Chapter 37 Shabu-shabu
Since his mother passed away, Shi Tiesheng's family has fallen into hardship.
In order to support his family and pay off his debts, he had to push his wheelchair to work in a street factory every day. His job was to paint ladies on duck eggs, day after day, and he could earn a dozen yuan a month.
During this period, in order to obtain the government's disability subsidies and housing area subsidies for the disabled, he spent about two years running between the Civil Affairs Bureau, the Youth League Office, and the Housing Authority at a frequency of one trip per week.
This year, I finally got the disability subsidy stipulated by the policy and a house with twice the size.
The new house is near Lama Temple, at No. 26 Lama Temple Street.
In the compound of Qianyongkang Hutong, when Lin Weimin and Qu Xiaowei arrived, Shi Tiesheng's family was packing up. Lin Weimin met Shi Tiesheng's father for the first time. He used to work at Yanjing Forestry College and was transferred to Yunnan Forestry College a few years ago. Since his mother passed away, his father has been taking care of Shi Tiesheng's daily life.
Not only Lin Weimin and his companion came today, but also two of Shi Tiesheng's friends, a man and a woman, a couple. Shi Tiesheng introduced them as Xu Xiao and Zhou Meiying.
Qu Xiaowei whispered to Lin Weimin, "The couple are the main force of Today."
"today"?
Lin Weimin had been traveling through time for more than a year, so of course he had heard of the name of Today. This magazine was sponsored by several heavyweight Misty Poets such as Zhao Zhenkai and Mang Ke. It was very popular in the past two years, but it has been suspended recently.
After exchanging some greetings, they hurried to help the Shi family move.
Zhou Meiying found a tricycle in advance, and Lin Weimin and Qu Xiaowei were responsible for the work.
The Shi family's house was small, but they unearthed a lot of stuff. Shi Tiesheng felt a little embarrassed, "They are all old belongings. I'm sorry for the trouble."
Qu Xiaowei smiled and said, "It's not tiring at all. With so many of us, we can finish moving everything in two trips."
The situation was similar to what he said. The former Yongkang Hutong and Lama Temple Street formed a vertical T. The total distance of the move was probably less than 500 meters. The young people who came here really didn't have to put in much effort.
There is a public water tap on the edge of a shabby courtyard on the west side of the Lama Temple gate, close to the main street. On its left side is a courtyard within a courtyard with two bungalows. They look old and were probably built during the Republic of China.
This is the house that Shi Tiesheng spent two years running around to get.
The area of this house is indeed much larger than the previous house in Yongkang Hutong. Shi Tiesheng has a room all to himself. He pushed his wheelchair around the room and took out a tape measure from somewhere and actually wanted to measure the area of the new house.
With the help of Lin Weimin, the area of the house was calculated, which was just over 12 square meters, twice the size of the original house after it was renovated.
Shi Tiesheng laughed happily, as if his long-cherished wish had finally come true.
Cleaning the house is a troublesome task, but once they have moved everything that can be moved into the new house, the men's work is basically done.
Xu Xiao and Shi Tiesheng's sister Shi Lan were responsible for cleaning.
While everyone was not paying attention, Lin Weimin dragged Qu Xiaowei out of the door.
"Where are you going?"
"Go buy something."
"What?"
"Nonsense, let's talk about food. Last time at the station, didn't you say Tiesheng loves to eat mutton hotpot?"
“Isn’t it hard to buy?”
“Are you worried that you can’t buy things even if you have money?”
In the middle of summer, mutton rolls are indeed difficult to buy. Lin Weimin and Qu Xiaowei went to two vegetable markets and grocery stores, but they couldn't find any.
Lin Weimin came up with an idea, and the two of them ran to Donglaishun. There was no mutton elsewhere, so there must be some here.
Lin Weimin paid for the mutton. Qu Xiaowei wanted to be generous for once, but Lin Weimin did not give him the opportunity. He could only buy some vegetables and sesame sauce.
