Chapter 149

Without taking a second look at Guo Gai showing off in the alley in his suit, Lin Xiaohan and Chu Xia went straight back to Yard No. 8 and entered the courtyard.

At this moment, Wang Cuiying was the only one in the inner courtyard. She was cooking dinner in the kitchen.

There were only her and Han Qingtian at home, they didn’t eat much and the meals were simple to cook.

After cooking, she sat down on the porch outside the door and did some needlework, waiting for Han Qingtian to come back for dinner.

Han Qingtian parked his tricycle in the front yard and went into the inner courtyard.

When Wang Cuiying saw him come back, she quickly put away the basket and went to the kitchen.

After the meal was served and they washed their hands, the old couple sat down in the house to eat.

Han Qingtian drank a mouthful of porridge and ate a bite of vegetables before saying, "That kid Guogai suddenly came back from the south."

It felt very sudden to hear this.

Wang Cuiying was startled when she heard this and asked hurriedly, "When did this happen?"

Han Qingtian's tone was still normal, "Just now, I was wearing a suit and carrying my luggage. I hadn't even reached home yet, but I was surrounded by people in the alley."

Wang Cuiying immediately asked, "Where are San'er and Chaozi?"

Han Qingtian said: "I asked, and they said they are still there and haven't come back yet."

Wang Cuiying's face and voice became anxious: "Why don't they come back?"

Han Qingtian was eating, and said calmly as usual: "There are so many people around, asking all kinds of questions, it's not good to ask so many detailed questions."

After hearing this, Wang Cuiying immediately put down her chopsticks and prepared to stand up.

Han Qingtian hurriedly stopped her, "Why are you in such a hurry? He just went home, you should let him rest. It's dinner time now, you can go ask him after dinner."

After hearing what Han Qingtian said, Wang Cuiying just sat there and didn't get up.

After finishing her meal, she couldn't sit still anymore, so she quickly washed the dishes and called Han Qingtian to help her find a pot lid.

When I arrived at Guo Gai's house, they hadn't started eating yet.

Wang Cuiying went straight to Guogai and asked, "Why didn't Han Ting and Chaozi come back with you?"

Guo Gai still said: "They are used to staying there, but I can't, so I came back."

Wang Cuiying was not too curious about what the south was like now. He was more concerned about his son, so he naturally asked, "What have you been doing there for more than a year? Why didn't you even come back for the New Year? The three of you have been together since childhood, so why didn't they come back with you?"

Guo Gai smiled and repeated, "Auntie, didn't I tell you? They are used to staying there, so they didn't come back. What else can they do there? Of course, they want to make money. The development there is fast. Coming back for the New Year would waste time, and time is money, so they didn't come back."

Wang Cuiying looked at the fashionable suit that Guo Gai was wearing.

With a smile on her face, she asked again, "What do you do there to make money?"

Guogai said: "Do everything, whatever can make money."

Wang Cuiying looked at the pot lid and continued to ask: "It must be very hard, you are now tanned."

The corners of Guogai's mouth stiffened slightly. "It's hard to make money. I have to run around outside all day. The sun is strong in the south, so I'm sure I'll get tanned."

Wang Cuiying: "Did Han Ting and Chaozi say when they will be back?"

Guo Gai smiled and said, "I'll come back when I make enough money."

Wang Cuiying wanted to ask something else, but the people from Guogai's family called her to eat.

Han Qingtian didn't let her ask any more questions so as not to delay Guo Gai's dinner and let him go to eat dinner first.

Guo Gai smiled, said hello to Han Qingtian and Wang Cuiying again, and left.

He turned around, walked a few steps, and took a long breath.

Of course, what he said was not true.

It’s not what I said to the people in the alley, and it’s not what I said to Han Qingtian and Wang Cuiying.

Originally, when he went out with Han Ting and Chaozi at the beginning of the year, he had the carefree imagination of "traveling around the world with a sword in hand", but after going out, he realized that imagination is just imagination after all.

The main means for the South to build special economic zones is to open up to the outside world and attract investment.

