◎1st update + 2nd update + 3rd update◎
At this time, Xu Shengjie was holding a food ticket and an aluminum lunch box to get food in the canteen of the National Cotton Mill. The food in the canteen today was quite good, including sweet and sour spare ribs, dry-roasted yellow croaker, beer duck...
The factory gave workers food coupons, and a large dish cost 20 cents. The food tasted good and the portion was large, so it was hard to get them. If you went too late, they would all be sold out.
After spending two meal coupons on a serving of sweet and sour spareribs and a serving of dry-roasted yellow croaker, Xu Shengjie picked up his lunch box and prepared to go home.
As soon as I entered the yard, I met Xu Hai and Qian Jingjing, who lived in the back house, and they were coming back from work.
"Xiao Xu, come back and eat the food?"
"The food from your national cotton mill is delicious."
Xu Hai and Qian Jingjing are a reconstituted family. They divorced and got married with their children.
"Sister Qian, Brother Xu's cooking is great, you guys are in for a treat."
After greeting him, Qian Jingjing followed the man into the house, muttering, "Look at him, he really cares about his wife and brought back two meat dishes."
"It's like this when you just get married." Xu Hai touched his chin and puffed out his chest, "I was like that too."
"Come on, you're far inferior to Xiao Xu." Qian Jingjing smiled, pushed him aside, and prepared to cook.
After turning the corner of the first courtyard and heading towards the second courtyard, Xu Shengjie happened to run into Liu Nianhua.
"Sister Hua."
"Xiao Xu!" Liu Nianhua became excited when he saw the person and poured out all the things that happened in the afternoon. "Your third uncle and his family came to our house today and pushed and shoved with your grandmother and your wife for a long time. You should go home and take a look."
Uncle San's family is here?! After listening to Liu Nianhua's words, Xu Shengjie hurriedly thanked him and hurried home.
Grandma Zhou Yun was sitting in front of the house. There was food on the table. Xiaowei and Xiaoya, who had just returned from school, were preparing to have a bite.
"Brother, you're back!"
"Have you come back from serving food?"
Xu Shengjie would occasionally bring back some meat and vegetables from the factory to fill the family’s gluttonous stomach as they did not have enough meat coupons.
"Wash your hands and eat." Putting the lunch box on the table, Xu Shengjie looked around but didn't see a trace of beautiful figure. "Grandma, how are you? Are you not angry?"
Zhou Yun smiled and waved his hands repeatedly, "It's okay, it's okay, just sit down and have a rest."
After briefly telling his grandson what happened in the afternoon, Zhou Yun suggested letting Baozhen take over the work early. Xu Shengjie had no objection, but he stayed in the house for a few minutes but did not see his wife.
"Grandma, where's Baozhen?"
"I went to Aunt Li's house next door. Hailin is about to take the high school entrance exam and doesn't understand some parts. She asked Baozhen to help. Go and ask Baozhen to come back for dinner."
Xu Shengjie agreed and went to the house of Aunt Li who lived in the main house. Grandpa Wei and Aunt Li lived in the main house of the compound with eight people. It was the largest and most spacious house in the compound. They had three regular workers and lived a good life. They had a grandson named Wei Guobiao, who was three years younger than Xu Shengwei, but he was stronger than Xiaowei. He was raised by the whole Wei family, and they were willing to give him maltose and eggs.
At this time, every household was preparing for dinner. Liang Baozhen was about to leave after doing homework for the counseling group for Wei's younger daughter. Since she had just arrived, it would be good for her to get to know more people, so Zhou Yun asked her to come over and take a look.
Aunt Li was also an honest person. When she saw that she was about to leave, she stuffed her with some red shrimp cakes. "Baozhen, thank you for this time. My old man and I don't understand those things. It takes you young people to understand them."
"Auntie Li, you're welcome. We are neighbors, so please help me. If you need my help in the future, just come over and tell me."
"Okay." As Aunt Li was speaking, she happened to see Xu Shengjie coming to her house, and she teased Liang Baozhen with a smile, "Then I won't keep you here. If you keep me here any longer, someone will come to ask for you to come!"
Liang Baozhen didn't understand what Aunt Li was talking about. She turned around and saw Xu Shengjie walking over. "Are you off work?"
"Yeah." Xu Shengjie heard Aunt Li's joke from a distance and deliberately explained, "Grandma asked me to call you home for dinner."