"By the way, does Tiesheng have a copper pot?"
"It seems not."
Then he turned around and bought a copper pot.
Vegetables, sauces, eight pounds of mutton, plus a copper pot, cost nearly twenty yuan. When Lin Weimin and Qu Xiaowei came back, Shi Tiesheng's family and Zhou Meiying and his wife were all very surprised.
Father Shi was a silent man. He pursed his lips and said, "I'm sorry to have cost you so much."
"Uncle, you are too polite. Today is your family's housewarming day, so let's celebrate it."
Shi Tiesheng was not polite at all. Instead, he shouted happily, "Finally, I can eat shabu-shabu mutton! I haven't eaten it for a long time!"
Lin Weimin said with a smile: "I'll let you eat as much as you want today!"
All the things were purchased, and the remaining things were put away. The main force of the work became Shi's father and Xu Xiao.
While they were shopping, the four men chatted.
We are all engaged in literary work, so it is familiar to talk about each other. In the past two years, "Today" has been a hot topic in the literary circle of Yenching, and Zhou Meiying and his wife are also very famous.
Although "Today" has gone bankrupt now, the couple has made friends everywhere. When they talked to Lin Weimin and others, they found that they knew many of them, including many people from the Institute of Literature Research.
"Come to the table and eat."
The way of eating Lao Yanjing Copper Hotpot is slightly different from the hotpot and hotpot in the south, and the base of the pot is usually clear soup.
At this time, the bottom of the pot had already boiled, and steam was rising. In addition, the temperature outside was already 30 degrees Celsius, so everyone was sweating all over after sitting at the table for a while.
But this heat does not affect eating, but makes people feel more refreshed.
"I think eating hotpot is a great way to relax in the hot summer!" Qu Xiaowei grinned, sweating profusely.
"Comfortable, really comfortable!" Zhou Meiying is a person who loves to eat. After taking a bite of mutton hotpot, she has to take a sip of soda.
Shi Tiesheng ate with a smile on his face, and did not forget to pick up some meat for his sister Shi Lan. Shi's father, on the other hand, was silently paying attention to the bottom of the copper pot and the food, and would immediately add more if he saw anything was missing.
While eating, everyone did not forget to chat.
As they chatted, they talked about their recent works. Zhou Meiying and his wife were more involved in editing rather than creative work, and Qu Xiaowei hadn't had any inspiration for more than half a year.
Only Shi Tiesheng and Lin Weimin are still creating.
Starting from last year, Shi Tiesheng first published his short story "The Fate of Love" in the journal of the Chinese Department of Northwest University. Not long after, he wrote a short story "Brothers", which was published by Xu Xiao in "Today" and then reprinted in "Huacheng".
Later he wrote "A Corner Without the Sun", which was also published in "Today" and then reprinted in "Youth Literature", with the title changed to "This Corner".
"The article "The Death of Yura" published in "Contemporary" was written by you, right? I read it, it's really well written." Xu Xiao said to Lin Weimin.
"Not only that, this month he also published an article in Zhongshan, which is a novella." Qu Xiaowei boasted.
Zhou Meiying said with appreciation: "At this age, Weimin's creative ability is at its peak!"
…
Everyone ate and talked, and in less than an hour, the eight kilograms of mutton were gone.
These days, few people have enough money to eat.
Shi Tiesheng patted his stomach and laughed, "It's a rare good meal!"
His humorous tone also made everyone laugh.
After lunch, Shi's father and Shi Lan went to clean up the table. Several people wanted to help but were refused by the father and daughter, who told them to just chat with Shi Tiesheng.
In the afternoon, after being busy for the whole morning, Shi Tiesheng was very tired.
A few people did not stay long and took the initiative to say goodbye.
I felt like I was dying. My whole body ached to the very bones and all my internal organs ached.
(End of this chapter)
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