038 Object

Except for the Sun family, which was quiet, all the other houses were bustling with activity until midnight.

Guan Yuehe strained her eyes, watching the minute hand of her watch spin round and round until she finally saw the hour hand fall at twelve. She quickly said, "It's time! We can start cooking the dumplings!"

Her family didn't have this custom before, but in the last two years, they've been influenced by other families in the No. 3 courtyard and have started making dumplings after the New Year, with each person getting two or three, and then going to sleep after eating.

Seventy years have passed, and the satisfied sighs of eating dumplings one after another have become history.

When Guan Yuehe returned home, she took the not-so-hot IV bottle out of the quilt, refilled it with hot water, and put it back in the quilt.

The heated kang bed was warm, and after lying down for a short while, her eyelids closed tightly together.

The next day, when Guan Yuehe woke up, she found snow piled up in front of her door. No one knew what time it had snowed the night before.

I glanced at my watch; it was only six o'clock, still a long way off. The doors of Song Gong's house and Aunt Zhao's house remained tightly shut, the backyards were quiet, but the noise from the front yards was quite loud.

On my way to the toilet, I passed by the front yard. All the doors were tightly closed, but inside the Sun family's house, there was a clattering sound, as if they were packing up their belongings.

Occasionally, one could hear Grandpa Sun cursing, Grandma Sun wailing, and Sun Jiawang screaming, "Why don't I have any meat to eat? Give me lucky money for the New Year! I don't want to leave! This is my home!"

"What's all this noise about? You're a whole family of troublemakers! If you want to argue, take it to the police station!" Sister-in-law Zhou slammed her fist on the wall, and the Sun family members, as if they had been choked, stopped shouting.

Guan Yuehe was in a hurry to go to the toilet, so she only glanced at the scene briefly before leaving the yard.

The snow outside was even thicker than in the yard, almost thicker than her shoes. Guan Yuehe carefully tiptoed to clear a path, leaving crooked footprints in the white snow.

Going to the toilet in winter is torture. But there's one advantage: it's so cold that your butt gets numb from squatting for too long, and nobody sits in the outhouse for half an hour straight.

But there are exceptions.

After waking up from a nap, Guan Yuehe immediately joined the snow-sweeping operation in the yard.

Chang Zhengyi ran back with a grim face and stopped Grandpa Chang, who was going to the toilet. "The men's room is full of Xu family members, it's all taken up! They have diarrhea and have been squatting there for ages, and they refuse to come out no matter what we say!"

The snow-shoveling team exclaimed in surprise, "How can they have diarrhea? What unclean food did they eat?"

"Xu Xiaomei's boyfriend brought her a piece of meat yesterday. She made steamed buns for it this morning, and after eating them, she had to go to the toilet."

The "ah" sounds from the others were even louder than before.

"What kind of grudge is this? Sending meat to your partner's family and then poisoning it?" Aunt Zhao felt that she couldn't understand young people these days. They all had so many ideas, and they were all infuriating.

Chang Zhengyi was also puzzled, "There might be some misunderstanding."

Regardless of any misunderstandings, the fact that this relationship was successful is a testament to the magnanimity of Xu's family.

The second aunt from the front yard came back from outside and went straight home. "Where's the chicken that guy surnamed Hao brought yesterday? This stuff can't be eaten. Take it out, Chao Nan, you take it back to him."

Zhang Chaonan came out with messy, unkempt hair. "It would be so embarrassing to send it back after someone kindly brought it here."

Even if we send it back, we should at least give a similar gift in return! Otherwise, we should have let him take it back yesterday.

"Oh dear! I can't explain it to you. Look at what happened to Xu Xiaomei. If you don't listen, you'll be stuck in the outhouse!" Aunt Er said anxiously, insisting on taking out the chicken.

"What does this have to do with Xu Xiaomei?"

When Aunt Er told Zhang Chaonan about what had happened outside, he was speechless. How could Xu Xiaomei have started dating such an unreliable person again?

