Chapter 33 They're really bold, daring to order Song Tuan around...
When Yan Ruyi heard the word "slingshot," a bad feeling rose in her heart. When she finally heard the words "Brother Song," she gritted her teeth and thought, "Yan Minghe, you just wait."
At this moment, she could only pretend to be confused, "I don't know who it is either, maybe it's an older student in school."
Ye Hongzhen would never suspect Song Yiping, and even said to Yan Ruyi, "This kid is quite skillful; the slingshot he made is so exquisite."
Yan Ruyi didn't want to continue the topic with her mother. In addition, she was a bit light sleeper and hadn't slept well for the past few days. She was feeling sleepy and yawned. "I'll show the article to my second sister-in-law after she gets off work. I'm going to catch up on some sleep first."
"Go ahead, I'll call you when it's time to eat."
Yan Ruyi lay down on her own bed, rubbed her head against the pillow, and thought, "My own bed is the best."
I got sleepy and fell asleep quickly.
She was woken up by her second sister-in-law, who said, "Ruyi, wake up quickly."
The sky was already getting a bit gray, and the lights in the house were off. When Yan Ruyi opened her eyes, she met her second sister-in-law's two big, bright eyes, just as her mother had described.
Seeing that she was awake, Li Yan waved the manuscript paper in her hand and showed it off to Yan Ruyi, "I've finished writing the article, and I think it's pretty good."
Recalling the comments my teachers made when I was in school, I added to my self-evaluation, "They were genuine and heartfelt."
Seeing that Yan Ruyi was still a little confused, he urged her, "Get up quickly and see how my writing is. If it's good, I'll send it to the newspaper tomorrow. I heard from my younger brother that if you send it early, the judges will have some patience. But if you send it later, the judges will lose patience and throw it away no matter how good or bad it is."
Urged by Li Yan, Yan Ruyi washed her face and regained her senses.
Li Yan was anxiously waiting. As soon as she dried her hands, she stuffed two sheets of paper into her hands.
Li Yan: "Didn't you say you required 800 words? I've counted them all, exactly 800 words, not a word more, not a word less."
There's no need to be so precise.
Yan Ruyi read it from beginning to end.
Li Yan watched eagerly from the side, waiting for Yan Ruyi to praise her.
Yan Ruyi's academic performance was good, but her writing was really not good. She could only tell that her second sister-in-law's article was fairly fluent. As for the rest, she couldn't tell anything else.
She corrected a few typos and then said to Li Yan, "I think it's well written, but I'm not good at writing essays. I'll show it to Huihui tomorrow. She's participated in essay competitions and has experience."
Li Yan was anxious, "Why wait until tomorrow? Just take it to her after you finish eating. It's not far away anyway."
After dinner, Yan Ruyi was urged by Li Yan to go to Luo Huihui's house.
Huihui's mother was enjoying the cool air in the yard when she saw Yan Ruyi arrive. She said to Yan Ruyi, "Huihui is inside. You can come in."
After saying that, she called out into the house, "Huihui, Ruyi is here!"
Luo Huihui rushed out of the house like a gust of wind, then pulled Yan Ruyi back inside, saying, "Quick, there's something exciting to see!"
Her room window faces Tang Yanna's house.
Tang Yanna was crying and making a fuss with her mother, asking her to go and talk to her uncle to transfer Shen Zhimin back to the appraisal center, and also to talk to the fertilizer factory to let Shen Zhimin's family continue to live in the fertilizer factory's staff quarters.
Tang Yanna cried with snot and tears streaming down her face. "They've lived at the fertilizer plant for decades. Where are they supposed to move to all of a sudden? Isn't this bullying?"
Her mother slapped her in anger, "You idiot! Shen Zhimin's mother has been arrested by the police. Everyone else is avoiding her like the plague, and you're still rushing to get close to her..."
Tang Yanna said, "Zhimin said his mother was wronged and was only detained for two days. She has been released now. I saw her when I got off work. I greeted her but she ignored me. She must be holding a grudge against me for not helping Zhimin."
Shen Zhimin was knowledgeable, handsome, and gentle and considerate; she truly liked him.
Even if his mother made a mistake, it has nothing to do with him. She's going to spend her life with Shen Zhimin, not with his mother.
As long as Shen Zhimin treats her well, that's enough.
