Having suffered, Lin Wei continued forward until she reached a familiar alley. Carrying her luggage, she went to the former Wang family home, which is now the Liu family home.
"Uncle Liu, Aunt Liu, are you home?"
Upon hearing Lin Wei's voice, Liu Jianmin quickly opened the courtyard gate for her.
"Weiwei, school's out?" Seeing Lin Wei's luggage at her feet, Liu Jianmin quickly asked, "Weiwei, what are you doing?"
"Oh, it's getting cold, so I was planning to change into some warmer clothes to go back to school. I'm in a hurry to see Uncle Liu and Aunt Liu, so I haven't had time to go home yet."
As soon as he finished speaking, Uncle Liu, Aunt Liu, and a group of children came out together.
"Sister, you're back."
"Oh, you're here too."
The children from the Su and Gao families replied in unison, "We're here too."
Aunt Liu quickly grasped Lin Wei's hand, "Good child, these neighbors are so kind. We just arrived and they came over to help us tidy up the house."
"Good children. But Uncle Liu, Aunt Liu, when did you arrive? I hope the children didn't disturb you."
"No, no, the children are very well-behaved."
Uncle Liu reached out to take her luggage, but Lin Wei quickly stepped aside. "No need, no need. It's just a few clothes of mine. These are some fruits I just bought at the intersection. You can take them back and eat them. I just came to say hello. By the way, it's getting late. Have you eaten yet? How about we go out to eat later?"
Liu Jianmin was having a headache over this. "Okay, Aunt Meng should be getting off work soon, let's eat together in a bit. The house is all tidied up, but I forgot to buy firewood, so I can't cook."
"Nowadays everyone uses gas, but cooking with firewood tastes better. If you want to buy firewood, ask Uncle Li at the corner store. He can deliver it in about tomorrow or the day after."
Uncle Li runs a small shop, so naturally he'll do other jobs on the side.
Actually, very few people used firewood at this time; everyone used gas, and you could order your own gas.
But Lin Wei's family is a special case, so Uncle Li helped them with this trip. Naturally, Uncle Li should earn this small amount of money.
After saying goodbye, Lin Wei took the children home.
As soon as Lin Xiaomeng returned, Lin Wei brought up the matter of dinner.
Lin Xiaomeng breathed a sigh of relief. "That's exactly what I was worried about. The Liu family has been very good to you, so it's only right that we be more hospitable. But I get off work late, and I'm afraid they'll eat it."
"We're eating out today, but tomorrow I plan to cook a meal at home to welcome Uncle Liu and Aunt Liu. They haven't decided yet whether to use firewood or gas in their kitchen, but they don't have either one at the moment."
"Okay, since you're home anyway, but I have to work overtime tomorrow, and I feel like I haven't been able to entertain you properly while I'm not home."
This is the first time I've heard of Lin Wei working overtime since she moved into Lin Xiaomeng's house.
"Auntie, why are you working overtime?"
Lin Xiaomeng sighed, "I guess I'll be laid off too."
Lin Wei was truly shocked. "Ah, wasn't the yarn factory already laid off, leaving only office staff to guard the files? Why are they laying off more people?"
She genuinely believed that Lin Xiaomeng could hold onto her cushy job until retirement.
"There are too many people in the office. Why don't the leaders leave such slack positions for themselves and their relatives? I have no power or influence. Before, because of the housing issue... I guess I offended the leaders. Actually, they wanted to fire me before, but I just put up with it."
“This time the reason was legitimate, and I couldn’t refuse, so it naturally fell to me.”
If the topic of being laid off were mentioned, she might have panicked before, because ultimately she would be out of work.
But now that Lin Wei and her neighbors have set an example, she doesn't really have any other thoughts about going back to set up a stall.
"Auntie, how long can you keep this job?"
"Probably after the New Year, or next month. After all, it's already mid-November, and I still have some work to hand over."
Lin Wei was worried that Lin Xiaomeng was upset. "Aunt, don't overthink it. It's okay if you don't have a job. I'll take care of things at home. I'm very good at earning money. As long as I have food to eat, I will never let you go hungry."
Lin Xiaomeng laughed out loud when she heard this, "You kid, it's not that I'm worried about being laid off, but I'm so young, I definitely have to do something. I haven't decided what to do yet. And as for street vending, if I didn't have a skill, I feel the market would be saturated."
It's saturated, isn't it? The wave of layoffs has been going on for years.
Those who were supposed to be laid off have already been laid off; what's left are just a bunch of people like Lin Xiaomeng who are left behind.
So they've already captured most of the market share they needed.
When everything is already saturated, you need creativity to break through the competition.
But what a coincidence, Lin Wei has it.
"Don't rush. We've already planned to sell fried meatballs during the winter break. Last year we didn't have enough people or enough pots, but we still made a decent amount of money. This year we have more people, so we're sure we can make even more. You can think about your ideas first, and we can start next year."
"Okay, you've got a quick mind. I haven't even been laid off yet and you've already assigned me a job. Alright, go next door and call the people up for dinner."
-
After the three of them left their house, they knocked on the door across the street and took Uncle Liu and Aunt Liu to the best restaurant in the vicinity.
"I booked the private room on my way back, so I can just go up there."
Liu Jianmin scratched his head a little embarrassedly, "I was thinking of bringing a few dishes back to eat, but I didn't expect Weiwei to have already made the reservations."
"That's right."
Whether you need it or not, it's always good to order in advance, just in case—
It's just that we weren't very attentive.
The Liu family was a bit reserved, so Lin Xiaomeng greeted them, and the responsibility of ordering food fell to Lin Wei.
Looking at the menu, Liu Jianmin remarked, "These prices are significantly higher than those at the school."
"Of course, students' spending power is definitely different from that of residents, but it's not actually that much more expensive."
It only costs 1 or 2 yuan on average.
Lin Wei knew the Liu family's tastes, so she ordered a few dishes and went upstairs.
As soon as we sat down, the waiter brought the wine into the private room.
Uncle Liu quickly said, "Weiwei, why did you order alcohol? Please cancel it."
“Aren’t you going to drink? The food I ordered is alright, it would be a shame not to drink. But none of us drink, so let Jianmin keep you company.” After saying that, Lin Wei asked, “Where’s Jianli?”
Liu Jianli is Uncle Liu's youngest son and also works on the construction site in Jiangcheng. He is two years older than Lin Wei. In fact, he has a better relationship with Liu Jianli than with Liu Jianmin.
“There was work available on the construction site, but jobs are hard to find these days, so we didn’t let him come.”
Lin Xiaomeng asked, "Brother Liu, is the new city area completely unsuitable? Logically speaking, with development happening everywhere, there should be work in the new city area."
"That's the situation, but then Xiao Yuanbing's incident happened. His project wasn't finished and no one took it over. How many local bosses can take it on? And then similar things happened to the bosses from other places, so most of them have come to a standstill."
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