He Daqing, do you know how I've lived these past years?

Upon hearing the sound, Yi Zhonghai immediately stopped and hurriedly walked out from the backyard corridor.

Damn it, wasn't Jia Gui dismissed? How dare he still be so arrogant?

"Master Jia, you've arrived. What are your orders?"

Jia Gui chuckled and walked up, saying:

"Is my nephew a first-class worker now?"

When Yi Zhonghai saw Qin Huairu looking at him, he immediately straightened his back and regained his domineering demeanor, saying:

"How would I know? Even though I'm the examiner, I have to be truthful. I wasn't paying attention to him either."

Jia Gui narrowed his eyes, and casually lifted his black robe with his right hand.

Yi Zhonghai was so frightened that his legs went weak. What were these people doing? Weren't they supposed to confiscate the guns and retrieve the gun permits? How come that bastard Jia Gui still had a gun?

He hurriedly said:

"Master Jia, I am Master Dongxu. Dongxu is definitely a top-tier craftsman. You can ask him if you don't believe me."

Jia Dongxu also hurriedly grabbed Jia Gui's arm and said:

"Uncle, I'm already a first-class worker,"

Qin Huairu looked at everything before her with a blank expression, as if she were a passerby.

"Yi Zhonghai, you may not know my abilities, Jia Gui. The Japanese didn't kill me before, the Kuomintang didn't kill me, and even now I'm still alive and well."

Jia Gui cautiously continued, as if afraid of slapping Yi Zhonghai's face with one hand:

"Since you're Dongxu's master, then teach him the craft properly. Don't try anything fancy, or it'll just be a matter of a peanut."

Yi Zhonghai, also covered in sweat, nodded.

"Mr. Jia, my wife isn't feeling well. I'll go get some medicine first, and then I'll treat you to dinner."

Before Jia Gui could speak, he hurriedly ran out of the central courtyard.

Jia Gui glanced at Dongxu expressionlessly, then sighed.

She pulled a watch from her pocket, handed it to Dongxu, turned around, and left.

As I passed by the front yard, I saw Yan Bugui peeking through the crack in the door. Amused, I ran over and kicked the door open.

"Ouch"

"Haha, Lao Yan, if you want to look, just look. Don't act like a thief."

Yan Bugui rubbed his forehead, chuckled, and got up.

"Jia Gui, where are you planning to make your fortune? Bring your brothers along!"

Jia Gui shook his head, patted Yan Bugui on the shoulder, and said:

"In this new society, education is the priority. You're the best person for this job. We're risking our lives; we might not even be here one day."

As he spoke, he glanced at the empty left sleeve.

Then he took out a small wad of cash from his pocket and stuffed it into Yan Bugui's hand, saying:

"We all in Jiajia Village toil in the fields for a living, except for Dongxu who lives in the city. If you need anything from the yard in the future, please take care of things. That Jia Zhangshi is a shrew, please forgive her."

"He Daqing is, after all, your brother. It's just that his son is mentally challenged. Don't get involved in anything he does, and don't kick him when he's down."

"Old Yan, until we meet again, goodbye."

After saying that, he walked straight out of courtyard number 95.

Yan Bugui held the money in his hand and walked to the courtyard gate, watching Jia Gui's departing figure in silence until he disappeared from sight before returning home.

……

After watching Jia Gui leave from outside the courtyard, Yi Zhonghai spat in his direction, cursed, and walked into the courtyard.

"Pillar, Pillar, open the door!"

Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's voice, He Yuzhu hurriedly opened the door and said:

What's wrong with the old man?

Yi Zhonghai also smiled and said:

"I just came from the old lady's place. She said your braised pork was delicious, and today she wants to eat shredded vegetables and venison."

He Yuzhu spoke early:

"Uncle, there's no wild game around these days. I saw a few roosters in the warehouse yesterday; I'll bring half of one back after work tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Yi Zhonghai also became angry and said:

"Zhu Zi, what did that old man tell you? You should respect and care for the elderly, and not think about your own gains or losses. Half a chicken isn't enough!"

He Yuzhu stammered:

"Uncle, I'm just a cook who stirs up the big pot of vegetables. I don't get to touch any meat. These vegetables are the ingredients for the squad leader's stir-fries. I can't take too much."

Yi Zhonghai said earnestly:

"Zhu Zi, I have to criticize you for this. If the cook doesn't steal, the grains won't be harvested. Your father used to bring back big bags of ingredients. You're bringing them back now to show your respect to your elders. Your squad leader won't say anything even if he knows. Go ahead and take them. It's not a bad thing."

He Yuzhu could only nod in agreement.

After taking Yi Zhonghai away, He Yushui came over and tugged at He Yuzhu's sleeve, saying:

"Brother, I want to eat meat too. I don't want to eat cornbread with water anymore."

He Yuzhu angrily slapped Yushui's face with a big nose ring.

"What do you know? Without that old man and that rich old lady's help, we'd still be scavenging for garbage, and we wouldn't even have cornbread to eat."

He Yushui covered her face, which bore the marks of a slap, and ran crying back into her room.

He Yuzhu murmured:

"Hmph, if you weren't my sister, I would have abandoned you long ago. The old man was right, I was doing a good deed by taking things back from the cafeteria, showing respect to the elderly."

"Should we share some with Huairu? We haven't seen her for several days since that night. Jia Dongxu said she was exhausted."

As He Yuzhu spoke, he recalled the events of that night, drool constantly dripping from the corner of his mouth.

……

First day of the first month

"Zhu Zi, your skills are impressive. I'll promote you to squad leader after your old squad leader retires."

Yang Guoliang happily ate the pork knuckle in his mouth and said to He Yuzhu,

He Yuzhu was also smiling foolishly.

Because during the Chinese New Year holiday, the cafeteria's stir-fry supervisor has already finished work and gone home.

That noon, Yang Guoliang received a notification that someone from another factory would be joining the company shortly, as the director of the logistics department and acting deputy factory manager.

In an effort to win him over, Yang Guoliang didn't go back home. He wanted to host a reception at the factory, but all the restaurants were too busy at that time, the head chefs wouldn't come, and he couldn't find the canteen's foreman.

Suddenly remembering He Yuzhu, the successor of the Tan family cuisine, I hurriedly sent someone to call He Yuzhu over, who was still kneading cornbread, which led to the scene just now.

Sitting next to Yang Guoliang was a fat man wiping his mouth, who was also looking at He Yuzhu with admiration.

Logically, the canteen belongs to the logistics department, but this silly kid cooks quite well, and they wanted to promote him, so they didn't object to Yang Guoliang's overstepping his authority by appointing He Yuzhu as the canteen supervisor in advance.

After Yang Guoliang finished speaking, seeing that the new director remained silent, he couldn't help but chuckle inwardly, looking down on him somewhat.

Li Fugui is probably just here to gain experience; it's best if he doesn't make a fuss. If he dares to interfere, he'll be in big trouble.

After the meal, Li Fugui declined Yang Guoliang's invitation to have tea and got into a jeep.

A moment later they arrived at a tenement building.

That's right, it's the place where Jingxian and the others used to live.

Li Fugui climbed two flights of stairs and knocked on the door next to him.

Then a voice came from inside:

"Father-in-law, I'm here."

However, once the door closed, the soft whispers inside could no longer be heard.

……