Chapter 14 The promising Lin Lao San? Haha!
In the staff building in the backyard of the county supply and marketing cooperative, Lin Zhihong was squatting in the corner of the public kitchen peeling garlic.
My mother-in-law’s sharp voice penetrated the thin wall: “Zhihong! You don’t know how to buy some soy sauce when it’s gone? You don’t have any tact at all!”
His fingers trembled, and the garlic cloves fell into the sink. Behind him, he heard his brother-in-law Song Wei's sneer.
"Mom, I bought it and put it in the kitchen. Look for it."
Song Wei is the section chief at the county agricultural machinery station, and every time he comes, he would "kindly" help him out.
"Lin Laosan," Song Wei held a cigarette in his mouth and deliberately flicked the ash next to his hand, "I heard that someone complained that your Propaganda Department has too many people. As the only temporary worker in the department, what do you think?"
The veins on Lin Zhihong's forehead jumped, but before he could say anything, there was a knock on the door.
"Zhihong! Your mother is here!"
The iron gate of the county supply and marketing cooperative's staff quarters was rusty. An old man wearing a red armband was sitting in the gatehouse, listening to the radio with a teacup in his hand.
Old Mrs. Lin was carrying a coarse cloth bag, and Chen Cuihua followed behind her. The two of them stood at the gate covered in dust and dirt, looking like two country women begging for food.
Lin Zhihong's eyes suddenly felt sore, but the next moment he looked around in panic and found that his neighbor was looking at him curiously. He walked over quickly and dragged the two of them to the shadows.
"Mother, sister-in-law, why are you here? Didn't we agree not to come to the county to look for me unless necessary?" He lowered his voice very low.
"I live at my mother-in-law's house, so it's not convenient for me to entertain you. By the way, what good things did you bring? Do you have tickets and money? Eggs?"
Chen Cuihua carefully pulled his sleeve: "Uncle, my mother and I didn't even have breakfast..."
Lin Zhihong swung his sleeves in annoyance, fumbled around for a long time, took out a dime from his inner pocket and stuffed it into the old lady Lin's pocket: "Go to the street and buy a few steamed buns to share, and go back quickly if you have nothing else to do."
After saying that, he was about to go back carrying his bag.
"Third brother, mother has something good to tell you..."
In the dim corridor of the County Revolutionary Committee, Lin Zhihong was hunched over, holding two bottles of Xifeng liquor tightly in his hands - he bought them with the money he had saved for three months of cigarettes.
The door of Director Qian's office opened a crack, and greasy laughter mixed with a woman's screams floated out.
Lin Zhihong swallowed his saliva and knocked on the door gently: "Director Qian, I am Xiaolin from the Propaganda Department..."
Five minutes later, he bowed and bowed as he stepped out, his shirt back completely wet. Director Qian's hoarse voice came from inside the door: "Send a car to Longshan Village tomorrow to inspect youth work."
At the end of the corridor, Lin Zhihong finally straightened up, took out the "regularization form" with a red stamp from his pocket, and repeatedly rubbed the blank signature column with his fingertips.
What's the point of a shabby kitchen in my father-in-law's house? When he gets on board Director Qian's boat...
The night wind blew away the sinister look in his eyes.
The next day, the sun climbed up into the sky listlessly. A military green jeep was rolling crookedly across the ridge of the field, and the red flag on the front of the car was fluttering in the wind.
“Tsk.” She shook off the wire scraps on her hands. “Here comes the troublemaker.”
Under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village, several women sewing shoe soles were busy with their work.
“Ouch! This is the county’s car!”
"Is that person in the passenger seat... Director Qian?"
“The guy sitting in the back row…Oh my god! Isn’t that Lin Zhihong?”
Lin Zhihong huddled in the back seat, his new Dacron shirt collar soaked with sweat. He clutched the briefcase on his knees tightly, his knuckles turning white.
"Director Qian," he stammered, "the thing my mother talked about..."