But Zhang Chaonan refused to return the chicken that Hao Daren had sent. Her mother was just using this as an excuse to find fault and prevent her from getting together with Hao Daren.

The second aunt muttered discontentedly, "What good person is named Hao Daren? He can't even get his name right, how can he possibly live a good life? Putting aside him, just look at his mother's attitude. If you marry Hao Daren, just expect to fight with your mother-in-law every day! She runs away at the slightest provocation. Do you think I'd harm you...?"

Zhang Chaonan went back inside.

This Lunar New Year's Day started with a battle to get the toilets.

The people outside kept cursing, but the people inside remained unmoved. Eventually, someone couldn't hold back any longer and went in to drag people out... and the cursing became even more intense.

Many people have no choice but to go to other public restrooms, which leads to congestion at those restrooms as well, and also causes a lot of arguments and disputes.

Guan Yuehe rushed back to the factory on the first day of the Lunar New Year. The security guard on duty was surprised: "Comrade Guan, you're working overtime on the first day of the Lunar New Year too?"

Comrade Xiao Guan smiled wryly.

Why would you work overtime? The workshop is closed. At this hour, the factory manager is probably at home entertaining relatives.

She came to use the restroom and also to see if Xu Chengcai needed to be taken to the car factory's medical clinic.

The garment factory also had a clinic, but it was rather rudimentary, and the doctor prescribing medications sometimes even gave the wrong ones. Guan Yuehe had no trust in her factory's clinic at all. If she needed an IV drip, she still had to go to the car factory's clinic.

But Xu Chengcai didn't see anything wrong when he came down from the dormitory.

Upon asking, I learned that he had overslept. If the security guards hadn't come to his dormitory to look for him, he probably would have continued sleeping. Since he hadn't had breakfast at home, he naturally wouldn't have diarrhea.

It's said that he'll have great luck right from the start of the year.

Now that he knew about his family's situation, Xu Chengcai could no longer stay at the factory and went back to Ginkgo Alley with Guan Yuehe.

He was puzzled. "I checked the meat when my sister brought it back, and it was fine. Surely she wouldn't put laxatives in it?"

Guan Yuehe replied with the phrase she heard most often yesterday: "When the forest is big, you'll find all kinds of birds."

Who knows if the person they know is a human or a ghost?

The Xu family was sent to the car factory's clinic. When their relatives came to visit, they learned about the situation from their neighbors in the No. 3 courtyard and went to the clinic to visit them.

The toilets at the entrance of the alley were finally back to normal, and everyone started exchanging New Year's greetings.

The Sun family's house was locked at some point, and no one noticed when the family left.

People are speculating whether they will come back.

But it's probably impossible for him to come back.

Guan Yuehe left her door wide open, and soon a group of children came running over, each one trying to be sweeter than the last to wish her a Happy New Year. Guan Yuehe gave each of them a piece of candy, and then they called to their friends and hurried to the next house.

Only children from very close relatives or friends receive a few cents as New Year's money; for children from neighbors, everyone usually gives them some melon seeds, peanuts, or a piece of candy.

The children cheered with delight at Aunt Zhao's house. Guan Yuehe looked over and saw that Aunt Zhao was carrying a bag of candy. She gave each child two pieces and a handful of peanuts and melon seeds, which made the children's New Year's greetings even louder.

"Yuehe, here, Happy New Year! May I share in your joy." Aunt Zhao didn't give her a chance to refuse and grabbed a few candies to give her.

Guan Yuehe quickly offered several words of congratulations.

It was only last night that everyone learned that Cao Lili was pregnant. Aunt Zhao was in a good mood today and was exceptionally generous when distributing candy.

Aunt Zhao is not stubborn at crucial moments, unlike some people who insist on waiting until three months have passed before telling anyone.

Of all the adults in the backyard, Cao Lili was the only one who didn't work. Aunt Zhao was worried that she might run into trouble and not be able to find anyone, so she simply told the neighbors the good news that she was pregnant and asked Aunt Er and Aunt Bai, who were usually at home, to take better care of her.

