Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 782 781 Secretly Destroy Chen Cang
Several people went back and forth twice and moved all the belongings that Ban'erye had brought upstairs. Fortunately, there was an elevator, otherwise it would have been a problem to carry the bed upstairs.

Sister Ti has a good temper. Seeing that the bed block was too big, she temporarily moved out her own table and chairs, which made things convenient for the residents and fully demonstrated the superiority of the building.

Several people helped to set up the bed frame, and the big job was done.

"Come on, let's wash our hands and go to the cafeteria." Zhang Xinping acted like a real man and threw all the work to his wife, and his wife had no objection to it.

"Go to the cafeteria to eat? What about my sister-in-law and the children?" Tang Zhitong saw that Zhang Xinping had no intention of taking his wife with him. He looked at the empty room, which didn't even have a table or chairs. It didn't look like they could eat at home.

"Order a meal in the cafeteria and have the staff bring it to you." Now that he had found out that the cafeteria also provided this service, Zhang Xinping decided to try it out.

"Okay, I brought some dishes to prepare a meal for my sister-in-law and the children." Tang Zhitong swiftly found a plate from the pile of packed tableware next to him, rinsed it briefly, and picked up his shoulder bag from the radiator.

"Oh, I'm in for a treat today." As the newspaper was opened, the smell of grease wafted out. Cheng Hai took a look at the fried hairtail and was very surprised.

"I asked you to come over to help because of this incident, and you brought your own vegetables. It must not be easy to buy these two dishes?" Facing the two big meat dishes, Zhang Xinping said politely with envy in his eyes.

"It's OK. It was just a coincidence. I met an acquaintance when I got off work yesterday. He told me that they had bought some delicious dishes, so I asked him to save some for me." To be on the safe side, Tang Zhitong made a "friend" out of thin air.

When he was serving the dishes, he never thought that Zhang Xinping would call Wu Aijun. If Wu Aijun was not there, everything he said would be true. However, Wu Aijun knew Xiao Wang, and although the possibility of them communicating privately was very small, he still had to be careful.

"Hey, how can good food be without wine? Let's have a good drink today." Wu Aijun didn't think much about it and took out two bottles of Fenzi from his bag.

"What a coincidence, I also brought some wine. Let's not go home until we are drunk today." Cheng Hai said happily.

"You guys don't plan to let me treat you?" Zhang Xinping was moved by his friend's generosity.

"How can that be? Don't we still have to go to the cafeteria to order food? Ask the cafeteria to blanch some spinach and mix it with it. It tastes delicious." Tang Zhitong didn't pick up chopsticks, but directly pinched the fried fish and pork head from the newspaper onto the plate.

The two children were attracted by the smell and stood aside, staring at the meat and drooling.

"It's enough. Don't serve more." Zhang Xinping saw that Tang Zhitong had filled a plate in a short time and hurriedly stopped him.

"Come on, one piece each." Tang Zhitong laughed and stuffed another piece of pork head into each of the two children's mouths before stopping.

There were tables, chairs and benches in the cafeteria. Zhang Xinping ordered two more dishes from the cafeteria, borrowed two empty plates and cutlery, and several people poured wine and started drinking with the dishes prepared by Tang Zhitong.

After all, it was Zhang Xinping's new housewarming, so several people raised their glasses, each said a few auspicious words to wish for good luck, then took a sip and put down their chopsticks.

"Teacher Tang, this fish is the same as last time, crispy and delicious!" Cheng Hai picked up a piece of hairtail, tasted it and praised it.

"Hey, I'll take it as a compliment from Brother Cheng, but my skills are still far from those of the chefs." Of course, the dishes were all cooked by himself, but Tang Zhitong couldn't admit it.

"Teacher Tang, you are too modest. Your skills may not be worse than those of the chef. At least they are better than those of the chef in our city bureau canteen." Zhang Xinping had also tasted Tang Zhitong's cooking. He took a bite of the pig's head and praised him.

Wu Aijun's attention was not completely focused on the food, and he asked, "Brother Cheng, Director Zhang, why do you call him Teacher Tang?"

"That's a long story. It was around this time last year when Teacher Tang gave a few days of lectures to the deliverymen in our city bureau..." After all, this title was passed on from Cheng Hai, so it was his duty to start educating Wu Aijun about Tang Zhitong's past.

Things in the cafeteria moved very quickly. We had just been chatting for a while when the two dishes ordered by Zhang Xinping arrived. One was cold spinach salad, and the other was fried squid with leeks. The squid was canned.

Tang Zhitong took a bite of spinach and tasted it, and immediately gave a thumbs up: "The food in the cafeteria is good. The soy sauce here is obviously different from the ones sold outside."

"Hey, it's an iconic building after all. The supplies are taken care of, it's better than outside and the price is not expensive." Zhang Xinping smiled, with a hint of self-mockery in his pride.

