Chapter 75: A Falling Pancake

Chapter 75: A Falling Pancake

There are houses on both sides of Qingshui Lane, totaling 18 courtyards.

The sizes of the houses are all different. It is said that they were the residences of a member of the clan of a third-rank official in the past. The house of that third-rank official was so conspicuous that it disappeared in the war-torn years, but the houses of these members of the clan have been preserved.

As time goes by, some families leave their homes and never return, while some families die out and no one is left at home.

These ownerless houses were taken over by the Housing Authority and redistributed to streets and factories.

Wen Jiajia looked up and saw a piece of iron sheet with the number "8" nailed to the wall next to the door in front of her. She said to Teacher Yan, "Teacher Yan, this is the house assigned to you."

As he spoke, he took out the key and opened the door. The door lock opened with a "click", and then he pushed the door open. A square courtyard appeared in front of Professor Yan.

He rolled his glasses and strode in.

"The main house is a two-story building. There are two rooms on the first floor, one large and one small. There are three rooms on the second floor, one large and two small."

Professor Yan's eyes lit up. He opened the door to the large room on the first floor and looked around for half a minute, nodding his head. "Great. The room has good lighting. The window is on this side of the yard. You can see the magnolia flowers when you open the window. Wait, is this a magnolia tree in the yard?"

"Uh, sorry, Teacher Yan, I'm not sure." It's not the magnolia blooming season recently, so Wen Jiajia really couldn't recognize it.

Professor Yan looked at it carefully and said with certainty, "It is a magnolia tree. My mother likes magnolia the most."

He decided to leave this room for his parents.

The reason why he chose to come here was actually because his parents were getting older.

The school only allocated him a house of more than 80 square meters. For other people, 80 square meters is a lot, but his parents used to live in the countryside, and it was really stuffy for them.

But there are still noisy children at home, and my parents are in their early 70s, but they want to return to the countryside more and more.

Why go back? Professor Yan is an only child. He has been away from his hometown for decades, so how can he feel at ease about his parents going back?

But the 80-square-meter house was already the largest house in the school compound. Professor Yan was thinking about renting a house when he came across the medical recruitment news.

When he knew that he was the one who took on the important task, he readily agreed. After all, if he was the one who took on the important task, he would definitely be given a nice house. Who would have thought it would be so good?

Wen Jiajia smiled and said, "That's perfect. The elderly don't have to climb the stairs if they live on the first floor. And the bathroom is right next to the room. Oh, there's also a bathroom on the second floor."

Professor Yan immediately went upstairs to take a look around. On the second floor, there was not only a bathroom, but also a large balcony with a glass door.

The balcony is spacious, and standing on it and looking down, you can see a courtyard planted with magnolia trees and roses. Looking out, you can see neatly arranged green houses, the river in the distance, the rowboats in the river, and even the towering green mountains in the distance.

Professor Yan heaved a long sigh of relief, his heart pounding. He felt that if he didn't make some achievements for the medical glass factory, he would be unworthy of the house that was allocated to him!

The kitchen is also on the first floor, and there is even a piece of dirt in the yard that is not covered with bluestone slabs.

Wen Jiajia specially asked someone to move out yesterday. It’s a pity not to leave any land for growing vegetables in such a nice yard.

As expected, Professor Yan was very pleased and said, "Now my parents won't think of returning to the countryside anymore."

Wen Jiajia handed the key to Professor Yan, and took Professor Feng, who was looking around, to the next door house. Professor Feng's house was in Courtyard No. 9, next to Professor Yan.

"Does my house have a two-story building?" asked Professor Feng.

Wen Jiajia smiled and said, "Yes, there are only two two-story courtyards in Qingshui Lane. I thought you and Professor Yan have many people in your family, so I gave them to you."

The only difference is the layout. The house has become L-shaped, which means that there is an extra room in the main house, and the kitchen and dining room are in the room. The house area is slightly larger, but in daily life it is not as convenient as the Yan family next door, so it is hard to say which one is better.

Wen Jiajia went to open the door for two other professors. She originally wanted to give them the keys and let them open the door themselves, but they all wanted to see other people's homes.

The courtyards that follow are a bit ordinary, but each has a high wall and a bathroom, which is enough to satisfy people.

Several students lived together, four people in one yard, and everyone was very happy.

