Siheyuan: Returning to 61 to collect waste

"What's up, Dad?"

Ye Yongshun handed Ye Chuan a bottle of white wine and a Daqianmen, and instructed: "Send these to Director Wang and the company's leaders tomorrow, and ask them to pay more attention to your affairs."

Staring at the big front door, Ye Chuan couldn't help but feel an itch in his throat, and felt like he wanted to smoke.

He took the cigarettes, unsealed them, and casually took two boxes, then added: "Dad, there is no need to send them any more wine. Director Wang does not need any gifts, and there is even less need for gifts from the recycling company.

I'm just going to work. Don't expect me to spend money from my own pocket before I make any money.

Just take two packs of cigarettes, just for the sake of showing your appreciation."

Before his father could express his opinion, he turned around and went into the house with two boxes of cigarettes.

Ten-year-old Ye Yongshun looked at his son's receding back. He felt that his son seemed to have undergone a drastic change overnight, but he couldn't tell exactly what the change was.

Ye Chuan was born like a night owl. How could he still feel sleepy at this hour? He lay on the earthen kang, staring at the dark sky outside the window, thinking about how to use that wonderful system to make his life in this era smoother.

Through the window glass of the cabin, Ye Chuan found that the lights in his parents' room were off, so he picked up the cigarettes in the box, took out a cigarette, and lit a match.

He is already twenty years old. Although his parents will not interfere with his smoking, he still feels a little uneasy when he thinks about their sudden inability to accept it.

After all, this was an experience his new body had never had before. After taking a puff of cigarette, he felt dizzy and simply closed his eyes, but unexpectedly fell into a deep sleep.

At six o'clock the next morning, Ye Chuan woke up and found himself refreshed.

He used to fall asleep around 2 a.m., and even three loud alarm clocks could not wake him up.

He felt drowsy at work and only regained consciousness after a short lunch break.

Breakfast was just a bowl of porridge without any meat or substance, which he swallowed hastily just to fill his stomach.

Before going out, mother Liu Yue kept repeating her instructions: her son must obey the instructions of his leader at work, return in the evening, and remember traffic safety.

These caring words made Ye Chuan laugh and cry.

They lived in an old courtyard house near the street office. Only Yi Zhonghai and Xu Damao owned motorized bicycles. Everyone else had to walk to work, which took nearly half an hour.

It was early summer in August, and the morning breeze was slightly warm. When Ye Chuan walked to the street corner, he was already sweating slightly on his forehead.

After asking about Director Wang's office, he stood in front of the door and knocked gently. After waiting for a response, he pushed the door open and went in.

"Hello, may I ask who you are?"

"Hello, my name is Ye Chuan. I'm here to request a letter of introduction and I'm going to report to the material recycling company." Ye Chuan introduced himself briefly.

This was the first time Comrade Wang met Ye Chuan, but he had known Ye Yongshun several times.

With his dark skin and simple face, you can tell at first glance that he is a sincere young man.

The Ye Chuan in front of him was nearly 1.8 meters tall, with an elegant and handsome temperament, but his face was a little haggard and thin. Compared with the image of Old Ye's son in his memory, he looked very different.

"Oh, you are Ye Yongshun's child, right?" Comrade Wang confirmed.

"Yes, the father is Ye Yongshun." Ye Chuan nodded slightly in agreement.

Comrade Wang was impressed by Ye Chuan, who was handsome and well-mannered. In comparison, Xu Damao, who was lazy and had bad manners, or Sha Zhu, who did not play by the rules, were much inferior.

He sighed in his heart: "Fate is so unfair. Sha Zhu and Xu Damao can work in the steel factory, but Ye Chuan has to work in the scrap materials company. What a waste of talent."

Director Wang had already prepared the letter of introduction. He stood up and said with a smile, "Xiao Ye, there's nothing else to do today. I'll accompany you to report to your new unit."

The sudden proposal made Ye Chuan a little stunned. He had an ordinary position in the material recycling company and was not in the leadership position. Why did he need Director Wang to personally send him to work?

