"How much does a washing machine cost?" Yan Zhao asked.0
Chen ilan estimated, trying to lowball it: "It should be over a hundred yuan."0
"If Little Wang wants one, let's buy it. Use my money." The man who had just received his salary was different now; Yan Zhao made the decision.0
Currently, the cheapest washing machines cost over a hundred yuan, but the more expensive ones could cost three to four hundred. Although Chen ilan said they'd buy the cheapest one, when she took Little Wang to the departnt store, she still chose a Toshiba twin-tub washing machine for 480 yuan.0
Although it was still manual, it could both wash and spin, which was much more convenient than a single-tub machine.0
Washing machines were now considered affordable big-ticket items for most people, and Toshiba was a brand that even backdoor connections couldn't get you. Chen ilan paid the money, chose the model, and got a queue number. It wasn't until the following weekend that Yan Zhao could queue up to bring it ho.0
Yuanyuan and Little Lang weren't interested in the washing machine.0
Moreover, it was allowance day, and Chen ilan had given them their new weekly pocket money. Little Lang had taken it upon himself to let Yuanyuan manage his allowance. The two ran in and out, buying popsicles and sorghum candy, eating with great delight.0
Little Wang was busy trying out the new washing machine with his father.0
They were washing the pink bedsheet that Yan Zhao had specially set aside last week.0
But the current power supply was terrible. Just as Yan Zhao plugged in the washing machine, Little Wang shouted, "Dad, the TV turned off by itself!"0
So Yan Zhao unplugged the TV and plugged in the washing machine. After washing for a while, Little Wang ran to the kitchen and started shouting again, "Dad, the fridge has no power!"0
Alright, they unplugged both and plugged in the washing machine again. This ti it started running well.0
So, Little Wang plugged the fridge and TV back in.0
Soon, the whole village was shouting, "Why is there another power outage?"0
Well, the entire village's electricity had been burned out by ilan's family.0
...0
Since Yan Zhao ca ho early and took over the housework, Chen ilan could free up her hands to cook.0
But in the blink of an eye, Teacher Huang was calling her from outside.0
Today was the weekend, and also the day for tying the first-floor rebar circles at her construction site. The first-floor rebar circles were the most visible place for quality inspection. If they weren't tied properly and the ground cracked, there was basically no need to inspect other areas; it would already be considered a substandard project.0
Teacher Huang should have been supervising the whole process today, so why did he get off work so early?0
Did sothing happen?0
"ilan, go and persuade your sister-in-law. She says she wants to abort the baby." Teacher Huang was so anxious he was stomping his feet and almost crying.0
Recently, Third Sister-in-law Huang had been on bed rest to protect the pregnancy. How could she suddenly want to abort the child?0
"Teacher Huang, did you say sothing to upset her?" Chen ilan asked.0
Teacher Huang ran his hand through his graying hair, still needing to hurry back to the construction site: "Today she suddenly said she had a dream during her afternoon nap. She saw Xiaoxiang, and the child was crying, wanting to co ho. She probably doesn't want to have another Xiaoxiang, so she wants to abort."0
This was serious. Chen ilan indeed needed to go and persuade Third Sister-in-law Huang.0
The couple was only in their forties. If they didn't have a child, they would be lonely and miserable in their old age, even more pitiful than her in her previous life.0
However, she had only visited Third Sister-in-law Huang on the day she was diagnosed with pregnancy. After that, she had been busy with the construction work and hadn't visited her again.0
Of course, she couldn't go empty-handed. After leaving ho, she first went to the state-owned grain store and bought ten jin of high-quality rapeseed oil. Then she went to the vegetable market. Among the several at stalls, she still preferred the at from the at processing factory. The pork was fatty and the weight was generous. She bought five jin of fatty pork belly. Seeing the eggs piled in straw nests next to it, each one round, white, and large, she simply bought five jin of eggs as well.0
Third Sister-in-law Huang's house was just opposite Chen ilan's, separated by three courtyards.0