After they were settled, Wen Jiajia took a few people to the factory to report.

Director Gao was already waiting at the gate of the Little Red Building. When he saw them, he hurried forward to greet them. Then Director Shen also came in, talking and laughing. The smile on his face was as bright as it could be. Wen Jiajia had never seen Director Shen like this before.

Wen Jiajia on the side breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the mission had finally been completed.

Time flies, and two months have passed in the blink of an eye.

With the addition of Professor Yan and several others, the production department progressed at a rapid pace, as if it were clockwork.

Wen Jiajia's office also has things to do, no longer helping to organize data.

She had moved to her own office half a month ago. Now she has a room of more than ten square meters all to herself. It's so comfortable!

Wen Jiajia also specially placed a stove in the office so that in winter she would not have to go to the water room on the first floor to get hot water.

It can also be turned into a kettle, which is great for making tea or even heating steamed buns.

Director Gao nodded after reading it and thought it was a good idea. But before leaving, he told her, "With this thing, you can't keep the doors and windows tightly closed in the winter."

She used to work on safety, and now she still keeps the habit of advising others to pay attention to safety.

Of course Wen Jiajia agreed. As 1974 was coming to an end and 1975 was approaching, society was about to take off, and she wanted to enjoy herself.

We have been very busy recently because we have to complete the goals set by the Municipal Industry Bureau. All resources in the factory are closely linked to the production department.

Even Wen Jiajia was sometimes assigned to be on duty in the workshop - the workshop was producing glass bottles in three shifts.

Morning, noon and evening shifts, 8 hours per shift.

Wen Jiajia sometimes worked the mid-shift and sometimes the night shift. When working the night shift, she had to stay overnight in the factory. Wen Jiajia couldn't stand it, so she asked Wei Dai to buy her a camp bed. She relied on the camp bed to recover her energy during those nights.

Unfortunately, the weather was getting colder and colder, and the wind would leak into the back when sleeping on the camp bed. Wen Jiajia was woken up by the cold twice during her rest days.

I caught a cold because of this and had a runny nose for two days. I had to go to the pharmacy to see a doctor before I was cured.

The medical field is really short of people now, and there is no factory doctor. But to be honest, a factory with so few people does not need a factory doctor.

After two months of hard work, the factory finally reaped the rewards. The goods were finally shipped out, but Wen Jiajia and Liang Mu's teams were still responsible for quality inspection, so they were still busy.

Wen Jiajia finally understood why there were so many people in her office. At first she thought they were just there to organize data or do liaison work. Who knew there was so much work, even quality inspection was their job.

By the time I finally had some free time, it was already the beginning of winter.

At the beginning of winter, everything withers.

Because of the southward branch of the westerly wind, their area has recently been experiencing continuous rainy weather. When the weather gets cold and it starts to rain, it's really unpleasant, and the wind is like a knife.

Wen Jiajia has been preparing New Year's goods recently. This year, because Fang Hongjun will return to his hometown, she has to prepare in advance.

She made a lot of money by secretly selling hand warmers and water bottles. But most of the money was industrial coupons, and there were only a few meat and grain coupons. It was expensive to buy three pounds of meat. Not to mention the New Year's goods, it was not even enough for her family to eat during the New Year.

Fortunately, Wei Dai got several of them from somewhere, and even got half a pork. When Wen Jiajia saw him carrying half a pork into the house the night before yesterday, she was almost scared to scream.

This was half a pig's leg, weighing at least 100 kilograms. Like a poor man suddenly becoming rich, Wen Jiajia was at a loss at first, but then became very excited.

Unfortunately, after the excitement, they realized that the pork did not belong to their family, but to four families.

All right, Wen Jiajia's excitement was reduced by a quarter. Fortunately, there were two ribs, a pork leg and four pounds of pork fat left at home.

Pork fat is naturally boiled into lard. A can of it can be used until March next year if you save it.

She braised the ribs. Since the pork was fresh, she couldn't just pickle it.

As for the pork legs, of course they are made into pickled pork legs.

It is actually a simple version of pickled ham. The pork leg is pickled with pepper and salt for a few days, then rolled in white wine, and finally air-dried for more than ten days. It can be eaten after air-drying. It is very good to chop it into small pieces for pickling.