This girl is hopeless. Tang Yanna's mother was so angry that she locked her in the room, saying, "Stay in the room and wake up. You can come out when you're sober."
With no more excitement to watch, Luo Huihui pulled Yan Ruyi to sit on the edge of the bed and commented, "One only has men in her mind, and the other only has scheming in her mind. A perfect match."
She and Tang Yanna didn't get along before because she always thought Tang Yanna was brainless and stupid.
There's nothing else they don't get along with.
However, the events that have occurred recently have increasingly changed her understanding of Tang Yanna. It turns out that Tang Yanna, as a man, can not only be foolish, but also malicious.
These two should just get married where they are now, and stop going around harming honest people.
However, compared to Tang Yanna, she was more concerned about Wang Lanying's release. "Shen Zhimin's mother has actually been released. She was detained for far too short a time. She should have been detained for a few more days to scare her to death."
Wang Lanying was scared half to death.
When I came out of the police station, my face was white.
The house was cold and deserted, and Shen Zhimin even complained to her, "Other parents pave the way for their children, but you're the one who's cutting off my path."
Wang Lanying said, "I never expected that the police station would arrest me for such a trivial matter."
She's talked about other people a lot before, but the police station never locked her up.
"You've spread rumors about people, who else should we arrest if not you?"
"Where did I spread rumors? I really saw her with two old men. Judging from their clothes, they were definitely overseas Chinese... Not only did I see them, Yanna saw them too. You can ask Yanna if you don't believe me... She just started working. What good could it be if she was with two overseas Chinese? They couldn't have been talking about work. Her family just bought a TV recently. Her mother said she earned the money herself. How could she earn so much money? It's probably from those two overseas Chinese. It's not clean..."
Shen Zhimin said angrily, "Mom, you're talking nonsense again!"
"Okay, okay, I won't say anything more."
The silence lasted less than a minute before someone asked, "Do you think she might steal some of your company's old gadgets and sell them?"
Shen Zhimin: "Don't talk nonsense. All the antiques in our unit are registered. The key to the warehouse is with Director Liu. Anyone who wants to go in has to register."
He took it to heart, and after thinking for a moment, he said to his mother, "Find out where she got her money. Once you've found out, let me know. Also, keep your mouth shut and don't gossip outside."
Wang Lanying: "Let's put that matter aside for now. What are we going to do? The fertilizer factory keeps trying to get rid of us, and your father doesn't seem to care..."
Shen Zhimin said irritably, "You caused this mess yourself, what can I do?"
After saying that, he slammed the door and left.
On Yan Ruyi's side, Luo Huihui had already revised the article written by Li Yan.
“I heard from my second sister-in-law that the theme of this essay contest is to promote family harmony. It doesn’t really focus on writing style. As long as it is written smoothly and has genuine feelings, it will be fine. I think your second sister-in-law wrote quite well. It might be a bit difficult to get first, second or third prize, but she should be able to get fourth prize. At the very least, she will definitely get a shortlisted award. If she doesn’t get shortlisted, I will buy her a bar of soap and a towel.”
Yan Ruyi put the manuscript back into her bag with peace of mind.
Luo Huihui: "Ruyi, are you going to this social event?"
Yan Ruyi had just returned from Liujiagou and went straight home to sleep without even entering her office.
I didn't know there was such an event.
"It's a Qixi Festival matchmaking event, organized by the district trade union, open to all unmarried young people in the district."
The name itself suggests a matchmaking service.
What Yan Ruyi hates most is being arranged to have a blind date, forcing two strangers together.
Moreover, these kinds of social events usually involve ballroom dancing, which she doesn't know how to do, so she flatly refused, saying, "I'm not going."
Luo Huihui took her arm and said, "I've never participated in an activity like this before. I want to broaden my horizons. Why don't you come with me?"
Yan Ruyi said, "Neither of us knows how to ballroom dance. If we go, we'll just be sitting there doing nothing. It's better to stay at home, where we can lie in bed."
Luo Huihui, however, was very confident. "If you don't know how, you can learn. I just learned two steps from my second sister-in-law. Let's give it a try."
He pulled Yan Ruyi up and said, "I'll dance the men's steps, and you dance the women's steps. Just follow my rhythm."
As he spoke, he held Yan Ruyi's hand with one hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist, tapping out a rhythm, "Bang cha cha, bang cha cha..."
He had just stepped on Yan Ruyi's foot twice when he stomped on it.
