Chapter 38 Chapter 38 A Night at the Guesthouse

The lights in the guesthouse were dim. It was unknown when the house was built. The wind blew into the house through the old window frames.

After searching the house for a long time, Shi Xiangming could only stuff the children's dirty clothes into the gaps to block out the cold.

"Not hot yet?"

After successfully blocking the cold wind outside the window, Shi Xiangming walked to the table and sat down.

Wang Nian released his hand that was shielding him from the wind, touched the outside of the lunch box, and shook his head: "It's hot outside, but the food is not steaming yet."

A candle emitted a faint heat, slowly warming the food in the lunch box at the top.

Shi Xiangming went over and took his hand: "It's cold, go sit on the bed." After taking it, he continued to hold the lunch box to heat up the rice.

Shi Shuwen fell asleep as soon as he returned to the guesthouse. No matter how we called him at mealtime, he wouldn't wake up. We could only bring the food back to him and heat it up again when he woke up.

I slept until about eight o'clock before I woke up groggily.

There was no place to heat up meals in the guesthouse, so Wang Nian came up with an idea to slowly heat up the food using the candles in the guesthouse's drawer.

"I'm going to go see if the child has a cold. Why doesn't he say anything?"

The brother and sister were both snuggled in their quilts. Shi Wan was reading the comic strip with great interest. Although she couldn't understand the words, she was just giggling because of the amusement of the little characters.

Shi Shuwen just sat there blankly, not saying a word and not making any movement.

My forehead is warm, there is no sweat on my back, and I look energetic, and I don't think I have a cold.

"What are you thinking about?"

Wang Nian lifted the quilt, moved Shi Wan to the middle, and also crawled into the quilt.

The weather changed suddenly. It was sunny in the morning, but it suddenly started to drizzle in the afternoon. It was so cold in the house that we had to stay in bed.

"Brother must be hungry." Shi Wan said.

"The meal will be ready soon." Wang Nian pulled up the quilt and wrapped it around Shi Wan's shoulders again: "If it rains again tomorrow, we can only stay in the house and wait for Dad to come back with the meal."

Shi Shuwen sighed hard and fell headfirst onto the pillow.

"I miss Xiao Hei and Li Ye. I wonder if Aunt Liu feeds the chickens on time? Our chickens can lay two eggs every day..."

Hearing him counting the animals and vegetable garden at home, Wang Nian, who was so happy that he forgot everything else, felt a little ashamed.

She hadn't worried about the situation at home these days, but now that she was reminded of this, she really felt a little homesick...

I wonder if it rained in Changshenggou? If the plastic sheeting in the greenhouse is not put down, the coriander seeds that have just been sown may be frozen and damaged.

What if those hens that are about to lay eggs are frozen and don't lay eggs?

"The food in the provincial capital is not delicious. It's not as delicious as the food at home." After going around in circles, Shi Shuwen finally revealed the point that he was most dissatisfied with.

Shi Wan quickly agreed with her brother: "The food is not delicious. Aunt's cooking is the best." Then she lifted the quilt and slipped into Wang Nianhuai.

It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality.

For them, no matter how nice the houses or how many cars they have in the provincial capital, once they pass by, there is no difference between them and the factory area.

What's more, the guesthouse we stayed in was leaky everywhere, the kettle was not insulated, and the boiled water we drew in the evening was cold in the morning. I had to struggle mentally before washing my face.

"We will be back in two days at most. When Dad wins first place, we will go back and buy some ribs to eat."

Shi Wan tilted her head back, and her short stubble rubbed against Wang Nian's chin, making her so itchy that she couldn't help but lower her head to see what the little guy was doing.

"Auntie smells so good, even her quilt smells good."

It turned out that Wang Nian smelled of soap. The little girl kept looking for the source of the fragrance and finally found that everywhere was fragrant.

"Wait until I fart at night and then you can smell it." Wang Nian smiled, raised two fingers and blew on them, then quickly reached into the quilt to tickle Shi Wan: "Let's compete to see who farts first."

"Hahaha..." Shi Wan twisted her body and laughed uncontrollably.

Half of the candle burned out, and wisps of hot steam finally came out of the lunch box. Shi Xiangming blew out the candle and walked to the bed with the lunch box.

"Do you want me to feed you?"

"I'll eat it myself!"

The carp sat up straight, but was pulled down by Wang Nian the next second: "It's cold, sit under the quilt and eat."

