070 See you next time
With another partner, Guan Yuehe found that life wasn't much different.
Aside from being teased by colleagues at the factory quite a bit in the past few days, especially by Xie Dongxue and a few others.
But it's impossible to say there's absolutely no difference.
When I came out after get off work, I saw Lin Yiku waiting next to the guardhouse.
The gatekeeper would always cheerfully remind him, "Comrade Guan is off work."
Lin Yiku immediately looked over.
Guan Yuehe now understands why Lin Sitian and Zhou Jinghang were so happy to see each other at the hospital. When she came out of get off work and saw Lin Yiku waiting for her, she was happy too.
"Lin Yiku! Over here!" Seeing that he hadn't come over yet, she waved again.
Once the man was closer, Guan Yuehe looked at the net bag he was carrying. "Let me see what you bought... Wow, where did you buy the baby formula?" After asking, she mimicked his tone and replied, "Just eat it, don't ask!"
From the moment she met her, Lin Yiku had been smiling all the time, and now she was laughing out loud at her imitation.
However, this time he revealed the truth directly, saying, "I have a friend who was my deskmate in junior and senior high school. Later, I joined the army, and he became a driver for a transportation company. He often travels to Inner Mongolia and Northeast China. He happened to bring some milk powder back this time."
“I just saw him once after he came back, and now he’s gone on another long trip. Otherwise, I should have introduced you to him.”
Judging from this, his deskmate is a very good friend of his?
Guan Yuehe suddenly recalled someone from her memory and asked him to confirm, "It's not that classmate who skipped school with you to go ice skating and got their parents called in, is it?"
No wonder she remembers it so vividly. That year, some students secretly went to play on the frozen lake, and the ice broke, resulting in the deaths of several students. Every day, people from the neighborhood committee would come to the entire alley to conduct safety education and awareness campaigns.
Lin Yiku defied the law and committed the crime. Grandpa Lin and Grandma Fang were furious and asked her parents for help to catch her. Lin Yiku was severely beaten.
"..." Lin Yi took a deep breath and asked tentatively, "Could you remember more of the good things I've done?"
Guan Yuehe responded with a burst of laughter.
There are actually quite a few good things about Lin Yiku, but none of them are as memorable as the bad things he did.
"I'm not laughing anymore, hehe." Guan Yuehe pursed her lips, handed over the task of riding the bike to him, and sat on the back seat with the net bag in her arms.
Lin Yiku got on the bus just like her, straddling the crossbar and supporting herself on one foot. Having long legs is an advantage; people sitting behind don't have to worry about being swept off by a sweeping leg, nor do they need to wait for the right moment to jump and sit down.
They took the opposite route home from get off work today because they were going to the garment factory's residential compound to see Qin Zilan, who had just returned from production, and her five-day-old baby girl.
As everyone was heading home from get off work together, Guan Yuehe greeted her colleagues quite a bit along the way.
As they entered the family compound, Gu Mannian invited them to his home for dinner that evening.
Seeing that Guan Yuehe agreed, Lin Yiku said, "Then I'll have to trouble you, brother-in-law."
Guan Yuehe almost burst out laughing; he really knew how to take advantage of the situation.
Gu Mannian shook his arm and quickly said, "We can't just call each other by name now. Let's call each other by name first."
He called him "brother-in-law" too early. Even if he was happy to hear it, Guan Yuehua would be furious if she heard it.
Lin Yiku didn't insist and changed her words to Gu Mannian, "Brother Gu, thank you for your trouble."
After splitting into two groups at the entrance of the family compound, they headed straight for Xu Chengcai's home.
The mother and daughter were still sleeping in the room, and they were both speaking in hushed tones.
Qin Zilan's sister-in-law had just left when Dong, who lived next door, brought over a basket of eggs. Xu Cheng didn't have time to greet them; he was busy giving Dong money and asking her to bring back an old hen next time.
Once only his own family was left in the room, Xu Cheng said, "Back in Master Dong's hometown, every family raises three chickens and ducks. Sister-in-law Dong goes back to her hometown every week, and several families on this floor ask her to help them exchange eggs. Do you want some? If so, I can order some for you too."
In the past, keeping four animals was considered a sign of capitalist remnants, so people could only keep three.
However, since the start of the "Criticize Lin Biao" movement, the higher authorities have given different instructions for rural areas: to adhere to distribution according to work and to allow diversified business operations and family sideline businesses.
