Chapter 125 Time is running out
Ever since Xiao Wu beat someone up, Zhang Yunqi has not been sleeping well at night.

I always suffer from insomnia and often have dreams.

Most of the time, I dreamed of my father in prison. Sometimes I would wake up from the dream in the middle of the night. He would sit at the head of the bed and stare out the window for a while, then get up and go to the desk, holding a black notebook and making corrections on it.

If there was something in this life that bothered him and he could never let it go, and it felt like a huge rock pressing on his heart whenever he thought about it, it must be the fact that his foolish behavior in his previous life had caused his father to be thrown into prison.

He still vividly remembers the scene when the family went to Guiping County Prison to visit his father at the beginning of this year. He can also still hear the fifth child Zhang Xiaoxiao crying and shouting, "Dad, come home with me". But Zhang Yunqi doesn't want to let himself fall into self-blame and discomfort, which is a manifestation of incompetence. What he wants to do is to get his father out of prison early.

However, given the current situation, it would be difficult to get his father a reduction in sentence or parole according to normal procedures, because labor performance is evaluated once a quarter, and his father has only been rated for two labor performances now, but three labor performances are required to be eligible to apply to the superiors for a reduction in sentence or parole.

The most difficult thing is that after the application, it still needs to go through layers of approval procedures. Even if my father has excellent performance, the sentence reduction procedure will take at least a year to complete. By that time, it will be too late and my father will have been released from prison.

Of course, if he is powerful enough and has extensive connections and resources in the officialdom of Jiangchuan City, he could do some shady operations to get his father released on parole, but this would be detrimental to his future prospects. More importantly, Ji Zhong, the only person he has a say in the entire Jiangchuan officialdom, has no reason to cooperate with him in this matter.

Zhang Yunqi had thought all these things through a long time ago. He knew that he had only one way to go, which was to help his father make a significant contribution. However, he was also clearly aware that this path was not safe but dangerous. There were many small details that needed to be perfected, and the timing of each step had to be precisely controlled to run perfectly like a precision machine. Even if a screw was loose, it could put himself and his father in trouble.

In fact, Zhang Yunqi had never thought that Xiao Wu would be chased by the police for beating someone. It was too sudden. But considering Xiao Wu's personality, if you think about it carefully, it was also unexpected but reasonable.

Of course, the most important thing for him is that after repeated consideration and thinking, he found that this unexpected violent conflict could become the most important screw in his entire plan.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yunqi reached out and flipped through the calendar. Looking at the date on it, he knew that he didn't have much time left to push forward this plan.

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time flies.

In the blink of an eye, it is Friday of this week.

Chunlan took a day off that day and took a bus from Longwan Town to the city early in the morning. She did not go to her own home because she did not know the way there, so she went directly to her elder sister Zhang Qiulan's home.

Zhang Qiulan took Chunlan to Zhangji Qifengdu Fish Meal Shop to help out. They were going to set up a few tables of wine at home tonight to bring good luck to the move to a new home and the opening of the fish meal shop. However, the fish meal shop had to operate normally until the afternoon today. Aunt Zhang and eldest brother had to prepare several tables of wine and food while entertaining the guests, so they definitely couldn't take care of it.

On the day when Zhangji Qifengdu Fish Meal Shop opened, Zhang Qiulan and her husband Niu Fen came once and set off a string of 5,000 firecrackers, but it was Chunlan's first time. On the way to the fish meal shop after getting off the bus, she asked Zhang Qiulan with some concern: "Sister, how is the noodle shop business at home? My mother and brother have never done this kind of business. Can it make money?"

Zhang Qiulan pointed to the gate of the No. 1 Middle School not far away and said with a smile: "Silly girl, you should focus on that. Like your second brother, let the No. 1 Middle School leaders invite you in with great fanfare this September. As for making money, don't worry about it. With our family's current financial situation, you can earn enough to study for ten postdoctoral degrees."

