200 changes
Guan Yuehe was packing her luggage at home in the morning to take to Guangzhou. In just one afternoon, all the children in Ginkgo Hutong knew that Lin Ting was going to Guangzhou on a business trip with her mother.
Even though the neighbors in the alley knew that adults couldn't take children with them on business trips, they still teased Lin Ting, deliberately asking, "Lin Ting, are you going to be a translator too? Tell the old folks what foreign languages you know?"
Lin Ting blurted out everything she knew, saying whatever came to mind.
Although she made many mistakes, she spoke with great confidence, and the elderly people couldn't tell the difference between right and wrong, so they gave her a thumbs up and praised her a lot.
"With your skills, you could definitely be a translator at the Canton Fair. Your mother was a translator at the Canton Fair for the first time, and she didn't know as many foreign languages as you."
Kua Delin listened with a smile.
Gu Yu rode over on her old bicycle. Upon hearing these words, she knew that the little idiot had been fooled.
Her father has attended the Canton Fair for several years in a row. He had told her before that he was on a business trip for important matters at the factory, not for leisure, and therefore could not take her with him.
My aunt would never take a naughty kid on a business trip.
But Lin Ting couldn't care less about her business trip with her mother. As soon as she saw Gu Yu pushing the stroller over, she immediately tried to climb onto the back seat and urged Gu Yu to take her out for a ride.
"Call me 'sister,' and I'll give you a ride."
"Sister." Lin Ting sometimes doesn't have a stubborn temper.
—
Xie Dongxue and He Shuangshuang bumped into each other while shopping at a department store. After discussing it, they decided on the spur of the moment to bring their children, fruits, and pastries to Ginkgo Hutong to find Guan Yuehe.
Just as I arrived at the alley entrance, I saw Guyu playing in the open space. Guyu wasn't tall enough to sit on the saddle like an adult, so she could only step over the crossbar and pedal with her body crooked. The tall bicycle frame was also crooked.
The little one in the back seat clung tightly to the saddle, both scared and excited, laughing one moment and screaming the next.
Mo Mingqi, still worried, pulled He Shuangshuang back two steps and whispered to Xie Dongxue and her daughter, "Gu Yu was practicing driving in the family compound and almost crashed into the guard booth."
The implication is that riding a bicycle during the Grain Rain period is somewhat dangerous.
Xie Dongxue was momentarily dazed, and couldn't help but smile.
In her second year of work, she bought a bicycle. At that time, she was not good at riding, and Yuehe would ride on her bicycle in the same way. She was afraid that Yuehe would ride into the stinky ditch, but she was also happy to ride on the bicycle.
Gu Yu turned the car around and saw Mo Mingqi first, then Aunt He next to Mo Mingqi.
The adults in the residential compound have been whispering about Aunt He lately, saying that she's definitely going to be a high-ranking official, much more promising than Uncle Mo. She didn't quite understand what "more promising" meant; perhaps it was because Aunt He's salary was higher than Uncle Mo's?
Lin Ting wasn't familiar with He Shuangshuang, but she remembered Aunt Xie and Xie Dongxue's daughter, Zhao Ziyan. Her mother had taken her to Aunt Xie's house for dinner a while ago.
Gu Yu stopped the car, and Lin Ting climbed down and ran to knock on the back window of the small room, shouting, "Mom, Aunt Xie is here!"
A moment later, Guan Yuehe pushed open the back window of the small room and found that not only Xie Dongxue had come, but also He Shuangshuang, whom she hadn't seen for at least a year. She quickly invited them into the room.
"Wow! That's strange, you've grown so tall now?!" Guan Yuehe saw that he still had to look up slightly. This young man must be almost 1.8 meters tall, a hand taller than his father.
"Kids these days are raised well, and they're all much taller."
Mo Mingqi sighed silently. He knew it! He was going to never get rid of that nickname from Aunt Yuehe!
"You guys pour your own water, I'll hurry up and put the clothes in the washing machine." Guan Yuehe casually mentioned that with the recent power grid upgrades, this area can get electricity several hours earlier on Sunday afternoons than before; otherwise, they would have to wait until six or seven in the evening to get electricity.
With Gu Yu and Lin Ting helping to find cups, Xie Dongxue and the others filled their own cups with water.
After sitting down, I looked around and found that the furnishings in the small house had not changed much.
Besides, there were several more certificates of merit and newspapers on the wall.
One of the newspapers reported on the successful signing of a joint venture agreement for Wuxing Automobile Factory.
After reading the newly added newspapers and certificates by the wall, Mo Mingqi felt restless and wanted to go for a walk, but he also felt embarrassed.
Finally, He Shuangshuang gave him two yuan and asked him to take his three younger sisters to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy soda.
Guan Yuehe came out of the bathroom and saw the group of children running out.
Suddenly I realized that getting married and having children early has its advantages. Look at He Shuangshuang, he's currently in the stage of focusing on his career, and he's already in the first year of high school. He's a grown man who doesn't need anyone to worry about him.
He Shuangshuang waved her hand and said, "There are many things to worry about at this age. I'm just afraid he'll do bad things with some of the young people at school."
It's not just outsiders you have to be wary of; you have to be even more wary of your own relatives. Even her own parents told her son that with a mother who's a leader in the government and a father who's an official in a state-owned factory, he'll never have to worry about finding a job.
“Now that I’ve been transferred back, I have to keep all these bad ideas away from me. It’s no wonder my child has no motivation to improve if he hears this kind of talk every day!”
The worst thing would be if the child heard too much of this and thought they could do whatever they wanted because of their parents.
She doesn't expect him to achieve great things in the future, but he should at least have a skill. Based on her many years of experience, it's better to rely on yourself than on others.
