Chapter 38 Experience
The next day at noon, Yu Zhiyuan came to the administrative building with a cloth bag. When he saw Director Li's secretary, he asked, "Is Director Li here? Let's not disturb him."

The secretary looked at the two packs of cigarettes in his hand and said, "I just finished lunch and am drinking tea. Well, I'll ask you later."

After that, he packed his cigarettes, knocked on the door and entered the office.

He came out again and called Yu Zhiyuan in.

Yu Zhiyuan put two bottles of Moutai on the table, lit a cigarette for Director Li, and then spoke: "Aren't you in trouble and come to the leader to beg for alms?"

"Tell me what's the matter, kid? You're so polite."

"We are short of clothes at home, and my wife is pregnant, so I don't dare ask her to stay up all night making clothes."

Upon hearing this, Director Li opened the drawer, found the ticket and handed it to Yu Zhiyuan: "Do you still have this wine? Find more, we'll need it when the time comes."

"It's gone from home? I'll go find it for you when I get home."

"Just remember it, there's no rush. Tell your brother-in-law later and ask him to go to the street office with the secretary this afternoon to register. The rent will be deducted from his salary."

"Thank you so much, boss. I'll remember everything!"

Director Li waved his hand and Yu Zhiyuan left the office.

When they arrived at the material warehouse, they asked Zhiqiang to take a leave and wait, and gave him money and industrial coupons, and asked him to buy a few boxes of cigarettes and a flashlight.

I strolled back to the workshop, ate lunch and chatted with my master.

Give the ticket and money secretly to the master.

Then I washed the lunch box and found a place to take a nap.

Seeing the street office clerk leading Zhiqiang and a young man into the compound, a group of aunties gathered around them.

Seeing several people open the door of the back room, they started talking.

After the street office official and the young people left, the third aunt held Yang Zhiqiang and asked, "Is this house allocated to you?"

"Well, I just got it done today. The rent is 80 cents a month. You guys chat while I go get the tools to clean up."

"Why was it given to a newcomer? My house doesn't have enough space, and I still want to apply for another one." Jia Zhang was a little indignant.

"With a rural household registration, it's good enough for you to have a place to live, and you want to occupy another one!" the second aunt retorted.

"Then there's only one room left. No, I have to find the old man quickly." The second aunt said as she pushed through the crowd and walked out of the yard.

When Yu Zhiyuan brought Master Ma into the courtyard, Yan Bugui was arranging flowers while staring at the gate.

I agreed with Master Ma on how to clean up the house, paid the deposit, and moved out of the compound.

Yu Zhiyuan was startled when he turned around and saw Yan Bugui standing quietly behind him.

"Sure, Zhiyuan, you did such a big thing quietly. Your uncle is impressed. Tell me how you did it."

"This compound is the collective housing of the steel mill. Just go to the factory's logistics department to apply for it. What else can we do? You should think about it carefully."

Yu Zhiyuan went back and told Yang Zhiqiang that they should tidy up the house first and move in the bed later, and there was no rush.

In the evening, Zhiqiang and I each took a can and ran to the woods outside the city with a flashlight.

The two men spent more than an hour in the woods and returned to the compound with two jars of cicada ghosts.

After Yan Bugui opened the door, he quickly lit a cigarette and signaled Yiqiang to go back first.

"Uncle, I will be out more often in the future. Just close the door and I will lock it for you when I come back."

As Yu Zhiyuan spoke, he stuffed the half pack of cigarettes in his hand into Yan Bugui's hand.

"Why did you go out so late?"

"Want to know? I went to the woods to look for cicadas. This is a good thing, high in protein. It can also be stored, so it's okay to eat it in winter."

"You are really good at tinkering all day long, and you don't even feel tired. Go back to sleep."

It was already daybreak at five o'clock.

Yu Zhiyuan stood up and massaged Xuemei's thighs and calves, then touched her back which was a little sweaty. He hurriedly helped her turn over and wiped her back with a towel at the bedside.

He took a palm-leaf fan and fanned her until she felt comfortable, then turned her over.

Yu Zhiyuan had never experienced this before, so he always had to be careful.

