Siheyuan: The happy life of a little chef

After Li Jianjun followed Li Huaide into the office and sat down, Li Huaide immediately asked his secretary to go to the cafeteria to get some food. If there was no food, he would ask Sha Zhu to fry some and get four steamed buns. Li Huaide felt a little distressed when he saw how thin Li Jianjun was, but he didn't care if anyone would say anything.

"Jianjun, drink some water. The food will be here soon. Eat well and follow your uncle from now on." Li Jianjun was already starving, and he didn't want to be reserved. He was thick-skinned and ate as much as he wanted. Besides, he was his own uncle, so why should he be polite? "Thank you, uncle. I'm really hungry. I've only eaten a steamed bun and some porridge since this morning. I was already hungry when I came here."

Li Huaide sighed, "It's hard for you, kid. Follow your uncle from now on. I will definitely take good care of you. There is a situation that few people know. I was injured on the battlefield. Although I have recovered, I will not have my own children in the future. You are the only child of my Li family. It depends on you to have children. I will protect you well, so that I can face my ancestors when I die."

Li Jianjun was very surprised. He had never heard that Li Huaide had any problems. But after thinking about it, he understood. Li Huaide dared to mess around outside and was not afraid of causing a death. It seemed that he was very clear that he would not have a child, otherwise he would not dare to do such a thing.

"Uncle, don't worry, I will make our Li family have many children and grandchildren, and I will also take care of you in your old age. But what about aunt?" Li Jianjun was a little confused. Li Huaide's father-in-law was quite powerful, so why would he marry his daughter to Li Huaide who was infertile?

Li Huaide sighed: "In fact, when we got married, I didn't know that I was infertile. Later, we didn't have children. I secretly went to the hospital for a check-up. It was caused by the injury that year. We didn't have a child in these years. I felt guilty about her. Later, we always quarreled. Gradually, I didn't want to have children anymore. I asked the hospital, but there was no cure. I focused on my work." Li Jianjun felt a little sympathetic to him: "Uncle, don't worry. No matter what, I am your nephew. I will take care of you and your aunt in the future."

Li Huaide was very happy to hear this. Apart from his own son, who else could be more reliable than his own nephew? Just as he was about to say something, the secretary stood at the door with two lunch boxes and knocked. Li Huaide let him in, put down the lunch boxes, and went out again.

Li Huaide quickly opened the lunch box and pushed it in front of Li Jianjun, a box of shredded potatoes and a box of four steamed buns, then stood up and poured a glass of water for Li Jianjun, "Jianjun, you eat first, I'll talk to you while you eat." Li Jianjun was not polite either, he picked up the steamed bun and started to wolf it down. Li Huaide looked at him and said, "Eat slowly, don't choke." Then he moved the water cup next to Li Jianjun.

"Jianjun, I plan to let you work in the steel rolling mill so that I can take better care of you and I will feel at ease. I will arrange a place for you to live first. Don't think too much. It's not that I don't want you to live with me. My relationship with your aunt is a bit strained, and we can't break up for now. She won't say anything if you stay there temporarily. Considering that you will live in this city in the future, you still need to have your own home. We can see each other every day anyway, and everything that belongs to me will be yours in the future. Give me some time to explain to her slowly." Li Huaide said with some concern.

Li Jianjun didn't want to live with him at first, so he said, "It's okay, uncle. I can take care of myself. I'll follow your arrangements for work."

"Well, I will arrange the purchasing funds for you, and I will help you find a way to complete your task. It is not tiring and it will be easy. I will take you to the personnel department to handle the joining procedures later. I still have a few vacancies on hand." Due to food shortages, the steel mill added a lot of purchasing vacancies, which would be just what they needed now.

Li Jianjun was also very happy. He thought that the life of slacking off was not bad. "Okay, I'll listen to you."

After dinner, Li Huaide took Li Jianjun to handle the onboarding process. The next step was to solve the housing problem. When he returned to the office, Li Huaide took out an envelope from the drawer and handed it to Li Jianjun: "Jianjun, here is some money and some bills. Take them first. If you need anything later, tell me and I'll help you."

Li Jianjun took the envelope and felt it. There was a thick stack of money inside. Li Huaide continued, "I have arranged a place for you to live. It is the family compound of our steel rolling mill, and it is a civilized compound. I can't leave. I will ask Secretary Hu to take you to buy some new clothes, take you to take a bath, and buy some daily necessities. Tomorrow is Sunday. I have to go to the department for a meeting. You can buy the furniture yourself. If you don't have enough money and tickets, please tell me. It's getting late now. I will ask Secretary Hu to accompany you to buy clothes first. Xiao Hu, come in. You will accompany Jianjun to buy clothes, take him to take a bath, and then bring him to this compound to find Director Wang. She knows which house it is." Secretary Hu took a piece of paper with the address written on it. Li Jianjun took a look at it. OK, it's really God's will, No. 95 Courtyard.

Li Jianjun followed Secretary Hu. While waiting for Secretary Hu to get the bike, Li Jianjun looked at the envelope. There was at least 500 yuan in it, and there were many different kinds of tickets. It really had everything, even bicycle tickets.

At the gate of No. 95 Courtyard, Director Wang was already waiting. Seeing Secretary Hu and a thin young man approaching, he hurriedly went to greet them: "Secretary Hu, this must be Comrade Li Jianjun. The house has been arranged, and everything inside is quite complete. Old Wang's family has moved out, so it's vacant. Li can move in after buying some daily necessities. I took a look, and the quilts are gone. I'll ask the street office to send two quilts over later." With that, he led Secretary Hu and Li Jianjun into the courtyard. Today is Saturday, and they all go to work as usual. There is no weekend off, and only one day off a week.

Li Jianjun followed Director Wang to the backyard. Director Wang introduced the neighbors and many middle-aged women also came over. Their house was next to Xu Damao's. Diagonally opposite was a deaf old lady who was a five-guarantee household. Next to the old lady was the home of the second uncle Liu Haizhong, as well as passers-by Zhu and Huang's families.

After the introduction, Director Wang said, "Xiao Li, I'll have the comrades from the street office bring you a quilt later. You can't buy a quilt, you have to make it now, so make do with it for now. Tomorrow you buy cotton and I'll arrange for someone to make it for you."

Li Jianjun was very happy. He finally had a home. "Hey, thank you Director Wang. If you need me in the future, just let me know." Secretary Hu had just told Director Wang that Li Jianjun was the nephew of Deputy Director Li. If there was anything in the future, he would be useful. Otherwise, Director Wang would not be so concerned. He waited at the door and sent a quilt. Isn't this just a polite remark? If you say it's a polite remark, I'll take it seriously.

Director Wang was immediately happy and said, "It's okay. We are all serving the people. Okay, you put everything away first and I will make the arrangements." Then he left happily.