Chapter 271

The last cup of baijiu went down.

Shazhu was about to get up and leave.

An unexpected incident occurred.

Yan Fugui, holding a bottle of erguotou, pushed the door and walked in.

Lao Kou brought alcohol.

A strange matter.

Shazhu looked at Liu Haizhong, Liu Haizhong looked at Shazhu, and the two simultaneously turned their gazes toward Yan Fugui standing at the door.

"Not welcome?"

"Empty-handed, not welcome; bringing something, welcome."

"Liu Haizhong, you don't at all resemble a son-in-law of the Lou family." Yan Fugui pointed at Liu Haizhong and joked: "As the son-in-law of the Yagangchang shareholder's family, even a bit of dirt leaking from under your fingernails would be enough for our Siheyuan to eat and drink for several months."

"Shazhu, look, San Daye is finding fault."

Yan Fugui did not treat himself as an outsider.

He casually pulled over a stool.

He sat down on it.

He placed the erguotou in his hand on the table.

"I just went to Shazhu's home; Yu Li said Shazhu was drinking with Liu Haizhong in the back, and I thought we get along well, so I came uninvited."

Liu Haizhong let out a laugh, grabbed the erguotou, and examined it thoroughly.

Shazhu understood what Liu Haizhong meant; he had also heard that Yan Fugui's erguotou, even if one drank a liang per day, would still have leftovers after a month of drinking.

Specifically, is it water mixed into the liquor, or liquor mixed into the water?

Only after drinking would one know.

This liquor cannot be a mixed liquor where water has liquor added to it.

I don't know if it has an alcoholic taste.

Is it like drinking cool water?

"Liu Haizhong, it's not that San Daye looks down on you; you simply don't understand San Daye. If I went to your house to drink, could San Daye bring that kind of liquor? This is pure erguotou; San Daye has always been reluctant to drink it."

"And San Daye, you are now the Second Elder; you should call yourself Second Elder."

Liu Haizhong spoke while twisting open the liquor bottle cap, pouring a cup of baijiu each for Shazhu, Yan Fugui, and himself.

Shazhu also did not stop Liu Haizhong from pouring him a drink.

Among the twenty-odd households of the Siheyuan neighborhood, only Shazhu and Liu Haizhong could drink Yan Fugui's liquor.

This liquor must be drunk.

Even if one gets drunk dizzy from it.

One must still drink it.

Yu Li's admonition to "drink less liquor, look after your health" was tossed by Shazhu into the clouds.

"Shazhu, Liu Haizhong, San Daye, no no no, Second Elder, that's settled—I'll still call myself San Daye; calling you Second Elder always makes me think of Liu Haizhong." Yan Fugui raised his wine cup and said to Shazhu and Liu Haizhong: "Everyone raise your cups and drink one with San Daye."

Shazhu and Liu Haizhong exchanged a glance.

Yan Fugui's liquor really seems not tasty.

According to Lao Kou's meaning.

It seems there is something.

When one presents a gift, there must be an ulterior motive.

"San Daye, you have something on your mind?" Liu Haizhong decided to play the bad guy, saying to Yan Fugui: "Let's talk business first; the liquor can wait. Before you came, I and Shazhu had already drunk a bottle of erguotou. If we drink this more, will we be drunk or sober? We don't know. While we're still not drunk, let's discuss the matter; if we can handle it, out of respect for San Daye's face we must do it; if we truly can't, we'll try to figure out whether we can get it done, and San Daye must not blame us two."

"It's not a big deal; it's just about our eldest son."

Yan Fugui showed a troubled expression.

The Yan family's little matter.

Not to mention the Siheyuan.

Several nearby Dayuan also know about it.

Everyone knows that Yan Jiecheng is going to marry Qin Huairu, and they all mock Yan Fugui to death, saying that Yan Fugui has been dominant and scheming his whole life, yet he stumbled over his own son's affair.

Rumor has it that someone has already started a bet.

They bet on whether Qin Huairu, after marrying Yan Jiecheng, will have Jia Zhangshi move in with the Yan family, or whether Yan Jiecheng will treat Jia Zhangshi as his own mother.

This is one bet.

The second bet is whether Qin Huairu will bear children for Yan Jiecheng.

There are families around that marry widows.

There are also widows who remarry.

Most do not give children to their later spouses; even those who do give children to their later spouses, the later spouse does not particularly welcome the few children brought by the remarried widow—reportedly they either don't give food or don't give water, and even clothing is the worst; even so, they still have to do housework, and furthermore there are rumors that they are not allowed to send the children to school, but to make them apprentices.

Everyone sees this clearly.

If one wants to avoid letting one's own children suffer, no matter what, one must not bear children for the later husband.

To avoid bearing children, they all have gotten IUDs.

Qin Huairu probably also followed suit.

This reasoning.

The neighbors understand.

Yan Fugui understands even more.

Qin Huairu has borne three children; if she truly brings the children and remarries Yan Jiecheng, Jia Zhangshi may not say anything, but speaking of bearing children, it is extremely likely that she will not bear children for Yan Jiecheng.

In other words.

Yan Jiecheng will become the Jia family's ox and horse, pulling Qin Huairu's cart for his whole life; when Yan Jiecheng grows old and unable to move, will these people support him in his old age and see him through to the end?

All of that is later talk.

So-called nurturing grace is greater than the grace of giving birth.

This is based on the children not understanding or remembering things; Bangeng is twelve, Xiao Dang is ten, and they are the famous thief siblings known far and wide.

One sentence.

The Yan family can't afford to lose that person.

Shazhu is the cafeteria director of the Yagangchang, deeply approved by the plant's top leader, Deputy Factory Director Li; Xu Daming is the film projectionist of the Yagangchang, having traveled widely and seen much.

Yan Fugui's idea is to have them look around a bit, see if there's a suitable girl, tell Yan Jiecheng about it; once he has a wife, he certainly won't keep thinking about the Qin widow.

He originally wanted to drink first and then talk, but Xu Daming insisted on talking before drinking.

"Shazhu, Xu Daming, in the siheyuan only you two have talent; it's no big deal for San Daye to look for you; our family's eldest, to take revenge for my not finding him a matchmaker back then, insists on marrying Qin Huairu no matter what; it's not that I look down on widows, but it's Qin Huairu herself; you work at the Yagangchang, you definitely know more than I do…"

Shazhu furrowed his brows.

The matter of matchmaking.

He really hadn't thought about it.

He felt a bit bitter in his heart.

A dignified reborn person actually became a matchmaker.

The key is, Shazhu doesn't even have a mole on his face.

Xu Daming, however, didn't have so many thoughts; looking at Yan Fugui, he said something that left Shazhu greatly shocked.

"San Daye, I heard Third Aunt say that you want to introduce Yan Jiecheng to a teacher from your school named Ran Qiuye."

Ran Qiuye.

This is also someone Shazhu knew in his previous life.

Someone came to visit Bangeng's family; Shazhu didn't know how he saw it, but he fell in love at first sight with Yan Qiuyue and asked Yan Fugui to help make an introduction.

Because Shazhu's aid to Qin Huairu was misunderstood by outsiders, Yan Fugui, who knew Ran Qiuye's character, didn't want her to fall into a fire pit; he accepted Shazhu's local specialties but didn't take care of the matter.

Afterwards, Shazhu forced them to give up the local specialties in front of countless people.

At night, taking advantage of the late hour when everyone was quiet, he removed the wheel axle from Yan Fugui's bicycle.

If it weren't for Yi Zhonghai helping to smooth things over, just based on Shazhu's act of dismantling someone else's bicycle axle, Shazhu would have ended up in prison, facing a sentence of at least three years.