"Alright, then you can cook the banquet." Xu Damao thought about it and felt that hiring He Daqing was quite suitable, and the price wasn't expensive either.
Hearing this, He Daqing grinned happily, and then took Cai Quanwu home for tea.
Today marks their official recognition of each other. After Sha Zhu gets off work, the whole family will have a lively meal together and discuss ways to make money in the future.
As evening approached, people who had gone to work gradually returned home.
As the canteen director, Chen Jun naturally left work on time, always being among the first to leave the factory.
"Chen Jun, you're back! Two big things happened in our compound today!"
As soon as he entered the courtyard, Uncle Yan Bugui eagerly came over. Judging from his anxious appearance, anyone who didn't know better would think he was deliberately waiting for him.
Chen Jun raised an eyebrow curiously, stopped and asked, "What's the big deal? Is Jia Zhangshi up to her old tricks again?"
The Jia family, especially Jia Zhangshi, was the most troublesome in the entire courtyard.
Yan Bugui shook his head: "It has nothing to do with the Jia family. The first big thing is that Xu Damao's wife gave birth to a big, healthy girl weighing seven pounds and two ounces."
Ouch?
No wonder I didn't see Xu Damao at the canteen window at noon; it turns out he didn't go to the factory.
At 7.2 jin (approximately 3.6 catties), she was indeed considered a large, plump girl in those days, and Xu Damao was finally free from the label of having no heir.
"What's the other big thing?" Chen Jun asked.
Yan Bugui pointed mysteriously toward the central courtyard: "He Daqing brought his half-brother back. The two brothers are really cut from the same cloth. Old He is really something else."
Uncle Yan Bugui was truly amazed today, as he actually saw two people who looked exactly alike.
"Alright, I'll have to go take a look."
Chen Jun smiled, pushed his bicycle, and went to the Intermediate People's Court. Yan Bugui waved his hand and said, "Come on, I'll go too."
When the two arrived at the Intermediate People's Court together, they immediately saw He Daqing and Cai Quanwu standing at the entrance of the He family's house.
"Mr. Chen!"
Cai Quanwu, despite his young age, had already started making a living on the streets. His keen eye was unmatched by most people, and he greeted Chen Jun when he saw him.
Chen Jun nodded in response, then glanced around and asked, "Cai Quanwu, where's your tricycle?"
“I don’t have a tricycle.” Cai Quanwu scratched his head awkwardly. “The tricycle I usually ride belongs to someone else. I borrow it to do some work whenever he’s off duty. Today he went out to help someone move, so I’ve been staying at home. Then my brother came to find me.”
ah!
Cai Quanwu's tricycle was actually borrowed.
He Daqing looked at Cai Quanwu with a surprised expression: "Brother, why don't you buy a tricycle?"
Before returning to Beijing, He Daqing had already planned that if he couldn't find a job as a cook, he would follow his half-brother and work as a rickshaw driver.
These days, the production value of a tricycle is much higher than that of a bicycle. As long as you are willing to work hard, you can earn as much as a mid-to-high-level worker in a month.
"Brother, I also want to buy a tricycle, but I don't have any money!"
Cai Quanwu spread his hands, indicating that he also wanted his own tricycle.
If he already had a tricycle before, would he still be single?
"So... what did you do while others were riding tricycles?" He Daqing couldn't help but ask.
“I can stay home and lie down, or go out and do odd jobs, carry bags, move things or something.” After saying that, Cai Quanwu seemed to have thought of something and added, “Brother, don’t worry, although I don’t sound like I’m doing so badly, I can support myself.”
Having started earning his own money in his teens, Cai Quanwu still longed for family ties, and he worried that He Daqing would sever ties with him because of his lack of ability.
"Hey bro, you've had a tough time!"
He Daqing patted Cai Quanwu's shoulder with a mix of heartache and helplessness. He knew Cai Quanwu couldn't be expected to work as a tricycle driver; he should find a job as a cook himself. If possible, he could even take Cai Quanwu with him as an apprentice.
They're all from the He family, so they all need to have some talent for cooking, right?
"Once I find a suitable restaurant, I'll get you to work there with me. If we team up, we're sure to make a name for ourselves."
Upon hearing this, Cai Quanwu shook his head: "Brother, I can't be a cook. All I can do is carry heavy bags and pedal a tricycle."
The third uncle, Yan Bugui, kept glancing between Cai Quanwu and He Daqing, and then suddenly said, "You could buy a tricycle."
The courtyard house is currently lacking a means of transportation to carry people.
For example, this morning Xu Damao's wife was about to give birth, and Xu Damao still had to borrow a handcart to get her to the hospital.
Wouldn't it be much more convenient if someone in the courtyard had a tricycle?
Thinking of his son Yan Jiecheng and daughter-in-law Yu Li, Yan Bugui felt that his family would need the tricycle sooner or later.
Dreams are beautiful, but reality is cruel.
Upon hearing this, Cai Quanwu immediately shook his head: "Tricycles are expensive. A new one costs more than two hundred yuan, and even a used one costs more than one hundred yuan. I can't afford it."
"Well... I left all my money in Baozhou." He Daqing shook his head with a troubled expression.
The two brothers couldn't even scrape together twenty yuan; where were they going to buy a tricycle?
"He Daqing, you can ask Shazhu for money," Yan Bugui suggested to the two brothers. "Shazhu and his wife earn a hundred yuan a month. Buying a tricycle shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"If you're too embarrassed to ask for money back, you can lend it to me. I'll give my son an IOU, how could he refuse?"
In order to have an extra tricycle in the courtyard, Yan Bugui also schemed to get rid of Sha Zhu.
"What the hell? How could the two of them receive so much?" He Daqing was completely dumbfounded.
Before he ran away, his monthly salary at the steel rolling mill was thirty-two yuan, which was considered upper-middle class in the courtyard.
But who would have thought that Sha Zhu and his wife could now earn a monthly salary of one hundred yuan?
How could that be? Sha Zhu is now doing the same job he used to do. Liu Lan is just a general worker in the cafeteria. There's no way she could earn such a high salary.
"The cafeteria manager isn't here, you can just ask him yourself." Yan Bugui gestured to He Daqing to ask Chen Jun.
Upon seeing this, He Daqing looked at Chen Jun.
Chen Jun smiled at Yan Bugui first, then nodded: "About the same. Their combined salary is more than fifty yuan, but the canteen now has a share of the bread sales, so if you include both, it can be a hundred yuan."
Wow!
There really are that many!
He Daqing's heart skipped a beat. Although he didn't know what bread sharing was, it was definitely something extraordinary that could make Sha Zhu and his wife receive tens of yuan more a month.
“Then…then I’ll wait for Shazhu to come back and borrow some money from him.” He Daqing patted Cai Quanwu’s shoulder again: “Once your nephew Cheng gets the money, we’ll buy a tricycle tomorrow.”
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