Siheyuan: Breaking up with Shazhu at the beginning

15

"I didn't give it to me!" Qin Huairu was full of doubts and puzzlement. She didn't understand why Sha Zhu had changed so much, as if he were a stranger, especially when his words seemed like a break, completely severing ties with their Jia family.

"Maybe there will never be one again in the future." Without waiting for Jia Zhang to ask, Qin Huairu expressed this guess on her own.

"Why? As an offspring without any children, he has no empathy at all?" Upon hearing this, Jia Zhang became furious.

"No, I'll go and find out what's going on." Jia Zhang couldn't let it go. She dropped the needle and thread in her hands, and stood up to settle the score with Sha Zhu.

When she was about to go out, she saw Qin Huairu looking dazed. She thought it would be more effective if her daughter went in person.

"You go! If you don't come tonight, don't come back."

"Mom..." Faced with Jia Zhang's tough attitude, Qin Huairu could only compromise.

She got up reluctantly, walked to the locker, took out half a plate of moldy peanuts and half a bottle of loose white wine, and headed straight for Sha Zhu's house with these.

Although he failed to get his lunch box back, he returned home with a blank.

……

The next morning.

Yang Jun, who had just returned from a run, bought breakfast along the way.

When he arrived at his new residence, he made his temporary bed and went into the yard to wash up.

He saw Yang Mei busy washing work clothes early in the morning. Although her hands were red from the cold, she could not hide the joy in her heart.

This promotion allowed her to bid farewell to the workshop and step into the office. She could clearly see the envy and jealousy of her colleagues.

As a member of the office in the future, you will no longer need those work clothes covered with oil, so wash them early in the morning.

"No need to wash it. It won't be clean. Let me give you my clothes." Yang Jun brushed his teeth and poured some hot water into the washbasin for Yang Mei to wash the clothes. "This old work clothes doesn't fit well. I'll get a new one later."

When Yangmei heard this, her brows were filled with joy and her gratitude was beyond words. She turned around and hurried back to her bedroom.

There was a whole set of brand new uniforms placed at the head of the bed, including a hat, work protection shoes and gloves, neatly folded.

When she saw them, Yang Mei's eyes welled up and tears almost fell, because she asked herself in her heart: Where is my brother from?

This is definitely not the wrong size, it is clearly carefully selected according to her body shape.

Moreover, she was not stupid. This blue women's work clothes was specially prepared for women. Male workers wore gray ones.

Looking at the mighty and reassuring image of her brother outside the door, Yangmei felt very happy.

Yang Jun naturally knew that this was women's work wear, and he specially asked Sister Cai to buy it for him.

Everyone in the factory had work clothes, regardless of rank, but he personally had no interest in wearing them, so he gave his sister a set of women's work clothes instead.

This question is like asking why students don’t like wearing school uniforms. The answer is that putting them on predetermines their identity.

Although work clothes are easy to put on, it is not so easy to take them off.

Section 51

Speaking of the difficulty of changing out of work clothes, it is because when you appear in front of public for a long time wearing work clothes, others will have the influence of the clothes on their impression of you, which may limit your ability and promotion.

For example, if there is a vacant position of director, the factory leaders will definitely not choose Yang Jun when selecting a suitable candidate - because in his long-term image, he is just an ordinary worker who can only do technical work and does not understand management.

This is why managers in the factory deliberately avoid being exposed to work clothes for a long time.

Of course, there are also some people who actively like to wear work clothes, such as the eldest sister Cai and the deputy chief of the equipment department Wang. They are more approachable, want to integrate into the collective and share the joys and sorrows with the workers, and therefore have always maintained their deputy positions.

Just like Uncle Yi Zhonghai, when people mention him, the first thing that comes to mind is that he is an eighth-level fitter with excellent skills, the pinnacle in the field of fittering that no one can reach.

The better he is at benchwork skills, the narrower his chances of promotion become; conversely, if a skilled chef like Sha Zhu is promoted to head chef, it means that the excellent chefs will have to leave the operation room and sit in the office. Who will cook their own private kitchens?

"Tell Lao Wei that I won't be going to work today." After washing up and putting on his coat, Yang Jun told his wife Yang Mei who was enjoying breakfast, and then left.

