Chapter 202 Bitterness
Things are unpredictable and life is colorful.

Li Yufei guessed what would happen today, but she didn't expect it to be like this.

There were things she felt sorry for.

It was originally planned to invite everyone to the birthday party, but it was cancelled due to some changes in the Longjingyuan Canning Factory. The suppliers were making trouble every day, and my father was exhausted and busy, but he couldn't get the understanding and support of the canning factory employees. Sometimes, she felt heartbroken and didn't have the heart to celebrate her birthday. It was just that such a reversal of promise made her feel very sorry for these good friends.

Now, I feel even more sorry.

Seeing Xiao Xuemei coming over with the cake in her hands, everyone gathered around and shouted "Happy 16th Birthday".

At that moment, she felt sad and moved.

This is what life is like. When you are happy, a cup of bitter water is poured into your heart. When you are sad, a handful of sugar is sprinkled on it. Various flavors come one after another.

This emotion did not last long. The classmates were too enthusiastic. Li Yufei did not want to ruin the atmosphere, so she smiled and held the flowers and prayed silently in front of the cake. The moment she opened her eyes, everyone started to cheer, gave her birthday presents, and asked her to cut the cake. She also saw Zhang Yunqi standing far away on the edge of the crowd.

He smiled and nodded at her.

At that moment, she felt inexplicably uncomfortable in her heart, and kept thinking about the words she had just said to him. Was it too much, too emotional, and did it create a gap in his heart.

After cutting the cake, everyone played for a while. Seeing that it was getting late, Xiao Xuemei asked the students to leave the roller skating rink and go eat.

The dining place is a bit far away, so you have to take a bus, No. 28.

There were already many people on the bus, and there were too many seats. The boys were all standing, and some girls were sitting. Yu Qingqing and Xiao Xuemei were sitting in the last row of the bus. As soon as they sat down, Yu Qingqing asked curiously in a low voice while eating cream cake: "By the way, Xuemei, why are there only our group of people on the roller skating rink today? This roller skating rink is doing very well. I remember it was packed last time I came here."

Xiao Xuemei smiled and said, "We have reserved the whole place."

Yu Qingqing was a little surprised: "How much will it cost?"

Xiao Xuemei said: "Three to five hundred is a minimum."

Hearing this, Yu Qingqing forgot to chew the cake in her mouth.

The cost of Li Yufei's birthday celebration will be shared equally. Such a large amount of money will be a considerable sum if it is divided among each person. Yu Qingqing felt unhappy for no reason. She and Li Yufei were good friends and agreed that everyone should share the birthday expenses, but that didn't mean she was willing to spend such a large sum of money!
Yu Qingqing felt uncomfortable, but she didn't want to lose face and appear snobbish, so she forced a smile and asked, "Xuemei, do others agree to book the whole place?"

Xiao Xuemei more or less saw through Yu Qingqing's thoughts. She took her hand, smiled, and whispered, "Someone has already paid for the cake, flowers, and the roller skating rink. From what I understand, the person who paid for it won't care about this little money."

Yu Qingqing was surprised: "Who sent it?"

Xiao Xuemei pointed her mouth in the direction of Zhang Yunqi.

"Zhang Yunqi?"

"Keep your voice down!"

"This is a big loss! Tsk tsk, Xuemei, tell me, Zhang Yunqi doesn't really have feelings for our Yufei, does he? Recently, the story about them has been spread all over the class, saying that they knew each other before they even started high school and had a very good relationship."

Xiao Xuemei put her hands on the armchair: "I only know that they knew each other when they were not in the same class in the first year of high school, and they had a pretty good relationship. Oh, by the way, do you still remember Gao Ming?"

Yu Qingqing became interested: "How could I not know him? He was a very popular figure in the whole grade during the first year of high school. He was very handsome, but he seemed to have suddenly dropped out of school."

Xiao Xuemei leaned close to Yu Qingqing's ear and said: "Zhang Yunqi once competed with Gao Ming for Yufei!" "Tsk tsk, I didn't believe it before. It seems that there is no smoke without fire. But Yufei is such a proud person, and there are so many outstanding boys chasing her in school. Does she really like Zhang Yunqi? Besides, isn't Zhang Yunqi's family rich? He just opened a fish meal shop next to the school. How could he have the ability to compete with Gao Ming?" As Yu Qingqing spoke, she continued to eat the cream cake. It tasted even better than the previous one.