Because of this, Aunt Bai was still muttering to Bai Xianghong, "I didn't realize Zhao Damei was such a good mother-in-law. Sigh..."

Bai Xianghong knew her mother was having second thoughts, but in her opinion, it wasn't her mother's place to regret it; Chang Zhengyi was determined to marry Cao Lili. Even if it didn't work out, Aunt Zhao wouldn't approve of her anyway.

Fearing being nagged, Bai Xianghong quickly said, "I'm going to talk to Sister Yuehe."

"Oh, hurry up and go." Aunt Bai started nagging again, "Yuehe will definitely become a leader after graduation, so you should build a good relationship with her. Ask when there will be any openings for permanent positions in the factory. I won't be at ease until you're officially hired."

“Our team leader said that there will be a unified assessment after a year, and those who pass will basically be promoted to permanent positions. Those who don’t will have to continue as temporary workers. I’m sure I can do it, Mom, don’t worry about me.”

"I don't want to worry about it, but I'm just afraid that you'll lose this temporary job."

Bai Xianghong fled to the backyard as if escaping.

Ever since her mother stopped going to work, she's become increasingly talkative. She can go on and on about anything for ages.

In the evening, the Xu family returned from the clinic, and the sound of their argument echoed throughout the entire alley.

Guan Yuehe took her rice bowl and went out, squatting down next to Lin Sitian, eating and watching the commotion.

At first, when the whole family had diarrhea, they all complained to Xu Xiaomei: "What kind of boyfriend did you choose? He's just ruining the family!"

Xu Xiaomei felt it couldn't be her boyfriend's problem, but she was too weak to argue at the time.

After receiving an IV drip at the infirmary and regaining her spirits, Xu Xiaomei started arguing with her family, saying that the meat her boyfriend brought back was absolutely fine, and that it was even from the car factory, which her boyfriend had specially saved to send to her home.

In this weather, meat can last for several days; it's not like it's too hot to keep out of the air.

Xu Xiaomei suspected that the meat at home had gone bad and she had mixed it into the filling when she made the steamed buns that morning.

As they were talking, Sister-in-law Xu got angry. She said that the meat she planned to take back to her parents' home on the second day of the Lunar New Year was freshly bought and still in the house. It couldn't have been the meat she bought, could it?

Aunt Xu suddenly looked at her eldest daughter-in-law and asked her if she had prepared the meat she was going to take back to her parents' home.

When Sister-in-law Xu got nervous and started stammering, the others understood.

Upon further questioning, it was discovered that Sister-in-law Xu thought the meat brought back by Sister-in-law Xu's boyfriend was better, so she switched the meat she bought from outside with the meat given to her by Sister-in-law Xu's boyfriend. However, she repeatedly swore that she had no idea that the meat she bought was spoiled.

Xu Xiaomei was already favored by her mother-in-law at home, and she had quite a temper. When she heard that it was her sister-in-law who was behind it, she immediately got angry and called her sister-in-law a thief.

Although Sister-in-law Xu was in the wrong, she couldn't stand Xu Xiaomei's arrogance and also called Xu Xiaomei a troublemaker.

"All they do all day is stir up trouble at home. They get paid every month, eat and sleep at home every day, and instead of contributing to their families, they ask their elders for money to buy this and that. What are they compared to Guan Yuehua? At least she spends her own money!"

Sister-in-law Xu, in a fit of anger, blurted out the words "divorce the family."

Old Master Xu quickly stepped forward and tugged at her sleeve, trying to calm her down: After the family split up, the two of them were just one worker, and they had to support two sons. Moreover, the two sons were at the age of growing taller, and without the help of the family, they might not even be able to eat meat.

Sister-in-law Xu immediately thought of the same question, shut her mouth, and turned her head to the other side.

Xu Laosan wanted to stir things up further, and it would be best to finalize the division of the family property.

