1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 509: What kind of important business can happen on New Year’s Day?
In some places in Qi and Lu, people go back to their parents' home on the second day of the New Year, while in some places, they go back on the third day. Yang Mo is not very clear about the local customs in Dongying, but the Mu family asks them to come back on the third day.

To be honest, before the expressways were built, driving hundreds of kilometers on provincial and county roads with different road conditions was quite a torture.

It would be even more painful if you had to get up at three in the morning and drive at night in an era when there were few street lights in order to arrive before lunch.

But there is no way. Since you have become someone's son-in-law, you have to bear certain responsibilities and obligations, right?
........................

"Fatuma... Oh my dear daughter, why do you look thinner again? Have you not been eating well recently?"

"Hurry, hurry, mom is heating up your favorite lamb and radish dumplings in the pot... Come in and have some!"

As soon as the door was knocked, Yang Mo's seemingly innocent mother-in-law hugged Miss Mu and burst into tears, then dragged her daughter into the house without saying a word.

Although according to the custom in some places, the first thing a married daughter should do when she returns to her parents' home is to eat the New Year dumplings left by her parents on the second day of the New Year, it was obvious that the mother-in-law stubbornly believed that her daughter must have become thin due to hunger. Therefore, after serving out a large plate of mutton dumplings, she immediately started rummaging through the drawers and cabinets, as if she would not give up until she had made up for the weight her daughter had lost.

Yang Mo at the door looked speechlessly at his overreacting mother-in-law, and for a moment he didn't know whether he should speak up and say hello.

Mu Siyuan was used to his wife's exaggerated behavior. He glanced at the pile of things Yang Mo was carrying, his eyes twitched slightly, but he finally put on the posture of a father-in-law and said in a gentle voice, "Come in...just put the things in the living room."

Then he tilted his head towards the kitchen and instructed, "Alia, cook a few eggs for Xiao Mo as well."

It seems that the customs here at the headquarters are very similar to those in Qingdao. When a newly married son-in-law visits his wife in the first year, the gifts he needs to bring must be related to "six"... six pounds of meat, six pounds of fish, six steamed buns, six boxes of snacks, and other six kinds of food, with the main theme of "six sixes of good luck".

Therefore, Yang Mo, the hairy son-in-law, had to carry a lot of things;
And carrying so many things in large and small bags did seem a bit tacky... at least it was totally inconsistent with the Mu family's previous style.

But not to mention the second brother, the response that the Mu family needs to make is not much better.

According to their custom, when the new son-in-law arrives, six poached eggs should be cooked as a treat.

Although eggs were a top-notch commodity in the past when supplies were extremely scarce, being able to cook six poached eggs as a treat was the highest courtesy for a son-in-law;
but……

The past was before and the present is now.

In this day and age, when a woman cooks six poached eggs for her son-in-law at once, it is hard not to wonder whether the mother intends to fill her son-in-law's stomach with the poached eggs first, and then save the other plate of seafood and meat.

Damn tradition!

Looking at the big bowl of fried eggs served by the old mother-in-law, Yang Mo and Mu Siyuan, who were both frowning, complained in their hearts...

………………

Although his scalp was itchy from the six fried eggs he had as soon as he entered the door, other than that, Yang Mo felt quite comfortable.

At the very least, they didn't bring out a bowl of lime water like they did last time and refused to let anyone in unless they drank it; even the father-in-law Mu Siyuan didn't put on airs and order his future son-in-law, who had a terrible alcohol tolerance, to drink a couple of cups with him at the dinner table to vent all his past grievances.

In fact, not only did Mu Siyuan not force Yang Mo to drink, he even did not go into the study room, which he would not easily step out of on weekdays, after lunch. Instead, he took the initiative to sit on the left side of the extra-long dining table with very ethnic characteristics, and began to take out tea sets and boil water.

It was obvious that the father-in-law wanted to show off his skills by entertaining this son-in-law who seemed to have no special hobbies except drinking tea and fishing.

"Xiao Mo, Xiao Ya just said that you guys set out at 3 a.m.? You must be tired after driving for so long, right?"

Mu Siyuan picked up the silver kettle and carefully scalded four silver cups carved with hairpins with the boiling water that had just boiled.

Yang Mo smiled and said, "It's okay, not too tired."

This is nonsense. I drove for eight or nine hours non-stop, and nearly half of the time was spent driving in conditions with extremely poor visibility. It would be strange if I wasn't tired.

