"I really hadn't expected your dad to have such an antique treasure hidden away, this is great."

He straddled the bike and patted the back seat with a commanding tone,

"Get on, Brother will take you home."

"Alright."

Liu Chan hopped onto the back seat of the 28-inch bicycle, holding onto Yang Fei's waist.

She moved with practiced ease, clearly the result of long-term practice.

"Clear the way."

Yang Fei rode the bicycle, facing the surging traffic, charging toward the distant neon lights.

Liu Chan's home was a two-story red brick house.

It was located to the southeast of Shunhua District,

On the fringe of the city, at the suburban-rural interface.

Most of the residents here used to be farmers.

These farmers had had their land expropriated,

And the little compensation they received for their land still required them to cough up hundreds of thousands more to buy an apartment in the city.

So the residents living here weren't exactly thriving.

Liu Chan's father was somewhat better off as an employee of Longquan Construction Company.

The Longquan Construction Company was a construction firm under the city's municipal construction bureau, a proper state-run enterprise.

However, this large construction company was now facing the prospect of shutting down.

Following the restructuring and integration reform of the company, Longquan Construction was thrown into the market to fend for itself.

Right now, the company was being squeezed so hard by market forces that it was struggling to cope.

Surviving had become increasingly difficult.

According to Liu Chan, for the past six months, her father, as an ordinary employee, had only received a few hundred yuan a month for living expenses.

And Longquan Construction Limited Company had applied for bankruptcy several times.

It was only because the Government Office hadn't approved it.

The reason for not approving was quite simple.

Longquan Construction Limited Company was in debt for over seventy million yuan.

If they filed for bankruptcy and their assets couldn't cover the debt, there would be no way to resolve the bad accounts.

Moreover, most importantly, the company had three hundred employees, nearly all of whom were middle-aged with elderly parents and young children to support.

If the company collapsed, the issue of how to provide for these employees would become an incredibly difficult problem.

Over three hundred employees meant the livelihoods of more than three hundred families were at stake.

If not managed properly, the social order of Yannan could suffer a significant impact.

Therefore, even though the Government Office wished to resolve the living situation of these employees,

They had yet to find a good solution.

Of course, the Government Office didn't dare declare bankruptcy, so they just kept dragging it out.

As Liu Chan sat on the back seat of Yang Fei's bicycle, she discussed her father's work issues.

It was evident that this sensible girl was also deeply concerned about the heavy burden on her family.

Yang Fei listened quietly, and slowly, some ideas began to take root.

After chatting for a while, they reached the foot of Liu Chan's home.

Beneath the shabby red brick house, a rural woman with a limp was hosing down the road.

She had gotten the entire road surface wet.

Yang Fei braked, and Liu Chan jumped off the back seat.

Upon seeing the rural woman, she called out, "Mom."

The rural woman was nearly fifty, with graying, unkempt hair.

She wore a sanitation worker's uniform, and her face bore all the signs of a tough and downtrodden life.

Her complexion was dark and aged, with a multitude of wrinkles.

Seeing that Liu Chan had returned, a smile appeared on the woman's face.

She scolded Liu Chan with faux annoyance,

"Silly girl, running around late at night, what if you'd run into bad people?"

Liu Chan laughed and pointed at Yang Fei.

"No way, Brother Fei brought me home."

Mother Liu Chan looked at Yang Fei, pausing in surprise before a forced smile appeared on her face,

"Oh, it's Little Yang. Aren't you busy with the restaurant work? How did you find time to come over and visit?"

Yang Fei politely greeted Mother Liu Chan.

He gave a bitter smile, "Auntie, the hotel caught fire and burned down, so I'm temporarily out of a job."

Mother Liu Chan was momentarily stunned, her expression turning somewhat cold.

"It's fine, it's fine, you're still young. Getting a job shouldn't be a problem, right?"

As she spoke, she took the Forever-brand bicycle from Yang Fei's hands, her smile incredibly stiff.

"The house is a mess right now, so I won't invite you in to sit, but come over when you have some free time."

Yang Fei didn't know whether to laugh or cry, standing in place, feeling somewhat awkward.

Liu Chan called out.

"Mom, Brother Fei is here because I brought him."

"He's come to give acupuncture to my dad; why are you pushing him away?"

Mother Liu Chan glanced at Yang Fei, then pulled Liu Chan a few steps away to whisper.

Mother Liu Chan's voice was very low.

However, Yang Fei's keen hearing allowed him to hear everything clearly.

"As a girl, hanging around with a grown man in the dark, it's embarrassing in the eyes of the neighbors."

"I'm telling you, you are a university student now, and after graduating, you'll be joining a big company as a white-collar worker."

At this point, Mother Liu Chan glanced in Yang Fei's direction and lowered her voice even more.

"We need to start being mindful of our status."

"The people we associate with should be chosen carefully, like Yang Fei, this sort of bottom-tier odd-job man, we should keep our distance in future."

Liu Chan raised her voice in protest.

"Mom, how can you say that?"

"Brother Fei is a good person, why can't I be friends with him?"

Mother Liu Chan stole another glance towards Yang Fei and reproached Liu Chan.

"What do you know? You're about to work for a big company, soon to be a white-collar or even gold-collar."

"With a different social status, if you keep mixing with someone like Yang Fei, a hotel odd-job man, what will that look like?"

She got so excited that her voice rose a little.

"Mom is doing this for your own good."

"Think about it, if you're seen with Yang Fei and people get the wrong idea that he's your boyfriend or something, how will you find a decent man in the future?"

Embarrassed by her mother's words, Liu Chan's face turned bright red.

"Mom, what are you talking about, who's Brother Fei's girlfriend? It's embarrassing."

Mother Liu Chan glanced at Yang Fei with a sniff, her face full of scorn.

"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking about Yang Fei."

"I'm telling you, get that idea out of your head."

"This guy will only ever be a worker; how could he be good enough for you?"

"Mom..."

Liu Chan, blushing fiercely, stamped her foot.

"Don't talk nonsense, it'll be a laughing stock if others hear you. I'll make decisions about my own matters."

Mother Liu Chan said coldly, "Don't say that I'm being snobbish, all of this is for your own good."

"What good is a man, no matter how nice, if he can't make money?"

"I was blind back in the day to marry your father, a useless man. It's one thing for me to suffer, but it's also dragged you down."

Liu Chan looked uneasily at Yang Fei, speaking in a very low voice.

"Mom, what nonsense are you spouting? Why would you say such things about Dad..."

Listening from a distance, Yang Fei was deeply moved by the quarrel between Liu Chan and her mother.

The cruel reality of life.

It turns every kind-hearted mother into a mercenary woman.

He didn't blame Liu Chan's mother.

The remarks of Liu Chan's mother were a painful life lesson and an enlightenment borne from hardship.

This damn life.

As Yang Fei was reflecting, a middle-aged man with a slightly stooped posture and a limp emerged from the small building.

He was dressed in a cheap synthetic suit, his temples graying.

His cheeks, weathered by the sun and wind, were bronze, and his face was lined with fine, dense wrinkles.

Yang Fei recognized that this middle-aged man was Liu Chan's father, Liu Jianguo.

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