This time, more than a dozen coal bosses were arrested on Jindong Road, all charged with bribery.
Of course, the coal bosses would certainly try to pull strings and bribe their way out of jail.
As for whether Yan Xishan had ever given money to Hu Xiaomei, no one knew.
But in the end, he managed to secretly stuff 100,000 yuan and the keys to a Xiali car into Chen Meilan's mattress when no one was looking.
It wasn't that Yan Xishan had suddenly developed a conscience and wanted to leave some money for Chen Meilan, or that he still wanted to bribe Yan Zhao. Rather, it was because he had no son yet, only a daughter named Zhaodi.
If he really ended up being sentenced to prison, Yan Xishan had been involved in fights and killings before. He had several mortal enemies in Xiping Prison, and with his scrawny build, he'd be beaten to death within three days of entering.
This 100,000 yuan was for his funeral expenses.
Although he was still young and would surely have other children in the future, he had a clear-eyed view of the world. He knew that if he died, everyone who had ever drunk with him, called him brother, or who now addressed him as such, would spit on him without exception. They would all say he got what he deserved.
The only one willing to prepare his body, wear mourning clothes, and bury him would be Zhaodi!
His Zhaodi, who even after being kicked to the ground, was still crying and asking: "Daddy, what did I do wrong? I'll change, please don't be angry, okay?"
...
The children loved eating the cold noodles seasoned with vinegar. Having just worked up a sweat jumping on the mattress, they now held bowls of the cool, sour noodles, slurping them up like three little piglets.
Yan Zhao had finished setting up the bed but didn't come out to eat for a long time.
Could it be that he was really upset because she didn't put vinegar in his food?
Chen Meilan went into the room to call him. What met her eyes was a headboard so bright it could burn one's retinas - death Barbie pink, and it even had a glossy sheen.
This bed was definitely chosen by Yan Zhao. The color was eye-searingly bright.
Yet Yan Zhao still asked, "You like the color of the headboard, right?"
As if she could like it. Chen Meilan was afraid she'd have nightmares if she looked at it for too long.
"I like it. It's beautiful," she said. At least he had carried the bed in and set it up.
This color... she'd find someone to repaint it tomorrow. A pink bed, pink bedside tables - she felt like she needed to lean on the wall to leave the room.
"The money. It's from Yan Xishan," Yan Zhao said, handing Chen Meilan an alligator skin wallet. It was the one Yan Xishan had tried to give her earlier.
He had stuffed it into the mattress, and Yan Zhao only saw it when setting up the bed.
Then Yan Zhao gave her a 100 yuan bill: "Your money. I got it back for you."
Although she didn't know the specifics, in her past life Chen Meilan had been the wife of two unscrupulous businessmen. Yan Zhao had taken 100 yuan out the night before last.
She guessed that, given his ruthlessness, he must have set up some kind of sting operation. How else could he have brought down Yan Xishan?
And now, he wanted her to accept Yan Xishan's money. How could that be possible? She wouldn't take Yan Xishan's dirty money.
If she took it, Yan Zhao would suspect that she was also a person with skewed values.
"Throw it out. I won't take Yan Xishan's dirty money," she said, only taking the 100 yuan.
"Keep it for him. He'll need it when he gets out of jail in a while," Yan Zhao said when he saw Chen Meilan wouldn't take it. He put it on the mattress and left the room.
In her past life, when Yan Xishan went to jail, Hu Xiaomei didn't save him. Instead, she came to Chen Meilan to borrow money, wanting her to pay to get him out.
Yan Xishan later made a comeback, but of course Hu Xiaomei didn't stay with him. She had a son, divorced Yan Xishan, and ended up owning eight relocation houses in Yanguan Village, becoming a well-known and profitable exemplary teacher.
Actually, it would be right for Chen Meilan to keep this 100,000 yuan. After all, when Yan Xishan got out of prison, things would be very different for him.
She could keep it for now and give it to him when he was released.
As the family ate, Ningning peeked in from outside and timidly entered, asking Yuanyuan, "Yuanyuan, can I see your family's mattress?"
