Siheyuan: Breaking up with Shazhu at the beginning

10

The partner should be someone you can spend your life with, not the type who is always restless.

"I don't have that idea, not at all." Yang Jun quickly denied it.

Although Yang Jun believes that character is more important than appearance when choosing a spouse, he did not say it out loud.

It would be enough to prevent Aunt Wang from introducing him to someone, but once such word gets out, it may cause trouble.

"That's good. Aunt Wang just hopes you won't be affected by false thoughts." Hearing this, Wang Xuemei felt relieved.

"Since you are not interested in them, Auntie Wang will help you change another group." Wang Xuemei patted Yang Jun's hand to comfort him. "Don't be too anxious about this matter. Just let it go."

The two chatted about family matters and were about to leave. Yang Jun briefly mentioned the pipeline excavation matter. Wang Xuemei generously stated that everything was fine and promised to send someone to deal with it in the afternoon.

When leaving, Yang Jun left two bags of native old hens for Wang Xuemei, but she did not refuse, and Aunt Wang sent him to the door of the street office.

When passing by the street canteen, Yang Kongjian took out a few enamel pots while no one was paying attention. He ordered three dishes, a combination of meat and vegetables, and steamed corn bread made of five pounds of flour, and then returned to the courtyard.

There is a custom among the Chinese people that no matter whether a new house is being built or renovated, the head of the household must prepare a lunch. The dishes are not demanding, but the food must be filling. This is a matter of maintaining the family's reputation and can also motivate the workers to work hard.

Everyone paid special attention to lunch.

He ordered stir-fried seasonal vegetables, stir-fried bean sprouts, a dish of braised pork, and two large bags of steamed buns. The rich lunch was enough to prove his intentions.

When they returned to the backyard, Lao Wu and his team had completed digging the trench for the water pipe, and the pipe had been laid and even coated with cement.

Next they were busy digging trenches for the sewage system, with each team member doing their own job and hammering away at the north wall.

In order to connect the sewage pipe to the fertilizer pool near the public toilet behind the courtyard, they had to dig a hole at the base of the back wall.

The extremely solid "gold bricks" used in the initial construction of this courtyard house had put a lot of effort into digging out a fist-sized opening at the bottom of the wall, and they were now using a hammer to enlarge the hole.

"Uncle Wu and his fellow workers, have dinner first and then continue." Yang Jun brought tables and chairs from his home, put food on the table, and invited them to eat together.

Hearing this, Lao Wu and his brothers stopped what they were doing, ran to the water pipe to wash their hands, returned to the dining table and looked at the dishes.

Everyone looked at each other and nodded, understanding that this family had good food.

They praised the food highly, especially the braised pork, which made them salivate.

Having renovated houses for so many families, even though I've eaten a variety of meals, it's rare to see a host serve meat at lunchtime.

In this era, each person only had a quota of two taels of meat coupons per month. Who could bear to consume it every day? Usually they used it to store up for a dumpling feast during the Spring Festival. It was lucky to have one or two meat dishes.

Of course, it’s not that they have never encountered hosts who provided meat dishes to the workers, but most of them just added a few slices into the dishes symbolically and considered it a meat dish. But today, the host of this house generously stewed a large clay pot of braised pork, which would have been impossible without two kilograms of ingredients.

After just one meal, the family had used up all the meat coupons they had saved for the entire year.

Lao Wu and his friends were chewing steamed bread and vegetables while staring at the plate of braised pork, hesitating.

Given their hosts’ enthusiasm, they also didn’t want to seem too picky.

After accepting Yang Jun's invitation, they symbolically tasted a piece of the braised pork each and did not touch anything else.

Just tasting the aroma of the meat is satisfying, and the rest can be left for the host family to taste.

Everyone understands the ways of the world and doesn't want to do anything embarrassing.

Seeing everyone’s expressions indicating that they didn’t want to eat meat, Yang Jun didn’t say much. He picked up the braised pork and added a few pieces to everyone’s bowl.

"Don't be polite to me. Can the remaining meat still lay eggs?" Yang Jun said pretending to be unhappy.

Hearing this, Lao Wu smiled as brightly as a chrysanthemum.

"That's great. I'd better obey your command."