"Put on your clothes first." Shi Xiangming put the lunch box on the bedside table, found a cotton padded jacket for Shi Shuwen to wear, and put a book on the quilt: "Eat it while it's hot."

Wang Nian tilted his head and looked at the father and son.

The lunch box was so hot that it burned his hands. Shi Shuwen subconsciously retracted his hands, but Shi Xiangming simply reached out to hold the lunch box.

"Today I spent 29 yuan to buy a herringbone coat." Wang Nian said suddenly. Shi Wan poked her head out from under the quilt and pointed at the luggage bag hanging on the hook behind the door with her little hand: "It looks so beautiful. Auntie looks like a bride when she wears it."

Shi Xiangming's expression did not change, his eyes were still on the lunch box, and a gentle smile appeared on the corners of his mouth.

“A lot to see?”

"As beautiful as a fairy." Shi Wan answered immediately.

Wang Nian also laughed and emphasized, "Twenty-nine yuan."

"I heard it, twenty-nine yuan." Shi Xiangming raised his eyebrows and looked at Wang Nian with a helpless smile: "You still know how to dress as beautifully as a fairy."

"You..." Wang Nian let go, letting his head hit the pillow heavily, but the heat on his face could not be easily dissipated.

"Let's take a family photo." Shi Xiangming suddenly suggested.

"What is a family portrait?" Shi Wan poked her eyes out from the edge of the quilt and took the opportunity to interrupt.

"It's just the four of us taking a photo together." Wang Nian explained, and added his own twisted reasoning: "We have to wear the best-looking clothes."

"The most beautiful clothes." The little girl fell into thought and soon found the clothes she thought were the best: "Then I will wear yellow and my brother will wear green."

When the topic of clothes came up, the two children thought of many things. Shi Shuwen also thought of the pen he bought in the morning. The frequency of putting the spoon into his mouth increased significantly, and he finished eating in a short while.

Shi Xiangming covered the lunch box and put it back on the table. He then poured water from the kettle for Shi Shuwen to wash her face and mouth. After he was done, he picked up the kettle again and said, "I'll go ask if there are any quilts available. I'll give you guys an extra bed tonight."

Although he is a science and engineering man, Shi Xiangming's meticulousness is sometimes even beyond Wang Nian's reach.

Bang--

As soon as the door closed, Shi Shuwen came out from under the quilt and shook Wang Nian's shoulder vigorously: "Pen, Pen, why don't you say anything?"

"You are the ones who want to give Dad a gift, why do you want me to mention it?" Wang Nian smiled.

Shi Shuwen: "Then how should I put it?"

"You are the older brother, think about how to start the conversation."

"This is my first time giving a gift. It would be great if Liye was here. He would definitely know what to say."

"Giving gifts requires sincerity. How can you let others teach you?" Wang Nian threw back the quilt, got out of bed, put on his clothes, and went behind the door to take down the luggage bag: "Just say whatever you want to say."

"What do you want to say?" Shi Shuwen was thinking seriously, and Shi Wan hurriedly gave her brother some advice: "Thank Dad for bringing us to Changshenggou, or thank Dad for taking us away from grandpa and grandma's house."

"That's not much of a thank you." Shi Shuwen frowned, turned over and poked his sister between the eyebrows: "Grandpa and grandma are Dad's parents. He will definitely be sad if you say that."

"It's so difficult." Shi Wan wrinkled her nose: "Then can we thank Dad for giving birth to us?"

Shi Shuwen quickly raised his head and glanced at Wang Nian, then whispered in Shi Wan's ear: "Don't mention Mom in the future, understand?"

"Why!"

"Do you want to make Dad and Aunt Wang Nian sad?"

"I don't want to make them sad." Shi Wan quickly covered her mouth, but couldn't help but be curious: "Brother, do you still remember mom?"

The two kids thought they were talking in a very low voice, but in fact the room was small, Wang Nian heard it clearly, and Shi Xiangming who was outside the door also heard roughly what they said.

"The pen is here!" Wang Nian took out a pen and spoke loudly on purpose. The brother and sister immediately stopped whispering and both peeked out from under the quilt to look.

Shi Xiangming turned around and looked at Yu Si who was illuminated by the lights in the corridor. He waited for a while before pushing the door open.

The son frantically hid the things behind his back. Wang Nian hugged her daughter and smiled with crooked eyes. The two smiling faces looked somewhat similar.

"Luckily I went there early, as many people were asking for quilts."

The door was slammed shut, and Shi Xiangming's laughter became unclear.

The winter rain is falling outside...

***

After a night of drizzle, the temperature seemed to be a little lower than yesterday.