Before her rebirth, why did Chen ilan like this village?0
It was because although Yanguan Village had its share of bad people, overall, the people here were warm-hearted.0
It had only been seven or eight days since Third Sister-in-law Huang was diagnosed with pregnancy, but every day there would be several students' parents coming to visit her, bringing eggs or milk powder, in an endless stream.0
Even many high school students who had been taught by Teacher Huang in the past would ride their bicycles to visit their teacher's wife.0
Chen ilan had just reached the door when she saw two children on bicycles laughing and chatting as they rode away.0
At this mont, Third Sister-in-law Huang was crying to soone inside the house: "In my dream, I heard Xiaoxiang calling , saying he wanted to co ho. I feel like he doesn't want this little one, so I should just abort it."0
Chen ilan was about to lift the curtain when she heard Yan Zhao's voice: "Sister-in-law, I think Xiaoxiang might have heard about your pregnancy in the netherworld and was happy, that's why he appeared in your dream. I solemnly promise you, I will definitely investigate the truth about Xiaoxiang's car accident case and let the child's soul rest in peace. I'll investigate the truth, and you give birth to this child, how about that?"0
Wasn't he just at ho dealing with the laundry? How did he co to visit Teacher Huang as well?0
And, was he Teacher Huang's student when he was young?0
Hearing Yan Zhao ntion his son's case, Teacher Huang drew in a sharp breath.0
Third Sister-in-law Huang burst into tears: "Really?"0
Chen ilan's scalp tingled.0
Teacher Huang's son, Huang Xiaoxiang, was handso, smart, considerate, and had an exceptionally good temper. When he was alive, he often helped Chen ilan with odd jobs, like helping to empty the manure pit, cleaning up garbage, and whenever it snowed, he would sweep the roads of the entire village.0
Even for the dirtiest and laziest old man in the village, Old Man Yan, whose clothes and socks his son and daughter-in-law were too lazy to care for, Xiaoxiang would help wash them.0
After that child was gone, the whole village never regained its cheerfulness. When Old Lady Yan Xishan was dying, she held her daughter-in-law's hand and instructed that if the hit-and-run driver who killed little Huang was ever caught, they must light incense to tell her.0
Finding the culprit wasn't just Third Sister-in-law Huang's unresolved issue, but the entire village's.0
Sure enough, Third Sister-in-law Huang asked Yan Zhao with a trembling voice: "How can you investigate? Wasn't it said that it was an unlicensed truck? The person has fled who knows where. How can you investigate?"0
"As long as I have patience, I will definitely find out," Yan Zhao said. "I was one of Teacher Huang's first students, and I watched Xiaoxiang grow up. As long as you focus on having this baby, I promise I will investigate this matter thoroughly."0
"So, should I have this child?" Third Sister-in-law Huang hesitated.0
"I promise you, before you give birth, I will make sure this case is solved," Yan Zhao said.0
"By the way, ilan is really nice. She was too wronged with Xishan before. You should treat her well," Third Sister-in-law Huang added.0
Yan Zhao was silent for a mont before saying, "In terms of being a good person, I'm certainly better than Xishan, but I'm not good at making money."0
Chen ilan was suddenly shocked. This cold-faced, hard-hearted man was actually quite insecure inside.0
And he was insecure about not being able to make money like Yan Xishan?0
Chen ilan had never expected this.0
So when facing Yan Xishan, did he feel inferior?0
In this era of inflation, where nouveau riche were springing up like mushrooms after rain in the 1990s, public servants like them could never make money.0
How should she comfort and guide Yan Zhao about this?0
But at this mont, Sister-in-law Huang actually laughed: "Yan Zhao, you should understand, if people like you could make money, this country would be finished."0
Teacher Huang also smiled bitterly: "If ilan hadn't introduced to work at her brother's construction site, wouldn't I also be poor as a church mouse? But soone has to do the job of teaching, soone has to do police work. Yan Zhao, you need to think positively."0
Hearing Sister-in-law Huang's words from outside, Chen ilan felt as if she had been struck by a bell, or received a sudden enlightennt.0
Although Sister-in-law Huang might seem rough and sharp-tongued, her reasoning was not rough at all.0
