Chapter 83: Makeup Classes

Jiang Liyun didn’t have a good impression of Xie Zugen’s parents.

In her previous life, when she first married into the Xie family, they looked down on her. Later, when Xie Zugen got into trouble, they initially kept it from her, and then they pressured her to help repay the debts.

After her divorce from Xie Zugen, they quieted down. Even when Xie Zugen was arrested and imprisoned later, they didn’t cause trouble for her. However, they secretly contacted her troublesome son and surely didn’t speak well of her.

In her second chance at life, she considered reporting Xie’s father, but she lacked evidence. Moreover, during this time, she didn’t know if Xie’s father had already made money from the factory.

In her previous life, Xie’s father started amassing wealth desperately only in the last few years before his retirement, around 1990. Reporting Xie’s father without evidence might not yield good results, so Jiang Liyun decided not to bother. However, Xie Zugen’s gambling problem provided the evidence on its own.

When Xie Zugen gambled, he wasn’t alone; there were many others with him. When he borrowed money from Zhou Laoda, he even mentioned things like “My family is wealthy,” “My dad has money,” and so on, words that were noted by someone with a keen interest.

While the Xie family had decent relations in the village, their relatively prosperous life attracted envy. Hence, someone decided to report them.

In her previous life, when Xie Zugen’s gambling issue surfaced, Xie’s father had already retired. Although there were rumours about Xie’s father embezzling money from the factory, the matter didn’t escalate, as other leaders in the brick factory didn’t want it to become a big issue. Moreover, Xie’s father was already retired at that time.

Things were different now.

After the report, there had to be some reaction from the factory. Consequently, both Xie’s father and Xie Zugen were suspended from their positions.

“This Xie Zugen is really sick. What grudge do I have against him? He saw me once and insisted on saying that I was also gambling,” Sun Jinshan, irritated upon seeing Xie Zugen, commented. “He deserves to be reported.”

Jiang Liyun looked at Sun Jinshan in a new suit and asked, “How are he and his father doing now?”

Sun Jinshan replied, “They definitely can’t continue working at the brick factory. Xie Zugen receives the salary from the transportation team at the brick factory, but he doesn’t do any work. Everyone has long been dissatisfied.”

After the incident, there were specialists sent to investigate at the brick factory.

Setting aside Xie’s father, even before this, Xie Zugen had been receiving the transportation team’s salary without actually participating in any transport work, which was a big problem.

Both Xie’s father and Xie Zugen were afraid of losing their jobs.

This was actually quite good. Jiang Liyun had been worried that Xie Zugen might deceive a woman into marrying him.

Now, with the gambling incident causing a big stir, no one would be willing to marry him.

Nowadays, when people get married, it’s not like ancient times with elaborate ceremonies and bridal gowns. Today, Jiang Liping simply wore a red dress, and together with Sun Jinshan in his new suit, they got married.

Not to mention anything else, Jiang Liping was truly beautiful. Most of the young men at the wedding were looking at her, and some were even whispering about why she could marry Sun Jinshan.

Jiang Liyun felt that Jiang Liping had something worth learning. She didn’t care about what others said about her. Regardless of what people said, she only cared about living her own good life.

The day after Jiang Liping’s wedding was International Women’s Day, and the time had already entered March 1988.

Soon, the prices of some goods in Shanghai will be liberalised.

During the Lunar New Year, the business at the Dumpling Shop was quite good. Jiang Liyun now had an additional two thousand yuan in hand.

She planned to gradually stock up on some items in the coming days.

With such a small amount of money in hand, it wasn’t realistic to hoard a large quantity of goods and then sell them for a profit when prices rose. However, purchasing items like flour and vermicelli could allow her to make a bit more money in the coming days and avoid the situation where she couldn’t buy what she needed later.

When the shopping frenzy erupts, matches might not be available anywhere!

In the frenzy of panic buying, ordinary people would certainly suffer losses, but many factories managed to make money during this period.

