Just after half past five, the residents of Building 10 smelled the alluring aroma again.

This time Jiang Jianping did not dare to say anything. It was Lin Weiyong from Class 201 who was whispering to his wife: "What are they doing next door? Why does it smell so good?"

Shen Xuan works in a state-owned factory in the city. Although it is called the city, it is actually in the suburbs. It is not far from where they are stationed. It only takes about ten minutes by car to get there, which is closer than going to the county.

But the city buses don't come to her place of residence, only the county buses pass by, and the buses run once an hour, so she usually rides a bicycle to and from get off work, and spends more than an hour on the road every day.

Therefore, Shen Xuan basically doesn't cook on weekdays, and only cooks on Sundays when she has a day off.

Lin Weiyong had been a soldier for more than ten years and was tired of the food in the regiment canteen. The canteen in the compound was also just so-so. He had eaten the same meal every day for several years. In the end, he ate the least amount of food from his wife's cooking.

Shen Xuan is a good cook. Although the dishes she makes are all local dishes with a sweet taste, he loves braised pork and sweet and sour fish and can accept the sweetness.

So Lin Weiyong looked forward to the day off on Sundays. His wife worked in an office and had Sundays off regularly. Whenever she was at home, she would always show off her cooking skills.

But today, Lin Weiyong had gotten addicted to the food, and the aroma wafting in from outside was so overbearing that the braised fish on the table lost some of its flavor.

Shen Xuan sniffed it and said, "It smells like Sichuan cuisine."

"Isn't Deputy Commander He's wife from Province Hu?"

"It's from Hu Province."

The state-owned factory where Shen Xuan worked was far away. She left home early and came back late every day, so she didn't have much time to chat with the military wives in the compound.

Moreover, she is indeed a bit arrogant and can't get along with many people, so even after living in the compound for several years, she still hasn't made many good friends.

Even with the military wives who lived in the same building, her relationship with them was just so-so. It wasn't bad, but it was definitely not good.

But Su Ting was an exception. Firstly, the two families lived next door to each other, so they could run into each other every day when they went out. Secondly, the He family did not cook often, so the two families often ran into each other when they went to the cafeteria to have dinner.

Moreover, the residents before 202 were difficult to get along with, to put it nicely, and were unreasonable and troublesome, to put it bluntly. Not only did Shen Xuan not get along with them, but no one in the entire building could get along well with her.

Su Ting has a good personality to begin with, and with the contrast from the people in front of her, anyone in Building 10 who sees her will feel somewhat fortunate.

This was also the main reason why Shen Xuan showed rare enthusiasm when he met Su Ting for the first time. It is not easy to have a neighbor with good character.

If you interact with each other with good intentions, even the slowest-to-warm-up people can gradually become familiar with each other. When the relationship is good, you can naturally talk to each other about your family situations.

So Shen Xuan not only knew that Su Ting's hometown was Hu Province, but also knew that He Dongchuan's parents were both in the capital. However, what dishes they can cook has little to do with where their hometowns are. It's like a canteen chef who can cook dishes from all over the place, but it's not certain whether he is very skilled or not.

After listening to his wife's words, Lin Weiyong thought about it and agreed that this made sense. He said, "But the dishes they cooked are so fragrant that I can't even eat when I smell them."

Shen Xuan smiled and said, "If you can't eat it, I won't make it next time."

"No, I just said it casually, why did you take it seriously?" Afraid of having to eat in the cafeteria during the next break, Lin Weiyong hurriedly explained, "I just think that their family cooks big meals every now and then, it's really too, too..." too enviable.

But looking at his daughter-in-law's expression, Lin Weiyong didn't dare say this out loud.

Shen Xuan smiled and asked, "Why don't you continue? Too what?"

"You really don't know how to save!" Lin Weiyong said with great sorrow.

Shen Xuan chuckled: "Come on, they rarely cook at home, only once a week, it's not like they cook big dishes every now and then, and it seems like they have guests coming today."

Lin Weiyong asked curiously: "Guest? Who?"

Shen Xuan said, "Captain Zhao, who is under Deputy Regiment Commander He, came to help them move furniture today."

"What furniture?" Lin Weiyong was not at home in the morning and had no idea of ​​the situation.