Yan Zhao was the captain of the investigation team in a branch of the Public Security Bureau, overseeing mines, coal, various factories, nightclubs, and all places where nouveau riche might erge.0
Every day, he ca into contact with people who had suddenly beco wealthy. If he didn't lock his drawer, there would be many people stuffing cash into it.0
If he was willing to amass wealth indiscriminately, if he also went to make money...0
Wouldn't that just prove that the country's judicial system, from top to bottom, had completely collapsed?0
If the judicial system collapsed, wouldn't the entire country be finished?0
The country's prosperity and developnt ca from these nouveau riche, but didn't law and order and stability co from judicial personnel like Yan Zhao?0
Chen ilan was initially in a hurry, but upon hearing this, she felt that she didn't need to persuade the child herself, as Third Sister-in-law Huang would give birth anyway. She simply left all the items in Third Sister-in-law Huang's kitchen and returned ho.0
Back at ho, Little Wang was helping his father wash clothes.0
His father's pink bedsheet was specifically put in the washing machine to be spun today.0
As a matter of course, seeing that the water in the washing machine had already cleared, she prepared to turn off the machine and hang the clothes. However, as soon as she twisted the knob, the washing machine stopped washing, but with a clanging sound, it suddenly started to jump.0
Little Wang dropped the snake-skin hose and ca to shut off the machine: "You're supposed to be the mother, and you can't even handle this. You turned the wrong part; that's the spin-dry barrel."0
"Quickly turn it off." They had just washed the clothes, and now they were about to run wild all over the yard.0
Little Wang gave it a twist, and sure enough, the washing machine bounced a few tis and then stopped.0
"Alright, I can wash and hang the clothes myself. You go make dinner. You've been running to the construction site a lot lately, and dinner's been late. Little Lang must be starving," Little Wang said as he scooped clothes from the large tub into the spin-dry barrel, carefully putting the lid on.0
There was a knack to putting on that plastic lid of the spin-dry barrel. It had to be balanced just right for it to spin; otherwise, it wouldn't work.0
Chen ilan felt that since she had done this before, she knew the principle, and guessed that Little Wang hadn't yet mastered the trick.0
Seeing the young man acting as if he knew everything better than anyone else, she wanted to wait for him to make a mistake so she could teach him.0
But as soon as he turned it on, with a swoosh, the washing machine started to spin-dry.0
Waste water flowed out from the water pipe towards the drain by the door. In less than four minutes, when they took the clothes out, they were already half-dry.0
"Big brother Wang is really capable," Yuanyuan said sincerely.0
Little Wang chuckled and stuck out his tongue.0
He disliked little girls the most, but he was nice to Yuanyuan at the mont because she could sing sweet songs.0
Seeing that it was about to get dark, Chen Degong was still at the construction site. Although he always cooked for himself at the site, and after being scared by his second brother last ti, this ti when his elder sister-in-law wanted to co along to help him cook, he didn't even want her to.0
Chen ilan had bought a chicken today and planned to cook it all in one pot, then take half of it over to let Chen Degong treat the workers to a al.0
After all, today they had to tie steel bars and pour the concrete floor all at once, which would keep them busy all night. Farm workers rarely ate at, and giving them so at to eat would give them the strength to work.0
Chen ilan was chopping the chicken in the kitchen when Little Lang ca trotting in and stuffed sothing into her mouth: "Mama eat."0
It was half a sausage, and it slled quite good.0
"Little Lang, even if your brother bought it, you shouldn't eat any more snacks. Your belly is too full; you'll turn into a little fatty this way," Chen ilan said.0
Little Lang stubbornly insisted: "Grandma gave it, I give it to Mama to eat."0
This child didn't have a grandmother.0
"Yuanyuan, did you buy sausages for Little Lang today? You shouldn't buy them anymore in the future, understand?" Chen ilan said.0
Yuanyuan ran in: "No, Mama, what's a sausage?"0
Half a sausage, branded "Chundu," had just beco popular in this era. There were advertisents on TV, but it wasn't sold outside yet.0