Some of the bolder ones, with local leaders turning a blind eye, became more cunning and quietly expanded their poultry farming.
Otherwise, how could city dwellers regularly obtain meat and eggs from the countryside?
Two years ago, Guan Yuehe would definitely have asked for eggs, but now she doesn't lack them much. Firstly, her brother-in-law, Gu Mannian, always brings some back from his trips to the countryside to share with her, and secondly, her uncle and aunt often ask fellow villagers to bring them over.
“I don’t need it. You should buy more for Zilan to help her recover. Look, the milk powder that Lin Yiku gave us, and the malted milk powder that Sitian and I bought together. Sitian is working the night shift recently and can’t come over, so Lin Yiku and I will represent her.”
Xu Chengcai finally looked at Lin Yiku properly, glanced at her, and then quickly looked away. When he found an opportunity, he winked at Guan Yuehe and gave her a thumbs up: You're really something, doing great things quietly!
But to make fun of Lin Yiku to his face? Forget it, he still didn't have the guts.
He has a daughter now; Yuehe and Sitian's brother are dating. When Ding Xuewen receives his letter, he'll be both happy and shocked.
"Brother Yiku, sit down, I'll pour you both some water."
Before Xu Chengcai could even get started, Guan Yuehe stopped him, telling him to stop and that she was going to her sister's house later.
"By the way, has Niu Niu been named yet?"
"No, Zilan hasn't decided yet. She'll just call me by my nickname for now." Xu Chengcai looked satisfied and smug, but then he glanced unconsciously at the closed door.
After sitting for only a short while, Guan Yuehe said she had to leave. They were going to her older sister's house for dinner, and they couldn't just go empty-handed and wait to be fed. They had to help with some chores.
Xu Cheng didn't stay long. He went to work during the day, and Zilan's sister-in-law would come over to help with cooking and taking care of the children for a while when she had time. But there was still a lot of work left at home, so he really couldn't take care of entertaining the two of them.
"When Niu Niu is a little older, we'll invite you all over for dinner."
Guan Yuehe waved her hand impatiently, urging him to stop and hurry upstairs to go home and wash diapers.
"Cheng Cai has changed a lot since he got married."
Guan Yuehe smiled and said, "As long as it changes for the better, that's fine."
Xu Cheng's greatest strength is that he is willing to listen to advice and endure hardship. She, Si Tian, and Ding Xuewen encouraged him to move out, and he eventually did. He also knows to stick close to his master's coattails, and now he and Zi Lan are living a more and more prosperous life.
"Ding Xuewen has changed a lot since he went to the countryside..." As she was speaking, Guan Yuehe keenly noticed that someone upstairs was staring at her. She looked up and, oh dear, it was her eldest sister.
Guan Yuehua just wanted to see how long it would take those two with their long legs to walk this short distance!
Gu Mannian had no desire to advise his wife to mind her own business. After all, when he was dating Yuehua, Guan Yuehe often rolled her eyes at him and grumbled in dissatisfaction.
Finally, it was his turn to witness Guan Yuehe's downfall. Ah, fortunes change, and life is fickle; heaven is just like that...
While having a good time, I couldn't help but hum an unknown tune as I chopped away.
The neighbor downstairs, who was cooking on the balcony, couldn't stand it anymore. He leaned half his body out onto the balcony and yelled upwards, "It's awful! Is he wailing? Shut up!"
Guan Yuehua had no time to calculate the walking speed of the two people downstairs. She rushed to her own balcony, leaned half her body out, and cursed down, "Gu Mannian suffered a little loss today, so I'll make you wear mourning clothes and wail for once!"
Gu Mannian hurriedly pulled her back, afraid that she would jump down in her excitement, and at the same time chimed in, "Old Bao, shut up! The whole residential compound can smell your stinky breath when you open your mouth!"
There was a moment of silence downstairs, but soon another burst of furious shouts erupted, as people said they wanted to go upstairs and fight them.
Old Baotou's neighbor came over and pulled him away. Before he could even struggle to get out of the door, he saw Guan Yuehe from the Planning Department standing at the door with her boyfriend. The two of them blocked the door completely.
They looked like they were there to fight.
"What are you doing? Do you cadres want to lead the way in beating the workers?" Old Baotou retorted, his neck stiff.
