60s: I have a store

Chapter 654 Master Gu

Zhou Yimin only breathed a sigh of relief when the truck convoy completely disappeared at the end of the road.

He leaned against a pillar at the factory gate, feeling his bones screaming with exhaustion.

From research and development to production and transportation, I've been working non-stop for the past two weeks, my nerves have been constantly on edge. Now that I can finally relax for a while, the long-accumulated fatigue surges in like a tide, and my eyelids feel as heavy as if they were weighed down by lead.

The setting sun cast long shadows of the two people, and suddenly the factory's loudspeaker rang, signaling the end of the workday.

Zhou Yimin rubbed his aching temples and turned to look at Li Chongguang beside him. The latter was gazing absently at the sunset, his dark circles even more pronounced than Zhou's. "Section Chief Li,"

Zhou Yimin suddenly spoke up: "I've been so busy lately, but I still have some cured meat that I made a few days ago. If you don't mind, why don't you come over to my place for a simple meal?"

Li Chongguang turned around, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes, then smiled: "Then I won't stand on ceremony, it'll be a good opportunity to rest my feet."

Zhou Yimin drove the motorcycle, and Li Chongguang rode the bicycle behind him. Since Zhou Yimin was not driving very fast, Li Chongguang was able to keep up with him.

But later I started thinking, when will I be able to get a motorcycle to ride?

Soon the two arrived at a courtyard house, and Zhou Yimin stopped the car.

Zhou Yimin's home is in a courtyard house. Pushing open the mottled wooden door, a faint fragrance of locust blossoms wafts out.

Li Chongguang followed them inside, but suddenly stopped—the scene in the courtyard surprised him.

It wasn't as old and messy as I had imagined. The ground paved with blue bricks was swept clean, and a small flower bed was enclosed by broken bricks in the corner, where roses and henna were planted and blooming brightly.

You should know that these courtyard houses are definitely not inhabited by just one family. Some people will put things around the perimeter for convenience.

Therefore, many courtyard houses are obviously very dirty and messy when you enter them, and some large tenement houses are even dirtier and more messy.

"This yard is really well tidied up." Li Chongguang couldn't help but admire it. He had visited many of his colleagues' homes, and most of them were cluttered with miscellaneous items. It was rare to see one as clean and tidy as this.

Zhou Yimin chuckled and scratched his head: "The people in the compound are quite clean, it has little to do with me."

Li Chongguang followed him into the house, where there was no one else inside.

The furnishings were simple yet neat. A blue and white checkered tablecloth covered the octagonal table, and several well-worn mechanical manuals were placed on the bookshelf against the wall. Next to them was a rough ceramic vase with two freshly picked locust flowers in it.

A copy of a landscape painting hangs on the wall. Although the brushstrokes are not particularly exquisite, they reveal a serious attitude.

"I didn't expect you to keep your house so tidy, even though you live alone," Li Chongguang said sincerely, looking around at the furnishings.

Moreover, the style of decoration is exactly what he likes, and since his house has been under renovation for a long time, plaster keeps falling off the walls, so he's thinking about whether to renovate it.

Zhou Yimin walked towards the kitchen: "It was just a waste of time. You sit down first, I'll go get something to eat, it'll be ready soon."

The kitchen was filled with the rustling of rice being rinsed and the clattering of vegetables being chopped. Li Chongguang sat on a bench, watching the locust leaves swaying in the wind outside the window and listening to the simple sounds inside. He suddenly felt a sense of peace and tranquility in the atmosphere.

A short while later, Zhou Yimin came out with two dishes: one of stir-fried cured pork with green peppers, and the other of stir-fried green vegetables, along with two bowls of steaming white rice.

"Just something simple to eat, something to fill your stomach." He handed over the chopsticks.

"The cured pork was brought from my hometown, and it tastes alright."

Li Chongguang picked up a piece of cured meat with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. The rich but not greasy meat aroma spread on his tongue. He chewed it a couple of times, and then his gaze fell on the landscape painting on the wall that he had copied.

The picture frame was pieced together from scraps of wood, polished smooth and rounded, and matched the style of the wooden frames on the doors and windows in the room perfectly.

He put down his chopsticks, wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, and looked at Zhou Yimin: "Yimin, who did you hire to renovate this house?"

Zhou Yimin was eating rice when he heard this. He looked up, with a bit of green pepper on his lips: "Oh, you invited Chef Gu."

He swallowed the food in his mouth, picked up the rough porcelain teapot on the table and added some water for Li Chongguang. "Master Gu is a well-known craftsman in the neighborhood. He is not only good at carpentry, but also at bricklaying. He polished my door frame and window lattice."

