The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 227 Something Happened in the Yard
On January 8, 1973, Jiang Cheng left Hong Kong.

When Jiang Cheng arrived in Changcheng, it was already the evening of January 11th.

It snowed in Changcheng that night when we returned.

There are still more than twenty days until the Chinese New Year. The New Year of 1973 is on February 3rd.

The New Year atmosphere in China is already very strong, and schools are about to close. Some service industries have begun to adjust their holidays in advance if they can.

"Jiang Cheng, it snowed heavily last night. The snow on the roof is very thick."

"What's good about snow? It's slippery when driving on the road. If the snow on the ground is not cleared away, the car will be difficult to drive."

Seeing Zhou Lingying open the door and then looking at the snow scene in the yard with joy, Jiang Cheng followed her to the door and complained while looking at the snow outside.

Hearing Jiang Cheng's complaints, Zhou Lingying's inner thoughts changed quickly, thinking that the snow would cause trouble for her man's driving. Looking at the snow on the roof and the ground, she felt beautiful at first, but instantly became annoyed.

"Yes, it's snowing. Your shoes will get wet if you step into the snow. Jiang Cheng, you should go back to your room and change into rain boots first." Zhou Lingying said with a frown.

Jiang Cheng stood aside, watching Zhou Lingying's expression change because of his complaints. He couldn't help but hug her and kiss her, then went to change his shoes.

When Jiang Cheng kissed Zhou Lingying like this, the corners of her mouth curled up again and she felt very happy.

In the morning, I made some porridge with some dried radish, which was very delicious. After breakfast, Jiang Cheng went out.

As soon as Jiang Cheng left, Zhou Lingying called her friends to come to her house to play cards.

There is charcoal burning in the brazier. When you are bored, you can roast a sweet potato by the charcoal and make a cup of honey water in an enamel cup.

"Lingying, why are there so many things at home? Are they New Year's goods? It's snowing, why are there spinach and celery?"

"I'll get the New Year's goods in a few days. My husband came back from Guangzhou last night and brought some food and vegetables from there."

"Ah, your man is back. If he comes back and sees us playing cards here, will he tell on us?"

"We played until half past ten today and forgot to turn on the radio. Liu Dan, please turn on the radio on the desk."

"Well, I don't know what's on today."

Since Jiang Cheng went to work, Zhou Lingying started living the life of a rich wife.

It's a bit like the grain officer in the TV series of later generations, who built a stove, and ate some pickles and tofu. He lived a carefree life, and when he got too addicted to eating, he even sang "After eating pickles and tofu, no one in heaven can compare to me."

Jiang Cheng drove to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. According to his idea, there were still 20 days before the Chinese New Year, so he might have to go out of town. Then, like in previous festivals, he assisted the transport team to deliver goods to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

But when he got to the company, Captain Du told Jiang Cheng to use his time off immediately, and all orders for domestic sales would be put on hold. From now on, he had to cooperate with Team 1 to ensure the New Year's supplies for the supply and marketing cooperatives below.

Many people start to prepare for the New Year half a month in advance, and the supply and marketing cooperatives have to prepare the New Year's goods even earlier. You know, every year during the New Year, many people accumulate various tickets and wait to use them during the New Year.

Moreover, many things are not transported from the warehouse of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, but directly delivered to some factories. No matter how many warehouses the Supply and Marketing Cooperative has, it is impossible to store the goods of a city.

Commonly used daily necessities are generally stored here, and things that are consumed quickly will not be stored here.

Rice is directly transported to the grain station, and flour is transported to the flour mill. During the Chinese New Year, a large number of firecrackers are needed, and vehicles are also arranged to transport goods to the firecracker factory. There are also Spring Festival couplets, New Year paintings, candies, melon seeds, peanuts, and cakes.

Many things are not sent to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative until the Chinese New Year. They have to arrange drivers to pick up the goods. Some processing plants are small and don't even have a car, so it's not realistic to ask them to send the goods to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

For example, many people buy fabrics in advance to make clothes for their families during the Spring Festival, and people who get married also choose this time to buy daily necessities such as washbasins, thermoses, towels, etc. The textile factory and enamel factory also have their own trucks for delivery, but the demand is high during the Spring Festival, so if the delivery is slow, the Supply and Marketing Cooperative will still send a truck to deliver.

Now that the Chinese New Year has come, not to mention the vehicles at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, even the transport vehicles at the bus station may have to be dispatched if they cannot cope with the situation during the Chinese New Year.

Now we are working class, and it is okay for us to be a little tired and hard-working during normal times. But during the Chinese New Year, we try our best to make everyone have a good year. In the service industry, many things can be put aside first, so that everyone can have a good year. It is during this period that the logistics departments of many units are the most troubled. They run around every day, begging for help, and are thinking about getting something good for the employees in their units.