"Go quickly, don't go hungry."
The two said goodbye to Aunt Li and walked back to the east wing from the main house. The east wing was next to the main house and was occupied by two families. In addition to the Xu family of five, there was another house where a family of three lived. However, the door had been closed for the past few days.
"You weren't pushed around by my uncle and the others this afternoon, were you?"
"I'm fine." Liang Baozhen was also very angry when she heard from her grandmother in the afternoon about what Uncle Xu Shengjie's family had done. Now she took the opportunity to complain to others, "It's just that they are so unreasonable to grandma. They hold me and don't want to leave. They stay here from morning to noon. You have to think of a way, otherwise they will come to make trouble when you go to work."
"Don't worry, I'll go find him tomorrow." Xu Shengjie looked Liang Baozhen up and down with his dark eyes. Seeing that she didn't seem to be injured, he was relieved. If she was injured by her uncle's family just a few days after marrying into the Xu family, it would be unacceptable. "I heard from grandma that you scolded them this afternoon?"
"Just to scare him. I saw he was stingy and very nervous about his money, so I just said a random number. Grandma couldn't chase them away at first, but when she was told she had to pay ten yuan to go to the hospital, she ran away faster than a rabbit." Liang Baozhen found it funnier the more she talked. The way those three people hurriedly left is still in her mind.
rabbit?
Xu Shengjie smiled as he thought of something, and stopped to look at Liang Baozhen, "Is the wild rabbit you picked up in the mountains half a month ago delicious?"
Hare? Liang Baozhen was stunned and looked at the man in surprise, "How do you know I picked up a hare?"
"I caught it." Xu Shengjie left these three words and went home. His grandmother and his younger brothers and sisters were already sitting at the table waiting for dinner.
He caught it? Liang Baozhen stood there muttering, not even trying to figure out what was going on. Could it be that Xu Shengjie was there when she caught the hare?
At the dinner table, Liang Baozhen was still thinking about this matter, but the two fragrant meat dishes placed in front of her attracted her attention.
"Brother, I earned three candies today." Xu Shengwei chattered non-stop while eating, pointing to three with his fingers to show off his prowess to his elder brother.
"Where did you cheat?" Xu Shengjie looked at him. The boy was very proud.
"My classmate wants to borrow my army bag in exchange for candy."
No wonder the three adults at the table finally understood that Xu Shengwei had brought back his things by himself today, and of course, he put some of them in his sister's bag.
"My second brother gave me the candy." Xu Shengya took out three shiny candies from her pocket and smiled. However, there were only three candies, so she was in a dilemma. "Brother, then grandma, sister-in-law and I can eat them. Can you and my second brother not eat them?"
"I don't want to eat it. Xiaoya, you eat it."
"Granny won't eat it either, so keep the sweet taste for yourself."
No one at the table wanted to snatch the candy from her, so she decided to take another pill if she felt the medicine tasted too bitter.
After dinner, Xu Shengjie led Xu Shengwei to wash the dishes. Liang Baozhen looked at the gentle girl and waved to her, wanting to get closer to her. "Xiaoya, I heard from your brother that you left a lot of candy wrappers?"
"Yes!" Xu Shengya loved the candy wrappers she had picked up, which were particularly beautiful. She couldn't help but invite him, "Sister-in-law, do you want to see them?"
"OK."
Xu Shengya opened the drawer in the room and carefully took out the iron box inside. The iron box contained the Golden Rooster Cookies that her eldest brother bought for her on her tenth birthday. After she finished eating the cookies, she kept the box, which contained her most beloved things.
"Sister-in-law, look." Xu Shengya pushed the box forward and took out more than ten candy wrappers, making a crackling sound.
Blue, white, purple, orange... all kinds of candy wrappers were pressed flat and stacked one on top of the other, like a colorful dream. Liang Baozhen looked at Xiaoya's iron box, which also contained two black hair ties, all neatly arranged.
"So beautiful! I also collected three of them before, but I gave them all to my sister before I got married."
"Your sister?" Xu Shengya looked up and asked her sister-in-law, her grape-like eyes rolling around. She remembered what her sister-in-law had mentioned, "Is this the sister you mentioned last time?"