Xiao Xuemei shook her head: "I don't know about that, but I think Zhang Yunqi is a pretty good guy, much more mature and graceful than the boys in the class."

"Squeak..." sound!
At this moment, the bus suddenly braked and stopped on the road.

Xiao Xuemei looked ahead and saw that the road was full of vehicles.

The passengers in the car were all a little confused. They looked forward and talked. The bus driver, who was in his forties, rolled down the window and chatted with the owner of the car next to him. Then he turned his head back and said to the passengers in the car, "The road ahead is blocked. I don't think we can get through it for a while..."

"Why is there a traffic jam in the middle of the day?" Zhang Yunqi, who was standing not far from the driver, handed the driver a cigarette, feeling a little strange. Jiangchuan City is just a small city in the south. In that era, the main means of transportation for ordinary people was bicycles. Traffic jams were usually during the rush hour after get off work. Traffic jams in the middle of the day rarely occurred.

The driver lit up a cigarette, took a puff, and said with a smile, "I wonder which factory's laid-off workers are causing trouble again. A wall of people is blocking the road not far ahead, and no car can get through."

These words made Zhang Yunqi understand what was going on.

In fact, from the word "again", he can also feel how common and numb people were to laid-off workers blocking the streets and doors in that absurd era. However, there was nothing they could do. After all, there were too many "blocking doors" and "taking to the streets" due to layoffs in the 1990s. The streets were often occupied by a group of old men and women, each sitting in a row on a small bench to block the road and bask in the sun. They were all elderly people at home, and young people didn't dare to go! Just like what was said in "Pink Street": "Don't go, you are young, they will deal with you!"

Zhang Yunqi and his group got off the bus and walked obediently.

It was impossible to take a car on this stretch of road, and everyone wanted to go to the intersection ahead to see what was going on. Young people, like to watch the excitement, were not afraid of trouble, and were all very curious.

As we made our way through the crowd, vehicles turned around one after another.

When they reached the corner of the intersection, more and more people gathered in front, watching the excitement on the sidewalk. After Zhang Yunqi and his group squeezed through the crowded crowd, they saw thirty or forty people blocking the middle of the road. They linked arms to form a dense human wall. There were also some old men and women sitting in the middle of the road with small stools, blocking the entire road.

In the crowded crowd, Zhang Yunqi was somewhat surprised to see Ma Lin, the love rival of his elder brother Zhang Yunfeng. He heard Chunlan talking a few days ago that Ma Lin seemed to be very aggressive in courting Zhang Xiaonan recently, but he didn't know the details. As an outsider, he had no say in emotional matters, but he hoped that his elder brother could make the final decision.

Ma Lin is a traffic policeman in the city, and it is normal for him to be here. He and more than ten traffic policemen stood on the roadside to maintain order, but it seemed that they were a little helpless in this situation. In fact, let alone him, I am afraid that if there is no heavyweight leader to come forward today, this matter will not be easy to settle. Among the group of people who blocked the street and made trouble, Zhang Yunqi recognized them at a glance. They were all employees of the Longjingyuan Canning Factory, probably the group of people who were so poor that they could not even afford to eat.

During this period of time, the road became more and more congested, and more and more pedestrians gathered to watch the excitement. The employees of the cannery were all shouting slogans loudly.

"Resume production and protect our family and factory!"

"We won't lay off workers, and we'll return their hard-earned money!"

Zhang Yunqi's classmates had come to join in the fun, but they didn't expect it to be like this. Although they were not very old, they could tell what was going on. Even the usually carefree Yu Qingqing immediately thought of Li Yufei. She was a little surprised and said, "These people are from the Longjingyuan Canning Factory. Aren't they the workers from Yufei's father's factory who are blocking the street to cause trouble?"

Everyone looked at each other and no one responded.

Xiao Xuemei frowned, thinking that Yu Qingqing's words were brainless.

Zhang Yunqi glanced at Li Yufei, and her expression was okay. But at this moment, a van rushed over from the small road on the west. Before the car stopped, a middle-aged man opened the door and jumped out, and almost fell because of the inertia of the car.

Seeing this, Li Yufei nervously took two steps forward and shouted, "Dad!"

******
Thank you everyone for your rewards and support!

I will work hard!
(End of this chapter)