"Wardrobe, desk, sofa, coffee table, and the like," Shen Xuan shook her head. "You know that when the family in front of No. 202 was demobilized and returned home, they sold all the furniture except the furniture registered for logistics."

After the troops built the houses, they asked carpenters to make some basic furniture, including beds, closets, and dining tables. There were also benches, but not many, about four per household.

This batch of furniture is considered a welfare provided by the army to military dependents. It does not require money, but it cannot be damaged during the period of stay. These furniture are registered. If there is any damage when moving out, corresponding compensation will need to be paid.

From this perspective, there seems to be nothing wrong with the tenants selling all other furniture before 2020.

But you have to know that they are only the second batch of residents in 202, and the furniture left behind by the first batch of residents when they moved out is not just the registered ones.

When the first batch of residents lived here, they gradually added a lot of things to the house, including wardrobes, desks, and chests. However, they couldn't take them with them when they moved, and they couldn't sell them for a good price, so they simply left them to later generations.

The army does not care about the furniture left behind by these residents. It is up to the next residents to continue using it or sell it.

Although there are no explicit regulations, if a family member can accompany the army, he is at least a deputy battalion commander, which means he is an official. Everyone has to respect themselves, so the things left by previous residents are just used and not dealt with by everyone.

As a result, they, perhaps thinking that they were all going to change their jobs and would never see these people in the compound again, didn't care about their dignity at all. Before leaving, they sold everything they could at home without caring about the price, and even left behind an extra bench.

Because of this incident, until now, people in the compound have few good words to say about the couple.

This is really something that no one with a little bit of intelligence would do. They are all old furniture and they are in a hurry to sell them. There is not much money at all. And doing this will make you look extremely greedy and your reputation will be ruined.

Even if not all of these people living in the compound can rise quickly, their future will not be too bad after they transfer to civilian jobs and return to their hometowns. If they maintain their reputation well, they will have connections in the future. If their reputation is ruined, these connections will also be cut off, so their behavior is still very stupid.

No smart person wants to associate with a greedy idiot.

Of course, there are also some people who are confused and only care about the small profits. In the past six months, more than one family has changed their jobs and returned to their hometowns to do so.

So much so that every once in a while, the remaining people in the compound would sigh and lament that the world is going downhill and people’s hearts are no longer the same as they used to be!

Lin Weiyong knew about this, so he also sighed: "What Lao Liu did was really unkind."

"Who says it's not?"

…

Since he was going to entertain guests, the dishes must not be too shabby. Considering the number of people, He Dongchuan prepared six dishes and one soup. There were both savory and vegetarian dishes. The savory dishes included spicy chicken, sauerkraut fish and scrambled eggs with green peppers. The vegetarian dishes included vinegar and vinegar cabbage and braised potato slices. There was also a cold dish, preserved egg and tofu.

Zhao Junping and his wife did not come empty-handed either. They went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought two kilograms of fruit and a bottle of white wine.

When He Dongchuan saw the liquor, he said, "We are having a meal together, so we shouldn't drink, right?"

"It's okay if you don't drink. We just feel embarrassed to come here empty-handed." Zhao Junping said with a smile, handing the things in his hand to He Dongchuan.

"You are too polite." Su Ting invited the family into the house with a smile on her face, asked them to sit on the sofa in the living room, and asked He Yan to pour tea.

He Yan was capable of this. He walked swiftly to the cupboard, took out the tea he brought from Pingchuan Island, and then took out a few clean glass cups and put the tea in them one by one.

Su Ting poured the hot water and asked, "What do you want to drink, Xiaodong and Xiaoxi?"

"They can drink anything," said Zhao Junping's wife Peng Juan.

Su Ting said "OK" and asked He Yan to bring the tea over. She then took out a can of maltose and made four cups of tea, one for He Yan and his sister, as well as the two children from the Zhao family.

After the drinks were brought over, Su Ting chatted with Zhao Junping and his wife for a while, then went to the kitchen to help.

The dish is almost ready, just put it on the plate and take it out.

After the children finished drinking the maltose, dinner began. Because they had agreed not to drink alcohol, Su Ting served each of them a bowl of soup.

The soup is bone soup, stewed with lotus roots, and it tastes very good.