He planned to treat Sha Zhu to a dinner in the evening, so naturally he had to prepare the ingredients in advance. And he had inadvertently mentioned last night that he wanted to buy a car for his sister, so he couldn't go back on his word.

The walk from the courtyard to the steel plant takes about 40 minutes. Although it is not short, Yang Jun has no objection to it. He thinks it allows him to exercise while walking.

But the principle of buying a car is as important as getting rid of work clothes.

Think about it, if your boss sees you walking to work every day, what will they think of you? Poor? Frugal? Down and out?

Therefore, it is very necessary to own a bicycle of your own. You don’t have to ride it, but at least you should have it in your hand.

……

(In the state-owned department store on the first floor.

"I want a Phoenix brand bicycle." Yang Jun didn't need the clerk to ask him and directly showed the purchase receipt and cash for the bicycle.

He was greeted by a girl of about twenty years old, with two long braids combed neatly. After staring at the order for a while with her beautiful eyes, she raised her eyebrows slightly.

"Comrade, that's a bicycle for women. Don't you want to choose a 28-inch manganese steel bicycle? Not only is it better in style, but the front beam can also carry people or objects."

The girl was somewhat curious about a male customer's choice of buying a women's bicycle. Generally speaking, customers prefer to buy larger ones, which are both good-looking and practical to use.

"This is it. I don't want anything else." The bicycle he gave to his sister was of course a women's model. If he could choose, he would rather choose 26-type manganese steel. However, he was not very fond of the front beam of the bicycle because when he was young and learning to ride a bicycle, he was always blocked by the protruding part in the front, which caused him to fall many times.

Seeing Yang Jun's firm attitude, the girl gave him the invoice for payment.

She pointed to the payment area and told Yang Jun where to pay.

After Yang Jun paid 185 yuan, he took the receipt back.

After verifying the receipt, the girl called another male employee to the warehouse to pick up the bicycle.

Yang Jun checked the newly bought bicycle and found it was correct. After thanking the employee, he pushed the bicycle out and left the store.

The whole process took just over half an hour.

He took the invoice for the car all the way to the police station, registered the vehicle, and had it officially stamped, which cost a total of five yuan.

Fifty yuan is used to apply for the certificate, and three yuan is the annual usage and management fee of the bicycle.

Yang Jun rode his bicycle on the street, but there was no sense of luxury like a Lamborghini.

He also did not think of himself as a frivolous young man who was full of success.

He doesn't think highly of himself and thinks he is the most eye-catching guy on the street.

After all, this is one of China's four largest cities, the country's economic and cultural center, and the citizens are well-informed. They won't shout that they want to marry a cyclist just because they see him, right?

A bicycle plus related receipts are only worth a few hundred yuan in total. In the future, it will be at most 60,000 or 70,000 yuan, which is enough to buy an ordinary four-wheeled vehicle.

Ask yourself, would you envy others for driving a car like this?

Of course, it doesn’t mean that others won’t envy your bicycle, but it’s not as crazy as you imagine. After all, owning a bicycle is also a symbol of ability.

When he passed by a bicycle repair shop, he found that the shop was selling plastic bicycle baskets.

This basket made of woven plastic models is often used to temporarily store items on the back seat of a bicycle.

It is reinforced with welded steel bars on all sides and the frame is woven with plastic. It is strong and shatter-resistant, as well as rain and light-proof, and the items inside cannot be seen from the outside.

Yang Jun chose a frame that looked quite sturdy and asked a repairman to help him install it. The total cost was 3.5 yuan.

Yang Jun opened the basket and checked. He was quite satisfied. He stepped over the bicycle and left leisurely.

He took a special leave today to stay at home and planned to buy everything he needed.

He came to a cooperative and saw all kinds of food piled in front of him: rice, soybeans, corn, cornmeal, glutinous rice, glutinous rice flour, wheat, white flour, broad beans, peas, barley, oats, millet, sorghum, sweet potatoes, potatoes, buckwheat, rye, millet, yellow rice, lentils, mung beans, red beans, yam, chestnuts, water chestnuts, peanuts, sesame seeds... He bought one pound of each according to the list.

