Siheyuan: I just want to live

It was almost noon when Chen Feng slowly stood up from the table. He touched his empty stomach and felt a little hungry. He wanted to find something to eat, but after scanning the table several times, he did not find the meatballs and fried fish nuggets he had eaten in the morning. Just as he was wondering, he suddenly saw a piece of paper under the teacup.

Chen Feng reached out and picked up the note. After a closer look, he suddenly realized that it was Sun Xiaojuan who took the meatballs away. He didn't care about it, so he crumpled the note and threw it into the trash can. Then, he straightened his coat and packed up a little, ready to go to lunch.

Then, Chen Feng took out some sugar, steamed buns, and a lunch box from the space. He skillfully broke the steamed buns into small pieces and put them into the lunch box, then sprinkled a layer of sugar evenly on them, and then added an appropriate amount of boiling water. Since he didn't cook last night, he could only use this simple method to fill his stomach at noon today.

After a simple lunch, Chen Feng took out the novel and started reading. He only went to the toilet during the whole process and stayed in the message room for the rest of the time.

In this way, Chen Feng spent another day. After get off work, when he returned to the courtyard, Chen Feng immediately began to prepare dinner. The courtyard was very quiet today, and there was nothing lively to see. After dinner, Chen Feng went to rest early.

This peaceful life lasted until Saturday. On Saturday, Chen Feng came to the scrap yard early as usual. Today is the last day of 1958! Tomorrow is the annual Spring Festival!

Just yesterday, the station manager notified everyone to come and receive the holiday benefits today. Chen Feng didn't know what kind of benefits the scrap station would give out this year, but deep in his memory, every time the Chinese New Year was approaching, his grandfather would always bring back a lot of good things. The scene that impressed him the most was the scene of his grandfather walking into the house carrying a piece of pork belly.

After Chen Feng waited in the reception room for a while, other employees of the scrap yard arrived one after another. They gathered at the door of the office and chatted in groups of three or four. Seeing this scene, Chen Feng also walked over.

Chen Feng came to the office door and stood outside the crowd. He listened quietly to the conversations of the people around him, occasionally saying a word or two, with a smile on his face. Although he didn't know what the benefits would be this year, this relaxed and happy atmosphere had already made him look forward to what was coming next. He listened quietly to their gossip.

Everyone was chatting when someone suddenly said, "Hey, have you heard? Our station manager scolded accountant Xiaojuan until she cried a few days ago!"

As soon as these words came out, the place fell silent instantly. Chen Feng did not say anything else, but pricked up his ears, waiting for the man to continue.

The man looked at the quiet crowd, nodded with satisfaction, and then said, "Someone saw the station manager call Accountant Xiaojuan to the office as soon as work started that day. Within a few minutes, the station manager scolded Accountant Xiaojuan until she cried."

Someone asked, "Why did the webmaster scold Accountant Xiaojuan?"

The man said in an uncertain tone, "Who knows? Maybe the stationmaster was in a bad mood. He just wanted to vent his anger on someone, so Accountant Xiaojuan had the bad luck to run into him? I heard that Zhou Ping was scolded just for taking a look at him."

When Chen Feng was listening with great interest, someone behind him patted Chen Feng lightly and asked, "What are you doing in there? Why are you all gathered here?"

Chen Feng was absorbed in listening to gossip. When someone asked him a question, he replied casually, "They were talking about how the stationmaster scolded Accountant Xiaojuan until she cried because he was in a bad mood! I heard that Zhou Ping was also scolded for taking a glance! Don't bother me. I need to listen carefully to the reason so that I won't be scolded for this in the future."

As soon as Chen Feng finished speaking, his heart tightened, and an ominous premonition came to his mind. Why is this voice so familiar? Could it be... impossible? As he thought about it, he slowly turned around.

As expected, the person standing in front of him was the angry stationmaster Li Guotao! His wide eyes were staring at Chen Feng, as if he was about to spit fire. Behind Li Guotao, followed closely by Sun Xiaojuan, who also did not look at Chen Feng well.

Chen Feng took a closer look and confirmed that it was Li Guotao. He immediately put on a respectful expression and raised his voice to shout, "Stationmaster, you are here!"

He deliberately spoke so loudly, in fact, he wanted to give a hint to his colleagues around him. So that they would know that the stationmaster had arrived and stop the gossiping behavior. After all, being caught by the leader is not a glorious thing, and you might even be criticized!

When the others heard Chen Feng's reminder, they immediately stopped gossiping. Everyone looked towards Chen Feng and shouted, "Hello, Webmaster!" "Webmaster, you are here!" "Webmaster, you are here so early, you have worked so hard!"