Yuanyuan stopped eating immediately: "Of course."
Ningning looked at the headboard, saw it was pink, and exclaimed, "Wow, it's so pretty!"
"Isn't it? It's beautiful," Chen Meilan said. Death Barbie pink, little girls' favorite.
"But Yuanyuan, my house will have tiles, yours doesn't," Ningning added.
This little girl loved to compare, after all, her family had always been the top household in Yanguan Village.
Chen Meilan smiled, "We'll have tiles too. I'll make our house even prettier than yours."
Yuanyuan immediately held Little Lang's hand and nodded together: "Our house will be prettier than yours."
Since they were going to call her older brother to do the construction work, they might as well renovate the whole place. After all, the children would be attending Dongfang School for at least five years, so Chen Meilan wouldn't move during that time. Even if she invested in buying a house in the future, she absolutely wouldn't move frequently.
In her past life with Lu Jingyu, they initially did renovations, living wherever they had work. Like vagabonds, they had lived in other people's unfinished houses, in open-air spaces, and in malls without windows installed. No matter where they went, whenever they moved, Lu Jingyu was busy, Dabao was fat and lazy, Erniu would hide at the first sign of work, so it was always Chen Meilan and Yuanyuan who moved the pots, pans, bedding, and everything else.
It wasn't until later when Lu Jingyu had some money and rented a small room in an urban village where the whole family squeezed in together that they stopped moving. This indirectly led to Chen Meilan's dislike of moving.
Those repeated moves had broken her heart.
"But my mom says Uncle Yan doesn't make as much money as my dad," Ningning said with a smile. "Tiles are very expensive, you know."
Chen Meilan was determined to argue with this little girl today: "But I can earn money, and I'll earn lots and lots of it."
Ningning looked disbelieving: "Auntie, you don't even know how to play the piano. How will you make money?"
Yan Zhao frowned slightly and asked Chen Meilan, "How much does it cost to tile an entire house?"
Tiles hadn't fully entered the home decoration market yet. There were some available, but they were all solid marble, and the price would probably shock Yan Zhao to death if she said it, so Chen Meilan didn't.
"It's not expensive. My brother is coming to the city for a small project soon. I'll have him help us tile while he's here," Chen Meilan said.
The small project wasn't confirmed yet, but once it was, Chen Meilan would need to find a suitable way to tell Yan Zhao. After all, any project would involve kickbacks and favors, which could be seen as a form of bribery.
In the future, this kind of thing would be considered a normal social phenomenon.
But Yan Zhao was upright and incorruptible. According to Zhou Xueqin, he wouldn't even let her do a bit of small business. So before securing the job, Chen Meilan decided not to say anything for now.
Yan Zhao had no practical understanding of the cost of living, so hearing Chen Meilan say it wasn't expensive, he didn't ask further.
Ningning hadn't left yet, still standing there smiling, waiting for Chen Meilan to chat with her.
Chen Meilan pointed at the bed in the bedroom and said, "That bed is what Auntie earned. Could your mom earn that?"
Ningning shook her head: "I don't believe you. It took my parents two years of saving to afford a bed."
Just to show how precious this bed was.
Just then, someone knocked on the door. Little Wang jumped up to open it. It was Song Huaihua.
"Meilan," she called.
"Second sister-in-law, sit down and have some food?" Chen Meilan said.
Song Huaihua sighed, but still smiled first: "The Capital bonds we bought have gone up! They've risen by a full 20 points. I made a whole 100 yuan on my 500 yuan investment. You bought several thousand yuan worth, so you must have made even more, right?"
Yan Zhao, who was clearing the dishes, paused for a moment.
Chen Meilan thought to herself, surprised, aren't you? I'm good at financial management and made a killing.
Actually, Capital Petrochemical could rise even more. Chen Meilan asked Song Huaihua, "You didn't sell, did you?"
"It's already up 27%. I'm afraid it might fall tomorrow, so of course I had to sell," she replied.
Calculating from the highest point, she would lose at least 30 yuan.