As for the leftovers, they can still be hung and cut down when you want to eat them. But they have to be eaten before the weather gets hot. Wen Jiajia is now just praying that the temperature will not rise after the beginning of winter, otherwise the pork legs will easily go bad. She is also thinking of cutting two pounds of pork legs for her family as a New Year's gift.

In addition to various kinds of meat, Wen Jiajia also bought some glutinous rice this year, preparing to make some rice cakes and rice cakes as New Year's goods.

There was no way. The local people didn’t eat rice cakes much, and even if Wen Jiajia wanted to buy it, she couldn’t find anywhere.

As for rice cakes, they were extremely expensive. After calculating the price, Wen Jiajia decided to make them herself.

With nothing to do, she took out a piece of paper to plan her New Year's shopping. When she finished writing the words "brown sugar rice cake", someone knocked on her office door and said someone was looking for her.

"He said his surname is Lu." The person knocking on the door was Dong Qi.

Dong Qi was recently converted to a regular employee because she had been working the morning shift and the night shift for nearly half a month. Wen Jiajia applied on her behalf and asked Director Gao to help her get converted to a regular employee.

The factory is short of people, and it wouldn't be a big deal for Director Gao to lend a hand to someone who is both hardworking and capable.

Dong Qi was happy about this for almost a week. It was said that her family took her to a state-owned restaurant for a meal. Lan Lan also said that Dong Qi cried while eating, which shows how much this formal job meant to her.

Wen Jiajia: "Last name Lu? Oh, I know."

It must be Sister Lu.

Wen Jiajia stuffed an apple into Dong Qi's mouth and said, "Take this apple and eat it."

Dong Qi smiled and said, "How can I feel so embarrassed about this?"

He quickly put the money in his pocket and went back to the office.

“…”

Wen Jiajia was quite speechless. She closed the door, went downstairs to the factory gate. The person standing at the gate and talking to the gatekeeper was indeed Sister Lu.

"Sister Lu." Wen Jiajia went over and called for someone.

In the past two months, Wen Jiajia has been in frequent contact with this lady from Lu, and they have gradually become familiar with each other.

Sister Lu was from a commune near Linhe. She married a worker from the same city more than ten years ago, and it was not until 1970 that she got a temporary job as a train station worker.

According to her, her parents are still alive and there are six brothers and sisters in her family, among whom there is only one eldest brother. After getting married, the eldest brother had four children, three of whom are girls.

The eldest girl is the niece who often comes to her house. But she doesn't come to her house to enjoy a good life. She is not the head of the family yet and has no ability to let her niece enjoy a good life.

And come to her house to help look after the children and the elderly.

She has three children, aged ten, four and two. Except for the ten-year-old, it really cannot be without someone to take care of the other two children.

Her mother-in-law is frail and sick, so it's good enough that she doesn't have to take care of the children, let alone her four-year-old granddaughter.

My father-in-law and husband were still at work, so I had no choice but to ask my niece for help.

On the one hand, she really needed help, and on the other hand, she felt sorry for her niece. She felt that she was somewhat similar to her niece in that both were disliked by their parents and both needed to make a living on their own.

Ever since she learned that Wen Jiajia could get a place, she has been interested in it.

Regardless of face, she took the initiative to find Wen Jiajia, and fortunately she did not ignore her.

After several interactions, she got to know Wen Jiajia, and Wen Jiajia also got to know her.

Sister Lu has a good reputation, whether among her neighbors or colleagues.

Some said she was hardworking, some said she was ambitious, some said she never spoke ill of others, some said she was kind-hearted... Even the people who had argued with her that time couldn't point out specifically what was wrong with her. They just kept saying that she was from the countryside and became a city dweller through marriage.

But is there anything wrong with this? Is this wrong? Obviously not.

Wen Jiajia went to inquire about her niece again. Her niece Lu Xiaoqian was a high school student, or to be exact, she had only finished the first year of high school.

Even this was supported by Sister Lu. She didn't even have the chance to go to school. Sister Lu said that it was because a new head of women's department came to the village that year and forced Lu Xiaoqian to go to school. After Lu Xiaoqian graduated from primary school, the head of women's department was promoted and left. Lu Xiaoqian had to face the problem of going to school again.

