Chapter 10 010 Spread

"Big sister went out to eat at a state-run restaurant again?" Guan Aiguo returned after watching the commotion and, finding Guan Yuehua not home, grumbled, "I want to eat at a state-run restaurant too!"

His eyes secretly glanced at Jiang Guiying.

Weiwei and Jingjing immediately raised their hands high, "I want to eat too!"

Guan Canghai tapped his pipe on the table, his eyes sweeping over the three youngest children in the family. "If you don't want to eat, then go hungry!"

In other words, now that life is better, people who can barely afford to eat are already thinking about going out to eat better food all the time.

Weiwei's eyes darted around as he asked, "Grandma, when is Auntie bringing her boyfriend home for dinner?"

Aunt Xu from the front yard is bringing her boyfriend home for dinner on Sunday. Xu Erbao said that his grandma is going to buy meat to entertain Aunt Xu's boyfriend.

Everyone looked at Jiang Guiying, "Is the eldest sister bringing her boyfriend home for dinner?"

“That’s not true!” Jiang Guiying said. “She won’t say who she’s dating.”

He then asked Guan Canghai, "You take your daughter to work every day, haven't you noticed anything amiss?"

"And you, you both work at a car factory, didn't you hear a thing?"

Guan Canghai and Guan Jianguo shook their heads, indicating that they also knew nothing about it.

Five Star Automobile Factory is a large factory with 10,000 employees. In addition to automobile production, it also has its own supply and marketing cooperative, cinema, soft drink factory, agricultural product processing plant, pig farm, and so on.

Take, for example, the three workers in their family at the car factory: Guan Canghai worked at the factory's barbershop, Guan Yuehua worked at the factory's guesthouse, and Guan Jianguo drove a transport truck and worked in the fleet. These three places weren't all clustered together; the guesthouse and barbershop were closer, but they were practically at opposite ends of the same road. The factory had a total of six canteens, so they couldn't all eat together at the same time.

Guan Yuehua inherited the best features of both Guan Canghai and Jiang Guiying, and was a beauty from childhood to adulthood. Whether in Ginkgo Alley or at the Five Star Automobile Factory, she never lacked attention. Logically speaking, if she were to have a boyfriend, people at the automobile factory would see her and ask the Guan family about it.

There's absolutely no news right now...

Either Guan Yuehua was extremely good at keeping things secret, or the person she was dating was neither from Ginkgo Hutong nor from the Five Star Automobile Factory!

"So what if she's dating? It's not like it's anything shameful. Why not tell your family so they can help them decide? Only family can tolerate her terrible temper..."

Once Jiang Guiying started scolding, she couldn't stop. Guan Yuehe was afraid of being implicated, so she urged everyone to sit down and eat, as she had to go back to her dormitory.

Her older sister's temper isn't just bad at home; she's just as short-tempered outside. Her mother is worrying unnecessarily!

"By the way, what's the outcome of the argument in the second courtyard next door?" Jiang Guiying asked Guan Aiguo, and the others also perked up their ears.

"It's still about the Zhou and Sun families. As soon as Song, the police officer from their compound, and the deputy head of the factory's security department came, things calmed down."

Guan Aiguo ate two large mouthfuls to fill his stomach, then continued, "Guess why they're so eager to fight this time?"

Why?

"The Sun family had their eyes on the vacant left wing room! They wanted to take over the house by causing trouble. But unexpectedly, the left wing room was given to Director Ma's second son by Grandpa Ma, who used to live there. The Sun family's efforts were in vain again."

"However, Uncle Ma doesn't seem to be in a hurry to move in. He probably wants to move to a different house. There are a lot of people eyeing it."

Jiang Guiying and Guan Canghai exchanged a glance, their hearts pounding.

Guan Jianguo casually asked, "What else does Ma Lao Er want to change? He and his wife only have one child now, right?"

"I don't know about that." Guan Aiguo scratched his head. "Some people said that Uncle Ma Er wants to live in an apartment building, but I don't know if it's true or not."

“It’s not surprising. Who wouldn’t want to live in an apartment building?” Guan Jianguo said, then suddenly grasped the key point and looked up at Guan Yuehe, “Last Sunday, Ma Lao Er and his wife came to our house. Could it be that they wanted to exchange apartments with you?”

Now that she'd been discovered, Guan Yuehe didn't intend to keep it a secret any longer. She nodded and said, "It's all settled. I'll get an 18-square-meter apartment, and I'll pay an additional 185 square meters to exchange for the left-side room next door."

Guan Jianguo didn't know what to say for a moment.

The apartment is nice, but this move doubles the size, and my younger sister lives alone... There aren't many people in the entire Ginkgo Hutong who live more spaciously than her.

Everyone says big factories are great; walking around in the uniform of a five-star car factory always draws envious glances. But now he feels that while big factories offer comprehensive benefits, they aren't necessarily better than small factories.

Look at Zhuoyue Garment Factory. Back then, many people in the alley were pessimistic, saying there was no need to set up a garment factory. But look at it now, Zhuoyue brand sportswear is sold to other provinces, and even ordinary employees who have only been there for three years and haven't started a family can get housing...

Luck is a fickle thing.

"Is the money enough? If not, your sister-in-law and I can contribute some."

"Enough!" Guan Yuehe had no intention of borrowing money from her family.

She grew up in the alleyways and heard a lot of gossip from neighbors. No one knew when their own family would bring up old grievances from over a decade ago.

As long as everything is fine now, that's fine. But who knows if this money will cause trouble in the future?

"Thank you, brother."

"That's enough." Guan Jianguo didn't mention the money again, but said regretfully, "It would be so much better if we could exchange it for something in our own courtyard!"

