Chapter 71 Ruyan’s Past

The new year is coming to an end as the years go by.

Zhang Yunqi finally returned home after being away for more than half a year.

There is not much change in Aunt Zhang, except that her complexion is a little rosier than before. Her two younger sisters, Zhang Chunlan and Zhang Xiaoxiao, have grown taller and a little fatter, especially Zhang Xiaoxiao, who has two pigtails and a round, rosy face. She is very cute. She is completely different from the pale and skinny girl half a year ago. It seems that the family's food has been very good in the past six months.

The person who was happiest when Zhang Yunqi returned home was Zhang Xiaoxiao. She changed her usual naughty temper, brought a basin of hot water in front of Zhang Yunqi, and handed him a towel. She was very well-behaved.

After Zhang Yunqi washed his face and returned to the main room, Zhang Xiaoxiao lingered next to him and got intimate with him for a while. Seeing that Zhang Yunqi did not show any reaction, she ran to Zhang Yunqi's room and searched his handbag. After searching for a long time and finding nothing, she ran out again and got close to Zhang Yunqi, saying sweetly, "Second brother, did you bring me a gift when you came back from the city?"

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said no.

Zhang Xiaoxiao looked like a deflated balloon, with an unhappy expression on her face.

Chunlan, who was sitting next to him and eating melon seeds, said unhappily, "With the two points you got on the test, you have the nerve to ask for a gift? How many words did you write in your winter vacation homework?"

Zhang Xiaoxiao's young heart was devastated. She pouted her mouth and looked very aggrieved, which made Zhang Yunqi, who was peeling fried peanuts nearby, laugh.

There are five brothers and sisters in the Zhang family. The eldest and second brothers, Zhang Yunfeng and Zhang Qiulan, dropped out of school right after graduating from elementary school. But their grades were also very good when they were in school. As for him and the fourth brother, Chunlan, it goes without saying that when it comes to exams, they have almost no rivals in Fengyang County. It is a shame not to get first place. Only the youngest brother, Zhang Xiaoxiao, has terrible results.

Zhang Yunqi thought that they had the same father and mother, so the difference couldn't be that big. However, seeing the little girl about to burst into tears, he couldn't help but pull her over and wipe her face with a towel: "Don't cry, in a few days, your second brother will take you and Qiulan to the city to buy beautiful clothes, as well as milk candy and White Rabbit. Do you understand?"

"Second brother is the best, don't forget him." The little girl stopped crying immediately when she heard that there would be candy.

At this time, Zhang's mother came in from the kitchen carrying a pot of steaming hot pot. When she heard what Zhang Yunqi said, she said, "Why are you pampering her? She's another loser. Graduate from elementary school as soon as possible and go back home to raise pigs."

Zhang Yunqi almost spit out water.

The men in the Zhang family are all honest, loyal and hardworking, but the women in the Zhang family are more capable than the other. Except for the eldest sister Zhang Qiulan, the others are not easy to deal with.

Aunt Zhang made a pot of mutton hotpot tonight. The rich aroma that filled the main room made Zhang Yunqi smell the long-missed scent of home. He and his two sisters set the table and the family sat around the table to eat the steaming hotpot.

Zhang Yunqi filled a cup of homemade sorghum wine for his elder brother and himself. Now that he is studying away from home, he doesn't have many opportunities to drink with his family, so he has to learn to cherish it. Perhaps only older people understand that no matter how many friends you have, it is not as good as the time spent at home chatting with family and drinking wine.

Zhang Yunqi hadn't been home for a semester. During dinner, Zhang's mother and Zhang Yunfeng asked him a lot of questions about school. In addition to his academic performance, they also asked him about the sale of Tetris handheld game consoles. Zhang's mother and Zhang Yunfeng learned about this from Qiulan.

Zhang Yunqi did not hide anything from his mother and elder brother. No matter whether it was about his academic performance or the matter of the handheld video player, he told everything he knew, but he exaggerated the facts.

When Zhang's mother heard that he had stable grades and was among the best in the class, she did not say that he was not doing his job properly. Instead, she asked him how much money he made from his business. Zhang Yunqi then went back to the bedroom and took out three bundles of hundred-yuan bills and placed them on the table, shocking the whole family.

This is not for show. Zhang Yunqi wants to bring his family to live in Jiangchuan City next semester, so he must show some financial strength. In fact, buying a house is not a big deal, at most it is about 40,000 or 50,000 yuan, and he can afford it now. But the family has lived in Yunxi Village for generations, and it is not easy to move to the city suddenly.