Qian Degui glanced at him in the rearview mirror, a layer of sweat on his shiny forehead: "What's the hurry?"
He slowly adjusted the collar of his Zhongshan suit, his gold watch dazzled in the sun. On the back seat of the car, two bottles of Xifeng wine covered with red paper and a bulging bundle were particularly eye-catching.
The temperature suddenly cooled down, and it finally feels like autumn.
"Xiaobai, we'll have to heat the kang in a month or so, and you won't be able to use your mattress then." Lin Xiaoan squatted on the ground, hammering nails into the wooden frame while grinning with glee.
"What?" Lin Xiaobai, who was sitting with his legs crossed and eating a wild pear, almost choked on the pear core when he heard this. "The kang can still be heated?"
Her eyes widened, like a squirrel whose pine nuts had been robbed.
No matter how dilapidated a place is in the end times, it is still made of steel and iron. Who would have known that there are such magical tools as earth pits to survive the winter?
Lin Xiaoan laughed out loud: "You don't think that the kang is just a hard bed, do you?"
"I—" Lin Xiaobai opened his mouth, but was at a loss for words for a moment. Finally, he angrily flicked the pear core at his forehead, "Why didn't you say so earlier!"
The pear core hit Lin Xiaoan's forehead with a loud "bang". He let out an exaggerated "ouch" and hid behind his eldest brother, covering his head: "Brother! Look at her!"
Lin Guohua was planing a wooden board. He looked up when he heard the words and couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.
The sunlight filtered through the old pear tree in the yard, falling mottled onto the little sister's angry face - it was the first time since she "recovered from her illness" that she had such a cute expression, and she finally looked like a little girl.
"It's okay," he put down the planer, rubbed Xiaobai's head with his rough hands, and his eyes were filled with soft light, "When the weather gets cold, I'll move the mattress away for you and make a kang mat stuffed with cotton."
He paused and added, "I guarantee you won't want to get up after lying on it."
"Really?" Lin Xiaobai's eyes suddenly lit up, but then narrowed again, "Then isn't it a waste of effort to make the mattress now?"
"Lin Xiaobai!" Lin Xiaoan poked his head out from under his elder brother's arm, indignantly, "Have some conscience! I was the one who hammered the nails, and it was my elder brother who planed the wood, and you just talked and ate three wild pears!"
"What?" Lin Xiaobai raised his eyebrows, spinning the last wild pear on his fingertips, "Isn't it natural for a younger brother to be filial to his sister?"
“Who is your younger brother! I was born one minute earlier than you!”
"Oh—" She dragged out the tone and suddenly stuffed the pear into Xiao An's mouth, "Then big brother's little brother, eat the pear."
Lin Xiaoan's mouth was stuffed with sweet pears and he was sobbing and unable to speak.
Lin Guohua watched the two people bickering, and a warm current surged in his chest, and even the shavings in his hands became light.
Old Man Lin had been squatting against the outer wall. When he heard the laughter and chatter coming from inside, his face became gloomier.
finally...
A military green jeep rolled crookedly across the ridge of the field and slowly drove towards this side.
Old Man Lin returned to his old house contentedly, waiting for the happy event.
Under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village, several women sewing shoe soles were busy with their work.
“Ouch! This is the county’s car!”
"Is the guy in the passenger seat... the third son of the Lin family, Zhihong?"
"The guy sitting in the back row... Oh my god! Isn't that Director Qian? That bald head is so bright!"
Lin Zhihong huddled in the passenger seat, his new Dacron shirt collar soaked with sweat. He clutched the briefcase on his knees tightly, his knuckles turning white.
"Director Qian," he stammered, "the thing my mother talked about..."
Qian Deren glanced at him and touched his shiny forehead: "What's the hurry?"
He slowly adjusted the collar of his Mao suit; his gold watch dazzled in the sunlight.
On the back seat of the car, two bottles of Xifeng Liquor covered with red paper and a bulging bundle were particularly eye-catching.
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