The Prosperous Years of Siheyuan

Chapter 13

Taking the lunch box and noodle bag out of the cafeteria, Chen Jisheng returned to the office in the logistics building. There was still no one in the corridor. He opened the door with the key given by Lao Song, and sorted out the things sent by the logistics.

I kept what could be used in the office and sent the rest to the warehouse. It was just such a pile of stuff that I had to carry it twice on a bicycle. It was too cumbersome. Anyway, few people knew me now, and there was no one in the office, so I didn’t even have to worry about it. .

He brought several notes from the factory, including information about the relationship between residence registration and food, and about the allocation of housing, which all required Chen Jisheng to go to the street office to sign and stamp.

Pushing his large national defense, Chen Jisheng showed his brand-new work permit to the guard. With his hands empty, Chen Jisheng passed through the gate guarded by the factory militia smoothly without any body search.

Where is the street office?Chen Jisheng didn't know, but he didn't want to ask casual questions in the factory. Not far after leaving the factory gate, he followed the path Chen Xiaobao pointed out in the morning and plunged into the alley. He still had to get familiar with the road conditions.

At noon in July, the streets were still steaming with heat and there were no traces of people. According to Chen Xiaobao, Chen Jisheng got lost in the alley again. It was a bit of a miscalculation. This time it was not the morning and there were people coming and going. He couldn't even find anyone asking for directions. .

After stumbling along the way, I remembered some alley names. Finally, I had no choice but to get on the main road and found that I was still near Beixinqiao. It seemed that I still needed a map.

To buy a map, you have to go to a bookstore. Xinhua Bookstore couldn't find it, but went to the Beixinqiao Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Thinking about his mother's relationship with the street office, Chen Jisheng thought about giving something as a gift, so he went to the supply and marketing cooperative.

After entering, I didn't get scolded like I did in Nanluo, but the shopping process was not very pleasant either. The salesperson was rude and ignored me. Lunch boxes and other items required industrial stamps. I was not prepared at the moment, so I could only buy four unnecessary ones. Ticket jar.

Four jars were hung with hemp ropes on the handlebars of the bicycle. Chen Jisheng realized that life without plastic bags was very awkward. Not only did they jingle all the way, but he had to be careful for fear of breaking the jars with too much force.

Fortunately, there is not much development in Sijiu City now, and there are still open spaces in some alleys, with weeds growing on them, so I found a place where no one was around, picked up a few handfuls of grass, and protected the jars.

He also took out a tinplate bucket with a spring lid from the storage room. He opened it and saw that it contained pure white butter. He took a closer look at the nearly one-meter-high iron bucket, but there was nothing written on it.

Chen Jisheng didn't know which country his own storage warehouses belonged to. There were English labels in the warehouses of rice, flour, meat, butter, lard, wheat, oats, salt, and sugar. The only difference is that the individual items are not marked, which is a bit confusing, but it saves me a lot of trouble.

Use an enamel basin to put the solidified butter into the jar. Fortunately, the weather is hot and the temperature of the jar is high, so the butter will soften when it enters the jar. Otherwise, it would be impossible to give away a jar of broken butter pieces. Good explanation.

I glanced around and saw that there was still no one around. It was also an abandoned homestead. It was strange that someone was there at noon on a July day.

I made two more jars of lard using the same operation. There were too few things in the warehouse, and there were oil stains on the mouth of the jar. I had no choice but to wipe it with a newly issued towel, which was a bit wasteful.

Four jars of meat oil, each jar weighing about five kilograms, was definitely a generous gift at this time. After hanging the jars again, with the grass bumper pads and the meat oil inside falling, the clanking sound disappeared.

From the alley to the main road again, after a while, the street office was nowhere to be found, and I saw the Beixinqiao Trust Store, anyway, it was not yet work time, so I simply went in to have a look.

The treatment is similar to that of a supply and marketing cooperative. The salespersons in trust stores also tend to ignore me, don't say hello, and keep taking a nap. This service awareness is far behind.

No one paid attention to him, and Chen Jisheng didn't pay attention to anyone. He walked around in the store and found not many things that caught his eye. He didn't bother to look at radios, sewing machines, bicycles, old clothes, etc., and the trust store had the most such things.

On the contrary, inside the counter, the porcelain plates and bowls under the shelves were more attractive to him, but the salesperson ignored him, and Chen Jisheng was unwilling to ask for trouble. He walked around in a circle and stopped when he reached the counter selling watches.

"Comrade, how much does this watch cost?"

"Which piece?"

"Third row, third block on the left."

"Eighty percent new and old Omega, one hundred and one!"

"I bought it. Could you please give me an invoice? Are these pieces of Omega useful? I'll give you an invoice for one piece."

Nowadays, the service attitude is really annoying. The more you buy, the more attitude becomes worse. Because you have to open the tickets one by one, which is very cumbersome and the salesperson finds it troublesome.

Chen Jisheng reached out and ordered five old Omega watches. The salesperson watched with gritted teeth and paid 560 yuan before he got what he wanted.

These five Omegas are all from the Constellation series. Except for one gold-plated men's watch and one women's watch, the rest are the same as the ones that Hu Shengli picked up in the morning. They are all steel with straight ears and fat faces.

There are quite a few in old Shanghai, but most of them require winding, which is troublesome. There should be fully automatic ones, but ordinary people can't buy them.

"Comrade, do you have any old friends?"

