Chapter 541 Jiang Yue is disgusted by people
The draft outside the morgue door blew up the yellow paper ashes. Jia Zhang, clutching her saliva-soaked handkerchief, suddenly stopped crying.
She saw Yang Weimin's cloudy eyes sparkle when he took out a document with a red stamp from his briefcase.
Thirty years ago, on the night when Lao Jia was scalded to death by molten steel, she sat on the same bench holding the pension application form.
"According to the Work Injury Regulations..." Yang Weimin pushed up his tortoise-shell glasses, the reflection from the lenses covering his furrowed brows, "The factory can give a 500 yuan pension."
As he spoke, he took out a Hero fountain pen. The words "Model of the Great Production Movement" engraved on the pen cap glowed coldly under the fluorescent light.
Jia Zhang suddenly slapped her thigh and howled, stomping her torn cotton shoe heavily on Lou Zhenhua's polished leather shoes:
"Five hundred dollars for a life? You guys at the steel mill are just giving the dogs away!"
She poked Qin Huairu's slightly bulging belly with her skinny fingers, "There's still a baby here! How many kilograms of corn flour can you buy with 500 yuan?"
Qin Huairu subconsciously protected her stomach and shrank back, with one hand covering her stomach from time to time.
Dongxu had mended this dress himself three days ago, with dense stitches sewn along the hole to form a plum blossom pattern.
Now those hands are lying in the morgue, with black mud from the punching machine still embedded in the nails.
"Sister-in-law, this is a national regulation..."
Before Yang Weimin could finish his words, Jia Zhang suddenly opened her clothes to reveal her shriveled chest:
"Let everyone see! This is the attitude of the new society towards the families of martyrs!" The bulging blue veins on her neck looked like the aging oil pipes in the workshop.
Lou Zhenhua's lungs, which had been choked by coal ash, began to ache again.
He fished out a cowhide envelope with the national emblem printed on it—it contained three hundred yuan that was supposed to be used to manage the joint venture team.
The new edge of the banknote hurt my fingertips: "I will personally give you another 300 yuan."
The corridor suddenly became so quiet that one could hear the sound of coal slag falling to the ground from the boiler room.
Jia Zhang's eyes swirled between Lou Zhenhua and the envelope, and suddenly she sat down on the ground:
"Dongxu! Open your eyes and look! Eight hundred yuan is enough to buy your and your mother's lives!"
She howled and pounded the concrete floor, and the silver bracelet on her wrist jingled. That was what Lao Jia bought with his first month's salary.
"Funeral expenses..." Qin Huairu just opened her mouth like a mosquito, and was glared at by her mother-in-law.
Jia Zhang suddenly jumped up, her gray hair sticking to her tearful face:
"Director Lou has to pay for the coffin! You can't let my son be buried wrapped in a straw mat!"
The documents in Yang Weimin's hands rustled.
He recalled that last month when the widow Wang from the third workshop received her pension, she cried and almost fainted while holding the two hundred yuan in her hand.
The old hag in front of me behaved like a poor person bargaining over the price of pork in the market.
"Okay." When Lou Zhenhua squeezed out this word from between his teeth, his back teeth made a clicking sound.
He seemed to catch a glimpse of his own photo as a model factory director on the bulletin board outside the window, and always felt that the smile on his face was being eroded bit by bit by Jia Zhang's saliva.
At this moment, a dry howl like a funeral suddenly broke out at the end of the corridor.
Yi Zhonghai staggered over with tears in his eyes, the front of his work cloth clothes stained with chalk dust that he had deliberately not brushed off.
"Dongxu! Master is late!" He knelt down in front of the morgue door, and his forehead banged against the iron door, making a loud clanging sound.
Liu Haizhong hurried to support him, but after helping him twice, seeing that Yi Zhonghai couldn't get up, he simply stopped pulling him.
