Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 931 930 The bed was creaking.
While Tang Zhitong was in Chunshu Hutong, Fang Yuan was giving a self-criticism and accepting criticism at the Municipal Post Office.

These days, criticism and self-criticism are fashionable, and often it can lead to "blushing and sweating."

Fang Yuan was not at ease when faced with criticism, but he maintained a very proper attitude and accepted everything.

In Fang Yuan's heart, he felt that he deserved all of this, and he would be willing to bear it if he could take on the pain of all the employees.

At the same time, Fang Yuan was also very annoyed that he hadn't listened to Tang Zhitong's words. If he had paid attention at the time, and stopped serving potato leaves yesterday noon when he found out that some employees were unwell, the mass food poisoning situation would not have occurred.

Fortunately, Tang Zhitong handled the situation promptly, and no serious cases occurred at the escort office. Fang Yuan felt that after vomiting a few times and taking medicine, he had recovered about 70-80% of his usual self.

After the meeting ended, Fang Yuan was covered in sweat.

Stepping out of the conference room, Fang Yuan was covered in sweat and went straight to the transport department without even having lunch.

He felt guilty for the rest of his life if he suffered a little, but if other comrades' health deteriorated further, he felt he would feel guilty for the rest of his life.

Compared to Fang Yuan, Tang Zhitong's life was incredibly comfortable. At this moment, he was having a meal in Chunshu Hutong while chatting with Director Ye and classmate Xiao Wang about his new house in Dashizuo Hutong, just like a child who couldn't help but show off his new toy to his friends.

"I'm tempted to visit everything you've described." Xiao Wang had only been to the new house once, mainly because of its location, and didn't find it as tidy and comfortable as her husband had described.

"I want to go too! I want to go too!" Jingmin, who had just been beaten up that morning, was watching the commotion from the sidelines, holding up the cornbread in his hand high, trying to get his sister and brother-in-law's attention.

"Let's eat first, then we'll go over. After we move, you and Fengzhi can take extra classes there. After class, you can sell ice cream at the entrance of the alley and experience life," Tang Zhitong promised cheerfully.

"Okay!" Jingmin agreed happily. Everyone else envied those who lived in apartment buildings, but he felt that apartment buildings were not as good as bungalows. It was inconvenient to run and jump around in an apartment building. A bungalow with a yard was much better. He could use a slingshot to shoot birds, or even if there were no birds, he could still shoot bricks or tiles.

As for selling ice cream... well, very good, very delicious!
"Wouldn't it be too much trouble for my mother-in-law to come?" Ye Zhijuan didn't object to her son experiencing life. Seeing that her son-in-law had made thorough arrangements and her son was in high spirits, she naturally wouldn't object.

"Mom, it's no trouble at all. My mom really likes Jingmin and always looks forward to him coming over to visit. Wenwen and I have already discussed it. There are plenty of rooms over there, so after the holidays, Jingying and Jingmin can stay for a while. You can also get some rest at home." Tang Zhitong and Xiao Wang exchanged a glance and explained the plan. It was more appropriate for her to say it herself than for Xiao Wang to say it.

“Okay. I’ll have some peace and quiet for a couple of days.” Ye Zhijuan nodded with a smile, which made Jingmin even happier.

After finishing their meal, Jingmin eagerly urged Tang Zhitong to set off quickly, and even Jingying looked forward to it.

So the four of them rode two bicycles to Dashizuo Hutong.

The distance from Chunshu Hutong to Dashizuo Hutong is less than three kilometers, and you can get there in no time.

"Don't touch the doorposts and walls, the paint isn't dry yet," Tang Zhitong instructed his brother-in-law as soon as they entered the house.

"Okay!" Jingmin readily agreed, glancing around the yard. Apart from having an extra water tap compared to the old iron wheel handle and having fewer vegetables, nothing seemed to have changed.

"Did you have the craftsmen remodel this to look like our house?" Jingmin couldn't see any changes, but Xiao Wang was pleasantly surprised. The changes to the doors, windows, walls, and roof were so significant that she would believe anyone who said it was a new house.

"Yeah, I was thinking that if we changed it this way, Mom would be more comfortable when she comes over." Tang Zhitong replied cheerfully, while also feeling fortunate that he had finished the main work in the morning. If he had continued working on it in the afternoon, he probably wouldn't have had the chance to use the cheat code.

"Hmm, not bad, you put in the effort." Ms. Wang revealed her dimples, expressing her approval of her husband's thoughtfulness.

"Brother-in-law, isn't there a cellar around here?" Jingmin walked around the city wall bricks, but didn't find anything interesting, so he looked a little disappointed.

"Yes, I'll take you to see it." Tang Zhitong's favorite place was the cellar, so he immediately led the group to the east wing, turned on the light, and opened the partition.

"Let's go down one by one, Wenwen, you have to be careful when you go down." The ladder leading to the cellar was steep, and Tang Zhitong was a little worried.