Seeing that the salesman was looking at him more and more annoyingly, Chen Jisheng simply annoyed him to the end, and picked three blue and white vases of different sizes, all of which were from Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Needless to say, the packaging of the trust store is better than that of the supply and marketing cooperative. The jars are protected with straw, and the big ones are covered with small ones, and they are tied up with hemp ropes.

After shopping, I asked for directions. It was not far from the street office, and it only took ten minutes to ride a bicycle.

On the way, I put on my watch with the correct time, sent the jars into the space, and rushed to the street office before work time.

"What do you do?" Today's janitors in agencies, units, and factories are not small security guards like those of later generations. They are not only full-time workers, but most of them are veterans. They are armed with guns of all ages. They just break in and get shot. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll have to pay peanuts, thank you?

"I'm from the Xue Xiang family in Courtyard No. 95. I'm here to see Director Wang."

My mother used to work in the subdistrict office, and her previous position was section chief, so she should have some dignity.

"Hey, Deputy Director Xue's child! Come in..."

According to the guard, my mother was promoted when she left. Although the deputy director of the sub-district office is not very valuable, he is still a serious department or deputy director, and his level is up to that.

After asking the guard about the location of Director Wang's office, Chen Jisheng rode into the courtyard.

The sub-district offices in Sijiucheng cannot be compared with the communes below. Their powers are widely dispersed. Their main functions are people's livelihood. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are larger neighborhood committees.

So there is no office building, just a courtyard with things to span, and the second half is occupied by other units.

Director Wang of the sub-district office is just like my mother, a serious military member. Compared with the position, the one in her family is probably much higher than my father's position, which is also a usable relationship.

After entering the courtyard, Chen Jisheng glanced at the director's office. The windows were not bright and clean at all. The house was a bit dilapidated. Through the open flower window, he saw that the owner, Director Wang, was lying on his desk taking a mid-morning break.

"Aunt Wang...Aunt Wang..."

Breaking in casually without saying anything could easily leave a frivolous impression, so Chen Jisheng could only shout twice in a low voice.

"You are……"

I have no impression of Chen Jisheng and Director Wang at all, but those who can be called Aunt Wang are either colleagues or comrades.

"From Xue Xiang's family." Chen Jisheng shrugged and reported his origin.

"The eldest son of the Chen family, his name is Jinsheng..." Seeing that Chen Jisheng was somewhat heroic, Director Wang was accustomed to thinking that he was the most promising one in the family.

"The third child, Ji Sheng!" Chen Ji Sheng's reputation was not very good in the past. Although he was considered a man of great influence, he mostly had a bad reputation. However, looking back, he was pretty good and he was very capable of bluffing people.

"Three tigers? Whose family did you beat up again?" Listen to the words, it seems that Director Wang and his mother are kind of best friends. Such embarrassing things are exchanged selflessly, or it may be a trust, or it may be a bad reputation. Spread far and wide.

"Auntie, can't you expect me to do better?" Chen Jisheng, carrying four jars, shrugged helplessly. It seems that he is not a good person in the eyes of his elders.

"What a fart! My second molar was knocked loose by your kid that time. How can you be okay with this big mess like you?"

You must ask for something when you are polite. Director Wang doesn't want to be fooled by Chen Sanhuzi. There are many boys in the courtyard from top to bottom, from high to low. There are not many boys who have never smoked. Anyway, he is a bad guy who doesn't fit in with others. As a young man, he is bound to have a lot of fun wherever he goes.

"Auntie, didn't I just change my job to a steel rolling mill? I have some relationships that are about to fall apart, so I won't be looking for you..."

When it came to business, Chen Jisheng stopped staying in the yard. He carried the jar into the house and put the jar behind the door. It seemed that Aunt Wang was not aware of what happened to Hu Shengli in the morning.

"These are easy to handle. You can just sign them later and take the things back. I don't dare to take away your kid's things. I'm holding my hands."

Nowadays, giving jars is either food or drink. Most of the leaders' families are not rich, so even four jars of pickles is definitely a generous gift.

Then there is Chen Sanhuzi in front of him. He is definitely not a good boy who doesn't worry about things. Director Wang is worried about accepting his things. If he beats the leader's child and his parents are not around, how can he make peace with it?
"Auntie, this morning, I whipped Hu Shengli, the second son of the Hu family in our compound..."

Chen Jisheng went crazy and told him about his conflict with Hu Shengli this morning. The reason was of course not revealed, but he just hid the line about the Gu family because he was afraid of scaring Aunt Wang in front of him.

Of course, Director Wang also expressed his due indignation, but adults should not behave like Chen Jisheng, acting on his own whim. She still had to ask for reasons for many things.

The principle of dealing with officialdom is to be patient and capable of doing evil, so many things have to be delayed. As for whether Director Wang and his family will intervene, it has nothing to do with Chen Jisheng.

Some people won't be able to eat some food when it reaches their mouths. Whether they can eat it in the end depends on their ability.

When it was time to go to work, with the care of Director Wang, Chen Ji's birth and relationship matters were all smooth sailing.

Using people from the grain store to go to the street to do errands, Chen Jisheng left four jars of meat oil, took the key given by the street, and followed him all the way to the grain store. After signing and stamping the same, he was considered a serious member of Nanluo. .

As for getting acquainted with grain stores, Chen Jisheng has no idea about this. There are only a few grain sources now. Doing business with grain stores and grain depots with large amounts of grain is just like hanging yourself.

(End of this chapter)