Chapter 52

Going out to eat was a luxury for people at that time, but not for the cadre families.

It was just that Captain Zhao's family came, but Lin Xixi was not seen.

"Why didn't she come?" Sister Yang explained to Qiao Wei.

This was not the niece of her mean husband as an aunt.

She liked this niece, who was particularly capable and not like some girls who were greedy and petty. Lin Xixi never argued with her younger siblings.

Even though she was not in a good mood recently, she did not pretend to be sick and lazy. Instead, she just worked, worked, and worked without saying a word.

Hearing Sister Yang's description, Qiao Wei recalled the appearance of Lin Xixi in the past two days. She was indeed very silent, with no light in her eyes.

She no longer had the sneakiness and ambition she had before. Seeing

the child eating hard at the dinner table and the two men drinking, she asked Sister Yang: "Last time I saw her and Xiao Zhang..."

Sister Yang hurriedly clarified: "They met once, and the two children couldn't talk, so I told Xiao Zhang about it. Our Xixi is a well-behaved child and has never spent a penny on others. Xiao Zhang wanted to buy something for her, but she refused it firmly."

"Oh. Then... will she continue to meet?" Qiao Wei asked.

She must pay attention. After all, Lin Xixi is the original heroine, and she had the feeling that she was obsessed with Yan Lei before. If she holds on to this obsession, it will be a trouble for Qiao Wei.

Sister Yang hesitated for a moment, but she had a good relationship with Qiao Wei recently, especially after this incident, they became even closer, so she said: "This child has high standards, she said she must find someone from the city. Alas, you say, it's not so easy to find someone from the city."

Qiao Wei was surprised.

After asking Sister Yang about Lin Xixi's "missed a blind date" herself, she breathed a sigh of relief.

It's great that the original heroine can figure it out on her own.

Fortunately, there are no world-enforced rules in this world that force the hero and the heroine to be tied together.

"Old Zhao is running a household registration for her." Sister Yang said, "You said this child is quite thoughtful."

Lin Xixi finally found the way, which is a good thing no matter how you look at it. She expressed her support for this: "It's good to have a town hukou. I can ask Brother Zhao to find a job for her and she can earn her own salary."

But Sister Yang was not so enthusiastic about this.

If Lin Xixi went to work, all the family affairs would fall on her alone. And there would be another Lin Xixi. She would have to serve so many people.

Qiao Wei reacted and changed her words: "Wait a few years, when the children are grown up and don't need to be taken care of, let her go to work. She should be grateful to her uncle and aunt for the rest of her life, right?" Sister

Yang nodded and said, "Yes, in a few years. At least wait until Wu Ni'er leaves."

She was worried again: "Where can I find a city person for her?"

The city people that Lin Xixi meant were real city people. In her eyes, town residents were no different from country people.

Qiao Wei said, "Don't worry, she's still young, who knows when she'll meet the right person."

Sister Yang said, "Anyway, she won't be found in the army."

The restaurant's business was quite good on Saturday night, with quite a few tables full.

There were two families of veteran cadres who came to celebrate their salary increase. These families even went from table to table, toasting each other.

It wasn't easy for this wave of veteran cadres to get a salary increase. For example, Captain Zhao's salary level has been raised to the limit of his position.

If he wants to get a higher salary, he must be promoted.

Xia Hehua's husband, Captain Fan, originally had a salary level one level lower than Captain Zhao and Yan Lei, the lowest level in the same position, but now Captain Zhao has raised his salary by two levels.

And if we miss this opportunity, we don’t know when we will have another one.

It was dark on the way back. The men were slightly drunk and visibly happy.

Captain Zhao was happy about the salary increase, but what was Yan Lei so happy about? He

actually grabbed Qiao Wei’s hand and led her away.

Sister Yang was laughing in front. If Gangzi, Huazi and Yingzi turned their heads to peek, she would pull their heads back: “What are you looking at.”

The children’s faces were all red. I have never seen a man and a woman walking hand in hand.

Yan Lei disappeared early on Sunday morning.

We agreed to pave the road today. He went to haul materials.

Qiao Wei got up and started digging the road with Yan Xiang.

Qiao Wei wanted to renovate the entire courtyard. According to Yan Lei's suggestion, they first built a vegetable garden because it takes time for plants to grow and they had to seize the opportunity.

The second thing was to build a path in the courtyard because the rainy season was coming.

The path is divided into two sections, one from the courtyard gate to the house door, and the other from the house door to the toilet. After building these two paths, when the rainy season comes, people don't have to jump on those bricks to go in and out.

A path was built in the yard of Captain Zhao's house. His house is paved with old bricks.

Although his house has a lot of illegal construction and looks messy, it is full of enthusiasm for life.

In comparison, Yan Lei's yard is empty and lonely.

Now Qiao Wei wants to change all this.

The original plan was that Yan Lei would start digging the roadbed in the evenings, but Captain Zhao's business took up his time, so he didn't start.

Now he's out to get materials. Qiao Wei rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

The foundation doesn't need to be very deep, just shovel off a shallow layer of soil. Qiao Wei shoveled the soil, and Yan Xiang helped to drag the dustpan to dump the soil. The mother and son worked together and soon dug the roadbed for the path.

Before nine o'clock in the morning, Yan Lei came back with a cartload of things. Several sacks were placed in the yard.

"Hey, didn't I say I would do it when I came back?" He blamed her.

Qiao Wei said, "It's shallow, so it's not hard."

Since she had done it, he started to build the road.

"What is this?" Qiao Wei came over to take a look.

