"What does this have to do with you?"
Xu Damao saw that Sha Zhu had actually come out of Qin Huairu's room. He couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark.
"Now they don't carry people on their backs anymore, they just live together."
"Xu Damao, what are you saying? Believe me or not, I'll slap you."
Sha Zhu was enraged by Xu Damao's words. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to fight Xu Damao.
"Hmph, you know the truth in your heart."
“My name is Xu Damao. I’m a projectionist at the factory. Come visit me anytime you have time. I stay in this room.”
Xu Damao said to Qin Jingru.
"Ignore him, he's an idiot."
He then added another sentence and went back to his room. Sha Zhu wanted to go over and argue with Xu Damao, but Qin Huairu stopped him.
"Alright, don't you even know what day it is today?"
Sha Zhu, you're right. Today is my blind date, so I won't stoop to Xu Damao's level.
"I'm telling you, I'm only doing this for your sake, otherwise I would have beaten him to a pulp."
Sha Zhu, though defeated, still held his tongue and remained defiant.
"What did you make? I'm treating everyone to dinner at my place today."
Sha Zhu, with his sharp eyes, spotted the steamed bun in Qin Huairu's hand at a glance.
Thinking that he was going on a blind date today, he decided to be generous for once and invited Qin Huairu's family and Qin Jingru to have dinner at his place.
"I'm so sorry to have troubled you with all this money."
Qin Huairu was happy; it was especially difficult to have a full meal at this time. Her family had saved on another meal.
"Hey, it's alright. You guys wait here while I go to the factory to get some vegetables."
After saying that, Sha Zhu walked towards the factory. A little while later, Sha Zhu arrived at the factory canteen, where a woman in her thirties came out and greeted him.
Sha Zhu saw it was Liu Lan and asked, "Sister Liu, have you eaten yet?"
Liu Lan was taken aback when she heard Sha Zhu's greeting. She replied that she had eaten, thinking to herself, "Why is this silly pig greeting me now? Usually he just smiles and leaves when we meet." She thought to herself, "Never mind, I'll go to Deputy Factory Director Li's place first."
Thinking of this, Liu Lan turned and walked toward the deputy factory director's office.
Sha Zhu ignored him and went straight into the canteen. His apprentice, Ma Hua, approached him and said something.
"Master, what brings you here? It's still early before dinner."
"I've come to check how the preparations are going. It's alright, you guys go ahead with your work."
Sha Zhu laughed and told everyone to keep busy, while he wandered around the cafeteria.
The cafeteria always had leftover food. Sha Zhu took a lunchbox and got three servings of dishes, plus some cooked food.
Ma Hua, the apprentice, and the other canteen staff saw it, but dared not say anything. This kind of thing is commonplace.
Sha Zhu leisurely carried the food back to the courtyard house.
"Come on, how about it?"
Sha Zhu arrived at Qin Huairu's room with a cheerful grin, and started shouting loudly before even going in.
"Auntie, you're here too. Let's have a good meal together today."
When Sha Zhu first entered, Jia Zhangshi looked displeased, but upon seeing the food Sha Zhu was carrying, her expression suddenly brightened, and she became cheerful.
"Silly Zhu, what are you holding?"
Seeing Jia Zhangshi staring longingly at the food he was carrying, Sha Zhu happily placed the dishes on the table.
"I'm here to thank Qin Huairu for introducing me to such a wonderful potential partner."
As he spoke, he kept glancing at Qin Jingru.
Although Qin Jingru didn't particularly like Sha Zhu, she couldn't help but swallow hard when she smelled the aroma of the food.
It's been a long time since we've had stir-fried dishes in the countryside. Being able to eat pickled vegetables is considered a good thing.
When I arrived at my sister Qin Huairu's place, I ate cornbread and pickled vegetables every day. Although I was full, there wasn't much oil in the food.
Sha Zhu was secretly overjoyed at Qin Jingru's reaction.
"From now on, you'll be with me, and you can eat whatever you want. I'll manage the cafeteria."
Qin Jingru looked at the dishes on the table, then at Sha Zhu, and thought to herself that being with Sha Zhu wasn't so bad; at least she wouldn't go hungry.
"Try them all with your chopsticks."
Sha Zhu opened several lunchboxes as if to show off. One box contained cooked food, and the other contained three meat dishes.
"Does the factory have such good food?"
Qin Huairu often bought meals at the factory, but she had never seen such good meat dishes before.
"These were made for someone's boss, and I kept the extra for myself."
Sha Zhu didn't hide anything; instead, he seemed to be showing off his abilities.
As they were talking, Banggeng grabbed a piece of cooked food and started eating. Xiaodang and Huaihua were also very tempted and reached for it.
"Go away, that's rude."
Jia Zhangshi tapped Xiao Dang and Huaihua's hands with her chopsticks, but the two children still put the cooked food in their mouths and started eating.
Seeing the children eating with their mouths full of oil, Qin Jingru couldn't resist either. She quickly went to the table and started eating.
"Brother Zhu, you're quite capable."
Qin Jingru praised Sha Zhu while eating, which made Sha Zhu extremely happy.
"Eat as much as you want. And later, I'll find you a job at the factory."
Sha Zhu is bragging again.
"Really, thank you so much. It would be wonderful if I could become a full-time employee at the factory and get a government-subsidized food ration."
When Qin Jingru heard that Sha Zhu could find her a job at the steel rolling mill, she immediately perked up and no longer found Sha Zhu as annoying as before.
However, upon hearing this, Qin Huairu expressed doubt that Sha Zhu was capable of introducing Qin Jingru to work at the factory.
But he couldn't bring himself to say it, so he just buried his head in his food.
After finishing his meal, Sha Zhu had to go back to the factory to prepare dinner. So he left first.
...
"He's lying to you. How could he possibly have such great abilities?"
Xu Damao had been observing the situation at Qin Huairu's house, and it seemed he would find an opportunity to approach Qin Jingru later. However, he overheard Qin Jingru saying that Sha Zhu could introduce him to the steel rolling mill.
No, they exposed Sha Zhu's lies and even added fuel to the fire, making the relationship between Sha Zhu and Qin Huairu seem incredibly complicated, causing Qin Jingru, who had just developed feelings for Sha Zhu, to instantly become disappointed in him again.
At the same time, recalling how Qin Huairu and Sha Zhu had been passing food to each other during their meal, she couldn't help but believe Xu Damao's words to some extent.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Xu Damao boasted that he was the factory's projectionist.
He also has a good relationship with Deputy Factory Director Li. If Qin Jingru is willing to date him, he can introduce her to the factory.
"You're not lying to me like Sha Zhu, are you?" Although Qin Jingru came from the countryside, she was very smart and didn't easily trust others.
Although Xu Damao's explanation sounded convincing, Qin Jingru remained skeptical. Seeing her lack of faith, Xu Damao continued to encourage her, offering to take her to the movies.
"You can watch any movie you want, all for free!"
Qin Jingru had only seen a few movies in the village, and those were shown by projectionists from the county. Hearing that she could watch movies for free, she couldn't help but feel a bit more favorably disposed towards Xu Damao.
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