198 moved away
The next day was Sunday, and since Lin Sitian could spend the whole day in Ginkgo Hutong, Guan Yuehe invited her and Chen Lizhong, and also took Lin Ting and Gu Yu to a Western restaurant on Changhu Street for a meal.
The two little ones couldn't wait to eat the cake and ran off, leaving Chen Lizhong to follow. Lin Sitian, holding Guan Yuehe's hand, walked slowly behind.
They used to see each other every day after get off work, but now they only see each other three or four times a month. When they finally have time to chat, they can't stop talking once they start.
"Is your brother-in-law this busy on Sundays too? Did he sneak off on a date without Guyu?"
Lin Sitian remembered Yuehe mentioning that her brother-in-law's cadre training program had ended.
"No, not at all," Guan Yuehe said. "It's just that my sister was transferred to a new job, and she's already struggling with the work in her new position."
"As for my brother-in-law, he's now the head of the sales department at the factory. The factory is currently undergoing restructuring, and some workers are upset. The factory management needs to do a good job of appeasing them... By the way, I remember the restructuring of the car factory was completed in July. Has anything changed?"
The factory director responsibility system was proposed a long time ago and has been implemented since 1984. In the past two years, various state-owned enterprises have been reforming one after another, and some of the faster ones have already completed the reform.
Zhuoyue Garment Factory was a step behind this time, dragging on for more than a year before finally starting its restructuring in the second half of this year.
Lin Sitian shrugged. "I haven't noticed any changes while I'm in the hospital, but my colleagues in the department have mentioned that the workshop's production efficiency has improved a lot, and the workshop workers' bonuses have increased."
After the restructuring, the factory can issue notices much faster. In the past, a lot of time was spent on meetings and communication between the time a decision was made and the time it was finally issued.
But Lin Sitian also had concerns: "If the factory manager has all the decisions in the future, will this factory still belong to the workers?"
Guan Yuehe couldn't give an answer right away.
Under every reform, everyone is feeling their way across the river. But she felt that with the entry of foreign companies and the emergence of joint ventures, if state-owned factories did not reform and innovate, they would be the next ones to go bankrupt.
Just this year, a state-owned factory in Northeast China went bankrupt, serving as a wake-up call for state-owned factory workers across the country: times have changed, the "iron rice bowl" of state-owned factories will be smashed, and the worker status of the past, which was a secure job that could be passed down from generation to generation, is no longer secure.
"Oh dear, how did we end up on such a heavy topic?" Lin Sitian immediately changed the subject. "If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. Even if we worry, we can't help. Just doing our job well is enough to avoid causing trouble for the organization."
"That makes sense!" Guan Yuehe agreed wholeheartedly. You should take care of what you're supposed to do in your position, and doing your job well is making a contribution.
"Let's talk about something more practical. Mom said she'll move in with you when you're about to give birth. What did Chen Lizhong's parents say?"
"I just told Mom last night that I'll be going back to Ginkgo Hutong to recuperate after giving birth. Chen Lizhong and my in-laws have no objections." Lin Sitian deliberately added, "Your sister-in-law is coming back to take over the house, what do you, as the eldest sister-in-law, say?"
Guan Yuehe rolled her eyes at her. "What else can I say? Can't I just send you to the storage room?"
"Then you changed the storage room too early." Lin Sitian laughed, leaning half her weight on her, and sighed, "It's a pity, we were just a step too late, otherwise we could continue to be neighbors."
Lin Sitian's neighbors were planning to move abroad to stay with relatives and wanted to sell their house. The news had only been out for two days when a buyer was found.
Lin Sitian still felt regretful when she thought about it, "I should have paid the deposit first."
"Never mind, I didn't really want to buy it anyway."
Guan Yuehe felt that the location was too far away and the price was too high. After all, the yard next to Lin Sitian's house was twice the size of Lin Sitian's, and if she were to buy it, she would definitely have to borrow money from her friends.
The small courtyard houses that are now available for sale are getting more and more expensive and harder to find. She estimated that if she bought a small courtyard house, she would be broke again.
Yesterday, she said she was going to treat everyone, and her mother kept nagging her that her salary was so high it was burning her pants. Her mother often reminded her not to spend money recklessly on big-ticket items.
The reason why the small courtyard house couldn't be bought for so long was ultimately because Guan Yuehe wasn't that enthusiastic about it anymore. Changing places was really not as convenient as living in Ginkgo Hutong.
"If you're short of money, just say so."
Guan Yuehe immediately reached into her pocket and said, "Alright, let Lin treat us to dinner today."
"Let the young Lin, the wealthy man in front, treat us to a meal."
“That won’t do, all her money is in her savings account.”
Chen Lizhong waited with the two children at the restaurant entrance for quite a while before the two laughing and joking people approached.
Finally, the person who hosted the dinner was Chen Lizhong, a wealthy man.
"Let's invite Ding Xuewen and Xu Chengcai over another day. One of them works as a tour guide and earns US dollars, and the other makes extra money by making clothes. They're both richer than us," Lin Sitian suggested.
"It's settled then," Guan Yuehe decided.
Gu Yu quickly raised her hand, "Auntie, take me with you."
If I go with my aunt, there will definitely be delicious food.
"Auntie, take me!" Lin Tingye grinned and raised her hand.
Tsk! This little bastard sometimes just needs to be taught a lesson.
Guan Yuehe reached out and pinched her cheek. "I'll send you to my sister's house tonight."
Lin Ting quickly grabbed her arm and cried out, "No!"
—
After having eaten and drunk their fill, the group strolled back to the alley and found many neighbors gathered at the gate of courtyard number three.
Lin Sitian didn't dare to squeeze into the crowd, so she asked Aunt Bai, who was watching the commotion from outside, "What's going on inside?"