“After get off work hours, there are no cadres or workers here, only residents and their families from upstairs and downstairs.” Guan Yuehe put her hands on her hips and glared fiercely at the old man. “If you don’t want to live here, go to the housing management department and apply to have the house taken back.”
She had heard it several times: this old man, Bao, taking advantage of his age and status as a veteran worker in the factory, often caused trouble for his neighbors, especially his sister who lived upstairs from him.
Some of the neighbors were reasonable and echoed this sentiment:
"That's right, Lao Bao. You're always complaining about the noise from upstairs and downstairs, or from both sides. This is the condition of our residential compound. If you want a really quiet place, go find one yourself. Do you think people can't make a sound when they go home? That's not fair!"
At this point, the young couple living next door to Old Bao were both angry and ashamed. Old Bao had also come to their door, loudly telling them to keep their voices down when they did things at night.
Many neighbors heard it and were so ashamed they wanted to crawl into the ground and hide.
They were both shy, unlike Guan Yuehua and Gu Mannian upstairs.
The two upstairs, after being criticized, directly accused Old Bao of being shameless, saying that since he couldn't find a wife himself, he resorted to eavesdropping on the neighbors' conversations. They also said that there were sometimes noises coming from Old Bao's house, so who knows who he was fooling around with at home...
Old Bao was so angry he yelled and cried out, his chest aching so badly he wanted to go to the clinic. When he got to the clinic, it was Dr. Jia who was on duty then. Dr. Jia prescribed the wrong medicine, and Old Bao vomited and had diarrhea for two days. He then had to go to the Workers' Hospital and stay there for two more days before he recovered.
It was because of this incident that Old Baotou disliked Gu Mannian and would scold him over the smallest things.
Gu Mannian, mindful of his position as a cadre in the factory, generally doesn't argue with him.
But what if Guan Yuehua happens to be home?
That's terrible. Guan Yuehua has never been one to put up with being bullied since she was a child. She won't stop talking until she makes Old Bao jump up and down in anger.
Since his own wife had stood up for him, Gu Mannian wasn't ungrateful. For every curse Guan Yuehua uttered, he'd chime in. Sometimes his curses were half-hearted, and he'd get criticized afterward. Gradually, his cursing skills improved.
Old Baotou was just putting on an act; how could he dare go upstairs and argue with that firecracker surnamed Guan? Who knew that another firecracker surnamed Guan would also show up?
The one upstairs can yell, and the one in front of the door can fight; he can't handle either of them.
Unable to refuse an apology, he angrily said, "You have too many people and you're bullying an old man like me. I won't hold it against you."
The door slammed shut.
The eyes of the masses are discerning; Guan Yuehe was not afraid of the factory leaders even when they complained to them.
The people upstairs could hear everything that was happening downstairs.
As soon as Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku entered the room, Guan Yuehua's earlier anger vanished. She immediately assigned Lin Yiku a task, asking him to help Gu Mannian.
Throughout the meal, Guan Yuehua was busy observing the two of them: they were really enjoying their food.
She even suspected that this was the reason the two of them were attracted to each other.
—
Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku were having dinner outside. Neither of their families thought about looking for them; they all assumed that Guan Yuehe was waiting for them to get off work so they could go on a date.
"Yuehe and Yiku are out eating again? Why don't you two just eat together?"
"Don't worry about our two families. I heard that Uncle Xie is also coming to the city, but why haven't I seen him yet?" Lin Sitian's question left Aunt Xie speechless.
She wanted the old man to come, but her eldest son and daughter-in-law disagreed, and her youngest son wasn't settled yet and couldn't be relied on.
Aunt Xie wanted to say a few more words to save face, but as soon as she saw Jiang Guiying come out, she immediately ran away with her stool.
Jiang Guiying was still muttering to herself, "Did they go to reserve a spot to watch TV so early?"
—
After finishing their meal, the two leisurely strolled outside, showing no hurry to go home.
In a few days, Lin Yiku will be going to school to register. The ticket he bought wasn't for Sunday's departure, and Guan Yuehe was too busy with work to see him off.
We can only spend as much time together as possible while we're still at home.
They walked until it was completely dark, and when no one was around, their shoulders touched.
After holding hands for only a short while, Guan Yuehe suddenly had a whimsical idea, "Why don't you try it out? Wouldn't it be more stable if I gave you a ride?"
