Chapter 228 Hospitality
After settling the sewing machine and other items, Sheng Xiping and the others followed Zhao Yongsheng and his son to the Zhao family home.
As soon as they entered the Zhao family's gate, Zhao Yongsheng called out, "Honey, hurry up and prepare some good dishes, we have guests."
Zhao Yongsheng's wife, Cao Shuzhi, had already prepared the meal and was waiting for her husband and son to come home for dinner.
Hearing her husband calling from outside, she quickly came out to see. "Hey, who are these young men?"
Cao Shuzhi glanced around and saw six or seven young men coming in from outside, and she was stunned.
"Look at your memory! Isn't this Xiao Sheng who brought us the Black Bear Bell-shaped Cover before the New Year?"
They were downstairs on some business when I happened to run into them. I called my kid home for a meal.
"Hurry up and get some dishes ready. We'll have a drink at noon." Zhao Yongsheng said, while winking at his wife.
Upon hearing this, Cao Shuzhi remembered, "Oh, it's Xiao Sheng from Qianchuan Forest Farm! Quick, come inside and let's talk."
Everyone who enters the door is a guest, and we must treat them well, regardless of whether we know them or not.
Not to mention that Sheng Xiping had previously given Zhao Yongsheng a black bear-shaped hat, which saved Zhao Yongsheng from suffering this winter. Cao Shuzhi was naturally grateful to him, so she greeted Sheng Xiping and his companions very warmly.
Sheng Xiping and the others greeted Cao Shuzhi, and then followed the Zhao family father and son into the house.
In the east room, all of Zhao's children were there, and they greeted the visitors in a very open and friendly manner.
Wang Jianshe, Chen Weiguo, and the others took things out of their pockets and put them on the table.
Wang Jianshe bought these while Zhao Guangning was chatting with the shop manager, and then secretly distributed them to Chen Weiguo and the others, putting them in their own pockets.
"Oh dear, look at you kids, when did you buy these things?"
"Come here and feel at home, there's no need to be so formal," Zhao Yongsheng and his wife said, unable to resist offering a few words.
"Secretary Zhao, this is a small token of our appreciation."
"It's my first time coming home, and I didn't know what to bring, so I just bought some things from the store," Wang Jianshe and the others explained with a smile.
Even though Sheng Xiping calls Zhao Yongsheng "Grandpa," they can't just follow suit and call him that too.
What could Zhao Yongsheng say after he had already bought everything?
“You guys, don’t do that next time. From now on, call him ‘Uncle’ and ‘Auntie’ like Xiping does, don’t call him ‘Secretary,’ it sounds too formal.”
Northeasterners are naturally warm and hospitable, and since they are all Sheng Xiping's brothers, it's not appropriate to treat them differently.
Wang Jianshe and the others happily agreed, and then everyone sat down to chat.
Cao Shuzhi quickly sent the children to buy some canned food and cooked food, and then she hurried to the kitchen to fry eggs, peanuts and other things.
With so many people coming to our house, we need to prepare at least six dishes.
Zhao Yongsheng has four children. The eldest, Zhao Guangning, works in the bureau; the second, Zhao Yuting, is a nurse at the forestry bureau hospital; and the third, Zhao Guangping, and the fourth, Zhao Yujuan, are both in high school.
When guests arrived, the children were all quite well-behaved. The third child went out to run errands to buy groceries, while the fourth child quickly boiled water and made tea. The second child, Zhao Yuting, went out to help her mother cook.
Zhao Guangning, not knowing what was going on, also went out, leaving Zhao Yongsheng to chat with Sheng Xiping and the others.
They weren't very familiar with each other before, so Zhao Yongsheng had to ask around to find out what Wang Jianshe and the others did.
Upon learning that these individuals were all former educated youth from Qianchuan Forest Farm, Zhao Yongsheng nodded.
"Oh, I see. You are the educated youth from the outstanding youth shock brigade that Qianchuan Forest Farm reported this time."
Your forest farm has done a good job in harvesting and transporting this year, exceeding the production target.
Especially the educated youth teams, despite the shortage of various machines, managed to achieve a relatively high output by relying on manual labor for lumber collection and stacking. Not bad at all.
At this time of year, the production tasks of each forest farm have basically been completed, and they are all reporting their output to the bureau.
Once the bureau approves the project, they will be awarded honorary titles such as Advanced Forest Farm, Advanced Work Team, Advanced Worker, and Model Worker.
Qianchuan Forest Farm completed its tasks quite early this year, and Wangjiachuan has already had all the relevant materials submitted.
The educated youth team performed exceptionally well this year. After discussing with other cadres of the forest farm, Wang Jiachuan submitted the team's application to participate in this year's selection of outstanding youth shock brigades.
Each forest farm had to report on the situation of its various work teams and workers, and Zhao Yongsheng had to be familiar with all of this.
"Great! Young people are energetic and vibrant, that's wonderful. Enjoy your work in the forest farm; it will be a valuable experience."
Zhao Yongsheng looked at the young men in front of him and nodded repeatedly, showing great approval.
Sheng Xiping and his group have been down here for several days, and besides, the forest farm wouldn't discuss these matters with them, so they really don't know anything about them.
Upon hearing this, the young men were quite happy; after all, it was an honor.
So the guys were quite happy and chatted warmly with Zhao Yongsheng.
Before long, Zhao Guangping returned with a roast chicken, a piece of pig's head meat, and two cans of luncheon meat.
Cao Shuzhi quickly chopped and plated the food, along with scrambled eggs, peanuts, and the pickled cabbage and vermicelli stewed at home for lunch.
Six dishes were already quite good, but Cao Shuzhi felt something was still missing, so she chopped up a cabbage heart and mixed it with sweet and sour sauce.
Then, take the canned peaches and hawthorns that Wang Jianshe and his group brought and put them in a large bowl, making a total of eight dishes.
"It was a last-minute preparation; I managed to put together eight dishes, just enough to tide you over. Next time you come to Songjianghe, I'll prepare more delicious food for you."
Cao Shuzhi and her daughter brought the food into the house and greeted everyone with smiles as they ate.
"Oh dear, ma'am, you've prepared such a lavish spread! Eight dishes! Even cadres don't have this much when they visit the countryside. You've gone to so much trouble, ma'am, please sit down and eat."
When Sheng Xiping and the others looked at the table, they realized that apart from the sauerkraut which was originally prepared, the rest of the dishes were all hastily put together.
This is only possible because the Zhao family has several working professionals and is well-off. If it were an ordinary family, where would they get the money to come up with all these dishes?
"It's alright, you guys eat first. Old Zhao, you and Guangning keep Xiao Sheng and the others company for a drink. It's rare for the kids to come all this way, they should eat and drink their fill."
After Cao Shuzhi finished speaking, she went out of the east room and led her three children to the west room for dinner.
When Zhao Guangning returned from his trip, he heated up a pot of wine and poured some for Sheng Xiping and the others.
"Last time you came, I wanted to invite you to stay for dinner, but you said you had already eaten. This time, we brothers must have a good drink."
Don't worry about the afternoon, the bureau's inspectors are going to inspect various forest farms.
After lunch, I'll arrange a car to take you to the forest railway station, and then you can go to the forest farm with the inspectors.
Needless to say, Zhao Guangning went out just now to arrange the afternoon's transportation.
He works at the Forestry Bureau's Transportation Department now, so these things are readily available to him.
Sheng Xiping immediately understood that this was a special arrangement made to send them back to the forest farm.
Otherwise, what a coincidence that the inspector is going to various forest farms this afternoon! "Thank you, Brother Zhao, I'm sorry to have troubled you."
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