Chapter 5 Staying at the Wu Family
"You can stay with me? That's easy. I have an extra room at my house. You can stay here for a few days!" Wu Dagang said.
"Thank you, Secretary Wu." Zhou Ziwen thanked him happily.
Now I finally don’t have to squeeze into the Youth League Home with other people.
"Don't be too happy. I don't need your money, but you need to prepare the food yourself." Wu Dagang said.
"Having a place to live would be a great help to me. I can prepare the food myself." Zhou Ziwen nodded hurriedly.
Although Wu Dagang didn't charge him any money, Zhou Ziwen didn't plan to live there for free. After all, people lent him the place, which solved a problem for him.
As for how to repay him when the time comes, he needs to think carefully about it.
But we can talk about this later. It will take several days to build the house anyway!
"Secretary Wu, can we also stay at your house?"
Seeing that Zhou Ziwen had successfully stayed there, Chen Shiying and Chen Qiaoyi hurried over.
Compared with Zhou Ziwen, they were the ones who needed a place to stay more. After all, they had just had a fight with the old educated youth and they didn't want to go back to live there.
If it were just the two of them, they might not have dared to ask to stay with them, after all, they had heard some bad rumors.
But with Zhou Ziwen, they have the courage.
It’s not that they rely on Zhou Ziwen, but rather a kind of herd mentality.
What's more, the place they were staying was Secretary Wu's home, which made it safer.
"Okay, I have two rooms left in my house, and I can lend them to you." Wu Dagang nodded with a smile.
But he could do nothing to help the other educated youth who were looking at him with eager eyes.
His house only had two extra rooms, one lent to Zhou Ziwen and one lent to the two sisters of the Chen family. There were no more rooms.
"Thank you, Secretary Wu." The two sisters of the Chen family hurriedly expressed their gratitude.
"It's okay. We are all fellow villagers from now on. It's only natural for us to help each other." Wu Dagang waved his hand.
Once the housing problem is solved, the rest will be easy.
Wu Dagang's family had a cart, so Zhou Ziwen and the Chen sisters went back to the Youth League Home, took their luggage to the branch, and took the advance food to Wu Dagang's home.
Wu Dagang's home is a typical rural house in Northeast China.
The house is not big, with a total of five rooms, three bedrooms, a living room, and a woodshed. Next to the woodshed is a toilet. The conditions at home are pretty good.
Wu Dagang has two sons. They went to serve in the army a few years ago, leaving only the two old couple at home, so two rooms were left empty.
Wu Dagang’s wife’s surname is Chen, and everyone calls her Aunt Chen.
Aunt Chen was very welcoming to the arrival of the two sisters Zhou Ziwen and Chen Shiying.
After all, when people get old, they like to be lively. Ever since my two sons went to the army, our home hasn't been so lively for a long time.
"You haven't eaten yet, right? I have some simple food prepared at home, let's eat together!" Aunt Chen looked at Zhou Ziwen and the other two kindly, and she liked them more and more.
Zhou Ziwen is handsome and has an unruly face, always with a faint smile on his face, which seems to have some magical power that makes people feel relaxed and happy.
Not to mention Chen Shiying and Chen Qiaoyi, they have exactly the same pretty faces and it is impossible to tell who is who. Their delicate faces are white with a rosy glow, making people want to take a bite.
In fact, when Zhou Ziwen came to borrow the cart just now, Aunt Chen knew they were coming, so she specially added two dishes.
"Thank you, Auntie. I happened to bring a bottle of good wine with me. I'll drink some with Uncle Wu later." Zhou Ziwen was not polite, but he didn't plan to eat for free.
This time when he went to the countryside, his family prepared a lot of things for him, including food, drinks and daily necessities. If it weren't for the fact that there was really no room, Zhou's mother would have wanted to pack all the family's belongings for him.
"Hey, kid, why are you so polite? If you want to drink, my family...is not...unavailable."
Wu Dagang had a stern face and was about to get angry, but when he saw the Moutai Zhou Ziwen took out from the luggage, his voice became lower and lower, and finally he couldn't say any more.
A greedy expression appeared on his face, and his throat rolled involuntarily.
Wu Dagang has no other hobbies in his life, one is cigarettes and the other is alcohol.
As the saying goes, if you never put down your cigarettes and drink, you will live to be ninety-nine.
At his age, he likes to have a drink whenever he wants.
If you come across good wine, you can’t help it.
This bottle of Moutai that Zhou Ziwen owns is a fine wine that his father has collected for many years. Over the years, one can hear his father showing off about it from time to time, but he just can't bear to drink it.
As a result, when Zhou Ziwen went to the countryside this time, his mother took him with her, saying that she could use it to help him build relationships when he met leaders.
Now, it’s time to use connections.
"Haha, Uncle Wu, I'm not polite, and you don't have to be polite either. This is our first time going to the countryside, and we don't know anything. We still need your guidance." Zhou Ziwen said with a smile, holding a bottle of wine.
"Hey, you've asked the right person. Let me tell you, there's nothing in this village that Old Wu doesn't know..."
Speaking of this, Wu Dagang became excited and began to talk incessantly.
Zhou Ziwen opened it with great insight and filled it up for him.
“Tsk tsk!”
"This good wine is different and refreshing."
"By the way, you guys want to build a house, do you have any ideas?"
The wine is not drunk in vain. After just a while, Wu Dagang started to care about their practical problems.
Hearing this, the attention of Chen Shiying and her sister also focused on him. They also wanted to build a house, which would be a good opportunity to compare with Zhou Ziwen's house.
"I've actually thought about this, but it's a little different from the original plan. Uncle Wu, please give me some advice."
"I plan to build a two-bedroom, one-living room house, with one room as a bedroom and the other as a kitchen."
"The kitchen stove is connected to the bedroom's kang, so there's no need to heat the kang separately in winter."
There are two types of kangs in Northeast China. One is the kind found in the Youth League Institute. The kang is heated separately, and there is a tunnel underneath for burning fire.
The other method is what Zhou Ziwen just mentioned, which is to connect the cooking stove and the kang. In this way, when cooking, you can heat up the kang in the room, which is both trouble-free and convenient.
"It doesn't need to be too big. I live alone anyway, so it just needs to be enough."
Zhou Ziwen expressed his thoughts.
Originally, he only planned to build two rooms, one for sleeping and the other as both a living room and a kitchen.
But then I thought about it and felt that it was not appropriate. It didn't seem right to have the kitchen and the living room together.
It would be better to spend a little more money to separate the two places. Anyway, his requirements for the area are not high, it just requires an extra wall.
"It's a good idea. I can buy the bricks for the kang and stove from the production team, but I can't buy more than that." Wu Dagang lit his pipe and took several puffs with his eyes squinted.
"So it's better to build an adobe house. It's not difficult to make. Most people in our village still have some adobe left."
"It depends on whether you are willing to spend the money. After all, these adobe bricks are kept by them for building their own houses."
(End of this chapter)
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