Chapter 203
Due to limited funds, only two workers were hired for the printing department, and they had to work there during normal working hours. Especially during the printing period, it was often so busy that someone had to work the late shift at night.
The printing area was small, piled high with piles of paper and other miscellaneous items. The room was filled with the smell of ink and paper. The printing presses hummed, and several people were crammed in, some even shoulder to shoulder. Especially during the busiest hours, the noisy, chaotic air currents in the room seemed to lift the freshly printed newspapers aloft.
It's better when the weather is cool, but when it's hot, it's almost hard to breathe.
It was summer, and the room was sweltering with heat. Typesetting, proofreading, inking, paper loading, printing, and hanging up to dry—everyone was so busy they were sweating like rain, their faces and hands stained with ink, their clothes soaked through.
Wang Jiazhi thought that it was really easy to get heatstroke this way, and it was not easy for their generation.
Lao You passed by him and said casually, "Team leader, I need to change a few words in that article." Then he put the revised manuscript next to him.
"Okay." He said calmly and casually.
But everyone knows that changing a few words every time usually means that the entire page needs to be rearranged.
Typesetting and proofreading have always been his job. He was now a little exhausted from the heat, so he went to the door to drink half a glass of water, went out for some fresh air, and came back to continue typesetting.
The boys took turns on the printing job, and he had the added responsibilities of typesetting and proofreading. The girls didn't have a fixed role, so they would just go wherever help was needed.
This week she was cooking, going home to cook and bringing lunch over. It was so hot they usually didn't eat much at noon, so lunch was simple. They just made a soup every day to cool down, which they brought over in two thermoses.
Wang Jiazhi saw that his white shirt was dripping with water, his hair was soaked, and his face and hands were covered in ink, making him look like a white tabby cat. This look was really... so pitiful that it made me feel even more pity.
She remembered that when she first met him, he was also wearing a white shirt like this. At that time, he was not like he is now. He still dared to go out and go out to play.
"It's hot~" He was eating there, and she wiped the sweat off his face with a towel and fanned him with a big fan.
Blow his damp hair up.
Duan Fengming passed by and came to Xiao Xu, fanning him with a big fan and said, "It's hot, isn't it?"
Xiao Xu said, "You're asking even though you already know the answer. How can it not be hot?"
Duan Fengming was so angry that he threw the fan at him.
Wang Jiazhi remained calm, but she also paid more attention to this person.
Because he is so fickle, any beautiful wife around him may be one of his lovers.
Wang Jiazhi's mentality had persisted until now, especially since Duan Fengming was secretly eyeing her with jealousy, even though she and Xiao Xu were boyfriend and girlfriend.
What’s even worse is that Duan Fengming is the type of Mrs. Ma that she hates the most.
She gave him some iced sour plum soup.
"No sugar, no ice for drinking anymore."
Lao You passed by and said, "Is he the only one who is hot?"
She said, "It's my own money, what right do you have to interfere? If you want to drink, go buy it yourself."
He laughed.
Lao You widened his eyes again and left without saying a word.
Because it's too hot here, the girls can go back after one o'clock, and he and Xiao Xu will work overtime here at night.
She went back to cook, then made some lotus seed porridge and brought it over.
It was already dark, the day's oppressive heat having subsided somewhat. Outside the house stood a kapok tree and a magnolia. The kapok flowers had faded, and the magnolia tree, nestled among its large, emerald green leaves, was dotted with large white blossoms, exuding a rich fragrance in the still night. A warm yellow light filled the house, and from the door, I could hear the hum of the photocopier.
She went in and saw him sitting on a low stool next to the copier with a small table beside him. He was cranking the copier with one hand and looking at the manuscripts with the other.
The pedal printer broke down and needed repairs, so I had to borrow this hand-cranked one. I felt like my arm was going to break after cranking it for too long. Xiao Xu was adding paper at the back, spreading the printed newspapers one by one to the front.
He asked in surprise, "Why are you here?"