The child took a deep sniff: "So this is a sausage. It slls really good."0
Chen ilan, holding the half sausage, thought for a mont and went next door.0
"Qin Yu, do you give Ningning pocket money? Has she ever bought sausages for Little Lang?" she asked first.0
Qin Yu smiled: "Sausages? Aren't these not available in the market yet? It slls really good."0
Ningning jumped up: "I know, I know! An old lady gave it to Little Lang. I wanted to eat it too, but Little Lang wouldn't give any."0
What would beco known as "junk food" in the future was a luxury item now.0
"By the way, Qin Yu, did Ningning sign up for the paint factory selection? Was she chosen in the end?" Chen ilan asked again.0
Qin Yu sighed: "Don't even ntion it. They wanted a little boy, and a chubby one at that. They wanted the child to act as if the paint slled good, sar it all over their body and put it in their mouth. How could that be okay? Wouldn't that be making my daughter eat paint? I'd have to be crazy to let my daughter do that."0
Returning ho, Little Lang was still following Chen ilan with half a sausage.0
The little one wanted to save it for his mom, but he was really craving it, so he would lick it once, then offer it to Chen ilan. Seeing that she wouldn't take it, he would lick it again.0
Chen ilan bent down and looked at Little Lang for a while, then asked the little silly: "Am I your mama?"0
"Yes."0
"What's my na?"0
"Um, Zhou Xueqin... I think," Little Lang said after thinking for a mont.0
"Who told you that?" Chen ilan asked again.0
"Grandma... I think. She said not to forget mama, to love mama," Little Lang said.0
Chen ilan took the sausage, took a big bite, then said: "Now go ho and run laps in the yard. The more you run, the better."0
Run laps?0
"Don't want to, tired." He was a little lazy bones.0
Chen ilan patted his bottom: "Mama will fry so sausages for you to eat later."0
The sausage already slled good, if it was fried, wouldn't it sll even better?0
Shaking his chubby bottom, Little Lang went into the yard and really started running laps around it.0
Coming out of Qin Yu's house, Chen ilan wasn't in a hurry to go ho. Although there weren't any of these plastic-wrapped little sausages sold outside, there were vendors selling garlic sausages in the market. Those needed to be pan-fried and tasted even better than these.0
After buying a string of garlic sausages, Chen ilan needed to go to the First Team.0
If she guessed correctly, the person who had given Little Lang the sausage earlier should be Zhou Xueqin's mother, Wu Lianlian.0
Zhou Xueqin herself had abandoned the child, either out of sha or fear that the child would cling to her, and didn't dare to show her face.0
Her mother had co to give Little Lang the sausage.0
Just the other day, Chen ilan had run into Zhou Xueqin trying to borrow money from Song Huaihua but getting turned down.0
A few days later, she heard Song Huaihua say that Lu Jingyu had bought so bonds and lost quite a bit of money, and the two of them were really depressed for a while.0
So Zhou Xueqin wanted to make big money, but any business needed capital, and she was currently lacking capital because she had lost it all.0
She had just been reborn and had signed up Lv Erniu, wanting her to endorse paint, but that must have fallen through too, because Lv Erniu was ugly and the paint factory didn't want her.0
Originally, Chen ilan thought it was just accidental paint ingestion, which would have been okay, at least Erniu was older and definitely wouldn't accidentally ingest paint.0
But now it seed the factory deliberately wanted to cover the child in paint from head to toe and even have the child eat paint.0
And Zhou Xueqin, she knew about this.0
Also, Chen ilan had always been biased in her impression of Little Wang and Little Lang.0
Because not only her sister-in-law, but even Jinbao, Zhenzhu, and Baozhu, when ntioning Little Wang and Little Lang, would just shake their heads.0
Moreover, Little Lang was too young to rember things, and although Little Wang was close to Yan Zhao, from the ti they had lived together, Chen ilan had also observed that he never ntioned his birth mother in front of anyone, not even Yan Zhao, and had never said a bad word about Zhou Xueqin.0
This was normal, just like Yuanyuan, even though Yan Xishan would point at her nose and scold her for being a money-losing commodity and a disgrace to him whenever he was drunk.0
But Yuanyuan would never say anything bad about Yan Xishan in front of anyone.0
Because children are born to their parents, and children don't speak ill of their parents, this is human nature.0