But he couldn't say he was tired.

According to local customs, if the new son-in-law says he is tired, then a room should be prepared for him so that he can have a good rest.

It is not only impolite to rest right after meal upon arriving at the door, but also outsiders will laugh at Mu Siyuan if he falls asleep like that... But don't forget, today is the third day of the New Year, a good day to visit relatives and friends. With Mu Siyuan's status, there will definitely be people who come to visit and wish him a happy new year.

Hearing Yang Mo say he was not tired, Mu Siyuan showed a satisfied expression in his eyes. He glanced at the well-hidden tiredness on his son-in-law's face and nodded gently: "I heard that you only drink Pu'er now? Xiao Mo, drinking too much Pu'er will cause stomach cold. You are in an important position now, and you can't ignore your health... Let's drink some black tea today to warm our stomachs, and appreciate the charm of other teas... You are still young, there is no harm in trying more other things."

The smile on Yang Mo's face remained unchanged: "Dad is right."

Mu Siyuan hummed in satisfaction and pulled out a tin can from under the table. However, he did not open it on the spot. Instead, he told his wife to pour out the water in the silver pot.

Just when Yang Mo was wondering why he needed to change the water when he was just making a cup of tea, his mother-in-law came back. In addition to the original silver pot, she also had a silver object that looked like a small thermos bottle... Of course, "thermos bottle" is just a metaphor. This thing is covered with carvings. Although it has a slight sense of history, it is easy to see that it is a fine work of art. If it weren't for its slender shape and the eagle-hook-like water outlet on the top, he almost thought that this thing was a replica of the blood-sucking pot that Hades used to imprison Athena.

Faintly smelling the milk aroma coming from the silver pot, Yang Mo's face turned bitter: "Dad, do we... want to drink milk tea?"

As soon as he entered the door, six fried eggs were forced upon him. Just now at the table, he had stretched out his chopsticks a few times out of politeness. Now his stomach was so full that he could not bear it any longer.

Mu Siyuan could naturally see his distress, and laughed: "Don't worry, it won't be uncomfortable... At worst, I can make it thicker!"

Make black tea?
And it’s black tea made with goat’s milk?
Thinking of the "authentic milk tea" he drank on a business trip to Inner Mongolia in his previous life, Yang Mo's face suddenly became more bitter.

Although he drank milk tea made from Tibetan black tea bricks in his previous life, and his father-in-law was going to make black tea here, in his opinion, the final taste should be similar... The tea is not the point, the point is the salty and astringent milky smell after this thing enters the mouth.

Thinking of this, he quickly cast a pleading look towards his wife.

It’s okay for us to drink black tea, just hope it’s not brewed into milk tea!
Upon seeing this, Miss Mu smiled at him with some malice, then turned her head to whisper to her mother, and actually ignored her man's request for help.

Mu Siyuan seemed to be a very particular person. When he saw his wife bringing fresh goat milk, he first picked up a small pair of tongs to pick up some of the silver-gray charcoal in the small charcoal stove, put his hand on it to test the temperature, and then put the silver pot on it.

"You and Xiaoya did a great job last year."

"Especially you, your achievements are enough to make us old men ashamed. The fact that you have single-handedly promoted the implementation of the Solitary Island II project is enough to make everyone in the headquarters look at you with new eyes... The headquarters has always been weak in handling the relationship between local workers and farmers and the relationship between the central government and local governments. The long-term passivity made those old guys almost jump up on the spot when they heard that you only took more than four months to get the Solitary Island II project officially approved."

"That's why you asked me to help increase the budget for next year. Although it was quite difficult, after your uncles and I argued with you, it was finally approved at the meeting... In fact, the others were mainly afraid that you would be dissatisfied and slow down the work, or even secretly make trouble to stop the construction of the Solitary Island II project halfway... In their opinion, with your influence in Texas now, this is not impossible;"

"Besides, a considerable portion of the budget increase you requested is to be used for supporting industrial projects around Solitary Island No. 2. To some extent, this is like meat rotting in the pot... As long as we can continue to make great strides this year and perfectly solve the employee diversion problem like we did last year, the headquarters can actually accept this kind of meat rotting in the pot... It's much better to let the meat rot in the pot than to use it to aid the construction of Dongying's local city."

Thinking of the past years, Mu Siyuan showed a sarcastic smile on his face: "This is the main reason why your request will be approved with the efforts of me and your uncles... If everything goes as expected, the official documents will come down in the spring, but Dahua Company will have to open a few more special supervision accounts... Because the money transferred from the account by then is unlikely to be just 5 million, but more."

