The screening room had two floors, with a total of seven or eight hundred seats. At that time, the movie theater even provided hot water, but you had to bring your own cup.
Yu Li brought her own cup—a leftover food jar wrapped in a cup sleeve she had knitted herself.
When she returned with the water, although Yu Li was too shy to look at the fat man's face, she still asked him generously, "Are you thirsty? Do you want some water?"
Today's screening is "Night on the Danube," a film about an underground worker named Thomas who infiltrates a prisoner corps in order to obtain a large quantity of weapons from the enemy. He is eventually selected by the port authority to become a sailor.
The film's plot was moving and highly engaging, and Yu Li watched it intently. But Fatty's attention wasn't on the big screen; he was observing the diverse audience members in the theater.
These people were far more fascinating to him than any movie.
After the show, Fatty first took Yu Li home. Then he went back to his own home, and as soon as he entered, Zhou Haiqin and her three older sisters surrounded him.
"How are things going? How are you and Yu Li getting along?"
Seeing how nervous they were, the fat man smiled and said to Zhou Haiqin, "Mom, it's her. Let's finalize this over the Spring Festival."
It's 1965 now; we need to get this done quickly.
After arriving in this world, the fat man always felt more like an observer. He knew the plot, the fates of many characters, and the major life events that happened to them…
But the more this happened, the stronger the feeling of unreality became. The fat man worried that if things continued like this, he would suffer a split personality and needed to get married and have a child as soon as possible. Only then could he completely say goodbye to the other world.
Seeing his impatient look, Zhou Haiqin and the fat man's three older sisters all burst out laughing.
Chen Yan teased him, saying, "Okay, okay, I'll go find Yu Li tomorrow and tell her that my little brother has chosen you! What do you say?"
Even with his thick skin, the fat man was no match for his three older sisters and ran downstairs to find Old Chen.
Chen Gangqiang was watching someone play chess, and when he saw the fat man, his first words were: "How's the chess game going?"
The fat man told him his decision and slipped him 5 yuan.
The fat man didn't even see how he made the move before the 5 yuan disappeared.
Old Chen looked around warily, then pulled the fat man to the bottom of the stairs and whispered, "Where did you come from?"
"They asked me to cook a meal for the leaders of a sister company, which brought honor to the factory, and the factory gave me a bonus."
Chen Gangqiang finally breathed a sigh of relief. After thinking for a moment, he reluctantly took out the 5 yuan: "Dating also costs money, you should keep it for yourself."
The fat man pressed his hand back down: "Dad, just take it. Our family's life will only get better and better from now on."
Chen Gangqiang glanced at the fat man and put the money back in his pocket.
He had witnessed the changes in the fat man, and with the fat man's attitude today, he could finally let go of his doubts.
After the holiday, the return to work will naturally be a scene of bustling activity once again.
The cafeteria manager even came over in person and praised Fatty in front of Sha Zhu and everyone in the kitchen.
Then he called the fat man out: "It's like this, the Spring Festival is just around the corner, and all the factories are busy hosting banquets, and our factory is no exception; the higher-ups are worried that Sha Zhu can't handle it all by himself, so they want to give you some more work. I wonder what you think?"
The fat man quickly expressed his determination: "Director, you can rest assured to entrust the task to me. I guarantee I will complete it excellently!"
Dealing with fat people is much easier than dealing with silly Zhu.
That bastard, relying on Director Yang's favor, never took him, the director, seriously. He even kept his eyes on the position he was in, plotting to seize power.
Before leaving, the director slipped two packs of cigarettes to the fat man; when the fat man looked at them, he was surprised to find they were Daqianmen cigarettes!
As soon as I returned to the kitchen, Liu Lan came over and asked, "Is it about the dinner party?"
The fat man gave her a subtle look, and Liu Lan instantly understood a great deal. This feeling of telepathy was very satisfying and sophisticated for her.
Today at lunchtime, Sha Zhu actually went out to get the food himself.
The fat man asked his aunt, puzzled, "Auntie, what mischief is he up to now?"
Aunt Pang replied without hesitation, "Anyway, it's nothing good, so why should you care? We'd love to have people scrambling to do jobs that offend people, don't you think?"
Serving food is the job that's most likely to offend people. The hardest job in the world is distributing food. Giving him too much food, giving me too little...
But some people not only don't think offending others is bad, but actually enjoy it. That's Sha Zhu.
The fat man wanted to see what he was really up to, so he quietly went ahead.
Sha Zhu hasn't served food to people himself in a long time, but today he actually stood behind the window again.
Before long, the fat man found his target. This guy was tall and strong, with a crew cut and a face covered in pockmarks;
His most notable feature is that he is left-handed—it turns out he's Guo the left-handed one. It seems Qin Huairu has been taken advantage of by him again, and Sha Zhu is standing up for her.
Fatty watched as Sha Zhu scooped a full spoonful of food for Guo Da Piezi, but then his wrist twitched and most of it spilled out, leaving only a small portion in the lunchbox.
Just as Guo Da Piezi was about to argue with him, he shouted loudly, "Next!"
Guo Da Piezi got anxious: "Sha Zhu! What the hell do you mean?"
Sha Zhu's face fell, and he glared at him: "What's wrong? You think it's not enough? Well, sorry, that's how it's always done. If you don't believe me, wait for Xu Damao's, I guarantee it'll be even less than yours!"
Fatty chuckled. So Xu Damao was here too. When did these two get together? No wonder Sha Zhu made a point of coming out to toss the wok today.
Xu Damao stepped forward from the line: "Shazhu, we all have the same meal tickets, so why do we only get such a small amount of food! When they serve Qin Huairu, even a full spoonful isn't enough, they have to press it down and add some soup?"
Guo Da Piezi chimed in, adding fuel to the fire: "Yeah, why should we!"
"Bullshit! Xu Damao, go ask around the cafeteria. As long as there's one person who thinks you're right, see? Here's the spoon. You can take as much food as you want today, and I'll even pay for your meal tickets!"
Even the fat guy watching from the sidelines admired Sha Zhu. No wonder he's the successor chosen by "Moral Venerable" Yi Zhonghai; he's a master of moral blackmail.
Isn't he using such trivial power as serving food to hold all the employees eating in this cafeteria hostage?
He was certain these people would swallow their anger, since it's better to avoid trouble.
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