1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 55 Yang Shidan, save me!

If we talk about the degree of face, Qilu would probably be ranked among the top three in the country.

According to the unwritten rules of Qilu at that time, if a child in a family was successful, found a formal job, and brought honor to his parents, then when he returned home for the first year, he would make sure to dress himself up and treat the whole village to a big meal.

For this reason, even if the unfortunate child spent his last penny and had to eat cold steamed buns for half a month after returning home, he would not hesitate - in the local dialect, this is called "returning home in glory."

Therefore, even though Yang Mo's hometown was actually a small village less than fifteen kilometers away from the drilling company, in order to save face for his parents, he still used some connections to borrow a 212 from the small fleet, then put on a suit that he hated under his down jacket, and returned to his hometown in style with a whole car full of gifts.

There was no way. When he was young in his previous life, he was a complete angry young man. He couldn't stand these bad habits. Therefore, when he returned to his hometown for the first year, he went back almost empty-handed except for the new clothes he brought for his parents. As a result, he was met with gossip in the village. Even decades later, he could still remember the embarrassment mixed with sadness and embarrassment on his parents' faces.

Although Yang Mo never really approved of the custom of saving face in rural Qilu, as a child, since he could not change his parents' ideas, he could only go along with them and save face for them.

………………

“Crack! Crack~!”

Following a burst of firecrackers, a military green 212 vehicle stopped at the gate of a small adobe courtyard.

Yang Mo, wearing a brand new down jacket and with his hair combed neatly, attracted the attention of the whole village as soon as he got off the car.

"Oh my, it's Yang Mo who's back... Tsk tsk, I heard he got a job, and it looks like he's doing pretty well!"

"Of course! I heard he joined an oil company and is a regular employee... Look at him, he's picked up and dropped off by cars... Wow, he's finally made it!"

Listening to the gossips around him, Yang Mo respectfully greeted these seniors, about whom he had a vague impression, one by one. Then he said hello to the master of the small car team and took out a large cardboard box from the trunk of the car, giving out bags of candy to those who needed them and whole cigarettes to those who needed them.

Although the candies distributed were fruit hard candies that people in later generations looked down upon, and the scattered candies were Hardmen cigarettes that cost 6 cents a pack, but in the rural areas of Qi and Lu at that time, this was already an act of the rich.

You know, although the supply restrictions on candy have been lifted, for the majority of farmers, this kind of thing, which costs 7 cents per kilogram at its cheapest, is still considered a light luxury product;
As for Hardman... please, you have to know that the most commonly smoked short-mouthed Chuncheng cigarettes these days are only 5 cents per pack.

The village elders, who had received at least a pound of hard candy and a pack of good cigarettes for free, were so happy that they couldn't stop smiling, and they praised the food as if it was free.

Seeing more and more villagers gathered around to join in the fun, Yang Mo put the empty box on the ground, then lifted another identical box down from 212 and handed it to his father, whose face was wrinkled with smile, and motioned for him to help distribute it. Then he shouted to the people around him: "I was raised by all the uncles and aunts. My family has been taken care of by everyone for more than years... Fortunately, everyone treats me as their own son or nephew and doesn't bother with me. Otherwise, if it were someone else, my legs would have been broken for my previous behavior of stealing melons and plums, and I would not have been able to go to school!"

People around him laughed out loud after hearing what Yang Mo said was so funny, and many of them started talking about this guy's childhood memories.

Yang Mo laughed and joked for a while before continuing, "Although we are all family and shouldn't be so formal, I was able to successfully pass the college entrance examination and get a job thanks to the love and care of all the uncles, aunts, grandparents... Now I am an adult, and I have nothing to repay you for now... We Qilu people don't talk about so many empty words... The day after tomorrow, I will kill pigs and sheep and treat all the young and old in the village to a feast to thank all the uncles and aunts for their cultivation!"

As he spoke, Yang Mo spotted a middle-aged man outside the crowd and shouted, "Uncle Zhao, I'll have to trouble you, the chef, to prepare the food... Just make as much as you can to make sure all the uncles and aunts have a good meal... There's no upper limit on the budget, but if you're 1000 yuan short, I'll be too embarrassed to see anyone!"

1000 bucks! ?

Everyone was shocked. In this era when the average monthly salary in urban areas does not exceed 100 yuan and the average annual income in rural areas is only two or three hundred yuan, 1000 yuan is an astronomical figure for these farmers who make a living from the soil.

When a banquet is held in the countryside, almost all the ingredients are purchased locally. The actual price of ingredients such as pork is less than 1 yuan per catty. The rest of the vegetables, rice, noodles, etc. are so cheap that it makes city dwellers question their lives - a budget of 1000 yuan is enough for this small village with a population of just over 300 to be full with just meat.

As expected... after getting into university, you will have a bright future. You can spend so much money without even blinking an eye!

Everyone looked at Yang Mo, who was wearing a suit under a down jacket, with a hint of awe in their eyes. Yang Mo's parents also had deep envy in their eyes.