Cheng Hai took a bite of the squid and gave it a thumbs up. The food in the cafeteria here was of guaranteed quantity and tasted good, which made him more determined to move in.

After Anhua Building was built, someone had already moved in before Zhang Xinping. At mealtime, residents would come to eat from time to time, as if they were used to it.

As they drank wine and ate meat, they inevitably talked about the developments in their respective units.

Cheng Hai mentioned that the post office had received a request from the grain department to help plug the loophole that caused grain outflow, and it was estimated that it would not be able to send grain out for a long time.

Zhang Xinping talked about the recent work priorities of their municipal bureau, which are mainly to crack down on rumors and promote food conservation.

There are techniques to propaganda. It is not just dry talk, but it is done through reasoning and arousing empathy. For example, every family has its own difficulties, every factory has its own difficulties, and workers should think more about the factory and not complain or grumble when it comes to saving food.

Tang Zhitong felt familiar with this and used popular language to appeal to and mobilize the emotions of the residents, making them submit to self-restraint.

"Right now, everyone is talking about saving a lot, probably to pave the way for reducing food rations. I believe it won't be long before the rations are 'saved' again." Zhang Xinping sighed and gave his estimate.

Although Zhang Xinping did not show it on the surface, he felt that his job was not easy. There was a difficult food supply problem from above, and people below wanted to eat more. The demands from both ends were exactly opposite, and public security problems could easily arise. They were caught in the middle and suffered from both ends, so it was difficult to keep things balanced.

"Hey, I was wondering why cadres were not allowed to raise chickens a while ago. I guess the cadres had to be demoted first." Tang Zhitong had a cheat and was too lazy to find the general trend based on some details in life. However, after hearing what Zhang Xinping said today, he came to his senses.

"How can the people be happy if the cadres don't take the lead? Only when the cadres take the lead can food be saved." Cheng Hai took a sip of wine and breathed a sigh of relief. He was conscious of reducing the ration, but this did not conflict with applying to live in the building. After all, he had to eat and wanted to be full.

"Difficulties are only temporary. As long as everyone works together, I believe they will soon pass. Come, come, have a drink." Tang Zhitong was reluctant to talk more about such sensitive topics and took the initiative to pick up the wine glass.

During the chat, Tang Zhitong asked about Zhang Xinping's furniture.

"Let's make do with this for now. The store only has beds and wardrobes, no tables and chairs. I was thinking of looking for a set at the flea market, but I haven't found the time yet." Zhang Xinping didn't take it seriously. A house was the top priority, and as long as the housing problem was solved, other things could come slowly.

"It's not that it's impossible to go to the flea market, but you just have to try. You never know when you'll come across the right one. I do know a friend in a lumber factory. If you don't mind, I can help ask." Tang Zhitong went to the flea market when he bought the hot pot. The quality of the tables and chairs was hard to describe. As for the antique shop that might have fine products, it will only be ready for business next month. "That's great, thank you, Mr. Tang. Come on, let's do another one." Zhang Xinping gladly accepted Tang Zhitong's kindness.

While a few people were toasting each other in Anhua Building, Anton Forest Farm also received a letter from Tang Zhitong today.

Coincidentally, the reason I received the letter so quickly was because of the telegram sent by Tang Zhitong.

Although the telegram was sent several days ago, the deliveryman had not delivered it yet. If it were not for the telegram being delivered to the forest farm, the deliveryman would have to wait at least another week before coming to the forest farm.

Before receiving the letter, Tang Wenbang actually already knew that Tang Zhitong did not allow him to go into the mountains to dig ginseng or go to Beijing, because Tang Rong and Su Nianbin brought back a letter written to them by Tang Zhitong when they returned home from school yesterday.

Their school is in the city of Andong, so the delivery is much more timely than that at the forest farm.

Looking at his daughter who was eating, Tang Wenbang did not blame her for causing trouble to his nephew. After all, taking the college entrance examination is equivalent to being reborn, and it is the most important event in a person's life after getting married.

"Mother, please make some more pancakes for the child today." Tang Wenbang sat cross-legged at the table on the kang, smoking his pipe. His nephew had promised to help inquire, so as a father he could not let him down.

As soon as the two children came back yesterday, they not only repeated Tang Zhitong's instructions, but also showed the two reply letters to Tang Wenbang.

In the letter, Tang Zhitong told his younger brothers and sisters to eat well, to have enough energy for study, and not to worry about food. If they were short of food, they should write to him and he would find a way to solve the problem.

Tang Wenbang understood what his nephew meant. When other students were hungry and had no energy to study, he was well fed and could focus his energy on studying, so his grades would be much higher than others.

