Su Yu didn't go home for lunch, and Su Dazhi and Su Zhi were wondering about it when they saw her leave the factory. Su Zhi said, "Sis, why didn't you come home for lunch? We shared your portion of white rice. We saved the egg for you."
Rice, eggs?
Su Yu smacked her lips. "I've been very busy these past few lunchtimes. From now on, if I need to go out, I'll just let Grandpa Zhang at the gate know, and you won't have to wait for me."
Su Zhi asked, "Sis, what are you going to do about your meals?"
"Eat out. Your sister is different now; lots of people want to treat me to meals."
Su Dazhi and Su Zhi: "..."
"Today I went out to eat with Secretary Song from the Municipal Party Committee. I'll eat with him again tomorrow, and in a few days there will be people from the steel mill and the transportation company. I'm not short of food. When I have the chance, I'll bring some back for you."
The two brothers swallowed hard, looking at Su Yu with adoration.
So many people from great companies are treating me to dinner! You're amazing!
Seeing the two of them like this, Su Yu pretended to say, "Remember to keep a low profile and don't let people know that our family has so many connections. Otherwise, what will we do if others ask us for help in the future? If we help others, we won't be able to help you."
Su Zhi covered his mouth, "Sis, I promise I won't."
"Me neither!" Su Dazhi said.
When they arrived home, Liu Mei and Su Lin were both working; one was mending clothes, and the other was cooking.
Seeing Su Yu return, Liu Mei and Gao Xin said, "Sister, I submitted my application for permanent employment, and my supervisor and the director both signed it. I'll be a full-time employee starting from the first of next month!"
He didn't shout it out on purpose, but everyone else in the compound heard it.
The eldest daughter-in-law in the Su family has been officially promoted; will her status in the family change from now on? After all, she's a permanent employee of a large company, with good benefits.
However, Liu Mei soon said, "Sister, I'll treat you to dinner tomorrow, at a restaurant." Her words carried a hint of flattery.
"..."
Aunt Liu, holding her bowl of rice porridge, listened intently for a moment, then said to her husband, "Old man, Meizi got promoted, how come we didn't hear the news?"
"I heard that Sister Mei has connections," said Liu Gang, Aunt Liu's son.
"What connection? How could there be any connection? The Liu family are all tight-lipped, where would they get any connections?" Aunt Liu said skeptically.
"Really, I heard. It seems to be related to the labor union," Liu Gang said.
Aunt Liu smirked, "I'll ask Meizi tomorrow... never mind, that girl's already been bewitched by the Su family. I'll go ask my sister-in-law tomorrow."
We can't let Mei Zi use all the connections from Lao Liu's family.
At the Su family's house, Su Yu waved to Liu Mei with a haughty air, "Let's do it in a while, I'm busy these days. I have to go out for business dinners every time."
"Sis, what did you eat?"
"Eat braised fish and dumplings made with high-gluten flour."
...
The Song family was having dinner in the municipal party committee compound.
Secretary Song had no appetite for the pickled vegetables and cabbage on the table. She also found the few pieces of salted meat unappetizing.
Fortunately, he had a stove open, so he could eat dumplings.
Song Yuanshan watched his son devour the white flour dumplings with a serious expression, his face turning ashen.
"Comrade Dongzheng, you can't do this. The people are still suffering, how can you eat so well?"
"..." Secretary Song looked up. "Dad, if I don't eat, you don't eat, and Mom doesn't eat, won't the food go bad? If we give it away, there won't be enough to go around. As the saying goes, it's not scarcity that's the problem, but inequality. If we give it to this person, that person will have a problem with you. It might even cause conflict between them. How can you and I not eat?"
Song Yuanshan was so angry that he couldn't eat anymore.
Song's mother smiled and said, "Dong, eat more. Next month I'll go and exchange some more high-gluten flour for them; we'll use it all to make dumplings. Today we'll make pork dumplings, tomorrow we'll make egg dumplings. By the way, are you coming back for lunch tomorrow?"
"We're not coming back; we're eating out," Secretary Song said.
"What? You still want to eat out? Song Dongzheng, this behavior is unacceptable!" Song Yuanshan criticized sternly.
"Dad, what's important isn't the food itself, but the conversation during the meal." Secretary Song finished the last dumpling and then wiped his mouth contentedly. He hadn't eaten well at noon, but he finally made up for it tonight.
He felt uneasy if he didn't have a good meal, always feeling like he was going to starve to death.
Song Yuanshan wasn't buying it. He knew his son perfectly well. This was a Party member without any sense of party spirit or principles. "You're just making excuses. Was someone else treating you to dinner again?"
“If I don’t eat, what if people insist on dragging me along? If I don’t go, they’ll say I’m out of touch with the masses and not a good cadre.”
"Then you pay."
“Dad, my salary isn’t low either, and I’m happy to pay. But I have to consider my boss’s feelings. If I, as the secretary of a vice mayor, were to be constantly treating people to meals, people would think that our boss has some ulterior motive.”
"..." Song Yuanshan couldn't continue, so he could only lecture his mother, "You should also educate him properly. You're a political worker; if you can't even educate your own family, how can you educate others?"
As Song's mother shoveled rice into her mouth, she said between bites, "What's there to educate? I think he's doing great. Look how well my son has grown. Is it easy to raise someone like him?" Thinking of the times her son had followed her and her husband, moving from place to place, fleeing amidst the flames of war, and the hardships he endured serving as a soldier in the revolutionary base areas when he was only six or seven years old, her heart ached.
“Son, don’t worry about your dad, just eat more. He’s an old cadre who retired early, he can’t control you.”
Secretary Song said, "Mom, don't be so harsh on Comrade Yuanshan. He's an old revolutionary. We should respect him. If he has any doubts, we should help him resolve them. We can't let an old revolutionary comrade feel unhappy." Then, turning to Song Yuanshan, she said, "Dad, if you have any complaints, just say them. We should be open to your opinions."
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