Li Guotao glared at Chen Feng fiercely, then ignored him and walked through the crowd. He came to the door of the office, stood on a bench and said

"Today I am here to explain why Accountant Xiaojuan cried last time. It was because of family problems that she cried last time, not because I was in a bad mood and scolded her."

"So please don't spread rumors. I promise here that I will never bring my emotions into work. Please rest assured!"

Stationmaster Li suddenly changed the subject and said to everyone, "Also, don't eat snacks all the time when you are at work. I'm talking to you, Chen Feng. If you eat meatballs at work again, you will be fined to hand over two meatballs to the Finance Office for every one you eat."

Chen Feng, who was watching the show below, was originally watching everything happening on the stage leisurely, but was confused by Li Guotao's sudden change of words! He couldn't help but feel depressed: I'm just eating a meatball, and I didn't offend anyone, why can't I eat it?

After Li Guotao finished speaking to Chen Feng, he did not give him any chance to refute, but directly began to arrange things for everyone. Everyone started to move, some moved tables, some carried welfare, and it didn't take long for the venue to be arranged. Then, everyone consciously lined up.

Chen Feng had no choice but to stand at the end of the line and slowly move forward with the crowd. Zhou Ping and Wang Dajiang were still in charge of distributing the items, while Sun Xiaojuan was in charge of recording.

Although the scrap yard seemed crowded, there were not many people, so it wasn't long before it was Chen Feng's turn.

Maybe because meat was distributed just a few days ago, there will be no meat as a benefit for this year’s Spring Festival.

Chen Feng received five pounds of flour, one pound of oil, half a pound of peanuts and melon seeds in shells, and half a pound of fruit candies. Then, he received some bills and ten yuan from Xiao Juan, the accountant, which was said to be "official receipts."

Chen Feng wondered in his heart, could it be that Stationmaster Li was worried that everyone would be short of money for the New Year, so he specially distributed it? But for Chen Feng, he would not think so much. No matter what the reason was, as long as he could get the money, he would be happy. He was such a person who was easily satisfied.

After Chen Feng received his benefits, Li Guotao stood in front of everyone and said, "I know today is New Year's Eve and no one wants to go to work. However, there is still some finishing work to be done at the station today."

"Everyone, don't leave yet. Let's clean up together and put up the Spring Festival couplets. Then we can go home and you don't have to come to work in the afternoon."

After Li Guotao finished speaking, Chen Feng started cleaning up with everyone else. Some people were sweeping the floor, some were wiping the table, and some were putting up Spring Festival couplets.

When everything was ready, before ten o'clock, Li Guotao immediately announced that he was leaving get off work. Everyone left in a rush, and Li Guotao was the first to leave. Chen Feng saw Sun Xiaojuan, who was the last one to leave, and quickly stopped him.

Sun Xiaojuan looked at Chen Feng who was stopping her and asked in confusion, "Chen Feng, why are you stopping me if you're not off work?"

Chen Feng looked at the crowd leaving, his eyes flashing with doubt and confusion. He lowered his voice and asked Sun Xiaojuan carefully, "Sister Sun, can you tell me why the stationmaster specifically told me not to eat snacks?"

When Sun Xiaojuan heard this, she rolled her eyes first, then showed a speechless expression and responded: "You stopped me just to ask this?"

Chen Feng nodded innocently and answered as a matter of course: "Yes! I just want to know the reason!"

Sun Xiaojuan didn't want to tell Chen Feng the truth, so she said casually, "You shouldn't eat snacks while working. What's the point of asking this?"

Just as Chen Feng finished speaking, Sun Xiaojuan swiftly bypassed him and left without looking back. Chen Feng was left there, blinking his eyes, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses as if he had just woken up from a dream.

Oh, yes! You really can’t eat snacks during work. I’ve been so comfortable these days that I’ve forgotten this rule! I even stopped someone to ask about it stupidly? How embarrassing!

But you still have to eat the delicious meatballs. At worst, you just have to be more careful next time and not eat them so openly.

After figuring it out, Chen Feng looked around and found that except for the security guards on duty, the scrap yard was empty. So he pushed his bicycle, locked the door, and went home contentedly after get off work.

Chen Feng rode his bicycle hesitantly back to the courtyard. Yan Fugui did not come out to water the flowers today. Although the primary school students are on winter vacation now, the teachers are also on vacation, but their school also distributed holiday benefits today, Yan Fugui should be going to school now!

Chen Feng returned home, put the things he had received from the scrap yard today inside the house, and then pushed his bicycle out again.