Of course, there were also factories that blindly expanded their production capacity during the panic buying, only to find themselves unable to sell the excess products after the buying frenzy ended, ultimately leading to closure.

Fortunately, the cooperative poultry farming venture she and Sun Jinshan were involved in wouldn’t face such a situation.

During the panic buying period, chicken meat might experience a price increase, but it wouldn’t be too significant, allowing them to earn a bit. After the frenzy, people would still continue to buy chicken meat, and the prices wouldn’t drop.

In this era where productivity hadn’t fully developed, as long as there was a market, poultry farming generally wouldn’t incur losses.

People nowadays are in great need of meat.

On this day, Jiang Liyun continued to be busy with chicken-related matters.

In the town, at the Liyun Pan-fried Dumpling Shop:

After the Lunar New Year, the items sold in the morning at the dumpling shop were similar to those before the New Year. However, in the evening, they added some new items.

During the time when students were studying, the dumpling shop would sell items like fried rice cakes, fried chicken wings, fried tofu, and more in the evenings.

Some of these items were priced at one cent per skewer, and some were two cents per skewer.

In the morning, they continued to sell vermicelli soup, but now in smaller bowls, priced at one cent per small bowl.

The students’ pocket money wasn’t much, generally only one or two cents a day. Now, many students have spent their money at Liyun Pan-fried Dumpling Shop.

Even some teachers came to buy food from the dumpling shop.

“Give me two skewers of fried rice cakes, two skewers of fried tofu, a bowl of vermicelli soup, and a piece of fried chicken.” Zhao Hai, a middle school teacher in town, handed a coin to Feng Yi.

He had been assigned to teach in the town last year and had been coming to eat since Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi first set up their stall. He was already an old customer of Feng Yi and Jiang Liyun.

Feng Yi fried the rice cakes and tofu for Zhao Hai, adding an extra skewer of chicken wings, and handed them to Zhao Hai.

“The chicken wings aren’t mine,” Zhao Hai said.

Feng Yi replied, “Zhao teacher, this is on me. I’ll come over later to ask you a few questions.”

Zhao Hai, curious, asked, “What do you want to ask?”

“I want to ask about the solutions to a few math problems.” Feng Yi smiled. “Teacher Zhao, go ahead and eat. I’ll come over later.”

Zhao Hai’s ordered fried chicken wings were not ready yet, and he could ask him after they were done.

As for selling fried chicken… Feng Qiufeng and Zhao Lanlan were there; he could step away for a while.

To think it’s about math problems? Zhao Hai was a bit surprised. He took the plate and found a seat, then saw someone familiar at the next table. “Lai Bocheng, are you eating so much?”

Sitting at the next table was one of his students, currently in the first year of junior high school.

This kid had various fried skewers and chicken dishes on his table, which would probably cost three yuan in total. Zhao Hai didn’t have any other thoughts; he just felt a bit poor.

Lai Bocheng replied, “Teacher, this is my dinner!”

Zhao Hai looked at Lai Bocheng enviously. He also wanted to have these for dinner, but he didn’t have the money.

Although he wasn’t married yet and his family didn’t need him to support them, with him eating his fill, his whole family wouldn’t go hungry. However, as a teacher, his monthly salary was just over a hundred yuan, and considering the expenses, he probably had only three or four yuan per day.

He couldn’t afford to eat fried skewers every day!

While Zhao Hai was contemplating his financial constraints, Feng Yi approached with the fried chicken, saying, “Teacher Zhao, here’s your fried chicken.”

Only then did Zhao Hai notice that, in addition to the fried chicken pieces he ordered, there was an extra portion of fried chicken strips on the plate.

“How can I accept this?” Zhao Hai felt a bit embarrassed.

Feng Yi, however, took out a textbook and asked Zhao Hai a question: “Teacher Zhao, I don’t understand the content on this page.”