Not only was the soup delicious, but the dishes were also very tasty. Zhao Junping praised them while eating. Peng Juan asked curiously, "Were all the dishes on this table made by Comrade He?"

"Well, he cooks better than me," Su Ting replied.

Peng Juan said: "This is really rare. I have only seen a few men who can cook."

Zhao Junping interrupted, "Why is it so difficult? Aren't all the chefs in the cafeteria men?"

"You also know that they are the canteen chefs?" Peng Juan asked, "Why don't you go and ask them if they cook for their families when they get home from get off work?"

Zhao Junping murmured softly: "After a busy day, who would be willing to cook when they get home?"

Peng Juan pointed at He Dongchuan and said, "Comrade He."

Zhao Junping was speechless now, after all, the example was right in front of him. However, He Dongchuan said, "I seldom cook recently. I only cook on Sundays."

"Aren't you guys busy?" Peng Juan said, thinking back, "Are you almost done with your work?"

He Dongchuan said, "It's almost done. I'll have more free time next month and it should be no problem to get off work on time." The second half of the sentence was said to Su Ting.

But before Su Ting could open her mouth, the brother and sister started cheering first.

Although they can eat their dad’s cooking on Sundays, this is far from enough for the brother and sister. What they look forward to most now is for their dad to have some free time to cook for them every day.

Seeing what the two kids, especially He Yan, were planning, He Dongchuan smiled slightly.

After seeing the smile on his father's face, He Yan inexplicably felt a chill on his back, but he thought it was the wind blowing in from outside and didn't pay much attention to it.

Therefore, when He Dongchuan returned to normal after get off work and started cooking, He Yan was very happy.

But he hadn't been happy for two days before he was told bad news - his father was going to formally teach him martial arts.

Please note that it is martial arts training, not boxing, and his father also emphasized that it is formal training, not just taking him for fun.

So in the days to come, he would get up half an hour earlier every morning to run, rest for half an hour after dinner in the evening, and then practice with his father for another half an hour, starting with the horse stance.

After listening to this, He Yan swallowed his saliva and said, "Dad, why do you suddenly want to teach me martial arts?"

"When we were on Pingchuan Island, didn't you always pester me to teach you how to box? Since you are interested, as your father, of course I have to teach you well." He Dongchuan's expression was serious.

Over the past year, He Yan was indeed very interested in boxing and would pester his father to teach him every now and then.

but!

He was interested in boxing only because he regarded it as a game, something he enjoyed playing when he had nothing to do, but he was not so happy when he thought about formal training.

He Yan murmured softly: "Boxing and martial arts are different, right?"

"What I'm teaching you is military boxing, which can only be considered a very small branch of martial arts. Since you want to learn it, then learn more."

But I didn’t want to learn more, and getting up every morning to run and doing horse stance at night was so tiring.

But looking at his father's expression, He Yan hesitated and did not speak, but just slowly lowered his head.

He Dongchuan was not surprised by He Yan's attitude at this time.

This kid is very motivated. Once he sets a goal, he will try his best to achieve it. Just like when he set the goal of being the third in the grade, he studied very hard.

His problem is that he is lazy and not persistent enough. Maybe his life is too smooth and he has no idea about the future, so he always sets short-term goals. He holds his breath in his heart during the process, but once the goal is achieved, the breath disappears and he becomes the lazy He Yan again.

But in life, there must be something you can stick to. He is almost ten years old and can't keep going like this.

Children, sometimes, always need some encouragement from their parents.

He Dongchuan thought about it and spoke earnestly: "In order to teach you martial arts earlier, I have been very busy recently. Please don't let me down and study hard!"

People who are usually not sentimental can always move people when they suddenly become sentimental, not to mention that He Yan is still a child, who is very receptive to this kind of thing.

He Yan felt guilty when he learned that his father had made so many efforts behind the scenes.

In fact, he didn't really dislike martial arts training, he just didn't want to get up early and didn't want to do horse stance. But these two things weren't that difficult for him, it only took half an hour, he could get through it with a little bit of grit.

He Yan hesitated and asked, "Then should I practice for a while first?" He still wanted to leave some room for himself.

He Dongchuan readily agreed: "Okay."

