50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 73: Warming the Pot in the Courtyard
I met Teacher Tong for the first time when I accompanied our daughter to a garden party at the end of June, and we had several unexpected encounters in the following months.

This is a story for later, but one weekend after visiting Beihai, the small courtyard on Wenjin Street was already completed.

Sun Zhiwei took the time to check it out and found that the corridor in the aisle that was sheltered from the rain was 1 meters wide. The partition between the aisle and the pool was made into a long row of seats with the backs of the chairs extending out of the water.

The long fish pond was dug one and a half feet down and filled with half a foot of silt. Now water has been added and the construction is officially completed.

He was very satisfied after seeing it, and immediately settled the wages with Master Lu and took back the key.

He couldn't ask the street to pay for this, so he had to pay for it himself. It cost a total of 100 million yuan, mainly because the corridor was too long and a lot of materials were used.

After the settlement, he took the time to go to the lake and catch a lot of palm-sized fish and throw them into the pond.

Because the half foot of soil buried at the bottom of the pond is all silt dug by Master Lu from the bottom of the lake, it is very fertile.

He transplanted a dozen small lotus plants from Beihai Lake into the pond and also planted some aquatic plants.

The house had been prepared, so warming the pot could not be delayed. On Friday, he notified Lao Zhang, his godmother, and Aunt Liang, and told them to come to the small courtyard to warm the pot on the weekend.

He doesn't know how to cook, and he made this clear in advance. He asked his godmother and Aunt Liang to come over in advance to help with the cooking, and he only needed to prepare the ingredients.

This was a rare gathering, and the people attending the party were all close to Sun Zhiwei and Nannan, so he made some rare and extravagant preparations.

There is no need to mention the staple food. There are rice and white flour. The meat is mainly half a pork leg available in the market, and there are also some chickens, ducks, fish, and a basket of eggs.

Meat is not easy to preserve in this kind of weather, so he puts it in the ring space in advance and takes it out in the morning.

There are even more vegetables. This year's market is much more prosperous than in previous years. There are dozens of common vegetables available in the market. He bought enough vegetables one day in advance.

Considering that there were several male comrades, he also prepared two bottles of Fenjiu and two bottles of Lianhuabai.

Because there were many children, he also bought two boxes of Beibingyang soda, which was a new product that was only established in 51 and many people had never tasted it.

He even wrapped the soda box with a quilt to prevent the cooling air from disappearing due to the hot weather.

Just after 7 o'clock in the morning, Aunt Liang brought her family here first, because her house was nearby.

Aunt Liang's husband's surname is Hao, also known as "Good Uncle". They have two children, a 15-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl.

Less than half an hour later, the godfather and godmother arrived. Old Zhang was the farthest away, so he was the last to arrive.

After Sun Zhiwei introduced everyone to each other, everyone started to get to know each other. When adults socialize, as long as there is a fulcrum, it is easy to become familiar with each other.

Children get to know each other faster, especially when the age difference is not big. As long as they start playing, they will soon become good friends.

Afterwards, the women started to busy themselves in the kitchen, and the men moved chairs to sit under the trees to enjoy the cool air. As for the children, they were all attracted by the pond in the aisle and stayed there to play in the water and tease the fish.

Sun Zhiwei certainly didn't think of himself as a child. After pouring tea for the men, he stayed under the tree and chatted with them.

Although they all worked in different industries, they were all knowledgeable when it came to national affairs. Sun Zhiwei listened with great interest as they talked about their affairs like street lords, finding it very interesting.

Unexpectedly, they used the news from newspapers and radio, and verified it with information from their own industry, and were able to figure out the truth about many things.

When it was almost 11 o'clock, many dishes were put into the pot, and the fragrant aroma began to spread in the yard, attracting the children to look towards the kitchen.

The dinner officially starts at 12 o'clock, with one table for adults and two tables for children.

Because it was a family dinner, with Sun Zhiwei mediating, everyone was not too polite. They first drank a glass together to celebrate Sun Zhiwei and his daughter's move into a new home, and then started toasting each other.

The warm pot banquet lasted until the evening, and everyone left only after the women had cleaned up the house.

Nannan liked the new home very much. She stayed with her brother in the new home for one night. Because she was too excited, she slept very late at night and almost didn't get up early the next morning.

By the time Sun Zhiwei sent her to the school gate, she was already late, and Sun Zhiwei was scolded by the teacher.

However, he met Teacher Tong again at the school gate.

After Nannan was taken inside by the homeroom teacher, Sun Zhiwei spoke to Teacher Tong for a few words. Finally, because the class had already started, the two separated. This was the second time they met.
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In October, the school organized students to welcome guests along the street. The scene was really lively.

From Nanyuan Airport along Nanyuan Road, Yongdingmen, Qianmen to the hotel where we were staying, 20 people lined the streets for dozens of miles to welcome us.

Because this kind of welcome ceremony was held for the first time, the preparations were not sufficient. Everyone just stood there and shouted slogans. Although there were a lot of people, the content was not exciting enough.

However, it has almost become a routine since then, and the welcoming ceremony has always been large-scale and high-standard, and the content of the welcoming ceremony has also begun to become richer.

Later, the welcoming ceremony team began to be divided into different levels and colors, forming different sections and shapes, some plain and some focused, with colorful ribbons and banners in the sky and motorcycles leading the way on the ground;
Later, red flags, colorful flags, national flags, flowers, gongs and drums, ribbons and flower balls began to be added along the way. There were many varieties, colorful, warm and cheerful, and the scene became more and more beautiful.

At the peak, 100 million people were mobilized. At that time, the entire city of Beijing had a population of only 400 million, which means that one out of every four people went to the scene.

This was also a sign of the family's lack of confidence in the early days. Later, as more and more people came, the family began to feel more confident and foreigners were no longer a surprise to them.

It was only then that the procedures began to be gradually simplified, grand ceremonies became less frequent, and finally even the number of guests had to be controlled.

Otherwise, if hundreds of people come, the expenses will be spent like water, and no one can afford it.

The change in the scale of this activity shows the progress in the family, especially this time, which is also a sign of the progress in the relationship between Sun Zhiwei and Teacher Tong.

In this welcoming team, Sun Zhiwei's team was right next to the student team led by Teacher Tong. The two waved garlands and shouted slogans with the team, exchanging glances.

After the event, the two had a great chat on the way back.

After three contacts, both parties confirmed that they had a good impression of each other, and Sun Zhiwei felt that they could cultivate their relationship in advance.

Of course, before that, he also had to inquire about Teacher Tong’s family situation.

(End of this chapter)