Luo Huihui: "I was careless just now, that doesn't count, let's do it again."
"Bang, snap, snap," this time it was Yan Ruyi's turn to step on her foot.
Then the two of them started stepping on each other's feet.
Yan Ruyi's feet hurt from being stepped on. "I'm not jumping anymore, or my feet will be ruined."
Luo Huihui offered an excuse for the two of them: "The main problem is that there's no music. If there were music, we could dance to the rhythm and not step on our feet. Tomorrow I'll ask where we can borrow a tape recorder, and we can practice with it for a few days and then we'll be able to dance."
Yan Ruyi almost said that Song Yiping had a tape recorder, and it looked brand new.
However, Yan Ruyi felt that even if they followed the tape recorder, the two of them would still step on each other's feet.
Luo Huihui was determined to go, and she even wanted to take Yan Ruyi with her.
Since her good friend wanted to go, Yan Ruyi agreed, thinking that at worst she could just go and watch others dance.
Normally you have to buy tickets to see a show, but here you don't have to, and you even get peanuts and melon seeds to eat.
Yan Ruyi wanted to go home, and Luo Huihui pushed her bicycle to go with her. "You've been away on business for several days. I've missed you. I'll sleep at your house tonight, and we can have a good talk."
After telling her mother, the two of them rode their bikes out of the electrical appliance factory's residential compound.
I ran into Song Yiping as soon as I stepped out of the family compound gate.
Song Yiping, riding his bicycle, also saw the two of them, got off his bike and greeted them, "Comrade Xiao Yan, Comrade Xiao Luo."
Luo Huihui: "Oh dear, I suddenly remembered that I haven't written the report that the section chief asked me to write yet. It's due tomorrow, and she'll scold me to death if I don't submit it. I have to go back to write the report, so I can't go to your house. I'm going back now. Commander Song, it's too late. Could you please take Ruyi home for me? The streetlights in their compound aren't very bright, so you must take her to her doorstep."
He then boldly added, "This is an order!"
Without waiting for Yan Ruyi and Song Yiping to say anything, he turned the handlebars, got on his bike, and sped away.
Yan Ruyi, "..."
She felt it was a pity that Luo Huihui didn't go into acting.
Song Yiping gestured to her, "Let's go."
Yan Ruyi: "It's so late, Commander Song still hasn't gone home?"
"I just came out of the hospital. One of my comrades was sick and hospitalized, so I went to visit him."
"Why didn't you drive?"
"The car broke down a bit and was taken to the repair shop for maintenance... Xiao Yan, you said last time you wanted to learn Suzhou dialect, do you still want to learn it?"
Yan Ruyi blurted out, "Learn."
She also wants to sing a song in Suzhou dialect.
But after saying that, she remembered that Song Yiping had said he would teach her.
She was too embarrassed to let Song Yiping teach her. "You're so busy, I won't take up your time to learn from you."
Song Yiping said, “It won’t take up my time. I’ve picked out two basic textbooks for you and recorded the contents onto tapes. Tomorrow I’ll send you the tape recorder, tapes, and textbooks. You can try listening to them. I’ve been in the military region for a while now. If there’s anything you don’t understand, just give me a call.”
Having said all that, it would be too pretentious to refuse now.
Yan Ruyi expressed her gratitude to Song Yiping.
As they talked, they soon arrived at the entrance of the machine tool factory's residential compound.
Song Yiping followed Yan Ruyi into the family compound.
Yan Ruyi said, "There's no need to see me in."
A smile appeared on Song Yiping's face. "Comrade Luo said he would definitely take you to your doorstep; that's an order."
Yan Ruyi thought her best friend had really gotten bold, daring to give orders to Commander Song.
The regimental commander actually listened to her and carried out her orders meticulously.
And she really did have Song Yiping take her home.
It was already 9 o'clock, and the TV programs had all ended. The yard was dark except for the light on in her mother's room. She pushed her bicycle and tiptoed into the yard. She turned back and waved to Song Yiping, whispering, "Commander Song, I've arrived. You can go back now. Ride slowly on the way."
Song Yiping nodded, then got on his bike and rode away.
Yan Ruyi parked the car and closed the courtyard gate. As soon as she turned around, she was startled.
Two people stood in a row at the entrance of the main room: her mother and her second sister-in-law.
Yan Ruyi: "When did you two get standing there? Why didn't you say anything?"
