In the backyard, at Xu Damao's house, the lights were still on, obviously waiting for Su Cheng.
At this time, although every household in Sijiu City had electricity, many people were reluctant to use it because it cost money. Moreover, the voltage was unstable and often tripped. The light bulbs burned out easily. In comparison, kerosene lamps saved money.
.
When Su Cheng's family used to have dinner, they used kerosene lamps.
However, Xu Damao's family, which has a high income in the courtyard, has no such concerns. Incandescent lamps are much brighter than kerosene lamps.
Su Cheng walked to the door of Xu Damao's house and shouted twice,
"Da Mao? I'm Su Cheng!"
Hearing the sound outside the door, Xu Damao, who had been waiting at the table for a while, immediately got up and opened the door, opened the curtain and welcomed Su Cheng into the room.
"Shengzi, you are finally here. If you don't come, I will go to the old lady to find you!"
"I just went to the middle courtyard and had a chat with Shazhu!"
Su Cheng didn't hide anything and directly told the reason for his late arrival. Then he took a look at Xu Damao's house. He didn't see Lou Xiao'e, but he noticed the snacks prepared on the table, including a plate of vegetables, a plate of peanuts, and a bottle of packaged food.
Fenjiu, there is also a pot of chicken stewed in a small charcoal stove in the middle. I think this is the chicken that Shazhu brought back from the factory. Now it is cheaper for them.
Su Cheng handed the two packages of specialties he brought to Xu Damao and continued,
"Da Mao, I brought you two packs of matsutake mushrooms. Why didn't you see your siblings?"
In the courtyard, Su Cheng was one year older than Xu Damao, twenty-seven, so there was nothing wrong with calling his wife sister-in-law.
Xu Damao took the matsutake and placed it on the long table in the corner, and explained,
"She fell asleep first in the house. We two brothers were reminiscing about old times, so it's just a good idea that she's not here."
Then he said,
"Chengzi, it's all right when you come. What else do you need to bring with you?"
"It's a special product from the black soil, but it's not a rare commodity."
Su Cheng followed Xu Damao and sat at the table, looked at the dishes on the table and said with a smile,
"Da Mao, you are quite rich!"
Xu Damao poured Su Cheng a glass of wine, took over the conversation and said,
"Originally, I didn't have much preparation at home, just some peanuts. It just happened that Silly Zhu stole my old hen, and I brought it back with the chicken and the pot, otherwise I wouldn't know what to entertain you with!"
Speaking of this pot of chicken, Xu Damao couldn't hide the smile on his face. After all, he had never been favored by Shazhu in the past. Today, it was rare for Shazhu to hold back. Even if Su Cheng didn't come, he might not
We will have some drinks in the house to celebrate.
Looking at Xu Damao's proud expression, Su Cheng didn't point it out. Although he knew that Silly Zhu didn't steal his chicken, there was no need for him to talk too much.
Xu Damao felt that he had finally won, and Sha Zhu also felt that it was a good thing to take the blame for Qin Huairu. Both parties were satisfied, and seeing through the situation without telling him was the best choice.
"Chengzi, come and let us go together!"
Su Cheng did not refuse, clinked the wine glasses with Xu Damao, took a sip and then said,
"Da Mao, you have to go to work tomorrow. I just came back and I have to go to the street and the factory to go through some procedures tomorrow. Just have a drink tonight. I'll have some fun when I'm free someday."
"Okay, let's have a few drinks! Come on, let's eat some meat. Don't tell me, Shazhu's craftsmanship is really good!"
After Xu Damao drank a glass of wine, the conversation started. He put a piece of chicken into Su Cheng's bowl and said,
"Shengzi, tell me what you were thinking back then. We all graduated from high school. I joined the steel rolling mill. Your family is a martyr's family. No matter how unlucky you are, you can still get a better position than me. But in the end, you did it without saying a word.
Even if he ran to join the army, he still went to the west!"
"It's always been rough over there, and I haven't heard from you in these years. I even asked your grandma, but the old lady took a broom and ran me out. I thought something bad happened to you, and I didn't do anything later.
If you dare to mention it again, everyone in the yard understands it tacitly. It turns out that you are a good person, and you secretly shed tears for you before you hurt me. What the old lady did is really unethical."
Hearing Xu Damao's complaints, Su Cheng also took over and said,
"Da Mao, actually I stayed in the army for less than two years, and then I caught up with the wave of disarmament. At that time, I was so disgraced that I had no nerve to go back to Sijiu City, and the country happened to call on veterans to open up wasteland on the black soil, so I simply
So he went to the north and stayed there for seven or eight years."
Xu Damao asked with some confusion after listening to Su Cheng's explanation,
"Shengzi, why did you suddenly come back and become the security section chief of our Zha Steel Plant?"
"It's been almost ten years since I left. The old lady is getting older. How can she do it without someone to take care of her?"
Su Cheng took a sip of wine and continued,
"In the past few years in the black land, I have actually done pretty well. I took the lead in developing several agricultural equipment, which was appreciated by some leaders of the Ministry of Industry. I took this opportunity to propose returning to Sijiu City. You don't have to guess in the end.
, the organization assigned me to the steel rolling mill."
Su Cheng briefly talked about his experiences over the years. There were some things he couldn't explain clearly. For example, he only graduated from high school and did not continue his studies. Although he was considered a top student in this era, he was definitely not capable of doing research and development, let alone you.
Those engaged in R&D, even if the organization reassigns positions, should not go to the security department of the steel rolling mill. Aren't those research institutes more suitable?
Fortunately, Xu Damao didn't care about these details. Instead, he clinked the wine glasses with Su Cheng, took a sip of wine, and said after a moment of silence,
"Chengzi, since you have been gone for so many years, it stands to reason that I should take care of the old lady for you more, but the old lady doesn't want to see me, so there is nothing I can do. I can only ask my younger siblings to help me when they have nothing to do.
Don’t blame me!”
Xu Damao's words made Su Cheng fall into deep thought. Anyone who has watched movies and TV shows knows that there are only a few people in this courtyard who are good to the deaf old lady.
The great master's family, Shazhu, and Lou Xiao'e should be gone.
And now listening to what Xu Damao meant, there was a secret hint from him here, but when he thought of his friendship with Xu Damao, it was not false, so he immediately said,
"Da Mao, I believe in you. Thank you brothers and sisters for me later."
"Chengzi, I feel relieved because of your words. All these years, the old lady has been looking towards Shazhu. As you know, Shazhu and I don't deal with each other, and the old lady also complained about it."
Xu Damao paused and said,
"Didn't I get married a few years ago? My parents vacated this house for me and Lou Xiao'e, um, my siblings, and they moved to the countryside. There are always people in this yard who see me as young and want to take advantage of me.
It’s cheap. Just the second and third uncles in the yard. Every time I came back from going to the countryside to play movies, they saw that I had some specialties given by the villagers, and they gave me a lot of things because they were elders. Isn’t this bullying?
?”
"Later, I took the risk and fell out with them directly. They wanted nothing to do with me. Do you see what happened? They didn't even dare to say anything, so they ruined my reputation behind my back and said that I was selfish.
, I guess these rumors have reached the old lady’s ears to some extent, and the old lady doesn’t want to see me anymore.”
Su Cheng could distinguish between half-truth and half-falsehood, but he would not delve into it too much. He immediately asked another doubt in his mind,
"Da Mao, what's going on between you and Silly Zhu? I remember that although you two didn't deal with each other in the past, you didn't have eyes that were not eyes and a nose that was not a nose like you are now?"