Siheyuan: Happy Life of Jia Zhang Family

"I understand. She's not good-looking and has a lot of problems. She's the kind of person we're talking about," Qian Ying said.

"So, for those women who cannot get married at an older age, their age is only the smallest problem. The biggest problem is that they lack self-awareness," said Zhang Cuihua.

"Sister Hua is absolutely right. She looks at things very clearly," said Liu Mei.

"It's just the general situation," Zhang Cuihua said, waving her hand.

The work in the Women's Federation is very flexible and relatively free, so at around three o'clock, several people left the factory. Zhang Cuihua went home and asked Jia Dongxu to prepare for the evening dinner in advance. Liu Mei and Qian Ying went to the market to buy things. Secretary Wang and Sister Chen from the workshop and others made an appointment to leave together after get off work.

"Invite people to dinner? There's not much food left at home, and I have to save some for Huairu to produce milk." Jia Dongxu felt a little embarrassed when he heard that his mother was going to invite people to dinner.

"Liu Mei and Qian Ying have gone to buy vegetables. They just asked you to cook for a while. You should make the dough rise early so we can make some dumplings later. You should squeeze out the moisture from the cabbage and prepare the cabbage stuffing in advance. After they buy the meat and other things, we will make dumplings and you just need to cook," Zhang Cuihua said to her son.

"You brought some food? That's good. By the way, Mom, why do you want to eat together again? Didn't we just eat together last night? And did we go to a restaurant?" Jia Dongxu asked.

"What do you know? We have made a contribution again. This is a reward from Director Li. He specially gave us food coupons and meat coupons. What do you know? Are there still goose eggs in Banggeng? Go buy a few. Don't always try to cheat the children into eating." Zhang Cuihua instructed Jia Dongxu again.

"I know. This bastard locked up all the goose eggs. I can't eat them even if I want to," Jia Dongxu replied angrily, then started to prepare the dough and pack the cabbage.

About an hour later, Liu Mei and Qian Ying arrived first, bringing two pounds of meat, some eggs, peanuts, a piece of tofu, a dozen potatoes, and four or five white radishes.

When it was time to get off work, Sister Chen and the others also came. They all went to see the little granddaughter who looked like Zhang Cuihua. They also gave each of them a one-dollar gift. After they came out, they all said that she looked like Sister Hua and was very beautiful.

After the women arrived, Jia Dongxu quickly processed the meat and prepared the dumpling filling. Several women began to make dumplings while Jia Dongxu cooked in the kitchen outside. While cooking, he listened to the people inside talking, and naturally he could not avoid the topic of Chen Hong.

Jia Dongxu knew Chen Hong. When he first joined the factory, he worked in the same workshop with Chen Jie. At that time, Chen Hong was only 16 or 17 years old. Sometimes she would go to deliver food to her father. At that time, Jia Dongxu knew her. She was very ugly and arrogant. She didn't even look at Jia Dongxu, who had just joined the factory. Unexpectedly, after eight or nine years, she was still not married.

Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu came back very late today. They went to the Dongcheng District Public Security Bureau with their mother, and the matter of Liu Haizhong finally came to a conclusion.

After the public security investigation, Liu Haizhong was not an enemy spy, but he ate and drank with the enemy spies every day, was corrupted by them, and followed their arrangements to disrupt the factory, thereby restraining the defense forces and allowing the enemy spies to destroy the new workshop. Finally, he was sentenced to seven years in prison and sent to the northwest for reform.

When Liu Haizhong saw his wife and two little sons who came to see him off, he didn't say a word. Or maybe he didn't know what to say. He just glanced at the three of them and lowered his head.

Second Aunt, Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu were not sad either, because Liu Haizhong had caused them so much harm, and perhaps it would be better for everyone if he passed away.

Liu Haizhong decided to leave, and the second aunt was a little scared to be alone at home, so Liu Guangfu moved back to the backyard from the back house, while Liu Guangtian lived alone in the back house. Although there was no sunlight there, it was where he lived in his most difficult times. It was the house allocated to him by the street office, and he wanted to start a family here, so Liu Guangtian did not move back.

Liu Haizhong went to the northwest today, and the three of them felt a lot more relaxed, so Second Aunt fried eggs and boiled radishes for them, and the three of them improved their lives.

Those who came to eat at the Jia family were all women. No one drank alcohol, so they ate quickly. Around 7:30, they were full. Zhang Cuihua saw that there were still a lot of dumplings left, so she asked Jia Dongxu to send a bowl to Zhang Lianhua, and also called Qin Jingru to eat, and asked Jingshu to eat some more.

Zhang Cuihua went to the gate of the hospital to see her colleagues off.

"Sister-in-law, are you treating us again today?" Yan Bugui went out and saw Zhang Cuihua coming back, so he went over to ask.

"Today is a team-building event. Colleagues should get together more often to enhance their relationships with each other," Zhang Cuihua said casually.

"That requires something, sister-in-law. Your life is better now. But the life of Old Liu's family in the old courtyard is temporarily in trouble. Old Liu was sent to the northwest for reform today. Guangtian is the only one in the family who earns money. Alas!" Yan Bugui sighed.

"Liu Hai was sentenced? Isn't he an enemy spy? Why wasn't he shot?" Zhang Cuihua became interested when she heard the news.

"Old Liu is not an enemy spy, he was just used by the enemy spies. He was sentenced to seven years and sent to the northwest. I don't know if he can meet Jie Cheng." When Yan Bugui said this, his eyes suddenly felt sore. He thought of his eldest son, who had been in the northwest for such a long time without any news, and he didn't know whether he was dead or alive. He felt sad, took off his glasses, wiped them, and went back to the house.

Jia Dongxu put the dumplings down for Zhang Lianhua, called Xiaodang, Qin Jingru, and Jingshu and asked them to go to the backyard to eat. Just as they were about to go to eat, they saw Liu Guangtian coming back from the backyard after eating.

"Brother Dongxu" Liu Guangtian greeted him.

"Guangtian, I heard that the second uncle set off today?" Jia Dongxu asked.

"He was sentenced to seven years in prison and sent to the northwest for reform. Today, my mother, Guangfu and I went to see him off. He looked very energetic. It would be good for him to be reformed there so that he doesn't have to work at home every day," said Liu Guangtian.

"Now that he's gone, you'll all feel better. You're not a child anymore, and it's time for you to get married. How about I introduce you to Chen Hong, an expert in the new workshop of the steel rolling mill recognized by Chen Jie," said Jia Dongxu.

"Chen Hong?" Liu Guangtian also became interested.

"Dongxu, behave yourself. Don't you know what Chen Hong looks like? How can Guangtian, such a handsome guy, find someone like Chen Hong?" He Yuzhu came out of the room after hearing the conversation between the two.

"Chen's father is a cadre and has a formal job. Apart from being ugly and old, there's nothing wrong with her," said Jia Dongxu.

"Brother Dongxu, is this Chen Hong ugly? How ugly is she?" Liu Guangtian asked.

"How ugly! Even uglier than my mother," said Jia Dongxu.

"She's uglier than Aunt Jia, that's true..." Liu Guangtian stopped talking because he saw Jia Zhang coming over.

"What's the truth?" Jia Dongxu asked.

"Fuck you, you bastard!" Zhang Cuihua grabbed Jia Dongxu's clothes with one hand and hit her son's back with the other hand.

"Mom, what are you doing? I'm proposing a marriage for Guangtian," Jia Dongxu explained.

"I told you not to make a random introduction." Zhang Cuihua refused to listen to any explanation and beat Jia Dongxu violently until Zhang Lianhua came out and tried to persuade her to stop.