After having a closing banquet with the crew, Zuo Le did not stay in the capital any longer and returned to Quancheng with the film materials and Fatty Chen that night.
After handing over the handover report to Taili, Zuo Le went back to his home in Qingwan Town, packed his luggage briefly, and hurriedly took the high-speed train back to Zhaocheng to celebrate the New Year.
By the time Zuo Le was driven home by his cousin Chen Ping, it was already the afternoon of New Year's Eve, and Zhuang Cuicui was leading her family to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner in the yard.
Ms. Zhuang was very happy to see her eldest son returning home after a long journey. She was greeted with hot tea and fruits. It took more than half an hour before she lost her enthusiasm and returned to the kitchen to cook.
Zuo Le had nothing to do in the house, so he simply moved a small bench to help Comrade Zuo make dumplings. The two men chatted while working.
Lao Zuo talked little. They said they were chatting, but in fact it was mainly Zuo Le himself who was talking, while Comrade Lao Zuo only listened and occasionally asked a question.
This somewhat boring chat mode lasted for more than 20 years in the Zuo family.
Not only Zuo Le, but also other members of the family, Zhuang Cuicui, Zuo Xiao, including the old man chatting with Lao Zuo, are also in this situation. The Zuo family has long been accustomed to it, in Ms. Zhuang's words.
"Your dad is just a dull gourd. He can't be beaten with eight sticks."
Half an hour later, Zuo Le brought a curtain full of dumplings and placed them on a shelf under the awning in the yard.
The outdoor temperature in Zhaoshi during the twelfth lunar month is nearly minus 20 degrees, which is almost half a natural refrigerator. Dumplings can be frozen and kept fresh here.
Although Zuo Le didn't understand why these dumplings, which were going to be cooked in a few hours, needed to be frozen to keep fresh, he had no choice but to follow Ms. Zhuang's instructions.
Just after putting the dumplings away, Zuo Le was about to wash his hands when he saw his sister Zuo Xiao, who had just gone out to play with her classmates, come back. As soon as she saw him, she immediately cheered and screamed, and then asked a series of questions,
"Brother, you're back. When did you come? Why didn't you call me to tell me? Is the capital fun? Did you bring me anything delicious?"
"Why do you just know how to eat? You don't care whether your brother has lost weight or whether he is tired from working outside."
When Zuo Le saw his sister Zuo smiling, he was very happy in his heart, but his mouth habitually switched to brother-sister bickering mode.
Miss Zuo chuckled, and very hypocritically walked around Zuo Yinqin to greet her brother at work, putting on the air of a well-behaved little girl.
Zuo Le felt comfortable after being photographed, and then directed Zuo Xiao to the storage kitchen in the living room, where there were special snacks he brought back from Beijing and Quancheng.
"Yeah, preserved fruit, preserved meat, donkey rolling, roast duck, water chestnut pancakes, figs... Long live my brother!"
Miss Zuo is a foodie. When she saw so many delicious foods, she immediately became starry-eyed and sincerely praised her brother Zuo Le.
Zhuang Cuicui couldn't help but look down on her daughter's "worthless" appearance and couldn't help but strike.
"Eat, eat, eat. Look at those acne on your face. They are all caused by eating and drinking without restraint. You are still careless."
"Mom, what are you doing when you scold people without exposing their shortcomings?"
Miss Zuo suddenly had a look of lovelessness on her face. She was in the third year of junior high this year and was in puberty. She had some small acne on her face. She was worried about it, so Ms. Zhuang also used to touch up the acne.
Zuo Le looked at An Le from the side and wanted to stir up trouble between the two of them, but Zhuang Cuicui, who saw through it, retorted.
Then, Zuo Le was kicked out of the house by his mother in embarrassment. Zhuang Cuicui asked him to invite the old man to come home to celebrate the New Year. He also went to the village tuck shop to buy a bottle of vinegar. The vinegar salad at home was almost used up. You can't eat dumplings without vinegar at night.
The old man is very kind to invite you. When Zuo Le arrived, he was sitting by the stove and listening to the storytelling on the theater player. Shan Lao's "Sui and Tang Dynasty", Li Yuanba's bloodbath in Siping Mountain.