But Comrade Wang did not give him time to hesitate and took his arm and walked out of the office.

If Comrade Wang had not been nearly fifty years old, he would have suspected that the other party had a desire to get close to him! The office on the street was only a few minutes away from the recycling station. The two chatted as they walked. As the conversation deepened, Comrade Wang liked Ye Chuan even more. He spoke in a proper manner and had a clear mind, worthy of a high school education.

When he arrived at the company gate, Comrade Wang let out a deep breath and said, "Xiao Ye, I'm sorry to arrange you here. If a suitable position becomes vacant, I will arrange a better one as soon as possible." In just ten minutes, her address changed from director to auntie, and she expressed her pity for him more than once.

"Auntie Wang, thank you so much, but there are outstanding people in every walk of life, and they are making contributions to China no matter where they are.

If there are any good positions, please leave them to those who need them more! "

"What a good child! Really a good child!" Director Wang was deeply moved by these words and almost shed tears.

The two came to the director's office of the material recycling company.

Although this is a business, the director is actually the highest administrator, not the manager.

Director Wang did not knock on the door, but pushed it open and walked in, showing that he had a deep personal relationship with the director here.

Inside the room, a middle-aged man with a slightly balding head, about 40 or 50 years old, was reviewing documents at his desk.

Hearing the voice, he frowned, looked up and saw Director Wang, and a smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Hey, Director Wang, if you have anything to say, just call me. Why come here in person?"

"Xiao Tang, what are you busy with?" Director Wang said with a smile.

"Xiao Tang?" Ye Chuan was quite surprised by this title.

Although they are both directors, this material recycling company is a state-owned enterprise, and the director in front of him is obviously of a higher rank than the director of the street office.

The company is affiliated to the supply and marketing cooperative system, with branches in each district and office business points in various streets.

Even though the director is at the office level, his status is not low.

Director Wang's easygoing attitude shows that they have a close relationship.

Director Tang stood up and replied with a smile: "Well, how can you say I'm busy? I'm only busy when it's almost time to get off work.

On the contrary, you are busy working from morning to night.

"

"Let's not talk about these annoying things. I'm sending you a new colleague today. He's the high school student who was assigned to your place last week." Director Wang waved his hand to interrupt the topic.

"Are you coming here in person?" Director Tang asked on the surface, but in fact his eyes were on Ye Chuan, wondering what the relationship between this young man and Director Wang was.

"Hello, Director Tang!" Ye Chuan greeted with a smile.

Director Wang took Ye Chuan's arm and led him in, saying with a smile: "I just want you to take care of me.

Ye is my junior, smart, sensible and well-educated, don't let him suffer."

Since Director Wang proposed this, Ye Chuan was naturally happy to cater to him: "Director Tang, I am already twenty years old, and Aunt Wang always treats me as a child. If you have any dirty or tiring work to do, please leave it to me, I can handle it."

These words made Director Wang smile even more.

As the director of a subdistrict office, she understood the ways of the world. Ye Chuan's expression made her very happy, and she secretly praised in her heart: This child is very good at speaking.

It turned out that Director Tang used to be Director Wang's subordinate in the office. Because the materials company decided to set up a branch in the office, he got the position with the recommendation of Director Wang.

Therefore, he was grateful to Director Wang and often had private contacts with him.

Since he is Director Wang's relative, Director Tang will naturally take care of him, but he understands that the job is not a sinecure and it is not advisable to get little money for doing little work. The so-called care is more reflected in subsidies or future opportunities for improvement.

After the two chatted for a while, Director Wang said goodbye and left, giving a few more words of advice before leaving.

After Director Wang left, Director Tang returned to his desk and regained a bit of the seriousness of a leader.

“Xiao Ye, the work in our office is indeed both arduous and easy.

Next, you go to Fatty Han to sign the contract, and I will help you cancel the one-month probation period."