"Yes." Liang Baozhen kept talking about her family. "She is naughty. She loves to go up the mountain and down the river. She runs around the village every day. When I was walking, she pestered me for my candy wrapper."
"If I see her in the future, I'll give her one."
Liang Baozhen smiled, "Okay, then I'll thank you on her behalf. I'll definitely let you two meet each other if there's a chance."
Xu Shengya is a quiet person with only a few good friends around her. After listening to what her sister-in-law said, she was secretly looking forward to meeting her sister-in-law's younger sister. After all, her sister-in-law's younger sister was so amazing that she could even go fishing in the river and climb trees to catch birds!
She doesn't know any of these.
"Sister-in-law, I'll give you a candy wrapper, too." Xu Shengyate generously let everyone choose. "What color do you like?"
How could Liang Baozhen compete with a child for this? She just smiled and shook her head, "I like them all, but your brother has no place to put them in his room. You keep them. If I want to see them, I'll come to you."
Xu Shengya thought about it and thought it was a good idea. She nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
After talking to her sister-in-law for a while, Xu Shengya finally caught a glimpse of her brother outside. She looked at the time and saw that it was getting dark. "Sister-in-law, my brother is looking for you. I have to do my homework too."
"Okay, then you should finish your homework. I'll leave first."
Liang Baozhen raised her hand to touch the girl's head, but her hand remained in the air for only two seconds. She then changed her hand to touch it with her right hand, then left the house with a smile.
Xu Shengjie, who was standing at the door, looked at his wife and the first thing he said was, "What happened to your hand?"
Liang Baozhen was pulled back into the house by the man holding her wrist, revealing several red marks on her palms. This afternoon, during the scuffle, she pressed her left hand against the wall behind her, leaving several red bloodshot marks that were burning and painful.
"I used the grass to paint it." Liang Baozhen struggled to get her hand back and quickly explained herself.
"There are two hundred and twenty dollars in the house. Didn't you ask grandma?" Xu Shengjie turned around and took out a bottle of red potion from the upper shelf of the cupboard in the living room, unscrewed the lid and placed it on the table in the room.
Liang Baozhen shook her head and said, "I was worried that grandma would be angry. I just had a few scratches."
In the past, if you had a minor scrape or bruise in the village, you would first look for herbal medicine from the mountains to treat it. The medicine was expensive and cost money, but everyone was used to it. Herbal medicine was the treasure. "I don't need to spend 220, it will be healed in a few days."
Seeing his wife's insistence, Xu Shengjie said nothing more. He grabbed her hand and pulled it in front of him, and rubbed the two hundred and two dollars on the wound with one hand, "I'll remember this matter, and I'll settle it with Uncle San and the others tomorrow."
As he spoke, he looked up at Liang Baozhen and said, "Also, if you get hurt in the future, you must tell me."
Liang Baozhen looked at Xu Shengjie's heavy eyes and was a little dazed. She didn't think it was an injury. It was normal to get some scratches in the village. It was just that when Liang Baoling was a little girl and wanted to ask for some sugar water, she would yell everywhere. It always felt weird that she, an adult, had to go and complain with a few red bloodshot eyes.
But looking at Xu Shengjie's serious look, he couldn't say no, "Oh, okay."
After hearing the satisfactory answer, Xu Shengjie lowered his head and continued to apply the medicine. The voice came again, "I won't do that again in the future."
Liang Baozhen felt the stinging pain as the medicine soaked into the wound, and was confused by the man's nonsensical words, "What do you mean you can't do it anymore?"
But the man was concentrating on applying the medicine and didn't seem to hear.
Looking at Xu Shengjie's dark hair as he lowered his head, Liang Baozhen felt that the tingling sensation from being pinched by a few fingers was gone, and her palms felt itchy instead.
...
The next day, Liang Baozhen finally understood why Xu Shengjie insisted that she go to him to complain.
Xu Shengjie took advantage of the lunch break to visit his third uncle Xu Mingliang's house. Liang Baozhen didn't know what he said. When he came back, he just said that they would not cause trouble anymore and also gave Xu Mingliang a dollar.
"Why are you kidding?" Xu Shengjie said seriously, "This is your medical expenses."
Liang Baozhen looked at the "wound" on her palm that was almost healed, and didn't dare to say anything, "Then they must be in great pain, right?"
One dollar would probably cost the life of Xu Mingliang, who loves money like his life.