Lin Yiku had never been so speechless in her life.
But she looked so eager to try, what could he say?
We had to listen to her and sit astride, otherwise the bike would be uneven, affecting stability.
"Sit still," Lin Yiku gently pinched the short ponytail at the back of her head as a reminder.
Guan Yuehe confidently kicked down, but couldn't budge it. She strained her whole face, but still nothing happened.
She's given two people a ride before, so how could Lin Yiku be twice as heavy as two people?
Looking down behind me, sure enough!
"Lin Yiku!"
Lin Yiku couldn't suppress his laughter even after being punched twice on the shoulder. He used all his strength to brace himself with his feet on the ground in order to stop the car.
"Lift your feet up, quick!"
After being slapped on the shoulder again, Lin Yiku finally lifted her leg and promised, "I really won't cheat this time."
Guan Yuehe also kicked the bike out, but after a few minutes of smugness, she didn't notice the puddle in front of her. Not only did both of their trouser legs get wet, but the bike also wobbled for a while before it finally came to a stop.
The neighbors who were relaxing at the entrance of the alley saw them return, and they were used to their daily dates. They glanced up but didn't bother to make a comment.
Only Xu Xiaomei, as always, rolled her eyes in disgust when she saw them.
She disliked Guan Yuehe and her sister, as well as Lin Yiku and her brother. Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku were dating, and the people she disliked might even become in-laws in the future... All the people she disliked had gathered together.
But remembering how Guan Yuehe had chased her all over the alley with a stick last time, she didn't forget to turn her back and secretly roll her eyes when she did.
She muttered to herself: "It's crazy that Lin Yiku didn't like her, and it's crazy that Guan Yuehe liked Lin Yiku!"
The two "brain-dead" people didn't even notice Xu Xiaomei in the middle of the crowd.
Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku would only hold hands when no one was around, but once they were back in the crowd, they would put on serious expressions and walk with a fist's distance between them.
After speaking for only a short while at the entrance of Courtyard No. 2, Guan Yuehe, with her sharp eyes, saw her mother and Aunt Fang coming out of Courtyard No. 3 hand in hand. She immediately left Lin Yiku with a message: "I'm going home. See you tomorrow."
The next day, Lin Yiku went to wait for Guan Yuehe to get off work, and on the way, he also delivered a piece of meat to his future brother-in-law, Gu Manyian, to make up for yesterday's food.
Gu Mannian invited them to his home for dinner again, but Guan Yuehe waved her hand and refused, saying, "We'll eat at Uncle Ming's house!"
After saying that, he urged Lin Yiku to get in the car quickly.
Following Guan Yuehe, Lin Yiku ate delicious food almost every day: state-run restaurants, stir-fries by the head chef of the Zhuoyue Garment Factory canteen, and hearty dishes prepared by Uncle Ming in his private kitchen... Lin Yiku's palate was becoming quite discerning.
But as time went by, he was ready to go to school to register.
"Is everything packed?" Aunt Fang knocked on the door and looked around the room. The sheets and blankets on the bed had been put away, and the room was empty again.
On the table next to me was a new coat and a bag of steamed buns, which Guan Yuehe had just brought over.
She wanted to spend more time talking to them, but Yuehe came over with clothes and a net bag of steamed buns, and left after saying only a few words.
"Mom has come over to say a few words to you."
Lin Yiku immediately stopped what she was doing, dragged over a chair, and said, "Please sit down."
Before, Chou Linyi was already quite old and hadn't thought about finding a partner. Now he's in a relationship, and it's Yuehe, whom he watched grow up, who is still Chou.
"I don't know anything about your studies or work, so I won't say anything more," Aunt Fang said. "You may be a bit mischievous, but you're still responsible, and I trust you. Once you're at school, keep in touch with Yuehe often. You can't go two or three months without seeing her. What girl could be happy with someone like you?"
"Mom, I used to be on missions and couldn't contact my family..."
"Don't argue, just listen carefully." Aunt Fang glared at him before sharing her dating experience from her younger days.
After listening, Lin Yiku only asked, "Was my dad always this romantic?"
Aunt Fang: "......"
The conversation couldn't go on, and Aunt Fang angrily twisted his ear, too lazy to say anything more!
Back in her room, Aunt Fang still felt resentful and couldn't understand it any longer. "Someone like him, what does Yuehe see in him?"
