Chapter 24 Chapter 24 Mid-Autumn Festival (2)

"You should talk to Comrade Xiao Wang about this, so that we don't have to argue about it later."

As a senior in marriage, Zhang Liang's advice comes from the heart.

It's fine if there are no conflicts at ordinary times, but once you have an argument, even trivial things will be brought up, and you won't win even if you are right.

"We'll talk about it on the day we get paid." Shi Xiangming smiled, then turned his head to look at the busy kitchen: "Be steady."

"You're already so afraid of Comrade Xiao Wang after only being married for a few days. Won't you become a henpecked man in the future?" Zhang Liang joked.

"There's nothing wrong with being a henpecked husband." Shi Xiangming has a different understanding of this: "As long as the family is happy and the couple loves each other, it's fine to be a henpecked husband for life."

"You kid!"

The two grown men were chatting, and they stopped talking about family matters after a few sentences, and then turned to talking about the policies being broadcast on the radio.

It has to be said that it is a good thing that Factory 431 is located in such a big valley at the moment.

Policies in the city changed rapidly, and political struggles extended to many aspects, even scientific research units such as the Municipal Academy of Engineering were affected.

On the contrary, their days are quite peaceful, and Shi Xiangming can concentrate on research after work.

"A few days ago, everyone in the office was speculating whether our factory would expand production next year."

Shi Xiangming shook his head, looking very serious: "Next year the factory will not add any more production lines. On the contrary, it may be a very difficult year."

"What do you mean?" Zhang Liang put away his smile and asked seriously.

"The world is going to change!" Shi Xiangming pointed to the sky.

These two short words include not only policy adjustments, but also several leaders who are crucial to the country's prosperity.

Many of them were internal information received by Professor Wu of the Academy of Engineering, so Shi Xiangming was not in a position to explain them explicitly and simply summarized them as "the world has changed."

Moreover, Professor Wu and the factory director had already had a conversation before Shi Xiangming met.

A few days later, the factory director convened a special meeting to encourage all engineers to conduct parts research and development, and the factory also provided many reward systems for this purpose.

Lying in the Changsheng ditch is the final decision in the factory.

"No wonder last week's conference specifically praised the award." Zhang Liang patted his forehead and suddenly realized: "It turns out that he plans to focus more on research and innovation."

Who wouldn't be jealous of those rewards? Even Zhang Liang and his office had discussed this many times.

The extra rewards included a piece of land for farming, a Yellow River brand TV, and miscellaneous items such as meat coupons and oil coupons, which were not included.

Seeing Shi Xiangming grinning foolishly, he suddenly remembered what he had just said about salary payment.

"You haven't mentioned the reward to Comrade Xiao Wang yet, have you?"

"We'll talk about it when the salary is paid in a few days." Shi Xiangming still smiled.

They didn't buy a TV when they got married. Wang Nian said that a radio was enough for the house. Shi Xiangming knew that she was just helping him save money.

Unexpectedly, not long after that, the factory rewarded me with a TV.

Shi Xiangming thought that he would give Wang Nian his salary in a few days...it would also be a surprise for his wife.

"Your sister-in-law used to say that you were stupid, but who knew that once you met the right person, your brain would work better than mine."

"I still need my brother to teach me more about how to get along with my spouse." Shi Xiangming was quite humble.

Little did he know that Wang Nian in the kitchen opposite had already known it and was just waiting for Shi Xiangming to say it in person.

On the day when the vegetable plots were divided, the staff from the Housekeeping Department had already explained everything, and we even knew roughly what the prizes were.

"Fish, what do you think we should do?"

Two silver carps were neatly placed on the cutting board, with the scales and internal organs removed.

"How about cooking pickled fish? I see my sister-in-law has picked out a lot of pickled cabbage."

As soon as I entered the kitchen, I smelled the aroma of pickled peppers. When the Vinci people host a banquet, there must be hot and sour dishes, and even pickled peppers can be a dish in itself.

"Your brother Zhang really likes to eat pickled fish, but I can never cook it to taste that good. It has a very fishy smell," said Huang Qiuhong.

When she was born, the country was still in war, and people were short of food and clothing, so there was no fish or meat for people to study how to cook it deliciously.

Therefore, Huang Qiuhong’s cooking skills are still at the edible stage.

"First, the black film inside must be removed, otherwise it will smell fishy no matter how you cook it." Wang Nian opened the fish belly and scraped off the black film with a knife. He glanced at the stove and said, "There are so many dishes. Has my sister-in-law invited anyone else tonight?"