To put it bluntly, this is all business between the country and the rich. The country is poor, so most of the foreign investment is attracted.

There are not many people going south to work at this time.

Ordinary people cannot do any business. If they want to run a small business, they can only make things and sell them to other places, but this only works if they have money.

For the most common migrant workers, the best job to find right now is to work on a construction site or in a factory. What is most needed in city construction is workers.

When Guo Gai and Han Tingchaozi went south, they only had enough money to survive.

Arriving in a strange place where they were unfamiliar with the surroundings, the three of them groped around in the south for more than a month, but failed to find a good way to make money. They had to solve the problem of livelihood, so they had no choice but to work on the construction site.

Thinking back to when the three of them returned to the city from the countryside, the Youth League Office had not arranged any jobs for them, and none of them went to work as temporary workers on construction sites. As a result, they were forced to suffer such hardships after arriving in the south.

In order to make a living, they do physical work on the construction site under the wind and sun every day.

In the city where high-rise buildings are built on wasteland, no one knows who they are. They are like three unknown ants, forced by life to rush around in the bottom of this city.

But after two months, the lid couldn't take it anymore.

The life now is even harder than the days when I first went to the countryside. It is hard not only in terms of life, but also psychologically. Life is tiring and without any dignity.

But what’s better than that time is that there is hope in life.

Han Ting agreed with him and Chaozi that they should work hard to save some money. Once they had the capital and found a good way, making money would be a matter of reselling.

The pot lid was held up by this hope.

After half a year and until New Year's Day, they gritted their teeth and saved some money by living frugally.

At the same time, because he stayed outside for a long time, Han Ting also made some friends.

Through the friends he made, Han Ting figured out how to tinker with color TVs.

There are no color TVs available in the country right now, so we have to import them from abroad. This requires a way, because it has to be smuggled secretly.

Friends have connections, and it’s guaranteed to be safe and risk-free.

They don't have much money now, so we can give them one or two machines to try out the waters first.

The Chinese New Year was approaching, and they wanted to make some money so they could go home and celebrate the New Year.

Unexpectedly, they were cheated by this friend. After working hard on the construction site and saving money for a year, they were cheated of all the money. They couldn't even afford the ticket back to Beijing before the New Year.

Of course, if they want, they can also sneak back by evading the ticket and riding the train.

But they couldn't face it and felt ashamed to go back, so they stayed there to celebrate the New Year.

Treat him like a dog, a cow, and a grandson, unwilling to eat or wear anything, with a face full of dirt.

In the end, we couldn’t even have a full meal on New Year’s Eve.

The frustration and depression that had been pent up for a whole year could no longer be suppressed on such a special night.

They started arguing because they had a disagreement, and when their emotions got hot, their words became more and more harsh, poking at each other's heart and spine, and in the end they even started fighting, punching each other in the face.

After the quarrel, Guo Gai left.

On New Year’s Eve, I was walking alone on the streets of a foreign country with an empty stomach, and I felt that the world in front of me seemed to have completely changed into something I didn’t recognize.

After the Chinese New Year, he found another job and worked for two months.

He earned enough money to buy a suit and came back without saying goodbye to Han Tingchaozi.

Sitting on the train on the way back, I thought about how confident I was when I went south, and my lofty ambition to roam the world with a sword, and it all seemed ridiculous to me.

He had always been unwilling to believe that Han Ting was no longer their Brother Ting, and that the days when they could call the shots had long ended. Now he believed it and accepted it.

***

After Wang Cuiying learned about Han Ting's situation from Guo Gai, she felt much more at ease.

When she finished washing up and was about to go to bed at night, she said to Han Qingtian: "Since San'er is making a lot of money outside, why don't you take a break? You are so old, don't be so tired."

Han Qingtian said calmly: "Do you think what Guo Gai said is true?"

Wang Cuiying said, "How can it not be true? Look at the clothes he wore when he came back. It's obvious that he is doing big business outside. He must have made a lot of money."

Han Qingtian: "How much is a set of clothes worth?"

Wang Cuiying: "So you think what he said is not true?"

Han Qingtian: "I don't know, but I feel like it's not entirely true."