Ye Chuan replied gratefully: "Thank you, Director Tang. I will definitely work hard."

Director Tang waved his hand and continued, "We will work in groups of two. Fatty Han's group is short of one person now. You can help him and ask him any questions you have.

"

Ye Chuan nodded, took out a box of Daqianmen cigarettes from his pocket and placed it in front of Director Tang, and said with a smile: "Auntie Wang learned that you like to smoke before coming here, so she asked me to bring this to you.

"

"Hehe, Sister Wang, you are so polite!" Director Tang smiled happily. He knew in his heart that it must not be Director Wang's arrangement, so he had a higher evaluation of this young talent.

Ye Chuan found the address of the office, signed the contract and went to find his partner, Fatty Han.

The reason why he is called "Fat Brother Han" is because he has an extremely strong physique and muscles like small hills, making him very suitable for security guard work.

His real name fits his physique very well - Han Dazhuang. He is also a very honest person. When he saw Ye Chuan, he showed an innocent smile.

"Hello, are you Ye Chuan? My name is Han Dazhuang, and everyone also calls me Han Pang. You can call me Han Pang or you can call me Brother Han." Brother Han Pang grinned and introduced himself in a friendly manner.

"Brother Han? How old are you?"

"I'm twenty, how about you?"

"I'm twenty too, but I think I'm more mature than you. You should just call me brother!"

Fat Brother Han laughed and didn't seem to mind at all: "Okay, from now on you can call me Brother Ye!" Ye Chuan was also happy in his heart. This guy was very straightforward and was so direct when talking about being brothers.

They were business personnel with flexible schedules, so the two did not set out to carry out the mission right away. Instead, they leisurely lit up cigarettes, one each, and started chatting.

"Brother Ye, you are really good. You are smoking Daqianmen!" Fat Han held the cigarette happily, lit it with a match, took a deep breath, and had an intoxicated look on his face.

"When you become successful in the future, I'll let you taste this every day!" Ye Chuan joked.

"That's awesome!" said Fat Han happily.

The two partners chatted for about an hour, and Ye Chuan already had a comprehensive understanding of the operation of the business location, because Fatty Han talked nonstop like a faucet.

Although it is a material recycling station on the surface, it is actually quite large, with three warehouses filled with various recyclable items, and the head office usually comes to pick up the items once every two weeks.

After hearing Han Pangge's description, Ye Chuan understood that their job was not simply recycling waste, but sending the recyclables back to the head office for processing.

Hearing this, he laughed in his heart: There is no such thing as waste in this world. Before coming here, I thought I was just collecting some old cardboard boxes and Coke bottles, but in fact, in this era, you can hardly see cans and express boxes.

The items they recycle on a daily basis are varied, ranging from discarded toothpaste caps, glass fragments, bones, fruit peels to broken shoes and clothes, old furniture, and even old newspapers and magazines.

This made Ye Chuan a little confused. What was the use of bones?

Although recycling of old newspapers is one of the projects, there are very few subscribers now, so the recycling volume is naturally not large.

Hearing this, Ye Chuan's eyes lit up.

A large number of recyclables are piled up in the warehouse waiting to be distributed to the head office. When they are delivered, they are often mixed with unexpected things, and there is a high chance that antiques that have been collected for many years will appear.

In a corner of one of the warehouses, there are many old items. The staff are not very interested in them. Whoever likes them can take them, and the price is not high.

At this time, Ye Chuan secretly vowed to himself that he must go to the warehouse to take a look in person.

Holding the treasure appraisal certificate, he imagined that if he had one or two pieces of blue and white porcelain from the Qin and Han dynasties or the Yuan Dynasty and collected them for twenty years, he would become a wealthy man.

According to Han Pangge, there are still some old household appliances that have not been sent out. Since they are collected as scrap, the head office will not pay much attention to them even if they know about it.

Their local business outlets were large, with a total of nearly thirty employees, including a group of twenty-four people like him and Han Pang, divided into twelve teams.