"Okay, you go down first, then Jingmin." Faced with her husband's concern and instructions, Xiao Wang was not impatient, smiled and agreed, and pulled her younger brother, who was peeking out, back behind her.

Tang Zhitong got off first, then caught Jingmin below, put Jingmin down and let him walk forward slowly, while he waited for Jingying to come down so he could escort Xiao Wang.

As soon as Xiao Wang stepped off the ladder, he heard Jingmin inside exclaiming excitedly, "Wow! It's so cool in here! It's so big!"

Tang Zhitong let his brother-in-law run around inside, while he walked ahead, holding Xiao Wang's hand and muttering, "Slow down, watch your step."

"Oh dear, I'm already so old." Holding her husband's hand, Xiao Wang felt very sweet, but she was still a little embarrassed when she met her sister's gaze.

Jingying, being sensible, exchanged a glance with her sister before turning to look at Jingmin.

"How was it? Are you satisfied?" Tang Zhitong only let go of Xiao Wang's hand when they reached the main room of the cellar.

"Hmm, very good, satisfied." Xiao Wang looked around the cellar and glanced at the "hitching post" above, which was indeed used to hang cured meat.

"Brother-in-law, shall we sleep here tonight? It'll be comfortable under the quilt!" Jingmin ran around the cellar a few times and immediately made the most "reasonable" arrangement for the cellar.

“The idea is good, but it won’t work.” Not to mention Jingmin, even Tang Zhitong wanted to sleep in the cellar, but it was clearly not a place to sleep.

"Why?" Jingmin was unhappy. The cellar was so cool. He would never have to worry about being woken up by the heat in the middle of the night if he slept here.

"Why are there so many questions? Aren't you afraid of catching a cold?" Little Wang glared at her younger brother. In her eyes, this brat was the kind of kid who would get out of control if he wasn't disciplined for three days.

"I'm not afraid!" Jingmin retorted, sticking his neck out. But seeing his sister's increasingly stern gaze, he shrank back and muttered, "I'm not afraid of you, I just had an agreement with my brother-in-law."

"Alright, that's enough fun. Let's go upstairs. We can't stay here long." Tang Zhitong estimated that the temperature in the cellar was only four or five degrees Celsius, and since everyone was wearing short sleeves, they might catch a cold if they stayed any longer.

Jingmin was naturally unwilling to go up like that, but his second sister was pulling his ear, so he had no choice but to go.

"After we move in, you two will live in the west wing. Go and see if there's any furniture you want, and I'll get it for you later." Coming up from the cellar, Tang Zhitong pointed to the west wing and gave Jingying and Jingmin a task. "Really?! I can have my own bed?" Jingmin's earlier dejection vanished. Ever since he separated from his mother, he had been sleeping on the sofa and desperately longed for a bed of his own.

"Yes, I'll arrange a big bed for you!" Tang Zhitong promised with a smile, while silently adding in her heart: The bed I used to sleep in can finally be put to good use.

With Tang Zhitong's promise, Jingmin skipped and hopped to the west wing with his second sister, while Xiao Wang and her husband went to the east wing.

The side rooms here are about the same size as the iron wheelbarrow room, and there's really nothing to see here. They're just mirror images of the furniture from the other side.

"They even drilled the drain hole?" Xiao Wang looked around the east wing and was somewhat surprised to see the drain hole in the corner of the wall.

"Well, the construction team has professional tools, which is much easier than me digging it out myself. They just built a simple sewer for us. Our domestic sewage will be discharged into the seepage channel outside through the sewer." Tang Zhitong said this nonsense with a straight face.

"The housing management bureau is so thoughtful! We got our money's worth from these meals." Xiao Wang exclaimed with emotion. Who wouldn't want their living environment to be more worry-free and cleaner?

"Yes, it's really good." Tang Zhitong nodded in agreement. As long as Xiao Wang was satisfied, he felt that all the trouble was worth it.

"Should we buy a screen to put in the west wing?" The three rooms in the east wing are connected without any partitions in between, and the west wing is the same. Since the husband plans to let Jingying and Jingmin live there, we should consider the separation of men and women and the convenience of their daily lives.

"Well, I'll contact the lumber mill later and buy it directly from there. Besides the screen, we'll probably need two sets of desks. We don't need to buy a bed; we still have one empty." The Tang family isn't large, but they do have three main rooms. As sons grow up, they avoid sleeping with their mothers, and daughters grow up, they avoid sleeping with their fathers. The Tang family is quite good at this.

"Sigh, another expense." Xiao Wang frowned as he thought about buying furniture.

"It's alright, I'm here. We don't need any mahogany furniture this time, it won't cost much," Tang Zhitong comforted her.

“You’ll have to pay it back eventually. Next… Comrade Tang, you need to hurry up and create content to earn royalties!” Xiao Wang instructed with a stern face.