She'd probably be beating her chest in regret in a couple of days.
Ningning still hadn't left. Chen Meilan was determined to argue with this child today: "Ningning, did you hear that? The bonds I bought made money. I made a lot of money."
This little girl had been spoiled by her well-off family environment since childhood. After her rebirth, Chen Meilan had become more mischievous and less tolerant.
She was getting addicted to putting down children.
Ningning was indeed affected. She turned and ran away.
Song Huaihua was overjoyed because she had made 100 yuan in just a few days.
But at the same time, she had something she was very worried about. She turned to Yan Zhao and said, "Third brother, your second brother says he wants to quit his job and go into business. I think that even though the salary is low, a government job is definitely better than doing business. Why don't you try to talk him out of it?"
The children looked eagerly at Chen Meilan. She patted Little Lang's bottom and said, "Go jump on the spring mattress. No time limit, jump however you like."
The kids all rushed off at once.
Yan Zhao cleaned up the dishes and said, "He'll get rich."
Chen Meilan thought to herself that Yan Zhao must be blind or stupid. Yan Bin was just a minor deputy director leaving his government job for business. He had no resources. People might support him now, but once he really left his position and lost his power, who would back him? It would be a miracle if he got rich.
Song Huaihua scoffed, "Let him be. Whether he gets rich or not has nothing to do with me. I have my own job, I don't rely on him."
Yan Zhao finished wiping the table and was about to go into the kitchen when he paused and looked intently at Song Huaihua. "Second sister-in-law, are you pregnant?"
"I shouldn't be. I have an IUD," Song Huaihua said, touching her belly.
Yan Zhao called out from the kitchen, "Go to the hospital for a check-up. You look like you might be pregnant."
Song Huaihua already had two children and didn't want another. Hearing she might be pregnant, she said nothing and hurried off. She had to go to the hospital for a check-up, hoping she wasn't really pregnant.
Chen Meilan thought to herself that Yan Zhao had quite the eagle eye. How could he, a man, tell that Song Huaihua was pregnant?
"Second sister-in-law..." Chen Meilan hadn't finished speaking when Yan Zhao immediately said, "Second brother has been visiting prostitutes quite often. It's best if second sister-in-law gets checked, to avoid catching any dirty diseases."
Chen Meilan looked back at Song Huaihua, suddenly remembering that in her previous life, she had jumped into a well.
Could it be that she jumped because Yan Bin had infected her with a venereal disease?
Chen Meilan saw Yan Zhao fall silent again and was about to leave when she heard him call out once more: "Meilan."
But when she turned back, he was quiet for a long time.
Chen Meilan saw him not speaking and didn't know what he wanted to say. After a moment, she suddenly understood. This man had told his second sister-in-law to get checked because he suspected Yan Bin had contracted a venereal disease.
Now he was hesitating to speak to her, could it be that he also thought she might have caught a disease?
After all, the biggest nightclub in town, Dream Paris, got most of its business from coal bosses.
Yan Xishan was the most handsome, and it was said that the girls would serve him for free, fighting over him when he arrived.
In that instant, Chen Meilan was about to lose her temper.
A woman can't control if a man goes to those places, but she could guarantee that after the first time she discovered Yan Xishan had been to such a place, she never let him touch her again.
If she really had caught a disease, how could she possibly marry him, Yan Zhao?
This involved issues of integrity and character. Did she look like someone with poor character?
Yan Zhao seemed to have made a big decision, wanting to say something.
Chen Meilan was also inwardly roaring: if he dared to open his mouth and say that, she would immediately bring up divorce.
Little Lang and Little Wang could stay, as she loved the children, but she would throw this dog of a man out.
"Did you... buy my underwear?" Yan Zhao said this and immediately turned around to wash dishes again.
So it was about underwear.
He was asking about underwear and his ears turned red again?
"I bought them, four pairs. They're in your bedroom," Chen Meilan paused. "I've washed them and folded them for you." Seeing him not respond, Chen Meilan added, "The old ones were too worn out, so I threw them away."