Li Yan wanted to say that we were already here when you got back, and we even saw Commander Song.
Ye Hongzhen tugged at her arm, and she wisely shut her mouth.
Ye Hongzhen, “When you went to close the courtyard gate, I heard a noise outside, so I came out to check and happened to run into your second sister-in-law who was also coming out.”
Yan Ruyi breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, she didn't see Song Yiping.
She took out a piece of manuscript paper from her handbag and handed it to her second sister-in-law. "Huihui has revised it for you. She said your writing is quite good and you have a chance to win an award. She told you to think about it again based on her suggestions, and then you can submit it to the newspaper after you have copied it out."
Li Yan's eyes lit up immediately. Forget about what she had just witnessed, she took the manuscript and hurried back to her room to revise it.
Ye Hongzhen said, "Let her win an award, otherwise it would be a disservice to her big eyes."
The next day at work, Yan Ruyi had just entered the office when she saw a tape recorder, two books, and three cassette tapes on her desk.
Xia Pengfei: "This was brought up by the gatekeeper, Uncle Zhang. He said a People's Liberation Army soldier asked me to give it to you."
After saying that, he picked up the thermos and went to get hot water.
Yan Ruyi recognized it as the same tape recorder from last time.
Song Yiping said it was borrowed, but Yan Ruyi thought it must have been bought by him. Who would keep lending out a newly bought tape recorder?
She really wanted to hear what Song Yiping sounded like when he read Su dialect, and whether it was as pleasant to listen to as he usually spoke.
The cassette tapes clearly indicated which textbook each tape corresponded to.
There was also a cassette tape labeled "Blank," which must have been a blank tape for her to practice pronunciation on her own.
There was no one in the office at the moment, so she put the tape in and pressed the start button.
Song Yiping's voice soon came through the tape recorder. His voice was deep and even more pleasant than when he usually spoke. After hearing just two words, Yan Ruyi felt her ears getting hot.
Wanting to listen a little longer, Zhao Dongsheng came in, and Yan Ruyi quickly pressed the stop button.
Zhao Dongsheng frowned again. "Comrade Xiao Yan, please do not play decadent music in the office."
Yan Ruyi picked up a textbook and showed it to him, saying, "This isn't some decadent music; I'm learning the Suzhou dialect."
“You can’t study in the office. The office is a place for work, not for studying. Your behavior is affecting other people’s work.”
Xia Pengfei came in carrying a thermos and mouthed to Yan Ruyi, "Ignore him."
Yan Ruyi only played the recording because she saw no one was in the office. Now that everyone is here, she won't play the recording again without Zhao Dongsheng saying anything.
So we put the tape recorder aside.
Zhao Dongsheng glanced at the brand-new tape recorder and snorted, "So young, and before you've even made any achievements at work, you've already learned to indulge in luxury."
He felt a pang of jealousy; how could a young person who had just started working have so much money, buying pens and tape recorders?
He would think for a long time before buying a bottle of ink himself.
Xia Pengfei wanted to ease the tension, so after putting down the thermos, he came over to Yan Ruyi and asked, "Xiao Yan, the district trade union is organizing a social gathering. Director Chai asked if we want to participate. If we do, please submit our names."
There are six people in the appraisal center. She and Xia Pengfei are the only unmarried ones, and they are the focus of Director Chai's attention. It is estimated that Director Chai has been very worried about their marriage.
Yan Ruyi had already agreed to Luo Huihui's request, so she said to Xia Pengfei, "I'll participate."
Xia Pengfei said, "I'll talk to Director Chai in a bit and ask him to put our names on the form so we can go together."
He said with anticipation, "I heard that this social event encourages all unmarried young men and women in the district to participate. Whether I can find a partner depends on this event."
Yan Ruyi said, "I can't ballroom dance, so I'd just watch others dance if I went."
Xia Pengfei was eager to try. "I can dance. If you trust me, I'll teach you. This time, I'm sure I can use my graceful dance moves to fully showcase my personal charm and attract the attention of all the women in the audience."
Yan Ruyi laughed as he made her laugh.
Zhao Dongsheng promptly poured cold water on the situation, saying, "It's improper for men and women to be hugging and cuddling."
Xia Pengfei didn't want to offend Zhao Dongsheng, so he returned to his seat and acted like a quail.