He and his wife both work at the movie theater; they're both employed. Their son and daughter are still young and don't eat much, and they also receive occasional financial assistance from his father-in-law. Their family is doing quite well. His parents favor his older brother and younger sister, and he's long wanted to stop letting his brother's family take advantage of him.

But Sister-in-law Xu glared at him: Let them make a fuss, why should we get involved?

Xu Laosan shrank back and didn't say anything.

Sure enough, without them stirring things up, Xu Xiaomei said, "Okay! Let's separate the family now. I'll live with my parents, and they'll pay my share of living expenses. You can live however you want after you leave!"

"Why should we be separated? Our parents will need us to take care of them in their old age. You're a daughter who will get married sooner or later. What right do you have to take care of the family affairs?"

"What business is it of yours whether I get married or not? You're an outsider, yet you're pointing fingers and telling me what to do. You don't work, you have no income, and all you do is think about moving your things back to your parents' house. Why don't you go back to your parents' house to eat and live?"

"I'll beat you to death, you troublemaker!" Sister-in-law Xu felt she had reached her limit. If she didn't give her sister-in-law a good beating, she would be so angry that she would die today.

Xu Xiaomei had also been putting up with her sister-in-law for a long time. No matter what she did, she would always make sarcastic remarks and talk badly about her outside. Today, she even replaced the meat that her boyfriend sent and tried to pin the blame on her... She couldn't take it anymore!

Xu Xiaomei was no match for her sister-in-law's strength. Even with her mother's help to stop her sister-in-law, she was still slapped twice. In her anger, she immediately turned her slaps on her silent older brother.

We're better off without this guy.

Two loud slaps stunned Xu Laoda, the rest of the Xu family were also stunned, and the onlookers were even more bewildered: Huh? I only blinked, how did the two sides in the fight change?

Finally, the silent Grandpa Xu spoke up: "Stop it, all of you! Stop it!"

The neighbors in the courtyard also tried to be helpful, offering advice and criticism to both sides.

Guan Yuehe stood on the outside, chuckling, "Uncle Xu didn't say anything earlier or later, but now he's calling for a stop. Is he worried about his eldest son being beaten?"

Lin Sitian nodded, but then said, "Brother Xu deserves a beating too. He watched his wife and sister argue without saying a word to mediate. He can't stand his sister asking his family for money, and he can't stand his sister-in-law sending things to her parents' home. He's just waiting to reap the benefits."

When Xu Chengcai was still living at home, the two of them often talked about gossip in the alley, especially about Xu Chengcai's family.

All the above analyses of Brother Xu were things that Xu Chengcai figured out on his own.

"Two people can't sleep in one bed." She understood this principle; her older sister often scolded her older brother and sister-in-law for being a snake and a rat.

"Sigh!" Lin Sitian sighed, "If my brother finds me a sister-in-law in the future, will he still be my brother? He'll become a stepbrother after he gets married."

"Then you shouldn't try to persuade him to get married. He can just stay single, haha."

“You have a point. I’ll write him a letter and tell him not to listen to my mom, hehehe.”

Aunt Fang, standing behind them: "..."

I really want to give each of them a roasted chestnut.

Even at night, the commotion at the Xu family's house didn't stop. The door was closed, so no one could see what was happening inside. But the house wasn't particularly soundproof either; if you pressed your ear against the door or window, you could still hear things.

Lin Sitian wanted to join in the fun, but Aunt Fang grabbed her ear and dragged her home. "I think you're just like your brother. You won't behave unless you get a beating every day!"

"I was born from you, not my brother. I look like you! Ahhh, Mom, Mom, I'm not going! Dad, Dad, you need to control your wife."

Grandpa Lin laughed and cursed, saying she deserved to be beaten. But a moment later, Grandma Fang also started cursing Grandpa Lin, "Look at those two monkeys in the Lin family!"

Guan Yuehe stood at the entrance, laughing so hard she bent over.

"Stop laughing! Come back here right now! Don't go eavesdropping by the wall, what kind of talk is that?" Jiang Guiying also caught the person and brought them back.

Meanwhile, Guan Aiguo, who had slipped out earlier, was listening intently against the wall.