But in fact, He Dongchuan had no intention of giving He Yan a chance to regret. As long as he started practicing martial arts, he would not regret it.

…

He Dongchuan's style is to do what he says. He decided to practice martial arts after dinner, made a short-term plan before going to bed at night, and gave the task of supervising He Yan's running to Su Ting.

Because He Yan still had to go to class, He Dongchuan didn't set the running location too far away. He just ran three laps around the largest circle in the courtyard.

In He Dongchuan's opinion, the training plan he made was already very lenient. Running three laps in half an hour was no different from brisk walking. This was only because He Yan did not exercise much on a normal day, otherwise the number of laps should have been at least doubled.

Let's do this for now, let him get used to it, and then gradually increase the number of laps later.

But before the day was over, He Yan wanted to back out.

It was really hard to get up half an hour earlier. He felt dizzy and sleepy when he went out for a run.

And three laps is really a lot, although in He Dongchuan's mind, three laps in half an hour is about the same as brisk walking. But He Yan didn't think so much, he sprinted as soon as he went out, the sprint turned into a jog in the middle, and the jog turned into a slow walk in the later stage, and he could hardly lift his feet.

After running three laps, He Yan was exhausted.

Originally, He Yan was going to rest for a whole day, and by the time school was over, he would be almost fully recovered. However, after dinner, he hadn't even had time to rest for a while before his father asked him to do horse stance.

The horse stance can be done anywhere, and it is cold in Shanghai in winter, with the north wind blowing outside, so He Dongchuan did not let him go downstairs, but did the horse stance in the living room. Su Ting and Man Man did not go back to the room to sleep so early, and sat on the sofa to chat.

As a result, the scene in the living room was polarized: on one side there was laughter and on the other side there was perseverance.

Don't think that horse stance is easy. Maintaining a half-squatting position is much more difficult than running. In less than five minutes, He Yan began to sweat, and in less than ten minutes, his legs began to shake.

"Dad, I can't take it anymore."

While speaking, He Yan didn't even dare to turn his head. He was afraid that if he moved, he would fall to the ground.

He Dongchuan looked at his watch and said, "Hold on for another five minutes."

I can't hold on any longer!

There was a little man yelling in He Yan's head, and his body was shaking even more violently, but he still persisted.

But in the last five minutes, the villain in my head kept saying that he couldn't hold on any longer, and then he said that he really couldn't do it...

Until He Dongchuan's voice sounded: "Okay."

call--

He Yan let out a long breath, his legs went limp, and he sat down on the ground, then lay down.

He Dongchuan pulled him up, but he didn't want to move at all. His upper body was pulled up, and his two long legs were still stuck to the ground. Seeing this, his father's lips twitched: "Do you want me to pick you up?"

He Yan looked at his father eagerly without saying a word, obviously not minding being held.

What a big guy!

He Dongchuan wanted to shake off his hand, but Su Ting said, "Just hold me for a while. The ground is cold. Don't catch a cold."

After his daughter-in-law spoke, He Dongchuan had no choice but to bend down, pick up his son, put him on the sofa, and asked him questions about his performance today: "You barely lasted half of the 30 minutes. Your physical strength is too poor. Your legs started shaking and your lower body was unstable before 10 minutes." He glanced at his son who was leaning on the sofa and breathing heavily. "Your breathing is not good. Tell me, how did you run this morning?"

"Just run like that."

"So how do you run?"

He Yan panted and told the story of his morning run. He said proudly, "I ran really fast at the beginning."

"hehe."

He Dongchuan looked at him as if he were a fool, and asked coldly, "Don't you realize that even if you don't run, you can still walk around the compound three times in half an hour?"

“No.”

He Dongchuan choked and asked back, "I didn't realize you were quite proud of yourself, did I?"

He Yan lowered his head and said, "That's not the case."

He Dongchuan didn't continue to talk nonsense with him. He simply told him some running tips and asked him to try it tomorrow.

"Are we going to run again tomorrow?" He Yan's face fell.

He Dongchuan asked with a half-smile: "Why? It's only been one day, and you can't hold on any longer?"

He Yan felt a little guilty and murmured softly, "I'm so tired."

"Is there anything in this world that is not tiring?"