More than 5 million?

Yang Mo took a breath, and the joy that had just risen in his heart was suppressed in an instant.

There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Even though his father-in-law's current reputation and influence are far from what they were before, it is definitely not enough for the headquarters to take the initiative to give him more fat meat after approving the application, which was already a bit excessive, like a sucker.

and so……

Open several special supervision accounts?

Yang Mo hesitated for a moment, then asked doubtfully, "Dad, is the headquarters planning to conceal the truth on paper?"

Mu Siyuan nodded approvingly: "That's right. Although the headquarters' main business income last year was only slightly higher than the year before, the income from other aspects increased significantly. In addition, 7 employees were transferred out at once. Although the cost was high, the actual savings were even greater... As a result, the actual surplus of the headquarters is much higher than in previous years."

"You know the situation in Dongying. If we keep so much money in the account, it is very likely to cause unnecessary trouble. And for practical reasons, we can't directly break up with the local authorities in Dongying. "

"So after much thought, we can only use the method of grafting to make it look like there is not much money left in the headquarters' account... As the saying goes, if you can't see it, don't say it. It doesn't matter whether the local authorities in Dongying believe it or not. What matters is that there is a reasonable reason and excuse that can make both sides save face."

"And Dahua Company... or more precisely, you, are the most suitable person... As long as you deposit the extra money into Dahua Company's special supervision account, Dongying will not hold on to it, no matter whether you change the purpose of the funds by canceling the project or transfer it back to the headquarters under any name."

As expected, my guess was correct. The extra money was "managed" by Dahua Company, and judging from the tone of my father-in-law, the amount of money was quite considerable.

But it's no wonder. Putting aside the exponentially increasing profits from the northern trade line every year, the expenses saved by the 7 employees and their families alone is an astronomical figure that is frightening... Anyone who has worked in a state-owned enterprise knows how generous those obvious or invisible benefits are. The reduction in staff and increase in efficiency these days is completely different from the reduction in staff and increase in efficiency that private enterprises are clamoring for in later generations.

However, Yang Mo was a little puzzled: "Why do we have to put this money in Dahua's account for escrow? Since it is nothing more than a reason for both parties to save face, can't we just create a few fictitious projects here and solve the problem?"

"Hasn't the headquarters been working hard to expand the Middle East and African markets in the past two years? If the budget is allocated in the name of overseas projects, won't Dongying still be unable to hold the headquarters responsible? Moreover, after these funds have been rolled around in international accounts, it will be more concealed when they flow back, right?"

Mu Siyuan smiled when he heard this: "Someone actually proposed this method at the meeting, but it was rejected."

Yang Mo was stunned: "It was rejected... Why?" Mu Siyuan sighed: "Because the current situation is very different from previous years. If the surplus funds are deposited in a special account in the name of overseas projects, it will be a disaster rather than a blessing for the command center. In fact, Lao Zhuo..."

Mu Siyuan suddenly stopped talking halfway through his speech, then shook his head: "Anyway, this would have been a good idea in previous years. In fact, the headquarters often did this before, but now it doesn't work."

"So, now, you and your Dahua Company have become the best choice... An old friend of mine in the Dongying administrative system told me that it is now widely rumored that not only have you caught the eye of Mr. Zhao, but he has also made you a key training target. You may rise to prominence and be summoned to the administrative system to take charge of work someday... And your attitude towards the leaders sent down from the province some time ago has also deepened this speculation."

"So, as long as the surplus funds of the headquarters are transferred to the special supervision account of your Dahua Company, no matter what the name of the transfer is, Dongying will not be serious... Haha, Dongying is indeed very tough on the headquarters, but they still have their own concerns. Even the province can control them, not to mention Mr. Zhao... This is probably called one thing conquers another!"

Mr. Zhao?
Key training targets?

Yang Mo's expression was a little strange.

Of course he knew that the relationship between him and Mr. Zhao was not what outsiders thought, but he had no intention of explaining.

At least for now, with Mr. Zhao's help, it will do him no harm.

only……

Lao Zhuo?

Zhuomali's father?
What happened to the Zhuo family?
Yang Mo frowned. He had personally agreed to appoint Zhuo Mali as the assistant to the general manager, and the performance of this peach in the past year showed that although this old woman still had considerable shortcomings in some aspects, with a little training, she would be a good assistant.