"Then he has to bear it." Xu Shengjie took a sip of water and saw his younger brothers and sisters coming back from school.
As soon as Xu Shengwei dropped his bag, he went to his brother to complain. He leaped over his legs and rushed to his elder brother's side. "Brother, Wang Tiedan said I was short today."
Xu Shengjie put down the enamel cup and replied calmly, "You are so old and still complaining."
Thirteen-year-old Xu Shengwei:?
Liang Baozhen, 20 years old:? You asked me to complain yesterday.
"Brother, you said that if we are bullied, we should come back and tell you, and you will avenge us!"
"That happened when you were five years old. How old are you now? Besides, why do you want me to go to your quarrel?"
When Xu's parents passed away, Zhou Yun was the only adult at home. As the eldest brother, Xu Shengjie felt that he had to take responsibility. He was worried that his younger siblings would be bullied where he couldn't see them, so he taught them several times that they should tell him everything and not keep the grievances in their hearts.
There's nothing wrong with him except that he can't stand seeing his own people being bullied, so he has to fight back.
"That's okay, I also said he was fat!" Xu Shengwei became proud. Who wouldn't attack each other?
"Where's Xiaoya?" Xu Shengjie raised his eyebrows when he saw his brother's smug look, and asked his sister as usual, "If you're ever bullied, remember to tell me."
"No, brother, no one bullies me!" Xu Shengya was eating roasted sweet potatoes, biting them in small bites, and they were so sweet that they were almost sticky. At the end of the month, the rice at home was almost gone, after all, there was one more mouth to feed. In the last two days, they ate sweet potatoes and corn, waiting to collect rice at the beginning of the next month.
On the day when the grain station distributed rice, the sky was still dark, as if it was splashed with dark blue ink. People who were still dreaming got up early with their grain books and went to line up.
In the past, Xu Shengjie was the one who went to the Xu family. As the line was long and crowded, he did not let Zhou Yun and the two children follow. However, this time, Liang Baozhen deliberately followed.
Until now, she had only followed her parents and brother to the commune's grain station to pay in public grain. In the middle of summer, people from all over the village were carrying grain to pay in and have it weighed. She had never seen city people buying rice. Besides, she didn't have a grain quota now, so she had to go and lend a hand.
Although, Xu Shengjie might not need her help.
Zhou Yun took out the grain book from the house and handed it to Liang Baozhen, and said to them, "See if you are lucky enough to get new rice. Also, see if you have any dry grains. Take a few kilograms of grain coupons and exchange them for some."
Xu Shengjie knew all the procedures, but Zhou Yun always liked to nag him a few more words before he went out, and finally pointed at the flour bags and oil barrels on the ground and asked the two to be careful on the road.
Holding two things in each hand, Xu Shengjie and Liang Baozhen joined the team going to the grain station to buy rice. When they met their neighbors on the way, they said hello and went together.
Liang Baozhen tightly held the red-bottomed grain book covered with plastic film in her hand. On it were written in gold letters "Grain and Oil Supply Certificate for Town Residents". Driven by curiosity, she kept flipping through it and saw that inside was a record of the Xu family's monthly grain purchases, all stamped as certificates.
The grain supply was divided into smaller parts, with the monthly quota consisting mostly of coarse grains and less of fine grains. However, Xu Shengjie was a veteran, so he had preferential treatment in terms of quotas and coarse and fine grains. However, who didn’t have to worry about food these days? Every household had no food to eat, and at the end of each month they would always try to borrow grain from everywhere. At that time, there was almost no rice in the thin porridge in the pot.
"How much coarse and fine grains should we buy?"
"I eat 42 kilograms a month, my grandmother eats 30 kilograms a month, and the two children who are a little older eat 30 kilograms a month, so a total of 102 kilograms. I buy 50 kilograms of rice, 10 kilograms of flour, and 70 kilograms of coarse grains, including cornmeal, sorghum flour, and soybeans... Each person in the family eats half a kilogram of oil a month, so a total of two kilograms."
Xu Shengjie told Liang Baozhen everything one by one, and she repeated it in her mouth as if she had memorized it all.
"Where is the food station?"
"It's between the big compound and the national cotton mill. People in our area all go to the 125th grain station to collect it."
After walking for ten minutes, the group of people finally reached their destination. Liang Baozhen, who came to buy food for the first time, saw a long queue in front of them. Everyone had several bags and a bucket in their hands and were talking noisily.
