Chapter 17 Inviting someone to dinner
Hongri Machinery Factory, twenty residential buildings for employees.
After a bumpy bus ride, Chen Yun and Ruan Qiu returned to their dormitory during the hottest part of the day.
The blazing sun shone through the glass into the room, and since Chen Yun hadn't hung curtains to save money, the room was completely baked by the sun from morning till evening.
"Look what I've done... I meant well but ended up with a bad result."
Huang Lian arrived early with a bag of noodles and ten eggs to help, but was startled by the sweltering heat that hit her as soon as she entered the dormitory.
No wonder the house wasn't reserved by the housing department beforehand; it turns out there was such a big flaw.
"These past two months have been the hottest time of the year, and my room is the warmest in winter," Chen Yun said optimistically.
Nothing in this world is perfect. Among its many advantages, a small problem is perfectly acceptable.
"It's good that you don't resent your elder sister." Huang Lian picked up the palm-leaf fan on the table and waved it. She thought that Chen Yun was quite magnanimous at such a young age, and a smile appeared on her face: "When you get married, your elder sister will definitely find you a good house."
"It's hot inside, so please sit outside, elder sister."
"Don't bother, little sister, I'll do it myself." Huang Lian was a quick and efficient person. She tossed the palm-leaf fan onto the table, bent down, and picked up a small stool. "This stool is quite sturdy. Which carpenter made it?"
Chen Yun: "..."
If it were truly a clever move, the next topic would almost certainly lead to matchmaking, and Chen Yun couldn't help but hesitate for a few seconds.
Ruanqiu's appearance interrupted the conversation.
"Sister Huang is here."
"Taking a shower?" Huang Lian smiled.
"Take a shower while the pipes are warm from the sun. Why didn't Meizi and Yongqiang come with us?"
Huang Lian's husband, Hu Fengshou, is a technician in the factory. Their eldest daughter, Hu Mei, attends a vocational school in the county town and only comes home during winter and summer vacations. Their son, Hu Yongqiang, attends the factory's affiliated primary school.
"Meizi and Lao Liu's daughter went to the movie theater. Yongqiang and his father are helping their coworkers move. They'll be here soon."
While the two were talking, Chen Yun went to the kitchen to get a basket, poured out all the mushrooms, and then went into the water room to clean the mud out of the basket.
Since it was Li Weihong who borrowed the basket, it should be washed clean before returning it to her.
When they came out again, Ruanqiu and Huanglian were already sitting in front of the mushrooms scraping mud, and their conversation had shifted from small talk to their eldest daughter.
"Is Meizi fifteen this year?"
"She'll be sixteen next year! She'll be as tall as me and her dad, the tallest in our family."
Are you dating anyone?
"I really didn't know! The girl didn't mention it when she got home, and she doesn't seem like it..."
In this day and age, it's common for girls in rural areas to get married at fifteen or sixteen, and even city girls are reaching the point where they should be considering marriage.
Ruanqiu and Li Huguo pledged their love at sixteen and decided to get married and start a family when they were eighteen or nineteen.
A 20-year-old single girl like Chen Yun is the object of everyone's urging to get married wherever she goes.
Chen Yun sat down silently, picked up a bamboo strip from the corner, and gently scraped the mud off the termite mushroom.
Even if they tried to keep it low-key, it quickly became part of their conversation.
"Xiao Chen is such a good catch. If Comrade Ruan has any suitable male companions around, she should definitely think about him."
"Do I need to introduce you?" Ruan Qiu's eyes were smiling, and when she noticed Chen Yun's slight pause, her smile widened even more: "As long as Chen Yun nods, I guarantee that many outstanding men will come to propose marriage."
"Who are they? Tell your older sister so she can give you some advice!"
Ta-da!
The three of them sat at the top of the stairs, and the sound of footsteps coming upstairs could be heard very quickly.
Although the person didn't speak, Chen Yun felt a surge of heat rise to her ears as soon as she heard the footsteps, and she almost instinctively jumped up.
"I'll go wash the vegetables."
Ruanqiu raised an eyebrow at Huang Lian, one smilingly reminding Chen Yun, "Slow down, what's the rush!" The other leaned to the side and peered around the corner of the stairs: "So it's Xiao Gao! I was wondering who it was!"
"Director Huang," Li Huguo greeted him with a smile.
Gao Ming has excellent hearing and actually heard Ruan Qiu's teasing from downstairs.
The corners of his mouth had barely opened into a half-smile when Huang Lian suddenly appeared and nailed his face to the spot. His fingers tightened around the net bag, and after his Adam's apple bobbed twice, he finally managed to squeeze out, "Big sister's here."
But she couldn't suppress her laughter after all, and it leaked out from the fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, her ears turning completely red.
"Oh my! Comrade Gao's face is all red." Ruanqiu threw a muddy mushroom-shaped toy at Gao Ming: "It's the same color as the newly painted slogan at the gate!"
"Where's Comrade Xiao Chen?" Li Huguo looked around but didn't see Chen Yun. He then raised the bamboo basket and said, "Gao Ming and I went to the mountains today and caught a lot of wild crabs. We'll add some to our dinner tonight."
Only then did everyone notice that both of their trouser legs were rolled up to their knees, and Gao Ming was carrying a net bag in one hand and a bamboo basket in the other.
"You've gone into the mountains?" Huang Lian asked anxiously.
The mountain behind the factory belongs to Huangniba Commune. The penalty notice for picking mushrooms in the mountain last month has not been torn down yet. As a factory cadre, Huang Lian can't just pretend he didn't see it.
"Don't worry, big sister, we're going to Laogouzi Mountain."
The factory is surrounded by mountains, and there are plenty of unclaimed mountains. Gao Ming and Li Huguo rode their bicycles for an hour to go dozens of miles away to catch crabs, and nobody could stop them.
