Chapter 609: The Clever Jia Zhangshi Directly Sought Shazhu

It was not long ago.

Those events from the past seemed to have happened just yesterday.

At that time, the pure and lovely Yu Li quietly entered Shazhu's heart, and then Shazhu began pursuing her, continuing until they settled their marriage, which marked a perfect conclusion.

In this lifetime.

The most correct thing Shazhu did.

Perhaps it was not distancing himself from the Jia family in the siheyuan.

The truly correct thing he did was marrying Yu Li.

The things he dreamed of in his previous life truly happened around Shazhu in this life.

Having both sons and daughters, the children are also filial, his career is doing well, and it more than makes up for his neglect of Yushui in the previous life.

Looking at Yu Li in the mirror.

Shazhu rarely felt interested.

He casually tossed down the mirror, embraced Yu Li, and walked toward the bedroom.

One night of spring breeze.

Upon waking the next day.

Yu Li had a smile on her face.

Shazhu, however, strained his own lower back; he had Yu Li fetch dog-skin plaster and apply it firmly to the injured area, then rode the niezi to work.

First to the branch store.

It was also not anything important.

Purely bored and wanting to hear some jokes from the Jia family.

Seeing Thus: Thus: Mahua and You Fengxia, the two spoke to Shazhu like crosstalk performers, recounting the farce that happened at the Jia family the previous night, saying that for the sake of that work target, the Jia family had turned against each other, with Qin Huairu, under the banner of seeking justice for Xiao Dang, slapping Jia Zhangshi twice, turning her into a pig's head.

Such a result.

Shazhu was very satisfied.

Otherwise, he would have to consider whether Xiao Dang had any value working at Bai Xu.

Keeping Xiao Dang was meant to turn Xiao Dang into a blade in his hand, to strike against the Jia family members who, in his previous life, had drained him and left him without heirs.

At last, his wish was fulfilled.

The Jia family's drama.

Would be even more revealing.

Just as Shazhu was about to give Thus: Thus: Mahua and them a few words of advice, Shazhu, with his back to the Bai Xu gate, saw Thus: Thus: Mahua and You Fengxia standing before him, their faces showing shock.

He instinctively turned his head.

His face, like theirs, showed an expression of disbelief.

Damn it.

How did this old witch come here?

The person appearing at Bai Xu was none other than Jia Zhangshi, the main performer in yesterday's Jia family drama; once seen as white and plump, Jia Zhangshi now had a pig's head-like visage, with clear five-finger marks on the left cheek and clear fist marks on the right.

It seemed.

Thus: Thus: Mahua and You Fengxia's words could not be fully trusted, as they claimed Qin Huairu slapped Jia Zhangshi twice, yet how could the fist marks on Jia Zhangshi's face be explained?

This was clearly a beating by fists.

Jia Zhangshi took advantage of Shazhu's surprise, took two or three steps to reach him, and, as if seeing her own father, wore an expression of joy.

But this joyful expression, paired with Jia Zhangshi's swollen cheeks, looked like a living goblin.

It made one feel nauseous.

Disgusting.

"Shazhu."

"What do you call me?"

Shazhu's tone became unnaturally heavier.

Having managed Bai Xu for over a year.

He had dealt with all sorts of people.

Even the most formidable person, upon seeing Shazhu, had to address him as Master He or Manager He.

The reform had been underway for nearly two years.

The people of the Capital City, to some extent, had been influenced by outside forces—for example, the former factory manager, deputy factory manager, and restaurant supervisors now habitually called one another "Manager," using their surname as the title; if you called someone "Factory Manager So-and-So" or "Person-in-Charge So-and-So," they would regard you as a country bumpkin.

As in Zhao Benshan's skit, holding a leather bag makes one a fee collector; tucking it under the arm makes one a manager—whether Ma Manager, Zhao Manager, Tang Manager, etc.

The sales staff in the supply and marketing cooperative, if you now address them as "comrade," they will ignore you; but if you call them "Miss" or "Mister," they will greet you with a smiling face.

Times have changed.

The renowned Bai Xu manager of the Capital City, you, Jia Zhangshi, just blurt out "Shazhu," making you look big-faced?

Good relations.

Or else it would be fine.

Shazhu's art teacher, even in front of many people, calls him Shazhu, and Shazhu would surely agree without hesitation.

Moreover, the teacher would not deliberately belittle Shazhu in front of outsiders by calling him Shazhu to elevate himself.

Jia Zhangshi's behavior is unacceptable.

Her relationship with Shazhu is not so close that she can call him Shazhu repeatedly.

Shazhu is unhappy.

Give you a little color, and you dare to open a dye house—beautiful, you Jia Zhangshi.

A single question instantly made Jia Zhangshi realize reality—she now understood that the current Shazhu was no longer the Shazhu of the siheyuan, and even if he were, they wouldn't give Jia Zhangshi face.