She had actually seen those underwear of his, patched up like they'd been chewed by dogs?
Yan Zhao's ears turned red, and Chen Meilan could barely hold back her laughter. She had to run away quickly.
Yan Zhao went into the bedroom.
Little Wang followed him in. Chen Meilan listened from outside and heard Little Wang constantly asking, "Dad, I picked this underwear. Do you like it?"
"Why are they triangular?" Yan Zhao's voice grew gruff.
Little Wang immediately said, "Because Superman wears underwear like this!"
"Dad only wears boxer briefs," Yan Zhao said.
"But Superman wears triangular ones, and he wears them on the outside. He even wears red ones," Little Wang argued, not giving up. Probably being glared at by his dad, after a long while, he whimpered, "I thought you would like them. Dad's underwear is all bulgy in the front, it's so cute."
Bulgy indeed. Chen Meilan nearly died laughing outside.
These days, underwear was mostly boxer briefs. Men's briefs were just starting to appear.
Superman was a foreign film released last year. Although the children hadn't seen it, Superman posters covered the streets, and kids were especially curious about that blonde, blue-eyed man wearing his underwear on the outside.
Yan Zhao's underwear was indeed chosen by Little Wang, who had guaranteed at the time that his dad would definitely like it.
Poor child, rejected by his dad again.
But at night, Yan Zhao eventually changed into the underwear.
"Dad, you really look like Superman!" Little Wang exclaimed.
"Yan Wangqi?" The father, wearing only briefs and with a body even more muscular than Superman's, suddenly turned around.
The son, propping his chin with both hands, his eyes sparkling: "Dad, what is it?"
"Get up, do push-ups with me."
The two little ones on this side were already asleep. After a while, Chen Meilan heard a timid knock on the door.
"Can I come sleep on your side?" It was Little Wang, standing at the door holding his pillow, looking extremely pitiful.
Never mind how Zhou Xueqin was as a birth mother, calling a child to do push-ups in the middle of the night made Yan Zhao worse than a stepfather.
Chen Meilan picked up Little Wang, gently patted his bottom, and put him on the kang bed.
It was just a light hug, but Little Wang found Chen Meilan's embrace fragrant and soft. Unlike Zhou Xueqin who would complain about his smell, she even sniffed his stinky little head affectionately.
...
Chen Meilan had sent a telegram calling Chen Degong to come take on the job.
He arrived three or four days later.
With great ambition, Chen Meilan was about to become a small contractor.
However, just as they went next door to find Yan Dawei, he gave Chen Meilan an unexpected statement: "Meilan, we've run into a problem with this project, and it's a big one."
"What happened?" Chen Meilan asked.
Yan Dawei shook the contract in his hand and said, "To contract a project, even a dog could be a contractor, but we need a technician who can read blueprints and calculate materials. This person is extremely important. I had originally found someone for us, but now that they've heard you're the contractor, they've backed out. They won't do it no matter how much money we offer."
"Who is it that won't do it after hearing I'm the contractor?" Chen Meilan asked.
"A technician from our factory who has a good relationship with Hu Xiaomei. It's probably Hu Xiaomei's doing," Qin Yu chimed in. "Rumor has it that Yan Xishan is going to be sentenced to life in prison. Hu Xiaomei sold his car and bought herself another house, transforming into a wealthy lady. Now she has at least ten men pursuing her."
So that's how it was.
Qin Yu continued, "She even helped a nouveau riche's child get into school. That nouveau riche is probably her new lover. I bet sooner or later, she'll hand over Xishan's coal mine to that lover."
Yan Xishan was reaping what he sowed, and the retribution came early.
But at this moment, Chen Degong suddenly said, "I just thought of someone. Teacher Huang from your village. He drew the blueprints and calculated the materials for Meilan's house back then. Why don't we ask him?"
Chen Meilan's eyes immediately lit up.
That's right, Teacher Huang was a high school graduate, and he was naturally good at technical subjects. He could not only read blueprints but also draw them.
If they could bring Teacher Huang in as a partner, wouldn't this small construction team be all set?