Looking at the endless stream of people coming from behind, Liang Baozhen became anxious, "Let's get through quickly, there are too many people."
Having said that, he pulled Xu Shengjie's arm and trotted towards the team.
--
The 125 grain station is neither big nor small. It is located in the middle of East Street. At the back is a large yard with a warehouse where grain is stored.
There are two windows in the front. The window on the left is for people to queue up to get a receipt for buying grain. They have to let the grain station staff determine how much they can buy based on the grain book. After the receipt is issued, they have to take it to the queue on the right for weighing the grain and wait.
I was lucky to get the new rice, otherwise I would have to carry the stale rice back.
A few years ago, there was a fight between some people over new and old rice, and then the grain stations just messed up the situation at will, depending on luck.
As soon as you enter the grain station, the aroma of grain, oil, rice and flour wafting in the air stirs the residents' nerves.
"You have to wait for a while. You should get some sleep. You can come back in an hour or two." Xu Shengjie stood in the queue. He was tall and could always pay attention to the movements in front of him.
Many families line up alone, and when it's almost their turn, they ask someone to go back and ask someone to bring their belongings with them.
"It's okay. This is my first time here and I find it quite fresh." Liang Baozhen held the grain book tightly and looked around. She found everything interesting.
However, those queuing there were all city residents who had been here countless times, so they didn't feel anything new and were very alert.
"Hey, what are you doing in line?"
"Who cut in line? Stop talking nonsense!"
Suddenly there was a commotion coming from the back, and many people in the front turned their heads to see what was happening.
Whenever there is a queue, there is always the issue of people cutting in line. When a middle-aged woman was cut in line by a middle-aged man, she immediately pulled the man back.
"What? Do you think I'm afraid of you? Everyone come and see, this shameless old man is cutting in line! How shameful! He is so shameless at his age."
"Bah! Are you yelling again?"
"Just yell! Do you dare to attack me?"
After working hard to queue up early in the morning, everyone hated people who cut in line. Seeing this, they all stood on the side of the aunt and started to blame the grandfather who cut in line.
"How can a queue-jumper talk so loudly?"
"Have some manners and don't do shameful things!"
There were also people who came out to act as peacemakers, saying, "Alright, alright, calm down so early in the morning. Everyone, calm down."
The matter was not resolved until the grain station workers in white coats and white hats came out to maintain order.
Liang Baozhen stood in the front and watched the excitement for a while. She also mixed in with the crowd and scolded the old man who cut in line. When she saw the line behind her was getting longer and longer, she felt someone pulling her braid.
"It's our turn."
Xu Shengjie signaled Liang Baozhen to hand the ration book to the white-coated worker at the grain station. The ration book with a red background and gold-embossed words was opened, and the number of people and the amount of rations supplied to the family were calculated. The worker in the white coat quickly uttered a few words.
"20 catties of rice, 20 catties of millet, 10 catties of flour, 26 catties of corn flour and sorghum flour each, and 2 catties of vegetable oil."
"Comrade, I see we have some dried taro. Please help us exchange it for 20 kilograms." Xu Shengjie had sharp eyes.
"One pound of grain can be exchanged for five pounds of dried taro, and 24 pounds of corn flour and sorghum flour each. Go over there and wait."
Lei Lifeng decided on the quotas, and the white-coated staff waved their hands to tell them to hurry up, and shouted to the ones behind them, "Next one."
My throat is hoarse after a day of work.
They waited in line for an hour at the place where food was weighed, and finally it was their turn.
The man who weighed the grain took the receipt, squinted his eyes to look at it, and started to pack the rice and grain. After weighing it, he poured it into the bag brought by Xu Shengjie, and everything was done.
Finally, she turned on the switch to receive the cooking oil. It was two kilograms, and the weight was very thin. Liang Baozhen watched the deep yellow cooking oil with a strong aroma being poured into her own bucket, and she seemed to smell the aroma of cooking.
After buying all the things, including rice, flour, cornmeal, sorghum flour, dried taro, and vegetable oil, it weighed more than 100 kilograms in total, and Xu Shengjie carried it easily.
"Give me a bag." Liang Baozhen and Xu Shengjie squeezed out of the crowd and finally breathed in the fresh air.
