"What, you don't even dare to relay it?" Rong Zhaonan exhaled a puff of smoke with a half-smile.
Chen Chen gritted his teeth: "Fine, I will carry out the order without any compromise!"
If he doesn't dare, the captain will definitely not go with him!
but……
"Captain, the old leader must have demoted you to a lower-level position to protect you..." Chen Chen wanted to say something for his respected leader.
He didn't know about the captain's family affairs, but the situation was bad back then...
Rong Zhaonan coldly replied, "You call taking me out of the team and dumping me on someone else to vent their anger on, is that what you call protection?"
Chen Chen was speechless for a moment: "..."
Everyone knows that a few years ago, everything was in chaos, but the military was the most stable place, and no one dared to disrupt the ranks.
Rong Zhaonan didn't want to continue the topic, so he flicked off his cigarette ash and said, "When you get back, do me a favor."
“Don’t just say one, a hundred will do.” Chen Chen nodded vigorously.
Rong Zhaonan: "Help me check Ning Yuan's background and all her social connections. I need her information from birth."
Ning Yuan's aunt, Bai Yi, seems a bit abnormal.
She was so enraged by not being able to get the jade chili pepper and Ning Yuan not following her orders that she wanted to cripple her niece.
He said Aunt Bai was greedy for money. He saw how Aunt Bai stared at Ning Yuan and was very obsessive. He also heard Ning Yuan say that Aunt Bai paid for all the tuition fees.
Ning Yuan's family favored boys over girls, and sometimes even her living expenses were paid by Aunt Bai. Therefore, she felt that Ning Yuan had betrayed her.
The little spy's family affairs had a strange air about them.
"Ning Yuan, who is Ning Yuan?" Chen Chen scratched his head, feeling like he had heard the name somewhere before.
“We’re husband and wife, you can call her sister-in-law if you want,” Rong Zhaonan said casually.
Chen Chen's jaw nearly dropped to his chest: "Ah...ah...ah...ba...woman...woman...you really got a marriage certificate with a woman?! Aren't you just making excuses to avoid going back to Beijing?"
He remembered!
Previously, in the production team office, the cadre named Li Yan seemed to have mentioned that the team leader was now living with an educated youth named Ning Yuan.
He was too oblivious to think much of it at the time, assuming it was just someone living next door, or that Ning Yuan was a man!
But now he noticed that there were women's clothes drying in the backyard, as well as a pair of women's shoes!
Seeing Chen Chen staring at Ning Yuan's clothes in disbelief, Rong Zhaonan raised an eyebrow: "What, am I not worthy of marriage?"
“It’s not that she’s not good enough for you, but how could anyone be willing to marry you… No, I mean, you’re still being sent down for reform, what does she want?” Chen Chen was somewhat incoherent.
After all, with the captain reduced to such a state, everyone should be avoiding him.
Rong Zhaonan glared at him impatiently: "I only asked you to investigate because I wanted to know what she was after."
What do you mean by "how can anyone still be willing to marry him"? Although the words are crude, the principle is sound.
But Chen Chen's words made me itchy to punch someone again.
Chen Chen keenly sensed that he was about to get beaten up, and immediately nodded obediently and honestly: "Okay, I will definitely dig up her ancestors for eight generations!"
Rong Zhaonan waved his hand casually: "Alright, you can go back now."
Chen Chen was actually very anxious, with countless questions, such as why the captain didn't understand his wife and still got a marriage certificate, and so on...
"Aren't you leaving yet?" Rong Zhaonan swept his gaze over with a cold and wicked look.
Chen Chen immediately stood at attention and saluted: "Mission accomplished!"
His team leader has had a peculiar aura since he "debuted" at eighteen. Although he's hiding it well now, he'd better avoid provoking him.
He then obediently left the cowshed and called to the few red armband-wearing men in the front yard: "He did a good job, he's improved. Come on, let's check the next one."
Rong Zhaonan finished his cigarette and stubbed it out with a dark look in his eyes.
After being sent down to the countryside, he no longer had the opportunity to smoke, although he didn't smoke much in the army in his earlier years, unless he was in a very bad mood.
Just like now...
Rong Zhaonan closed his eyes.
...
Unlike Rong Zhaonan, Ning Yuan was in a particularly good mood today.
Because her day went exceptionally well!
As soon as she got off the oxcart, she took her grain coupons and 50 cents to buy two meat buns and a bowl of meat noodles, which filled her stomach.
