If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools. This has been an unchanging truth since ancient times.
He had not expected Lou Xiaoe to come looking for him so soon. They had not even confirmed their relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend, yet they had already reached the stage of meeting the parents.
What gift should he bring when he visited tomorrow? This was definitely a problem!
He had first agreed to help Lou Xiaoe borrow several novels, so it seemed he had to get that done tonight.
Although Lou Xiaoe's gifts were taken care of, she had made it clear that her parents wanted to meet him, so he also had to prepare gifts for his elders.
The problem was, where could he find gifts in 1961? Even the classic literature Lou Xiaoe wanted could only be handled through the system's generation interface.
Li Haiyang opened the system interface, and his heart began to pound.
Two days ago, he had synthesized a photograph depicting Xu Damao committing hooliganism out of thin air, and it had cost a full 3,000 System Currency!
That photograph probably did not even weigh a gram, yet it had cost such a high price. It seemed that as long as an item was custom-made, its price would be outrageously high.
The classic literature Lou Xiaoe wanted consisted of hefty volumes, which certainly would not be light. He currently had a little over 2,400 System Currency, and truly did not know whether he could generate them.
Following Li Haiyang's will, books began appearing out of thin air on the tabletop, one after another.
There was The Little Prince, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Story of the Insects, Around the World in Eighty Days, and other relatively light classic works.
There were also The Red and the Black, Confessions, The Lady of the Camellias, Jane Eyre, and other relatively orthodox and serious works.
There was only one problem: these books were all absurdly expensive. Ten books had cost a little over 2,000, leaving him with only a pitiful amount of System Currency.
He Yuzhu could not help sighing. It seemed that this system really valued culture, pricing spiritual nourishment far higher than food and clothing.
The reason Xu Damao had managed to get together with Lou Xiaoe in such a short time was that he had taken an indirect route to success, winning over his mother-in-law first and benefiting from it afterward.
He still remembered that, in the television series, Lou Xiao'e's mother was a successor to Tan Family Cuisine and was an extremely intelligent person.
Upon meeting someone for the first time, she could accurately deduce the identity of a stranger based on only a little information.
If analyzed this way, Lou Xiao'e's mother was intelligent but liked to show off. People like that often enjoyed flattery, but were not truly wise.
Leaving everything else aside, Xu Damao had such poor character, yet he had managed to win his mother-in-law's favor so quickly. This alone showed that Lou Xiao'e's mother was not good at judging people.
Although she was clearly poor at judging people, she still liked to show off her ability to distinguish and recognize others in front of people. Therefore, catering to her preferences could not be wrong!
As He Yuzhu searched, he saw a book by Carnegie on the page: The Weaknesses of Human Nature.
However, when he tried to select Generate, he discovered that his System Currency was actually insufficient. He now had only a little over 100 left, which was truly troublesome!
After all, this was a meeting with Lou Xiaoe's parents, so he could no longer carry large bags of chicken, duck, fish, and meat. Otherwise, he would truly look like nothing more than a cook who knew only firewood, rice, oil, and salt.
It would be quite discourteous not to bring gifts for his elders.
He had not even finished getting the book for Lou Xiao'e's mother, nor had he decided on a gift for her father, yet his money had already been spent. What a mess!
Xu Damao's negative emotions +1, +1…
By this point, the only person barely contributing income was Xu Damao, who had just been kicked.
But even if these points were added one by one, he still could not afford gifts for the girl's parents by dawn.
A thought flashed through He Yuzhu's mind. Right! He had to go out and earn money himself!
How could he earn this money? That was simple: create negative emotions in other people!
He Yuzhu rolled out of bed, walked out the door, and wandered around the Siheyuan Courtyard, preparing to verbally attack anyone who displeased him.
But it was mealtime, so every household was inside its own home. In the middle of winter, darkness also came early, and it was freezing outside. There was not even a ghost of a person in sight.
He Yuzhu was frantic. Just as he was growing anxious, Second Uncle Liu Haizhong lifted the door curtain and walked out.
He shouted loudly, “Silly Zhu, why are you wandering around the courtyard in this freezing weather? Come over. I have something to tell you.”
Liu Haizhong was an officialdom enthusiast who was crazed with the desire to become an official. His character was extremely despicable, and he had no bottom line in his actions.
Relying on being a Level 7 forger at the Steel Rolling Mill, with a decent income and advanced age, he spent all day acting as Second Uncle in the courtyard and was always ordering Silly Zhu around.
He Yuzhu said nothing. With his hands tucked into his sleeves, he hurried over. As the saying went, a starving man was not picky about food. At this point, he would attack anyone, whether Xu Damao or Second Uncle!
“Silly Zhu, Xu Damao came to me just now. He said you kicked him, and now he cannot even get out of bed. He is going to take tomorrow off and rest at home.”
“You are young, yet you refuse to learn properly and are always fighting. Now you have made him unable to go to work, so you will pay his lost wages!”
“I have already notified the other two elders. At seven tonight, we will hold a whole-courtyard meeting and harshly criticize you for your habit of hitting people!”
When He Yuzhu heard this, he was delighted instead. He said with a smile, “In this freezing winter weather, I was just worried that I could not find anyone to talk to. Then I will trouble you. See you in the courtyard at eight tonight.”
Second Uncle was so furious that his breathing grew heavy. “You hit someone and still think you are in the right? The whole-courtyard meeting is to criticize you, not to pin a large red flower on you!”
But He Yuzhu completely ignored him and returned to his room while humming a little tune.
Back then, every household ate dinner early. It was only just past six, and there were still several dozen minutes before the meeting. Every second felt like a year.
After finally enduring until nearly seven, He Yuzhu picked up a small stool, opened the door, and went into the courtyard.
Before long, every household sent a representative to sit in the courtyard. The three neighborhood elders sat behind an Eight Immortals Table, making it look almost like a three-court interrogation.
Xu Damao covered his lower back and looked at He Yuzhu with a malicious grin, clearly intent on repaying this grudge.
“Everyone is here. It is so cold, so let us keep this brief,” Second Uncle Liu Haizhong said loudly.
“Silly Zhu kicked Xu Damao. We have both a witness and material evidence. Everyone, discuss how we should handle this!”
“Ow… He Yuzhu kicked viciously, right into my lower back. I am not letting this go!” Xu Damao took the opportunity to fan the flames.
First Uncle Yi Zhonghai also asked, “Zhuzi, did this really happen? If it did, apologize to him and compensate him for his lost wages.”
Among the three neighborhood elders, First Uncle Yi Zhonghai was, comparatively speaking, a good person.
Although he had some selfish motives regarding elderly care because he had no children, no one was perfect. Overall, he was not bad, and Silly Zhu had been closest to him in the past.
But He Yuzhu had come here today to earn money, so he did not follow First Uncle's suggestion.
Instead, he asked in return, “A witness and material evidence? Where is this witness? And where is the material evidence?”