Chapter 11 Chapter 11 Where does your meat come from? ...
After handing Yan Zi over to the kindergarten teacher, Su Yan took Xiao Gang to the office. However, Xiao Gang didn't know which room the office director was in. Su Yan asked several people, but they all pointed indifferently without saying where it was. Finally, she met Uncle Xu and asked him.
Uncle Xu was wearing blue overalls and a safety helmet. "Yingzi, why are you here at the factory so early in the morning?"
Su Yan said, "Uncle Xu, I want to go to the office and ask when my dad and brother's pension will be paid? I didn't bring much money back. My sister-in-law took all the money at home. Now I have no job, I really have no money to spend!"
Uncle Xu thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll take you there!"
The office was on the third floor. Uncle Xu knocked on the door. As soon as he entered, the whole room was filled with the smell of cigarettes, and Su Yan's nose immediately became uncomfortable. There were three desks in the room. The person at the largest desk was wearing a white shirt and was on the phone.
Uncle Xu said with a smile, "Director Lin, this is Lu Yingzi. Is she here to ask about her family's pension?"
Director Lin said to the other end of the phone in a nonsensical manner: "Okay, okay, I'll prepare a table of delicious food and pick you up at the station." After a few more words, he hung up the phone and smiled at Su Yan: "Lu Yingzi, I remember that the certificate for your admission to Shanghai University was signed by the old secretary. I wrote that document by hand."
He held a cigarette in one hand. "I've saved your father and brother's pensions for you!" He pulled an envelope from a drawer. "According to current policy, families of those who died in the line of duty receive 60 months' salary as a subsidy, but your father can barely be considered dead, and he can only receive half, or 30 months. Your brother can't be considered dead. He made a mistake at work. Although it wasn't his fault, he didn't detect it, so he bears some responsibility. Therefore, he can't receive 60 months. The leaders of our machinery factory have also taken your family situation into consideration, so they will subsidize 10 months' salary. So, in total, you will receive 40 months' salary, which is 1,260 yuan."
Su Yan didn't know about these policies, but seeing that Uncle Xu didn't say anything, she knew that she would not suffer any loss from this pension method.
Director Lin took another drag on his cigarette. "Yingzi, the factory just took a large sum of money out of town to buy grain, so we can't come up with that money right now. There's 500 yuan in this envelope, and I've also gathered some grain coupons and non-staple food coupons for you. You won't get these meat coupons, though. Take this for now, and buy something for your family to eat."
Su Yan took the envelope and nodded. "Director Lin, before I came back, the factory took care of my family. Now that the factory is in trouble, I don't want to make up for it all at once. It's just that I'm taking over my father's position. What procedures are required?"
Director Lin laughed it off: "Well, Yingzi, there is a policy, but matters of recruitment and personnel appointments and dismissals require the signature of the secretary. He is on a business trip today. When he comes back, we will hold a meeting to discuss it. We will notify you immediately when there is a result." The new secretary has always attached great importance to family background. In Lu Yingzi's situation, he did not dare to make a promise or guarantee it on his own.
He said a few more words, sent Uncle Xu and Lu Yingzi away, closed the door, and then said to the other people in the office: "Don't tell me, Lu Dayong's family members are not good-looking, only this daughter is pretty."
Another woman in the office laughed, "Director Lin, who are you going to introduce Lu Yingzi to next? Lu Yingzi was beautiful even as a child, and even served on the school's publicity team in high school. She's a college graduate, so she probably has high standards. If the person you introduce is too unattractive, she might not be interested."
Director Lin shook his head. "Given Lu Yingzi's current family situation, it's only others who pick on her, so why would she pick on others?"
Su Yan returned home and immediately grabbed her basket, heading to the grocery store to buy what she needed. They'd already used up all the soy sauce, white vinegar, and cooking wine they had at home. She hopped on her bicycle, asked Xiaogang to ride on the horizontal bar in front, and rode out of the factory. The grocery store was a good three kilometers away, but the morning sun wasn't too strong, and the heat wasn't too intense along the shaded trees along the roadside.
The grocery store was deserted. These days, the company that issued the grocery coupons only issued them monthly, so by the end of the month, the grocery store was usually deserted. Su Yan parked her bike and went in with her basket. The salesperson at the counter was sprawled out, asleep. Su Yan knocked on the table. "Comrade, I'm going to buy something!"
The salesperson looked up and rolled his eyes: "Why are you knocking? I saw you. What do you want to buy?"
Su Yan handed over the food coupons: "I want a bottle of vinegar, a bottle of cooking wine, and a bottle of soy sauce." Su Yan's eyes wandered over the shelves, pointing to one and asking: "Comrade, what is this?"
The salesperson rolled his eyes at her and said, "Egg and milk powder, three yuan a bag. If you don't want to buy it, don't ask!"
