Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

What Zeng Wangcai saw was actually Fat Zheng, the head of the logistics department of Peking University, Fat Zheng.

However, although he was surprised, Fatty Zheng was not surprised at all.

"Don't shout!" Fatty Zheng made a gesture to whisper, "The old man is talking inside. Normally, we can't disturb him. Why are you here?"

Unlike outside, Fat Zheng is a little more relaxed outside than at home.

"So, Uncle Zheng is your father!" Zeng Wangcai placed the gift on the coffee table openly, "Why haven't I heard you mention him before?"

"What's there to say? You'll just get beaten if you say it." Fat Zheng responded.

The Zheng family has very strict family education. There are currently four people in their family. Fat Zheng originally had an older brother and sister. His brother died in the Korean War ten years ago, and he has never even met his sister, who was given away during the war.

During the war years, it was not uncommon for officers and soldiers in the army to give their children away.

Fat Zheng has a younger brother, and this younger brother is the important reason why the Zheng family has strict family education. His younger brother joined the army and is currently in the army in Gaojing in the suburbs.

Before joining the army, Fatty Zheng's younger brother was a very capable person. He gathered a group of other kids from the big courtyard and was very brave and aggressive. They fought all day long and even broke several pairs of their ice skates.

Fatty Zheng was so angry about this that he tightened the family rules even more, which affected Fatty Zheng, who did not join the army and had a relatively good personality.

"Why are you here at my house?" Fat Zheng never dared to interfere with his old man's conversation in the study, so he didn't know that the three old men were talking about Zeng Wangcai.

"I'm looking for Uncle Liu to thank him for driving my grandma to the hospital..." Just as he said this, an elderly woman in simple clothes came out of the kitchen.

This is Fatty Zheng’s mother, her name is Yuan Fang, and she works in the army.

"This guy is... Yishan, your friend?" Yuan Fang asked Zeng Wangcai, and suddenly she saw the gift on the coffee table, "Yishan, your friend came to visit and brought a gift, have you forgotten what your father told you?"

Fatty Zheng, whose real name is Zheng Yishan, shuddered. He remembered his father's strict family rules and subconsciously said in a loud voice, "Mom, you are wronging me. I didn't know he was coming, let alone bringing anything."

Zeng Wangcai was just about to explain when old man Zheng inside was startled by his son's loud shouting and the sensitive word "take something" and walked out of the study.

Seeing Zeng Wangcai, Old Man Zheng's angry expression instantly changed: "Hey, hey, you came at the right time. Your uncle Liu and I were talking about you."

As soon as Old Man Liu and Old Man Wang heard it, they knew that Zeng Wangcai had arrived, so they came out of the study together.

"Oh, you're giving gifts." Old man Liu guessed Zeng Wangcai's purpose when he saw the situation in the living room.

"This is for me. What are you thinking about?" Old Man Zheng also knew that Zeng Wangcai's gift was probably for a good friend, so he deliberately interrupted and told his wife, "We don't accept gifts from others, but we must accept the one from this kid. Take it in quickly and don't let anyone steal it."

He said this because Zeng Wangcai could make money, and secondly because Zeng Wangcai gave gifts not to do a favor but to express gratitude.

Another thing is that he didn't intend to accept the gift for nothing. He knew that Zeng Wangcai's grandmother was in the hospital, so he planned to send someone to visit her and give her a gift in return.

His plan seemed to be excessive, but from his current perspective, it was not excessive. He was thinking of getting Zeng Wangcai into the Propaganda Department.

Yuan Fang understood that the young man who came was one of the topics of conversation among her husband and others.

She knew much more than her son, so she took away the net bag that Zeng Wangcai had brought without hesitation.

Took away...

To be honest, Zeng Wangcai was stunned. It had only been a minute or two since he entered the door. He couldn't get a word in and hadn't even had a sip of water. Now his gift was gone.

Are you sure you are the bosses at the ministerial level?

Why do I feel like I've entered a bandit's den?

