The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

"Oh, yes." Uncle San was stunned for a moment and avoided Darong's gaze embarrassedly.

In fact, Darong's third uncle is a very energetic young man, but his family is not well off and he works in an agricultural cooperative, so he has never been able to find a partner.

Darong's family had dinner at her grandmother's house before going home. At that time, it was normal to have four or five children in the family, and every time they went out, they formed a large group.

"Are you relieved now?" Darong's father asked Darong's mother, who was still radiant after a tiring day.

"It's quiet now. We don't have to live in the same courtyard anymore, and we don't have to fight every other day."

Darong listened to her parents' conversation and smiled bitterly in her heart. If her third uncle found a girlfriend, they would get married sooner or later, and after marriage they would live with her grandmother. Who could be sure that the third aunt who was married into the family would not be the same person as her eldest aunt?

The days passed one by one in dullness. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Darong and other female workers were arranged to work in the new factory, and several old masters who came with them were reassigned to new work teams.

Fortunately, Darong is still with the new master. The new master's surname is Mao and he is approaching retirement age. No one will bother a female worker of this age even if she does not have a high position.

"Master, my pants are wet, I don't have any spare ones, and I only have a skirt left in my bag. Can I go to the compound and help them with the cleaning?"

On the first day in the new factory, Darong's colleague accidentally spilled water on her trousers while she was working, making the front and back of her crotch wet. Darong was a little girl after all, and the wet position of her trousers was awkward, so she was too embarrassed to put them on.

There are regulations in textile factories that prohibit wearing skirts when entering the workshop, because the hem of the skirt is too big and if it gets caught in the machine, it may damage the machine, but it will be a big problem if it injures the workers.

"Go ahead. The sun is strong outside. Put your pants out to dry in the wind." Master Mao took a look at Darong's pants. They were all little girls, so he could understand her shyness.

Darong went back to the locker room, changed her clothes, hung her pants to dry, and went to the yard to clean.

"Yuan Furong, who asked you to come out?"

Although the workshop director of the old factory did not come with her, her sister was transferred to the new factory as workshop director. Not only do these two people look alike, they also have the same weird and annoying temperament.

Darong had heard a long time ago that the workshop director of the new factory was also surnamed Lu, and was a sister of the one from the old factory. Now, when they met for the first time, she accurately called out Darong's name. Perhaps the two sisters had already exchanged their "enemy" at home.

"Director Lu, my pants are wet. I don't have any spare pants, only this skirt, so I came out to clean up first."

Darong did not want to make enemies. Although she had some unpleasant experiences with Director Lu from the old factory, that was only temporary after all. Now that she was in the new factory, she just wanted to work honestly and earn money.

"You are such a picky person. You can't be picky about the work assigned to you. When your pants are dry, get back to the workshop."

Director Lu’s contemptuous tone and unfriendly expression made Darong feel very disgusted, but she just responded with a normal expression, “OK”.

That whole afternoon, Darong sat obediently in the yard waiting for her pants to dry. But the strange thing was that although it was a sunny autumn day, Darong's pants were still wet and did not dry after being exposed to the sun for the whole afternoon.

"Why are you still sitting here?"

While even Director Lu was busy running back and forth, sweating profusely, Darong was sitting leisurely on a chair, staring at her pants. Several people working in the yard nearby were watching the show with their faces covered and giggling.

"The pants are not dry yet." Darong pointed at the pants hanging on the rope and replied with a little innocence.

Director Lu walked over and looked at the pants, then looked at Darong, and the knife light in his eyes was clearly visible.

"Director, the factory director is calling you." Before Director Lu could get angry, someone in the workshop shouted at Director Lu.

"Okay, just wait and see when your pants can dry." Director Lu didn't have time to discipline Darong, but after her sister, she and Darong had a complete grudge against each other.

"Little white girl, what's your name?"

After Director Lu left, a sister in her thirties came over and asked Darong.

"My name is Yuan Furong." Darong looked at the person in front of her and answered softly.

"You're really good. You just joined the factory, right? On the first day, you made a grudge with Director Lu. Aren't you afraid that she will make things difficult for you in the future?"

Darong pursed her lips, not knowing what to say, and just smiled awkwardly.

"My last name is Yao, you can just call me Sister Yao from now on."

This Sister Yao was also an old employee from the old factory, but she had not been in the textile workshop before and had never met Darong. Because she was usually carefree and not particular about details, people called her Sister Yao.

"Okay, Sister Yao, I'm following Master Mao." Darong greeted Sister Yao politely.

"Big white goose, you are awesome." When Darong was talking to Sister Yao, a boy came over and gave Darong a thumbs up.

Darong didn't like his frivolous and joking tone and didn't respond.

"Hey, sister, don't be angry. I was just teasing you. I saw you splash water on your pants." The boy looked younger than Darong and was not tall. When he laughed, his eyes narrowed into slits.

"You little rascal, why are you teasing a little girl like that?" Sister Yao poked the boy on the forehead.

"This is Goubangzi, my brother-in-law. He works as a temporary worker here. He couldn't continue his studies before graduating from junior high school and just spent his days wandering around." Sister Yao introduced her brother-in-law to Darong.

This Goubangzi’s real name is Liu Chunshan. He almost died from illness when he was a child. Since then, his family members have given him a mean name, Goubangzi. Now he is sixteen or seventeen years old, and he is still called that.

Goubangzi was not very old and worked odd jobs in the factory. He was treated like a child and no one cared about him if he acted naughty one day.

"Sister Dabai, I admire people like you. You'll make that old lady Lu die. She only became the director because her husband is the factory director. She can't do anything but criticize others."

"You can just call me Darong. I don't want to go against her. I won't offend others unless they offend me."

After a few words, Sister Dayao took the dog stick and went back to work, but Darong still sat calmly on the chair waiting for her pants to dry.

It was not until the end of the get off work day that Darong's pants were finally dry. After changing her pants in the locker room, Darong went into the workshop to sign in and leave work.

"Come and sign your attendance if you have done your work?"

Director Lu grabbed the attendance book with Darong's name on it.