Yuan Ni stared intently at the bicycle, calculating anxiously whether she could use leverage to topple the thing over.
But the gap in strength between them was too great. If she acted rashly, she might not stop him and could end up getting hurt herself…
Just at this critical moment, someone suddenly rushed out from behind Yuan Ni, steadily shielding her, and grabbed hold of the bicycle’s handlebars.
The person was tall and lean, powerfully built, with handsome, striking features—standing there like a mountain.
“Comrade Gu…” Yuan Ni was overjoyed. Gu Chao had arrived just in time; one more step late and everything would have been ruined.
Gu Chao’s brows were tightly furrowed. With a single forceful motion, he flung the bicycle aside.
Beside the road was a ditch filled with mud.
Zhao Fuqiang was dragged into the ditch, splattering mud and water across his face. “What’s wrong with you? Why did you block my bicycle?”
“You know you’re riding a bicycle, do you? I thought you were piloting a plane. If I hadn’t stopped you, you would have smashed all her eggs.” Gu Chao clapped his hands together, then turned to look at Yuan Ni to check if she was hurt.
Seeing that Yuan Ni was unharmed, Gu Chao naturally rolled up his sleeves and steadily pushed the handcart up the slope.
Yuan Ni’s Mother’s tears nearly fell. “Comrade Gu, we’re so embarrassed—how could we let you do this work?”
“I know all about your family’s situation. If you have any difficulties, you can ask the team members for help, or come find me at the Gongshe.” Gu Chao was very courteous.
Zhao Fuqiang finally crawled up from the ditch. “You’re a cadre, so you think you’re so great? What right do you have to bully ordinary folks? I’m going to report you!”
Yuan Ni charged forward and shoved Zhao Fuqiang back into the ditch. “Go report me then…”
Zhao Fuqiang had already scraped his leg earlier. After going into the ditch a second time, he seemed to have broken a bone, and was howling in pain. “Help! Pull me up, quick!”
Yuan Ni had no intention of paying him any mind. She pulled her mother along and left. “Ignore him.”
Let Zhao Fuqiang rot in that ditch. If they pulled him out, he’d be running all over town filing complaints.
Comrade Gu pushed his own bicycle and walked alongside Yuan Ni and her mother. “Why do you have so many eggs on your cart?”
The mother felt a bit nervous. The other party was a cadre—would he accuse them of profiteering?
But Yuan Ni was bold. She smiled and explained her plan. “There’s no other way. Otherwise, we won’t have money to build a house.”
Gu Chao understood. He cast an appreciative glance at Yuan Ni, thinking this young woman had remarkably clever ideas.
“Where are these eggs headed? Were you planning to take them to the Gongxiaoshe?”
“The Gongxiaoshe can’t take this many. I was just worrying about that.”
“Then take them to the Gongshe. The Gongshe cafeteria also needs eggs. I’ll have a word with them, and they’ll accept yours.”
“That would be absolutely wonderful.”
With this batch of eggs accepted, Yuan Ni had originally planned to find a factory to sell them to. Unexpectedly, she’d run into Gu Chao, who had done her a huge favor.
Yuan Ni’s Mother followed awkwardly behind. She wanted to say words of thanks, but nothing felt quite right to say. She could only watch her daughter chatting and laughing with Gu Chao.
After accompanying the mother and daughter to the main road, Gu Chao checked his watch. “Then it’s settled. Tomorrow morning, bring the eggs to the Gongshe and go straight to Master Sun in the cafeteria. I still have matters to attend to, so I’ll be on my way.”
Watching Gu Chao’s retreating figure, Yuan Ni’s Mother was full of gratitude. “He really is a truly good person.”
Back home, mother and daughter recounted the day’s events. “If it weren’t for Comrade Gu, all my cartload of eggs would have been smashed by that Zhao family.”
Maternal Grandfather frowned deeply. “What does the Zhao family mean by this? Do they not want to be relatives anymore?”
“I’ll go ask them myself.” Eldest Uncle waved his hand, calling his two eldest sons to prepare to bang on the Zhao family’s door and have a proper talk with them.
“Wait,” Grandmother stopped Eldest Uncle. “What can just the three of you do? Bring more people.”
Eldest Uncle rubbed the back of his head. “Mother, we’re going to talk sense with them, not fight.”
“Even when talking sense, you need numbers. Bringing more brothers along can’t hurt.” Grandmother said with a serious face.
“Fine then, we’ll all go.”
With Grandmother’s word, the Chen brothers all set out together to reason with the Zhao family.
The Zhao family lived close to the Chens. In less than half an hour, Eldest Uncle led the brothers back.
“Mother, we’ve already spoken to the Zhao family. They’ve promised they won’t collect eggs anymore, and they definitely won’t make things hard for Guiying… What are we having for dinner?” Eldest Uncle smiled with a simple, honest look.
Zhao Fuhua was the eldest, with one younger brother and one younger sister below her—nowhere near enough people to match the Chens.
As for the process of reasoning, Eldest Uncle Chen didn’t elaborate.
He deeply admired his mother. No wonder she said even reasoning required numbers.
Seeing so many people show up at their door, Zhao Fuqiang was scared stiff and admitted his mistake on the spot. That’s what they call winning people over with reason.
Grandmother brought out a big basin of scrambled eggs. “Tonight we’re having egg wraps. I scrambled thirty eggs—eat as much as you like.”
The Chen brothers cheered, and even the sisters-in-law wore smiles all over their faces.
It was great having Yuan Ni’s family back—they’d been eating well for several days straight now, all thanks to the mother and daughter.
Early the next morning, Yuan Ni followed her mother to the Gongshe to deliver eggs.
Following Gu Chao’s advice, she went straight to Master Sun in the cafeteria. He didn’t make things difficult at all and accepted the eggs without hesitation.
Then he counted them on the spot and calculated the payment.
What made Yuan Ni and her mother happy was that the cafeteria’s purchase price was nine fen per egg—one fen more than the Gongxiaoshe offered.
“This is the price. When the Gongxiaoshe buys your eggs, they resell them at roughly nine fen each,” Master Sun said with a chuckle. “By the way, how did you two come to know Comrade Gu?”
Yuan Ni’s mother slapped her thigh and was about to tell the truth, but Yuan Ni stopped her. “We just met that way. Oh, where do we go to collect the money?”
Master Sun didn’t manage to pry anything out, but he wasn’t upset. Still smiling, he led them to the accounting office and watched the accountant hand over the cash before leaving.
If she guessed right, Gu Chao wasn’t an ordinary person.
Yuan Ni didn’t want to flaunt her backing, but since the backing was coming to her on its own, she might as well lean on it.
Some things were best left to others’ imagination.
This time, selling the eggs earned them over eighty yuan.
Yuan Ni hid all the money inside her pillowcase. Once she sold the eggs at the Gongxiaoshe, she planned to open a passbook at the savings office and deposit the money.
Yuan Ni’s mother muttered, “Money is safest in your own hands. How can you hand it over to a savings office? If you ask me, give the money to me and I’ll keep it safe for you…”
Yuan Ni blew out the oil lamp in one breath. “Time to sleep.”
Over the next few days, Yuan Ni and her mother worked from dawn till dusk and gathered another fifteen hundred eggs.
The day arrived in the blink of an eye. As agreed, Yuan Ni delivered the goods to the Gongxiaoshe.
When Yuan Ni arrived, Chen Wenqi was waiting at the door. Unlike before, her expression was grim. “Yuan Ni, something unexpected has come up…”