In addition to economic issues, we also have to consider whether my mother will get used to living in the city, whether she is willing to leave Yunxi Village, what my eldest brother will do in the city, and the schooling of Chunlan and Xiaoxiao. In short, moving involves many aspects and is very complicated. It has to be done step by step and cannot be rushed.

When they were halfway through drinking, Zhang Yunqi suddenly said, "Mom, I want our family to go visit Dad in a few days. I've asked Uncle Ji to help greet them."

Zhang Ma paused with her chopsticks, Qiulan buried her head in the bowl and ate the rice vigorously. Only Zhang Xiaoxiao raised his head and said innocently and happily: "Let's go see Dad. When? Second brother, where is Dad now?"

No one answered Zhang Xiaoxiao's question. Zhang Yunfeng poured a glass of wine and said, "It's been a year. I don't know how Dad is doing in there. I should go check on him. Yunqi, the New Year is coming soon. Let's find a time to arrange it as soon as possible."

The topic was hastily concluded in a few words. No one in the family wanted to talk about it more, but they all wanted to go see their father.

The next day, Zhang Yunqi ran to the village committee and called the receptionist at Guiping County Prison. He had written down the number from the last time he visited the prison. He inquired about the specific date of the prison visiting reception day, because according to prison regulations, inmates can meet with their family members once a month.

On the way home from the village committee, the snow had not melted yet, and the vast wilderness was covered with ice for thousands of miles. Many children were chasing each other, playing and setting off firecrackers. In the distance, wisps of smoke were rising, filled with the smell of fireworks.

Near the threshing ground, Zhang Yunqi met a group of his junior high school classmates, all from Yunxi Village. A group of three people crossed the threshing ground and walked towards the village entrance.

The three of them saw Zhang Yunqi, waved and said hello, "Let's go to town to play, Zhang Yunqi, do you want to go?"

Zhang Yunqi said: "No, you guys just have fun."

The three turned and left. Zhang Yunqi silently watched their backs. Although he had not interacted with them much in this life, he was still familiar with each of them, including their temperaments, habits, preferences, and their development trends in the past 20 years since graduation. The one who impressed Zhang Yunqi the most was Li Rong who greeted him just now.

Li Rong was his classmate in junior high school. His family background was worse than his and his grades were not as good as his, but he chose Fengyang County No. 3 Middle School after graduating from junior high school and later was admitted to the Provincial Economics College.

When Li Rong was a senior in college, Zhang Yunqi had already started working. Li Rong would often go to see him. His pockmarked face was always filled with a bright smile, and he would always call him "Brother Yun". He did this just to get a free lunch.

When he just graduated, Li Rong had no money to rent a house, so he borrowed two hundred yuan from Zhang Yunqi, but he has not repaid the money to this day. However, later on, Li Rong joined a subordinate unit of the Finance Bureau, and did quite well by virtue of his ability to deal with people, willingness to give gifts, and ability to drink. Later, he went into real estate and made a lot of money.

15 years after graduation, 27 people from the junior high school class gathered in Jiangchuan City. Li Rong had transformed himself into a local tycoon. In front of a group of old classmates, he smacked his greasy sausage lips at the table and said, "I have hundreds of people asking for food every day. It's hard to feed them. I'm so worried about them. You tell me, it's hard to make money. I was planning to go public on the A-share market next year, but it seems that will be ruined again."

18 years later, Li Rong is even more arrogant. He would never leave the table when answering his phone at a class reunion. The keys of his Mercedes-Benz S600 are always placed in a conspicuous place on the table. He said that the air quality in China is too bad and he is considering immigrating. The 300-square-meter house he just bought is empty so he might as well keep a dog. After the party, he drove the class beauty back to the hotel for a friendly shot to reminisce their school friendship.

20 years later, Li Rong built a villa in Yunxi Village with great fanfare, encroaching on the homestead of Zhang Yunqi's family. The two parents quarreled fiercely. Li Rong rushed back from the capital and threw a row of bundles of banknotes in front of Zhang Yunqi, saying, "We are old classmates, be straightforward. I want to reserve the land, and you take the money!"

All these past events flashed through Zhang Yunqi's mind. He smiled as he watched the three people walking away. Thinking about the adjustments and reversals in the relationships between these people over the past 3 years, he once again clearly realized that only by finding ways to make money and exhausting every effort to make money and make himself rich and powerful can he prevent the smug villains from showing off in front of him and trample those arrogant people under his feet and crush them to death!
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(End of this chapter)