As he spoke, he placed a piece of green pepper into Li Chongguang's bowl: "What, are you renovating your house too?"

Li Chongguang picked up his teacup, took a sip, and his brows relaxed slightly.

His old house was only simply renovated when he got married. Several pieces of plaster had peeled off the walls, and the window gaps were so large that they let in drafts in winter. He had wanted to redo it for a long time, but he hadn't been able to find a reliable contractor.

Upon hearing Zhou Yimin's words, he immediately had an idea and nodded solemnly: "Yes, the house really needs to be tidied up. The child is growing up, and I want him to live more comfortably."

Zhou Yimin smiled: "Master Gu is perfect. He charges fair prices and works carefully, he's just a little slow, but slow and steady wins the race. When things are a bit less busy in a couple of days, I'll take you to see him, and he can come to your house for a visit."

"Thank you so much." Li Chongguang smiled sincerely and picked up another piece of cured meat.

"This cured pork tastes really good. I'll have my husband learn how to make some too."

The two then chatted about Master Gu's craftsmanship, from carpentry to bricklaying. As they talked, they drifted to the topic of equipment maintenance at the factory. It was as if the conversation about renovations earlier was just a natural interlude during the meal, yet it brought them even closer together.

As dusk deepened outside the window, the fragrance of locust blossoms mingled with the aroma of food, lingering in the small room for a long time.

After quickly finishing his meal, Li Chongguang left.

I have to go to work tomorrow. If I go home too late, I won't get enough rest, which will affect my work performance.

For the next two days, Zhou Yimin had absolutely no free time.

The purchasing department's ledgers were piled up on the table like a small mountain—every single item of special steel, circuit components, and packaging materials purchased for small dryers had to be checked carefully, and inventory had to be checked with the warehouse to ensure that there were no omissions or wastes.

Originally, these tasks had nothing to do with Zhou Yimin, but at the time, for the sake of quality, a suitable person was found to oversee them.

In the end, Zhou Yimin was elected without any doubt, and he had no good reason to refuse, so he could only accept.

He was calculating rapidly with his abacus, pausing from time to time to pull out the original documents for comparison. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead and nose, but he didn't bother to wipe them away.

In between, he also had to finish up the work on the dryer.

It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day, after the last report was signed and filed, that he finally breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his aching shoulders. As soon as the bell rang to signal the end of the workday, Zhou Yimin grabbed his coat draped over the back of his chair: "Section Chief Li, come on, I'm free today, I'll take you to see Master Gu."

Li Chongguang couldn't wait any longer and immediately put down the blueprints in his hand: "Great! I thought you were too busy to get away these past few days."

Zhou Yimin used his motorcycle to carry Li Chongguang through two alleys and stopped in front of a courtyard gate covered with morning glories.

Zhou Yimin raised his hand and knocked on the brass ring on the wooden door. "Master Gu, are you home?"

A sound of planing wood came from the yard, followed by a loud voice: "Who is it?"

The wooden door creaked open, and a middle-aged man in a blue cloth jacket poked his head out, clutching an adze in his hand and his face covered in sawdust.

Upon seeing that it was Zhou Yimin, his eyes lit up: "It's Little Zhou! What a rare guest!"

"Master Gu, are you busy?" Zhou Yimin asked with a smile as he walked inside.

"I've brought you a friend. This is Section Chief Li from our factory. He'd like to ask you to take a look at his house."

Master Gu placed the adze on the stone stool behind the door and warmly invited them inside: "Come in, come in."

There were piles of timber of varying lengths in the yard, and wood shavings piled up like a small mountain in the corner. A faint scent of pine wood wafted in the air.

Once inside, Zhou Yimin explained his purpose in detail: "Master Gu, Section Chief Li wants to renovate his old house. The walls need to be scraped and repainted, and some windows also need new wooden frames. You have excellent craftsmanship, so you were the first person we thought of."

Upon hearing this, Master Gu's wrinkles widened into a smile. He sat down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), picked up his pipe, and filled the bowl with tobacco: "What a stroke of luck! I just finished working for Doctor Zhang's family in the east alley a while ago, and I was worried about not having any work. These days, construction projects are intermittent, so having any work at all is a blessing."

He looked at Li Chongguang and asked, "Where is Section Chief Li's house? When are you free? I'd like to go take a look."

Li Chongguang quickly replied, "It's just over in Xisi Hutong, not far. Would tomorrow morning be convenient for you? I'll be waiting for you at home."

"Convenient, convenient!" Master Gu took a deep drag of his cigarette, and the smoke slowly drifted out of his nostrils.

"I'll be there first thing tomorrow morning, and I'll make sure you see everything clearly. I'll give you a plan on how to remove the wall and what materials to use for the wooden frame."