This is the same as if two people encounter a blind bear in the woods, one of them can survive as long as he runs faster than the other.

"Yeah." Tang Wenbang's wife was packing food and clothes for their daughter to take back to school today. After hearing what his wife said, she unwrapped the bag and put a stack of pancakes inside.

Ever since the nephew sent food over before the New Year, the Tang and Su families replaced the dry food that their two children brought to the boarding school with pancakes.

Pancakes are a common dry food in Shandong, but they are also not uncommon in the Northeast. After all, the ancestors of many people here came from Guandong, and some of them themselves have only come here in recent years, so they naturally brought some of their eating habits with them.

When children go to school and live in the school dormitory, they must bring food rations. The school allows students to bring their own dry food, which will be heated up for free in the school cafeteria. In addition, they can also bring raw food to the cafeteria, or they can directly pay for food coupons.

The two families had agreed to bring pancakes for the children. Pancakes are not easy to spoil and do not need to be heated in a steamer even in winter. They can be eaten just by tearing them into pieces and soaking them in boiling water.

The advantage of doing this is that you don’t have to worry about taking the wrong thing or being deducted by someone in the process…

"Dad, if Eucalyptus doesn't allow us to go, should we still go into the mountains?" After reading the letter, Tang Gang looked at his father, waiting for him to make a decision.

"We still have to go into the mountains. If we don't, the ginseng nearby will be picked up completely." Life is difficult now. Since the year before last, some people started to break the rules in the mountains, and the situation became more serious last year.

Pregnant female animals would be beaten without mercy, and ginseng would be dug up as soon as it was seen, regardless of whether it was well grown or not.

As long as they can make money and fill their stomachs, some people will abandon the rules.

Even the wild animals in the mountains began to appear around, and in some small production teams one could even see tigers coming down the mountain to look for food during the day.

What a miserable world this is... Tang Wenbang sighed, knocked the ash off his cigarette on the edge of the bed, scooped two spoonfuls of ash from his tobacco pouch and refilled it, took out a lighter from his bosom and blew on it twice, after blowing out sparks, he took two puffs into the pipe to light the cigarette, and then covered the lighter again.

It is difficult to buy matches here now, and many families try their best to preserve fire. Many families borrow fire from each other when cooking, but this is not very friendly to smokers.

In order to smoke, Tang Wenbang took some time to make a lighter. According to his wife, this is something that can only be done after eating a full meal.

"Okay!" Tang Gang nodded. It was he who originally proposed the idea of ​​going into the mountains to dig ginseng.

Winter is the busiest season for the forest farm. Although the farm has secured more rations than usual, two babies still died.

Tang Gang is also about to become a father, and he can empathize with this. If it weren't for the food his cousin brought here, it would be hard to say whether the baby in his wife's belly could be saved.

The ration was not enough, so people at the forest farm often bought food from outside. Tang Gang had heard about it three or five times. The food sold here was mainly coarse grains, and sorghum flour and corn flour all had skins and cores. The food in the east was, on the contrary, cleaner.

Comparing it with what his cousin brought home, Tang Gang was even more certain that this was grain from the east.

Tanggang is no stranger to its neighbor to the east. Although it has repeatedly promoted friendly relations, it is not the same when it comes to individuals. They are short-sighted, petty-minded, and only care about immediate benefits without considering the long-term.

Tang Gang felt that it was unlikely that his young cousin could buy cheap food from people in the east, and he was more likely to pay out of his own pocket to support his family. After all, after returning from Sijiu City last year, Su Nianbin mentioned the house over there. According to his cousin, the house in Sijiu City also had a share here.

My father doesn't want the house, so I naturally can't have it. My cousin is giving me money, so I have to appreciate it...

"Write a letter back to Anzi, telling him that we won't go into the mountains or go to Sijiu City, so don't let him worry. Write now, and have Rongrong take the letter to the city to deliver it. The postman doesn't go to the forest farm often now, so you have to wait for him to come before sending the letter. We don't know when that will be." A puff of smoke floated out of Tang Wenbang's mouth, just in front of his face. He squinted his eyes and instructed his son.

"Okay!" Tang Gang did it right away. He found the letter paper and started writing. Going into the mountains was no big deal in his opinion. He could carry his weapons and his father would carry a homemade gun. Plus, with two hunting dogs on guard, they would be safe for sure.

But Tang Rong didn't think so. She heard from her classmates that tigers had injured people around the county. She looked at her father and brother with a worried look on her face. After hesitating for a while, she mustered up the courage to say, "Dad, brother, Brother Anzi wrote to say that you can't go into the mountains."

"What do you know, girl? Just eat your meal. You are not allowed to tip off Anzi!" Tang Wenbang glared at his daughter and warned her.

Facing her father, Tang Rong dodged his gaze, but finally nodded...

(End of this chapter)