He Yan thought, of course, going to school isn’t that tiring. Well, that is, provided that you don’t study as hard as before the midterm exam.

But even if he studied from morning till night every day like before the midterm exam, he didn't think it was as tiring as practicing martial arts, at least he wouldn't be this tired.

But before He Yan could say anything, he heard his father's voice: "Practice for a while first."

"how long?"

"Before the New Year." He Dongchuan saw that he was about to speak, so he changed the subject and said, "Of course, if you want to practice for a longer period of time, that's fine. After all, I have been preparing for so long in advance to teach you martial arts."

He Yan had no objection: "Let's do it before the New Year."

Although it’s still a long time before the Chinese New Year, it’s only a few months, so I can just grit my teeth and persevere.

He Dongchuan agreed readily: "Okay, before the Chinese New Year."

…

Because he had promised his father that he would practice until the Chinese New Year, although He Yan wanted to back out, he finally gritted his teeth and persevered.

After a week, the three laps in the morning were no longer a torture for him, and he no longer had a sad face when he got up every day. But he was not happy for two days, and He Dongchuan increased his task from three laps to four laps, and the time was still half an hour.

Even though it was only one lap, there was a difference between brisk walking and jogging. Although He Yan had already mastered the technique of running at a steady pace, he still took a long time to catch his breath after returning home.

The time for horse stance practice in the evening was also increased from fifteen minutes to twenty minutes. After finishing the horse stance practice, his father no longer let him sit, but would take him to practice boxing for a while.

At the beginning, He Yan really didn't want to fight. He was so tired that he didn't have the energy to fight.

But as time went by, well, my hind legs were still shaking after doing the horse stance, but at least I could stand still and punch, which was not unacceptable.

By the end of December, He Yan's morning jogging laps had increased from three to six, and he could also do horse stance for a full 30 minutes in the evening.

As He Yan gradually adapted to this amount of training, significant changes took place in him.

First of all, his physical strength has improved. Although he still gets out of breath after running every day, at least he is not exhausted. Then his strength has increased. He can now lift a baby without any pressure, and his lower body is much more stable. Of course, it is still far from what his father expected.

However, He Dongchuan did not increase the amount of training for him, but let him first stabilize the horse stance. After all, learning martial arts must be done steadily and steadily. If the steps are too fast, the result may be to forcibly accelerate the growth of the seedlings.

So after entering January, He Yan was no longer listless every day like when he first started training, but gradually regained his former vitality.

As He Yan's training got on track, the second story in the Three Fires series serialized in Lianhuan Daily also gained popularity.

"Sanhuo's Working Diary" is a serial that ended in the middle of the year, and half a year has passed since then.

Although major magazines and publishing houses have serialized and published many articles of similar style in the past six months, and some of them have achieved outstanding results, none of them has reached the popularity of "Three Fires Working Diary".

So after the publishing house received the manuscript sent by Su Ting, it almost couldn't wait to reserve a spot for "Dad is Not Home" in the next issue of the pictorial.

Because long before the completion of "Sanhuo Working Diary", the publishing house revealed that the author planned to write a sequel, so in the past six months, although readers have read many similar stories, what they want to read most is the sequel.

The half-year wait has also pushed readers' expectations for the new story to the peak.

So after the "Comic Pictorial" was released in early December, not only Wang Jingfang, but also the editor-in-chief of the pictorial was very nervous.

Wang Jingfang was nervous because Su Ting was under her. The more popular Su Ting's story became, the better her performance would be, and it would be easier for her to make further progress in her career.

The editor-in-chief of the pictorial was nervous because the serialization of "Sanhuo's Working Diary" had reached the middle and late stages, and the circulation of the "Comic Pictorial" had reached a small peak.

Although the illustrated magazine is printed first and then distributed to major bookstores for sale, the printing quantity is not decided casually but depends on the sales volume of the previous issue of the illustrated magazine.

During the serialization period of "Sanhuo Working Diary", the sales of picture books continued to rise, and the printing and distribution volume naturally also showed an upward trend.

After the completion of "Three Fires Working Diary", the sales and circulation of the pictorial began to decline issue by issue, and now have fallen back to the level before the story was serialized, or even a little lower.