Zhou Yimin added from the side: "Master Gu, Section Chief Li has children, so we need to choose more environmentally friendly materials, not ones that are too pungent."

"Don't worry about that!" Master Gu patted his chest confidently. "I use paint from reputable shops. It will be odorless after drying for two days, and it won't delay anyone from moving in."

The three chatted about the specific details for a while until the sky began to lighten, at which point Li Chongguang got up to take his leave. Master Gu saw him to the door, still muttering, "I'll bring a ruler with me tomorrow; I guarantee I won't make a mistake."

On the way back, the evening breeze was cool, but Li Chongguang felt warm inside: "Thanks to you, otherwise I don't know how long I would have had to search for a reliable master."

Zhou Yimin said, "It's nothing. We're all colleagues, it's only right to help each other out."

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, there was a gentle knock on the gate of Li Chongguang's house.

He quickly put on his clothes and ran to open the door. He saw Master Gu standing outside with a canvas tool bag on his back and a long wooden ruler in his hand. He looked energetic and said, "Section Chief Li, I'm a little early. I hope I didn't disturb your rest?"

"No, no, Master Gu, please come in." Li Chongguang hurriedly ushered him into the courtyard.

Master Gu didn't stand on ceremony and put down his tool bag, then began to look around.

He first stood in the center of the courtyard and walked around, his gaze sweeping over the mottled walls, the peeling paint on the doors and windows, and the somewhat collapsed steps, occasionally uttering a "hmm" under his breath.

Then he walked to the doorway, tapped the wall with his finger, and pushed the creaking wooden door, his brows furrowing slightly: "The plaster on this wall needs to be completely scraped off and re-plastered. The wooden door frame is a bit warped from the dampness and needs to be replaced with a new one. The steps also need to be re-poured with cement."

As he spoke, he pulled a small notebook and pencil from his toolbox and squatted down to draw a simple sketch: "I plan to start with the exterior walls, using light gray paint, which is dirt-resistant and makes the room brighter. The interior floors will be paved with terrazzo, which is easy to clean."

Looking at the sketch, Li Chongguang thought of the elegant and comfortable look of Zhou Yimin's house. He hesitated for a moment and then said, "Master Gu, I wonder if we can do it in the same style as Yimin's house? I think his house is quite nice, it looks refreshing and comfortable."

Master Gu stopped writing upon hearing this, looked up at Li Chongguang, and said, "Yimin's style... he designed it himself."

"He makes all the decisions, from choosing the wood to matching the colors. I just help out. If you want to do it the same way, you'll probably have to ask him for his specific ideas yourself."

Li Chongguang was stunned for a moment. He really didn't expect Zhou Yimin to know so much about home decoration. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "So talented!"

He nodded: "Then I'll go and invite Yimin over?"

Master Gu smiled and waved his hand: "Go ahead, go ahead. He knows the details of his own home. Having him around will save a lot of trouble."

Without delay, Li Chongguang hopped on his bicycle and headed straight for Zhou Yimin's house.

Zhou Yimin had just finished washing up and was about to go to the factory when Li Chongguang explained his purpose. He smiled helplessly and said, "I knew you might ask this. Okay, I'll go with you to take a look."

The two quickly returned to Li Chongguang's home.

As soon as Zhou Yimin entered the room, he was attracted by Master Gu's sketch. He squatted down and took a closer look: "Master Gu's plan is quite practical, but if you want it to be more like my home's style, you need to adjust the details."

He pointed to the location of the doors and windows on the sketch: "The wooden frames don't need to be painted dark brown. Just keep the natural color of the wood and apply a layer of clear varnish. It will look more natural."

Li Chongguang nodded quickly: "That's good."

Master Gu added from the side, "Then you have to choose better quality wood, otherwise it won't last long."

Also, for the walls, don't use pure white; mix in some beige paint. It looks softer and doesn't show dirt as easily.

Zhou Yimin continued, "The furniture arrangement in the house also needs to be planned to leave as much space as possible for activities, since there are children, it's both safe and convenient. The bookshelf can be built-in, it doesn't take up much space and can hold a lot of things."

Li Chongguang nodded repeatedly as he listened, occasionally offering his own suggestions: "Could we put a small desk in the child's room? Also, I'd like to make the stove in the kitchen a little lower so it's easier for my wife to cook."

Zhou Yimin and Master Gu exchanged a glance and both smiled.

Master Gu picked up a pencil and made some revisions to the sketch: "No problem, all of this can be arranged. The desk will be placed next to the window, where the light will be good."

The three of them sat around the sketch, discussing it amongst themselves. Li Chongguang was very happy as he looked at the constantly improving plan. At the current pace, the design could be completed today, and the renovation could begin tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)