………………

"Hey, brat! How can you treat money like that... Just save face... A thousand yuan, wouldn't that be your entire year's salary? What are you going to eat and drink then!?"

Unlike Yang's father whose face was beaming, Yang's mother's smile was a little stiff. While everyone was making a fuss, she pulled her prodigal son aside and scolded him in a low voice.

Looking at his mother's eyes that were filled with shock and a hint of panic, Yang Mo suddenly felt distressed - their family's conditions were really not that good before, otherwise he would not have carried two bags of cornmeal to school.

One thousand yuan may be just an insignificant number to people in later generations, but for a mother living in that era, it was the income from nearly five years of labor for a family.

Gently stroking his mother's graying hair, Yang Mo said softly: "It's okay, Mom, I have money... The drilling company pays very well, and the salary and various bonuses saved this year add up to more than 198 yuan... It's nothing to spend a thousand yuan to make you and Dad proud." He was actually lying. With his monthly salary of 3140 yuan, subsidies, year-end bonuses and quarterly bonuses, the total was only a little over yuan. The rest of the money was actually the commission from the Xialiu Marketing Commune - yes, before the holiday, the second commission for the golden vegetables from the Xialiu Marketing Commune arrived, and the amount was as high as yuan, which was a huge sum of money in that era.

However, in this era, spending a thousand yuan to treat the whole village to a meal might seem like a complete spendthrift behavior to outsiders, but Yang Mo felt it was worth it - at the very least, it made up for the regrets of his previous life, right?
For those who have not lived in the rural areas of Qilu during this era, it is difficult to imagine what the ubiquitous contempt and gossip must have been like for two elderly people with strong rural sentiments.

As for whether such lavish spending will bring about some well-known consequences... you are overthinking it. Yang Mo is an ordinary employee of a central enterprise, not a member of an administrative unit. Most of the things cannot be asked of him. And with the working style in some parts of Qi and Lu these days, losing face and asking for money from a "non-businessman" like Yang Mo is not much different from asking for their lives.

"What! More than 6,000!?"

Mother Yang was so frightened that her voice was trembling. If Yang Mo had not come back in the drilling company's car, she would have almost thought that her son had done something shameful and illegal.

Hearing his mother's voice change, Yang Mo did not explain anything. He just smiled and hugged Yang's mother, who was a little unsteady on her feet, and walked towards 212: "Mom, I brought some things back this time. Can you take a look and see if it's okay?"

As he spoke, Yang Mo opened the rear door of the 212 and took out things one by one.

"Hiss! A color TV? It's a Camellia brand... Such a big brand must cost thousands, right?!"

"Oh my, this is... a pressure cooker? I heard that this thing is very convenient for cooking. One costs dozens or even hundreds of dollars!"

"Tsk tsk, there are down jackets? I heard that these things are very warm. Wearing them in the middle of winter makes you sweat... These two pieces must cost at least one or two hundred yuan, right?"

"Wow, these two pairs of shoes are beautiful and look sturdy. They must be comfortable to wear when working in the fields!"

"Oh my goodness~ These clothes...are they cashmere sweaters? These things are so expensive, these two pieces must cost hundreds of dollars, right?"

"Look, look, there's malted milk and royal jelly... Wow, the Yang family has finally made it this time... Why can't our kid be so successful?"

When watching the rare items being taken out from the seemingly small 212 one after another, the villagers watching seemed to be attending a fashion new product launch, and they let out waves of incredible exclamations...

………………

For the next two days, Yang Mo followed his parents to visit relatives non-stop. After the buffet that consumed two pigs and dozens of chickens was over, he finally spent a New Year's Eve with his parents in peace and quiet, which was full of fishy flavor but also warm.

On the first day of the Chinese New Year, I spent the whole day at home with my parents, eating fried hairtail and drinking wine.
On the second day of the Chinese New Year, he finally had some time to look through the documents in those file bags when no one was at home - his parents had gone to visit relatives, and seeing that their son had work to do and was extremely tired over the past two days, they did not take him with them.

Half an hour later, after closing the door and sitting on a cart in the sun, Yang Mo was looking at some documents when he suddenly heard a burst of shouting and cursing.

Just as Yang Mo frowned and was about to get up and go back to the house...

The gate of my yard suddenly arched, and then a messy head appeared in the small pit under the gate.

With a twisting movement that was like that of a loach or a local dog, most of the petite body appeared in Yang Mo's sight.

When he looked up, the person found Yang Mo in the yard and was overjoyed: "Yang Shitan, my mother is coming to kill me... hurry up and save me!"

Listening to this name that I had almost forgotten, looking at the messy head and the familiar yet unfamiliar face in front of me.

Yang Mo suddenly laughed, and laughed happily...really happy.

"Tugou, finally... I see you again!"

Seeing this guy hugging him tightly without saying anything, the man was confused.

Even though we haven't seen each other for more than a year.

As for...

Are you so excited?

(End of this chapter)