At this time, Sister Lu appeared and was willing to pay for her to go to school. The Lu family's parents also wanted their sister to promote their son in the future, so they agreed after weighing the pros and cons. Lu Xiaoqian continued to study until high school. When she finished her first year of high school, she became an adult and it was time for her to get married in the countryside. Her parents brought up the idea of ​​dropping out of school again. At this time, even Sister Lu could not stop them, because someone was willing to pay a 100-yuan betrothal gift and a sewing machine. The immediate benefits were obviously more attractive to them than the benefits a few years later.

This girl was quite smart. She found herbs herself and sold them at the market station to earn some money. If she hadn't taken care of her two younger sisters at home, she would have just ignored the matter and made a big fuss and went to school.

After thinking for a while, Wen Jiajia decided to sell the spot to her.

We agreed to meet this weekend, and I don’t know why Sister Lu came today.

Seeing Wen Jiajia, Sister Lu showed a little anxiety on her face. She pulled her aside and asked, "Well, Jiajia, I want to ask if the quota can be arranged as soon as possible?"

"Did something happen?" Wen Jiajia asked.

Sister Lu smiled bitterly, "They say that family disgrace should not be made public, but... my brother and sister-in-law are greedy and incompetent. That man raised the betrothal gift to 120, and they became even more tempted. I could have delayed it at first, but now that I mentioned this, they want me to pay the 120 for a sewing machine, or they will marry Xiaoqian off."

"Xiao Qian, Xiao Qian wanted to run away last night, but she was found by the villagers not long after she ran away. She was beaten by her parents and is still locked up. I only found out about this this morning when her little sister came to report the news."

Wen Jiajia couldn't believe it: "They beat me and restricted my personal freedom!"

She wanted to say, didn’t anyone call the police?

But the next second I remembered that at this time, many people thought it was natural for parents to beat their children. Even parents who were worse than pigs and dogs had the "right" to beat and scold their children.

Even if the beating is very severe, few people will think it is wrong, especially in places like rural areas.

Sister Lu sighed: "This is a common occurrence, but this time the beating was even more severe."

Wen Jiajia said hurriedly: "Then bring her here quickly, I will help her with the employment procedures today."

Sister Lu was shocked: "Really? My money..."

"Didn't we agree on this? No charge."

Wen Jiajia didn't ask for money, but she was not a sucker either.

What do you want? A small courtyard that has collapsed on half of its side.

The courtyard is not big, with an area of ​​only about 120 square meters. It was the house of the uncle of Lu's husband. His uncle had no children, so the courtyard was later left to him.

According to Sister Lu, her husband is currently in a critical period of promotion, and the family already has a house allocated by the factory, and it is quite large.

But this actually does not comply with the policy, because he owns a house and is a self-employed employee. He was able to get a house because he followed the right leader back then.

But his boss was transferred, and he could only keep a low profile without a backer. Besides, few people knew that this courtyard belonged to him. And because it collapsed, it would cost hundreds of yuan to repair it, and the people from the street and housing authority didn't care.

That would be fine, but the key point is that his ancestors also had the house, and now it is still occupied by his uncle's family.

I don't know why, but this matter was exposed and spread all over the factory. Although it has not yet been exposed to the courtyard, it is enough to scare Sister Lu's husband.

It's still acceptable for one family to have two houses. After all, his father and he are not from the same factory. At worst, his parents can just move back to that house.

But there is still a house...Sister Lu’s husband couldn’t imagine how miserable he would be if he was found out.

At this moment, he wished the house wasn't his and just wanted to sell it as soon as possible! Even if it was for free or even at a loss.

But he couldn't tell anyone about this, especially his friends and colleagues. If he was caught, he would be in trouble. Until he learned about Wen Jiajia from Sister Lu.

He knew that Wen Jiajia didn't have a house in the factory, so with the determination to "fight to the death", he told Wen Jiajia the matter and wanted to spend more money to transfer the yard to her.

Wen Jiajia: …

Pies don't fall from the sky this way.

Wen Jiajia went to the courtyard to take a cautious look. It was no longer habitable, but the location was good.

It is located next to a garden in the inner city and is a protected area. There is a 99% chance that it will not be demolished in the future.

But she just likes this kind of house. You can buy a house that has been demolished anywhere, but she prefers the ones that cannot be demolished.