Su Yan was speechless. The salespeople looked up at the sky. "Buy it! Give me a bag."
Su Yan spoke, but the salesperson didn't move. She didn't know what she was going to do. After waiting for a while, she saw the salesperson tapping the table with her fingers: "Where's the money? You only use food coupons to buy things, no cash?"
Su Yan said angrily: "How can I give you money if you don't tell me the total amount? I'll give you 100, do you want it?"
The salesperson turned around and took out some soy sauce, cooking wine, and a bag of egg and milk powder. "That's five dollars and thirty cents in total. We're out of soy sauce, and we'll be out of white vinegar next month. Come back early next month!" Meanwhile, she complained to another colleague, "There's been a bunch of country people coming in lately. They don't even know how much soy sauce and white vinegar cost. I wonder if they were so poor back in the country that they didn't even eat soy sauce."
Su Yan had almost turned away, but upon hearing this, she turned back. "Chairman Mao said that both the working class and the peasant class work under the leadership of the Party. Some people, after eating commercial grain in the city for a few days, look down on our fellow peasants. If you look down on our fellow peasants, then don't eat the rice they grow, and don't use the wheat they grow."
The mention of the Supreme Leader immediately frightened the two men, who remained silent. One of them took the food ticket and saw the seal of "Jiangzhou Machinery Factory" on it. Jiangzhou Machinery Factory was a very famous factory in Jiangzhou. The factory was profitable and had good benefits, so everyone was vying for a place.
Su Yan said something, then went out with her basket. Xiao Gang was outside watching over her bicycle to prevent it from being stolen. He saw her at the door and asked excitedly, "Auntie, is that really what Chairman Mao said? Chairman Mao said that if you look down on our peasant friends, you can't eat their rice."
Su Yan smiled and said, "Chairman Mao never said this. He only said the first sentence: workers and peasants are all under the leadership of the Party."
Su Yan asked Xiaogang to carry the basket while she rode her bicycle away again. By the time she went back this time, she had become very skilled at riding a bicycle. She felt very comfortable with the wind blowing along the way.
The grocery store clerk looked unhappy and threw the grocery ticket aside: "Isn't it just the Jiangzhou Machinery Factory? What's so great about it?"
Another said, "Were you the first to say that he was from the countryside and had never eaten soy sauce?"
After buying the things, Su Yan went to the post office to mail the money to the young policeman who had lent her the money. However, Su Yan's address was too vague. The post office staff, while processing the paperwork, advised: "You may not be able to send it. Qingyuan is a small county town, and there are several police stations under it. You may not know which district you are in. If you return it, the money may not be there."
Arriving home, Su Yan and Gang Zi first washed their faces with water and washed their clothes from the previous day. It was only ten o'clock when they finished. The family building was deserted at that time, and Su Yan thought about making some braised pork. She couldn't remember how to make it, but she had a tutorial on her phone that she had downloaded online. She opened it and looked at the ingredients needed, but she didn't have any rock sugar.
Su Yan had done this before, so she wasn't afraid of failing. She immediately cut a large piece of pork belly from her space and cut it into small pieces. She used a large iron pot to blanch it. She also had onions, ginger, garlic, and other ingredients in her space, so she just took out a little. Once the blanching was done, she followed the instructions, adding soy sauce and cooking wine, and began to simmer the meat. After half an hour, the aroma began to emerge, and Su Yan could smell it even with the lid on.
After a while, someone knocked on the door. Gangzi didn't open the door, but ran to the kitchen to tell Su Yan: "Auntie, there is someone knocking on the door."
Su Yan looked at the meat in the pot and suddenly became alert. She put on an apron and opened the door. Seeing that it was the older sister from yesterday, she immediately said unhappily, "What's the matter?"
The older sister peeked in through the crack in the door: "Is she cooking? I can smell the aroma from so far away. Are you having meat today?"
Su Yan looked at her, but didn't answer. Instead, she asked, "Don't ask me anything. I'm closed."
The older sister stuck her foot in the doorway and said, "Everyone has nothing to eat right now, but you guys are still eating meat? Where did you get your meat? It must be from some illegal source!"
Su Yan snorted: "Director Lin from the office gave our family a pension today. If you want it, someone in your family will die too? Well, it doesn't have to be a death, just a broken arm or leg will do." After saying that, she pushed her out and slammed the door.
Su Yan was dreading this exact situation. It seemed she'd have to stop making meat dishes like this, which could be smelled from a distance. Thinking this, she cut another piece of meat from the space, blanched it, and placed it in the pot, filling it perfectly. She figured that since she'd received the compensation, she'd have a reason to smell it. She'd make a little more and store it in the space, ready to eat whenever she wanted. After all, time stood still in space, so a well-cooked dish wouldn't spoil.
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