"No, we don't need two people for this." Xu Shengjie just asked her to get the food.
...
The white rice was poured into the rice box, and the whole family watched eagerly. They thought the raw rice also smelled good, so fragrant!
"Xiaojie, how is Baozhen's work going?" Zhou Yun asked his grandson to ask.
At that time, Xu Mingyuan and his wife fell into the river outside. Logically, it had nothing to do with the factory, but the National Cotton Mill gave them 20 yuan in pension and reserved a job for them considering that they were a family of orphans and widows.
But Xu Shengjie was still young at that time, and Xu Mingliang's family was eyeing him covetously, so Zhou Yun let a child of a distant relative take over the job and collected five yuan a month. He would wait for the child of the Xu family to grow up and take the job back.
However, Xu Shengjie joined the army, and the matter of getting a job was put on hold. When he was discharged from the army, he was assigned a job by the army, and it did not take up that quota.
"I went to ask about it the day before yesterday, and I had to go through the formalities with the factory director, but he said that Director Xue had something to do at home and would be back in a few days."
"That's fine. Just ask around."
The Beijing National Cotton Mill has two factory sites. The first factory was founded 40 years ago in the east of Beijing. It experienced many wars and was severely damaged. It was rebuilt after the founding of the People's Republic of China. The second factory was founded 10 years ago and is located in the west of Beijing. Many workers from the first factory moved there.
Xu Shengjie's parents were originally workers in Factory 1. After he retired from the army, he was assigned to the carding workshop of Factory 2.
In the combing workshop of the second factory, workers were operating machines. The machines of the National Cotton Mill were quite old, some of them were even bigger than the young workers, so malfunctions often occurred.
It is necessary to have someone keep an eye on it and make adjustments at any time.
If some machines have serious faults, we have to ask the old masters in the factory or Xu Shengjie to take care of them.
Xu Shengjie is smart and learns quickly. He can understand something after studying and pondering it over and over again.
At this moment, he had just finished helping a co-worker check the machine and stood up to go outside to wash his hands.
"Old Xu!" Hong Saner followed him out eagerly, and whispered beside the sink, "Are we going to work in the factory all the time?"
Last time, Qiao Moteng bought a urea bag and dyed it to make pants, which sold very well. Hong Saner got a full 80 yuan. Although Xu Shengjie got the bag and he came up with the idea of dyeing and covering the words, it was Hong Saner who found the market.
He was a little timid at first, but later he saw that the urea pants were very popular and he wished he could produce dozens or hundreds of them.
"The punishment for speculation and profiteering outside is very strict. Do you really want to go in?" Xu Shengjie poured water on his face, shook his hands and prepared to drink a glass of water.
The weather is hot and my mouth is dry and uncomfortable.
"Old Xu, Brother Xu, Brother Jie!" Hong Saner did not give up and kept chasing them. He thought his brother was very capable and had good ideas since he was young. It had only been a short time since he came back, but he could already earn him 80 yuan, which was two months' salary for him.
"You weren't like this before. Why are you so slow all of a sudden? There are many people out there doing things like this. Take the black market for example. There are many people in the black market!" He has no other skills, but he has many friends and connections, and he likes to ask questions. "Chen Yong's nephew has even bought things on the black market."
"You know a lot." Xu Shengjie was amused by this man.
"Of course not, so what are we afraid of? Besides, we are also cautious and won't be easily discovered."
Xu Shengjie shook his head, patted his brother on the shoulder, and said earnestly, "You are not married and have a family, so you don't understand these things. You have a heavy responsibility on your shoulders, so you must be more careful."
Hong Saner looked at Xu Shengjie's back as he left, and stood there for a while, thinking, "Hey, who are you eyeing? Really! It's just marrying a wife, I...I'll find one tomorrow!"
...
Since I got married, the topics of conversation among different people have changed.
At noon in the cafeteria, everyone got some food and ate together. Hong Saner noticed that Xu Shengjie was being talked to by several married co-workers, and he couldn't get a word in the conversation.
"This enamel cup was given to me by the factory. She saw that my cup had been used for a long time, so she gave me a new one." Engineer Liu was drinking water from an enamel cup with Comrade Lei Feng's portrait printed on it, looking very proud.
He got married half a year ago. His wife is a cotton carding worker in a factory.