She squeezed out a few smiles and changed her tone.

"Shazhu."

"What Shazhu? Is Shazhu something you, Jia Zhangshi, get to shout? We all have to call him Manager He—you come up and just shout 'Shazhu,' and now you're shouting 'Shazhu' again—what do you mean? Trying to scheme? What kind of people are you, the Jia family? Do you really think we don't know?"

The fiery You Fengxia.

Retorted with a few sharp remarks at Jia Zhangshi.

Left Jia Zhangshi embarrassed and disheveled.

Thinking she had something to ask of Shazhu, she knew her attitude needed to be good—she couldn't be stiff with Shazhu. Following You Fengxia's earlier meaning, she called out the title "Manager."

"Manager He, I'm an old woman from the countryside, uneducated—don't hold it against me like you would an old woman. It's all my fault."

"What's the matter?"

"Manager He, there is something. If there weren't, my old woman wouldn't come looking for you."

"You say?"

"Look at my face." Jia Zhangshi pointed to the bruise on her cheek with her finger, then began to cry and complain to Shazhu about her hardship: "This is a scar—do you see it? This is from a big slap, this is from a fist. My old woman has a hard life—her son died young, and her grandson went to prison."

"Stop, stop, stop—what exactly do you want to say? I don't have time to listen to your hard-luck story. You, the Jia family, in the siheyuan—aren't your hard-luck stories few enough already?"

Shazhu exposed her old tricks.

Jia Zhangshi also felt no embarrassment.

Nowadays, does the Jia family still need to worry about saving face?

No!

Let losing face be losing face.

After being beaten by Qin Huairu last night and then dressed down by Xiao Dang, Jia Zhangshi finally realized she seemed to have done something wrong.

Heaven pities the unfortunate.

She never imagined that one bowl of plain rice would cost Xiao Dang the opportunity Bai Xu recommended her for.

This was an opportunity worth seventeen or eighteen hundred.

She regretted it.

She thought about it all night.

Eventually, she came up with what she believed was a remedy to fix everything.

Shazhu is Bai Xu's person in charge; Xiao Dang made a mistake at Bai Xu. Jia Zhangshi believed that if she just found Shazhu and had a proper talk with him, she could get him to reverse his decision and reinstate Xiao Dang's recommendation opportunity at Bai Xu. Then, she would have achieved merit—Xiao Dang would sell this opportunity, and she could rightfully take a share of Xiao Dang's money.

Holding this thought.

She came to Bai Xu.

At first, her idea was to chat with You Fengxia, play a few rounds of cards with the siheyuan neighbors—if that didn't work, she'd figure out another way to find Shazhu.

She didn't expect to see Shazhu at the Bai Xu branch.

To Jia Zhangshi, it was practically an unexpected joy—this is why she just shouted "Shazhu."

The motive behind shouting "Shazhu" might not have been to manipulate Shazhu, but rather her overthinking that the siheyuan elders always called him that way. By shouting "Shazhu," she meant to show she was his elder, laying groundwork for the talk to come.

Over-calculated.

It provoked Shazhu's displeasure.

Then You Fengxia gave her a dressing-down.

Jia Zhangshi finally came to her senses: as long as Xiao Dang could have the Bai Xu recommendation opportunity, she'd call Shazhu "dad" if she had to.

As for whether Shazhu would willingly accept Jia Zhangshi as a daughter-in-law, she didn't care anymore.

Money is important.

Let's get down to business.

"Manager He, yesterday my old woman heard people say that everyone working at Bai Xu gets one chance to recommend someone. Our Xiao Dang has done well at your Bai Xu—hardworking, uncomplaining, willing to do any task. Such a good worker—we can't let her feel cold-hearted."

Before Jia Zhangshi came.

She should have practiced this speech specially.

These words.

If they hadn't come out of Jia Zhangshi's mouth.

Shazhu would have thought they were someone else's words.

"My old woman thought it over—actually, it's not really a big mistake. It's just that she ate plain rice, and she didn't mean to do it. I was also tricked, believed people's nonsense. Besides, Xiao Dang paid for my old woman's meal. Following my old woman's meaning, let's just let this go. As a leader, you should be fair—just like Liu Haizhong in our siheyuan, you know—because he couldn't be fair with one bowl of water, now he lives a miserable life."

"What do you want to say?"

"It's about the quota." Jia Zhangshi pointed again to the bruise on her face: "Just because of the quota issue, it was canceled. Xiao Dang got angry at my old woman—look, I've been beaten by her into this state. Manager He, you must decide for me—no matter what, you have to give the quota back to Xiao Dang, or else Xiao Dang will keep beating my old woman."

Jia Zhangshi's true intention.