This courtyard was enough for her to give the quota to Lu Xiaoqian, but for the sake of the girl's future, Wen Jiajia only asked Sister Lu not to tell her husband about her confiscation of her quota money. After all, times have changed, and if Sister Lu's husband regretted it in the future, he couldn't blame Lu Xiaoqian.

Although Sister Lu was confused, she listened to Wen Jiajia's words. She asked, "Then let's go through the formalities this afternoon?"

"Sure! I'm fine with it. But how can you convince your brother and sister-in-law?" Wen Jiajia asked again, "This requires an introduction."

Sister Lu said: "It's easy. Just give them a sum of money every month."

Wen Jiajia felt a little aggrieved: "They are asking for a lot, right? Xiaoqian said last time that she would give you a sum of money every month, and now she also needs to give it to the family. She is so busy for a month that she doesn't have much left for herself."

It goes without saying that her parents had a guilty conscience by not taking away half of it.

Sister Lu said, "There's nothing we can do. We have to get the job first and see what happens. Even if she doesn't give it to us in the future, can we force her to give it to us? Even if we sign an agreement, there will be loopholes. Besides, I don't want Xiaoqian's money."

"Sister, you still have to accept it. I'm sincere." Wen Jiajia sighed. Although she didn't know what loopholes there were, she naturally had her own ways.

Sister Lu didn't stay long and left soon.

After she left, Wen Jiajia did not return to the office, but went to the human resources department.

Lin Yunfei was a little surprised to see her: "It's rare, you shouldn't be sitting in the office drinking tea at this time."

"What do you mean?" Wen Jiajia sat down calmly and picked up the biscuits on her table to eat.

"Hey, I only have one piece left!"

Wen Jiajia thought, if there was not one piece left I would not have eaten it. There was only one piece left and I was watching, so she should eat it.

After finishing her meal, she patted the biscuit crumbs on her hands and said, "Well, I want to recommend someone."

Lin Yunfei was stunned, then asked, "Who?"

"A girl who has just finished her freshman year of high school."

"Okay." Lin Yunfei was very straightforward.

Wen Jiajia thought for a moment and asked again, "Are you going to hire someone soon? If you need to hire someone within a week, she can actually wait a little longer."

When the time comes, Xiaoqian will come in by herself, and then the yard will be handed over to me and will have nothing to do with this girl at all.

"Recruiting people is something we won't do until after the New Year. You're trying to tire me out by recruiting now. I haven't had any rest for a whole month. I've been training, training, training!" Lin Yunfei was filled with resentment, and she was about to explode. Wen Jiajia could understand her very well, as she thought the same thing when she was working the night shift.

Wen Jiajia took the opportunity to complain to her, saying that the concept of "work first" did not exist between them.

Wen Jiajia didn't have such an idea at all. Even if she had never been a corporate slave, she had understood the benefits of working 996. How could she have such an inhumane idea?

As for Lin Yunfei, she was born with it.

Some time ago, she was angry at her boss because of overtime, and bluntly said that if she had the same salary as her boss, she could be very hardworking and put work first. Her boss was so angry that he almost fell over.

This matter was also noticed by the union, which had some power at that time. Her boss was immediately criticized by the union, although he still worked overtime for a week afterwards.

Well, it seems that even though the unions have power, their influence is slowly shrinking.

They complained until their mouths were dry, and after venting their anger, both of them felt relieved, and Wen Jiajia left.

In the afternoon, Sister Lu brought Lu Xiaoqian to the factory gate, but she didn't expect that her parents were also with them.

Seeing that Sister Lu was winking at Xiaoqian crazily behind her parents' backs, Wen Jiajia immediately understood and said with a look of keeping strangers away, "Who is Lu Xiaoqian?"

Sister Lu pushed Lu Xiaoqian forward and said, "She is."

Father and mother Lu stood at the factory gate at a loss. Seeing Wen Jiajia showing some flattery, father Lu asked: "Hello comrade, this OEM cannot, cannot... I am strong, I can do more work!"

Wen Jiajia was shocked for a moment, and then she realized that they just thought it was an OEM.

This is quite good. After all, if you continue to do OEM work, you may be able to enter the factory. It can be seen that Sister Lu and her niece are quite particular.

Wen Jiajia said sternly: "Are you a high school student?"

"Ah, this..."

Wen Jiajia: "Don't waste my time. If you can, do it. If you can't, tell me as soon as possible and I'll find someone else."

