Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 855, Chapter 854: Removing the Child
Tang Zhitong hiccuped for the first time ever.

The banquet was of a high standard, and although the portion of each dish was small, the sheer number of dishes made up for it.

Of course, with so many people, signs of food scrambling emerged, and if you weren't quick enough to eat, there might not be any left.

Eating too quickly or too much will inevitably cause your stomach to protest.

Since there were no digestive tablets available, Tang Zhitong could only resort to folk remedies.

Hold a mouthful of water in your mouth without swallowing, bend over at a 90-degree angle, and swallow the water in several small sips. Once you've finished drinking the water, the burping should stop.

Seeing that the child was so full he was burping, Zhang Guifang didn't ask if he had eaten enough.

In her simple mind, if a state banquet doesn't even allow people to eat their fill, then it's not her own children who are ashamed, but the country.

The young couple returned to their room and lay on the bed. Xiao Wang, worried that her husband would have indigestion, massaged his stomach clockwise with her hands.

"Do you know how good I am in bed?" Tang Zhitong had eaten too much, but didn't want to throw up. Although it wasn't Louis's, she still couldn't bear to part with it.

When Tang Zhitong went to Andong to help the escort department with timber, he once sat on the side of the ship because he was seasick.

At that time, the supply in Beijing was relatively sufficient, and people did not have a deep sense of food shortage.

Now that the ration is almost like going hungry nine times in three days, any chance to eat your fill is definitely something to cherish.

"Pshaw, be serious." For the sake of the health of the successor they might have successfully created, the two had stopped communicating for several days. Xiao Wang thought her husband was up to no good again, so she gently patted his belly and warned him.

"I'm very serious. I can lie down for a whole day without eating or drinking!" Tang Zhitong raised his arm, pointed his index finger to the sky, and declared with great ambition.

With plenty of food and drink, no worries about money, and no need to go to work, lying at home, barring illnesses like hemiplegia, this kind of life is exactly what Tang Zhitong has always dreamed of.

If I hadn't met Xiao Wang, I probably would be living a life of working half a day and resting half a day by now.
When I went to Wuhan at the beginning of the year, the local deliverymen had reduced the frequency of deliveries. Now it's almost the same in the city. Recently, it's no longer twice a day, but once a day.

"Pah, I don't believe you can hold back." After hearing this, Xiao Wang realized that her husband was teasing her. She couldn't help but laugh first, and then patted her husband.

"Oh dear, you've murdered your husband!" Tang Zhitong grabbed Xiao Wang's hand with an exaggerated expression and stared at it closely.

Xiao Wang not only has long legs, but also long fingers. It's a shame that such fair fingers aren't used to play the piano.

"What are you looking at!" Her husband's breath hit the back of her hand, the airflow causing the hairs to sway and making her hand itch. Xiao Wang noticed that her husband's breathing rate had increased, so she quickly pulled her hand back.

"Go to sleep, go to sleep. We'll continue the meeting tomorrow." Tang Zhitong got up, drank half a cup of spring water to cool down, turned off the light, and lay down to sleep.

Although I haven't done my homework for a few days, I really feel like doing more practice problems once I have some free time.

Doing homework every day and repeating the same problem every day can easily lead to proficiency. The time spent reading the question will become shorter and shorter, and the speed of solving the problem will become faster and faster. Occasionally, you may feel that it is too easy and you may even not want to do it.

But if you suddenly go outside for tutoring and do a new problem, you'll find that it takes longer to solve the problem, and there are many ways to solve it.

Tang Zhitong had no intention of going to outside tutoring, but he remembered the crooked ideas he had given Gu Yong before. If Gu Yong was really eager to learn and wanted to do a lot of practice problems, it wasn't out of the question...

Most of Beijing was asleep, but Luo Zhiping and Lu Yan, who were working at the telephone exchange, had no time to sleep.

"What do you suggest we do?" Lu Yan asked helplessly, tugging at Luo Zhiping's sleeve, her feelings a mixture of tension and complexity.

"There's only one week left. Let's go back to school and make plans." Luo Zhiping's mind was in turmoil. Since they started dating, the topics they discussed were quite profound. The process of discussing them was thorough and engaging, and they discussed them many times, which resulted in a conclusion.

Although he was in his early twenties, he was still young. Luo Zhiping had never experienced anything like this before, and when he first heard the news from Lu Yan, his mind went completely blank.

"Drag it out! All you do is drag it out! What if people notice your belly when we get back to school?! Are you trying to kill me?!" Lu Yan angrily punched Luo Zhiping twice.

"It can't be that fast. Even if it is, it's only been a little over a month." Luo Zhiping didn't resist, letting Lu Yan vent her emotions. After she finished hitting him, he suddenly pulled her into his arms.

