"Thank you, sir. I'll wait at the door."
Liu Jianguo ran out and exclaimed, "Hongmei, Jingze, you're here too?"
Liu Jingze smiled gently, "Yes, I'm on vacation. I'm waiting to go home with Hongmei. I was thinking of inviting you two to have dinner together on Sunday."
“I teach small classes on Sundays, either day or night, so I go there after get off work in the morning.”
"Alright, Brother Jianguo, here's some biscuits for you. We won't keep you any longer, you can go to work now."
"Hongmei, have you finished your exams? When are you coming home?"
"I went back on October 1st. Will you be able to go back this year?"
“Our maintenance team takes turns resting. I’m on leave from the first to the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Please tell my mom when you get back.”
"Okay, you'll have to walk back, right? Are there any buses available those days?"
"There will be one bus a day from the 30th to the 5th of the lunar new year, so don't worry."
"Okay, then we're off."
"Okay, I can't be out for too long. Hongmei, please walk slowly."
As Liu Jianguo walked back, he wondered why Liu Jingze was so sociable. He had always been different from other children when they were young, and rarely played with them.
Liu Jianguo turned around and looked at the two figures. He could hear Zhang Hongmei's laughter, probably because Liu Jingze had said something. He saw Liu Jingze pat Zhang Hongmei's head.
The two of them seemed to get along very well.
Liu Jianguo shook his head and jogged back to work.
The two wandered over to the power supply bureau, where Da Shan and his colleagues were currently undergoing training, which should have covered basic electrical circuit knowledge.
"Grandpa, I'm here to see Liu Qingshan."
"Wait a minute, they'll be done in ten minutes. I'll go get them for you in a bit."
Thank you.
After class, Da Shan was told that someone was looking for him, and it must be Zhang Hongmei.
"Hongmei, is it Brother Jingze?"
"Dashan, are you adjusting well here?"
"Jingze, I'm doing great. We're all keeping each other company. Hongmei, how's your exam?"
"It's alright. You guys go home for dinner on Sunday. I'll be home on the eleventh day of the twelfth lunar month."
"Really? That's great! We'll go back on the fifteenth."
Hongmei, what delicious food are you going to make for us?
"Sorghum rice, spicy tofu, all you can eat."
"That's great, they must be very happy."
Let's go back and go fishing. I want to eat your fish balls. Don't worry, I'll kill the fish and chop the meat. You just need to cook, okay?
"Jingze, are you going back for the National Day holiday too?"
"Yes. I'll go back with Hongmei."
"Sure, as long as there are big fish, I'll make fish balls for you."
Da Shan felt that Liu Jingze was a bit cold, but he didn't take it to heart. They hadn't spent much time playing together when they were young, so he didn't know him very well. But after all, they were from the same clan and cousins within five degrees of kinship, so he didn't pay any attention to it.
Hongmei also sensed it and looked at Liu Jingze with a puzzled expression.
Liu Jingze was also annoyed with himself. What was wrong with him? They all grew up in the same village, so it was only natural that Hongmei was close to them. It was so petty of him to get angry over this.
"Dashan, what kind of work do you guys do on Sundays? Jianguo goes there in the morning."
"We don't have time off; we can only go out after the training ends at night."
"Then, shall we have our gathering tonight?"
Liu Jingze was trying his best to make up for his mistake, so he took the initiative to speak.
Neither Dashan nor Zhang Hongmei were petty or calculative people, so they let it go and didn't care.
"Brother Dashan, I'm heading back now. Don't stay up late for class. Will you be home by 5?"
"I should be home by 5:30 at the latest."
"Alright, you'll be able to eat as soon as you get home. Go on in."
Zhang Hongmei and the other woman walked back. "Jingze, shall we go check out the black market?"
"Okay, but there probably isn't anything good there. Let's go take a look; if you're lucky, you might stumble upon something good?"
"I'm really lucky! It's not even four o'clock yet, let's go take a look."
"Hehe, it's fine if it's later. It's just the two of us, so there's nothing urgent."
The two of them went to the street that Zhang Hongmei often went to.
Now that it's December, many people are already preparing for the New Year, so there are still quite a lot of people.
The two strolled around, looking left and right, but couldn't find anything they needed. However, Zhang Hongmei wanted to buy some dried cabbage and decided to come back later to buy it, otherwise she would have to carry it around.
I walked all the way to the end but didn't find any grain for sale, though there was one selling soybean cakes. These were probably leftover ingredients from pressing soybean oil. They cost one yuan per jin (500g), and quite a few people were buying them.
"Brother Jingze, are you going to buy this to eat?" Zhang Hongmei asked Liu Jingze in a low voice.
"Yes, I'll buy it to eat."
Zhang Hongmei clicked her tongue, thinking, "This person's eating is just...something else!" But she didn't say it aloud. Instead, Liu Jingze dragged her away.
Liu Jingze held Zhang Hongmei's hand, and even though the girl was wearing gloves, he still felt a sweet warmth in his heart. Walking hand-in-hand down the street, they felt happy.
Zhang Hongmei wondered why she hadn't seen Sun Changquan.
Before they even reached the dried cabbage stall, they heard a sharp whistle. Liu Jingze grabbed Zhang Hongmei and started running. The streets were in chaos now. It was convenient for shoppers to run away, but it was troublesome for vendors, who had to pack up their goods.
The two moved quickly and ran out of the street in no time.
Zhang Hongmei gasped for breath, "It was quite exciting. Let's hurry home. Lady Luck wasn't on my side today."
"Heh, scared now?"
"No, I didn't do anything. What's there to be afraid of?"
The two got home at five o'clock. "Jingze, shall we make noodles and tomato and egg sauce?"
"Okay, I'll eat whatever you make."
Zhang Hongmei thought to herself that if she were to wait for someone else to cook for her, she would be fine with eating anything.
The next day, after breakfast, Liu Jingze asked Zhang Hongmei, "Hongmei, I'm going to see Third Master today, are you coming?"
"I'm not going, you go by yourself? Are you coming back for lunch?" Zhang Hongmei thought to herself, I'm not going. Liu Changhai must have had a disagreement with the old lady. They're a family, and I'm an outsider here, so it's not convenient for them to say anything.
Liu Jingze was overjoyed; even his reluctance to go see Liu Changhai was overshadowed by Zhang Hongmei's words, "Come back for dinner." It was like a wife asking her husband who had just left the house.
"Of course I'm back. Can you make me some pancakes?"
"Okay, I'll make you some meat patties. There's some smoked meat left. Let's eat it all today."
"That's great, I'll be right back. Wait for me to start the fire for you."
"No need to rush."
Liu Jingze was even happier. He kept all the delicious red plums for himself. They were really too good to him.
Zhang Hongmei: You're overthinking it. There's not much meat, and we won't be able to go anywhere for the gathering the day after tomorrow, so it's better to eat it now.
Liu Jingze rode his bicycle to the municipal government to see Liu Changhai.
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