Chunlan smiled and nodded, saying, "Sister, I will work hard." The two sisters chatted and laughed as they came to the door of their family's fish meal shop. It was already past noon. Chunlan looked at the students coming in and out of the high-end fish meal shop in groups of three or four, and felt quite surprised and astonished.

She was greatly surprised that the business of her own fish meal shop was so good, but what made her sad was that in this season of late spring cold, the weather was still a bit chilly, but her mother and eldest brother were busy sweating profusely, especially her eldest brother who was making noodles by the stove. He had a towel hanging on his shoulder and wiped the sweat oozing from his forehead from time to time.

Zhang Chunlan immediately walked into the noodle shop, said a few words to her mother and elder brother, then took a rag and started wiping the table and putting away the dishes. For a farmer's child like her who had suffered hardships since childhood, such chores were not something she would shy away from at all.

Zhang Qiulan stood at the door greeting customers coming in and out, and sometimes helped her mother collect money and serve meals. When the number of customers gradually decreased, she pulled Zhang's mother to tell her what her brother Yunqi had told her: "Business is so good, we have to hire a waiter."

Aunt Zhang was stunned for a moment, then waved her hands and said, "There's no need for that. The business has just started, and hiring people is a waste of money. Although I'm a little busy now, I can handle it."

Zhang Qiulan persuaded her with emotion and reason, saying, "Mom, whether you can do it or not is one thing, but you are not in good health. If you get sick, it will not be worth it. Besides, if you hire a waiter, you can take care of the business, and the service to customers will be more meticulous and thoughtful. If the customers are satisfied, they will come here often. Besides, it doesn't cost much to hire someone, and selling a few more bowls of fish meal every day will be enough to cover the salary."

After hearing her daughter's analysis, Zhang's mother thought it made sense, but she still had some concerns: "But it's not easy to hire this person. Some young girls in the city are too delicate. I'm afraid I can't support them. Hey! How about asking my mother-in-law to help?"

Zhang Qiulan was happy. She wanted to get her mother-in-law to work in the fish meal shop. She didn't have much to do at home anyway, and working in the fish meal shop would bring her some income. Besides, they were a family, and her mother could feel at ease employing her. Unfortunately, this job had already been assigned to the mute Jiang Feng by her younger brother Yunqi.

Zhang Qiulan said: "My mother-in-law is not suitable. She is too busy with family affairs. But I have another suitable person here. Her name is Jiang Feng. She is from the city and is five years younger than you. She used to work with me in the handheld game console business for a few months. She is very down-to-earth and hardworking..."

Before Zhang Qiulan finished her words, Aunt Zhang said, "Okay, okay, this one is fine. She's only a little younger than me, and she's worked with you before, so she should be able to endure hardships and be easy to be ordered around. But how should we offer her a salary?"

Zhang Qiulan had already thought about the salary issue. She still planned to pay Jiang Feng 300 yuan per month according to the previous standard. However, the salary at the fishmeal shop could only be 100 yuan per month. The additional 200 yuan was nominally a subsidy from her former boss, but in fact, it was paid by her younger brother Yunqi.

Zhang Qiulan did not ask her brother Zhang Yunqi about this matter, but she knew her brother's personality and work style, and he would definitely agree with this plan. However, she had another troublesome matter to explain to her mother: "The salary does not need to be too high, one hundred a month is enough. But, mom, this Jiang Feng is really a good person, hardworking and capable, but she can't speak, she is a mute."

"Mute?"

Zhang Ma was stunned for a moment, and immediately shook her head like a rattle: "That won't work, that won't work. A mute won't work. It will be too troublesome to communicate."

Zhang Qiulan knew her mother's reaction would be like this, so she said with a wry smile: "Mom, don't rush to refuse. You may not know that Jiang Feng has a daughter who is in the same class as Yunqi. I think Yunqi may have a crush on her daughter. Oh... By the way, her daughter's name is Chu Jian."

Aunt Zhang exclaimed, "First time meeting you?"

(End of this chapter)