Was to use this matter to highlight her own suffering, to show her weak side as much as possible.

Thinking: I've been beaten—you can't just stand by and watch me suffer, can you?

But she seriously overestimated her weight in Shazhu's heart.

Don't even mention Jia Zhangshi getting beaten once—even if she got beaten every day, Shazhu wouldn't feel pity for her.

Looking at Jia Zhangshi before him, his mind once again recalled some unpleasant past events.

In his previous life, it was this old hag, teaming up with Qin Huairu to set a trap, treating Shazhu as the Jia family's blood bank. Even though they knew Shazhu was over forty and wanted to marry, they still refused to let Qin Huairu remarry Shazhu—going so far as to stage a farce of setting up a spirit hall, forcing Qin Huairu to kneel before Jia Dongxu's memorial portrait and swear not to remarry.

Shazhu truly believed that farce.

Later, Jia Zhangshi saw that Bangeng needed work and a wife, needed a house to marry—so she pretended to agree to Qin Huairu remarrying Shazhu, but then demanded a monthly three-yuan pension fee.

Shazhu agreed.

A few days passed.

Licking his face as he spoke to Shazhu, he said Bangeng was getting older, the whole family crammed into one room was inconvenient, he said they were all embarrassed to get up at night, and asked Shazhu to give up the sunny big room in the middle courtyard and go sleep in the room of the deaf old lady in the back courtyard.

Shazhu did not agree.

Seeing he could not persuade Shazhu, he brought in Qin Huairu, and finally, under Qin Huairu's persuasion, Shazhu went to the deaf old lady's room in the back courtyard.

The ancestral home of the He family became the property of the Jia family, the big room occupied by Bangeng, the small room by Huaihua and Xiao Dang.

Xiao Dang took in a son-in-law, occupied the deaf old lady's room, Shazhu truly had nowhere to live, went to the Jia family and slept in the inner and outer rooms of Jia Zhangshi, Qin Huairu spread the word outside, saying Shazhu was kind-hearted, worried that Jia Zhangshi was old and found it inconvenient to get up at night, treating Jia Zhangshi as his own mother, deliberately sleeping in the same room with Jia Zhangshi to take care of her.

Everyone praised Shazhu for being filial.

Actually, it was just a fart.

After Jia Zhangshi died, Shazhu also fell ill, a kind of paralysis where he could not control urination or defecation, needing to take care of it in bed.

Qin Huairu attended to him for a few days, then grew disgusted, and moved Shazhu to the small room in the front courtyard.

Mutton pancakes do not stick to dogs.

Bangeng and them, seeing Qin Huairu despise Shazhu, also followed suit, deliberately pinching and nagging Shazhu, a hard steamed bun, with a bowl of cool boiled water beside it, that was Shazhu's daily ration.

Until one day.

Shazhu was driven away by them.

These past events.

Were stirred up by Jia Zhangshi's provocation.

Shazhu's hand.

Suddenly felt a little itchy, before his eyes the shameless Jia Zhangshi gave him the idea to act, but reason told Shazhu he could not strike Jia Zhangshi.

Jia Zhangshi originally came to ask Shazhu for help with affairs, once Shazhu struck Jia Zhangshi, given Jia Zhangshi's shameless character, he would surely lie on the ground causing a scene and extorting.

By then it would not just be a work target matter.

It might be two work targets, or even three work targets.

Your grandpa's.

Shazhu, after cursing in his heart, realized his identity, already unsuitable for doing the thing of violently beating Jia Zhangshi.

He moved his fingers a little.

Beside him, Thus: Thus: Mahua.

Widened his eyes.

As Shazhu's disciple, he knew what Shazhu moving his fingers meant, was he going to strike Jia Zhangshi?

He hastily interjected.

"You say the scar on your face was made by Xiao Dang? But everyone in the Siheyuan knows this is Qin Huairu's doing."

Damn Thus: Thus: Mahua.

You keep ruining my good deeds, old woman.

Jia Zhangshi, after cursing in her heart a few sentences, said it might possibly be true, but also possibly false.

"Qin Huairu hit me, this you all saw, I said Xiao Dang hit me, this happened in our Jia family, you all were not there, you all were asleep, so you don't know, I really got beaten by my granddaughter Xiao Dang over the work target matter, Xiao Dang also said, if this matter is not settled within a day, she will hit me every day, I old woman now have no ability to support myself, if Xiao Dang does not support me, I can only go die."

His knee went soft.

He was about to kneel before Shazhu.

The gatekeeper at the entrance.

Came running hurriedly, grabbed Jia Zhangshi up from the ground.

Jia Zhangshi, seeing he could not kneel properly.

Became anxious.

Used words to try to manipulate Shazhu.

"Considering our many years as neighbors, just return the work target to our family's Xiao Dang, I old woman beg you."