Feng Yi was asking Zhao Hai about middle school math problems.

For Zhao Hai, who taught middle school mathematics, these problems were quite simple. He took the draft paper and pen provided by Feng Yi and began teaching him the problems.

Lai Bocheng, sitting nearby, was dumbfounded.

His grades were not good, and he disliked being asked to study and do homework by others. Yet, the person selling fried chicken was now asking his math teacher questions?

Zhao Hai explained carefully, and after finishing, he asked Feng Yi, “Did you understand?”

Feng Yi replied, “Teacher Zhao, I understood. Teacher Zhao, I want to hire a tutor for extra lessons. Can you recommend someone for me?”

Feng Yi had been self-studying before, asking Jiang Liyun or Jiang Lihai whenever he had questions.

After considering it, Feng Yi decided to find someone for extra lessons.

“Extra lessons?” Zhao Hai was somewhat surprised and then said, “Are you planning to take a self-study exam? If you have questions, just ask me; you don’t need to specifically find someone for extra lessons.”

After thinking about it, Feng Yi asked Zhao Hai, “Teacher Zhao, where do you have your dinner?”

Zhao Hai generally had breakfast at their place; lunch was probably at the canteen; and he didn’t know where he had dinner.

Zhao Hai replied, “I usually prepare a bit more for lunch, and in the evening, I warm it up and eat.”

Their school’s canteen was not open in the evening; teachers usually went home for dinner.

While other teachers had families to go back to and could enjoy a hot meal after returning home, he lived alone. Usually, he would just heat up the cold rice with hot water.

Feng Yi said, “Teacher Zhao, come over to our place for dinner in the future, and I’ll also ask you questions. Is that okay?”

Due to selling fried chicken and other items, their shop stayed open late recently.

Additionally, with Gu Lanlan also working the whole day, their shop now served dinner as well, and the dishes were quite good.

Even if the occasional dish wasn’t good… Wasn’t there still fried chicken?

Feng Yi had observed Zhao Hai and chatted with him before, knowing that Zhao Hai lived alone and enjoyed eating.

He offered to provide Zhao Hai with free meals, and in return, Zhao Hai would answer his various questions. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Seeing Zhao Hai hesitating, Feng Yi said, “Teacher Zhao, my father passed away early, and my stepfather didn’t allow me to study. But I genuinely love reading and want to get a diploma through self-study. There are some things I can’t learn through self-study. I’ll treat you to meals, and you can teach me for half an hour every day. What do you think?”

Feng Yi’s personality was indeed different from Sun Jinshan’s; he wasn’t as good at socializing. However, when he had something he wanted to achieve, he would strive to do it.

Back when he was in the brick and tile factory, he would try to please Sun Jinshan and others just for a mouthful of food.

Who wouldn’t want to eat a hot meal? Moreover, he would only need to teach Feng Yi for half an hour—not a big deal!

“After school every day, he comes over here, has dinner, and tutors Feng Yi. The time won’t be too late.

Actually, it’s fine if it’s a bit late; he has nothing to do at night!

Zhao Hai readily agrees.

Feng Yi is delighted: ‘Teacher Zhao, I’ll go get something delicious for you! ‘

Before Zhao Hai can refuse, Feng Yi is already gone.

Turning around, Zhao Hai sees his student staring at him in shock. He immediately says, ‘See the benefits of studying? I get to eat skewers for free! ‘

Lai Bocheng is indeed envious.

His parents have made quite a bit of money in business over the past few years. They give him money every day, but he only comes here to buy skewers for meals.

But if he can eat for free…

Forget it. Forget it. Math is too difficult; he doesn’t want to study!

Feng Yi has a monthly allowance of twenty yuan. Previously, he used it to buy sausage. Now he puts it in the oil pan to fry, sprinkles the seasoning bought by Jiang Liyun, and presents it to Zhao Hai.

Zhao Hai’s eyes light up.

He has accepted this student! “