"Reporting to the leader, I guarantee the mission will be completed!" Tang Zhitong stood at attention in compliance. The creation was only to repay a favor; the money to buy furniture would still have to be covered by fishing. How much money could he make by catching twenty big fish a day and selling them? Tang Zhitong planned to find out the fish prices later.

“I’m very pleased that you have this determination.” Xiao Wang patted her husband’s shoulder, which looked quite serious, but after patting him, she couldn’t keep a straight face and her dimples reappeared.

"Being a leader must be exciting, right? I've never been a leader before." Tang Zhitong looked at Xiao Wang's dimples, which were so charming, but now was not the right time; he would have to wait another month.

"Never been a leader before? You're just... ugh! You're never doing anything right!" Little Wang's mind worked quickly; before she could finish her sentence, she had already figured out her husband's ulterior motives.

"Hehe." Tang Zhitong remained silent. A young couple needs to use appropriate methods to adjust their lives. If there are no new tricks, they will eventually feel bored.

"When are we moving?" Since his younger siblings were still around, Xiao Wang didn't dwell on the question and quickly changed the subject.

"I'm thinking of waiting two more days until the paint on the doors and windows is completely dry before moving in." Tang Zhitong wanted to move in as soon as possible. The hottest period of summer was approaching, and if they moved in now, they could still grow some vegetables. If they delayed any longer, even if the chemical raw material company didn't object, they would lose a portion of their harvest from their own yard, which wasn't worthwhile.

"Okay, whatever you say. But... what about moving? We have a lot of stuff, especially that set of furniture. I remember when the lumberyard worker was setting up the bed, he said it was best not to disassemble it." The thought of moving made Xiao Wang a little worried.

"It's just that it's best not to take it apart, but it's not that it can't be taken apart. We should trust the old craftsman's skills. Besides, our bed is creaking, so we might as well take this opportunity to have the old craftsman fix it."

Tang Zhitong had thought about how to move, and even considered this issue when he went to the lumber mill to deliver furniture. At that time, he thought that by simply packing it up in the space, he could put it in the new house, which would not only save effort but also allow for damage-free installation.

Now it seems a bit presumptuous, because after thinking it over, Tang Zhitong realized that he couldn't completely avoid his family.

If you can't avoid it, you can't use cheats; you can only use the most ordinary method.

"Pah! The creaking is because you're too restless." As soon as the bed creaked, Xiao Wang thought of what Liu Yue had said that morning, and two clouds of joy appeared on his cheeks. He even reached for Tang Zhitong's waist.

"Hiss... It's normal for the bed to creak, little miss, be gentle!" Tang Zhitong felt the pain in his waist and really wanted to say that you deserved some credit for this, but Xiao Wang's words that morning, "I'll deal with you when we get back," made him shut his mouth in time. He wished Xiao Wang would forget about it.

"How is the creaking of the bed normal? I'm always afraid it will collapse." When Ms. Wang saw her husband gasp in shock, she not only let go of his hand but also stroked his waist, as if that would relieve the pain.

"The bed won't collapse, I don't have that much strength." Tang Zhitong wanted to say something fancy, but the pain in his waist made him change his mind: "It's a mortise and tenon structure. It's definitely stable when it's first made, but it's also affected by temperature, humidity, and the amount of shaking. As long as it loosens even a little bit, it will become more and more loose and the noise will become louder and louder."

This is not something Tang Zhitong made up; it is based on facts. As our ancestors said, "If you don't hold your bowl, you'll be poor for life; if you shake your leg and shrug your shoulders, your family will be cursed for three generations."

In the eyes of the older generation, one should hold the bowl while eating and sit upright.

This is a basic courtesy, but it's also a kind of frivolous affair.

Bowls were precious items in ancient times, passed down through three generations. The bowls remained even after the person passed away, not because they were durable, but because they were cherished.

Tang Zhitong remembers that if she accidentally broke a bowl when she was a child, her parents would definitely slap her twice on the bottom.

When conditions improve, if a child breaks a bowl, the parents will not only immediately check if the child is frightened or scratched, but will also say "May the child be safe and sound every year."

This was especially true in ancient times. Among the tombs that have been unearthed, only those of high rank were buried with pottery and porcelain. Ordinary people could not afford such things. It was not that they did not want to be buried with such items, but that they could not afford to.

Shaking one's legs and shrugging one's shoulders refers to sitting posture, but it is also somewhat related to poverty.

In an era of underdeveloped productivity, chairs were made with mortise and tenon joints. People were not comfortable sitting in the chairs, so they would shift their buttocks or shake their legs. Over time, the mortise and tenon joints would inevitably loosen.

Not only does it cost money to fix if it gets loose, but it can also easily trap flesh, which is incredibly painful—much more so than the twisting pain experienced by Xiao Wang.

Of course, maintaining good posture is a good thing, but fewer and fewer people will follow it in the future.

Why is TikTok called "Douyin" and not "Zhanyin"?
Because shaking makes me happy. Life is worse than that of cattle and horses, so what's wrong with me shaking a little?

(End of this chapter)