While Zeng Wangcai was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, Yuan Fang came out again and personally made a cup of tea for Zeng Wangcai, using the same white porcelain teacup with a lid that she used to entertain guests at home.

"Thank you, Auntie!" Zeng Wangcai took the teacup and thanked her politely.

"You call me...Auntie?" Yuan Fang hadn't heard anyone call her like that for many years. She didn't find it funny, but rather felt intimate.

"Then...how about calling me auntie?" Zeng Wangcai said tentatively.

Yuan Fang was amused: "Just call me Auntie, it sounds comfortable. I am older than your mother, so it is right for you to call me Auntie."

There is indeed a difference between the titles aunt, auntie, and grandma, and Zeng Wangcai did not call them wrong.

"Come and sit down, we were just talking about you!" Old Man Zheng greeted.

"Why are you sitting? Dinner is ready. Xiao Zeng, eat here." Yuan Fang said with a smile.

Fat Zheng on the side was confused. He was irritated by his parents' attitude and felt that Zeng Wangcai was the biological son of the family.

“No, no, I don’t want to eat!” Zeng Wangcai quickly stood up and refused, “My grandma is still in the hospital, I’ll go back now.”

"Don't mind these few minutes!" Old Man Zheng stood up and said, "We won't keep you. We have something else to tell you. It will take at most half an hour. After dinner, we will let Xiao Zhu take you home. It will be faster than you going back alone."

"I came here by bicycle. It's not convenient to take a car."

"It's okay, let Yishan ride your bike..."

Fat Zheng was once again innocently implicated, but he dared not say anything.

Zeng Wangcai really didn't want to eat here because it felt restrained.

Zeng Wangcai has met Old Man Liu four times and just met Old Man Zheng and Old Man Wang today. Not to mention their identities, even if he were an ordinary person, he would not be used to drinking with others just after meeting them, right?

So Zeng Wangcai is not being pretentious, he doesn’t lack food.

If someone else who likes to flatter was here, he would probably have his butt touching the stool by now.

"No, really not. Just tell me what you want to say. There's no need to eat!" Zeng Wangcai refused again.

Old Man Zheng pulled out his trump card: "Hey, I get it. You must think that the food here is not as good as yours, right? To be honest, based on the way you make money, the food in my house may not be as good as yours."

This is a bit like what people say at the drinking table: If you don't drink, do you look down on me?

If Old Man Zheng used his power to pressure others, Zeng Wangcai might be disgusted and say he didn't want to eat. But after hearing what Old Man Zheng said, he didn't feel comfortable continuing to refuse.

"Okay, okay, please stop talking!" Zeng Wangcai raised his hands in surrender. "You make me sound like a rich landlord who eats and drinks well every day. My family is actually just like that. We eat drier than other families, and we only have meat occasionally."

Regardless of whether he can be trusted or not, Zeng Wangcai always adheres to the idea that it is okay to eat behind closed doors but never to show off.

Since Zeng Wangcai has agreed to eat, let’s start the meal.

The state takes care of the food, drink, defecation and urination of Old Man Zheng's family, including the families of Old Man Liu and Old Man Wang, or in other words, everyone living in this compound, and there are special chefs to cook.

Inside the restaurant was a rectangular dining table that was different from the octagonal tables of ordinary families. There were four dishes and a soup on the table. It looked very rich, but in fact there was no meat.

"Since we have guests today, let's be a little extravagant and let everyone take a seat!" Old Man Zheng, the host, greeted them.

To say it is luxurious is actually only compared with that of ordinary people's homes. But compared with Zeng Wangcai's home at that time, these dishes are really not good enough.

The soup was egg drop soup, with at most one egg in it. The four dishes were potatoes, eggplants, beans and the like, and not much oil or water.

These four dishes were prepared because Old Man Wang and Old Man Liu came.

"Xiao Zeng, remember what I told you, do you want to change your job?" Old Man Liu couldn't wait to bring up this topic just as the meal started.