Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 886 885 You're sitting next to a pig
"She's back. She came back this morning, and her family came too. Oh my, it's only been a few days, but you can't believe how thin Xiao Chu has become, and she lost the baby. What a tragedy!" Old Master Zhu's last remaining eye was filled with pity as he sighed, though it was unclear who he was referring to as the one who had suffered the most.

"It's good that you're back, child...sigh." Tang Zhitong shook her head and sighed, but ultimately said nothing.

"Xiao Liu is gone, and the child was born without a father. The child must have known that choosing this family would bring bad luck, so he's finding a better family for himself."

"Come on, what does a child know? If you ask me, it's a good thing the child is kept. At least he can receive a pension, and he can live off it from birth until he's eighteen. That's no worse than having a father."

"How much does Xiao Liu earn in a month? Even with the compensation for a child's death, it's barely twenty yuan. It's not enough for a family of four."

"The compensation is free. Xiao Liu is gone, but she still has a job. In a while, Xiao Chu will take over and get another salary. If you ask me, Xiao Chu's good days are here, even better than when her husband was alive." Some neighbors saw through it all. Usually, Chu Chunxue did all the dirty and hard work in the Liu family, even washing clothes in the yard in the dead of winter while heavily pregnant. They had long disliked the Liu mother and child.

"That's right. Old Lu went through all that trouble, taking the initiative to set up the stall for giving money as a gift. After all, he's Xiao Liu's mentor, so who knows, he might have to take care of Xiao Chu in a while."

"That's not necessarily true. I heard that Lao Lü stopped talking to Xiao Liu at work."

"..."

Tang Zhitong was, after all, a leading cadre, so it wasn't convenient for him to say anything. But the middle-aged woman standing to the side didn't hold back at all; she was quite the gossip, saying all sorts of things.

Currently, due to limited education levels, most people's legal awareness needs to be strengthened, but there are exceptions, such as the "Labor Insurance Regulations".

This regulation is the first law in New China to protect the rights and interests of workers, and it details the various treatments for workers and temporary workers during their working hours.

Article 24 clearly stipulates that if a worker or employee dies or becomes completely disabled due to work-related injury and their dependent immediate family members are capable of working and the company needs someone to work, the administration or employer should give them priority in hiring.

Although it is not stated that hiring is mandatory, in practice, the vast majority are capable of taking over.

Behind every job is the livelihood of a family. If a worker dies on the job, but the factory only provides funeral expenses and compensation and does not allow a successor, will the other workers who remain at their posts still treat the factory as their own home and dedicate themselves to it?
Given the current level of productivity, this practice is perfectly acceptable, and factories sometimes even allow replacements for non-work-related deaths.

When Tang's father was alive, he mentioned that he would first apply for medical retirement and then take over the business when Tang Zhitong grew up, which could be considered a backup plan.

However, this kind of operation is not very compliant and requires someone to handle it.

Considering the dangers underground and the possibility of contracting tuberculosis, and given that no one was willing to help, the matter was dropped.

After listening to some gossip and chatting with Lao Zhu for a while, Tang Zhitong said goodbye and went home.

Everyone knows about the succession issue. Even if Lao Lü is really keen on this job, he still has to consider what people will say, right?

After dinner, there was a knock on the already closed gate of the Tang family's house.

"Who is it?" Tang Zhitong asked as he walked towards the door after hearing the noise.

"Brother, it's me." Chu Chunxue's voice came from outside the door.

"You stay inside, I'll go out and take a look." Zhang Guifang recognized Chu Chunxue's voice, left Xiao Wang inside, and followed her son out the door.

According to traditional customs, one should not visit other people's homes when there is a funeral in the family. Since her daughter-in-law was pregnant, Zhang Guifang wanted to keep Chu Chunxue out.

"Xiao Chu, what's wrong so late at night?" Zhang Guifang asked, opening the door a crack before her son could get there.

"Auntie, thank you for calling me about Jiaming's father." After knocking on the door, Chu Chunxue consciously stepped outside. When Zhang Guifang opened the door, she knelt down after speaking.

When Chu Chunxue returned home early this morning, she heard the whole story from the neighbors. No one in the entire courtyard thought of informing her, as if no one was on her side.

Although she was a rural woman, she wasn't stupid. She knew there might be something going on, but she didn't make a fuss. Old Lu could collect money as he pleased, and she didn't stop him. All she wanted was a job!
Chu Chunxue knew that if Tang Zhitong hadn't tipped her off, she wouldn't have been able to come back. In that case, she would not only have lost the money, but she would probably have lost her job as well.

Therefore, she was very grateful to Tang Zhitong for this matter, not to mention the kindness of the food coupons she received when she miscarried.

She knelt down willingly.

"Oh dear, what are you doing?" Zhang Guifang didn't care about etiquette at this moment and hurriedly opened the door to help Chu Chunxue up.

