"Brother Li Gang..."
"Brother Chu? Why are you here at this time?"
Chu Tian sat down and said with a smile, "We are here to pay our taxes today..."
Li Gang suddenly realized, "So you've finished paying?"
Chu Tian shook his head, "How is that possible? There are more than a dozen teams ahead of me..."
Li Gang paused while pouring the water, then handed the teacup to Chu Tian and said with a smile, "Then you won't be able to queue today."
Chu Tian was stunned. "Brother Li Gang, what do you mean?"
Li Gang turned around and sat on a chair and said with a smile, "Our brigade also delivered food this morning. We were still the first in line, but it was almost twelve o'clock before we finished delivering."
Chu Tian looked at Li Gang in disbelief, "No way? Is it going to take so long? It wasn't this slow in previous years!"
Li Gang spread his hands. "There weren't any in previous years. Didn't they change the stationmaster this year? This stationmaster is very strict. Every bag of grain must be weighed first and then poured out and inspected. If there is even one bag that doesn't meet the rules, it will be sent back..."
“····”
Chu Tian rubbed his forehead helplessly after hearing this, and said after a while, "Forget it, never mind, if I can't get in, I'll just wait until tomorrow morning to pay!"
After a pause, he continued, "Brother Li Gang, can you get any glass bottles recently?"
Li Gang was stunned for a moment, then said, "The person at the city glass factory who usually supplies me with bottles said last month that they have no spare bottles to sell..."
Before Chu Tian showed any sign of disappointment, Li Gang continued, "I can't get new ones, but I got a batch of glucose water bottles from an acquaintance at the city hospital some time ago. Do you want some?"
Chu Tian blinked and nodded without hesitation, "Okay, how many are there?"
"You want the glass bottle for tomato sauce, right?"
"I also wanted to prepare more tomato sauce because my grandfather likes to eat tomato dumpling soup."
After a pause, Li Gang continued, "By the way, I collected 150 of them. I can only make 60 or 70 bottles of tomato sauce at most. I was planning to sell them to someone else, but if you don't mind, I can give you half the price."
Chu Tian chuckled, "What's there to be disgusted with? Every autumn, there are still glass bottles sold on the black market that have been used for who knows how long..."
"We actually have a few glass bottles at home, but my wife said some time ago that the tomatoes at home are growing well, and she wants to make more tomato sauce so that she can have more edible dishes in winter..."
Chu Tian knew about the glucose bottles used in the hospital. When he was little, he heard from the elders in his family that because the winter in Xinjiang was cold and there was not much food to eat, everyone tried every means to save glass bottles to make tomato sauce. At that time, the most popular ones were the glucose bottles in the hospital, and there was nowhere to buy them.
Li Gang nodded. "Okay, when I collected them, I exchanged five kilograms of rice for these 150. I'll take advantage of you and give you 75 of them. Just give me three kilograms of rice."
"How could you take advantage of me? It's obviously me who took advantage of you..."
Chu Tian did some calculations and thought to himself, what a bargain! Three kilograms of rice on the black market would cost no more than five yuan at most, while a new glass bottle at the supply and marketing cooperative would cost ten cents. Seventy-five glass bottles would cost seven and a half yuan...
Li Gang smiled and waved his hands, "Hey, we're already so familiar with each other, what's the point of talking about cheap or not."
Chu Tian curled his lips and smiled, "Then next time I deliver the rice, I'll ask my brother to bring it to you."
Li Gang nodded, "Okay, no rush."
After a pause, he asked again, "How are you going to take these glass bottles?"
Chu Tian thought for a moment and said, "Maybe I can't get it today. How about paying the grain tax tomorrow? Then I'll drive the team's carriage to get it. I'll just have to trouble Brother Li Gang to help me pack the bottles."
After discussing everything, Chu Tian raised his hand and saw that it was already past one o'clock. He borrowed a jar from Xu Fei's house, filled it with boiled water and left.
"I've been walking for over an hour, and our team hasn't moved forward at all?"
Chu Tian returned to the team and gave Sun Weiguo and others the water he brought. Looking at the many carriages lined up behind his own team, he frowned.
Chu Min took a sip of water and said calmly, "It moved, but it only moved less than 20 meters!"
Chu Jie sighed, "Get ready to spend the night here! The captain has already sent someone back to inform everyone, and he also asked someone to prepare lunch and dinner rations for everyone in the company kitchen."
"Oh, right, the rations for the people delivering public grain will be provided by the brigade, the captain said!"
Chu Tian, "..."
Sure enough, the staff of the regiment headquarters left at the end of their get off work day, and it was not their team's turn yet. There were still three teams to go. It was impossible to pull more than ten carts of public grain back at this time.
Because there are nearly ten other teams behind their team, it is unrealistic to go back at this time. First, it is one thing that they will not be able to get a place tomorrow, and second, it is also troublesome to go back and forth. It is better to wait where they are...
Fortunately, Captain Sun of their team thought of it in advance and asked the team members to go back early to get a lot of food. Although they only ate some cornmeal cakes and sweet potatoes, at least everyone was able to eat their fill, which was better than other teams that were not prepared at all.
The temperature difference between morning and evening in Xinjiang is huge. In mid-October, the daytime temperature can sometimes reach 30 degrees Celsius, but at night it is only around 10 degrees Celsius, which is more than double the temperature. If you just stay there at night, you could freeze to death. So Chu Tian, Chu Jie and others found a lot of tree roots and lit them next to the carriage for everyone to warm themselves...
At the entrance to the steel plant's staff dormitory, Liu Jiali frowned slightly. "Yao Youjun, my dad said you saved up two months of vacation. What's going on? Why are you taking such a long vacation all of a sudden?"
Yao Youjun watched as their director's daughter blocked the door to his dormitory. He also watched as people from the neighboring dormitories came out to watch the fun. He felt a headache coming on. "Hey, Comrade Liu Jiali, this is a men's dormitory. Why are you here?"
Liu Jiali pursed her lips slightly, pointed at the bag in his hand unhappily, and said, "I asked you a question, and you haven't answered me yet! Why did you take such a long leave? What are you going to do?"
Yao Youjun rubbed his temples with a headache and patiently explained, "I haven't been home since I came to the steel plant. I want to take advantage of the six-day holiday to go back home and visit."
In fact, at the beginning, apprentices were not allowed to accumulate vacations and take consecutive vacations. However, some apprentices who were not children of steel plant employees felt that if they were not allowed to take consecutive vacations, they would not be able to go home for several months, which was too inhumane. So they joined forces and complained to the trade union. Seeing this, the trade union discussed with the leaders of the steel plant and agreed that as long as the apprentices' master and workshop director agreed, they could accumulate vacations and take consecutive vacations.
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