Siheyuan: Yan Jiekuang's carefree life

Yan Jiekuang said, "Brother Damao, the projector in our brigade is broken. They knew I was back in Sijiu City to visit my relatives, so they sent me a telegram yesterday to ask me if I could buy spare parts here in Sijiu City?! I'm not familiar with this area, so I can only ask you."

Xu Damao rolled his eyes and asked, "Do you know what model of projector your team has?!"

Yan Jiekuang replied: "It seems to be Bell brand."

When Xu Damao heard the brand, his eyes lit up immediately. The steel mill used this brand of projector. They had just replaced the old machine with a new one a while ago, but there were still a lot of spare parts left in the warehouse. Some of these spare parts were the losses that Xu Damao had over-reported before, and they had never dealt with them. Isn't this the opportunity? ! Xu Damao asked in embarrassment: "The price of spare parts is not cheap. How much budget did your team give you?!"

Yan Jiekuang pretended to be embarrassed and stared at Xu Damao while saying, "The brigade gave me 500 yuan to buy spare parts and bring some copies of the movies back."

Xu Damao said, "Now the cheapest copies cost 20 to 30. With a budget of 500 yuan, the parts are not enough to buy copies."

Yan Jiekuang said, "Brother Damao, parts are important, but copies are dispensable. If it really doesn't work, I'll pay for it first, and then I'll go back and settle with the team."

"Okay! I'll take care of the parts. I'll give you definite information in the evening." After saying that, Xu Damao rode his bicycle to work.

After arriving at the factory, Xu Damao inspected the projector and went to the exclusive warehouse of the publicity department. After working for almost half an hour, Xu Damao finally found all the parts of the Bell brand projector. Xu Damao took the parts back to the office, counted the number and types, and muttered: "This time, Yan Jiekuang got a bargain." Then Xu Damao thought about the film copy and decided to ask Yan Jiekuang again when he returned home in the evening.

Originally, there was a custodian in this small warehouse. But the custodian fell ill and was hospitalized a while ago. The new custodian of the small warehouse has not come yet. Usually, the propaganda department sends people to take turns to manage the warehouse. The person in charge of the warehouse today had something to do, so he asked Xu Damao to take over for a while. So Xu Damao had such an easy opportunity to get the parts.

At 4:30 in the afternoon, as the bell rang, Xu Damao said hello to the people in the Propaganda Department and was the first to leave. Probably because his wife was very strict and he had a child, Xu Damao was not as close to Li Huaide as in the TV series. He just did his job as a projectionist honestly.

"Jie Kuang!" Xu Damao pushed his bicycle into the courtyard and began to call Yan Jie Kuang. Yan Jie Kuang heard the call and ran out of the house, shouting, "Brother Damao."

Xu Damao handed a large cloth bag to Yan Jiekuang and said, "Everything you want is in it. You're lucky! The original Bell projector in our factory has just been eliminated, and these spare parts have not been processed yet. Otherwise, you really can't get them."

Yan Jiekuang took the bag and said, "Brother Damao, come sit in my room for a while?!"

"Okay! I'll give you a favor!" After saying that, Xu Damao parked his bicycle on the side, took his briefcase and followed Yan Jiekuang to the back house not far away.

After entering the house, Yan Jiekuang poured Xu Damao a cup of tea, then took out a pack of Peony cigarettes and a stack of money from his bag, walked to Xu Damao's side, and said, "Brother Damao, I can't let you pay for the work. Here's 500 yuan. This pack of cigarettes is a small token of my appreciation."

Xu Damao took the money, counted it, put it in his briefcase, put the cigarette in his pocket, and said, "You are quite capable. With your relationship with me, I will help you find a way to copy the movie. But not too many, and forget about new movies. It will be good enough if I can help you get old movies."

Yan Jiekuang said, "Okay! Old movies are good! It's better than nothing." Then Yan Jiekuang took out a piece of paper from his pocket as if he had been prepared, handed it to Xu Damao, and asked, "Brother Damao, can you get these movies?!"

Xu Damao took the list, looked at it, and said, "No problem. I'm going to the countryside the day after tomorrow. You wait for me outside the city and I'll give you the films. You want copies of 20 films in total, which is a lot of money!"

Yan Jiekuang said: "We have a sugar-making workshop in our brigade. We can earn several thousand yuan every year. The money for the copies is not a problem."

Xu Damao thought for a moment and said, "Give me another thousand yuan! You don't have to worry about the rest."

Yan Jiekuang pretended to think about it and nodded, saying, "Okay! I'll pay for it!" After that, Yan Jiekuang stood up, walked to the shoulder bag, reached into the bag, took out a stack of money, walked to Xu Damao and handed it to him.

Xu Damao took the money and joked with a smile: "You have a lot of money on you, kid?!"

Yan Jiekuang said, "Brother Damao, don't get me wrong. This money is not mine. My girlfriend left it with me. She lives in the compound."

People of this era are more or less afraid of the people in the compound. After hearing what Yan Jiekuang said, Xu Damao stopped talking. He took the money and counted it carefully. After making sure there was no problem, Xu Damao put the money into his briefcase, said hello to Yan Jiekuang and went out.

When Xu Damao returned home, Liu Aidi had already returned from get off work. When Liu Aidi saw Xu Damao coming in, she immediately brought him slippers and made him some tea. Xu Damao took a sip of tea from the cup, opened his briefcase, took out a stack of money, and handed it to Liu Aidi.

Liu Aidi took the money and asked, "Where did you get it from?!"

Xu Damao replied: "Yan Jiekuang from the front yard asked me to help, this is the bribe he gave me."

Liu Aidi was stunned for a moment and asked, "What kind of help can I give you for so much money?!"

Xu Damao replied, "To make copies of the movie. Anyway, don't worry! The money comes from clean sources."

"Just keep it in mind. I won't say anything else." After saying that, Liu Aidi hid the money.

In a blink of an eye, it had been a month since Yan Jiekuang returned to Sijiu City. Yan Jiekuang discussed the matter of returning with Su Zihui, and then went to the train station to buy a train ticket back to Dami County in three days. Just like when he came here, Yan Jiekuang still bought a sleeper ticket.

Because the train was for the day, everyone in the family had to go to work. So Yan Jiekuang and Su Zihui didn't ask their family to see them off. Early in the morning, Yan Jiekuang took the bus to the gate of the compound. After waiting for a while, Su Zihui came out with two travel bags.

Su Zihui saw that Yan Jiekuang had nothing on him except a shoulder bag and a travel bag in his hands, so she asked curiously, "Are you not going to take anything back?!"

Yan Jiekuang said: "My things have been sent from the post office. I think they will arrive by the time we get to the commune."

"You still have a good brain!" Su Zihui praised Yan Jiekuang with a smile and asked, "What should I do with these things?!"

Yan Jiekuang replied: "Isn't this easy? With a strong laborer like me, it's easy to carry these things." Then Yan Jiekuang took out a piece of cloth, tied Su Zihui's two travel bags together, hung them on his shoulders, and said with a smile: "Let's go!"