The actual operation time of the re-examination was set at 8 o'clock in the morning, and the examination room was moved from the technical school to the inspection room of the Academy of Engineering.

The number of people who will eventually pass out of these ten is yet to be determined, and compared to the competition in the initial interview, they are more inclined to cooperate.

The test results will be announced on the spot, and whether you pass or fail, you will return to your workplace immediately after taking the test.

After breakfast in the morning, Wang Nian sent Shi Xiangming to the Engineering Academy and returned to the guesthouse.

Firstly, the weather was cold and they couldn't let the children stay outside in the wind. Secondly, they had to pack their things because after the exam they had to go to the station to take the bus back to Wenxi Township.

After everything was packed and thinking it was about time, Wang Nian took the children to wait outside the examination venue.

Outside the laboratory building, there were already quite a few people squatting on the stairs, carrying bags of varying sizes, waiting.

"Why haven't you come out yet?"

"According to the schedule, it should have ended ten minutes ago. Why is there no one here yet?"

It was supposed to end at 10:30, but at 11:00 no one had come out yet. The family members who came on time were so frozen that they were jumping around in their places.

"Is it related to those people who just came in?" The lady who came to take the exam with her son was anxiously trying to pry open the glass door to look inside.

Wang Nian hurried over with the child in his arms and asked with a smile, "Who went in?"

"I don't know! They just looked pretty ferocious. A large group of people rushed in and locked the door," said the old lady.

The frozen elder brother next to him stamped his feet and interrupted, "It's a comrade from the supervision team."

The old lady didn't understand what was going on and asked, "What does the supervisory group manage?"

Every public institution will have a supervisory group responsible for supervising the integrity of the institution's work. Shi Xiangming said that due to the special nature of this selection, the Anhuai Municipal Government also specially sent a supervisory group to participate in the supervision.

The man in the military coat sniffed his nose, his speech slurring from the cold: "Someone must have cheated in the exam room and was caught."

At this point, the eldest brother suddenly recognized Wang Nian: "I remember now, you are Comrade Shi's lover, right?"

"It's me." Wang Nian smiled and asked quickly, "Brother, how did you know someone reported cheating?"

For some reason, my heart skipped a beat, and I thought of the couple from Factory 401 whom I met on the stairs yesterday.

"When I saw you, I remembered that the couple from Factory 401 who had an argument with you that day were also taken in with the inspection team."

It turned out to be them... Wang Nian smacked his lower lip, but his heart slowly calmed down.

It was only after the children fell asleep last night that Shi Xiangming mentioned the incident that happened at the examination gate after the preliminary exam in the afternoon.

It is not uncommon for a couple to file a lawsuit with the Supervisory Committee after failing to get any support once.

"Why don't you come out yet!"

After the old lady muttered once more, a group of people finally appeared in the lobby, led by Shi Xiangming, and walked towards the door.

Through the glass window, Wang Nian saw Shi Xiangming's slightly smiling expression, and even the last bit of worry was put to rest.

Crunch——

The glass door was pushed open and everyone started looking for their relatives.

Shi Xiangming patted the pen in his chest pocket and said, "The exam is over, let's go home."

"Mr. Shi, can I write to you and ask you questions in the future?"

"I benefited a lot from your discussion of the speed principle today..."

"If there is a chance, I will definitely invite you to come to Factory 388 to give me guidance."

The engineers who had come out with Shi Xiangming soon gathered around again, talking in unison and expressing their unsettled emotions.

Shi Xiangming said goodbye to everyone one by one before leaving.

"Brother Shao Ming can only visit next time."

Only after catching the long-distance bus back to Wenxi Township did Shi Xiangming have the opportunity to tell Wang Nian what happened today.

"avoid arousing suspicion?"

On the first day in the provincial capital, the couple agreed to meet with Shao Ming after the exam before going home.

Maybe he was reported for something, so he avoided it on purpose.

Shi Xiangming nodded: "Avoiding suspicion is only one aspect. Senior Brother had to leave for Anhuai City earlier than us. He left in such a hurry that we didn't have the chance to meet."

"You are the one who was reported today?"

Shi Xiangming smiled: "If I had reported it to the Supervisory Commission yesterday, I would have had to waste some time explaining it, but they chose today..."

Today is the practical exercise, which tests every engineer's combination of theoretical knowledge and practical operation.

Unfortunately, the couple in 401 chose a node that could not be falsified to report, so the engineers in the monitoring team just asked Shi Xiangming to complete the operation again and nothing happened.