After hearing what Han Qingtian said, Wang Cuiying became worried again.

He looked at Han Qingtian and said, "Did something happen to San'er and Chaozi outside?"

Han Qingtian: "It shouldn't be anything serious."

Wang Cuiying breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Let's write a letter and ask him. If it doesn't work, ask him to come back quickly and stop wasting time outside."

***

Because it has little to do with me.

Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan didn't care much about Guo Gai's sudden return.

He, Han Ting and Chaozi have always been inseparable since they were young. Now, during a special occasion, he suddenly came back alone. It is obvious that the three of them must have had a quarrel.

Since they are having a falling out, life outside must not be as good as he says.

The three of them care about their reputation the most, so naturally they won't tell the truth.

What Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan are most concerned about is Chuxia's belly.

According to the calculated time, it will happen in the next few days, but the exact day and moment are unknown, so both of them are excited and nervous.

Lying in bed at night, Lin Xiaohan and Chu Xia put their hands on their stomachs, feeling the vitality of the little guy inside, and talked to their stomachs, asking the little guy to come out earlier.

Maybe what I said worked.

In the middle of the night, Chuxia felt something strange under her body and woke up suddenly.

She woke up with a start, and Lin Xiaohan also woke up and asked her, "What's wrong?"

Chu Xia replied somewhat embarrassedly: "I feel... as if... I peed..."

Lin Xiaohan sat up when he heard this, "Did your water break?"

It’s hard to explain in early summer.

Of course, Lin Xiaohan did not delay. As he spoke, he turned on the lights in the room, took clothes for Chuxia to wear, and immediately took her to the hospital.

When they came out of the room and were about to go out the front door, Tang Haikuan and Wu Xuemei also woke up.

Wu Xuemei quickly came out of the room and asked, "What's wrong? Are you about to give birth?"

As soon as she asked this question, before Lin Xiaohan answered, Chu Xia's stomach suddenly ached.

Seeing Chu Xia's reaction, there was no need to ask any more questions. Wu Xuemei hurried back to her room to change clothes. After changing clothes, she came out with Tang Haikuan, took the prepared things and went to the hospital with them.

Lin Xiaohan took Chu Xia and walked ahead.

Before they left, they posted the closure notice they had prepared in advance on the restaurant.

The night in the alley slowly faded away and the sun rose from the east.

The sun streamed into the alley, illuminating the closure notice posted on the restaurant door.

The sun slowly rose to the zenith and then set in the west.

As the sun set, Tang Haikuan stopped his bike outside the gate, went into the yard and busy himself in the kitchen for a while, then took out an insulated lunch box and rode out of the alley again.

***

In the ward.

Lying in bed in early summer.

Next to her was a pink ball lying in a cradle.

You can never get enough of looking at the baby you gave birth to.

Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan looked at each other for a while, and Chu Xia asked, "Does it look like you or me?"

Lin Xiaohan smiled and said, "The eyes are like yours, and the nose is like mine."

Chu Xia laughed out loud, "Anyway, I can't tell who he looks like."

I just felt that it was too small, with a small face and small hands, and it felt just a little bit bigger lying next to me.

They were laughing and talking in low voices when Wu Xuemei came in carrying a lunch box, followed by Tang Haikuan.

Having become grandparents now, Wu Xuemei and Tang Haikuan are both very happy.

Wu Xuemei brought the lunch box to the bedside and said with a smile, "Come and eat something."

After saying that, she picked up the child from the bed and stared at her with Tang Haikuan again. Lin Xiaohan helped Chu Xia up from the hospital bed and took care of her while she was eating.

Eating in bed in early summer.

Wu Xuemei held the child and said, "Your father and mother are both good-looking, and you are also good-looking."

Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan couldn't help laughing after hearing this.

After Wu Xuemei coaxed the child for a while, Lin Xiaohan said, "Mom and Dad, you can go back and rest later. You don't have to stay here tomorrow. I've asked for leave, so I'll just stay here."

Wu Xuemei held the child in her arms and looked at him, "Can you do it? I'll take care of him here."

