The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 20 Nanluo Courtyard
Led by Director Li, Jiang Cheng soon arrived at the courtyard. After entering the gate of the courtyard, he had to go into an alley. The alley was called Nanluo Alley, and the courtyard was also called Nanluo Courtyard.

Entering the courtyard, many people knew Director Li and greeted him politely. This was actually a common situation in this era. In this era, people in the countryside knew who the village head was, who the team leader was, and the names of the leaders of the commune were clear.

In the urban area, many people will remember the names of some street office directors and urban leaders in their jurisdiction. Many people even know the name of the police station chief. In later generations, most people don’t care who the leaders of their city are. Whether they have changed or not, or whether there are any accidents, it has nothing to do with the people.

After seeing the house, Jiang Cheng was very satisfied. It was incomparable to the demolished houses in the county town in later generations. The windows were all made of wood. But in this era, except for cadres who could be allocated a building, this was already very good.

In a few years, the population will continue to grow rapidly. In just eight years or so, the population will increase by 20%. At that time, the urban housing problem will become a big problem.

After viewing the house, Jiang Cheng and Director Li will go back to the street office to sign a residence contract. From now on, Jiang Cheng's registered residence address will be where the house is.

The two returned to the street office and signed a house rental contract, paying more than two yuan a month in rent. But unlike later generations, this time, they did not need to pay rent in advance or deposit, they could just move in, and someone would collect the rent after a month.

Besides, it’s almost the 20th of this month, so we won’t collect rent this month and will start calculating rent from next month.

Although everyone was poor in those days, the government still cared about the people. When it came to salary, even if you had just started working for ten days, they worried that it would not be enough for your expenses for the next month, so they paid you on a monthly basis. When it came to renting a house, there was no intention to let you take advantage of it, it was just for the sake of everyone collecting rent on the same date, and not bothering you about the rent for ten days.

Jiang Cheng came out of the street office and got the key to the house in Nanluoxiang, and he could move in anytime. But he still had to clean up the place, and even if Jiang Cheng moved in, he could only sleep there, and he had to buy a coal stove and pots to eat.

In addition, it will take several days for the household registration book, grain book, non-staple food book, and coal book to be issued. You cannot cook just by buying a coal stove and a pot, and you cannot buy coal briquettes and honeycomb coal without a coal purchase certificate.

However, as a truck driver, as long as you are driving outside, especially driving long distances, you only have a few days in a month to eat at home.

After leaving the street office, Jiang Cheng went directly to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought a broom, a dustpan, a coal stove, and an iron pot. These things did not require tickets, and no one would buy them if they had such things at home.

Actually, there are many more things to buy. Fortunately, there is a bed over there. I have to buy a table and stools. To be more precise, I have to buy what is called thirty-six legs in this era. A table, four stools, a bed, a wardrobe, a desk, and a cabinet.

In this era, new furniture needed tickets to buy. If you didn’t have a ticket, you could go to the furniture warehouse of the supply and marketing cooperative, where you could buy old furniture without a ticket, but it was hard to say whether it would suit your taste. Another option was to prepare the materials yourself, or ask a carpenter you knew to make a set of furniture for you.

But in this day and age, you can’t buy wood just because you want to. You have to use connections to find a way.

Jiang Cheng took the things he bought and returned to Nanluoyuan alone. He placed the things in the side room and prepared to go to the guesthouse to get the quilt and daily necessities.

"Young man, I'm a new tenant. I live across from you and work in an enamel factory. What about you?"

Jiang Cheng just went out to the guesthouse when he ran into a neighbor who greeted him and handed him a cigarette. Most men in this era smoke, and those who don't smoke will be looked down upon, saying that a grown man can't even smoke. Jiang Cheng didn't hesitate, took the cigarette, took out a match from his pocket, lit it directly, and said with a smile: "From now on, we will be neighbors in the same yard, I work at the bus station."

"The bus station. What a good unit. What kind of job is there?"

"He's a truck driver, a retired truck driver from the army."

"Driver~~."

"Correct."

The person driving the truck couldn't be the driver, but the last question was asked by the neighbor across the street who came to question Jiang Cheng because he couldn't believe it.

Working in an enamel factory is a good place to work. You don’t need to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy enamel washbasins, cups, enamel bowls, etc. You don’t need to buy them internally, and you may even get them directly during the New Year or other festivals. It’s a good factory, better than many other factories.

But how can ordinary workers in the enamel factory compare with drivers, one of the eight major personnel, which are cooks, waiters, postmen, childcare workers, barbers, salesmen and drivers. Among these eight major personnel, the most popular and the highest status is the delivery driver.

When I heard that Jiang Cheng was a truck driver, and then I thought about the fact that it was the director of the street office who took him to see the house at noon, I understood. A truck driver, it makes sense for the director of the street office to personally take people to see the house. If it wasn't a truck driver, the other eight members would at most be received by an ordinary clerk of the street office.

The two chatted for a while and got to know each other's names. Knowing that Jiang Cheng was going to the guesthouse to get something, they didn't bother him any more.

The neighbor who greeted Jiang Cheng was Zhang Yang, who was in his thirties. He was a family of seven, and lived in the same two-room house as Jiang Cheng did now. The main problem was that they had three children. It was fine when the children were young, but now that the children are older and in their teens, it is somewhat inconvenient.

Today was a day off for Zhang Yang. After seeing Jiang Cheng leave the yard, men these days also gossip, mainly because they have no entertainment activities. Anyway, after Jiang Cheng left, many people in the yard knew that a new neighbor had moved in, a truck driver, who was quite impressive.

In the past, there was only one person in the courtyard who needed to be flattered, Zhu Lan, who lived in the backyard and was one of the eight salesmen. Working in the supply and marketing cooperative, he could buy some scarce items.

Especially in the past two years, some things that were originally intended for export were not exported due to some reasons and were sold domestically. Things that were sold domestically were materials outside the plan and did not require tickets to buy. Of course, the salespersons did not have the ability to buy whatever they wanted, but they worked in the supply and marketing cooperatives, and the bosses took the lion's share, so the people below them had to get some benefits.

So the salesman can get some things, but compared with the truck driver, it is not worth mentioning. The person who can be equal to the truck driver must at least be the director of the supply and marketing cooperative.

Not long after, Jiang Cheng came back from the guest house to get his stuff. When he was putting his stuff in the house, the neighbors in the yard came to visit him one after another. Some even invited him to dinner. If Jiang Cheng didn't say he had a wife, some might have introduced him to someone directly.

(End of this chapter)