Li Huaide handed one of the two glasses of wine to Ma Hua, who pretended to be flattered and held the glass with both hands, saying, "This is what I should do, there's no need for your praise. It's all thanks to your discerning eye, Director Li, that I'm where I am today."
"Good, good, good," Li Huaide laughed happily, then downed his drink in one gulp. Before leaving, he stuffed a wad of bills into Ma Hua's hand and said, "Work hard, I believe in you, haha." This Ma Hua is good, very savvy, much better than Sha Zhu.
After Li Huaide left, Ma Hua looked at the receipts in his hand. Good heavens, another ten meat coupons per jin, five industrial coupons, and several cigarette and alcohol coupons.
Seeing Liu Lan's envious expression, Ma Hua immediately waved the receipt in front of her: "Want it?"
Liu Lanbai glared at Ma Hua. Who wouldn't want it? Who wouldn't be envious? It's so hard to get a bite to eat these days, isn't it just because we don't have tickets? You brat, you're even jealous of me.
"Alright, I'm not teasing you anymore," Ma Hua said, then pulled out a few meat coupons and industrial vouchers and handed them to Liu Lan.
"Sister Lan, don't think I'm stingy. I won't give you these cigarette and alcohol coupons. I'll keep them for myself," Ma Hua said, feigning exaggeration.
"These, really for me?" Liu Lan was somewhat surprised at this point. How could Ma Hua be so willing to part with them? She hurriedly waved her hand to refuse, "I can't accept them. These were all given to you by Director Li. How can I accept them? This..."
“Sister Lan, this is what you don’t understand. In our business, we call it ‘everyone gets a share.’ In the old days, it was a reward from the host after a good meal. Usually, it would be shared so that everyone could share in the joy. So, Sister Lan, you should accept it. I’m still waiting for you to look after me in the kitchen,” Ma Hua said sincerely.
"Go away, go away, go away. With your skills, you don't need me to protect you," Liu Lan said happily, handing over the ticket. She could buy meat for her child again.
In the old society, many high-ranking officials and nobles would reward the cooks or waiters when they ate well and were in a good mood, but Ma Hua would never do that.
Ma Hua also had his own little scheme at this moment. He knew very well that Liu Lan was Li Huaide's mistress. Ma Hua was about to rise to power, and Li Huaide would soon be in control. If he didn't curry favor with her now, when would he? It would be too late once she rose to power. If he didn't give gifts to her, who else would he give gifts to?
If Liu Lan were to speak ill of him to Li Huaide later, how could he possibly live? Although Liu Lan isn't that kind of person, he doesn't need the money, so he's just doing her a favor. If he were offered money, Ma Hua would have accepted it immediately; as for the tickets, forget it, it's too much trouble to exchange them.
After the leaders finished eating, Liu Lan happily carried six lunchboxes and asked Ma Hua, "Ma Hua, are you really not taking two?"
Ma Hua waved her hand dismissively: "I don't want to, I wouldn't dare to be so stupid as to imitate Zhu. Sister Lan, you'd better tone it down, your face is practically beaming with joy."
How could Liu Lan not be happy? When she went to clean up, she was stunned because Li Huaide and the others had eaten everything clean, leaving nothing behind. But when she cleaned up Director Yang's room, she immediately cheered and barely touched it.
After Ma Hua dropped Liu Lan off at home, he rode his bicycle quickly back to the courtyard house. Little did Ma Hua know that the courtyard was in complete chaos because of what he had done the day before.
,,,,,,,,,Divider line......
This morning, when Qin Huairu got up to make breakfast, she thought she was seeing things. Where was the coal in her house? Then she turned around and saw that the cabbages under the eaves were gone too. In a hurry to get to work, Qin Huairu could only tell Jia Zhangshi first, and then go to Sha Zhu's house to get some to tide her over.
Upon learning that her family's coal and cabbages were gone, Jia Zhangshi flew into a rage. Forget about sleeping in, she got up, dressed, ate her breakfast, and immediately looked around the yard. Knowing everyone's reserves well, she instantly spotted something amiss with Liu Haizhong's house. "How come they have so much now? Damn it, you dare steal from my family!" Thinking this, Jia Zhangshi headed straight for Liu Haizhong's house.
Only Auntie Erda was left in Liu Haizhong's house. Jia Zhangshi and Auntie Erda were evenly matched; Jia Zhangshi used every trick in the book—cursing, pulling hair, gouging eyes, spitting—to get to the bottom of it.
Second Aunt felt guilty. She knew there was more when she got up to cook breakfast that morning, but she thought it was a gift from heaven and didn't say anything. Now that Jia Zhangshi had caught her, she thought it was her own son who did it, so she could only swallow her anger and shut the door to ignore Jia Zhangshi.
Jia Zhangshi cursed at Liu Haizhong's doorstep for a whole day. Before the men in the courtyard even returned, she started another big meeting.
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