Like meat processing factories, textile factories, food factories, soap factories, etc. Every day, pairs of people come to the factories to establish connections or seek "cooperation".

Jiang Cheng took two days off directly. After handing over the car keys, he went home.

On the main roads, the street office had already cleared the snow on some of the main roads. But some small roads were not so cleaned up. So when I went to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative in the morning, the car was still easy to drive.

On the way back, many residents were cleaning the snow in front of their own houses. Some of the snow was swept on the side of the road, and many children were playing in the snow. I don’t know if some of the children’s faces were not washed clean or if they were just like that.

The delicate children's faces were red from the cold, but many other children's faces were like shredded radishes, with lines on them, and their faces seemed to have "shells".

When Jiang Cheng returned home and walked to the door, he heard the radio playing songs of this era. Then he heard people talking in the room. The people in the room were talking and laughing, and his wife's voice was the loudest.

The door was not completely closed, but ajar. Jiang Cheng pushed it open and was almost frightened. Five women, four of them pregnant, were sitting around the brazier, some playing cards, some drinking water. Beside the brazier were roasted sweet potatoes and chestnuts that he bought in Anhui in October, all roasted on the charcoal fire.

When Jiang Cheng opened the door, the only sound in the room was the radio, which was still playing songs. The five women suddenly fell silent.

"Jiang Cheng, why are you back? Aren't you driving to work today?" Zhou Lingying asked Jiang Cheng with an expression like a child who had made a mistake and was caught on the spot.

"The New Year is coming. Take a two-day break. We will probably be busy until the New Year without a single day off. You guys play your own games. Bake me a sweet potato and an egg." Jiang Cheng said with a smile.

Jiang Cheng had no objection to bringing a few friends home to play. Besides, Zhou Lingying was usually alone at home. In this era, how many people could stay at home without mobile phones and computers?

The key is that there is a sewing machine at home. The clothes Jiang Cheng and Zhou Lingying are wearing now are all new, and there is no chance for her to sew and mend them to pass the time.

When the other people in the room heard Jiang Cheng say this, they also felt relieved.

There is no way. In this era, most people in the city also favor men over women. Women have a low status at home. The Women's Federation always says that women hold up half the sky, but that means women can do the work that men can do. If you say this at home, you are not holding up half the sky, you are trying to overthrow the world.

There were five people at home, and Zhou Lingying had actually called two people in the morning. But some people were used to it, and knew who was not at home, so they guessed that they might have gone to Zhou Lingying's house, and then two more came.

There are many ways to play the card game of "Striving for the Top". Some players can give a card to the top player, while others can change players after they become the bottom player. So five people can also play with one deck of cards.

Jiang Cheng also took a look. He didn't know how many times they had played with this deck of cards. The cards were all worn out, with some signs of depreciation, so it was easy to remember a few cards.

Unlike him, who used to play with relatives during the New Year, they would change to new cards after playing for a while. They would change several decks of cards a day, not to mention some chess and card rooms, where they would change cards more frequently.

Zhou Lingying just lost at this time, and it was not her turn to take over from others. When she heard that her man wanted to eat roasted sweet potatoes and eggs, she immediately went to the side room to get eggs. There are still some sweet potatoes in this room, which are roasted and can be given to Jiang Cheng first.

Jiang Cheng was sitting at the desk, holding a sweet potato and reading a book.

Reading can indeed cultivate one's sentiments, but the prerequisite is that one must be able to read it carefully. Many traditional literature or some record works cannot be read carefully unless one is bored and calm.

How many people read literary books in later generations? There are too many things to kill time in later generations. Therefore, there are not many literary writers in later generations, and if there are, they cannot be compared with this era.

The people Zhou Lingying brought played until half past ten. Even if they hadn't agreed to leave at half past ten, the latest would have been eleven o'clock, and they would have gone home to wash vegetables, light a fire and cook.

After everyone left, Zhou Lingying also washed the vegetables and prepared to cook. But just as she went out, she saw two people hurriedly walking in from the entrance of the yard, and almost trotting to the backyard.

Zhou Lingying had never seen these two people before, and she didn't know why they were so anxious to go to the backyard. Zhou Lingying now knew everyone in the backyard, and she was wondering in her heart who they were looking for.

But in just a few minutes, Zhou Lingying hadn't even finished washing the vegetables when she saw Zhang Qing and her mother-in-law in the backyard hurriedly leaving the yard.

When Zhou Lingying saw Zhang Qing's expression, she naturally wondered in her heart whether something had happened to her man.

(End of this chapter)