From his point of view, he actually didn't want anything to happen to the Zhuo family, which would affect the future work status of the general assistant who had not yet officially taken office.

Just when he wanted to inquire further about the situation, Mu Siyuan waved his hand and said, "During the New Year, let's talk about something happier... Come on, Xiao Mo, try Dad's cooking."

Turning around, I saw that steam had begun to appear at the mouth of the silver kettle. It would probably take less than a minute or two for the goat milk inside to boil.

Only then did Mu Siyuan open the tin can, and then shook out some dark black tea, weighed it in his hand, and shook out some more;
However, unlike what Yang Mo had seen in his previous life, where tea was poured directly into the pot, Mu Siyuan took an exquisite filter from his mother-in-law, put the dry tea on it, then put the green filter on a small rack, and then took a small bowl and placed it at the bottom.

He took out a tea needle and poked the strainer a few times to make the dry tea inside into a nest shape. Then, Mu Siyuan took the thermos bottle handed to him by his wife and carefully poured it over the strainer a few times.

Suddenly, a rich aroma wafted out, somewhat similar to Sri Lankan black tea, but with more of the unique floral, fruity and honey aroma of Dian red tea.

Glancing at the golden amber soup in the small bowl below, Yang Mo was a little confused.
Didn't you say you were going to make milk tea? Why did you use the filtering, sieve and pouring method that is common in later generations when making Dianhong tea?

Just as he was wondering, he saw Mu Siyuan open the lid of the silver pot and pour all the black tea on the filter into it.

Seeing his son-in-law's puzzled look, Mu Siyuan smiled slightly reservedly, and then without covering the lid, he carefully observed the goat milk in the silver pot.

A minute later, when pearl-like bubbles began to emerge from the goat milk in the silver pot, and just three bubbles emerged, and before the goat milk really boiled, Mu Siyuan quickly took the silver pot down, put it on the table and let it sit for more than ten seconds, then he opened the small silver bottle, placed the filter on the bottle mouth, and then picked up the silver pot and poured the milk tea, which had turned into a light milky brown, into it in a leisurely manner.

It was not until this moment that Yang Mo suddenly realized.

If you don't want the sour and astringent feeling, whether it is lightly roasted black tea or heavily roasted black tea, it's best not to use boiling water to brew it. The water temperature should be controlled at 90~95 degrees to fully release the sweet taste. This is the reason why my father-in-law didn't wait for the goat milk to boil completely.

As for why the dry tea needs to be poured beforehand.

On the one hand, it is to wash the tea and remove the fine particles and possible dust that may affect the sensory perception, and on the other hand, it is to wake up the tea.

In Mu Siyuan's method of brewing tea, the contact time between tea leaves and goat milk is too short. If the tea is not awakened in advance, it is difficult for the dry tea to completely blend its flavor into the goat milk in a short period of time.

The silver bottle actually acts as a thermos to keep the brewed milk tea warm.

Tsk tsk~
I didn’t realize that my father-in-law is also someone who understands tea!
After praising his Master Taishan generously, Yang Mo picked up the silver cup in front of him and took a sip of the milk tea that Mu Siyuan had passed to him.

Huh?
I don't know what kind of goat milk was used today. The imagined goat smell did not appear, and there was not even a trace of milk smell. What I tasted was a light and thick feeling that was much denser and smoother than cow's milk... It was mellow and substantial, but of moderate thickness and would not cause any discomfort in my mouth.

In addition, the unique and wonderful aroma of two parts oolong medicinal fragrance and eight parts sweet fragrance of lightly roasted Yunnan safflower fruit in the goat milk suddenly blends the customs of the northwestern frontier and the southwestern frontier together. It is novel and surprisingly makes people unable to stop.

Wow, this is what milk tea is!
What was that thing I drank in my previous life?
Seeing Yang Mo's enjoyment, the old mother-in-law suddenly laughed: "This is the goat milk that I asked my friend to bring from Western Xinjiang. Although it has been boiled and sterilized in advance, it is still much better than the goat milk in our area... How is it, is it delicious?"

Yang Mo nodded sincerely: "The milk from Xinjiang, no wonder... it tastes so good!"

As he had been to the Northwest in his later life, he naturally knew that sheep are different from each other. Not to mention the sheep in the north and the sheep in the south, even the sheep in the north are very different... For example, the lamb you eat in Hohhot has an extremely strong lamb flavor; but the lamb you eat in Kashgar has nothing but the flavor of milk.