"That's Comrade Xiao Hu's food. Tonight..." He lowered his voice and pointed at the Lu family where people were moving: "Lu Cuiyun brought her boyfriend back today. It looks like they are planning to get married."

"From the factory?"

Huang Qiuhong nodded: "Deputy Director Zhu's nephew - Zhu Zhiguo!"

Seeing that no one came out of the house, he sighed again: "You said that Lu Cuiyun... She is incompetent and she found the nephew of the deputy director. You said she has good taste! And she got together with Zhu Zhiguo. What kind of person is Zhu Zhiguo..."

"Who?" Wang Nian asked curiously.

"He is a useless piece of crap. If it weren't for his uncle, he would have been arrested by the police and sent to labor reform."

Zhu Zhiguo was also a celebrity at Factory 431, but he was famous in a different way.

At that time, the factory had not moved yet, and Zhu Zhiguo and a few hooligans sneaked into the women's bathhouse to peek at the lesbians bathing and were caught red-handed.

He was also lucky because the leader insisted that Zhu Zhiguo was unaware of the situation, thus allowing him to escape the disaster of labor reform.

There are different opinions as to whether Deputy Director Zhu had any contribution in the scandal, but Zhu Zhiguo's reputation was completely ruined, and he remained single until he was 29 and had not been able to get married.

In fact, Zhu Zhiguo's conditions are quite good. His father is an accountant in the general office and his mother also works in the cafeteria.

Lu Cuiyun had been in the factory for several years, so it was impossible for her not to know the rumors about Zhu Zhiguo. It was obvious that she went there for the other party's conditions.

"You choose your own path, and you have to bear the consequences, whether good or bad."

Just like her choice to marry Shi Xiangming, that also meant that she knew she would be a stepmother.

Since Lu Cuiyun knew what kind of person Zhu Zhiguo was and was still planning to get married, she must have been mentally prepared for what would happen next.

"You're right! Let's just live our own lives."

The sun was setting in the west and falling on the horizon. Its rays shone right into the kitchen, blinding people.

In addition, with two families cooking at the same time, the small kitchen was filled with smoke, which made Wang Nian cook almost by instinct.

Most of the smoke came from Sister Hu, who was busy with the discussion. It seemed that she was very satisfied with the result of today's discussion.

Huang Qiuhong's three main dishes were already ready, but Wang Nian said she wanted to prepare a light and easy-to-digest meat dish for the children.

Use the back of a knife to break up the river shrimps, add some of the reserved pork mince, mix and shape into meatballs and put into the pot.

A handful of freshly picked green vegetables, add two drops of shrimp oil, and the final dish is ready to be cooked.

"It's time to eat!"

Wang Nian walked into the house with the pickled fish in his hand, and only then did he find that three more people had appeared in the living room.

The girl was about the same age as Shi Wan. She sat in the square-faced comrade's arms and licked the candy obediently.

"Teacher Xu!" Huang Qiuhong put down the plate and happily walked forward to hold the female comrade's hand: "You are finally here."

"Isn't this a coincidence? Just now, Xiang Ming and I went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy soda for the children, and we happened to run into Teacher Xu and his friends who were buying vegetables. We had to persuade them to come over." Zhang Liang explained.

Huang Qiuhong turned around and continued to introduce: "Sister, this is Teacher Xu from our factory's primary school, and that is her lover..."

Xu Fen and her husband Cui Shulin are both teachers at the 431 Factory Children's School.

Four years ago, the factory relocated and Xu Fen was about to give birth, so she had to stay in Anhuai for the time being. Her husband Cui Shulin came to Changshenggou alone first.

Later, her mother-in-law and child fell ill one after another. She took care of the old man in Anhuai City until he passed away before she set out to reunite with her husband.

Cui Shulin is now the vice-principal of the school for children of children, and Xu Fen, as a family member, can reapply for a teaching job.

"When Shuwen goes to primary school next year, maybe Comrade Xu will be his teacher." Zhang Liang suddenly said.

Get on good terms with the teacher first and ask the teacher to take better care of the children in the future. Zhang Liang is enthusiastic about taking care of the two children at home, and of course he also has to take Shi Shuwen with him.

"It's a must to celebrate a festival." Wang Nian smiled knowingly, and hurried over to hold Xu Fen's hand and shook it: "Teacher Xu, please sit down quickly."

Everyone sat down.

"Sister-in-law is such a great cook. Look at this table of dishes. They are so colorful, fragrant and delicious!"

There were plenty of dishes, enough for everyone to eat even with two more adults.