After some pleasantries, everyone opened their stomachs and started chewing loudly.

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Among them was a man named Fang Tian. He ate a steamed bun in one mouthful. As his Adam's apple moved up and down, the bun disappeared.

In the blink of an eye, he had finished eight steamed buns.

Although the others ate a little slower, each of them had already eaten five steamed buns, and they looked so hungry that it seemed as if they had been waiting for this moment for days.

Yang Jun had previously bought five pounds of steamed buns, which, at one or two ounces each, would amount to fifty. However, he consumed more than half of them in such a short period of time.

He originally planned to buy one kilogram per person as a standard, thinking it would be enough, but they seemed very hungry and might not be able to handle even two kilograms.

Despite this, Yang Jun no longer thought about purchasing or adjusting tomorrow's food quota.

After all, in that period when each person had only 4 taels of rice per day, steamed corn bread was already a good level of food, and the most important thing was to make sure everyone was full.

After the meal, Yang Jun gave the remaining advance money to Lao Wu.

This time, Lao Wu took a quick look at it and put it in his arms.

After a busy period, they successfully cleaned the grooves in the corners of the wall.

Immediately afterwards, Lao Wu flashed out of the yard.

Half an hour later, Lao Wu came back.

He gathered everyone in the alley behind the courtyard, where a freight cart had already been parked and some tall and strong men were unloading materials from the cart.

It turned out that Lao Wu went to ask someone to unload the hollow cement pipes for them. Those pipes were used as parts of the drainage system.

The street office had not yet arrived at the original time, so Yang Jun decided to start first. Anyway, he had already told them that even if they came, it would just be a formality.

He trusted Aunt Wang to handle it, so he was not afraid of any troubles.

The distance connecting the backyard to the fertilizer pool is no more than thirty meters. Lao Wu led his companions to effortlessly uncover the neatly arranged blue bricks beside the alley road.

A few strong men swung their shovels vigorously, and in less than half an hour, they dug out a sewage channel.

Yang Jun helped Lao Wu and the others to slowly push the hollow cement pipe into the trench.

These pipes weighing hundreds of pounds were pushed forward through thick snow and wet ground, making their clothes soaked and covered in mud.

While they were laying the pipe, two staff members from the street office came. The man and woman greeted Yang Jun briefly, briefly examined the situation, and left after confirming that everything was fine.

Director Wang had already explained in advance that this was just a routine inspection and the real review had already ended.

Afterwards, Lao Wu and his brothers cleaned up the broken bricks beside the road, and as it was getting dark, they went straight home.

In the backyard of the courtyard, as soon as he returned home, Yang Jun immediately moved his luggage to the back room.

Yang Jun was quite embarrassed by the sound of his family going to the toilet late at night. He decided not to live in the living room, regardless of the stains or coldness of the residence.

I took a broom to clear a clean area, spread out the blanket, and closed the window. The decision to spend the night in this room was made.

The winter in North City is extremely cold, and the biting cold wind feels like a sharp blade cutting the skin.

Even in the room, people were afraid of spending the long night without fire.

For Yang Jun, this was not a problem. He had experienced spending many nights outdoors in the severe cold of Northeast China, and he survived only with a thin military blanket.

Due to his habit as an investigator, Yang Jun has a light sleep and will wake up at the slightest movement.

Whenever his family got up at night, the sound of running water would wake him up, which was an awkward situation and caused him to suffer from insomnia.

Of course, when she returned home, Wang Yuying couldn't help but talk about this "big guy" whom she hadn't seen for many years and felt very distressed.

At dawn in the morning, Yang Jun woke up because of the cold but not the alarm clock.

I looked at the watch and it was just past three o'clock, so there was still some time before dawn.

He wrapped himself tightly in the quilt and tried to rest for a while longer, but he could not fall asleep no matter what.

Finally I decided to get up because I had to go to Pigeon Market for another walk today.

The 400 yuan worth of food coupons he sold yesterday made him feel that they were not enough. He hoped to find more banknotes with different numbers so that he could make copies in the future without being discovered.

Yesterday, Yang Jun made a lot of money from food stamps at the Yonghegong pigeon market. In order to prevent being followed, he plans to turn to the Dongzhimen market for a chance today.