Their daily duties are to wander the streets and collect waste materials from the people.

In layman's terms, this is a job that requires walking around the streets, and it is also one of the reasons why people laugh at this profession - compared to factory work, they are exposed to more wind and sun.

Each team is equipped with a tricycle. The six teams have a captain, as well as personnel, finance and two director-level managers. The entire team has nearly 30 people and is one of the largest business outlets in Beijing.

Ye Chuan was a regular employee when he first joined the company, with a fixed monthly salary of 30 yuan, and bonuses that would increase or decrease based on the workload.

According to Han Pang, he once earned a staggering 40 yuan in a certain month.

As employees of a recycling company, they will find shopping in their daily lives more convenient. For example, through good relationships, they can negotiate with store clerks and say hello the night before, so that they can reserve the required goods the next day.

After Fat Han had a good rest, he jumped onto the tricycle nimbly, causing the tricycle to creak due to his weight, causing Ye Chuan to worry whether the frame could withstand it.

Fatty Han said with a smile: "Brother Ye, come on up! I'll give you a ride and take care of you from now on."

Smiling, he climbed into the cargo area behind the tricycle, and Ye Chuan handed him a cigarette from the cigarette box.

"Good job, thank you for your hard work, brother!" Fat Han took it and tucked it behind his ear, pedaling the bicycle leisurely, looking almost more comfortable than riding a geared bike.

Han Pang looks more like a diligent rickshaw driver than a scrap recycler.

But once you sit in the hard wooden carriage for a long time, your butt will always hurt.

Ye Chuan decided in his mind that he must buy a comfortable mat to lay on in the afternoon so that no one would interfere even if he took a nap in the sun.

Obviously, Han Pang knew the area very well and did not waste any time along the way.

However, they found that there were few suppliers of waste, and until lunch time approached, only some broken glass and about a dozen toothpaste tubes had been collected.

Just as the two were about to return to the business point to eat, a 70-year-old man stopped them.

Fat Han stopped the car immediately, and then Ye Chuan got out to ask.

"Uncle, what do you have to sell?" The old man was thin, with a goatee, his gray hair was neatly combed back, and he wore a pair of black-framed glasses. His eyes looked very alert.

"Are you from a recycling company?" he asked with some doubt.

"Yes, it's a state-owned enterprise and the price is reasonable!" Fatty Han assured.

"That's good. It would be nice if someone could help me move these things." The old man said as he walked towards his home. Although he was old, his gait was still steady.

"Brother Ye, just take care of the car. I'll go help move grandpa's things.

"

Ye Chuan nodded happily in agreement, leaned back on the tricycle, lit a cigarette and began to wait.

Soon, Fat Han came out carrying a big bag, and behind him was an old man with a stack of books.

The bag was filled with discarded copperware and several dozen toothpaste tubes, which clattered to the ground.

An item among the miscellaneous items immediately caught Ye Chuan's eye, but he did not rush to mention it.

Afterwards, Han Pang took out a magnet and tested these items one by one. The last object, which was shaped like a round disk, could not be attracted at all. Han Pang seemed disgusted and threw it aside.

Taking the old book from the old man, Ye Chuan weighed and measured it, and Han Pang began to calculate its value.

I heard the old man pick up the rejected round plate and said anxiously, "What should I do with that?"

Fat Han didn't even look up and responded: "We don't want this!" The old man immediately showed disappointment.

"Grandpa, what is this?" Ye Chuan asked curiously.

Unexpectedly, the old man shook his head and said: "I don't know either. There is a bird carved on it. I thought it was beautiful, so I kept it. I thought it was made of iron, but it turned out not to be." Ye Chuan took the disc and observed it carefully. Because it was too old, the surface of the mirror had already turned black and dirty.

But through the stain he glimpsed a hint of patina.

The front and back of the disc were already a little black, and he suspected that he had made a mistake, so he used his basic identification method.

"Tang Dynasty bronze mirror!" The information instantly popped up in my mind.