I slept for a while with my eyes closed, and then I heard some noise in the room outside. I knew it was Zhiqiang coming from the front yard to make breakfast.

He woke Qiaoqiao up and told her to dress herself. Yu Zhiyuan was busy feeding the chickens and washing up.

Pick two tomatoes and two eggs, and ask Zhiqiang to cook the soy milk and fry them.

He hurried back to the room to serve Xuemei.

After watching the mother and daughter strolling to work, I set out to work with the people in the yard.

Anyone working in the workshop now has to prepare two towels, one to wipe the wet ones, wash them in the sink and then use the other one to dry.

The better workers were still wearing short-sleeved shirts, but most of them were wearing sweatshirts, and some were even shirtless.

It was noisy, with all the noise of machines rubbing against each other, and it was so hot that there was no breeze at all.

People with poor mental quality may go crazy in this space.

The mung bean soup in the cafeteria is in short supply, and I heard that someone in the forging workshop over there has fainted from heatstroke.

Director Guo was afraid, so the workshop raised funds to buy watermelons.

That's only two teeth per person per day, but it's better than nothing.

Yu Zhiyuan got a few military water bottles from his master's house and Fan Changjun's house, and soaked them in cold boiled water with honey and salt at home.

Prepared for my master and senior brothers. Now that I’m old, I dare not relax.

At noon, everyone is lying in the shade. If they don't take a break at noon, no one can stand going to work in the afternoon.

Those were hard objects made of iron against iron, and if you weren't careful you'd lose half your palm.

No matter how hot it is in the morning, you have to calm yourself down and keep your mind calm so that you can complete your task better.

In the afternoon, I work slowly again.

On days like this, even the leaders dare not urge us to speed up the work.

When they get off work in the afternoon, the sweat and alkali on the workers' clothes can fight back against everything.

The people in the yard walked lazily towards the courtyard, and they didn't have the energy to talk and laugh loudly.

Yu Zhiyuan walked to the street office, picked up his daughter and wife, and slowly moved home.

When we got home, we used the water in the bucket to wash the mother and daughter. Qiaoqiao was fine and continued to scatter flowers in the yard as usual.

Pour some cold boiled water on Xuemei and wash two tomatoes to use as padding.

Wait until the heat subsides before cooking.

Just as I saw Zhiqiang walking into the backyard carrying a bag of grass, I heard shouting coming from the middle yard.

"Brother Zhiyuan, Brother Zhiyuan, someone is looking for you at the gate!"

Yu Zhiyuan looked at Zhiqiang.

Yang Zhiqiang shook his head.

When Yu Zhiyuan arrived at the gate wearing slippers and shorts and fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, he saw his father-in-law fanning himself with a straw hat and chatting with Yan Bugui.

"Dad, why did you come without telling me?" Yu Zhiyuan hurried over and fanned his father-in-law with a palm leaf fan.

"The vegetables in our family's private plot are all ready to eat. If we don't eat them now, they will go old. So I'm rushing to send some to you. The wheat harvest is coming in a few days, and I'll be busy and won't have time."

Yu Zhiyuan went over and took three cucumbers from the basket and handed them to Yan Bugui. He then carried two large baskets of vegetables and said to his father-in-law, "Dad, go home and drink some water so I can cook. You must have been too hot these past two hours."

After saying hello to Yan Bugui, he went home with his father-in-law.

After putting the dishes down and asking Zhiqiang and Xuemei to chat with him, Yu Zhiyuan hurried out with a bucket, scooped a ladle of bran, mixed it with water, and went outside with the bucket to feed the donkey.

I unloaded most of the truckload of firewood and took it home to have a drink of water.

I went into the inner room to get money for Zhiqiang and told him to go to Dongdan to buy vegetables.

I went to Shazhu's house and asked Shazhu to carry the donkey cart into the yard and tie it to the old stable in the front yard.

"Brother Zhuzi, we'll have dinner at my house later, and you have to cook. It's not easy for my father-in-law to come over, so you have to cook well and don't let me down."

"That's great. I will definitely use all my skills."

(End of this chapter)