Lin Xiaohan said: "Don't underestimate me, I can still do this. I have been preparing since Xia Xia became pregnant. There is nothing I can't do."

Wu Xuemei didn't argue much with Lin Xiaohan.

She looked at Chu Xia and asked, "Xia Xia, who do you want to take care of you here?"

Chu Xia took a sip of soup and said without reservation: "Then I will definitely ask my husband to take care of me."

Wu Xuemei cried out, and then said to the child, "Grandma's teeth are about to fall out!"

***

Giving birth in early summer is smoother and postpartum recovery is also better.

She stayed in the hospital for seven days and then was discharged and went home.

On the day of her discharge, Tang Haikuan and Wu Xuemei came to the hospital to pick her up.

Wu Xuemei was responsible for holding the child, Tang Haikuan was responsible for carrying most of the luggage, and Lin Xiaohan carried a small part of the luggage and held Chuxia's hand to support her.

When I got off the taxi and entered the alley, someone greeted me.

After saying hello, everyone rushed over to see the child, praising him for his good looks.

Wu Xuemei went home holding her child with a smile on her face, and the yard became quiet again.

She carried the child into Chuxia's room, put him in the rocking bed, and let Chuxia go to bed to rest.

The restaurant is not closed today, but no one comes to eat here.

Tang Haikuan and Wu Xuemei stayed behind for a while and played with the child.

Just when he was having fun, he suddenly heard Uncle Sun's voice coming from outside: "Brother Tang! Director Xiao Xia!"

Tang Haikuan went out after hearing the sound, only to see Uncle Sun coming over with large and small bags of things, including eggs and milk.

Tang Haikuan said, "Just come if you want to. Why do you need to bring so many things?"

Uncle Sun smiled and said, "I was afraid it would be inconvenient for me to stay in the hospital, so I came here today to see Director Xia and the child."

He put the things on the table outside.

Tang Haikuan led him into the room.

When Uncle Sun entered the room, there was another round of greetings.

After greeting the adults, Uncle Sun went to the crib, looked at the child, and asked with a smile, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

Tang Haikuan said: "Grandson."

Uncle Sun smiled and asked again, "What's your name?"

Tang Haikuan looked at the child and replied with a smile: "Let's call him Yiyi."

Uncle Sun smiled and called out, "Little Yiyi."

After looking at the child, he smiled and said a few festive words.

Uncle Sun told Chu Xia a few more things about the factory: "The first batch of finished pickles will be out of the tank tomorrow. I'm telling you, you don't have to worry about it. I'll take care of the rest."

The pickles produced by their factory originally had sales channels.

Chu Xia naturally had nothing to worry about, so she just nodded and said, "Okay, thank you Uncle Sun."

Once the pickles are taken out of the jar and started to be sold, you will know whether they are successful or not.

Uncle Sun is now full of confidence and motivation, and doesn't feel any trouble at all.

He also told Chuxia about some recent developments in the factory.

After finishing his general talk, he did not delay Chuxia's rest and went back to the factory to do his own things.

Lin Xiaohan took advantage of this time to register the child's household registration. Tang Haikuan had to go to the restaurant in front to be busy, so they sent Uncle Sun out together.

Everyone left and the room became quiet.

Wu Xuemei said to Chu Xia, "Your uncle Sun is in charge of the factory's affairs. Don't worry too much for now. The most important thing for you now is to take care of your health peacefully."

Chu Xia smiled and said, "I'm not worried at all. My pickles will definitely sell well."

Seeing Chu Xia say this, Wu Xuemei also smiled, "If you say it's selling well, then it must be selling well."

Wu Xuemei chatted with Chuxia for a while and coaxed the child to sleep.

Seeing that Chuxia was a little tired, he let Chuxia close her eyes and rest while he went to the front to busy himself.

The room was quiet, and Chuxia and the child fell asleep together.

I didn't know how long I slept when I was suddenly awakened by the crying of a child.

Chuxia opened her eyes and was about to get up when she found that Lin Xiaohan had returned.

Lin Xiaohan went to the crib and took a look, then said to Chu Xia, "He peed."