The old man loved this part the most and never tired of listening to it. When his grandson Zuo Le came over, he couldn't bear to shut it down. He just lowered his voice and listened to Zuo Le talking and Qi Guoyuan and Cheng Yaojin bragging.
Zuo Le saw that the old man was happy and did not disturb his interest. He told the old man that he planned to buy vinegar first and then take the old man home for dinner.
"I know, go ahead."
The old man waved his hands impatiently, then raised the volume of the music player, and continued to be immersed in the world of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
"This old man is quite fascinated..."
Zuo Le gave a bitter smile and got up to go to the canteen. On the way, he met a group of old ladies and old men gathered at an intersection to chat.
Anyone who has been to the countryside knows that every village has a group of people who are used to gathering somewhere in the village to chat and gossip. If they happen to walk among them, even a dog will become a dog in an instant.
Topic center.
It is simply a nightmare in the hearts of countless young people in rural areas...
Zuo Le stood a hundred meters away and hesitated for a long time. He didn't dare to go there and chose to take a detour.
After buying vinegar from the canteen, Zuo Le was pulled by the enthusiastic landlady to take a photo together, then fled to the old man's courtyard and took the old man home for the New Year's Eve dinner.
Zuo's family had dinner early. Before eight o'clock, the family was sitting at the dining table and feasting.
During this period, Zuo Le remembered what he had just experienced in the village, and tentatively proposed that he wanted to buy a house in Zhaoshi and move his family out of the village.
As soon as Zuo Le finished speaking, except for Miss Zuo who looked surprised, the other three people at the dinner table fell into silence.
"I won't move."
The old man was the first to break the silence, and Zhuang Cuicui quickly said: "It's good to live in the village. I've been used to it for decades. It's awkward to move out."
Comrade Lao Zuo also reluctantly said a few more words: "Xiao Le, I know you want to be filial to us, but it's just like your mother said. We are used to living with your grandfather in the village, and we are all familiar with our relatives and neighbors.
, you asked us to move out, and there was no one to even talk to.
Your grandpa is almost 80 this year, and your mother and I are also looking forward to running for six jobs. To put it bluntly, why are you messing around at this age? Zuojiawan is enough for us to support us in our old age."
"That's what your dad said."
After Lao Zuo finished speaking, the old man nodded in agreement.
Zuo Le really didn't expect that the three people would be so fiercely opposed to the move. Seeing this, if he persisted, he would not have a good year this year.
Zuo Le honestly kept his mouth shut, but he didn't give up completely. He planned to wait two days and talk again. Even if he didn't move, he still had to buy the house.
He has only been famous for a short period of time this year, and many people in the village have not yet reacted to it. In a year or two, when the people in the village come around, he will not be able to live in peace when he returns home.
It's not that Zuo Le thinks too badly of people, it's just that he has seen many such things in the circle. It is very necessary to buy a house in advance to be prepared.
After dinner, Zhuang Cuicui and his wife went to watch the Spring Festival Gala with the old man. Miss Zuo was playing with her mobile phone next to her, while Zuo Le ran back to the room to video chat with Tian Yan. From time to time, people called New Year's greetings, and Zuo Le responded to them one by one.
When it was almost early in the morning, Zuo Le was assigned by Zhuang Cuicui to set off firecrackers. With the crackling fire, time turned to the new year.
The next day, starting from six o'clock in the morning, people kept coming to Zuo Le's house to pay New Year's greetings. Zuo Le, as a "promising young man" in everyone's eyes, was pulled to chat with him, and his face froze with laughter.
It was almost noon before Zuo Le found an opportunity to sneak out. He and Miss Zuo went to the cinema to watch a New Year's movie, and then went to the game area in the mall to play for more than two hours before returning home near dark.
Zuo Le stayed at home until the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. During this period, he successfully persuaded Lao Zuo, Zhuang Cuicui and his wife to agree to buy a house in the city.
After that, Zuo Le entrusted the matter to a friend and asked him to help choose a suitable house. He would then pay and go through the formalities.
On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, Zuo Le returned to Quancheng. Instead of rushing into the post-production of "The Story of the Cooking Class", he found Lao Fang and had a showdown with him about something he had been thinking about for a long time.
He wants to leave Dongshantai, start a new business, and become his own boss!