The table was too small for the children to sit at it, so everyone stood by with their bowls in hand waiting for their parents to serve them food.

Xu Fen is worthy of being a teacher. Before picking up her chopsticks, she praised the cook and gave him enough face.

"I don't have that skill, it's all done by my sister." Huang Qiuhong patted Wang Nian's arm with a smile: "Don't accuse me of bragging, my sister's skills are indeed impeccable."

Wang Nian smiled shyly: "It's all thanks to my sister-in-law, it's just some home-cooked dishes."

Shi Wan was short and couldn't see what dishes were on the table. When Wang Niangang took the bowl, she was so anxious that she stretched her neck to see what dishes were on the table.

Shi Xiangming simply picked up Shi Wan, smiled and asked her, "Just point to what you want to eat."

Xu Fen saw this and felt particularly fond of the family of four.

She didn't know Shi Xiangming, and of course she didn't know that he was remarried. Seeing that Wang Nian was responsive to the children in everything, she thought that this mother had a really good temper.

It was not until I heard from my lover later that I felt even better about Wang Nian.

"The meatballs are not spicy and suitable for children." Wang Nian smiled and asked Xu Fen to pick up some food.

Shi Xiangming carried the person and the bowl to the tea table, and Shi Shuwen carefully handed the bowl over.

Wang Nian put down his chopsticks, and with one hand he carried the person to sit on his lap.

This was the first time he held Shi Shuwen in his arms. The little guy was so scared that he stood there like a piece of wood, and it took him a long time to blink twice.

"What do you want to eat?"

After a long while, Shi Shuwen pointed at the fried shrimps in front of him. Perhaps he had adapted to Wang Nian's embrace, so he quickly pointed at the fish.

Although silver carp has delicate meat, it has many small bones.

Wang Nian picked up two pieces, put them in the bowl first, picked out the small thorns with chopsticks, and then put them in Shi Shuwen's bowl.

"Eat slowly, in case there are any small thorns that you haven't picked out cleanly."

"Hmm!" The little head moved.

The six-year-old child sitting in Wang Nian's arms was already at eye level with Wang Nian. Just by looking through the flying hair on the back of the head, one could imagine how happy that proud face was at the moment.

"Go, it's not enough to come again."

Wang Nianxiao suddenly raised his hand and patted Shi Shuwen's butt, getting a shocked look back as he wished. Then he handed the bowl over with satisfaction.

Xu Fen saw Shi Wandu squatting on the tea table and eating obediently, so she pinched her daughter's cheek and said, "Dear, do you want to sit there and eat with your brothers and sisters?"

Cui Jiao nodded repeatedly and pointed at the children with her little hand.

"I want to eat by myself, too."

"Then mom will bring your meal over."

Xu Fen led Cui Jiao to the tea table. Cui Shulin raised his glass and gestured to everyone: "Today is a good day for family happiness. I wish you all a happy family..."

Wang Nian: “…”

As expected of the principal, he spoke in a very assertive tone, and everyone had to raise their glasses before they even started eating.

"You..." Xu Fen, who had just calmed the child down, punched Cui Shulin in the face, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "You think this is a school meeting."

"I was wondering why it sounded familiar." Zhang Liang interrupted to ease the atmosphere and asked everyone to pick up their food.

Shi Xiangming was a man of few words and not good at being polite. He picked up his chopsticks and put the farthest piece of braised chicken into Wang Nian's bowl.

Everyone smiled but said nothing. Huang Qiuhong knew that Wang Nian was shy, so she did not make fun of him. Instead, she used the chicken as an excuse to bring up the issue of raising chickens.

"Does the factory no longer care about the number of chickens and ducks it raises?"

"My sister-in-law said this and I am concerned about this too! Jiaojiao is not in good health and I want to save some eggs for the child to nourish her body." Xu Fen quickly followed.

Cui Shulin and Zhang Liang both shook their heads. They usually don't care about these things.

Although the two did not say it explicitly, they both tacitly agreed that women would take care of all the chores at home, while they would be responsible for working and earning wages.

However, Zhang Liang believed that Shi Xiangming, who had been concentrating on research, answered the question with a smile.

"You are not allowed to raise chickens and ducks in front of the factory's newly built family building. You can only raise them in a centralized location designated by the factory, but..." When he said the word "but", he looked at Wang Nian and continued, "If they have their own yards, they can't control us."

Building 17 was one of the earliest buildings built, so there were several large rows of chicken cages in front of the building, and each family had their own space enclosed by a bamboo fence.

It's okay when it's cold, but the smell is really unpleasant when it's hot.

