1952: Walking through Nantongluo Alley

"Who can I blame for not being able to have children? Maybe it's just karma from all the bad things I did when I was young."

Yi Zhonghai has been married to his wife for almost 20 years, but they still have no children, which has long become a topic of laughter in the courtyard.

On the surface, they call him the uncle, but behind the scenes, they basically call them the old and helpless.

"Sister-in-law, be careful. Don't let Auntie Yi hear it, otherwise she will fight you to the death." Auntie San reminded.

"Why? Am I afraid of her?"

Jia Zhang laughed at him, her face full of disdain, and she didn't take the aunt seriously at all.

She shifted her gaze to Third Aunt's lower abdomen, and looking at the slightly bulging belly, Jia Zhang asked.

"Third Aunt, you are not pregnant again, are you?"

The second aunt also looked at the third aunt's belly and found that she was pregnant again.

She said jokingly.

"Third Aunt, your husband Yan is really good. It's only been a few years, and he's pregnant again."

The third aunt's face turned red when she was asked this question, and she quickly changed the subject.

"You don't know my family's situation. How much does my old man make a month? Life is already tight for a family of five, and now I'm pregnant. I'm afraid even pickles will be rationed in the future."

The three aunts sighed.

Among the three uncles, their family is the worst off.

Although Yi Zhonghai is an old bachelor, he has a high salary and the couple buys meat for him every now and then.

Second Aunt and Jia Zhang looked at each other.

It was obvious that neither of them wanted to take up the topic.

"Sister-in-law, please give me another happy character. The window over there is missing one." said the second aunt.

Jia Zhang got up and went back to the house to get the wedding character: "I'll get it for you right away."

……

Chen Xiao returned to the courtyard and looked at the state of the Jia family. He knew that Jia Dongxu was going to get married.

Towards evening, Jia Zhang found Yi Zhonghai and explained her purpose.

"Uncle, call everyone in the courtyard over after dinner. My Dongxu is getting married tomorrow."

It had been a few days since Jia Dongxu broke the knife, and Yi Zhonghai was not so angry anymore.

Recently, he even thought about whether he should talk to his leader to see if he could let Jia Dongxu go back to work.

Although the leader asked Jia Dongxu to go home, the dismissal letter has not been sent in the past few days, which means there is still hope.

Upon learning that his apprentice was getting married the next day, Yi Zhonghai was very happy and generously took out fifty cents from his pocket and handed it to Jia Zhang.

"Sister-in-law, congratulations! I didn't expect Dongxu to be getting married so soon. This 5 cents is my share as a teacher."

Jia Zhang curled her lips. She had originally thought that Yi Zhonghai would give her three or five dollars, but she didn't expect it to be only 5 cents.

No matter how much you dislike it, 5 cents is still money, and it is better than nothing.

Then Yi Zhonghai continued.

"Sister-in-law, don't worry about Dongxu's job. After I finish the task assigned by the leader in a few days, I will ask the leader to let Dongxu go back to work at the steel mill."

After hearing this news, Jia Zhang felt much better.

Then the two of them walked out of the room and called out all the neighbors in the courtyard.

Originally, Chen Xiao didn't want to come, but Sha Zhu kept knocking on the door to urge him, so he finally followed Sha Zhu into the compound.

At this time, most of the neighbors had arrived. Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, Yi Zhonghai put down the enamel cup in his hand, moved the chair away and stood up.

"Everyone, I have good news for you today. I'm afraid many of you already know what the good news is, but I still want to repeat it here."

"My apprentice Jia Dongxu is getting married, and tomorrow is his big day."

The third uncle Yan Bugui, who was sitting in a side seat, muttered.

"You just want the money, right? If you have something to say, why don't you just say it directly? You have to start with some official rhetoric."

Yi Zhonghai glared at Yan Bugui and continued.

"I hope everyone will come and support us, and give us some money as well."

When they heard about the share money, there was a sigh of relief.

"This old Jia is really shameless. His son's wedding had to be held during work hours, for fear that we would bankrupt his family."

"If you ask me, just give her a penny as a token of your appreciation. You won't be able to enjoy her banquet anyway."

"Yes, just one cent. I'd feel like I'm losing out if I pay any more."

……

"Brother Chen Xiao, how much are you going to give?" asked Sha Zhu.

"Money? What money? I'm not even planning on inviting the Jia Zhang family to my wedding this Sunday. Why should I give her money when her son gets married tomorrow?"

In front of the eight-immortals table, Yi Zhonghai took out a small notebook and placed it on the table.

First, he told everyone that as a master, he had already followed it a long time ago.

Then look into the bangs.

"Second uncle, let's start with you."

Liu Haizhong asked with a smile.

"Uncle No. 1, why don't you tell me how much you inherited? If you don't tell me, how should I, the uncle No. 2, inherit?"

Yi Zhonghai didn't say anything, but stretched out a hand.

Liu Haizhong swallowed his saliva.

As expected of an old man with no money, he is really generous.

Liu Haizhong gritted his teeth, took out a dollar from his pocket and threw it on the table.

Yi Zhonghai smiled, then began to write it down in his notebook, and then shouted.

"Second Master, give me a gift of one yuan."

Jia Zhang and Jia Dongxu, who were sitting nearby, began to look forward to seeing Liu Haizhong being so generous. If he continued like this, he would probably be able to collect a lot of money today.

Jia Dongxu stood up and bent down to express his gratitude to Liu Haizhong.

After recording the accounts, Yi Zhonghai looked at Yan Bugui.

"Uncle San, it's your turn. How much money do you want to give?"

Yan Bugui stood up reluctantly and said to everyone.

"Everyone knows my family's situation. As a primary school teacher, I only earn so little a month. It's already difficult to support a large family. We only eat meat a few times a year."

"I don't try to be too boastful, and there's no need to be."

"So, Dongxu is getting married tomorrow, and I'll give every penny!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Bugui took out a crumpled banknote from his pocket.

At this time, Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhang's mother and son were already frowning.

Yi Zhonghai glanced and said.

"Third Uncle, isn't your gift a little too little?"

"Uncle, what you said is wrong. This is a gift money, not a handover of property. It is originally a blessing for the newlyweds' marriage. Do you really want to put a price on it?"

"Don't forget that I have three sons at home. If you play around, you'll have to pay me back threefold when my sons get married in a few years."

Yan Bugui sat on the chair carelessly.

An attitude of taking whatever money you want and not taking it if you want.

Yi Zhonghai didn't know how to continue persuading him, so he accepted the money with a sullen face and wrote it down in his notebook.

"Third Master, give me a cent as a gift."