Banggeng!" Jia Zhangshi hurriedly ran out to explain, clutching Kuihua.

Qin Huairu glanced at Jia Zhangshi, then looked down at Banggeng.

"No, Grandma didn't bully me." Banggeng shook his head.

"That's good." Qin Huairu nodded.

"Mom, where did you and my sister go?" Banggeng asked curiously, looking at Xiaodang's smiling face, he was sure something good had happened.

"I didn't do anything, I just went out for a walk."

"I don't believe it!" Banggeng pouted. "You must have eaten something delicious. Give me one."

Having said that, he reached out to Xiao Dang.

Xiao Dang shook her head: "No, Mom just took me for a walk in the park, we didn't eat anything."

"I don't believe it! Give it to me!"

Bang Geng also wanted to search Xiao Dang.

"Bang! What are you doing!" Qin Huairu scolded, "Your sister said it's not true, so it's not true. How can you not believe your sister? Who taught you to do that!"

After being scolded by Qin Huairu, Bang Geng reluctantly stopped.

"It's not me, it's not me! It has nothing to do with me." Seeing Qin Huairu looking over, Jia Zhangshi waved her hands repeatedly.

"I just happened to have something to tell you. The rules at the match factory have become stricter. There are new instructions from above, and from now on, there will be strict requirements on the size of the matchboxes and the thickness of the paste!"

"The 3000 we just received may all have to be re-verified according to the new rules!"

"what!"

These words struck Jia Zhangshi like a bolt from the blue!

Her facial muscles were contorted with extreme anger and panic, and her hands, clutching the flower, were trembling.

"Re-inspection?! And they want to change the rules?! What utter bullshit! I've been working on this for days, my hands are raw and my eyes are about to go blind, and I finally got it done, and they say they can just change it?!"

"This is going to kill people! This heartless and rotten match factory!"

A torrent of foul language erupted like a flood, so loud that the entire courtyard could hear it.

Banggeng was completely stunned by his grandmother's sudden outburst of rage and involuntarily took two steps back.

Xiao Dang was so frightened that she hid behind her mother, tightly clutching Qin Huairu's clothes.

Seeing Jia Zhangshi's incompetent rage, Qin Huairu remained leisurely, offering a few words of feigned comfort:
"Mom! Calm down! Keep your voice down! What if others find out you're cursing them and they start giving us trouble?"

Jia Zhangshi's cursing was silenced by her daughter-in-law, making her so angry that her eyes rolled back and her chest heaved violently.

"I'm done! Let whoever wants to do this work do it! I'm not doing this anymore!"

After saying that, Jia Zhangshi looked at the stack of materials and was so angry that she was about to kick it.

But Qin Huairu stopped him with a single sentence: "It's fine if you don't want to do it, but you can pay the 2 yuan for food out of your own pocket."

With just this one sentence, even if Jia Zhangshi was furious, she dared not act recklessly, for fear of damaging the materials and having to pay for replacements! Wouldn't that be a huge loss!
Upon hearing this, Banggeng felt even less inclined to paste matchboxes, thinking it would be too much trouble for just 2 cents.

He even regretted not going out with his mother and Xiaodang that morning because of that "2 cents".

While Grandma was still trembling with anger over the "new rules" and Mom was comforting Kuihua, Banggeng's feet began to move involuntarily toward the courtyard gate.

One step. Two steps
His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of his throat.

"Awesome!"

Bang Geng froze, his movements instantly halting. He stiffly turned his head and saw Jia Zhangshi staring straight at him.

"Where are you going?"

"I...I..." Bang Geng's face turned deathly pale, and his legs began to go weak.

Oh no, I've been caught again!
Suddenly, Banggeng had a brilliant idea.

"Grandma, I'm going to the public restroom."

"Go to the public toilet?" Jia Zhangshi looked Banggeng up and down. "Go early and come back early. There are still a bunch of matchboxes to be pasted at home. Don't forget what you promised Grandma."

"Hmm!" Banggeng nodded, then turned and fled the place like a stray dog.

As soon as they left the yard, Banggeng couldn't help but cheer and jump around.

"Come out, come out!"

"I'm not going to paste matchboxes! If I'm going to paste them, I'll paste them myself! Two cents is not enough to pay a beggar!"

Upon hearing the sound, Jia Zhangshi immediately realized something was terribly wrong. The new rules were even stricter; how long could she possibly keep up this charade alone?

"Bang Geng! Come back!" Jia Zhangshi shouted from the doorway of her house towards the outside of the yard.

"I won't listen, I won't listen, you bastard chanting sutras!" Banggeng shook its head and flew away.

"Hmph!" Madam Jia snorted coldly, "I don't believe you'll come back for lunch!"

Jia Zhangshi angrily sat down again and started pasting the matchboxes once more.

Qin Huairu held Kuihua in her arms, glanced at Jia Zhangshi, and forced a smile at the corners of her mouth.

What she just said was all a lie; she was deliberately trying to deceive Jia Zhangshi, but she actually succeeded.

However, it's good to force Jia Zhangshi to do a good job, as it will allow the match factory manager to release more matchboxes for Jia Zhangshi to make.

Kill two birds with one stone.

Anyway, she wasn't the one who was exhausted.

(End of this chapter)