"They're catching crabs in this heat, aren't they afraid of getting heatstroke?" Huang Lian said.
"Don't even mention crabs, Comrade Gao would get the moon from the sky if he wanted to." Ruanqiu raised her voice, deliberately speaking loudly towards the nearby water room: "What good stuff is Comrade Gao bringing?"
"A few cans of food." Gao Ming grinned foolishly.
"Chen Yun is in the water room, Comrade Gao, you should personally deliver the canned food in there."
The sound of running water in the washroom seemed to grow louder, and Chen Yun raised her hand to wipe her burning cheeks with cool water.
The sound of her heartbeat echoed in her ears, reminding Chen Yun of her first flutter of the heart during her innocent teenage years.
"Old houses catch fire, and they do indeed burn faster."
Chen Yun raised her hand to wipe the water off her face, readily admitting that she was indeed smitten.
"Comrade Chen... Comrade Chen."
Footsteps stopped at the door. Gao Ming's hand, holding the net bag, trembled slightly, and even his tone of voice seemed to tremble.
Pfft—
This timid and hesitant manner inexplicably tickled Chen Yun's funny bone, and she broke the awkward atmosphere with a sly look in her eyes: "If you don't have anything to do, come and help wash the vegetables."
The first time I refused to let them in, they were always polite to each other afterwards, but this time they took the initiative to offer their help.
Without needing to explain in detail, Gao Ming's heart was instantly filled with joy, and he was so busy scratching his head and grinning foolishly that he forgot to take another step forward.
"Aren't you going in to help!"
A few steps away, Li Huguo made a strange, high-pitched yell, and then burst into laughter.
Laughter echoed down the corridor.
As if waking from a dream, Gao Ming walked into the washroom, looked around, and placed the net on the washing platform.
"Did you buy canned food in the provincial capital?"
Through the mesh bag, you can see the yellow label on the canned food jar, a brand only found in provincial capital stores, belonging to the category of high-end goods.
"It's canned food someone gave me." Gao Ming turned on the tap to rinse the mud off his arms, then bent down and skillfully broke apart the vegetable leaves to wash them. His tone finally returned to normal: "If it's good, I'll buy more when I go back to the provincial capital."
"Won't something so valuable have any negative effects?" Chen Yun worried.
"Won't."
After shaking his head in affirmation, Gao Ming explained the whole story to Chen Yun.
Last week, while the convoy was in the provincial capital picking up supplies to bring back to the factory, Gao Ming rescued an elderly woman who was almost hit by the truck during a break while waiting to load the goods.
The old lady had only been in the city for a few days when she went out to buy groceries and forgot the way home. She tried to find her way back by memory but ended up going in the opposite direction.
After getting the elderly person's address, Gao Ming rode his bicycle to take them home.
That evening, the elderly man's children came to the guesthouse, left a pile of thank-you gifts and their names, and hurriedly left.
"The food has been distributed to everyone, except for a few cans."
Gao Ming was quick to act; he immediately distributed the thank-you gifts to the team members without giving anyone a chance to complain.
"A family that can afford to produce so many fine things must be of extraordinary status."
"I didn't ask." Gao Ming smiled, his gaze sweeping from Chen Yun's face to the basin: "It's hot in the kitchen, how about I cook the vegetables?"
"How can the guests cook while the host rests? Today is the perfect opportunity for everyone to taste my cooking skills."
"Then I'll chop the vegetables. I see you bought a chicken today..."
In short, Gao Ming made up his mind to stay in the kitchen and help out. After washing the vegetables, he went into the kitchen to start working. During this time, he would come in and out from time to time to greet Huang Lian's family, acting more like the master of the house than Chen Yun.
The hot pot with butter was temporarily changed to mushroom and chicken soup because of the mushrooms.
No need to stir-fry the base sauce, making cooking rice much simpler; the chicken is so fresh you don't even need to add ginger.
Once the coal is lit in the small clay stove, and the clay pot is placed on top, one-third of the process is complete.
The chicken soup was boiling, and Chen Yun, with a small gesture, confidently directed Gao Ming to get busy.
"The crabs are quite big. How about stir-frying them with scallions and ginger?"
"Okay! I'll go wash the crabs then."
"There are no scallions, so maybe we should just steam it."
"I'll go to the building next door to borrow some scallions. They're from the north, and they eat scallions as a side dish."
"Are you from Beicheng?" The question changed so quickly that Gao Ming didn't react for a moment.
clever:"……"
He nodded after a long pause.
The sun is setting.
The setting sun lingered behind the mountains, seemingly about to disappear, casting a golden glow across the sky, and finally bringing a touch of coolness to the air.
Sizzle—
Chen Yun poured the chopped crab into the pot and stirred it a couple of times with a spatula.
It was just a very simple movement, but Gao Ming seemed to be mesmerized, unable to take his eyes off those hands.
Her fingers were long and slender, with a gruesome wound extending from her palm to the back of her hand.
Chen Yun said the wound was caused when she was helping her father carry manure and someone hit her with a stone. Her fingertip was burned by a candle and the skin was never able to heal.
The harm Chen Yun suffered was far more cruel than the mere words from outsiders. Gao Ming even wondered if a grown man like him could have endured it.
But those seemingly delicate shoulders not only shouldered heavy responsibilities, but also grew into something so strong and radiant.
My heart pounded erratically with the spatula's movements, a tingling sensation creeping up my spine and into my mind, my thoughts seemingly frozen in that moment.
Back in the army, Gao Ming used to tease Li Huguo, who would lose his mind whenever he received a letter from Ruanqiu.
At that time, he was very curious about what kind of emotion could make someone smile like an idiot for days just by looking at a few lines of text.
But now... he finally experienced that uncontrollable thrill.
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