"Oh, Sister Li, how could I let you come to queue up yourself? I'll do it, I'll do it," Xu Damao said solicitously. That morning, Xu Damao had brought some peanuts and melon seeds given to him by a fellow villager to Li Hui's office to maintain their relationship, and now that connection could come in handy.
"Da Mao, I'm not some big boss. Why would I make you queue up for me if I don't queue up myself?" Li Hui joked.
“I don’t know about other times, but I, Da Mao, saw this today. You must give me a chance to get close to the leader. I’ll stand in line for you. Everyone says you know all the employee files in the factory like the back of your hand. I’ve been thinking about introducing me to a girl from a respectable family. This opportunity has just fallen into my lap.”
"Here, give me your lunchbox. Go find a seat at the table, and I'll bring it to you in a bit."
Xu Damao didn't wait for Li Hui to refuse and took Li Hui's lunchbox directly.
"Haha, Da Mao, you're really got a clear purpose in mind. Okay, I'll accept this matchmaker today, and I'll think about it when we get back."
When Li Hui heard Xu Damao mention introducing her to a girl, she immediately became interested and, without hesitation, gave him her meal ticket. These older women in government offices, regardless of the era, always enjoy introducing potential partners to young people. Most of them are of a comfortable age, know many people, and finding partners for others gives them a great sense of satisfaction.
And so, Xu Damao carried two lunchboxes and moved forward with the group. The aroma of the braised cabbage with pork cracklings, stewed potatoes, and steamed buns prepared by the canteen today could be smelled from afar.
"Shazhu, give me two portions. Add some pork cracklings, and make the steamed buns bigger," Xu Damao said to Shazhu.
"Grandson, how dare you come to eat here? Let's see how Grandpa treats you today."
After Sha Zhu finished speaking, he took a few of the smallest steamed buns from the side, which seemed to be specially prepared for Xu Damao. Then he served Xu Damao food, his hands shaking so badly that even an old man with Parkinson's syndrome couldn't keep up.
"Hey, stop shaking! Are you out of your mind? Go get your hands treated, don't scam people here. And what's that supposed to be a steamed bun? It's the grandson of a steamed bun, isn't it? Are you selling all the steamed bun's kids?"
Xu Damao quickly stopped him.
“From now on, I’m going to specifically swindle you, Xu Damao. You cheated me out of 30 yuan yesterday. The day you pay me back will be the day my hand is healed.”
"Shazhu, we've been working tirelessly for the factory every day, without a moment's rest. And this is all you give us to eat? How can you face the organization? How can you face the people?"
"Xu Damao, don't try to fool me. You guys sit in the office all day, you could go hungry for a few meals and it wouldn't matter. You never do anything productive!" Sha Zhu seemed quite dissatisfied with the administrative work.
"Fine, I'm scared of you. Someone will deal with you when they come." Xu Damao didn't argue, picked up his lunchbox and walked back to the table where Li Hui was sitting.
"Sister Li, let's eat at the second canteen today, it's my treat. That idiot Zhu is a real scoundrel, he always skimps on our food."
After Xu Damao finished speaking, he showed Li Hui the contents of the lunchbox.
When Li Hui saw the contents of the lunchbox, she was instantly furious. This wasn't cafeteria food; it was like being fed a beggar! Li Hui had also witnessed the argument between Xu Damao and Sha Zhu, but hadn't paid much attention to it.
Having dealt with people for many years, she immediately understood Xu Damao's little scheme in serving it food. But people in this era had a strong attachment to food, and seeing workers' food being so rationed due to personal issues made them furious.
"Don't worry about this, I'll handle it."
After Li Hui finished speaking, she didn't go directly to Sha Zhu. Instead, she looked around the cafeteria and walked up to a dark-faced man.
“Secretary Song, look, this is the food our canteen chef served me. You have to do something about this practice of skimping on workers' food. How could someone like this be nominated as a group leader?”
The dark-faced man was named Song Dashu, and he was in charge of the factory's discipline inspection and supervision work. Because of his profession and his dark complexion, he was known as "Song Dahei" (Big Black Song).
Li Hui originally wanted to find another member, but seeing Song Dahei here, she decided to take him directly. She was in charge of personnel herself, and since Sha Zhu had recently been nominated as a group leader and was undergoing approval by the personnel department, she decided to use someone else to handle the matter.
"There's definitely too little food in your lunchbox. But we need to investigate the specifics further." Song Dashu was meticulous in everything he did and valued evidence.
So Song Dashu got up and went to the cafeteria window, calling Sha Zhu out.
"Comrade He Yuzhu, Comrade Li Hui said that you deliberately withheld her grain rations. Is that true?"
Sha Zhu is a scoundrel who usually acts arrogantly towards everyone. Sometimes the deputy factory director doesn't want to talk to him, but he is afraid of this "Song Dahei".
He knew his own actions; he would secretly take food from the canteen and private kitchens back home. To put it bluntly, this is stealing public property and undermining socialism. The security department and the supervisory department could handle this.
"Song Dahei, oh no, Secretary Song, I have never had any dealings with Section Chief Li, so how could I have withheld her rations? Secretary Song, you must give me justice!"
In his nervousness, Sha Zhu blurted out Song Dashu's nickname, causing the onlookers to burst into laughter, while Song Dashu's face darkened even more. He usually knew the nicknames people gave him, but Sha Zhu was the first person to call him that to his face.
"Shazhu, Xu Damao got my food for me today. Tell me, did he deliberately give me less than I should have?" Li Hui placed the lunchbox in front of Shazhu.
"Section Chief Li, I thought it was Xu Damao's own lunchbox. I was just joking with him, please don't mind, I'll make it up to you." Sha Zhu was quick-witted this time and didn't say anything about deliberately deducting from Xu Damao's lunchbox.
"He Yuzhu, you just said you were deliberately retaliating against me, and that you would continue to treat me like this." How could Xu Damao pass up this opportunity to kick someone when they were down? He also took the opportunity to tell them about how Sha Zhu had dominated the courtyard and had been beating him for a long time.
"Alright. You all go to my office later. Now go eat. Everyone else, disperse." Seeing that more and more people were gathering around, Song Dashu dispersed the crowd.
Ten minutes later, Xu Damao and Shazhu went to Song Dashu's office together. After some questioning, Shazhu basically admitted to beating Xu Damao and retaliating by getting him food, but only admitted that he was just joking when asked why.
Because Xu Damao had a bad reputation, and because he had "silently endured" so many of Sha Zhu's previous beatings, there was a lack of relevant evidence. Song Dashu could only criticize Sha Zhu, but he recorded the relevant circumstances.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com