Yan Ruyi smiled and reminded Zhao Dongsheng, "Teacher Zhao, this is an activity organized by the district trade union, and the district government also supports this social event."
Questioning this event is questioning the district government.
Yan Ruyi added fuel to the fire, "I heard that last year it was organized by the Municipal Trade Union, and even the mayor went to participate. He was the first to dance. I wonder if the mayor will come to our district to participate in the social gathering this year. It's a pity I can't dance, otherwise I would definitely ask the mayor to dance for me."
Zhao Dongsheng shut up.
Xia Pengfei quietly gave Yan Ruyi a thumbs up.
Jiang Dongming came in with a smile on his face. "The appraisal results are in. The inkstone washer brought back from Liujiagou is indeed from the Song Dynasty. As for whether it was used by Su Shi, further research is needed. The restoration center is cleaning and restoring the inkstone washer. Once it is restored, it will be officially handed over to the museum. Xiao Yan, you have done another great job."
Xia Pengfei said, "It was so close! Luckily, Xiao Yan was careful, otherwise this inkstone washer would probably never have had a chance to see the light of day again."
Qian Yingjing pushed up his glasses. "You can't blame the public for this. After all, they don't know much about cultural relics. Most people can't even distinguish between cultural relics and antiques. They don't have that concept."
Yan Ruyi said, “When I went to Liujiagou this time, an auntie secretly asked me if it was true. She said she heard that selling antiques was illegal and asked me if it was true. She said she had a bronze artifact at home and was afraid of being arrested, so she didn’t dare to tell anyone. She was confusing bronze artifacts with bronze artifacts. I think we can hold some knowledge lectures to popularize knowledge about cultural relics.”
Xia Pengfei raised both hands in agreement, "This is a good method. It also lets the public understand what our work entails, so they don't think we're just grave diggers."
Every time he returned to his hometown, the people there would always ask him if he had gone to dig up graves again.
He's not part of the archaeological team.
Besides, archaeological teams do much more than just excavate ancient tombs. They conduct archaeological surveys, explorations, excavations, and participate in the protection of cultural relics.
Jiang Dongming also deeply agreed.
China is a vast country with abundant resources and a brilliant civilization.
However, it was also ravaged by war, and during the chaos of war, countless precious cultural relics and antiques were lost.
Many of these cultural relics and antiques have ended up in private hands. If they happen to encounter someone knowledgeable, at least they can still keep them properly.
If someone doesn't know anything about this, they might treat it like that inkstone washer, using it as a pig trough—an impractical one at that—and throw it away because they think it's useless.
This is why the cultural relics bureau sends people to rural areas to collect and purchase cultural relics and antiques.
Jiang Dongming: "Xiao Yan's suggestion is excellent. I'll go discuss its feasibility with Director Liu right away."
When Jiang Dongming returned, he brought back the results of the discussion: "The bureau is very supportive and has adopted Xiao Yan's suggestion. We've decided to start with Xinli Street, and if it works well, we'll expand it to the whole city, and then gradually extend it to the counties and cities below. Xiao Yan, you'll be in charge of organizing this event, with Xia assisting. The bureau and the city's cultural station are fully supporting us..."
Yan Ruyi was startled. She had only made a suggestion, so how did it become her organizing it?
She hurriedly said, "Teacher Jiang, I have no experience."
She participated in many activities while in school, but she had never organized an event herself, especially a large-scale one like this.
Jiang Dongming said, "This is the first time the bureau has organized such an event. No one has any experience, so we all need to figure it out as we go. You and Xia are young and quick-witted, so just go for it. I'll take care of anything that happens."
Zhao Dongsheng interrupted him, "Old Jiang, it might not be appropriate to let the two of them organize such an important event. If they mess it up, it will be a disgrace to everyone in our Cultural Relics Bureau. Besides, they are both so young, and other units may not be willing to cooperate. The event may not be able to proceed. I think we should send someone with more experience to gain the respect of the people."
Qian Yingjing picked up the large tea mug, blew away the tea foam on top, took a sip, and then said to Zhao Dongsheng unhurriedly, "Why don't you go?"
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The author's note: The reason I wrote Su Shi as Su Shi is because this is a fictional story, so I didn't dare to write about a real historical figure. However, writing it that way might not be a good reading experience, so after considering everything, I changed it to Su Shi.
Also, Commander Song is about to confess his feelings to Ruyi for the second time. I'm rubbing my hands in anticipation!
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