"My wife asks me questions every day. In the morning when I go out, she asks me to come back early. In the evening when I come home, she asks me how my day went."
"Of course not. You should tell me what time you will be going home in the morning."
Xu Shengjie was eating his meal at the side, listening to what Liu Gong had said. He might as well have asked himself this question.
"Xiao Xu, you've only been married for half a month, right? How do you feel? Is it different now that you have a family and a wife?"
"Of course. Xiao Xu looks like a popular guy among women. His wife must be dying to stick to him."
Xu Shengjie gulped down the food, responded vaguely, and took the aluminum lunch box to rinse under the faucet. Several workers were still talking behind him. He couldn't help but ponder for a moment, remembering Liang Baozhen's appearance.
Is it always like that?
After breakfast the next day, Xu Shengjie lingered at the door, turning around several times to look at Liang Baozhen, seeming to want to say something but stopping himself.
"What's wrong?" Liang Baozhen and Liu Nianhua agreed to make clothes together yesterday, and she was looking for needles and thread in the house. She was going to knit a pair of gloves for winter use. Yesterday, she heard her grandmother talk about frostbite, which is very common in winter and makes people feel uncomfortable.
But in the blink of an eye, he saw Xu Shengjie staring at him, his gaze flickering.
"You don't have anything to tell me?"
After searching in the cupboard for a long time, she finally found the pair of old labor protection gloves that her grandmother had mentioned before. Liang Baozhen didn't even raise her head and asked, "What did you say?"
Xu Shengjie touched his nose and shook his head. "That's nothing. Do you want labor protection gloves?"
"Well, I'll undo the threads and weave a new pair." Liang Baozhen took out the gloves and shook off the dust. It was said that these gloves were issued by the factory many years ago. They already had several holes in them and were very worn. "But there are too few of them. I don't know if I can weave a new pair."
"I'll go to the factory's scrap warehouse and look for something. I think I can get something." Xu Shengjie heard from his co-workers a few days ago that many female workers picked up discarded labor protection gloves and took them apart to make scarves and gloves.
"Really? Well, remember to bring it back. If you bring a lot, everyone in our family will weave a new pair."
"Um."
Xu Shengjie looked at the time. It was getting late. If he didn't go out now, he would be late. He took two steps and looked back at Liang Baozhen. "Well, I'm going to the factory director to ask about your work today. After work, I'm going to Hong Saner's house. His father said that there will be pig offal today. No tickets are required. Shall we buy some to eat?"
"good!"
"Okay, I might come back twenty minutes later tonight."
"Okay, we'll wait for you." Thinking about having pork offal to eat, they were willing to wait no matter how long. The family had two kilograms of meat tickets per month, and they had to save one kilogram every month to make bacon during the New Year. It was really greedy on weekdays.
In the first few days after getting married, we ate meat several times at home, and used up a lot of the meat coupons we had saved before. After that, we had to live frugally.
This meat that doesn't require a ticket has become a hot commodity.
However, watching Xu Shengjie leave, Liang Baozhen suddenly realized that something was wrong. Was it because this man talked a little too much before leaving today?
Today the two younger ones went to school, Zhou Yun went to the home of an old sister in the next door compound to help someone look for a grandson's wife, and Liang Baozhen took her needle and thread and labor protection gloves, closed the door, and went to the west room.
Liu Nianhua was sweeping the floor in front of the door. When he saw Liang Baozhen coming, he put down his broom and went to greet her. "Baozhen, have you eaten? I made steamed steamed buns today."
"I've eaten it, I'm not begging for money." Life is not easy for everyone, and rice and flour are precious. How can we eat other people's food?
Liang Baozhen was welcomed into the house by Liu Nianhua and ran into her man Zhou Guoping head-on.
At this time, Liu Nianhua's two sons Xiaolong and Xiaohu have gone to school, and her husband has also gone to work. Logically, she should be the only one at home, but Zhou Guoping swapped shifts with someone else last Sunday, and it was someone else's turn to return today. Zhou Guoping is a bus driver, big and kind, and he smiled and greeted Liang Baozhen.
"Xiao Xu's wife is here? Come upstairs." Zhou Guoping helped to take out a few oranges from home as a treat. "Have some fruit. These were picked by another driver at the city gate. They are quite sweet, not sour."
"Thank you, Brother Zhou."