The supervisory team did not even let Shi Xiangming fill out the interrogation materials. Instead, they watched the entire process of a beautiful team collaboration led by Shi Xiangming.

Wang Nian didn't understand many of the professional terms, so he just focused on a few key words.

Research direction, the first step of the experiment was successful...

Shao Ming was extremely excited about the new research direction proposed by Shi Xiangming. He rushed back to An Huai to report it in person before the results came out.

"And then?" Wang Nian was more concerned about the result.

"Once the results are sent to the factory and the project is approved, my main job will be transferred from the workshop to the research room." Shi Xiangming smiled and put his arm around Wang Nian's shoulders. "There will be fewer opportunities for business trips in the future, and my salary will definitely be greatly reduced."

Wang Nian pursed his lips and didn't believe it at all.

Shi Xiangming smiled and touched Wang Nian's cheek with his head: "But the salary should be raised by one level, so it won't be a problem to support you three."

"What about the person who reported you?"

"The criticism notice was sent to Factory 401 and notified to the entire factory. As for how to deal with it in the future, it is up to their factory leadership team to decide."

"You..." There weren't many people on the bus, but Wang Nian still lowered his voice so that only the two of them could hear: "Why did you deliberately say those words in the stairwell that day?"

"It's not intentional. In fact, I've heard of the engineer from Factory 401..."

The engineers of Factory 401 are quite famous among several machinery factories in Wenxi Township. The factory reception office would grit their teeth whenever they mention them.

As soon as the man comes to the factory for guidance, he has to prepare all the three things: cigarettes, wine and gifts. If there are any problems that need to be solved, he also has to prepare extra red envelopes.

At that time, there were few senior engineers in the county, and the machinery factory could only beg for support from everyone for fear of offending anyone.

Later, Shi Xiangming appeared and gave them more choices.

If the engineers at Factory 401 had left honestly after being eliminated, then nothing that followed would have happened. Shi Xiangming was betting that they would not be willing to give up.

After all, the man had spread rumors in the county machinery factory that Shi Xiangming had problems with his work style.

How could such a petty person be willing to let Shi Xiangming steal the limelight again?

The couple made such a fuss outside the preliminary examination hall, and Shi Xiangming took the opportunity to add fuel to the fire.

The purpose is to make the new research direction public today, without having to report it one level to another.

Shi Xiangming had personally experienced this risk when he first started working at the Academy of Engineering.

In the research results published by him, the person in charge became the department director, and Shi Xiangming's name became one of the assistants A, B, C, and D.

It's enough to have someone pick on you halfway once.

"You have to be a little shrewd to do research!" Wang Nian sighed.

"A cultured person..." Shi Xiangming closed his eyes and slowly leaned back in his chair: "When he gets angry, his heart is darker than anyone else's."

The case of the couple at Factory 401 today is the best example. If jealousy hadn't overcome reason, what happened later wouldn't have happened.

The car was bumpy, and the children and Shi Xiangming gradually fell into a drowsy state.

Only Wang Nian was still conscious.

The carriage was filled with the cries of chickens and ducks, and the passengers were talking and laughing loudly with the conductor. No one noticed the family of four sitting in the second to last row.

Wang Nian also closed his eyes and entered the space with a thought.

The sixth-level spice rack was suspended in the air, with countless cloth bags neatly arranged in the grid.

The names of various medicinal herbs were written on the bag, and the Poria cocos I bought on the black market yesterday was the first one in the first row.

"Herbs for stewing soup?" Wang Nian guessed.

This grid does show the medicinal ingredients for stewing soup. The recipe and dosage of the medicinal soup will automatically pop into your mind when you pick up each medicinal ingredient.

It was surprising enough, but not as surprising as the appearance of the previous evolution function.

Wang Nian just took a casual look and then withdrew his thoughts.

After putting Shi Wan's hand into her clothes, she leaned lightly on Shi Xiangming's shoulder and closed her eyes.

***

As the New Year approaches, the weather seems to be getting warmer. It gets cold early in the mountains, and warms up early too.

Wang Nian rarely went to the land allocated by the factory. After returning from the provincial capital, he was busy for several days before he had time to go to the fields to harvest peppers.

"Wang Nian, that's your land, right?"

After the failure of her sweet potato planting, Granny Hu's confidence was greatly shaken and her enthusiasm for farming quickly shifted to sewing and washing.

The work in this field naturally fell to Liu Chaoxian.