The journey from the Siheyuan to Dongzhimen was long, and Yang Jun ran for an hour before arriving.

However, there were not many people in the market at that time. In the snowy sky, he found a shelter next to a big tree, but was surprised to find that several people had already gathered under the tree to avoid the wind and cold.

After some communication, Yang Jun learned that two of the other parties were traffickers.

When he mentioned the information about food coupons that were seven cents below the market price, two vendors immediately approached him to discuss cooperation.

Due to the great demand from the other party, Yang Jun sold 1500 kilograms at a price one cent cheaper, and there were several hundred kilograms of regional and national food coupons each.

The transaction brought in a total profit of more than 600 yuan.

Yang Jun was not a greedy person. He left in a hurry after completing the transaction to avoid potential risks, namely the so-called "black eating black" incident.

When I passed by a breakfast shop that was not yet open, breakfast was not yet prepared.

After waiting for half an hour, he ordered porridge, two sesame cakes and a fried dough stick to fill his stomach.

After eating, he took away some steamed buns, sesame pancakes and scallion pancakes as usual, and also packed a portion of egg and coriander soup.

After leaving the breakfast shop, he looked for a deserted place and stored the breakfasts in his own space, hoping to enjoy them again in the future.

Entering the consciousness space to check, there are still four big buns and four fried dough sticks inside. Apparently due to the early time, the food has not gone through a complete cycle of the day, and the buns and fried dough sticks have not been completely copied successfully.

Although Yang Jun felt helpless in enduring Wang Yuying's endless complaints every day, he still insisted on bringing breakfast home every day. His purpose was to cultivate the whole family's habit of eating steamed buns, fried dough sticks and white flour buns for breakfast every day.

Until everyone gets used to it, it will provide a prerequisite for him to bring more delicious food from the copy space in the future.

Complaints are fine, but habits will naturally become commonplace.

When he stepped into the house, his family members were still busy washing up, while Wang Yuying ran to the public toilet to queue up.

Yang Jun put breakfast on the dining table and went back to his own nest to make his bed. Today his five brothers would come over to help him with the decoration work.

Seeing Yang Jun bringing back breakfast, Yang Liu and Yang Laosi, who didn't even have time to wash their teeth, quickly hid back in their respective rooms.

Since the uncle came back, the family’s living standards have improved significantly, and we enjoy delicious breakfast every day.

Not only that, their daily lives also broke many records: the first time they tasted the deliciousness of big meat buns, the first time they experienced the sweetness of flower rolls, the first time they fell in love with the crispness of fried dough sticks...

For Yang Laosi, this sense of happiness is particularly evident.

The older people dote on her, but the younger ones have limited appetites, so often these treasures end up in her mouth.

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[Three days passed in a flash, and it was time for Yang Jun to go to work.

The house is still under renovation. The fifth brother and a group of friends started to build the mathematical structure of the floor. Since there is strength in numbers, according to the current progress, it will be completed in about ten days.

Before leaving, Yang Jun left twenty yuan and some food coupons, told Wang Yuying to prepare lunch for Fifth Brother's team, and then he went straight to the work place.

Originally, he wanted to go to the steel mill with Mei Zi, but Mei Zi left early in the morning because she needed to go for the annual technical review and make preparations in advance.

This review will have an important impact on whether she can obtain a formal job position and rating, but this year's technical assessment was conducted in advance.

When he arrived at the steel plant, Yang Jun did not go to the purchasing department, but instead went into the first workshop, because he understood that this was a crucial matter for his sister's career prospects and as an older brother he should pay attention to it.

The first production workshop was shut down all day today just to conduct a technical assessment.

The assessment items cover a wide range of content, including tests for promotion from apprentice to formal employee, and improvement of skill levels.

The entire workshop is divided into several circles according to the types of work, and various skill training and assessments are carried out including fitter, forger, and welder.

Normally the technical review is conducted by three reviewers, at least one of whom must be the workshop director or deputy director present, one with senior expertise in the relevant field, and an impartial adjudicator from the factory to ensure fairness.

Yang Jun sneaked into the fitter area, and the review had entered a critical stage at this moment.