"Auntie, we don't have anything good at home. I picked a basket of peaches from my parents' home. Please don't mind." Chu Chunxue wiped away her tears and said with a smile.

"You child, look how thin you are. Your family has it tough too. Take this back; at least it will keep you going for a while." Only after hearing this did Zhang Guifang notice the basket in the corner of the doorway.

"There's still some dry food at home, I won't go hungry. You should go back now, don't get any bad luck." Chu Chunxue knew proper etiquette, but the peaches couldn't be left uneaten, and she couldn't wait until after the seventh day after the death to send them over, so she deliberately chose the evening and didn't plan to go inside.

Zhang Guifang was hesitating whether to invite Chu Chunxue into her home, but before she could speak, Chu Chunxue had already resolutely turned away.

"Xiaoxue, life is long, so look to the future. Focus on your job and your child and live a good life." Zhang Guifang said to Chu Chunxue as she walked away.

"Okay, Auntie, you should go back now." Chu Chunxue turned around, smiled, nodded, and walked out of the alley.

"What a mess." Seeing that Chu Chunxue had disappeared, Zhang Guifang felt a little uneasy, as if she had made a mistake by not letting her in earlier.

"Mom, let's go home. It's not a bad thing for her that her husband is gone. The only question is whether she can keep Liu Zhangshi in check." Tang Zhitong, like a spectator, hadn't said a word the whole time. Now, he picked up his basket and waited for Zhang Guifang to come home.

Although her husband is gone, her mother-in-law is still alive. Chu Chunxue has taken over her husband's job, so it is only natural for her to take care of her mother-in-law.

Even if they really don't support her, Liu Zhangshi won't starve, because Liu Zhangshi's share of Liu Chengzhi's pension is included.

"Sigh..." Zhang Guifang sighed. Xiao Chu was unlucky. She lost her husband at a young age, and her mother-in-law was a formidable one. Her future would not be easy.

Carrying the basket into the main house, Fengzhi swallowed hard as she looked at the peaches, while Xiao Wang pointed in the direction of the Liu family's house and asked, "Did she give them to you?"

"Mm." Tang Zhitong nodded.

"Isn't this inappropriate?" Xiao Wang, a kind-hearted girl, felt that Chu Chunxue was living a frugal life and that her family shouldn't accept her things.

“It’s alright, eat up. I ran into her when I was working at the grassroots level a while ago, and I left her some food coupons. Plus, I called her this time, so if I didn’t accept them, she would feel even more guilty.” Tang Zhitong didn’t feel that much of a burden.

Doing good deeds without expecting anything in return is naturally pleasing, but Tang Zhitong is an ordinary person. If there is some reward, he will be even happier, even if it is just a small amount.

"Brother, can I have a peach?" Fengzhi asked, leaning closer to her brother. "You wash them, one for each of you, then go to sleep." Tang Zhitong flicked the little glutton's forehead.

After finishing the peaches and returning to his room, Tang Zhitong took out some stationery to write a speech for the end-of-month commendation meeting.

Xiao Wang was tidying up her husband's bag when she pulled out a stack of cookbooks and exclaimed in surprise, "You bought so many? Are you thinking of becoming a chef?"

"Always be ready to obey your wife's orders, always be ready to serve your wife. Just follow the recipes, and if there's anything you want to eat, I'll find a way to make it for you," Tang Zhitong replied with a smile as she sat at her desk.

"You're just being mischievous. You bought the book, do you still have money left?" Little Wang opened the title page and looked at the price.

"There's still a little left. I'll keep ten yuan for myself when I get paid." Oh no, what was meant to be a considerate gesture towards Xiao Wang has unexpectedly veered back to money.

“Okay.” Xiao Wang did not object to her husband’s arrangement and happily began to look at the recipe.

Although her husband said he would try to cook for her, she wouldn't order the food. Given the current supply conditions, ordering food would only put her husband in a difficult position.

Tang Zhitong watched as Xiao Wang intently studied the recipe, while he himself turned away, racking his brains to figure out how to write his speech.

First of all, I must thank the school, teachers, and classmates. I thank the school for providing the platform, the teachers for their guidance (and indulgence), and the classmates in the research class for their support.

If he were to say that a school or its teachers and students were not cooperating with his decision to skip class, his bright future would be over.

A brain is very important; you have to bring it with you when you go out. You can't use your reputation to try to morally blackmail others.

As for the contents, Tang Zhitong will definitely mention the insulated box, but it's not suitable to mention the super magnet, as that thing is highly classified.

After finishing the first draft, Tang Zhitong turned his head and saw that Xiao Wang's reading posture had changed; he was now pursing his fingers with his two jade-like lips.

"Did you see tofu and pig's trotters?" Tang Zhitong joked.

"What pig's trotters?" Little Wang turned his head, his finger still pressed against his lips, looking incredibly cute.