"I'll bring you some snacks. You take a break, I'll come."
"I'm not tired, please sit for a while." Then, in a rare reproachful tone, he said, "Don't go out at night anymore."
"What is it?"
"How can a girl go out alone at night?"
"oh."
She fed him a piece of lotus seed cake. He put down the letter and tried to take it. She said, "How can you hold it when your hands are covered in ink? Just eat it like this. Open your mouth~"
He could only open his mouth and ask him to feed him a piece, and his ears turned red.
Wang Jiazhi was helpless and wondered why he was like this when he was young. Why did he become like that later?
In fact, he has never been in love in his life. He just played with many women, but all of them happened after he was 35 years old.
"Is there anything for me?"
Her face turned red and she forgot about Xiao Xu who was adding paper behind her.
"You work." He said in a low voice.
She heard Xiao Xu laughing behind her.
Although the heat had subsided a bit, the room was still scorching hot. She saw that he was still wearing a shirt; when there were no girls around, the boys would wear vests because they felt too hot.
"Why don't you take off your shirt? It's so hot."
"well enough."
Xiao Xu added more paper while saying, "Aren't you afraid someone will come looking for you? Wearing a vest would be unbecoming."
“You work!”
Wang Jiazhi said, "You guys take turns to rest for a while, and I'll make up for it."
Xiao Xu smiled and said, "Okay, then you can add more paper for me. I'll go take a rest."
Then he got off the machine, took the snack next to her and said, "Thanks. I'm hungry right now."
He turned his head and gave him a meaningful look. The meaning was, I haven't eaten yet, you eat first. Xiao Xu smiled and retracted his hand.
Wang Jiazhi smiled and handed him two boxes of snacks and said, "You can eat first. It's okay."
"Hmm!" He looked at her in surprise.
She went to take over Xiao Xu's paper making.
After Xiao Xu finished eating and the work was almost done, he didn't want her to operate the machine, so they took a break.
When he opened the snacks she gave him, Xiao Xu said dejectedly, "Why do you cook two dishes?"
Wang Jiazhi laughed and said, "No, I don't know why you took those two boxes for yourself."
Xiao Xu had white porridge and the leftover lotus seed cakes she had made.
The other portion is a delicate lotus-shaped lotus seed cake, lotus seed porridge and green plums.
"Don't make these troublesome snacks in the future. It's very troublesome to peel the new lotus seeds." Seeing that her nails were a little peeled.
"Occasionally, you don't like dried lotus seeds, you only like fresh ones." Then he said deliberately: "I guess so."
"No, I really like eating dried lotus seeds."
He was afraid that she would continue peeling the lotus seeds.
It was getting late, so he had to take her home. He gave her a few magnolia leaves and a large magnolia on the table and said, "These leaves are very beautiful. You can take them back and use them as bookmarks."
She smiled and said, "Yes, it smells good when you put it between books."
She recalled the time when he was reading, her head resting on his legs, playing with the magnolia leaves in her hand. Then, with her other hand, she touched his woolen trousers. Now, she lowered her head and saw his legs, her favorite woolen trousers, now she could neither see nor touch them.
When leaving, Xiao Xu said, "I can be alone, you just go back and don't come back."
"What will you do?"
"You're just so worried about me."
"No, no, I'd better come back."
There was a big moon in the night sky, and they were walking on the mottled shadows of the trees on the road. She actually had a feeling of past and present life.
"Don't let Heitian come out on his own in the future."
"Okay, I just..."
Then she stopped talking. She knew he knew she didn't want to be away from him for too long.
After sending her back, she said to him, "Tell Xiaohua that I will cook something for them to bring to him tomorrow."
He said, "Why do you call him Xiaohua?"
She smiled and said, "I heard you always call him that, so I blurted it out. From now on, call him Xu Huaxu."
He smiled and said, "Don't always make such troublesome dishes. No one will remember your kindness. On the contrary, if you don't make those exquisite dishes in the future, they will say you are lazy."
"Okay~"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