The bustling atmosphere in Ginkgo Hutong in the new year is surprisingly all about the word "partner".

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, a big commotion arose because of the meat that Xu Xiaomei's boyfriend gave her. On the second day, Guan Yuehua's boyfriend, Comrade Gu Mannian, came to visit with lots of bags and packages.

The neighbors in the courtyard asked in surprise, "Yuehua is dating someone again? Is it someone from our car factory?"

Being stopped by neighbors to ask what happened was something Guan Yuehua was experienced with.

Seeing Gu Mannian with hair oil on his head, Guan Yuehe clicked her tongue several times in her mind.

Guan Canghai was somewhat dissatisfied with Gu Mannian's slicked-back hair, feeling that Gu Mannian's hairstyle was not good and that he should have a buzz cut to look more energetic.

Jiang Guiying knew from his expression that he wouldn't say anything nice, so she immediately pushed him aside and began to conduct a "background investigation" on Gu Mannian.

Jiang Guiying was quite satisfied with what Guan Yuehua had said, but she was still determined to find someone else to inquire about the situation.

"Comrade Xiao Guan..."

Gu Mannian's "Little Guan" was looked over by Guan Yuehe and Guan Yuehua at the same time. Both of them were called "Little Guan" at work.

But now, Guan Yuehe is certain that Gu Mannian was referring to her. Because Gu Mannian calls her "Comrade Yuehua." Oh, in private, they always just call each other "Yuehua."

When Gu Mannian talked about his situation at work, he cleverly mentioned Guan Yuehe, saying that Comrade Guan was very popular in the factory and was highly regarded by the leaders.

Jiang Guiying smiled broadly and modestly replied, "Not at all, not at all." Guan Canghai, in turn, found his slicked-back hair more appealing.

Guan Yuehe's eyes widened in disbelief: How could she be so outstanding in the factory?

Clearly, the atmosphere was much better this time when her sister brought her boyfriend home than last time, and everyone in the family was happy.

Jiang Guiying and Guan Canghai were especially pleased when they heard Gu Mannian say that they would furnish the house and move in as soon as they got it in July.

The older generation longs for nothing more than "stability".

With a house, a place to settle down, people can have more energy to work and live. A house is the beginning of a small family becoming a larger family.

Jiang Guiying had other ideas, so she discussed it with them and asked, "If someone in our alley wants to move to a new apartment building, would you like to move as well?"

She thought that after her younger daughter moved to a different room, her older daughter would also live nearby, so she could keep an eye on them. When they got married and had children, they could go about their work without her having to, and she could help bring the children back to help take care of them.

Leaving aside the younger daughter, let's talk about the older daughter. Gu Mannian's family lives in the machinery factory's residential compound, which is not close to the garment factory's residential compound. I heard that Gu Mannian's older brother's two children are still young, so his mother will definitely not be able to come and help him in the future.

Gu Mannian looked at Guan Yuehua, his eyes asking: What do you think?

Guan Yuehua frowned as she listened. If she had the chance to be allocated an apartment, she would never stay in the tenement.

"It's too early to think about it now. Let's wait until we get the house."

Jiang Guiying thought to herself, "How is this too early? You have to discuss it with people in advance, otherwise you won't be able to find a good house to move to."

Seeing the eldest daughter's perfunctory attitude, one could guess that she was unwilling to move to the alley.

So the topic of changing houses was never brought up again.

Just as we were preparing lunch, my sister-in-law, Guan Huijun, arrived with her husband and children.

"Oh! What a rare guest! I thought you didn't know which way the Guan family's door faces." Jiang Guiying's face darkened the moment she saw her sister-in-law. If her daughter hadn't brought her boyfriend, she would have definitely turned her away.

Guan Huijun walked up to Jiang Guiying affectionately and hugged her arm, saying, "Second sister-in-law, what are you saying?"

"Oh dear, I heard as soon as I entered the alley that Yuehua brought her boyfriend back. They look so well-matched standing together. Which unit does the young man work for?"