Later, when a new family building was built, the open space in front of the building was deliberately reduced to prevent the family members from raising chickens on the embankment again.

When it came to the 43rd-ton family building, there was not a single vacant space left. Except for the water tank, the entire space was planted with landscape bamboo forests.

Although the bamboo forest can hide mosquitoes in summer, Wang Nian breathed a sigh of relief at that moment.

When you raise chickens on an open space, the first floor will suffer the most.

"No wonder when I passed by the No. 13 family building today, I saw that the family on the first floor had at least a dozen chickens and ducks." Huang Qiuhong said

"Eat your food."

A mouthful of white wine made his throat burn. Zhang Liang saw that several people had stopped eating and hurriedly greeted everyone.

Although the meals are plentiful, adults always have many trivial matters in life to worry about.

It’s different for the children. The Huang family doesn’t have a TV, and at the moment the children have nothing to focus on except the food in their bowls.

Zhang Liguo, the oldest, took his bowl of rice and went into the inner room early. Zhang Meili was the oldest at the tea table.

She also had a strong sense of being an older sister and reminded a few people before dinner.

"You have to eat fish slowly, like me..."

There was no fish in Shi Wan and Cui Jiao's bowls, so they hurried back to ask the adults for some fish to learn how to cook.

Shi Wan took a sip of the fish carefully, but did not feel the fish bone that Zhang Meili mentioned, and was very confused for a moment.

After swallowing the fish, he quickly looked at Zhang Meili's bowl and said, "Sister, why is there no bone in my fish?"

Zhang Meili was also puzzled, but after a quick look at Shi Wan's bowl, she understood immediately: "Auntie Wang Nian has checked everything for you, there must be no thorns."

"No wonder the fish was taken from Aunt Wang Nian's bowl. She must have picked out the bones and put them in the bowl long ago." Shi Shuwen frowned thoughtfully.

He was sitting right in front of the dining table and could see the adults just by looking up.

He paid special attention to Wang Nian's every move, so he noticed that Wang Nian picked up a few pieces of fish with chopsticks but did not eat them while others were chatting.

It turns out that it is prepared to be given to children at any time.

"Aunt Wang Nian is so kind to you." Zhang Meili twirled out a fish bone enviously: "My mother won't care about me."

"Sister's mother is really pretty." Cui Jiao suddenly interrupted, her mouth full of food and she spoke incoherently, "And the food she cooks is delicious."

"You said my mother is pretty?" Zhang Meili asked in shock.

Cui Jiao shook her head and pointed her chubby finger at Shi Wan: "It's the little sister's mother."

"Auntie Wang Nian is not Sister Shi Wan's mother. No... Actually, she is also considered a mother now..."

Zhang Meili also failed to explain clearly the difference between a biological mother and a stepmother. After she talked for a long time, Cui Jiao became more and more confused.

"I think Auntie Wang Nian is good to you. She is your mother."

Shi Wan nodded quickly: "I also want Aunt Wang Nian to be my mother."

"Then you can call her mom from now on. She is your mom!"

"Will Aunt Wang Nian get angry if I call her mom?"

"I also call her mom, so I have a mom..."

The two three-year-old children chatted for a long time about irrelevant things, but soon immersed themselves in the food.

Zhang Meili was concentrating on picking out fish bones.

Only Shi Shuwen, whose mind kept echoing with his sister's words, glanced secretly at Wang Nian.

Wang Nian suddenly turned his head as if he sensed something, and Shi Shuwen was so scared that he almost buried his head in the bowl.

"Mom, I want more."

Cui Jiao seemed to have had her appetite whetted by a certain dish. After finishing a few bites, she immediately picked up the bowl and ran towards Xu Fen.

Xu Fen was startled and took her daughter's bowl to take a closer look.

Except for the mouthful of rice at the bottom of the bowl, he ate all the dishes very cleanly. The greasy corners of his mouth really couldn't fool anyone.

"You ate all of it?"

"Yeah, I want more." Cui Jiao patted her belly and said coquettishly, "I want lots and lots of dumplings."

The dumplings she was talking about were actually meatball soup. Xu Fen took two of the little girls but still felt it was not enough, so she pointed at the green vegetables and said, "I want some green vegetables, too."

Cui Shulin put down his chopsticks and looked down at his lively daughter.

"I used to think that it was because I named my child Jiao that she became so spoiled. Other children never ate enough, but my child...didn't eat anything."

Xu Fen didn't know how many times she cried for Cui Jiao's child to be so fat.