Grandpa Lin advised Grandma Fang to think more positively, "Every monkey has its own way of being restrained. No matter how they negotiate, Yuehe can keep him in check, so she won't suffer any losses."
—
As dawn broke, Lin Yiku left home carrying large and small bags.
"Whoa!" Guan Yuehe suddenly jumped out from around the corner.
Lin Yiku pretended to be startled and cooperated by letting out an "Ah!"
"......Perfunctory!"
She told him a day in advance that he was leaving too early and she wouldn't be able to get up to see him off, and asked him to be careful.
He had just stepped out of courtyard number three when he saw a corner of clothing at the corner and guessed it was her.
That's true.
Lin Yiku felt that this was already a pleasant surprise for him.
There were other surprises in store.
Guan Yuehe made him hold out his hand, looked at him for a few seconds, chuckled twice, and quickly slapped his palm. "Ha! There's nothing there."
He wasn't disappointed. He smiled at her, and just as he was about to pull his hand back, he was patted on the shoulder again, but this time a photo was taken.
The photo in his hand was the same one that Sitian had mistakenly sent him before, but clearly, the one in his hand was different from the one Sitian had. On the back was her handwriting: March 1974, in front of the main gate of the Canton Fair.
He only noticed it a few days ago when he saw her notebook. Her handwriting was so neat and tidy, just like her personality: serious, angular, but not so neat as to be sharp.
"Moon Lotus,"
He was about to say that he would come back after the Chinese New Year, but the situation after school was unknown, and he felt that the winter vacation was still far away, so he changed his mind and said: "I will write to you when I get to school."
"good."
"Remember to write back to me."
"good."
"Then I'm leaving." With no one around, Lin Yi reluctantly "crossed the line" and reached out to shake her hand.
Guan Yuehe really enjoyed holding his hand; his hands were strong, and it felt strangely comfortable to touch them.
In the words of my roommates: "Our neighbor's brother is really good-looking."
But no matter how much you like someone, you can't keep pulling on them in public.
"We'll see each other next time." Guan Yuehe took a deep breath and urged him to hurry up and leave so he wouldn't miss the bus.
Once the person had walked out onto the street and disappeared from sight, she turned back to continue sleeping.
I didn't actually sleep very well.
She had been so happy for the past two weeks since she started dating that it was normal to feel a little lost for a while now that she was going to be apart from her boyfriend for six months. So she sighed again.
But losing an hour of sleep didn't drain her energy; she was still energetic and energetic at work the next day.
"Section Chief Lin, the city just notified us that we need to attend a meeting this afternoon."
"Is it about adjusting the production plan that we talked about last time? Okay, Xiao Guan, get the materials ready, you can go start now."
Guan Yuehe was stunned. Section Chief Lin was waiting for her answer. After she came to her senses, she quickly perked up and said, "Okay!"
Everyone else in the planning department looked at Guan Yuehe. This meeting was usually held by Section Chief Lin or the deputy section chief, but it was assigned to Guan Yuehe this time. Everyone guessed what changes would happen to the planning department next.
Who in the planning department doesn't have some ambition? Guan Yuehe isn't a magic bullet either, so naturally some people are dissatisfied.
No sooner had Guan Yuehe and Section Chief Lin left the office than someone sighed and said self-deprecatingly, "Why didn't I think of applying for a recommendation to go to school back then? In the past, educated people had to keep their heads down and dare not be high-profile. Now it's the other way around. Educated people get promoted faster."
It's pointless to say this. Putting aside everything else, Guan Yuehe's place in school was given by the Municipal Revolutionary Committee and did not take up any of the factory's places.
Others didn't show any particular attitude; they just listened and moved on to their own business.
Everyone could see that Guan Yuehe was likely to become the second-in-command of their department, and she probably wouldn't stay in the planning department for long. Why make a bad impression on her future leader?
Representing Section Chief Lin at the city meeting was like a signal flare, reminding everyone.
After that, Section Chief Lin gradually shifted his work to lower-level staff, occasionally giving guidance in the office while carrying an enamel cup, making his job even easier than that of the archives administrator.
Guan Yuehe worked hard while feeling envious. If Lin Yiku hadn't sent a telegram to let her know she was safe, she would have forgotten that she had a boyfriend who was going to study!
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