Song Jiayu loves eating dumplings, especially freshly made dumplings, not the ones bought in bags at the supermarket. The freshly rolled dumpling wrappers also have a strong wheat aroma.
The next morning we also had dumplings, but they were fried and served with cornmeal porridge.
The cornmeal porridge in the white porcelain bowl was smoking and looked orange-yellow. Song Jiayu liked sweet things, so she added some sugar to it, not much. When she took a sip, it had just the right amount of sweetness.
Pan-fried dumplings and boiled dumplings taste very different. The fillings inside are similar, but the outer layer of dumpling skin has two completely different textures.
The skin is crispy, and the cabbage and pork filling inside is fried to release juice. When you bite into half, the crispy dumpling skin tastes like soybean oil, and the meat filling is still as delicious.
The two of them finished more than twenty fried dumplings and a large pot of cornmeal porridge.
When the weather gets cold, people have fewer things to do than when it's hot. At least Aunt Cuihua has more time to gossip. She goes for a walk outside every day, listens to a few words from one house, listens to a few words from another house, and finally comes back to tell her a few words.
The charcoal brazier was burning brightly. The two people sitting around it were eating melon seeds and complaining about how the old warehouse had recently been converted into a tube-shaped building, and how fiercely the people in Tianwen Lane were competing for houses in the tube-shaped building.
"As for the conditions for allocating housing in the factory's tube-shaped buildings, workers who have only been employed for a year are not eligible. Workers who have been employed for more than three years and don't have a house can apply to the factory. Of course, if a couple both work at the factory and have less than three years of employment, they can be given some leniency."
"I know this. The old Qian family in our compound, Qian Youfu and Ye Fangfang, one has worked in the factory for a few months, and the other has only been working for a year and a half. Both of them are within the conditions that allow them to apply for housing. Old Mrs. Qian has come to show off to me five times in the past few days."
However, every time she came to show off, Song Jiayu would respond with "Have you washed the kang at home?" It was quite amusing to watch Old Lady Qian leave with bated breath.
It’s one of the joys of living in a compound.
"Well, because of this, families with suitable partners immediately start dating and quickly get married. As far as I know, there's the daughter of the Zhang family in Tianwen Lane. Her family's standards for marriage are really high, and she married a purchasing clerk in the factory. I'll tell you in secret, the Zhang family girl once had a crush on Gu Siyi from our compound, but it didn't work out."
The tone in which Aunt Cuihua shared this with you alone was both funny and touching.
Song Jiayu said, "I know this too. Lin Xue told me about it."
Xiong Cuihua: ...I feel like it’s hard to talk about gossip now that it’s lost its novelty.
"You definitely haven't heard what's coming next."
"Young people nowadays find it so slow to get a certificate based on their head number. So someone came up with a solution: an elderly couple who both work at the factory decided to divorce and then apply for a factory apartment. Although the apartment they applied for is only 30 square meters, it's enough for their son and daughter-in-law to live in."
"Look, there's been another wave of divorces in Tianwen Lane. Some people don't even have a marriage certificate, but they're getting a replacement and then applying for a divorce. When I went to see the excitement, that family was being criticized by the director of the neighborhood committee. They were saying they were messing around."
"However, apart from their family, there are many who have successfully divorced. No one takes the certificate seriously and continues to live together even after the divorce. In the minds of us older generations, once the betrothal gifts are paid and the wedding banquet is held, we are family and inseparable."
Xiong Cuihua shared a lot at once, and also revealed some of her thoughts at the end.
Anyway, Song Jiayu found it very interesting, just like watching short videos on mobile phones in modern times, and she also complained: "What if I don't get a house?"
"Didn't get a share? Then make a fuss. I never get what I want, so I start making a fuss at the factory. Then the higher-ups come and talk me down, and sometimes I'm persuaded and stop making a fuss.
Yes, when the compound was first divided into houses, most people wanted to live in the main house. Some were given the back houses, which were hot and stuffy in the summer and cold and unbearable in the winter. They couldn't persuade them, so they went straight to the factory director to argue.
"What happened to that tough guy?" Song Jiayu was very curious about his fate.
Daring to question in front of the factory manager is like finding the chairman of the company and asking why you don’t give me a raise? Everyone else got a raise, but I didn’t?
Ahem, generally the chairman would ask about the matter in a nice tone first, and then answer by saying that he would investigate the matter thoroughly.
But that's the end of your time in this company.
The situation in steel mills was similar at that time. After all, the social working environment is the same in every era.
"I remember he was a third-level fitter. It seemed that he made a mistake and was transferred to the logistics department to look after the warehouse." Xiong Cuihua recalled for a moment before speaking out.
Song Jiayu got the answer and nodded in satisfaction.
As expected, the salary of a third-level fitter is not even a little bit different from that of a logistics warehouse keeper, not to mention that every penny counts in this day and age.
"The steel plant isn't just for people living in Tianwen Lane; people living elsewhere can apply. I've seen two five-story tube buildings, with 150 rooms, large and small. How can that possibly meet the needs of the people in the factory?"
"There's nothing we can do about it. My daughter is still young, and the girls can get married in the future. But those families with several sons will fight over the chance to get a house. Knowing that they can get extra points if they are rated as excellent workers, they all rush to work overtime. My Li Cheng can go home earlier recently." Xiong Cuihua was also glad at this moment that her previous children were all daughters, not sons.
The family I admire the most around here is still the Jiang family. All three sons have jobs and houses.
After talking about all these gossips that day, Song Jiayu gained a deep understanding of people's desire for housing in this era.
The moment the house form list comes down.
Old Mrs. Qian, who was originally very happy in the compound, fainted and was sent to the hospital after finding out that her family was not allocated a room. Even when she woke up in the hospital, she was still muttering "My room~".
Of course, this time when going to the hospital, it was Song Jiayu who pushed the cart, and the cart became a spirit for the second time.
The workers were unwilling to accept the consequences, and a group of them discussed going on strike together.
Even Jiang Baizhou had many people approaching him every day, insisting on joining the strike.
Perhaps the factory had already guessed that the workers would cause trouble, but they didn't expect it to become so serious. They immediately posted a list of those who were assigned to the steel buildings, and marked it with a table showing who had worked in the steel plant for several years and months.
Yes, even the months are calculated.
Some people in the compound also mentioned Chen Juan, but Chen Juan had not yet joined the factory. She had to wait until she gave birth before she could start working in the factory, so Wu Li was given the position. Wu Li, who was 30 years old, had worked in the factory for seven or eight years and had enough experience.
After watching this big news, Song Jiayu can only say that the common people's nature of wanting their own house is engraved in their bones.
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