Chapter 41: Let Yi Zhonghai Adopt a Child

Xu Daming, you're older than me by a few months, what are you excited about? And Wang Yaling from the Statistics Department, are your spare parts all complete?

Shazhu, Shazhu, this 'fool' character really isn't misnamed; haven't you heard of this altered word?

Shazhu finally figured out what medicine Xu Daming was selling in his gourd.

This bastard is just trying to pick up women.

He's heading in the direction of making his age older.

Can't be bothered with you.

Shazhu turned his head and went home.

The sight before him made Shazhu suddenly feel amused.

The dry-food person He Yushui was focusing, listening quietly to the next-door movements, with a posture ready to strike and eat dumplings at any time.

Have you finished your homework?

Finished.

Come on, let's go eat.

He Yushui followed behind Shazhu's butt, bouncing and tugging at Shazhu's back collar, one in front and one behind entering Yi Zhonghai's home.

Shazhu entered the door.

Long Laotaitai's face showed an expression of overjoyed surprise, and her eyes gleamed with sharp light.

He Yushui entered the door.

Long Laotaitai's overjoyed expression instantly turned into a miserable depression.

Shazhu loaded a lake of mud.

Eating dumplings is important.

He arranged for He Yushui to sit down, first placed dumplings in He Yushui's bowl, then proceeded to arrange dumplings for Long Laotaitai and Yi Zhonghai.

Long Laotaitai's expression became increasingly unfriendly.

In her view, she is the patriarch of the courtyard; Shazhu, even if he's arranging dumplings, should first serve her, then Yi Zhonghai, and finally He Yushui.

But Shazhu first attended to He Yushui.

Do you still see me as the patriarch of this courtyard in your eyes?

"Shazhu, I heard from your elder uncle that you said you're no longer working at the steel plant cafeteria, but found a job at the recycling station?"

The elder aunt who sensed the atmosphere was a bit tense.

She spoke up to smooth things over.

"The cafeteria is just an apprenticeship with no pay; I can't support Yushui, so I quit. But the elder uncle said he'd try to get me into the steel plant cafeteria in a few years."

Shazhu walks one step and looks three steps ahead.

Now he's already calculating the great famine of the coming years.

In famine years, entering the cafeteria, at least ensures one won't go hungry.

Because there's an elder aunt smoothing things over.

This meal of dumplings isn't as tense as the legends say.

A bunch of people chatted idly, each saying a line, and even He Yushui, who was focused on competing with the dumplings, occasionally interjected a sentence.

Talking.

Speaking.

This topic then drifted onto elder care.

Yi Zhonghai looked at Shazhu with a sigh-filled face, bitterly complaining about the difficulty of elder care.

The hypocrite did not directly reveal his identity.

He claimed to be a friend.

He said it was about that friend, but actually he meant Yi Zhonghai.

He brought it to the main topic.

The elder aunt who had been joking also became serious.

Long Laotaitai also became energetic.

Shazhu instantly became the focus of everyone.

Yi Zhonghai, the elder aunt, and Long Laotaitai all focused their gaze on Shazhu; among the five, only the carefree He Yushui was still pondering that dumplings dipped in vinegar weren't fragrant enough, needing a bit of chili to bring out their flavor.

Shazhu swallowed the dumpling in his mouth into his stomach.

Before speaking.

He needed to free his mouth.

"Elder uncle, if I were to say about your friend, he's overly stubborn; if it's pleasant to hear, fine, but if it's unpleasant, he's just an idiot."

Yi Zhonghai's complexion wasn't looking good.

This dumpling meal.

It has a bit of the feeling of a Hongmen banquet.

He and Long Laotaitai had worked out a routine, probing Shazhu's thoughts on taking care of others in old age.

Shazhu's words already revealed his attitude.

Having others help with elder care.

Idiot!

These are Shazhu's exact words.

"Shazhu, your elder uncle also thinks that way; he couldn't find a reason to persuade him, so tell me your reasons, and your elder uncle will later use your exact words to tell him to give up the plan of finding someone to care for him in old age."

Shazhu clearly understood, as clear as a mirror.

You hypocrite, this is you demanding to give an explanation.

Just say it then.

It's the perfect chance to voice one's stance.

Scheming back and forth.

Troublesome.

「Eldest Uncle, think about it: you have no children, yet you let someone else's child support you in old age—this definitely won't work. Let me give an example: just take us two, you surnamed Yi, I surnamed He, no blood relation, just ordinary neighbors. You ask me to support you in your old age; even if I agreed, you couldn't agree, because people's hearts are hidden, doing things puts one in a dilemma, to suddenly have an extra father for no reason—who wouldn't dislike that? You also couldn't rest easy. 」

「Shazhu, I know we get along well, I just want to ask: like my friend, how should he solve this old-age support issue? 」

「Eldest Uncle, your friend is a case of 'the authority is confused, the bystander sees clearly.' Think about it: since it's not his own child, he feels uneasy, and the person supporting him also feels resentful; they scheme against each other, and if it goes badly they'll become enemies—there is indeed a way to resolve this. 」

Shazhu took a deep breath.

He ate a dumpling.

He took a sip of dumpling soup.

「I've heard there's an orphanage in the city with healthy children; if your friend is young, tell him to go to the city orphanage and adopt two kids. Worried the kids might be unhappy when they learn their origins later, we have a trick: adopt children over one year old or two to three years old, bring them home, have them take your surname, and in twenty years help them marry and enjoy grandchildren—this is better than scheming to have others support you in old age. 」

Shazhu brandished the big stick of Yi Zhonghai's moral blackmail.

「Eldest Uncle, I just learned our country is still poor; the city's orphanage, due to funding issues, has many children facing malnutrition. If your friend adopts two kids, on one hand it eases the orphanage's financial burden, on the other it helps the country; most importantly, your friend finally has his own child, letting the child take his surname—how wonderful! 」

The tone shifted.

Shazhu's face showed an expression of sudden realization.

「Eldest Uncle, look at my brain—your friend's problem is so simple, yet I only just grasped the key; is this your friend's matter? No, this is your business, Eldest Uncle! 」

Yi Zhonghai's complexion looked bad.

Shazhu's refusal.

Made Yi Zhonghai unable to accept.

「You're his friend; his affair is yours, you must lead by example—I'm not trying to cause trouble for you and Eldest Aunt, you two should adopt your own child. 」

Yi Zhonghai was in a daze.

Eldest Aunt, however, was deep in thought.

The couple's gazes unnaturally fell on the deaf old lady beside them.

Shazhu saw the deaf old lady's face drawn longer than Xu Damao's, as if the matter of Yi Zhonghai and his wife adopting a child had touched the deaf old lady's greatest interest.