"I was wondering why there was a pig sitting next to me, and a pig gnawing on a pig's trotter at that." Tang Zhitong smiled and pointed to Xiao Wang's slender fingers, then changed her tune and didn't mention the tofu and pig's trotter incident again.

When Tang Zhitong was buying books today, he noticed that the "Chinese Famous Recipes" series was not complete. The Xinhua Bookstore only had volumes one through seven, probably because the later volumes had not yet been published or had not yet arrived.

The first three volumes feature restaurants and their signature dishes in Beijing; the fourth and fifth volumes feature Cantonese cuisine; the sixth volume features Shandong cuisine; and the seventh volume features Sichuan cuisine.

Tang Zhitong was not short of money, so he bought a set.

When paying, the bookstore clerk kept saying that Tang Zhitong was lucky because each set of cookbooks only had a limited number of volumes, and this set was originally coordinated for other customers, but they later didn't want it anymore, so it had been sitting there ever since.

The seventh volume was published in January of this year, with only 8000 copies printed. The others were published in the previous two years.

Tang Zhitong glanced through the catalog at the time and found that the boundaries between cuisines were not so clear.

The book Xiao Wang is holding is the seventh volume, the Sichuan cuisine version.

Since Xiao Wang's ancestral home is there, Tang Zhitong specifically browsed the catalog when buying the food, and found that the dish of tofu and pig's trotters was not listed.

"Ugh! There's a pig sitting right next to you!" Little Wang pulled his finger away, a little embarrassed.

This was the first time she had ever looked at a cookbook, and to her surprise, it made her mouth water. There were so many dishes in it that she had never tried before, and judging from the reviews in the cookbooks, not a single one was bad.

"Yes, there's a pig sitting next to me, hahaha!" Tang Zhitong laughed, not expecting to trick Xiao Wang so easily.

"You're so annoying! You're the pig! You're the pig!" Little Wang raised his little fists and relentlessly punched Tang Zhitong.

"Hahaha, okay, okay, I'm a pig, I'm a pig." Tang Zhitong laughed so hard he almost cried, letting Xiao Wang hit him as if it were a back massage.

"How annoying." After punching him, Xiao Wang laughed and laughed with her husband. With this kind of life of talking, laughing, and fighting, it seemed that even being a pig wasn't unacceptable.

"Even if you're a pig, you're a beautiful and adorable pig." Tang Zhitong looked at Xiao Wang's dimples and was completely captivated. She could never get tired of looking at that face.

"Stop talking!" Xiao Wang covered her husband's mouth with her hand, then immediately dismissed her earlier thought. Pigs are all black, even darker than the skin of African friends. Humans are much more beautiful and lovely.

Tang Zhitong didn't just sit there and wait to be killed. She stuck out her tongue and licked Xiao Wang's palm, which made Xiao Wang pull her hand back. Then she got punched: "How annoying, isn't that dirty?"

"Not only is it not dirty, it smells delicious too," Tang Zhitong said smugly.

"Pah, shameless old man. What did you just write?" But Ms. Wang found her husband's saliva dirty, so she took out a handkerchief to wipe it and asked.

"Speech draft, your man is going to be a role model for college students across the country again! Please review it, leader!" Tang Zhitong handed over the draft he had written.

"Really?!" Little Wang was pleasantly surprised. His pig was really excellent!
"Of course it's true. I'm going to Tsinghua University at the end of the month to attend the National Outstanding College Students Commendation Conference. I need to prepare well. I'm going there to challenge them anyway, and if my report isn't done well, I'll get beaten up." Tang Zhitong waited for Xiao Wang's comments with a cheerful expression.

"You're talking nonsense. You've made a perfectly good commendation sound like you're looking for trouble." Ms. Wang refuted her husband's ramblings while looking at the speech he had written.

Tang Zhitong smiled and didn't say anything.

While talking with Professor Zhou, Tang Zhitong learned that before this year, the education department had not selected outstanding college students nationwide, but Tsinghua and Peking Universities had a tradition of selecting outstanding students at the university level.

Many universities were spun off from Tsinghua and Peking Universities, and they carried over some of their best practices. I wonder if this National Outstanding College Student Award was born out of the influence of Tsinghua and Peking Universities.

Having been exposed to the world around her, Xiao Wang was quite skilled. She pointed out a few mistakes her husband made and offered some suggestions, which Tang Zhitong humbly accepted and corrected one by one.

The young couple worked late into the night on this manuscript, and it wasn't finished until 11 p.m.

Tang Zhitong wanted to finish it in one go, but Xiao Wang, considering that her husband had an exam the next day, insisted that he wash up and go to bed first, promising to help him revise it when he went to work the next day.

With Secretary Wang doing the work for her, Tang Zhitong was naturally at ease. She poured the water for washing her feet, washed them, and then had a wonderful, completely undisturbed sleep with Secretary Wang—the kind of sleep even cleaner than that of a certain abbot.

(End of this chapter)