At that time, the steamed buns in state-run restaurants were incredibly fragrant with meat, unlike the pork-flavored buns from farmed pigs that were available decades later.
Aside from having a lot of fat, it's perfect.
The meat rice noodles, cooked with pickled bamboo shoots, fermented black beans, minced garlic, and meat, were delicious and appetizing. She finished off two ounces of noodles in no time.
Then, while I was eating noodles at the state-run restaurant, I overheard the chef telling the cashier that the county government guesthouse was going to host a banquet soon.
Because an inspection team suddenly came down from the provincial capital yesterday, the county had to temporarily receive them.
The county instructed them to prepare local specialty dishes. This sudden task of hosting guests caused headaches for the chefs and those who purchased the ingredients, as many of the specialty ingredients had to be purchased in advance.
Ning Yuan's eyes lit up immediately. She wiped her mouth and leaned over to ask the other person what they wanted as a specialty dish. Would smoked wild boar meat count?
She hasn't visited her aunt even once since she got injured.
Her mother sent her a few letters, scolding her severely, and cut off her monthly allowance of two yuan and fifty cents. She didn't even bother to open the letters.
From now on, she'll have to earn her own money!
The cashier looked her up and down, and asked in surprise, "What, young lady, can you get smoked wild boar meat?"
These days, if a village hunts a wild boar, it's distributed to the entire village's production team to improve their meals; no one would be willing to sell it.
Ning Yuan smiled and opened her basket: "It's not that we're poor, I just wanted to smoke the wild boar meat we were allocated and exchange it for some money to help support my family."
The older woman took a look and exclaimed, "Wow, there are at least twenty or thirty pounds of smoked cured meat!"
She looked at Ning Yuan and saw that she was thin, with a delicate face and bright, sparkling eyes. She seemed like a well-behaved and honest girl.
She thought for a moment and said, "Okay, my nephew is in charge of procurement at the county committee. I'll ask him for you."
Anyway, it can help my nephew solve his immediate problem.
Ning Yuan was immediately very grateful and sat obediently in the state-run restaurant to wait, deciding not to go anywhere else.
I waited until the woman surnamed Zhang finished get off work at four o'clock, then I carried a basket and followed her to the county committee guesthouse.
The county government guesthouse is already the best guesthouse in the entire county. It's a clean and tidy four-story white brick building.
The first floor is for dining, and the upper floors are for living.
Sister Zhang told Ning Yuan to wait at the back door, and she went into the guesthouse herself.
A moment later, a man in his thirties wearing a blue worker's coat was brought out.
"Zhang Er, this is the girl. She brought some wild boar cured meat. Do you think we can take it?" Sister Zhang pointed at Ning Yuan.
The man called Zhang Er looked Ning Yuan up and down and gestured for her to open the basket: "I need to check the ingredients first. Smoked bacon, if not done properly, will either have a strange smell or become moldy."
Ning Yuan immediately opened her basket to show him: "Look, these were all fumigated these past few days, they definitely won't get moldy, I was very careful."
Zhang Er took out a piece of smoked bacon to look at. The white parts were glistening with fat and firm to the touch, while the lean parts were dark red and emitted a smoky aroma.
He took out a knife, cut off a slice, put it in his mouth, and nodded with satisfaction: "This meat tastes good."
He actually doesn't like the kind of smoked bacon that's too dry or too greasy, because it doesn't taste good when stir-fried.
"I'll take all the meat here. How much is it per pound?" Zhang Er asked, bringing out the scale.
Ning Yuan thought for a moment: "The state-owned fresh first-grade meat is 92 cents a pound now, and the second-grade meat is 87 cents. My wild boar meat is rare, so it should be considered first-grade. Then, 45 pounds of fresh meat can only produce about 30 pounds of smoked meat."
“If we only consider the meat and not other costs, it would cost 41.4 yuan. Can you give me 40 yuan plus 30 jin of national grain coupons?” Ning Yuan asked.
State-run meat required a voucher and meat coupons to purchase, and even then, you could only get a good cut of meat for 92 cents a pound.
On the black market, without food coupons, the price of good meat would be at least double, two yuan, and there was no guarantee of buying it.
Besides, this was rare wild boar meat, and Ning Yuan felt she was being very kind.
Zhang Er was taken aback: "Oh, you're quite good at math, little girl. You're good at calculating. But these national grain coupons are hard to come by, and what do you need so many for? Aren't you from the countryside?"
National grain coupons were only for employees on business trips. Besides, rural residents weren't urban residents, so they didn't need grain coupons, especially national ones.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