As a grown man, he didn't want to get involved in the affairs of two women, so he turned around and went to his son's room. Before leaving, he asked Liang Baozhen to stay at home and talk slowly. He also reminded his wife to take headache powder when she was free and not to bear it blindly.
Seeing that everyone was leaving, Liang Baozhen started talking to Liu Nianhua. She had met Zhou Guoping once before, and had always heard from Zhou Yun that they were a loving family, and a well-known good family in the courtyard. When the street office selected the five good families two years ago, Zhou Guoping and Liu Nianhua's family were selected, and now there is a sign with yellow characters on a red background that says "Five Good Families" on the gate wall.
When I saw it today, it was just as the rumors said.
"Sister Hua, do you have a headache? Brother Zhou really cares about you."
Liu Nianhua nodded, pressing his temples with a bit of discomfort, "It's an old problem, I always get headaches, I can only take some headache powder to relieve it."
After Liu Nianhua took the headache powder and looked better, the two of them took apart their labor protection gloves and prepared to weave them again. While working, Liu Nianhua was also busy, asking about Liang Baozhen's marriage.
"How is it to get married? I think Xiao Xu is a nice person, and he is always helpful to others. You made the right choice."
"It's pretty good." Liang Baozhen recalled the way Xu Shengjie applied medicine to her. Her face felt a little hot, and she immediately changed the subject, "Sister Hua, when did you get married?"
"It's been so many years. I wouldn't have remembered it if you hadn't asked me." After being married for many years, Liu Nianhua only felt that the days passed by one after another, and in the blink of an eye, the children were in elementary school.
At that time, her father was a bus driver. Her mother was injured after giving birth to Liu Nianhua and could no longer have children. She was the only daughter in the family. The family lived a good life, but Zhou Guoping was still poor. She was the eldest of a series of brothers and sisters and was skinny and hungry.
At that time, both parents were not in favor of the two of them being together, but Liu Nianhua felt that Zhou Guoping was good to her and insisted on marrying him. This marriage lasted nearly ten years, and Zhou Guoping also replaced her father's job as a bus driver.
"Everyone in the compound says that your family is the best. You were even named a five-good family." Liang Baozhen was a little surprised to see Liu Nianhua still wearing patched clothes on her first day in the compound. Logically, her family's conditions shouldn't have been that bad. Later, when her grandmother mentioned it, she realized that Liu Nianhua had always been thrifty and liked to save money. She used it to dress her husband and children well, and she rarely bought cloth to make new clothes for herself.
Talking about the "Five Good Families", Liu Nianhua smiled shyly. It was indeed the honor of her family. She still remembered that when the street office came to her home to award prizes two years ago, many people came to watch and said that she had found a good man and her children were sensible.
The two people fiddled with the gloves while talking, and soon they took the gloves apart. One person held the thread with both hands, while the other person rolled the thread with his hands alternately, wrapped the thread into a ball, and then began to knit the gloves.
"It's cold in the winter, and my hands get frozen when I wash clothes. Frostbite is itchy and uncomfortable, so it's good to have a pair of gloves to get through the winter." Liu Nianhua has a lot of experience, and even in the summer he still feels his fingers itching when he thinks about this.
Liang Baozhen had never suffered from frostbite in winter before. At that time, Liang Zhigao and Liang Baojun were the ones who did the laundry. Song Chunhua was worried about hurting the ladies and said that their grandfathers had thick skin and were not afraid of frostbite.
"Sister Hua, you should let Brother Zhou wash it. Men are not afraid of freezing."
Liu Nianhua was stunned, then shook his head, "I'm just at home now."
In the blink of an eye, it was eleven o'clock. Liang Baozhen packed her things and prepared to go home to make lunch. She stood up to say goodbye to Liu Nianhua, and then said goodbye to Zhou Guoping who was waiting in the house.
"Mrs. Xiao Xu, please eat first before you leave." Zhou Guoping was hospitable and smiled as he invited her to stay.
"Yes, we have some wild vegetable pancakes that we made yesterday at home. You can eat them here."
Facing the couple's persuasion, Liang Baozhen firmly refused, "No, grandma will be back soon, I'll go back and heat up some food and we can eat. You guys eat slowly, I'm leaving now and won't disturb you anymore."
"Well, let's make an appointment to weave together tomorrow."
Zhou Guoping followed him to the door and saw the guest off.
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