For several months, the leaders of the publishing house looked unhappy whenever they saw him.

There was no need to lose your temper with him. Even if the sales of Comic Book declined severely, it could still maintain its position as the leading illustrated magazine and the most profitable department of the publishing house. Leaders had to speak softly and gently to him as the editor-in-chief.

But the leader was worried, and when he was worried, he couldn't help sighing, looking at him with something to say but stopping himself.

With the leader so worried, it would be hard for him as the editor-in-chief not to be worried.

So now he is also hoping that the new story can be popular enough to boost sales. His requirements are not high, just that it can stop the current downward trend in the sales of the picture book and increase it a little bit.

However, publishers don't get feedback that quickly these days. After all, there are so many bookstores across the country, and they sell so many books. There are quite a lot of publishers that need to be connected, definitely dozens or even hundreds of them. It is impossible for them to provide sales data to publishers on a daily basis. They can only provide it on a weekly basis at most.

The second data that can show whether a story is popular is readers' letters. But firstly, this data is not as accurate as sales volume. Secondly, after readers write letters, it takes at least three to five days from mailing to delivery.

Therefore, after the pictorial was released, Wang Jingfang and the editor-in-chief were very nervous for a few days. It was not until readers' letters flew to the publishing house like snowflakes that they breathed a sigh of relief.

And when the first week's sales data came back, the remaining half of the breath was exhaled.

In the following month, not only did the number of letters from readers increase, but the sales of the picture magazine also began to climb again.

So after the new story was serialized for only three issues, Wang Jingfang, at the instruction of the editor-in-chief, contacted Su Ting to discuss publishing. This time, not only the new story was to be published, but also a reprint of "Sanhuo Working Diary".

The number of copies of the reprint of "Sanhuo Working Diary" is still the same as before, two volumes, each with 15,000 copies, and the royalties given to Su Ting remain unchanged. This is considered an industry practice.

However, the copyright fee for New Stories increased from 22% to 25%, and the number of copies also increased, with a total of 40,000 copies of the two volumes published, while the price of each copy remained unchanged.

All in all, Su Ting can get more than 4,000 yuan in royalties from this publication.

That’s a huge sum of money!

Of course, this money will not be paid to Su Ting in one lump sum. The publishing house plans to publish "Three Fires Working Diary" first. The down payment will be paid when the contract is signed, and the balance will be paid after the book is on the market.

As for the new story, they plan to wait until it is finished before publishing it, so as to avoid splitting the readership and affecting the amount of painting reimbursement. With this calculation, the down payment will still be paid when the contract is signed, but the balance will be delayed until March or April next year.

However, Su Ting is not short of money now, and she has a pleasant cooperation with the publishing house, so she signed the contract with them happily.

Of course, the publishing house was very happy to pay her. Almost as soon as Su Ting sent the signed contract, they remitted the money to her.

…

Su Ting should be happy about the large amount of money deposited into her account, but the reality is that she is a little anxious.

He Dongchuan's birthday is coming, and after this birthday, he will be thirty years old.

Before traveling through time, Su Ting had heard a saying that thirty years old is a hurdle. Some people have great luck in this year, while others have bad luck.

He Dongchuan in the original novel was obviously the latter. Not only did he fall into disgrace, he also lost his life.

Su Ting didn't ask him to turn his luck around, but she hoped he wouldn't suffer a big disaster and at least save his life.

As far as Su Ting knew, there were only a few ways to change one's luck, such as going to temples to worship Buddha more often, wearing luck-changing beads, and wearing red underwear. Although it was a bit superstitious, time travel had already happened, so it was not surprising that she was superstitious.

Although she is still a materialist at heart and doesn't really believe that these things are useful, she still decides to give it a try for peace of mind.

Although the movement was over, it had not been completely relaxed. Those who had been accused of crimes and sent down to the countryside had not yet been completely cleared of their names. In addition, He Dongchuan was a soldier, so it would have a bad influence if he went to a temple to worship Buddha. The lucky beads also had to be consecrated in a temple...

After much thought, Su Ting gave Dongchuan a dozen red underwear on his 30th birthday, hoping that he would be able to avoid bad luck and save his life in the coming year.

He Dongchuan who got the red underwear: “?!!”

It's very confusing.