Sun Ling scoffed, "What those things are, is far less than what my dad gave your family."
Jiang Yuwei sat up, looking at her in astonishment. "Sun Ling, you?"
"What do you mean? We used to be good sisters. Can't you do this little thing for me? Now my dad needs money for medical treatment. If you don't give it to me, I'll have to file a formal complaint. It'll be a case of mutual destruction."
Jiang Yuwei's expression was very grim. She stared at Sun Ling for a long time, then pulled open the bedside drawer, took out over a dozen "Da Tuanjie" bills, and threw them at Sun Ling. "Can you leave now?"
Sun Ling shrugged it off, picking up the money. As she was leaving, she seemed to remember something and turned back. "Oh, right, about the job. I'll give you half a month at most. If you can't arrange it for me, you'll have to deal with it yourself."
Jiang Yuwei returned to class a week later. She had lost a lot of weight, and her brows were furrowed as if she was troubled by something.
Chen Lishu guessed her words had had an effect. "Are you worrying about how to arrange Sun Ling's job?"
Upon hearing the voice, Jiang Yuwei suddenly looked up, staring at Chen Lishu for a long time without speaking.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Chen Lishu sneered. "Did I guess wrong?"
"Jiang Yuwei, I really didn't expect you to be this kind of person. Before, I thought you came from a good family, studied well, and apart from being a bit pretentious and aloof towards others, you were actually quite admirable."
Zhang Xue chimed in, "But ever since you schemed against our Lishu, I've suddenly realized that your character isn't really that great. When you look closely, you're just so-so. Even the best clothes can't hide your ugly inner self. What's the point of blocking our Lishu? You didn't get to go either, how pathetic!"
Jiang Yuwei's face flushed and paled. She bit her lip tightly, remaining silent.
Chen Lishu patted Zhang Xue's arm in comfort and then turned to Jiang Yuwei. "You don't need to worry about arranging a job for Sun Ling."
"What do you mean?" Jiang Yuwei asked, looking at her with a faint voice.
"As long as Sun Ling has a job, I will pursue it to the end. Then, pulling out the radish will bring up the mud. You wouldn't want to see the consequences."
"You!" Jiang Yuwei could no longer maintain her facade of calm. She looked at Chen Lishu with anger. "What do you want?"
"Nothing much. I'm just in a bad mood because I couldn't go abroad, so I'm finding something to do," Chen Lishu replied expressionlessly.
"Pfft." Seeing Jiang Yuwei's expression of suppressed anger, Zhang Xue couldn't help but chuckle. "Lishu, you're amazing."
In the afternoon, after finishing her spoken English class for the mathematics department, Chen Lishu was packing up to go home when she saw Chen Yinchu standing by the door. She quickly finished packing and walked over.
"Your teaching is becoming more and more impressive." Chen Yinchu had been standing outside for a while and was very pleased with Chen Lishu's performance.
"Teacher, do you need something?"
"It's not me. Your teacher's wife heard about what happened to you and specifically asked me to invite you to our home for dinner. She wants to help you recover from the shock."
Due to the lack of concrete evidence and the fear of negatively impacting the school, the incident was not widely publicized. Everyone only knew that Chen Lishu had encountered a minor accident before her exam.
Chen Lishu smiled. "It just so happens that I haven't seen Teacher's wife in a while."
Chen Lishu and Chen Yinchu arrived at the faculty housing together. As soon as they entered the house, they saw someone talking to Han Xiuyun.
"Uncle Chen?"
Chen Guoping turned his head. Seeing Chen Lishu enter, his face broke into a smile. It had been a long time since they last met after the last trade fair.
Chen Yinchu smiled. "Guoping, why are you free to come over today?"
Chen Guoping replied, "I wanted to eat the hand-pulled noodles my aunt makes. I came over for a moment of leisure."
Chen Lishu's gaze fell on Chen Guoping. She noticed that after a year, he appeared much more haggard, with several strands of silver hair mixed in with his black hair.
"Lishu, you don't know, but my hand-pulled noodles are absolutely superb. I guarantee you'll want a second bowl after finishing the first."
Chen Lishu smiled. "Then I must taste Teacher's wife's cooking."
"I've already prepared the dough. You all talk first, and we'll eat in a moment." Seeing Chen Lishu get up to help, Han Xiuyun immediately pressed her down. "Lishu, sit down. There isn't much work, and I can manage myself. Your coming over would just be in my way."
The children were far away. It was rare for a junior to come and liven things up, so Han Xiuyun was delighted and walked even faster than usual.
"If you all came more often, she'd be happy to work every day," Chen Yinchu said with a smile, watching his wife's retreating figure.
"By the way, Guoping, what have you been busy with lately? Didn't you mention planning a vegetable market or something last time? Have you made any progress?"
Vegetable market?
Hearing Chen Yinchu's words, Chen Lishu's mind stirred. In her past life, it seemed that it was around these two years that a vegetable market was built on the commercial street, named Hongqi Vegetable Market.
The establishment of the vegetable market brought great convenience to the citizens. It not only sold vegetables but also various snacks. Later, the upstairs became a large wholesale market, and she had gone in to buy things a few times. It was very prosperous and lively inside.
To think that the person who proposed the planning and construction was sitting next to her, Chen Lishu found it truly magical.
Mentioning this matter, Chen Guoping seemed quite troubled. "It's not going too smoothly."
Currently, there were too many itinerant vendors on the streets. For the sake of city appearance and unified management, after considering various factors, the province finally decided to build the vegetable market behind the commercial street.
The commercial street was located in the city center and was a hundred-year-old street, making its location very suitable due to convenient transportation and high customer traffic.
However, there was also a difficulty.
Planning and construction required land acquisition, which meant relocating existing residents. Most residents agreed with the compensation, but there were always exceptions. The commercial street was a prosperous area, and anyone with a bit of sense would have ulterior motives, refusing to sign.
Many people had been sent to negotiate, but the matter remained unresolved.
Chen Yinchu asked, "Is it about wanting more money or something else?"
"Besides money, there's also the issue of resettlement housing. This is handled according to the household registration book. Some families have already moved their households but still want to get two more units."
After all, housing difficulties were prevalent, and it was common for a family of over ten people to be squeezed into a twenty or thirty square meter room. Even with money, it might not be possible to buy a house.
With the sudden relocation, those who hadn't moved their households were naturally happy, but those who had split their families and moved their households would be unfortunate. How could they be reconciled?
However, there were probably also those who wanted to take the opportunity to extort money, as every era had its "nail houses."
After listening to Chen Guoping's explanation, Chen Lishu pondered for a moment and then said, "Uncle Chen, I think this matter can still be negotiated if you all take the lead."
"Isn't that so?" Chen Guoping sighed. "There's still a lot to negotiate. Look at my hair, in just these two months, several white hairs have appeared."