“Yes, yes, yes!”

The father didn't dare to say anything else. He just signaled Lu Xiaoqian with his eyes. Wen Jiajia pretended not to see it and pulled Lu Xiaoqian into the factory.

After entering the factory, Lu Xiaoqian finally breathed a sigh of relief and said embarrassedly, "They insisted on coming with me, and I didn't tell them about buying a job."

Wen Jiajia: "Smart! I just can't tell you. But I didn't buy it. The matter of this yard is a bit complicated. To be precise, it's a deal between me and your uncle. You shouldn't feel too burdened. By the way, how did you write the letter of introduction?"

"The head of our village is my uncle. He knows what kind of people my parents are. He helped me get the letter of introduction and the household registration."

"How many months do you want to work for?"

"Six months."

Wen Jiajia said, "After six months, you can say someone else wants you to do the work for them. After you finish the work, you can become a temporary worker. Ask for a lower salary so that you can keep more money in your hands."

Lu Xiaoqian smiled: "I know."

She didn't want to give a single cent to her family. She had already decided to use it to pay for her younger sister's tuition and give the rest back to her aunt.

Although Wen Jiajia always said that the yard had nothing to do with her, she couldn't help but keep it in her heart. The two chatted for a long time along the way. Wen Jiajia introduced her to a place wherever she passed by. Then they came to the human resources department, and Wen Jiajia helped her get the job.

Where to go? To the archives, a quiet and respectable place.

Wen Jiajia said, "You still want to study, right? Next to the archives is the reading room, which is full of books and usually very free. You can go to the pharmaceutical factory's night school when you have time. People from our factory can go to the pharmaceutical factory to attend night school. The night school now teaches various crafts. If you need it, I can help you apply. There are also dormitories, which I have also applied for you."

Lu Xiaoqian didn't expect to go to the filing room. She thought she was going to the workshop. She nodded quickly: "Okay! Thank you!"

Wen Jiajia spent the whole afternoon helping her get things done.

The whole factory was busy during this period, including the filing room. So when they saw the newcomer, they had no time to ask questions. The sisters smiled brightly and quickly asked the newcomer to work with them.

Wen Jiajia, who was free in the archives room, felt a pain on her face right after she finished speaking, but it didn't matter, everything would be fine after she got through this period of time.

At three or four o'clock, she took Lu Xiaoqian to the dormitory and the cafeteria. Wen Jiajia felt relieved only after she was settled.

Originally, I was going to go through the procedures for checking in, but unfortunately Wen Jiajia didn't bring her ID.

For this, Sister Lu's husband was a little upset and repeatedly told her to bring it over tomorrow. This house was like a hot potato in his hands.

Wen Jiajia couldn't help but ask, "What if the house becomes valuable in the future?"

Sister Lu's husband smiled bitterly: "It's worth money, so don't worry, Comrade Wen, I won't ask you to give this house back. If I don't give it to you, I will give it to someone else."

For example, his uncle's family. But his uncle's family was too greedy, and he didn't dare to bet whether his uncle's family would use this as a handle.

Maybe he will donate, but if he does, the fact that he once owned three houses will be exposed, and he will definitely be demoted.

Wen Jiajia: "Okay, I will definitely bring it tomorrow. But I will give you the money tomorrow. How about buying it at 30% off the market price? Don't tell me you don't want it. To be honest, I wouldn't dare to accept it if you don't want it. Oh, and I have to write an agreement and explanation." Anyway, the collapsed house is relatively cheap, and it can't be lived in, so the price is much lower than that of an ordinary yard.

Besides, she is familiar with Sister Lu, but not with Sister Lu’s husband. If he says he won’t take it back, does that mean he won’t take it back?

By then, it would be impossible to take over the yard there without spending a huge amount of money. If any dispute arises, wouldn’t she be wronged?

Sister Lu’s husband nodded repeatedly.

Wen Jiajia told Wei Dai about this after she got home. Wei Dai never expected that she would actually bring back a house.

"Where?" Wei Dai asked.

"The one in Shanyuan."

Wen Jiajia said with a smile: "I have been eyeing the courtyard of Teacher Yan and Teacher Feng's house for a long time. I like the feeling of a world of its own once the gate is closed. Let's build one in that style!"

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