The third auntie stuffed the enamel pot into Qin Huairu's hands. The bottom of the pot was still sticky with corn paste from the morning:
"Huai Ru, have a drink of something hot."
As she spoke, her eyes glanced at Lou Zhenhua's bulging trouser pockets.
Yan Bugui had already started doing some calculations in his mind. He had heard that he would be given 800 yuan in compensation as pension, and was calculating how many kilograms of national food coupons he could get in exchange for yuan.
Yi Zhonghai wiped away the non-existent tears, but the corners of his mouth were twitching. He had personally adjusted the feed speed of that fatal punching machine.
Now that he saw Jia Dongxu had finally died, he could finally feel relieved.
But he didn't dare show it too much.
"Comrade Yi Zhonghai, the matter of the pension has already been discussed with the family."
"Since you are the eldest uncle in the compound, you can decide how to arrange the funeral."
Yang Weimin didn't want to stay in this hospital any longer. The matter was already set in stone, and there was no way to bring the dead Jia Dongxu back to life.
"Pull the hearse! Get Dongxu back first."
Yi Zhonghai suddenly roared with full energy, scaring Li Huaide, who was secretly glancing at Qin Huairu's waist, so much that his cigarette butt dropped on his crotch.
When he stood up, he "accidentally" stepped on the tip of Qin Huairu's shoe: "Comrade Huairu, rest assured, we will take care of everything for you."
After Yi Zhonghai received the news that Jia Dongxu's rescue was ineffective in the hospital, his expression was solemn. He knew very well that as the boss of the compound, he had to stand up and take charge of the situation at this moment.
He straightened his back and said loudly, "Take Jia Dongxu's body back first. I'll take care of this matter."
After that, he turned to look at Liu Haizhong and asked, "Old Liu, do you think this method will work?"
Liu Haizhong was only thinking about showing off in front of his leader, so he nodded quickly: "Okay, uncle, you are right, I will do as you say."
Then, he turned to the second and third aunts beside him and ordered, "You two should help Qin Huairu back to the compound first. She is pregnant, so nothing can go wrong.
After returning, ask Sha Zhu to borrow a cart and take Jia Dongxu's body back to the hospital."
The second aunt responded, and she and the third aunt walked carefully to Qin Huairu, supporting her on the left and right.
Qin Huairu had already cried so much that she was in tears. Her legs were weak and she was almost carried out of the hospital by two people.
Back at the compound, the news of Jia Dongxu's death spread quickly like wildfire.
Jiang Yueshen had already returned home and was talking to his mother Li Shulan.
When Li Shulan heard the news, she couldn't help but sigh: "The Jia family is really miserable. Qin Huairu has become a widow at such a young age.
But she deserves it. It's her own destiny. It's the path she chose."
Jiang Yueshen listened to his mother's mumbling without saying anything.
He knew in his heart that all this was arranged by fate and Jia Dongxu's fate had already been determined.
He just said calmly: "The Jia family will definitely hold a funeral, and this place will probably be a mess and unlucky.
Nian Nian, take your child and Ya Ya back to your grandfather's house and live for a while."
Zhang Niannian glanced at Jiang Yueshen tenderly and said softly, "Okay, I'll listen to you."
Li Shulan said, "I'll stay here and see if I can help the Jia family with some things in the compound.
It's not that I sympathize with the Jia family. I'm mainly afraid that Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhang will gossip about our Jiang family in front of others.
If the Jiang family members leave, people in the compound will definitely gossip about them. I am wronged, but I have helped your reputation."
Jiang Yueshen was deeply moved after hearing his mother's words.
He looked at his mother's slightly tired yet determined eyes and knew that she was thinking about him and the family.
He sighed helplessly and said, "Mom, thank you for your hard work. Since you said so, I can only agree with your idea.
Please take care of yourself, and tell me if you have any problem."
Li Shulan smiled and nodded: "Don't worry, I know what's going on.
You and Nian Nian should be well over there, don't worry about what's happening here."