Chapter 189: Don’t spoil it
"It's already the 29th today, and Director Wang, you still have to report on your work. You must be very tired."
Wang Chunmei waved her hand. "Hey, it's hard work, but this is our livelihood, right? We have to live up to it. It wasn't this busy at this time in previous years, but this year is a special case!"
What's the special situation? Wen Wan suddenly realized that it was still about the performance.
The people in the car had no idea. They pricked up their ears and waited for further news, but nothing came of it.
The tractor rumbled and bumped along the way, making the people dizzy and their buttocks numb, but finally we arrived at the county town.
Wen Wan was wearing thick clothes and didn't even notice it, but the blow hit several women who were traveling with her, leaving their faces bruised.
After getting off the bus, everyone went about their business. Wang Chunmei said hello to them and headed to the county government.
Lu Dongping asked Liu Dacai, "Are you going back in the afternoon?"
"About the same. We need to go a little earlier. It gets dark early these days. We have to leave when the sun sets."
"Okay, sure, we'll go first then."
After saying hello, Lu Dongping and Wen Wan went straight to the bathhouse.
After giving the money and ticket, Wen Wan took off her backpack, gave Lu Dongping a towel and soap, and also put some shampoo on his head. The two of them were laughing and giggling, which made the bathhouse owner look at them from time to time.
Then Wen Wan held it back embarrassedly and took her things into the women's bathhouse.
The most annoying thing about winter is the inconvenience of taking a shower. Not only is wiping it a few times after making love at night completely useless, it also makes people shiver with cold.
Wen Wan felt that after she was soaked and swollen, she could rub off a layer of skin.
I feel like I don’t take a shower often enough, and my whole body has become rough.
After washing, she didn't leave the bathhouse directly. Instead, she took advantage of the heat inside and applied the cold cream to all the places that could be applied. She patted her skin well, then put on her clothes as quickly as possible and went outside.
Lu Dongping had finished washing a long time ago and was now standing outside talking to the bathhouse owner.
When he saw her come out, he ended the conversation and said hello to the man: "Well, we'll leave first. I'll come talk to you another day."
"Okay, go slowly!"
Wen Wan followed him out of the bathhouse before asking, "Do you two know each other?"
Lu Dongping said, "I didn't know him at first, but after visiting him more often, I got to know him."
"Going to the department store now?"
Lu Dongping took the things she was carrying and held them in his hands: "Yes, go over now and check the time. What time is it?"
"It's almost twelve o'clock. Lu Dongping, let's go to the department store and see if there are any watches. If there are, I'll buy you one so it'll be convenient for you to tell the time."
Lu Dongping said, "No, that's quite expensive. Besides, if I were to buy it, I should buy it for you. Why are you buying it for me?"
Wen Wan muttered: "I do have it."
Lu Dongping smiled but said nothing. If there was anything, it was from home and he should have bought it. There were many things that he should have given but he didn't have them. He still had to work hard!
It was the end of the year and noon, and the department store was packed with people. Whether it was selling groceries or cloth, clothes or shoes, there were crowds of people and long queues.
Wen Wan and Lu Dongping followed the crowd: "I should have come to buy things first and then go to take a shower. There are so many people!"
Lu Dongping said, "Same thing. Isn't the most important thing for us to do today to take a shower? Maybe it will be too late to go after we finish shopping. Let's first see if there are any special side dishes for the end of the year, buy some, and then go look at the cloth when we have time."
Wen Wan nodded: "I don't need it right now. If I find something suitable, I'll buy it. If not, I'll wait until spring. People say that even if you have money, you don't buy things in the twelfth lunar month!"
"The little girl knows quite a bit."
She hummed softly and complacently.
At the end of the year, the department store does have a lot of special offers. In addition to brown sugar, there are also peanuts, vegetable oil, and even candies with more varieties than usual. Although the quantity is limited, the variety is not limited. Wen Wan simply went on a big shopping spree and bought everything she could, which attracted people's attention.
In just a moment, a sack was half filled with piles of goods, and Lu Dongping carried her and squeezed out of the crowd.
Looking at the cloth-selling area, the line was even longer than before, almost lining up outside the door. Wen Wan decisively backed out. Waiting in line was too annoying.
"Not going?"
Wen Wan shook her head decisively: "No." Then she gently tugged at Lu Dongping's sleeve: "Let's go to the state-owned restaurant. It's still early. I'll treat you to a meal!"
Lu Dongping was stunned for a moment, then scratched his head: "Okay, let's go to the restaurant, I'll treat you."
Wen Wan nodded in satisfaction: "Okay, but isn't all your money with me? Where will you get the money to treat me?"
Lu Dongping teased her: "How about some private money?"
Wen Wan opened her mouth and looked at him in surprise. After a long while, she said, "Well, Lu Dongping, you've made it. You hid your own money, and you deserve to be punished!"
Lu Dongping was overjoyed: "Okay, clean it up. I'll clean it up for you when we get home tonight. You can clean it up however you want."
In broad daylight on the street, this person is so shameless that he can say anything.
Wen Wan didn't dare to pay any more attention to him and went to the state-owned restaurant obediently.
