Yan Bugui negative emotions +140, +41, +17, +12…
Just by looking at the System Currency displayed by the system, one could understand how shocked Third Uncle was!
Even so, He Yuzhu felt that the other man's negative emotions fell far short of his expectations, so he immediately snatched the lunchbox back.
“Troublesome? Then forget it. These days, people value freedom in love and marriage. I’ll just find a girl myself. I won’t trouble you, old man.”
Sure enough, things were just as he had expected. Seeing the lunchbox filled with eggs, sliced meat, and rice being taken back, Third Uncle’s face revealed a pained expression!
Yan Bugui negative emotions +220, +21, +19, +13…
This was precisely striking the snake at its weak point. He Yuzhu knew Third Uncle’s character very well.
A man who usually haggled over every penny, seeing something he had obtained slip away again was practically like mourning the death of his parents!
Besides, he truly had not been lying today. Third Aunt had indeed fainted from malnutrition. This lunchbox did not contain nutritional supplements—it was practically his wife’s life!
“All right, all right, I agree, okay?” Third Uncle hurriedly said, snatching the lunchbox back again.
“However, Lou Xiaoe’s family is a scholarly family, and they’re wealthy too. I hear they still have quite a lot of supplies stored away. Introducing one girl to two families is somewhat hard to justify…”
Regardless of how disgracefully Third Uncle usually behaved, he was at least a people’s teacher and understood the most basic principles of propriety, morality, integrity, and shame.
If he introduced the same girl to two young men and word got out, her reputation would be utterly ruined.
By then, he probably would not be able to hold his position as Third Brother in the courtyard. He was truly caught between a rock and a hard place.
He Yuzhu was not an unreasonable person.
Seeing the other man’s expression, he smiled and said, “Just tell me where Lou Xiaoe lives and come up with a reason for me to visit her.”
Third Uncle hugged the lunchbox tightly to his chest, racking his brains for a long while before his eyes suddenly lit up.
“That’s right, Lou Xiaoe likes reading novels. A few years ago, she asked a teacher at the school to borrow one from me. The book seems rather taboo these days, so I never asked for it back.”
“Just say that I asked you to retrieve the novel so I can read it. That gives you a reason to meet her, doesn’t it? I’ll write the address for you right now.”
Because of his profession, Third Uncle always kept a Fountain Pen tucked into his upper pocket.
Without a word, he used his teeth to pull off the cap, motioned for He Yuzhu to hold out his hand, and wrote the address on it.
“Zhuzi, don’t tell anyone about the lunchbox. If the widow from the Jia family finds out, won’t she skin me alive?”
After saying this, Third Uncle hid the lunchbox beneath his clothes and walked away like a thief.
He Yuzhu looked at the address written on his hand and silently repeated it several times until he had memorized it.
As the saying went, “A master leads you through the door; cultivation depends on the individual.” Now that he had a reason to pay her a visit, whether he could marry Lou Xiaoe would depend on his own abilities.
Just now, Third Uncle had contributed nearly 500 System Currency through shock, fright, and bargaining. Added to the previous total, it had already surpassed 2,000.
The prices of the items in the Exchange were basically equivalent to those in a 21st-century market, making the items relatively inexpensive.
If 2,000 yuan were used to buy pork, one could purchase nearly 200 jin. In 1961, showing up at someone’s door with 200 jin of pork would probably be enough to marry even one of the Four Great Beauties!
The only problem was that in those days, everything had to be supplied through ration coupons. Carrying too many goods would be impossible to explain.
He Yuzhu also returned to the Siheyuan, where he saw Widow Qin Huairu standing anxiously in the courtyard, clearly waiting for the lunchbox to arrive!
“Silly Zhu, you’re back.”
Qin Huairu walked over quickly, her eyes shifting somewhat uncertainly. It was obvious that she was trying to find some excuse to ask for the lunchbox.
After being rebuffed once in the morning and once in the evening yesterday, this beautiful widow had clearly lost her confidence whenever she saw He Yuzhu.
For the first time, she realized that the fool in her mind was actually so shrewd. His words and actions were logical and orderly, and he was absolutely not someone who could be manipulated at will.
Before she could say anything, He Yuzhu loudly said, “Call all three children out and have a good meal at my place.”
Qin Huairu could not help being stunned. In the past, the lunchbox had always been handed over to her, so why had the rules changed today?
There were not only three young children at home, but also her mother-in-law, Jia Zhangshi, watching those delicious foods.
If she failed to bring the lunchbox home, she had no idea how that mother-in-law would insult and mock her.
But in the brief moment she was distracted, He Yuzhu had already walked quickly back to his room.
At this point, Qin Huairu could only return home, call out her three children, and have them go to He Yuzhu’s home by themselves.
Two of the three children were girls named Xiaodang and Huaihua. They were only four years old this year, while her son Bang Geng was one or two years older.
After returning home, He Yuzhu lit the stove, poured the sliced meat, eggs, and remaining dishes from the lunchbox into a pot, added water, and cooked a pot of mixed food.
Being able to eat sliced meat and eggs in those days was something one would not trade even for a deity.
The three children had already pushed open the door and entered, squatting beside the stove while swallowing their saliva.
He Yuzhu understood that children this young were absolutely innocent. The reason the boy Bang Geng often stole things was entirely due to the widow’s family’s poor upbringing.
Once the food was cooked, the three children sat at the table, already ravenous. As soon as they saw the food brought over, they grabbed their spoons and tried to snatch it without a word.
“Smack, smack, smack!”
He Yuzhu was not polite either. The chopsticks in his hand accurately rapped the backs of all three children’s hands.
“Sit properly! No matter when it is, there must be rules and decorum, or people will laugh at you! And you, Bang Geng, take all the peanuts out of your pockets!”
The children were immediately dumbfounded. They had no idea what had happened to Uncle Silly Zhu today to make him so strict.
Especially with the widow Qin Huairu’s tacit approval, Bang Geng had been stealing things throughout the courtyard and had long since gotten used to it. Today, however, he had finally encountered someone tough.
“Taking something without telling anyone and calling it borrowing is stealing.” He Yuzhu said earnestly, “If you want to eat, you can ask Uncle. What kind of behavior is stealing?”
“If your hands and feet aren’t clean, people will laugh at you and look down on you. If you’re capable, earn money yourself, and you can eat peanuts just the same.”
Bang Geng was only six years old and had not yet started elementary school. Lowering his head, he asked, “Uncle He, I’m too young to earn money. When I grow up, I’ll definitely earn money and pay you back.”
“You can work and earn money now. Wash the bowls for me after you finish eating,” He Yuzhu said.
“I see children from the other courtyards collecting coal briquettes. You’re a little man too, so why can they do it while you can’t?”
“Bring your daily coal briquettes to Uncle. I guarantee that you and your two sisters will have peanuts to eat every day—and they won’t even have their shells on.”
Bang Geng’s eyes widened in surprise, and he said loudly, “It’s a deal, then. A promise is a promise!”
The three children wolfed down their meal. After Bang Geng washed the bowls, he left the house with a satisfied burp.
He Yuzhu was surprised to discover that Bang Geng had not contributed even the slightest amount of negative emotions.
It seemed that his education had been correct. Bang Geng was breaking free from his fixation on profit and embarking on the path of becoming wealthy through hard work.
He would rely on his own strength to reform the humanity of the whole bunch of people in this Siheyuan!