Lu Yan was still angry and tried to struggle, but she was too weak to break free. She buried her face in Luo Zhiping's chest and cried.

"Alright, alright, I'll definitely marry you. When we get back, I'll come clean with Auntie." Luo Zhiping patted Lu Yan's back gently as he spoke.

"What cards are we going to lay down?" Lu Yan asked, sobbing.

"If you can't continue your studies, I'll go back to work and support you." Luo Zhiping tried hard to force a smile, already mentally prepared to end his studies early, get married to Lu Yan, and complete the missing formalities.

"Are you crazy? Don't you know how difficult this training program was?" Lu Yan's first reaction upon hearing Luo Zhiping's words was to disagree.

The two had been dating for a long time, and Lu Yan knew about Luo Zhiping's family situation. His parents had died early, and he had been raised by his aunt. This training program was hard-won and required a lot of effort. If he dropped out, all his previous efforts would be in vain.

"I can't let you suffer." Luo Zhiping knew that his status as a college student was hard-earned, so he tried his best to perform well at school. But what better choice did he have right now?

“If you go back to your unit now, it will only be considered as a dropout, and the treatment will be completely different from when you graduated. Even if you can go back to your unit, what about me? Will I also drop out? What will I do about my job? What will happen to my food rations? What will my parents think? What will my classmates think of us?” Lu Yan wiped away her tears and made Luo Zhiping’s proposed solution sound completely useless.

The two got into a fight because Lu Yan lost her food coupons. Lu Yan thought Luo Zhiping was a good person, showing concern and helping her solve the problem. At that time, it was just a crush.

As their relationship deepened, after learning about Luo Zhiping's background, Lu Yan's maternal instincts kicked in, and she began to feel sorry for this young man. She couldn't help but spoil him a bit in her daily life, and slowly, the two of them did things that even they hadn't expected.

“Once we get our marriage certificate, Auntie can’t just stand by and do nothing. I’ll go and ask Auntie again about your job. Once you have a job, your food rations will be settled too.” As for what others think, Luo Zhiping doesn’t care.

Even regarding Lu Yan's job, Luo Zhiping was in a difficult position.

He had a rather unpleasant falling out with Su Qingxiang last time, but Luo Zhiping felt it was a bit embarrassing to have his aunt intervene in work matters. However, there was no better solution at the moment.

"No. I don't want to drop out of school like this, I'm not willing to accept it!" Lu Yan pushed Luo Zhiping away, as if she had made up her mind.

"What should we do then?" Luo Zhiping was at a loss.

"Remove it!" Lu Yan stubbornly gave her answer. Making this decision was actually quite difficult, but Lu Yan was really unwilling to give up.

Upon hearing the proposal, Luo Zhiping was taken aback at first, then shook his head in rejection: "No way. We need a certificate to go to the hospital, and neither of us has one."

"Then let's find a doctor to do it privately." Lu Yan was unwilling to give up. She could have another child later, but if she gave up her studies and future, she would lose everything.

“No, that won’t work either, it’s too dangerous.” As a young man who had read “The Barefoot Doctor’s Manual,” Luo Zhiping understood the risks of the surgery. “It has to be done, I’m not afraid of danger,” Lu Yan insisted.

"Let's wait until we get back to school. The doctors in Beijing are highly skilled. Let's find a doctor there to do the procedure and minimize the risks." Seeing that he couldn't persuade Lu Yan, Luo Zhiping could only choose the least risky option.

"Do you know any doctors in Beijing?" Seeing Luo Zhiping relent, Lu Yan's resolve eased slightly.

“I don’t know him, but Professor Tang does. He’s one of the editors of the manual. Among so many doctors, there must be some with good skills, right?” Luo Zhiping pulled Tang Zhitong out to block him.

"Then he knows about us?" Lu Yan resisted again when she heard that this was the plan.

“Teacher Tang isn’t an outsider, and neither is our entire dorm. When I brought you duck legs last time, I told them that we’d get married as soon as we graduate!” Luo Zhiping answered decisively. In this matter, it was better for his roommates to know than for Lu Yan to take the risk. Besides, from the beginning, he never intended to abandon Lu Yan.

Tang Zhitong had no idea that Luo Zhiping and Lu Yan would need his help; he only sneezed as he was drifting off to sleep…

Monday, April 6th.

Wu Aijun finally received a reply, but when he looked at the mailing address, it was from the escort office, and the handwriting was not Tang Zhitong's.

There were only two people in the escort office whom I knew, so it was obvious who wrote the letter.

If it weren't for the influence of gravity, Wu Aijun estimated that he could have jumped all the way to the moon.

"Xiao Wu, did you find some food coupons?" the gatekeeper's colleague joked. As their stomachs grew hungrier, many people no longer hoped to find money, but rather food coupons, even just a tael or two.