"Furnace slag," Yan Lei said, "The bathhouse in the compound burns coal, so we have as much furnace slag as you want."

The furnace slag was broken into pieces and evenly spread on the foundation layer, almost flush with the ground.

Yan Lei mixed cement mortar, took two enamel pots and taught Yan Xiang how to sprinkle the mortar evenly on the slag, and then use a wooden hammer to beat and vibrate it to let the mortar settle and penetrate.

Qiao Wei didn't have to do this job, and she squatted beside her to learn, always exclaiming "Oh, so that's how it is."

Yan Lei thought it was funny: "High school students don't know anything."

Qiao Wei propped her elbows on her knees and held her face with her hands: "High school students have only finished high school textbooks, they are not as educated as you think."

Yan Lei glanced at her.

She was exactly what he imagined.

After the mortar settled and stabilized the foundation, it was finally Qiao Wei's turn to do it.

Yan Lei applied another layer of cement mortar on the foundation, inserted broken tiles on both sides as edges, and Qiao Wei laid the pebbles densely in the middle.

The couple worked together from morning to afternoon when the sun was high. When Yan Xiang woke up from his nap after lunch, he rubbed his eyes and walked out of the house. He immediately exclaimed "Wow~".

The yard looked completely different after the two cobblestone roads were laid.

Yan Xiang said, "My home has become more beautiful."

The words sounded like a book, which was hilarious.

But it was true. Yan Lei looked at it with his hands on his hips. For the first time, he found that his own yard could be so beautiful.

Especially his vegetable plot, which had sprouted a patch of green seedlings. There was something to look forward to.

Yan Xiang almost stepped on the cobblestone path.

Qiao Wei let out a cry of "Ah--".

Yan Lei quickly grabbed the child and said, "It's not dry yet!"

He tucked Yan Xiang under his armpits and told him, "Don't step on it for the next two days. Step on it after it's thoroughly dried."

Yan Xiang kicked his short legs, "Oh!"

Yan Lei turned Yan Xiang around and put him down, pointing to him, "Look at that."

Yan Xiang held his face and let out a loud cry, "Wow~"

Sand, it's sand!

His sand pit was full of sand.

The small shovel was stuck in the sand, and the small bucket was upside down.

Mom and Dad didn't lie to him, they kept their word, there was really sand in the sand pit!

Yan Xiang ran over, pulled up the small bucket, and let out another cry of "Wow~".

The sand was shaped by the bucket, and it didn't fall over.

Qiao Wei went over, picked up a small shovel and swiped a few times to shape the bucket-shaped sand column, then picked up a small branch and drew two strokes in front of it.

Yan Xiang: "It's turned into a house!"

"Add a little water, half-dry sand is especially easy to shape." Qiao Wei taught him.

From then on, he had a brand new toy.

Other children didn't have it.

Qiao Wei promised Qiao Weiwei that she would make him happy.

Looking back, Yan Lei got a bucket of water from the hand pressure well, took off his I-shaped vest, and rolled out a towel to wipe his body. He

was sweaty after a day's work.

The man's body was shining with water droplets in the sun, strong and firm, with perfect muscles and waist.

Qiao Wei raised her hands to shield her eyes from the light.

If it weren't for the special era, life would be perfect.

After a tiring day, they didn't cook dinner at night, nor did they get together for lunch. The family of three went to the canteen in the compound to eat.

The compound canteen is mainly used for lunch from Monday to Saturday. The men go to work, and the family members want to have a rest.

In the evening and on weekends, when the men are at home, the family members stay at home to make fire and cook. There are fewer people eating.

After Yan Lei and the other two finished their meal in the canteen, they saw many people carrying small stools to the square. Once or twice a month, open-air movies are shown in the square on weekend nights.

Watching movies is also a major event, and everyone goes there happily.

Living in the compound, it is convenient to take a bath and have fun. There is not only an activity room in the compound, but also a place to play table tennis and badminton. There is also a basketball court.

It is said that Teacher Pan loves to play basketball.

Qiao Wei said, "So there's a movie showing today."

Yan Lei just remembered that he had sent out a notice before that there was a movie showing today, but he had dinner and drinks yesterday and was busy all day today, so he forgot about it.

He glanced at Qiao Wei and felt a little nervous. If

the family in the old district wants to come to watch a movie, they have to carry a bench and walk for a long time, just like taking a shower. It's inconvenient in various ways.

Because of this, she always ignored him after watching a movie.

Later, when he notified her of a movie showing, she would look unhappy as soon as he told her. Later, he simply didn't tell her. On the contrary, she didn't interact with others, and almost no one would take the initiative to invite her to go together. She didn't know, but the house became quieter.

I didn't expect to catch up when I came to the cafeteria to eat today.

Not being able to live in the new district is the biggest conflict between her and him. He could change everything else and do everything according to her request, except this one.

Yan Lei was determined to ask her if she wanted to go to the movies. Qiao

Wei asked, "Do you want to go?"

Yan Lei said, "I've seen this movie several times before."

It's great. Qiao Wei said, "Then let's go. We don't want to stay here to feed mosquitoes."

She didn't want to watch it at all. What's so good about an old black-and-white movie?

And in the memory left to her by the original owner, people were chattering, children were running around and screaming, and many people were spitting everywhere.

Forget it, let's go home.

Yan Lei breathed a sigh of relief and picked up Yan Xiang, who had short legs: "Let's go home."

"I don't know if the road is dry."

"Let's let it air out for a day tomorrow, it's safer."

"Okay."

"What should we do next?"

"Let me think about it."