After returning to the provincial capital, Lao Tan felt very depressed.
His son went to training camp and came back the day after tomorrow. He was the only one left at home. His mother's birthday was five days away and he was waiting for his son to come back so they could go home to celebrate his mother's birthday.
Unfortunately, three positive cases of infection appeared in Tiexi District the next day, and two communities were sealed off, making it impossible to return to my hometown.
He called the fifth sister, who told her not to come back. If she came back, she would have to be quarantined at home and do nucleic acid tests every day. She would have to accompany her, so she couldn't do the same. His mother was in good health, so he didn't have to worry about it. She would come back when she recovered.
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After putting down the phone, he had nothing to do. He called Zhongqing and asked Zhongqing to pick him up and take him to the University Town store in Shengbei Province.
Opposite the Shengbei University Town store used to be Zhang Xiangdong’s New Year’s Day store, but that’s no longer the case. The first floor has become a fruit supermarket, and the second floor has become a children’s drum training class.
"How many stores are there on New Year's Day?" Lao Tan asked.
"Four families." Zhongqing said: "The business is not doing well, so we are determined to maintain it."
"Young and energetic, I know business but don't know how to run it. I'm trying to kill myself. It's a pretty good store, hey--" Old Tan sighed after finishing speaking.
"There must be something hateful about this poor man. He didn't take our family seriously at first, so he went wherever our family was. He insisted on killing our family."
"No, he is following the example of KFC and McDonald's. This is his cleverness. The decoration is the same as our house. If the guests don't look carefully, they think it is our house and they get in as soon as the car stops.
Can you come out after going in? After all, you have to eat a meal, right? If you eat well, you will remember his family. If you don’t eat well, you will blame our family. Ha."
"He made good money for several years."
"I don't know how to give up when things are good. In the end, I will lose what I earned. It is not a bad thing for him. He can sharpen his edges to remove the edge and settle down. Then he will know the importance in the future."
"Not necessarily, that person of his -" Zhongqing said contemptuously: "That's terrible."
Lao Tan smiled and said nothing, turned around and entered the store.
The store is a busy scene before the market opens: the waiters are cleaning, setting up the tables, and arranging small items; the store staff are cutting and matching, placing the processed semi-finished products into tableware according to standards, and then placing them on the display stand.
Soon the dishes on the booth became large-scale and formed a beautiful scenery.
Lao Tan came to the casserole stall.
The person making the casserole was a eldest lady in her forties. When she saw someone coming, she said hello and was about to introduce the dishes. However, when she took a closer look, she saw that it was Lao Tan who stopped in embarrassment.
The eldest sister only cooks three dishes, namely fish head in casserole, baked pumpkin in casserole and pan-fried meatballs in casserole.
The three dishes are placed on three levels, with fifteen portions of each dish. They are fully arranged, and four of each dish are being processed on the clay pot behind the stall.
"Which dish sells best?" Lao Tan asked.
"Everything is good, the best one is the fish head." said the eldest sister.
"You make the soup yourself?"
"Yeah, I mixed it myself."
"What time will you come in the morning?"
"At seven o'clock, the goods will arrive."
The eldest sister said that she was very confident and happy, as if she had been brainwashed. Old Tan's mood improved after being infected, and his face no longer looked serious and scary, but now he looked smiling.
He finished turning all the stalls one by one, and was about to go up to the second floor when the store manager came in from the outside, greeted Lao Tan, and then accompanied him to the second floor for inspection.
"What have you been doing?" Lao Tan asked.
"A dumpling worker has acute appendicitis. He had an operation yesterday. I went to the hospital to check it out," the store manager said.
"Is there a chaperone?"
"Yes, the cleaning lady is here."
"Take good care of yourself and don't make your family worry about it. Are you from out of town?"
The store manager smiled and said, "I'm from your hometown, and I'm your classmate."
Lao Tan asked in surprise: "My classmate?"
"Well, her name is Zhou Haixia, she said it herself."
"Zhou Haixia?" Lao Tan couldn't remember this classmate coming, so he asked, "When did he come?"
"You came here years ago, why don't you know?"
Lao Tan shook his head in shame, and then asked: "Which hospital is it in?"
"Qi San Jiu, the one in front."
Lao Tan had no intention of continuing the examination and came down from the second floor to greet Zhongqing to go to the No. 739 Hospital. Along the way, he thought about his classmates from junior high school and two years of high school, but he did not think of this classmate named Zhou Haixia. Instead, he thought of many
My old family members working in Aqiao, the provincial capital, thought about it and made plans to get together like they did in Hohhot.
This idea was quickly given up. The provincial capital is not as big as Hohhot. Some stores are nearly 20 kilometers apart. It is inconvenient to go back and forth. It is not worth it to have a meal. It is better to go to each store and see it in person.
Soon the two of them came to the hospital and entered the ward, where they met Zhou Haixia herself.
Lao Tan really didn't know him.
"Haha, you don't know me. It's okay if you don't know me. We have never met. I am Xiaomei's uncle and aunt. She and I were classmates in junior high school." Zhou Haixia was very cheerful and spoke with a Beipiao accent.
"Oh——" Lao Tan suddenly realized.
"My husband's family is from your village. I met your old lady. Your old lady is nice and kind-hearted. Now she has moved to your sister's house."
"Well, yes." Old Tan nodded and asked, "Who is your husband's family?"
"Shanzui old Zhang family, Zhang Shuguo is my husband. You should know each other. You two were classmates in elementary school."
Lao Tan thought for a while and then remembered that there was indeed Zhang Shuguo, a primary school classmate from Shanzui. He was a small man who could run. He came first in the Huihui sports meeting.
"Yes, our elementary school classmate, what is he doing now?"
"Like me, he also works part-time, but not in the provincial capital. He does exterior wall insulation, but in Changchun."
"oh--"
"I got married early, and my child is a girl. We got married the year before last. As you know, our family doesn't pay for several acres of land. The old ladies are either playing mahjong or just sitting around at home.
The child got married, and the few acres of land were not enough for one person to farm, so he got angry and went out. He told Xiaomei to find a job for me, and now he has come to our house, and it has been almost a year."
The fast-talking Zhou Haixia reminded Lao Tan of his second sister-in-law in the backyard of her hometown. They were really sisters, with similar temperaments and temperaments.
After coming out of the hospital, Zhongqing said to Lao Tan: "This Zhou Haixia is always able to drink. One pound is enough to make you drunk, and two pounds is not drunk. She drinks beer all the time."
"Same as Zhou Xiaomei."
"That's not true. It can be said that he has a loud voice, like an old man."
"How's the work going?"
"It's okay to work, Sha Leng'er will get ready quickly."
"That's fine."
"I heard that Hua Qing is planning to bring her daughter and son-in-law over as well."
"It's okay to reorganize them, but don't do it in the same store. We Beipiao people are fine at work, but we have a stubborn temper, and we can't help but refuse to obey anyone."
"It has this characteristic." Zhongqing said with a smile.
"Beipiao was the place where beards were born during the Manchukuo period. My grandfather had a beard and asked people to light up sky lanterns. I have some beard genes, so society saved me, otherwise they would rob me." Lao Tan joked.
.
"You can't, you are a chivalrous person."
"Haha, you are still doing a good job. It's good if you can pinch the leaves without looking at the buttocks. Let's go and have a drink today. I heard that there is a Malatang restaurant near the subway entrance. The skewers are very good."