Chapter 163 Help
Time flies and it's New Year's Day. Today should have been a study day, but we had a day off because of the holiday.
This morning, the cafeteria cooked a sweet and thick red date and red bean porridge, and even stir-fried bean sprouts for the first time ever. They also gave everyone a boiled egg again, even though they hadn't been serving it for a few days.
Recently, some unfamiliar faces have been appearing in the cafeteria at lunchtime and in the afternoon. I heard they used to be from the supply department.
The business department has been holding a lot of meetings lately, with people coming and going. Song Lubai and her colleagues have met with many company managers.
It was snowing outside, and there wasn't much to do outside in this weather, so everyone went back to their dorms to stay indoors after washing the dishes.
The fire in the stove would go out by midnight. People wouldn't light it immediately after getting up each day because they had to go to class. They would only light it after class in the afternoon. Only on rest days would people light it after breakfast.
Starting a fire is the hardest thing to do in the girls' dormitory. Every time a fire is started, the room is filled with thick smoke, and everyone's nose and eyes are running from the smoke. The dormitory manager is afraid of a fire, so he always goes upstairs to keep an eye on things.
The building was filled with smog, and thick black smoke billowed from the chimneys outside.
Today, the girls' dormitory and the boys' dormitory below lit fires together at this time, making the scene in the corridor particularly grand.
The building manager was coughing in the hallway, so much so that her eyes were watering. She said with exasperation, "You've all lived here for so long, how come every time you light a fire it looks like you're going to set the whole building on fire?"
"The corn cobs were too damp, so it's not our fault they wouldn't light."
The girls had no choice but to use corncobs to start a fire. Once it was lit, they would quickly add coal. If they were lucky, the coal would ignite successfully; if they were unlucky, the coal and corncobs would go out together.
During the extinguishing process, black smoke will continuously billow out, choking people so much that they can't open their eyes.
It's been snowing a lot these past few days, and the corn cobs we brought back are all damp, making it very difficult to light a fire.
Smoked by the black smoke, Song Lubai and the others hid at the window at the end of the corridor.
Tears streamed uncontrollably from her eyes. Wiping them away, Song Lubai thought about when she would be able to live in a heated house where she wouldn't have to light the fire herself.
In the novel, Lin Jinyao, a lucky girl, was able to live in a heated room in the early 1980s.
The building was filled with smoke. Although there was less smoke on one floor, the sight inside was enough to scare anyone who stepped inside.
The smoke lingered for about half an hour before the fire was lit and the smoke dissipated, allowing the air in the building to gradually return to normal.
The woman who had been hiding in her room on the second floor opened the door and said loudly to the girls in the dormitory, "Next time you light a fire, please let us know in advance. When you light a fire, we are stuck in the room for half an hour without any air."
The building manager, who hadn't come downstairs yet, said, "I remember when you came here two years ago, you were like this too. You couldn't light the stove, and you came down crying to me for help."
Laughter erupted from the girls' dormitory.
Wu Xiulian blushed and loudly argued, "That wasn't crying, it was from being smoked by the fire."
The caretaker said, "Oh dear, okay, okay, I misspoke."
…
The stove was lit, and everyone snuggled into their blankets to enjoy the warmth of the room.
"If this were in the 25th Company, we don't know how frozen we'd be by now."
"Not only is it cold, but we also have to do manual labor."
Everyone was very happy that they would be employees of the supply and marketing department in the future.
When lunchtime arrived, everyone eagerly took their bowls to the cafeteria.
Today is New Year's Day. They made delicious food this morning, and they're sure there will be delicious food for lunch too. They can already smell the aroma of meat while they're lying in their dorm rooms.
Sure enough, there was something delicious for lunch: a steaming bowl of braised pork belly and potatoes, glistening with oil.
Song Lubai genuinely felt that the food in the Commercial Department's canteen was excellent; they could eat meat several times a month.
Although there weren't many slices of meat in the previous cabbage and pork dish, you could still taste some meat flavor.
Looking at the glistening chunks of braised pork in her lunchbox, Song Lubai became even more determined to stay at headquarters.
As long as you stay, you can have a good meal during holidays.
In the late afternoon, Song Lubai was reading in bed when the building manager came in and called her.
Song Lubai, not understanding what she meant, followed her downstairs and asked, "What's wrong?"
The administrator's husband works in the business department. Although the administrator's job is not a formal, tenured position, she eats and lives the same way as a regular employee. If this job were open to external recruitment, it would be highly sought after.
“Wang Haiquan just came over. His wife gave birth, but he has three children at home, the oldest of whom is only six years old and doesn’t know how to do anything. He asked you to go to his house and look after them for the night. You can stay there for the night and cook them a meal.”
Song Lubai nodded, "Okay, I'll go right away, but I don't know where Director Wang lives."
Administrator Song Chunping said, "Go upstairs and tidy up first, I'll take you there in a bit."
After thinking for a moment, Song Lubai turned back and said, "I'll ask another girl to go with me, otherwise I'll be scared."
The aunt nodded: "Okay."
Director Wang's home is not far from the Commerce Department, less than a 20-minute walk, in a cluster of bungalows. Song Chunping's family also lives in this cluster of bungalows.
In the Commercial Department, unmarried employees live in the dormitory, while most of the married employees live here.
If the people in the commercial department hire people from other units, and the housing is allocated by those other units, then they won't live in this area.
Song Chunping's family and Wang Hai's family lived not far apart.
Feng Ying looked around and said, "The land is so big, why is the yard so small? A bigger yard would be better for raising chickens and ducks."
Song Chunping said, "Silly girl, don't you need bricks for the courtyard wall? Even if you have money, the brick factory's output isn't enough, so you can't buy anything."
As she spoke, she raised her chin and said, "When these houses were first built, people almost fought tooth and nail to get one. You couldn't live here without some connections."
She pointed to the large fenced yard diagonally in front of her, raised her chin slightly, and said, "See that? That's my house. The fence around my yard is made of red willow that I picked up in the Gobi Desert. You all have no idea how much effort it took to make this yard nice."
The spacious courtyard successfully attracted envious glances from Song Lubai and Feng Ying.
Song Chunping was satisfied. She added, "You don't need to be envious. If you can stay in Shicheng in the future, you will definitely live better than we do now. Who knows when they will build apartment buildings here and you will all be allocated apartment buildings."
Song Lubai said, "If you ask me, a house with a yard is more comfortable to live in. It's already pretty good to be able to live in a place like this."
Song Chunping loved to hear that, and her eyes crinkled with laughter.
The three of them walked quickly. Song Chunping took the key and opened the gate to Wang Haiquan's house. After entering the house, she saw Wang Haiquan's eldest son changing his youngest son's diaper.
Song Chunping glanced around the room, picked up the kettle sitting on the stove, and used the fire tongs to stir the coals inside, making the fire burn brighter.
"You two stay here tonight, keep the gate locked, and call the neighbors if anything happens."
After saying a few words, Song Chunping left.
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