"With my level of awareness, if I found a grain coupon, wouldn't I make you write a lost and found notice?" Wu Aijun was happy and didn't argue with the gatekeeper's colleague. Not only was he not angry, he even gave him a cigarette.

"I think there's something wrong with you. I've been waiting for this letter for days." The gatekeeper took the cigarette and winked at Wu Aijun.

"Dude, don't say what you shouldn't say, and don't ask what you shouldn't ask, understand?" Wu Aijun lit a match and just held it, showing no intention of lighting his cigarette.

"Don't worry, I'm tight-lipped!" the gatekeeper said, leaning forward with a cigarette dangling from his lips.

Only after receiving assurances from the gatekeeper did Wu Aijun move the match forward.

After lighting a cigarette, Wu Aijun ran towards his office without stopping for a moment.

"Hey! Xiao Wu, you're going the wrong way, it's time to go home!" the security guard reminded him from behind.

A single man doesn't understand the feeling of communicating with a woman he likes. Wu Aijun easily forgave the gatekeeper's talkativeness, waved his hand at the gatekeeper without explaining, but he had more doubts about the gatekeeper's earlier assurance. With such a talkative appearance, how could he keep his mouth shut?
Wu Aijun knew it was time to get off work, and after waiting day and night, he finally received a reply. He couldn't wait to go home to read it, so he planned to go back to the office to read the letter carefully before going back.

It would be wonderful if I could reply to your letter.

In her letter, Ma Wei did not express any obvious emotions; she just kept talking about how she was in college. Wu Aijun was completely confused. Was she implying that he hadn't gone to college and wanted him to give up? Or did she have some other meaning?
Wu Aijun read the letter carefully three times, but still couldn't understand it.

As darkness fell, Wu Aijun was troubled. Why was finding a partner harder than solving a case?
His stomach started rumbling, and even though he had no clue what to do, Wu Aijun had to pack up and go home.

Meanwhile, a meeting regarding grain allocation was also underway.

The "Emergency Directive on Grain Transfer" issued on the 28th of last month did not achieve the expected results. Representatives from various regions turned a deaf ear at the grain meetings and were very resistant to the transfer of grain.

The meeting was of a very high level, and the leaders in charge of grain were practically begging local authorities to consider the overall situation and take on the grain allocation plan, but no one responded.

As a result, the higher-ups intervened, and the meeting would not end until the tasks were brought back from various places, and everyone would sit together in the conference room to "keep up the pressure."

After sitting there all day, someone finally couldn't stand it anymore and took on the task. As for whether they could complete it, many people didn't have high hopes. It's not like they hadn't failed to complete it before.

The higher authorities were clearly aware of this situation, so they issued an "Emergency Notice" overnight regarding the grain allocation issue. It was no longer an instruction, but a notification, stating that grain must be allocated without any room for negotiation.

Before long, truckloads of grain will once again be leaving Sichuan and Chongqing...

…………

The conference for outstanding figures in education and culture proceeded smoothly, with leaders from various industries giving speeches and reports almost daily, attempting to convey the latest policies in this way.

Almost all the well-known names are here.

If this were a wish-fulfillment novel, Tang Zhitong, under the halo of earning foreign exchange, would have people take his hand and praise him in public in a way that would make others envious.

But it doesn't exist in reality.

During recesses, leaders do indeed come among the conference delegates to chat or listen to their suggestions on their respective industries.

But I won't lavish praise on any one person.

On the one hand, they may be worried that someone might misuse their name; on the other hand, public praise can be a form of sabotage.

There was no praise for individuals, but there was still a segment to acknowledge a certain group. The meeting arranged for the senior executives to take photos with veteran model workers with more than 30 years of service. Due to his seniority, Tang Zhitong could only look on with envy.

Tang Zhitong noticed that the report entitled "Being a Promoter of Teaching Reform" given by the leaders of the education department clearly put forward the principles of teaching reform, namely, shortening the school system, improving the level, controlling class hours, and increasing labor.

It seems to encourage starting work as early as possible, and that dropping out of school will not affect work arrangements.

In addition, the education department also held the "General Education Reform Exhibition" and the "Higher Education Exhibition" to showcase educational achievements and reform results.

While the bigwigs were taking a group photo, Tang Zhitong went to visit them.

The exhibition primarily uses examples from the delegates who attended the conference, presenting them to the audience through text descriptions and photographs.

Despite the harsh conditions, many places did not slacken their efforts in educating children. Where there were no podiums or desks, they built their own using bricks and planks.

When encountering students from impoverished families, teachers will provide financial assistance out of their own pockets to prevent the students from dropping out of school.

Tang Zhitong has the deepest respect for this kind of teacher representative.

(End of this chapter)