Chapter 169 The People Watching the Show Upstairs
Song Lubai picked out the receipts she could use from the pile, while Wei Yang pushed the rest aside and asked the young man next to her, "What are you planning to exchange?"
The young man's eyes darted around when he saw the meat coupon. Thinking of what he had at home, he said, "I have some pickled spicy radish strips at home. I'll trade you a jar of them. The jar is this big..."
Seeing the man's gestures, Wei Yang nodded and took the receipts back. "Bring them over in a bit, and we'll exchange them at the restaurant entrance."
The young man finished his meal quickly, wiped his mouth, and ran home.
How can we celebrate the New Year without having a lot of meat? Tickets are precious, and he feels bad about exchanging them for cash or coupons. He thinks it's a good deal to exchange them for a jar of homemade pickled radish strips.
The braised pork belly, glistening with rich, dark sauce, and the winter melon and pork rib soup were served, and the aroma greatly increased Song Lubai's appetite.
Song Lubai doesn't like fatty meat, always finding it greasy, but today's braised pork was stewed until tender and not greasy at all, melting in her mouth, and she couldn't taste the greasiness of the fatty meat at all.
She was full, but there was still a lot of food left on the table. When Wei Yang saw that she wasn't going to eat anymore, he poured all the remaining dishes into his bowl and ate them with rice.
He ate at a decent pace, but he didn't appear rude.
Remembering the joke from that night in the dorm, Song Lubai asked, "How many steamed buns and bowls of rice can you eat in one meal?"
Wei Yang gestured and said, "If we only eat steamed buns, we can eat about six or seven in one meal, and three bowls of rice. What's wrong?"
Song Lubai laughed and said, "Some men can eat twelve in one sitting. What an enormous appetite that is!"
Wei Yang paused, holding the soup bowl. "Who is it? Can they eat twelve in one meal?"
There are people in the army who can eat ten or more steamed buns in one meal. He used to be able to eat a lot when he was extremely tired and hungry.
Song Lubai rested her chin on her hand and said, "I heard it from someone when Feng Ying was chatting with a guy at the social gathering that day."
Wei Yang had been holding back from mentioning the social gathering, but now that she brought it up herself, he seized the opportunity to ask, "Was it a lively event that day? Did you gain anything?"
Song Lubai nodded, "It is quite lively."
Without answering the second question at all, Wei Yang hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Nothing else?"
Song Lu tilted her head slightly, looking at him with a half-smile, "What do you want to hear?"
Wei Yang looked at her quietly without saying a word.
Song Lubai said, "Director Wang said that if I marry someone from the military, my unit can try to arrange my work in Shicheng."
Wei Yang tightened his grip on the bowl.
"So what do you mean?"
Song Lubai shook her head, "You can't know what kind of person someone is just by meeting them once. You can't be so hasty when it comes to marriage."
Wei Yang breathed a sigh of relief. He coughed lightly and asked, "Comrade Song, what have you thought about what I said before?"
Song Lubai said, "I haven't thought about it yet."
It's not that I haven't thought about it yet, it's that I want to wait and see. If her job is assigned to a farm in another region, or to Urumqi, then thinking about it will be pointless.
The two finished their meal leisurely, while the young man, panting heavily, peeked out from the restaurant entrance carrying a small jar of pickled radish strips.
After the two went outside, they went to the side of the restaurant with the young man. Wei Yang lifted the broken earthenware jar and saw pickled radish strips coated with chili powder that looked very appetizing. He said to Song Lubai, "I can't eat spicy food, you can take it back."
The young man said, "These are pickled radishes made by my wife. Her pickled radish strips are absolutely amazing. She not only puts chili peppers in them, but also Sichuan peppercorn powder. They're incredibly flavorful. It's a shame you can't handle spicy food."
Song Lubai took out a dime from her pocket and handed it to Wei Yang, thus buying the radish strips.
This jar of pickled radish strips definitely looks to her liking.
Seeing how polite the two were, the young man who took the tickets said to Song Lubai, "You two are dating, right? You'll be family sooner or later, why are you keeping things so separate? Your boyfriend is so generous to you, you should hurry up and make the most of it."
After the young man finished speaking, he didn't forget to wink and ask Wei Yang for credit, his face saying, "I'm doing this all for your own good!"
Song Lubai didn't know how to answer, because she realized that her interactions with Wei Yang were indeed similar to those of someone who was dating.
If this continues...
Before leaving, the young man, clutching his ticket, asked Wei Yang, "Comrade, can I exchange tickets with you again later?"
Wei Yang waved his hand, "No, I've saved all my tickets for her."
The young man shook his head regretfully, gave Song Lubai a "hurry up" look, and ran home wrapped in his cotton coat.
"Comrade Song, don't feel pressured. Let me take you home first."
With her hands in her pockets and her chin tucked into her red cashmere scarf, Song Lubai stared blankly at her relationship with her boyfriend, feeling like she was about to lose control.
It's true that it's not so easy to accept other people's good intentions, especially from gay men.
Upon arriving at the courtyard gate, Wei Yang took out a net from his cloth bag.
The mesh bag contained four cans of mandarin oranges, four cans of braised pork, and a tin box of chocolates.
“My sister sent this to me. I kept some for myself and will give you half.”
Canned braised pork and chocolate are things that ordinary families simply can't get.
Song Lubai refused to accept it.
This can't go on!
Her conscience was starting to hurt.
She has come to deeply understand the feeling of being indebted to others.
Wei Yang forcefully placed it in her hand, saying, "I told you not to feel pressured. I don't like sweets. If I wasn't afraid you wouldn't want them, I would have brought them all for you."
Song Lubai's thoughts are in disarray.
She wasn't after the food itself, she was after his conditions.
What kind of family could afford chocolate? It seems like you needed foreign exchange certificates to buy chocolate.
She didn't answer immediately, but said, "Wait a minute, let me see what my mom sent me. In return, I'll send you some New Year's gifts too."
On the second floor along the street, Lu Xingye and Wang Haiquan, holding teacups, stood by the window watching the commotion.
Wang Haiquan came to the personnel department to discuss the follow-up of the social event with Lu Xingye, so that Lu could assign him work accordingly.
Wang Haiquan stopped after just one glance at the area below the window.
He wondered why Song Lubai wasn't interested in that company commander; it turned out she was still hung up on Wei Yang.
Wang Haiquan watched with great interest, which also attracted Lu Xingye, who was not talkative.
Lu Xingye asked, "She also found a boyfriend in the military? She doesn't seem to be on the list you submitted."
Director Wang said, "That person is the deputy head of the armed forces department of the sixth branch farm, not from Shicheng. Song Lubai's article was published in the newspaper, and I saw that the evaluations from the company and school teachers were quite good. The leaders previously said they wanted to keep her in the headquarters office after reading her article. You should have arranged for her to stay in headquarters, right?"
Lu Xingye shook his head. "We haven't started making arrangements yet. You submitted too many names. About half of them need to be assigned to the lower-level regiments. We also need about thirty people in Urumqi and the surrounding regiments. There aren't many people that headquarters can keep. The Organization and Guidance Department, Supply Department, and Market and Price Department have already decided on the people and have spoken to me. Otherwise, I would have assigned her to your office."
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