It was too lazy to sleep on Sunday, and seeing Wang Nian going to the vegetable garden early in the morning, Granny Hu was so busy that she woke up her daughter-in-law and insisted that she go with her.

As soon as the two of them approached the garden, Liu Chaoxian saw several people standing by the embankment.

"Let's go and take a look." Wang Nian quickly put the small hoe into the basket and quickened his pace.

"We'll know when someone comes to ask."

"I just want to plant some seeds, and then I'll plant a patch next year, so I don't have to worry about eating chili peppers all year round."

"People are coming, people are coming."

Someone turned around and saw Wang Nian, and hurriedly pulled his companion's sleeve to make room for him.

"What happened to my vegetable garden?" Wang Nian asked hurriedly before he even reached her.

Although I don’t know these people very well, I have run into them a few times in the streets, so they look familiar.

"Nothing happened, it's just that the peppers are growing well, and everyone wants to ask you how you take care of them." Sister Yu smiled brightly, speaking in pure Shaanxi dialect.

It has been about two weeks since I last weeded and fertilized the fields. Because it has been raining intermittently, I didn't even have to water them.

Following the direction pointed by Sister Yu, Wang Nian looked down at the ground.

Stunned, Wang Nian immediately realized that he had underestimated the power of the golden finger.

The nearly 100-square-meter field is mostly peppers and a small portion is cabbage.

Wang Nian remembered that he transplanted about 60 pepper seedlings at that time, leaving enough space between them for easy organization.

But now these peppers have grown too lush and crowded together, looking like a connected piece.

The green peppers most commonly used by the Vinci people for cooking had their branches bent by pressure, and many of them drooped on the ground and were covered with yellow mud.

The bright red vines are densely packed together, and the red and green on the ground are very beautiful.

The cabbages on the other side were also squeezed together because they were too big, and the height of the big ones was almost up to Wang Nian's knees.

The "culprit" that caused this scene was the remaining space of medicinal materials after drinking the soup.

Wang Nian used the herbs from the space spice rack to replace the pork ribs soup stewed with herbs prepared by Old Man Liu.

I originally thought that the remaining residue should not be wasted, so I buried it on the edge of the embankment, but I never expected that I would hit the jackpot.

"Luckily I'm here today. If my mother-in-law saw this, I wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully for the next half month."

While expressing his feelings, Liu Chaoxian also did not forget to tease Granny Hu.

The sweet potatoes that he had carefully taken care of were completely lost, but the peppers that Wang Nian had harvested after three days of fishing and two days of drying his nets were listed on the commune’s harvest bulletin board.

"Where did you buy the seeds, girl? Tell your aunt and I'll buy some tomorrow." Someone asked.

Liu Chaoxian pointed to his own field first and said, "I took the seeds from my home. Can you see what my peppers look like?"

In fact, the performance of Liu Chaoxian’s chili pepper is not bad, but the contrast is too obvious.

"That's really strange." Sister Yu looked around suspiciously.

"Maybe the medicine residue I buried a few days ago took effect." Wang Nian chose to tell the truth, put down the backpack, walked past a few people and entered the vegetable field: "I thought that if people eat it, it will be good for health, and the rest can also fertilize the land."

"Is it the medicinal soup your baby eats?"

How could Wang Nian hide the fact that she was looking for someone to exchange tickets and buy pork ribs for soup every day from Liu Chaoxian who was just across the wall from her. After hearing the reason, he scolded Wang Nian's parents-in-law a lot.

"Um."

"Then we have no idea. Those medicinal herbs were obtained by Chinese doctors when they went to the provincial capital for the exam. We don't have them in Changshenggou." Liu Chaoxian said to everyone again.

"This land is like people, we all need to eat well," joked Sister Yu.

Everyone gathered together and chatted for a while before going about their own business in their own vegetable gardens. Wang Nian took a deep breath and walked into the vegetable garden.

"One trip may not be enough. I need to borrow a cart."

"How can your family finish all the peppers?"

The twigs of Erjing can be dried and made into chili powder, or used to pickle chilies.

There is no way to store these green peppers. If you can't finish them in a month or so, they will go bad, unless you eat them as a vegetable with every meal.

"I'll carry it to the small square tomorrow and see if I can sell some. I also need to pick some peas at home."

Few people grow pea tips, so as long as they are put out there they can definitely be sold, but as for peppers... just take a quick glance at other people's vegetable plots, and you'll see that almost every household is growing them.

Wang Nian squatted down resignedly, already planning to go back and boil a pot of medicinal water to pour all over the yard.