"It's just a wall between us, it's all the same." Jiang Guiying finished speaking and reminded them not to spread the news, especially the two younger ones. "Whoever tells anyone, can forget about eating meat! Do you hear me?"

"Okay, Grandma!"

—

"Mom and Dad have kept it a secret well enough, do they think they're afraid we'll ruin things?" Lin Yufeng had just coaxed Jingjing to sleep, so she moved her inside, sat her on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and nudged Guan Jianguo, who was soaking his feet.

"What's the point of telling us before we even got the house?" Guan Jianguo said, "The house has nothing to do with our family. It doesn't matter whether we find out sooner or later."

Lin Yufeng knew this all too well.

The two sisters-in-law's salaries belong to them, as their parents-in-law had agreed upon long ago. Naturally, their families wouldn't accept the apartments allocated to them by their workplaces.

Her in-laws weren't the kind of parents who favored sons over daughters. Sometimes she felt lucky to have married into such a family, where she didn't have to worry about being mistreated. Other times, she felt uneasy because her two sisters-in-law earned quite a bit but didn't contribute much to the household expenses.

But that's all she can do; she doesn't have the authority to make decisions in this family.

They're already lucky to have a room in the house. But who would complain about having too many rooms?

“The house at home belongs to your parents, so you still need to try to get a house from the factory. Based on your seniority, you should have been eligible long ago.”

Guan Jianguo sighed heavily, "There are too many people who are eligible for housing allocation, and there's still a waiting list."

"I heard that the factory plans to build two buildings to provide housing. If that's true, there might still be some hope."

Lin Yufeng's eyes lit up, "Can I make it in time for the new dormitory room assignments?"

"...No. But I can usually get a room for the people ahead of me in line. If there's a next time, my chances of getting a room will be much higher."

"Why did you bring this up? It's a downer!" Lin Yufeng kicked him angrily. "Go pour yourself some water!"

Guan Jianguo wasn't annoyed. Instead, he grinned and leaned closer, "Yufeng, shall we go buy a car this Sunday?"

"You got the tickets?"

"..." Guan Jianguo slapped his forehead. "I forgot about this. I'll find someone to replace it as soon as possible."

Bicycle tickets are hard to come by and difficult to exchange. If you don't have connections, you have to keep an eye on the factory's year-end awards for "advanced workers" and "model workers"—those that people don't need—to exchange for them.

However, Guan Jianguo was, after all, part of the factory's transportation team. Although he was only assigned to short-distance routes, his mentor, who ran long-distance routes, might be able to get the job.

—

The next day, everyone in Ginkgo Hutong knew that Ma Lao Er was going to exchange the left wing of No. 2 Courtyard for Guan Yuehe's apartment.

"Should we replace both and a half rooms?"

"The Ma family said Yuehe needs to pay an additional two hundred yuan."

A group of people gasped, unsure whether they were surprised that Guan Yuehe, a young woman, could come up with two hundred yuan, or surprised that she was about to live alone in a two-and-a-half-room house.

"Why?! Why should the factory's buildings be given to people from other factories?"

"What do you mean by 'allowing' or 'not allowing'? They traded their houses and money for it. If you can afford it, you can trade too."

The two old people in the Sun family didn't care how they changed things; they were fixated on the fact that "Guan Yuehe wasn't a worker at the car factory" and wanted to go and make a scene at the factory leaders.

They felt that Ma Lao Er and Guan Yue He's house swapping was against the rules, but did that mean that other people in the factory, including some leaders, were in compliance with the rules when swapping houses? Let alone swapping houses with workers from other factories, even changing jobs would be fine.

Whoever wants to be the "nitpicker" and mess up the house swap between Ma Lao Er and Guan Yue He, how can they expect to get away with it?

Ma Lao Er's father is the director of the street office. After making a scene, isn't he afraid of having difficulty getting things done at the street office in the future?

The two old men in the Sun family weren't afraid at all. But when Sun Jiawang glared at them with a stern face, they didn't dare to cause any trouble.

—

When Lin Yufeng returned from grocery shopping, she was stopped by someone asking about her sister-in-law's house swap. Her heart skipped a beat, and without bothering to explain, she hurried home.

She had only mentioned moving houses at home last night, and today the news had spread throughout the alley. She was afraid her mother-in-law would think she was the one spreading the rumors.

Honestly, she didn't utter a single word!

As soon as I stepped across the threshold leading to the backyard, I saw my mother-in-law and Ma Lao Er's wife cursing at each other.

Fortunately, the person being scolded wasn't her, but rather Boss Ma's wife.

"Your sister-in-law is a real scoundrel! She's arranged for someone to switch places, and now she's going to ruin your plans! What's she after? She's a despicable wretch!"

Ma Ersao said with a bitter face, "My parents-in-law told me time and again not to go around talking about this, but who knew she had such a big mouth? Auntie, you don't know, my sister-in-law is such a person... sigh!"

Lin Yufeng thought to herself angrily: "You're only saying half of what you mean. What's really going on with Sister-in-law Ma?"

Ma Ersao stayed for half an hour before leaving, half complaining and half making assurances, fearing that the Guan family might change their minds and change rooms at the last minute.

"Mom, shall we still change it?" Lin Yufeng gestured with her chin toward the neighboring yard, where the elderly couple from the Sun family were lamenting their son's miserable life.

Jiang Guiying splashed a basin of water at the door and spat, "Others may be afraid of their family, but I'm not."

Raising his voice, he shouted next door, "If you're so miserable you don't want to live, hang yourself from the tree at the alley entrance tonight!"

The neighboring courtyard was quiet.