The staff looked at the bags of food scattered on the ground, and their eyes obviously changed.

Realizing this, Yang Jun was worried that they would misunderstand, so he quickly took out his work ID to explain.

As the head of the purchasing department of a steel rolling mill, this position is very prestigious.

After checking his documents, the staff even helped load the goods onto his bicycle.

Yang Jun rode his bike into a remote alley. When there was no one around, he used the copy space to collect all the food bags.

After completing his food purchases, he turned and walked toward the cooperative across the street.

He also needs to buy soybean oil (including sesame oil and rapeseed oil), refined salt, aged vinegar, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, cooking wine, baking powder, white sugar, brown sugar, milk candy, peanuts, melon seeds, broad bean paste, etc., some of each item.

With a load of supplies, he went to a sparsely populated area and put them into the copy space again.

Afterwards, Yang Jun went to another cooperative on the street and bought some liquor: various types of liquor including Moutai, Erguotou, Jiannanchun, Fenjiu, and Luzhou Laojiao, as well as Quanxing Daqu, Gujing Gongjiu, Dongjiu, and the well-known Wuliangye and Yanghe Daqu, as well as rice wines such as Xinghua Village and Nuerhong, and sweet potato wine.

After paying the full amount, he quietly put it back into the copy space in a deserted place and stored it.

After a busy morning, lunch time has long passed.

Seeing a mutton noodle restaurant on the side of the road, Yang Jun went in and ordered a hearty bowl of mutton noodles.

The rich aroma whetted his appetite. Perhaps because he was extremely hungry, Yang Jun finished the noodles in just two or three bites, not even leaving a drop of the soup in the bowl.

After finishing his meal, he immediately rode his bike to the vegetable market.

There are two major vegetable markets in downtown Beijing, Chaoyang Vegetable Market and Xidan Vegetable Market.

These two markets are full of various kinds of vegetables, fruits and meats, and basically any ingredients needed for home cooking can be found here.

Lunch time has passed and there are few fresh fruits and vegetables left, but if you choose carefully, you can still find some fresh options left.

Potatoes, radishes, Chinese cabbage, cucumbers, tofu, bean sprouts, lotus roots, fungus, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, purple sweet potatoes, dried mushrooms, chives, ginger, garlic, green vegetables, vermicelli, star anise, peppers, chili powder, baking powder, and even eggs, duck eggs, goose eggs...

There weren't too many varieties, but Yang Jun decided to pick the freshest ones and order two of each.

Then, he hid himself again in the no-man's land and put all the purchased goods into the copy space.

Yang Jun knew that he should not be greedy, so after leaving Chaoyang Vegetable Market, he turned his car towards Xidan Vegetable Market.

There was a considerable distance between the two locations. He rode for a full forty minutes before finally reaching his destination.

At the vegetable market, Yang Jun looked at the various stalls, picked out some vegetables to cook in the evening, and then walked straight to the meat stall.

There is plenty of meat here, including pork, mutton, dog meat, rabbit meat, poultry and fish, but there is no trace of beef.

Yang Jun particularly likes beef, but in that era, because the use of oxen for farming was banned, if he wanted to eat beef, he probably had to go to the cattle and horse market.

"Please give me 20 kilograms of pork, 20 kilograms of mutton, and two pieces of poultry each," he said to the staff selling meat.

"Would you like a receipt for payment?" asked the burly middle-aged man in his forties. He was an old hand who had been selling meat here for more than 20 years. He had seen all kinds of large orders, but he had never seen anyone buy such a large quantity of meat at one time like the young man in front of him. He didn't look like a customer who could afford the price.

——Faced with this situation, Yang Jun didn't waste any words. He directly showed his money and demonstrated his purchasing power to the store owner, allowing him to slaughter boldly and with confidence.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man picked up the sharp knife and wiped it across the pile of meat, cleanly cutting off a sufficient amount of thick meat. After estimating it, he put it on the scale, and it was exactly ten pounds.

He repeated this process, cutting out equal weights of mutton one by one, and then selected a few poultry that looked strong.

Yang Jun offered a processing service for an additional fee of two cents per pound, asking him to carefully cut and cook the meat.