“I’ll try my best… I shouldn’t delay the children’s development. They shouldn’t need to worry about money. I just want them to study hard,” Li Gui said.
Qiao Mei thought for a moment and took out the notebook which she kept in her storeroom in Foshan Village. “The children wrote this themselves when they took things from me previously. I can lend them the money and they can pay me back when they are able to. Anyway, I also have no use for so much money.”
This was indeed a good idea. Moreover, this was something that Qiao Mei and the children had agreed on before. If the children wanted to continue with this agreement, it was not impossible.
“Alright, let’s ask them when the time comes,” Li Gui said.
!!
Qiao Yu did not see Li Gui even after going to the cinema for two consecutive evenings and was becoming impatient. She took advantage of the one-day break every month to come out for the whole day and waited at the entrance of the cinema since the morning. Li Gui came later than usual, at a time when Qiao Yu was so cold that she had almost lost consciousness.
Today, Li Gui came to the cinema alone with a basket to sell popcorn. Even after shouting for a long time, no one came to buy anything from her. There were fewer movie screenings today and the business today was not as good as usual.
Many peddlers did not come out to set up their stalls because of the cold weather. The money they earned from their hard work in the first half of the year was enough for them to survive through this winter.
Qiao Yu watched quietly from the side and observed Li Gui selling her goods. If she could also sell these things, her life would not be as shabby as it was now.
Since she was not having a good time, Li Gui could also forget about having a good life.
Qiao Yu quickly walked to the duty room at the side of the movie theater. The place was filled with people who managed the movie theater, and a few of them were government officials who were on duty to supervise the nearby areas.
“Is anyone there?” Qiao Yu asked as she knocked on the door.
“What’s the matter?” the person in the room said lazily. At this moment, they were all preparing to play cards.
“I want to file a report! I want to report that the woman outside is doing private business and secretly selling her own personal items. This is called… being opportunistic!” Qiao Yu used all the words she knew in her life to describe Li Gui.
She was not very cultured and also never went to the black market in the county city to buy things, so she did not know the meaning of these words at all. However, she knew that these were the words that the women in the village were most afraid of. Every time someone mentioned these words, they would be very afraid.
Cao Gang looked at his colleagues beside him. They basically would not take the initiative to investigate such things and would only take action if they received a report. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they had the most free time among their colleagues.
After all, there were so many peddlers around. As long as there were no fights, they basically did not care too much about these things.
Occasionally, these peddlers would even give them a lot of benefits, so they would turn a blind eye to everything.
“Who are you talking about?” Cao Gang asked.
Qiao Yu pointed at Li Gui through the window and said, “It’s that woman!”
Cao Gang looked at Li Gui, who was standing outside, and did not know what to say. This was someone whom the higher-ups had asked them to take “special care” of. They usually watched over her carefully and would never dare to cause trouble for her.
It was not as if they did not want their jobs anymore?
What kind of grudge did this woman have with Li Gui? There were so many peddlers outside but she did not report any of them and only targeted Li Gui. Could it be that they knew each other?
“Then write down your name, address, contact information and workplace unit on this piece of paper. We’ll contact you later,” Cao Gang said as he took out a pen and paper from the drawer.
Qiao Yu was stunned for a moment and said, “Can’t I make an anonymous report? Why do you need all these details?”
Other people were allowed to make an anonymous report, but not Qiao Yu. Li Gui was someone that the higher-ups had specifically asked them to “take care of”. If anything happened, they had to tell their superiors who the troublemaker was. If the leaders were happy with their performances, it was possible for them to be promoted and get rich.
“There’s no such thing as anonymous reports anymore! What if the leader asks us about the details and we can’t tell them anything? We also won’t be able to find you then,” Cao Gang said.
Qiao Yu hurriedly ran out of the duty room and disappeared into the alley without looking back. She did not even wait for Li Gui to close her stall and go home, she was more worried that those people would detain her.
Cao Liang looked at his colleague beside him and said, “Who do you think Sister Li offended? This young lady is so young. Why is she looking for trouble with Sister Li?”