Chu Xia just lay there without moving, with her face turned sideways, watching him change the baby's diaper.

Lin Xiaohan changed the child's diaper, looked at Chuxia and asked, "What are you looking at?"

Chu Xia smiled slightly and said, "You look good."

Lin Xiaohan: "Is it also nice to change a baby's diaper?"

Chu Xia nodded, her eyes bright: "Yeah."

Lin Xiaohan believed her words and took out the changed diaper with a smile.

The child stopped crying, and Chuxia reached out and put her hand on the rocking bed.

I shook it twice gently and glanced casually, and saw the household registration book on the desk.

Thinking that they are now a family of three, I feel warm in my heart.

Chuxia threw back the quilt and got out of bed, went to the desk, picked up the household registration book and took a look at it.

Turned the page of Lin Xiaohan, and then turned the page of hers.

When he turned to the next page, he suddenly stopped and blinked.

***

Pickle factory.

The workers, wearing masks, hats and work clothes, were raking the yard in sync.

Raking is a strenuous job, and you'll start sweating after a few tries.

One of the workers kept moving his hands and spoke with a heavy breath: "I don't know how the first batch of pickles are selling. I don't want to wait and see the effect. You see, this girl is young, but she speaks with a big tone and is quite confident. How much experience and research can she have in making pickles as she is a college student? I don't know where she got the recipe. It's her first time making it, so she should have made some and sold it first. Even if she can't sell it, she won't lose much, right?"

Another worker panted slightly and said, "Isn't it? If we can't sell them, what's the point of working so hard here? Isn't it just a waste of effort?"

"Did you taste the pickles when they came out of the jar?"

"I don't have any. What's there to taste? Will she listen to my opinion after tasting it?"

"As the old saying goes, if you don't listen to the advice of elders, you will suffer the consequences..."

Before I could finish my sentence, I heard someone shout, "I have good news for you all!"

I raised my eyes and looked over, only to see that it was Deputy Director Sun.

Everyone’s attitude towards Uncle Sun is not very good now.

Seeing him shouting excitedly, no one responded with enthusiasm. Only a worker replied perfunctorily, "What good news?"

Uncle Sun didn't care about their attitude.

He then added directly: "All the pickles we shipped out in the first batch have been sold out!"

Hearing this, the workers were all stunned.

The raking work had just finished, so they stopped what they were doing and looked at Uncle Sun, asking without realizing it, "What did you say?"

Uncle Sun repeated, "I said! All the pickles we shipped out in the first batch have been sold out!"

Although the number is not large, it is already a lot for their factory which is on the verge of bankruptcy due to its poor performance. After all, this is just the beginning.

The workers looked at each other in disbelief.

Then an old worker asked, "They're all sold out in less than three days?"

Uncle Sun said passionately, "Yes! I think this is not enough. We are just getting started. When more and more people know that the pickles from our pickle factory are delicious, they will sell even better!"

The workers looked at each other again, still looking a little bit unbelieving.

Then one of the workers reacted first. He hurriedly took a tin basin, scooped some pickles from the ready-made pickle jar with a spoon, pulled down his mask, pinched a little and put it into his mouth.

As soon as I put it in my mouth and took two bites, my eyes lit up.

Then he hummed and nodded to the other workers, and said affirmatively: "It really tastes very different. It's better than any pickled vegetable I've ever eaten."

Hearing what he said, other workers came over, pulled down their masks and started to taste it.

After tasting, no one said anything, and they only communicated with each other through eye contact. I looked at you and cleared my throat, and it seemed a bit awkward.

Then the most experienced master in the factory said in a half-hearted voice: "This girl... doesn't look very reliable... but... she is really capable..."

Uncle Sun smiled and said, "I've told you a long time ago that she is not an ordinary person. Since she dared to take such a big risk to take over our factory, and even gave up her job as a government official, she must be sure that she can revitalize our factory. How is it now?"

The old master cleared his throat again and said after a moment: "Now... just... hurry up and get back to work!"

The other workers also put on their masks and said excitedly, "Get to work!"