Obviously, the Hui people's research on beef and mutton is far beyond the Han people's reach, so the goat milk that my mother-in-law asked her friend to bring from Xinjiang is definitely good stuff.

The mother-in-law was delighted to receive the praise from her son-in-law: "I also asked my friend to send two Tan sheep over. I will cook one for you, Xiaomo, in the evening... You can take the remaining one back and use it to nourish Fatuma."

After saying that, he thought for a moment and added, "If you are used to eating them, Xiaomo, I will ask my friend to send one to you every week... Don't worry, my friend runs a ranch, and he has plenty of cattle and sheep, so it won't be a big deal."

In inter-ethnic marriages, how to deal with each other's ethnic customs and beliefs is certainly an extremely important matter, but how to resolve the dietary differences between them is also a very troublesome matter.

Obviously, Mu Siyuan and his mother-in-law were not completely unaware that Yang Mo, the prospective son-in-law, often ate big meat without their daughter's knowledge.
If it were a normal situation, the father-in-law and mother-in-law would naturally criticize and admonish the son-in-law, and might even force him to drink a bowl of lime water to wash the stomach of this unruly son-in-law.

But Yang Mo is not an ordinary Hui son-in-law. With his current status and influence, even Mu Siyuan would not be able to say a harsh word or two to him, let alone scold him.

Since I can't scold him, I can only try to guide my son-in-law to slowly change his eating habits.

Fortunately, the Mu family has the power and connections, and although the beef and mutton in Qi and Lu are not particularly good, there is plenty of top-quality goods in Xinjiang, Qinghai and Ningxia!
Therefore, the mother-in-law is very confident that the reason why her son-in-law secretly breaks the rules is simply because he has never eaten good food. Once he truly sees what good mutton and good beef are, it would be strange if he would go back to eat those extremely dirty meats!

Yang Mo naturally didn't know about his mother-in-law's little thoughts, but when he heard that mutton from Western Xinjiang was prepared in the evening, he couldn't help but feel a little touched.

It seems that his father-in-law and mother-in-law are very concerned about him as a son-in-law. In order to welcome him, they even asked their friends to send two sheep from the northwest.

Just when he wanted to reject his mother-in-law's kindness and tell her that he could just try it for himself and there was no need to ask someone to send him a sheep every week...

drop drop~
The phone in Yang Mo's pocket started to ring.

He didn't like the crude communication tools like the big cell phone, but in his current situation, he had to ensure that his subordinates could find him at any time when there was an emergency. Therefore, although he didn't carry a big cell phone with him, he always kept a pager in his pocket.

Um? ?

Looking at the text on the pager, Yang Mo frowned.

After thinking for a while, Yang Mo drank the milk tea in the silver cup first, then smiled at Mu Siyuan and his mother-in-law and said, "Dad, Mom, it's still some time before dinner time, can I... go out and meet a friend first?"

meet friends?
Mu Siyuan was stunned.

You have always had very few friends. How many friends can you have in Dongying?
The old mother-in-law was a little dissatisfied. The new son-in-law was in a hurry to go out just after arriving home. If others knew about this, they would gossip about the bad relationship between the father-in-law and the son-in-law of the Mu family. Where would the Mu family put their face?
Just when she wanted to persuade her son-in-law to at least have dinner before going out to play with friends...

drop drop~
However, the pager in Miss Mu’s bag also rang.

Mu Liya stood up, took out the pager from her bag, looked at it, then turned and smiled teasingly at her man.

But he turned his head and said: "Mom, let Yang Mo go... There is something important to do."

Hearing that it was serious business, the old mother-in-law immediately swallowed the words she was about to say.

She knew that her son-in-law was no ordinary person. Since her daughter described it as a "serious matter", it must be a very important matter.

Everything must be weighed up. It would be bad if you delay your son-in-law's important work just because you don't want others to spread gossip.

"It's okay, Xiao Mo, you go ahead... If you can make it back before dinner, then come back. If you can't make it back, don't worry... Work is more important."

Before his mother-in-law could speak, Mu Siyuan spoke.

As a deputy department-level official with real power, he naturally understood the fact that he had no choice much better than his wife, so there was no dissatisfaction in his words.

Hearing this, Yang Mo nodded. He first looked at his wife strangely, then nodded: "Okay, Dad, Mom, I'm really sorry... If I can come back, I will definitely come back!"

(End of this chapter)