Upon hearing that it was from Zhuoyue Garment Factory, she exclaimed "Oh!" and joked, "Could it be that Yuehe introduced him? Yuehe is such a good sister, even knowing to introduce her older sister to outstanding men. No wonder she was recommended to go to university. Hey, where's Yuehe?"

Guan Yuehe had already hidden outside the door; her aunt's kind words gave her goosebumps.

Given my sister-in-law's nature of never coming to my door without a reason, the nicer she says now, the harder it will be for her to ask for help later.

My aunt's three children: the eldest cousin is already married and didn't come today; he went to visit his wife's parents. The other two are a fifteen-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl. Guan Yuehe and her eldest cousin are close in age, so they can exchange a few words when they meet, but I don't know what to say to the two younger ones.

So he asked Guan Aiguo to take them and Weiwei and Jingjing out to play.

The adults inside still have a lot to argue about.

After praising everyone in the family, the aunt finally revealed the purpose of her visit.

“Isn’t Yuehe going to university? I asked around, and people like Yuehe who have less than five years of work experience can’t receive a salary while they are in school, but they do receive a subsidy of sixteen yuan per month.”

Before anyone else could speak, Guan Huijun quickly continued, "Look, Yuehe will be away at school for three years. Isn't it a waste for someone else to have the job vacant? Why don't we let Hongwei temporarily fill in for her, and then give the job back to her when Yuehe comes back? That way, Hongwei can give you half of his salary each month, so Yuehe can have a better life at school, right?"

Guan Canghai's face darkened. "What nonsense are you spouting? Stop talking! Yuehe, you go back first."

"Second brother, Yuehe has already separated from the family and is now the head of the household. We can't let you make all the decisions for us, can we?"

Guan Canghai: "With me here, no one can take her job!"

"What do you mean 'borrow'?! I already said, it's a three-year loan for now. Anyway, Yuehe is going to university, and Hongwei will graduate in June. If he doesn't have a job, he'll have to go to the countryside. If we lend him Yuehe's job for three years, we'll have more time to help Hongwei find a job, right?"

Jiang Guiying disliked her sister-in-law even more. She looked down on her second son and now she was eyeing her youngest daughter's job. It was really because she had always been nice to her that her sister-in-law had become so arrogant!

Guan Yuehe had heard countless examples of this kind of nonsense about "temporarily borrowing a job" since she was a child. Like houses, very few jobs could be borrowed and then returned.

No matter how sweet her aunt's words were, Guan Yuehe would never agree.

Peeking his head in from outside, he said, "Our factory manager said that my position will be retained. When I graduate and return to the factory, the three years I spent studying will count as seniority, and I can't transfer my job to someone else."

"What are you saying? You and Hongwei are cousins, we're family, how can you be considered someone else?"

Guan Yuehe said seriously, "Let alone a cousin, even a biological brother is an outsider when it comes to work."

Even if she could lend out this job temporarily, even if Guan Aiguo was about to graduate and unemployed, she wouldn't lend it out. A job and a house are incredibly important things; she earned them all herself, and no one should be allowed to take even a fraction of them.

Besides, if you borrow something once, you'll borrow it again. Now that you've lent her your job, will you need to borrow her house later? She's not just looking for trouble for herself.

Guan Aiguo, who had sneaked back at some point, whispered, "I didn't have any designs on your job, why are you taking it out on me..."

"Are you done? If you are, I'll say a few words." Guan Yuehua, who hadn't spoken until now, suddenly said.

Guan Huijun wanted to say something more, but Guan Yuehua didn't give her the chance. "I already said no, no, no! Are you deaf or brainless? Who's family with you? If you're so generous, lend Guan Yuehe two hundred to buy a bicycle first."

Guan Yuehe added, "Give me another hundred to buy a radio. It would be best if you could give me more, as I'm still lacking furniture in my room."

After saying that, he turned his palm up, waiting to receive the money.

Gu Mannian stared at Guan Yuehua with wide eyes.