The “tutoring class” was forcibly shut down.

This was the result of pressure from the He family, with help from others. A new educational exploration model? That was complete nonsense.

Gu Zhengqing felt that if anyone were to run an after-school tutoring program, it should be experienced, excellent teachers. Of course, this couldn’t be mentioned now – the timing was too sensitive with the tutoring class being shut down.

The Wang family casually pushed a female student to take the fall, saying she was Wang Guangping’s future daughter-in-law. This temporarily satisfied He Yaojun, who stopped hounding Wang Guangping.

The Wang family couldn’t completely clear themselves anyway. Wang Guangping letting his son and future daughter-in-law run a tutoring class for profit left a terrible impression on his colleagues in the department. Though the impact wasn’t visible now, Wang Guangping would feel it deeply later.

He Jia, at the center of this whirlwind, would certainly suffer for her rash and immature thoughts.

Gu Zhengqing didn’t dare to ask too many details.

How else could it be handled – should He Jia have kept the baby?

That wouldn’t be loving one’s daughter; it would be letting her ruin her life! Children these days weren’t concerned with human rights – when they made mistakes, parents giving them a beating was the mainstream approach.

Equality?

Freedom?

First stop relying on parents, then talk about these things!

The 1980s approach to raising children was just this simple and crude.

While Gu Zhengqing couldn’t control how the He family dealt with their daughter, he needed to properly discipline his eldest daughter Gu Siyan. At the same age, if Gu Siyan ever did something like this, Gu Zhengqing would likely go as crazy as He Yaojun.

He and his wife took turns counseling Gu Siyan, repeatedly telling her that a student’s most important task was to study well, learn more cultural knowledge, and become someone useful to society and family!

“The most correct thing you did this time was taking the initiative to be honest and telling He Jia’s mother!”

After giving Gu Siyan many stern warnings, Gu Zhengqing added this bit of praise.

This behavior of telling parents when something happened was worth commending. Just look at He Jia’s situation – fortunately, Gu Siyan spoke up. If they had hidden it for a few more months until He Jia’s belly grew large, the matter would have been much harder to handle. Not only would He Jia have faced enormous pressure, but her physical health would have been significantly damaged.

“I was afraid to say anything, but Sister Xia encouraged me, saying true friends should tell He Jia’s parents because we’re too young to handle such matters properly.”

Gu Siyan honestly revealed Xia Xiaolan’s involvement.

“Sister Xia?”

“Yes, cousin’s girlfriend! When He Jia and I went to the hospital, we met Sister Xia. She even lent me money. When I went to repay her, I couldn’t help telling her everything, and she advised me to tell He Jia’s parents.”

So there was this development.

Gu Zhengqing nodded approvingly: “I’ve always said your cousin’s girlfriend is exceptional. You should spend more time with her in the future. Not only does she excel in her studies, but she also handles matters reliably – she’s a dependable person.”

Gu Zhengqing had always viewed Xia Xiaolan with a halo, and this incident further proved his judgment.

Zhou Cheng was truly the most promising among the younger generation of the Zhou family, and his eye for choosing a partner was indeed better than most.

While Gu Zhengqing was telling Gu Siyan to learn from Xia Xiaolan, Zhou Yunqin’s thoughts wandered. She had heard hints from Grandmother Zhou that her second brother and his wife had developed different opinions about Zhou Cheng’s choice of partner.

Zhou Yunqin thought, isn’t she a fine girl?

If they weren’t satisfied with her, was Zhou Cheng choosing a girlfriend or selecting an imperial concubine?

Unfortunately, she couldn’t bring this up with her second sister-in-law, or He Jia’s situation would spread. No matter how unreasonable He Jia’s mother was, she was just acting on maternal instinct to protect her child.

…

Xia Xiaolan had gained new insights. While some found her reliable, she now found Manager Wu truly dependable.

Liu Yong also felt he had learned something. Manager Wu’s way of handling matters differed from both Xia Xiaolan and Liu Yong’s approaches. Xia Xiaolan had marketplace tactics, Liu Yong was a rural-turned-urban contractor, and it made sense they were uncle and niece – their thinking was about seventy to eighty percent similar.

Manager Wu was much gentler.

It was because of their different backgrounds and environments. Manager Wu didn’t need to fight and struggle; his worries were just selling government bonds and arranging employee bonuses. He didn’t face the same pressures as Xia Xiaolan and Liu Yong.

When Manager Wu stepped in, he neither spoke harshly nor acted subserviently, yet the street office people put in effort.

Liu Yong had paid real money for his new house – there was no reason he should be held hostage by a group of tenants.

Previously, Teacher Xu Jing had been aloof, so the street office people just went through the motions. Now Liu Yong was willing to show face, and with Manager Wu bridging connections, Liu Yong handed out cigarettes and spoke kindly. Everyone preferred dealing with agreeable people. If you’re difficult while wanting help from others, people who could give full effort might only give seventy percent, and you couldn’t do anything about it.

The face was mutually given.

The street office people walked in front, with Liu Yong and Xia Xiaolan following behind.

Even when the tenants caused trouble, the street office people grew annoyed:

“The previous owner, Teacher Xu, told you to move out six months ago, giving you plenty of time, and you bullied a teacher terribly. Now Teacher Xu has sold the house, and the new owner has complete documentation – when they tell you to move, you must move.”

When the street office people couldn’t reason with them anymore, they tacitly approved Liu Yong taking some forceful action.

When some people tried to push and shove, Liu Yong might have seemed easy to bully with his thin frame, but Li Dongliang and Ge Jian weren’t. These two silent men following behind proved more useful than anyone at crucial moments. Li Dongliang and Ge Jian “helped” clear out all the residents, including moving their luggage out of the courtyard.

Liu Yong knew when to stop and gave each tenant 20 yuan:

“This money could cover two months’ rent. I haven’t collected any rent from you, and worried about you having nowhere to live, I’m giving you two months’ rent as relocation assistance. If you still refuse to leave after this, then I’ll…”

The street office people nodded.

Forcibly evicting the tenants without violence and giving them two months’ rent money – if they still wouldn’t leave, they were pushing their luck.

Initially, neighbors had been critical, but now they all said Liu Yong was generous.

This method was taught by Manager Wu.

It was important to win public opinion and avoid leaving hidden troubles. If Liu Yong had started with violence, using bodyguards to drive out the tenants, it might have felt satisfying, but the neighbors would have sided with the resistant tenants. Now it was different – Liu Yong had invited street office officials as witnesses, using both hard and soft approaches, forcefully asking tenants to leave while generously providing “relocation assistance.” As a property owner doing this much, who could criticize Liu Yong?

Privately negotiate compensation with the tenants?

Bah, why should there be compensation?

This money was spent for the street office and neighbors to see. Since Liu Yong planned to settle here, he could maintain good relationships with the neighbors!

Manager Wu smiled gently – helping others was helping himself. By putting in extra effort to help here, he would have people willing to buy his government bonds!