But just because children don't say anything, doesn't an their parents are truly good.0
Just like Zhou Xueqin.0
If Chen ilan was only guessing before, she now dared to be certain that Little Lang had fallen ill because he had been made to endorse paint for the factory.0
Having a child covered in paint and eating paint would make consurs feel that the factory's paint was safe.0
In her previous life, Zhou Xueqin could say she didn't know either, after all, in this era, people didn't have knowledge about toxic paint, but hadn't she been reborn now?0
Couldn't she find anywhere else to make money? Did she have to sell her son again?0
If Zhou Xueqin really still wanted to let Little Lang participate in the paint factory's selection, then she wasn't human, she was simply as cruel as a snake or scorpion, worse than pigs and dogs.0
Chen ilan didn't mind having a private confrontation between reborn won with her.0
Even if it ant ruining Zhou Xueqin's face, she wanted to ask Zhou Xueqin why she would do such a thing.0
However, before she even entered the First Team, she ran into the village chief Yan Yong's wife, Liu Xiaohong. Liu Xiaohong had quite a fiery personality, and since they were sisters-in-law, they naturally considered themselves family.0
"ilan, why are you here?" Liu Xiaohong asked.0
Before Chen ilan could speak, Liu Xiaohong pursed her lips: "You probably don't know, but Zhou Xueqin left our First Team today and went to the capital."0
Zhou Xueqin had actually gone to the capital?0
Was it Zhou's Mother who took it upon herself to give Little Lang sausages to eat?0
Another woman said, "I overheard the couple talking. They said they were going to resell so treasury bonds, which is extrely profitable. They also took that chubby girl with them, saying there's a children's singing competition in the capital, and if she participates, she could beco a little star."0
Er Niu's singing foundation was indeed impressive, and she had a particularly strong competitive spirit. She was also good at stage performances, so it wasn't impossible that she could beco a little star if she entered the competition.0
As for Zhou Xueqin's talk about reselling treasury bonds, it was like this: the governnt had recently banned the local buying and selling of treasury bonds, but they could still be traded in different regions. This gave rise to a large number of people engaged in inter-regional treasury bond trading. So people could make tens of thousands of yuan overnight, but any money-making business carries risks. Among those people, it wasn't just competition; for the sake of grabbing treasury bonds, so even resorted to murder for money.0
It was a business where you could either beco rich overnight or die suddenly. Zhou Xueqin could be described as both wild and spicy in this lifeti.0
However, since she hadn't laid a finger on Little Lang, Chen ilan decided not to say anything.0
As Chen ilan was about to leave, Liu Xiaohong added, "Oh, by the way, Zhou Xueqin ca up with an advertising slogan for a sausage factory. It's called 'The Dancing Sausage.' They used it and gave her several boxes of sausages. Her mother is out there selling them. I bought a few. ilan, do you want so? I can give you a couple."0
So, while Chen ilan was thinking up advertisents for mattresses, Zhou Xueqin had done the sa for a sausage factory?0
And the sausages Zhou's Mother gave to Little Lang weren't even bought, but were freebies from the sausage factory?0
She wouldn't even give a single sausage to Little Wang, only to Little Lang, and wanted him to rember his birth mother forever?0
How could this maternal love be so cheap?0
Upon returning to the village, she happened to run into Yan Zhao coming out of Teacher Huang's house.0
"Where did you go?" Yan Zhao asked.0
Chen ilan smiled, "Nowhere special. Let's go ho, I have sothing to tell you."0
She hadn't expected this man would feel inferior because of her ability to make money.0
Nor had she imagined that Zhou's Mother could stoop so low, using a few free sausages to buy cheap maternal love.0
She needed to have a good talk with Yan Zhao about all these things.0
After all, as Third Sister-in-law Huang had said, if Yan Zhao really knew how to make money and get rich, this country would be dood.0
And if Little Wang and Little Lang were to be touched by Zhou's Mother, who had already brought down a wool factory, they would probably be dood too!0
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