Liu Yuhe's eldest son is named Liu Peng, who is six years old this year and will be starting school in a couple of years.
"Oh, that's great! I'll thank you in advance, sister-in-law," Liu Yuhe said with a sheepish grin, scratching his head.
"Yujiang, Yuhe, you two keep your uncle company for a while. I'll go get a couple of dishes, and we'll eat here tonight. You can also have a couple of drinks with your uncle."
Zhang Shuzhen looked at the package and realized it was already past three o'clock. They had brought so many things; she should at least treat them to a meal.
So she gave Zhou Qinglan a wink, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law went to the outer room to prepare the meal.
"Auntie, don't prepare too many dishes. Just make do with a couple and some wine."
The Liu brothers didn't stand on ceremony; they just smiled and responded, continuing to sit there chatting with Sheng Xiping and the others.
In the outer room, Zhang Shuzhen and her daughter-in-law gathered up the things the Liu family had brought.
Frozen meat was put away first, and millet, sticky rice cakes, red beans, and other similar items were also put in the cupboard.
There happened to be a piece of meat inside, which should have been just removed today and hadn't been frozen yet. Zhang Shuzhen weighed it in her hand and roughly knew what it was like. She and Zhou Qinglan weighed a few dishes together.
Liu Yujiang and his brother were having dinner at the Sheng family's house. Men tend to get carried away when they start drinking, so this meal took longer than usual.
Before we could even finish our meal, the people who came to listen to the radio arrived.
"Xiping, have you heard? That guy surnamed Feng got fired and is going to be kicked out."
Gao Haining and the others came in laughing and joking, and were taken aback when they saw that there were people in the room. "Oh, Brother Liu and Second Brother Liu are here."
"Yeah, nothing much to do today, so I came over to chat with my brother for a bit, and also to have a drink with my uncle." Liu Yujiang nodded to the group and smiled.
"Haining, Weiguo, have you eaten yet? Come sit down and have a drink!"
Sheng Liancheng sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), his face flushed, whether from the warmth of the kang or from the alcohol.
Gao Haining and the others quickly waved their hands, "No, no, we all ate at home before coming here, and we're too full to come."
We were just bored and came over to chat with Xiping.
Gao Haining and the others all had some injuries, and they had been staying home to recover for the past two days and hadn't gone out much.
If they hadn't heard that Feng Baosheng had been dismissed, they would definitely still be staying home tonight. They were just happy and wanted to chat with Sheng Xiping for a while.
Sheng Liancheng declined, but the young men all shook their heads and said they didn't want to drink. Sheng Liancheng didn't insist and just told them to sit wherever they liked.
Gao Haining and the others sat down on the north kang (heated brick bed), listening to the radio and chatting quietly.
After a while, Sheng Xiping and the others finished eating, cleared the table, and Gao Haining and the others moved to the south side of the kang (heated brick bed).
"I heard from others that the provincial government's decision came down this afternoon. The man surnamed Feng has been dismissed and is going back to the provincial capital."
Gao Haining began to speak with great interest.
"And those two tractor drivers were also transferred back to their original units, supposedly to do forest clearing work."
Old Zhang from our forest farm has been dismissed from his administrative post, but is currently on probation.
Sheng Xiping wasn't too surprised by the outcome. In truth, the main responsibility for this matter lay with Lao Zhang, and it was already quite good that he was given a probationary period.
"Was Secretary Feng's punishment a bit too harsh?"
Sheng Xiping was somewhat puzzled. Logically speaking, Feng Baosheng was responsible for the accident, but the main responsibility did not lie with him.
Logically, it should have been just a reprimand, with Feng Baosheng writing a self-criticism or something, and that would have been the end of it. Why was he dismissed so directly?
"I heard from others that Secretary Feng was mainly in charge of organizing the opening ceremony."
"I told you long ago, that whole thing is complete nonsense. If you dare to stir up trouble now, aren't you just asking for trouble?" Gao Haining whispered in Sheng Xiping's ear.
Sheng Xiping nodded upon hearing this. "Yes, that's right. At this point, that would be a huge mistake."
"I wonder, now that this guy surnamed Feng has been transferred, who will the higher-ups send to be the secretary of our forest farm?"
"If a good one comes along, that'll be fine, but if another troublesome one comes along, I'm afraid our forest farm really won't be able to meet its production targets for this year." Sheng Xiping sighed.
Hearing this, everyone sighed. Having a good leader is truly crucial.
Feng has only been here for half a year, and look what he's done to the forest farm! If another unreliable person is transferred here, I really don't know what kind of mess they'll make of it.
"Tell me, what's wrong with our Director Zheng? He's educated, why not just make him the Party Secretary?" Gao Haining asked, puzzled.
Nobody can explain this problem.
Everyone sat at the Sheng family's house for a while, and around 7 o'clock, they all left to go home.
The Sheng family also quickly tidied up, made their beds, washed up, and prepared to go to sleep.
This year, the Lunar New Year is early, which is when the temperature is low. Before going to bed at night, we have to throw two large pieces of firewood into the stove pit and stuff a few pieces of dough into the stove.
When you get up at night, it's best to check the stove again and add some firewood so that the house will still be warm when it gets light.
Sheng Xiping helped Zhou Qinglan wash and tidy up the children, then cuddled the two mischievous kids into bed. He then checked the pot and stove, making sure everything was in place before getting into bed himself.
I had just fallen asleep, still half-asleep, when I heard something scratching at the door outside.
Sheng Xiping snapped back to reality, listened intently, and sure enough, something was scratching at the door.
That's not right, the dog is tied up, it's impossible for it to scratch at the door.
What's that? Did a thief break in? But that can't be right. If a thief broke in, would the dogs in the house make a sound?
Sheng Xiping thought for a moment and realized something was wrong, so he quickly put on his cotton-padded trousers and coat, and carefully opened the door to go out.
Upon entering the outer room, the commotion of prying at the door became even more pronounced. Sheng Xiping, holding a stick, unlatched the door and pushed it open.
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