"That's good news," Aunt Bai replied. "Teacher Xie has obtained several patents, and the factory allocated him a small villa. Now that the news has spread, he plans to move out in the next few days. Liu Axiu plans to invite her old neighbors to dinner in a few days, and she's also giving away some of her old furniture."
"Oh, is that it?"
No one was surprised that Xie Zhenhua's family was moving. Since Xie Zhenhua returned to the factory after completing his postgraduate studies, he had invented several patents, which reportedly benefited not only Wuxing Automobile Factory but also other automobile factories in China. Moving away was inevitable.
The second aunt came over and added, "I heard that he should have been assigned to the position the year before last, but he was rejected for fear of affecting Tingting's college entrance examination. He was only assigned to the position now."
"Tingting's grades are already so good, why would she worry about them being affected? If it were me, I would have moved long ago." Aunt Bai said with a sneer.
Last August, Tingting was admitted to Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Aunt Xie bought a tin megaphone and advertised it at the entrance of the alley for half a month. I'm afraid even the dogs in the next alley knew that Tingting ranked among the top ten in the city in the college entrance examination.
"Look at how sour you are. I envy your Jinhua for finishing the factory's technical school and being assigned to the finance department. And Cai Ying's Xinan graduated from teachers' college and was assigned to a school as a teacher. Being a teacher is so good now, so respectable. I'm telling you, Zhang Desheng is the one who thinks long-term. He gave his job to Quanbin a long time ago. He's in charge of logistics at the school now, and he earns about the same salary as a teacher."
Aunt Zhao felt anxious and worried whenever she thought about Shunshun taking the high school entrance exam in two years.
Grandma Bai loved it when people praised her granddaughter in front of her, and she wasn't modest at all this time, saying cheerfully, "Jinhua is good at herself, there's no doubt about that."
Aunt Zhao glanced at Guan Yuehe not far away and asked in a low voice, "Has Jingjing from Guiying's family repeated a year of school again?"
Aunt Bai nodded and whispered, "I heard it was because they didn't choose the right major last year, what a pity."
She was more than ten points short in the first year, but last year she passed the admission line. However, because she filled out her application before taking the exam, those who scored a few points lower than Jingjing all received college admission notices.
If you hadn't passed the exam, that would have been fine, but you've already passed and you're just going to let it go? Who could let it go like that? So, you grit your teeth and persevere to repeat a year.
—
After watching for a while, Lin Sitian and the others didn't want to squeeze into Courtyard No. 3, so they went back to Guan Yuehe's house to stay.
In the evening, Liu Axiu came over to invite Zhou Hongqi and Guan Yuehe to bring their families to dinner at No. 3 Courtyard next Sunday.
“Sitian is here too, perfect timing. I’ve already spoken to your parents, so you and Xiao Chen can go together as well.”
During dinner that evening, Aunt Fang sighed, "Our old neighbors are moving out one by one."
The children grew up, got married and started their own families, and new people entered the courtyard, bringing another generation of children. Meanwhile, some of the old neighbors moved out, and a new group of faces took their place.
But then Aunt Fang cheered up again. She didn't care whether her neighbors moved or not; her longtime friends and children were right there with her.
As a large banquet concluded in Courtyard No. 3, Xie Zhenhua and Liu Axiu's family moved out of Ginkgo Alley. At the same time, another new family moved in.
Life wasn't affected by the departure of the old neighbors; on the contrary, the arrival of new neighbors added new topics of conversation to Courtyard No. 3.
Jiang Guiying and Aunt Fang argued with their new neighbor several times over the issue of the new neighbor wanting to use their toilet. The old neighbors in the front yard also argued with the new neighbor quite often over the issue of using the tap morning and evening.
But when the new neighbors needed to do a major coat of paint and buy new furniture, none of the old neighbors in the courtyard just stood by and watched. For a few days after helping out, the atmosphere in courtyard number three was peaceful, but then the arguing resumed...
Guan Yuehe chuckled to herself. When the new neighbors first moved in, they said the new neighbors seemed to have good tempers, but only a few days later, they were already arguing.
That's how it is with neighbors; they can argue about even the smallest things. But as they argue, they figure out each other's bottom lines and are able to live together peacefully from then on.
Guan Yuehe, unaware of his thoughts, continued, "Aunt Xie used to be so annoying to our mom, but now that she's moved away, our mom says she misses her. Isn't that strange?"
"How strange." Lin Yi thought to herself, if Aunt Xie really moved back, she would probably become annoying again.
Guan Yuehe looked at the house across the street, "Luckily, Sister Hongqi's family didn't say they were moving away. I don't want to have new neighbors."
Meanwhile, Zhou Hongqi and Jin Junwei across the street were also talking about this: "Our neighbors in this courtyard are really nice; it's best not to change them."
While the two families were preoccupied with whether their neighbor should move out, Lin Ting and Yuan Bao started playing with sticks in the yard again.
Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku were only distracted for a short while when Lin Ting had already climbed halfway up the ladder, and it was only when Aunt Hu came out to fetch water that she noticed.
"Yuehe! Yiku! Your little rascal is trying to climb onto the roof!"
When Guan Yuehe came out, her hands were still covered in flour. When she saw Lin Ting standing in the middle of the ladder waving at her, she hissed and tried to persuade her in a gentle voice, "Mom is about to start steaming buns. Do you want some? Come down quickly."
"No!" Lin Ting pointed to the roof. "I want to catch the kitten."
She tried to be a loving mother, but failed. Guan Yuehe rushed into the house and called for Lin Yiku to come out and help.
"Lin Ting, get down here right now! I'll give you a good spanking!"
The author's note: It turns out, don't try to stay up all night; if you stay up for three hours, you need to make up for it with thirteen hours of sleep. [emoji]
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