The second senior brother tugged at Jia Dongxu's sleeve, glanced around, and whispered.
"Dongxu, you can't say things like that. If Master hears us, we brothers will be in big trouble."
Jia Dongxu flung his second senior brother's hand away, his eyes filled with anger and resentment. "What are you afraid of? I'm just stating the facts! What have we learned from him all these years? All he knows is how to use us to support him."
“Look at me, I wipe his workbench every day as soon as I get to work, and I’m still a level 2 worker.”
The senior apprentice sighed, "What can we do? After all, he's our master, and the workshop values him. Hmph, we're really lucky to have had those lectures; otherwise, we wouldn't have learned those skills!"
As they chatted, they recalled the years of grievances they had suffered under Yi Zhonghai, which made them even more frustrated.
Just then, Yi Zhonghai broke free from the crowd and walked over.
Seeing the strange expressions on his apprentices' faces, he vaguely guessed what was going on.
But he pretended not to know and asked, "What are you guys talking about? You look so serious."
Just as Jia Dongxu was about to speak with a chuckle, his senior brother quickly interjected, "We were discussing Master's lecture today; it was truly enlightening."
Yi Zhonghai nodded in satisfaction, but he also noticed something was amiss.
His apprentices no longer seemed to look at him with the same respect as before.
"The factory will be holding a skills competition next month. If you master the technical points and practice diligently, you should be able to get good results."
Yi Zhonghai pondered for a moment and said, "Especially Dongxu, you should focus on learning the technology and stop thinking about other things all day. If you achieve good results in the skills competition this time, I can go to the workshop to plead for you and restore your worker grade."
"A real master?"
Upon hearing that he could be reinstated to his worker rank, Jia Dongxu immediately became excited, "Master, don't worry, I will definitely seize the time to practice my skills diligently."
When the three senior brothers saw Jia Dongxu's appearance, they couldn't help but grimace. They were glad they hadn't said anything bad about Yi Zhonghai to him, otherwise he would have informed on Zhuantou.
The scene of Yi Zhonghai earnestly persuading his apprentice was also discussed by many workers.
"Some people said before that Master Yi didn't teach his apprentices properly, causing them to fall behind and fail every assessment. I think those rumors are nonsense. Look at Master Yi, he's practically begging his apprentices to learn his skills!!!"
"Yeah, it's really funny now that I think about it. If a senior craftsman like Master Yi can share his skills with us fellow workers, let alone his own apprentices!"
“I think it’s because these apprentices aren’t learning properly. Look at that Jia Dongxu, he doesn’t even stand properly. How can he possibly learn the skills properly?”
"Old Yi suffered many injustices in the past, so we must not believe everything others say in the future!"
Yi Zhonghai's sharing of open technical classes in the fitter's workshop and his earnest persuasion of his apprentices to learn the skills quickly spread throughout several large workshops nearby.
Upon hearing this, Liu Haizhong felt even more indignant. How could he not know who Yi Zhonghai was?!
Yi Zhonghai has always been secretive about his apprentices, and now he's resorting to such means to gain fame; it's truly despicable.
Liu Haizhong angrily slammed his teacup on the table, secretly determined to find an opportunity to expose Yi Zhonghai's true colors.
In the afternoon, Wang Dabao left work early and brought wine and food to visit Wang Tiangao.
Upon entering the courtyard, one could see Wang Tiangao chatting animatedly with someone, who appeared to be the caretaker of the courtyard.
When the other party learned that Wang Tiangao was going to join the security department of the steel rolling mill, their enthusiasm was beyond words. They insisted on taking him to their home for a meal, saying that if he didn't eat there, they wouldn't consider him family.
They say that since we live in the same courtyard, we're family.
Seeing Wang Dabao bring in the food and drinks, Wang Tiangao breathed a sigh of relief and quickly explained that he had already made plans to have dinner with friends.
Wang Tiangao's house is about the same size as Yan Bugui's side room, and it is also located in the first courtyard, except that his house is on the east side.
Upon entering the house, they found that Wang Tiangao had already prepared all the missing daily necessities, and even inquired about and bought coal. At this moment, the stove was burning, and the small house was warm and cozy.
The kang (a heated brick bed) was covered with bedding brought from home, making it look like a small family home.
Wang Dabao placed the food and wine on the broken table left by the previous owner. The two of them set up the table next to the kang (a heated brick bed). Since there were no chairs, they sat on the warm kang to eat.
"Da Bao, thank you!"
After taking a deep breath, Wang Tiangao picked up his bowl and clinked it against Wang Dabao's. "If it weren't for you, I probably would have stayed in our village for the rest of my life."
Wang Dabao finished the rest of the wine in the bowl in one gulp, then picked up the bottle and poured more for Wang Tiangao and himself.
"Stop spouting nonsense. If it weren't for your dad taking care of me, I might have frozen or starved to death long ago. Besides, I've been eating and drinking at your house for so many years, while you were always struggling to get enough to eat at home. I was never kicked out when I went there!"
Wang Dabao felt a pang of emotion, realizing that he could have indeed come to the city to stay with his uncle back then.
But he was still young, and he had only met his uncle a few times since he was a child. He was reluctant to come and live with his uncle.
Nothing beats the freedom of the village. He could find his way around even in the dark, everyone there was someone he knew, and anyone could give him a meal. He could squeeze onto a friend's kang (heated brick bed) and sleep warmly all night, and in the morning he could even get a bowl of porridge.
Of course, among these people, the one who helped Wang Dabao the most was Wang Tiangao's father, Wang Tiemin.
So he gave the opportunity to fill in for Wang Tiangao.
This can also be seen as repaying Wang Tiemin for his kindness back then.
Wang Tiangao was in a state of high excitement these past two days and hadn't calmed down yet when he was quickly drunk out of control.
Wang Dabao tidied the table, moved Wang Tiangao further into the kang (heated brick bed), covered him with a quilt, fiddled with the stove, and then left.
It wasn't too late yet; it was just getting dark. A dozen minutes later, Wang Dabao returned to the Hongxing Courtyard.
Passing by Yan Bugui's house, Wang Dabao heard the lively conversation coming from inside and smiled as he lifted the curtain and went in.
Upon entering, wow, there were Liu Haizhong, an older woman, the Liu brothers, Xu Damao, and several others, all sitting there, eating sunflower seeds and drinking tea, with smiles on their faces.
When Yan Bugui saw Wang Dabao come in, he quickly made room for him to sit down.
Then he instructed Yu Li to get a bowl and pour Wang Dabao a cup of tea.
When Yu Li saw Wang Dabao come in, she immediately perked up and brought the bowl to him.
"Da Bao, we've settled all the accounts from yesterday's stall. Guess how much we made?" Yan Bugui chuckled and asked smugly.
Wang Dabao grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds and started cracking them open. "Ten yuan?"
"You're underestimating us. It's not easy to go to the movies. Whether it's for yourself or for your kids, adults are willing to spend a little."
"Then... twenty?" Wang Dabao said, sounding a little unsure of himself.
"Twenty-three yuan and forty cents."
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