The only ones who can afford to raise her are her parents, who only have this one child.
"That's true, but with her strength, we couldn't find anyone like her in our entire brigade of several hundred people."
"Too"
While he was packing his things in the house, the brigade leader told his mother about his situation.
She quickly grabbed a change of clothes, took a quick hot shower, and washed the dirty clothes. The whole process took about half an hour. While she was hanging the clothes to dry, the other workers returned. Seeing an elderly man about the same age as the old lady, she knew he was the team leader's father. Behind him was a woman about the same age as the team leader's uncle, who she knew was the team leader's wife. They also had several children. Just as she was about to greet them, she heard Grandma Gu come out of the house and say, "Old man, is this the Mianmian mentioned in the letter?"
"Mianmian, this is your Grandpa Gu, my old man."
"Hello, Grandpa Gu"
"This is your captain's wife, my daughter-in-law. You can just call her 'Auntie'."
Hello, Auntie.
"These are the old woman's grandsons, the eldest is called..."
"My name is Gu Yunpeng, and I'm 15 years old."
"Hello, Li Mianmian, 14 years old"
"My name is Gu Yuncheng, and I'm 13 years old."
"Hello"
"My name is Gu Yunwan, and I'm 11 years old."
"Hello"
"My name is Gu Yunli, and I'm 9 years old."
"Hello"
"My name is Gu Liqiu, and I'm 7 years old."
"Hello"
"My name is Gu Lixia, and I'm five years old."
"Hello," she said, taking out some fruit candies from her pocket and offering two to each person. When none of them accepted, she had no choice but to give the candies directly to Grandma Gu, saying, "Grandma Gu, please share them with them."
"That won't do. These were bought with money; you can keep them for yourself."
"No need, Grandma, there's still plenty of candy! Besides, I don't like candy anyway."
"What child doesn't love sweets? It's true, but Grandma doesn't want them."
"If you don't want it, then you can stay here."
"You, you child, you really are something else."
"Alright, old woman, the children are yours, just take them, but you can't give them all to them at once, understand?"
"You don't need to tell me, I already know. Mianmian, Grandma thanks you for the candy."
"You're welcome, Grandma. If anyone should be thanking someone, it's you all."
"This child is just being polite. Alright, I won't chat with you anymore. Eldest daughter-in-law, come and help us get the food. We can talk about it on the kang (heated brick bed) later. Let's eat first."
"Hey, let me help."
And so, this was my first meal at the brigade. Although it wasn't white flour steamed buns, but just cornbread, it was still the best meal I had. The vegetables were the most common ones for this time of year, so there wasn't much to compare. But the only thing that I found delicious was the soybean paste on the table. It was incredibly tasty, especially with the scallions.
During the meal, the Gu family members were not talkative and each ate their own food. However, the only difference was that I was happily eating scallions with sauce while the others were secretly watching me. It wasn't because I ate a lot, but because they didn't expect me to eat scallions with sauce. They thought city people wouldn't be used to this taste.
Grandma Gu didn't ask me until we finished eating, "Mianmian, I thought you didn't like this scallion with sauce."
"No, I think it tastes great. How could I not like it?"
"Really?" Aunt Gu asked.
"Yes! This soybean paste tastes great; it's your Aunt Gu's specialty."
"Really? Aunt Gu, you're amazing!"
"No, no, I only know how to make soybean paste."
"Aunt Gu isn't just being polite, it really is delicious. You wouldn't believe it, back when we were in the military region, they made soybean paste too, but it tasted nowhere near as good as this."
"Really? Then I'll teach you later," Aunt Gu said happily.
"Okay."
"Mianmian, it's not that I'm praising your aunt, but she really is the only one in our brigade who can make good soybean paste. Everyone else was taught by her step by step, but none of them can make it as good as hers. I don't know why, but everyone else's is just a little bit lacking."
"Yeah?"
"Yes, after everyone else finished making them, they were brought over for my mother to try, and the taste was just different," Gu Liqiu said.
"Then I'll have to study it properly."
"Your name is Li Mianmian, right? From now on, we'll all call you Mianmian," Grandpa Gu said.
"Grandpa Gu, you can just go directly to Mianmian."
"From now on, you can stay at home and treat this place as your own."
"Grandpa Gu, Grandma Gu, Uncle Captain, Aunt Gu, we don't actually plan to live at your house for long."
"Child, why? Did we do something wrong?" Grandma Gu asked quickly.
"Grandma Gu, listen to me, I don't think you did anything wrong, on the contrary, you did too well."
Why is that?
"Old woman, listen to the child first," Old Gu said, looking at the child before him. From the first moment he saw her, he knew she was someone who needed rest, so he asked...
"Grandpa Gu, Uncle Gu, when you received the letter, did it explain why I was going to the countryside?"
"He didn't go into details, just said that things weren't safe in the city," said Captain Gu.
"Isn't it because they're eyeing your parents' pension money?" Grandma Gu asked.
"Grandma Gu, if it's just because of this, it's not a big deal. My parents are locals from Beijing. If anyone dares to have designs on this, they can go directly to the military region and find the leaders there, or the government."
"Why is that?" Grandma Gu asked.
Although the others didn't ask anything, they were all listening to what was to come.
"Uncle Gu, are you aware of the job recruitment situation in the county town in the past year or two?"
"I know a little. I've heard that in the last two years, the city has been recruiting mostly children of existing workers. Is there a problem with that? Isn't that the norm?"
"Yes, Grandma Gu said so too."
"Mianmian, what do you want to say?" Grandpa Gu asked, his brows furrowed. He knew the child in front of him came from a big city and wouldn't say such things without reason, so he let the child speak.
“In the past, soldiers who retired from the military could generally be assigned to local factories or other units. However, in the last two years, factories have only recruited children of existing employees, and even then, it requires passing various exams. As a result, many children of existing employees are not guaranteed a job.”
"What? This...this..." Grandma Gu asked in surprise. Her youngest daughter was graduating from high school this year, she was 18! While we're still in school, she was already engaged and married.
"Old woman, listen to what Mianmian has to say."
"Yes, tell Mianmian."
"The children of workers are mostly unemployed and wander around the city, becoming mostly layabouts. The recent policy requiring urban residents to go to the countryside as educated youth is a response to this; previously, it was encouraged to do so voluntarily."
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