He Shuangshuang concluded, "When Ziyan and Lin Ting are a few years older, you two will understand how I feel right now."
"Then let's worry about it in a few years." Guan Yuehe thought to herself, Lin Ting's current mischievousness was enough to worry her.
"By the way, now that you've been transferred back, what area are you in charge of?"
He Shuangshuang put down her cup. "Regarding the reform of state-owned enterprises, I saw Director Zheng at the company a few days ago."
"Then you have quite a heavy burden to bear."
"Everywhere you look, people are talking about development and reform. I think it's not easy to do anything."
Guan Yuehe listened to the two women talk about enterprise reform, occasionally chiming in, but only speaking more when asked about joint ventures.
When He Shuangshuang mentioned that the city was going to relocate some old factories that were affecting residents' lives, Guan Yuehe immediately perked up.
"Is our Zhuoyue Garment Factory also on the relocation list?"
"Not yet, but I think it's only a matter of time." In the Changhu Street area, Zhuoyue Garment Factory no longer has a suitable place to expand, and it's not particularly convenient for trucks to come and go.
Three people who left Zhuoyue Garment Factory nearly ten years ago spoke of the factory as if they had never left it.
They chatted for almost twenty minutes when there was a knock on the door. Mo Mingqi came in carrying three bottles of Arctic Ocean soda, interrupting their conversation.
Presumably afraid of being questioned about her studies, she slipped out again as soon as she put down her soda, preferring to jump rope with several children much younger than her.
Guan Yuehe took a couple of sips of soda and suddenly laughed. These days, the topics they talk about are so big?!
"You two big leaders, don't you usually handle this kind of work?" Xie Dongxue actually found it a bit funny. She belatedly realized that she seemed to be conducting an interview.
So, time has changed them to some extent.
“That’s not right,” He Shuangshuang corrected. “It should be that we changed ourselves through our efforts.”
Xie Dongxue and Guan Yuehe exchanged a glance, then raised their sodas and clinked them against He Shuangshuang's bottle, praising earnestly, "Director He is right!"
—
Reuniting with old friends always brings a touch of melancholy, since there are many memories to reminisce about and we don't see each other often. As soon as we meet, we inevitably ask each other about our recent lives as if we're digging deep into the details.
At the end of the gathering, I would also think of some old friends who said they looked forward to seeing me but never got to.
After sighing for the third time that night, Guan Yuehe finally came to a conclusion about herself: "I'm really getting old. Look at my dad and the others, they always bring up things from the past. That's the symptom I'm experiencing now."
Lin Yiku echoed her sigh, just about to say something to cheer her up, when she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh dear!" and slapped her thigh, saying, "I was so busy chatting with them that I forgot to hang the laundry up!"
"Go hang up the clothes, I'll go coax that little rascal to sleep." Guan Yuehe rushed off to catch Lin Ting in the small room, instantly forgetting all her melancholy.
As Lin Yiku hung clothes to dry outside, she overheard Lin Ting daydreaming, "Mom, what gifts should I bring back for Dad when I come back from my business trip? And what about Grandpa and Grandma, Grandma and Grandpa on my mother's side, and Guyu..."
Just counting the people made up a long list.
After Lin Ting finished counting, he heard Guan Yuehe say, "Okay, remember to give so many gifts. Now you should close your eyes and go to sleep."
"Why? I don't want to sleep yet. I want to sleep on the kang (heated brick bed) with my mom and dad."
"You're asleep, you can dream about anything. You can even send the cats and dogs in the alley to us if you want. Okay, stop somersaulting, go to sleep now."
Lin Yiku, standing outside the door, couldn't help but laugh.
—
Comrade Guan Yuehe, who said she was already of advanced age, was often the subject of whispered discussions when she led a team to Guangzhou to oversee the work: "Is the person in charge of this team, Deputy Director Guan, even thirty years old?"
"Deputy Director Guan is a graduate student, don't you think?" Just graduating from school means you're not young anymore, and it will take several more years to get to this position.
You wouldn't believe it, he looks more energetic than a young person in their early twenties. No matter how late he finishes work each day, he's still as energetic as ever the next day.
After spending a few days in Guangzhou, the participating units of the first phase of the exhibition arrived one after another, and all sorts of new problems emerged every day. Guan Yuehe was busy with overall coordination.
On the first day of the exhibition, several companies made big announcements and received orders far exceeding those of previous years.
As Guan Yuehe visited each booth to learn more, she came across the booth of the Five Star Automobile Factory and discovered that Zhang Xinbi was also there.
“Our factory brought new products this year, so of course I have to come and check on them,” Zhang Xinbi joked. “The factory has enough translators now, otherwise we would have had to ask you to come and help.”
Guan Yuehe pretended to be serious, "I speak several foreign languages, so feel free to contact me if you need help."
As he spoke, he listed out all the foreign languages he knew.
Zhang Xinbi understood her unspoken message: Look, Comrade Xiao Guan has learned another new foreign language.
No sooner had Guan Yuehe left than Guo Xusheng returned from checking on other booths and noticed Zhang Xinbi was distracted. He followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Isn't that Comrade Guan?" Guo Xusheng said with satisfaction. "I heard a long time ago that the person in charge this time is Comrade Guan Yuehe from the Ministry of Foreign Trade. I was thinking of meeting her and saying hello. She hasn't participated in the Canton Fair in the past few years, has she?"
"yes."
"Director Zhang, Director Guo, what are you looking at?" A young comrade peeked out from beside them. She looked for a while but couldn't figure out what it was about.
Zhang Xinbi and Guo Xusheng turned around at the same time. The young comrade behind them looked so familiar.
Author's Note: It turns out that going to bed early doesn't guarantee success, so I'm staying up late tonight to finish a second update! [emoji]
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