The child has a weak spleen and stomach and has no appetite for anything, so she cooks different meals every day just to get the child to eat more.

When Xu Fen heard her husband say this, if it wasn't a holiday, she would have shed tears.

"I'm not afraid of you making fun of me... I almost died in the hospital when I gave birth to Jiaojiao. The doctor said that I would never have another child. This is the only child my husband and I have in our lifetime. How can we not treat him like the apple of our eye?"

"I see the child eats well today." Huang Qiuhong was puzzled, and then she immediately understood.

Not only Cui Jiao enjoyed the meal, but all the children enjoyed it.

"Girl, teach me how to make this dish so I can learn from you." Xu Fen also realized this and picked up a meatball and took a bite.

Fresh...the freshness that is blocked at the entrance swirls on the tip of the tongue.

Xu Fen grew up by the sea and has eaten a lot of seafood. She could tell the freshness of the shrimps with just one bite.

The meatballs are very chewy and the soup is absorbed into them, filling your lips and teeth with the sweetness.

The meatballs look very ordinary, but I didn’t expect them to taste like this.

Wang Nian was very straightforward and explained in detail how to make the meatballs, and ended by adding a few drops of shrimp oil.

Xu Fen: “…”

First of all, it is difficult to buy such a big river shrimp, and secondly, shrimp oil...that is even more difficult.

So it can be summed up in one sentence - a good cook cannot cook without rice.

"Hahaha--"

Huang Qiuhong suddenly laughed, and patted Xu Fen on the shoulder while she looked bewildered: "Let's not try to imitate the dishes that Wang Nian cooks. We can cook the same dishes differently."

These are the conclusions drawn after personal experiments.

As for the fried pork liver, Huang Qiuhong cooked it several times and Zhang Liang said it was not quite up to standard, otherwise why would he wait for Wang Nian to cook today.

This is called... talent.

"Don't worry, Teacher Xu. I'll ask my wife to bring you a bottle of shrimp oil later. You can scoop a spoonful of it into the soup when you cook noodles. It will taste great." Wang Nian generously offered to deliver it directly.

Zhang Liang quickly swallowed the fish fillet in his mouth and said, "If there is any left, give some to my family."

"You are such a grown-up, but you are still as greedy as a child." Huang Qiuhong glared at her husband with amusement: "Need you tell me? My sister has already sent the bowl. Otherwise, what are you going to eat tonight?"

"Then put some in the noodles tomorrow morning." Zhang Liang immediately replied with a smile.

They were close to Wang Nian and naturally wouldn't feel embarrassed, but Xu Fen, who met him for the first time today, was different.

"How can I take it for free? It must be difficult for you to make so much shrimp oil."

"It would cost a lot just for the oil." Cui Shulin also declined, and then said, "We pay for it, otherwise we wouldn't have the face to accept it."

The fact that he didn't want any money was too obvious, so Wang Nian thought for a moment and said with a smile, "Then I'll shamelessly exchange it for a book promissory note."

As the vice-principal of a school, with children too young to go to school, Cui Shulin has the most leftover book and stationery tickets.

"That's embarrassing." Cui Zhulin said quickly, "Book tickets are not as valuable as oil. In addition to the two book tickets, I will give you one more dollar. If you have anything delicious in the future, don't forget us."

"Then I'll get you some more shrimps."

"Sister, why are you taking more and more?" Xu Fen smiled and became naturally intimate with Wang Nian, and her address changed from Comrade Wang to Sister.

"We are all friends. There will be many opportunities for us to interact with each other in the future. Please don't be polite, sister-in-law." Wang Nian immediately followed suit and called her sister-in-law.

"Okay, we live in ..."

After some discussion, Wang Nian and Xu Fen began to discuss going to Changsheng Commune together in two days.

Cui Shulin was also much more enthusiastic towards Shi Xiangming than at the beginning.

Huang Qiuhong and Zhang Liang looked at each other and both saw surprise in each other's eyes.

They tried every means to get closer to Cui Shulin, but there was not much success over the years.

Cui Shulin is the deputy director of the children's school, but his main responsibility is the technical school.

The eldest brother, Zhang Liguo, has poor academic performance. He wants to be admitted to a technical school and take over the business, so he has to establish a good relationship with the principal first.

Apart from anything else, after graduation, with just a few words of recommendation from Cui Shulin, Zhang Liguo could immediately start an internship at the factory.

Unexpectedly, Wang Nian successfully built a closer relationship with Xu Fen just by eating a meatball.

So... you can't be embarrassed no matter where you are.

No one is more important than children!