It was not dinner time, so there were not many people in the state-owned restaurant. The two rooms were connected and looked quite spacious. There were five or six octagonal tables set up and four-legged long benches placed around them.
There was a small blackboard hanging in the window with today's supply written on it in chalk.
Wen Wan quickly looked through it, then turned to ask Lu Dongping, "What do you want to eat?"
Lu Dongping said, "Just make whatever you like to eat. I can make anything."
Wen Wan excitedly read what was written on it: "Then give me two bowls of peach blossom noodles, and some cooked pig's trotters. Is there anything to put them in? I want six." They were only one cent each, and they were cooked pig's trotters, and no meat coupons were required. Wen Wan thought it was a great deal.
There was really nothing to put this thing in, but fortunately it was cooked in advance, and there was no soup after it was left to air dry for a while, so I wrapped it in two large pieces of straw paper and tied it with palm leaves.
The people in the state-owned restaurant had a very bad attitude, were slow in their work, and seemed indifferent to others, but the chef's cooking skills were really good and the portions were generous. The bowl of noodles was very fragrant. Wen Wan hadn't eaten white noodles for a long time, but her stomach was limited, so she could only finish half a bowl and gave the rest to Lu Dongping.
Pig's trotters are from the meat processing plant. They are rare at ordinary times, but during the Chinese New Year, meat sales are high, and there are a lot of leftovers like pig's trotters. Restaurants use meat every day, so some things can be obtained for free.
Pig's trotters are just a layer of skin and veins, not even as good as pig's head and other pork offal. One cent is actually not cheap. Only Wen Wan likes this kind of thing and spends a lot of money to buy so much at once.
But it’s true that it tastes good.
The chef specially uses sugar to make the stewed pig's head and pig's trotters. Both the color and the taste are quite tempting.
After buying this thing, Wen Wan was in an extremely good mood. She even walked with her eyebrows curved and a smile on her face.
Seeing this, Lu Dongping felt a pang of emotion in his heart, and he wanted to hug the person and give him a good rub: "Are you so happy just by eating a bowl of noodles?"
Wen Wan nodded: "I'm happy. This is my first time in a state-owned restaurant since I came here. It's also my first time with you. It feels a bit like my childhood."
"When you're at home, does Dad often take you to restaurants?"
"Not really. My dad is very busy, but on my birthday he will make me noodles and put two poached eggs on them. They look good and taste good."
Wen Wan leaned against the car and sighed wistfully as she spoke: "Time flies so fast. It's already been a year since I left home. This is the first time I've been away from home since I was a child, and I've ended up so far away."
Lu Dongping couldn't help himself after all, and reached out and gently squeezed her hand: "This is your home now, and it will get better and better in the future."
"Lu Dongping!" Wen Wan called out. When Lu Dongping looked at her and waited for her to continue, she smiled and swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue.
"It's okay, Liu Dacai is here."
Lu Dongping looked up and saw that it was indeed someone holding something in his hand and coming towards him.
It arrived just in time.
He felt that this was not what Wen Wan was about to say just now, so why did she stop herself when it came to her lips? Since she didn't say it, Lu Dongping didn't ask, so he just waited.
By the time we got back to the commune on the shaky tractor and then walked back to the team, it was already dark.
A kerosene lamp was lit in the kitchen, and Wenwan took things out one by one as if she were presenting treasures.
There was a pound of shelled peanuts, half a pound of vegetable oil, half a pound of sesame oil, as well as fruit candies, milk candies, crispy candies, biscuits and other things, and the last thing was the straw paper bag, a huge bag.
Zhang Hongying asked, "What is this?"
Wen Wan said, "Braised pig's trotters look pretty good and not expensive. I bought a few."
Zhang Hongying had no interest in this thing at all: "Hasn't our family just slaughtered a pig? Why would I buy this? There's no meat or oil, just a layer of skin on the outside and nothing but bones inside." What a waste of money.
Wen Wan didn't pay attention to her words: "I bought it because it looked good. It's not expensive anyway."
No matter how cheap it is, it’s still money!
Zhang Hongying was about to speak when Lu Dongping coughed. She pursed her lips and said nothing.
Lu Chun'e smiled and said, "This year's New Year will be bountiful, with so many good things. In previous years, I couldn't even imagine it. I would be satisfied just by having a full meal of dumplings or rice."
"It will definitely get better and better every year."
Lu Chun'e said, "Sister-in-law, just take out the oil and other things. You'd better put away the candies and biscuits. We are not children anymore."
Wen Wan smiled and said, "Why are they not children? Even if they are not children, adults can eat them. No one stipulates that these can only be eaten by children. The same applies to adults. Mom, take them and put them away."
Lu Donglin interrupted her: "Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, you should just give each of us a few, and keep the rest for yourself. If you ask mother to keep them, she might not be willing to give them to us because they are so hairy that she can even keep the biscuits."
He said this in front of Zhang Hongying. Fortunately, he was her biological son, so she couldn't get angry even if she wanted to. She pretended to hit him, but Lu Donglin dodged with a smile.
Zhang Hongying said, "Why are you collecting it from me? I bought it to eat. Give them a little and keep the rest for yourself. Don't spoil them."
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