The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 249 Neighbors’ attitude after losing their job
January 14, 1979.

More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and Jiang Juan also had winter vacation.

Jiang Cheng also formally resigned and got his resignation approved a week ago, and the leaders of his unit sent people from the Organization Department to persuade him. The key point was that Jiang Cheng verbally promised that he would not give birth to a child in the future, and he had to get sterilization or proof that his wife had an IUD inserted in the hospital.

Otherwise, even if it weren't for the salary, Jiang Cheng would still plan to work for another year. After all, having a car would make it more convenient to go to many places.

Yesterday, Jiang Cheng received his salary and benefits from the company for last month, which included a total of 82 yuan.

In the yard, everyone knew that Jiang Cheng had lost his job.

Some people who used to flatter Jiang Cheng involuntarily have been very enthusiastic these days. Several people have taken the initiative to find Jiang Cheng to comfort and enlighten him.

But the tone and attitude he used when speaking to Jiang Cheng seemed to be comforting and enlightening, but in fact it was preaching.

The neighbors in the courtyard are all aware of Jiang Cheng's family situation. In the city, he has to support his growing niece's education and food. He has four children of his own, and the eldest, Jiang Zhaodi, will also go to primary school in the second half of this year.

Besides, we always have to show some appreciation to our hometown during the Chinese New Year and other festivals, and help out in other daily life.

The seven people in his family also have to help the people back home. Everyone feels that even if Jiang Cheng has made a lot of money and saved some money over the years, if so many people live off their savings, they will end up starving sooner or later.

In fact, Zhou Lingying just cut off some unnecessary contacts, and the Chinese New Year was less than half a month away. Liu Cui'e from the backyard came to Zhou Lingying to borrow money even though she knew Jiang Cheng had lost his job.

The so-called emergency relief does not help the poor, because Zhou Lingying is kind-hearted, Liu Cui'e and her husband thought that if they couldn't make ends meet, Zhou Lingying would help them. It is not known whether this person who has a safety net helped them or harmed them.

Liu Cui'e's husband simply can't give up playing cards for money. Although they quarrel and even fight over playing cards, he has managed to get by all these years.

Liu Cui'e's husband sometimes gets too addicted to playing cards and loses all the money he has. In the past, he would at least save enough for food after playing cards, and if he had no money for the New Year, he would borrow some money to celebrate the New Year. And he didn't borrow money every year, there were always a few times when he won playing cards.

The day before yesterday, Liu Cui'e came to Zhou Lingying again to ask for money. Zhou Lingying said that she was fined for giving birth to a child, and her husband had lost his job, so she simply said that her family had no money to lend and dismissed her.

For many years, Liu Cui'e's husband has been playing cards, and the family has always been poor. Zhou Lingying also understands that it is impossible to help such a person who cannot quit gambling.

Besides, Zhou Lingying and Liu Cui'e were just neighbors, and because of the age difference, she didn't talk to her much during normal conversations. After helping her for so many years, Zhou Lingying was really tired of it.

They knew that the New Year was coming and they had no money at home, but they still went to gamble. No wonder other neighbors in the yard were unwilling to lend them money, and even their relatives and parents were unwilling to help.

Of course, there are also people in the yard who are truly kind to Jiang Cheng and his friends.

For example, Zhu Lan in the backyard is now the director of a supply and marketing cooperative. The director Xiong of her previous supply and marketing cooperative has gone to the county town below to become the president of the county supply and marketing cooperative.

Zhu Lan and Jiang Cheng first became friends because of their interests, but she was grateful and knew that Jiang Cheng had always given more than he had received.

In recent years, there are so many fabrics, as well as precious milk powder, tea, canned food, seafood, etc. Zhu Lan is very famous among his peers in the supply and marketing cooperatives in Changcheng. Everyone knows that the director of the Changcheng Third Store Supply and Marketing Cooperative is a capable person.

Because of Jiang Cheng's help, Zhu Lan now has a wide network of contacts. After learning that Jiang Cheng had lost his job, she booked a table at a restaurant the next day and invited Jiang Cheng and his family to have dinner at the restaurant, chatting while eating. She sincerely asked Jiang Cheng if there was anything she could help with, and asked him to speak directly.

Jiang Cheng didn't hesitate and asked Zhu Lan to help him find someone to buy three sleeper train tickets to Nanjing, departing around the 17th.

Although train tickets are now available and can be purchased without a letter of introduction, sleeper tickets are not available because they are for cadres.

Zhu Lan had already used the connections she had made over the years and her own money to pay for gifts to a certain leader to get three sleeper berth tickets to Nanjing. In addition, she was also the director of the supply and marketing cooperative, so it was not a problem for her to get three sleeper berth tickets.

The other is Zhang Yang, the neighbor across the street. After years of getting along, Jiang Cheng has long seen that he is not very smart. It's not that he is stupid, but he has low emotional intelligence. He doesn't know how to curry favor with leaders or flatter people. Six years ago, he became a team leader with the help of Jiang Cheng, but now, with some small help from Jiang Cheng, he has only managed to get to the position of deputy director of the workshop.

The deputy director of the workshop is just a small cadre in the production workshop. He is nothing outside the factory and does not even have the administrative level of a deputy section chief.

Zhu Lan is the director of the supply and marketing cooperative in the city, and has the rank of deputy section chief. The previous director Xiong was transferred to the county to be the president, and is at the rank of section chief, which is basically the same as some county directors.

Zhang Yang is really not good at work and human relations, but he is also a real person. After knowing that Jiang Cheng was unemployed, he at least sincerely thought about whether he could help.

"Juanzi, the rice, flour, and eggs are all here. You also have the key to this room, and this twenty yuan is also given by your uncle, keep it safe."

"After we return to our hometown this time, your uncle, sisters and I will go to Nanjing and we will be back at least after the Lantern Festival. When you return to the city, you can cook for yourself and buy vegetables at the market. Uncle Zhang across the street will take care of our chickens. If you come back and want to eat meat, you can kill a chicken yourself. You will pay for the tuition and miscellaneous fees yourself."

Early in the morning, the family had packed everything, including a lot of bags, preparing to go back to their hometown in the countryside.

When leaving for the bus station, Zhou Lingying told Jiang Juan a lot of things and gave her twenty yuan.

Because I was in the city, the tuition and miscellaneous fees for a semester in junior high school were three yuan, while in the county town, it was only two yuan. In addition, the textbooks cost nearly three yuan, plus some stationery such as exercise books, pencils and erasers.

The miscellaneous expenses for a junior high school student in one semester basically cost ten yuan, and then Jiang Juan has to take a bus to the city, and she always has to buy some vegetables when she cooks her own meals.

In addition, a 13-year-old girl also needs some money for the New Year, and she also needs to keep some money on her. So Jiang Cheng asked Zhou Lingying to give her 20 yuan. If it was more, he was afraid that she would spend it recklessly, and if it was less, he was afraid that a girl would be stingy.

"Aunt, I got it." Jiang Juan took the money and said seriously.

Jiang Juan remembered every penny her uncle and aunt had given her, and now she was not in a position to refuse. She also knew that her uncle and aunt had supported her education and food without asking for anything in return, but she had long regarded her uncle and aunt as relatives no less than her parents.

When studying in the city, parents' meetings are inevitable. It was the first time that Jiang Juan was notified that all her classmates would have a parents' meeting at school. She was very nervous that day and carefully told her aunt Zhou Lingying about the meeting.

After all, Jiang Juan lost her father and her mother was in the countryside. She was really worried that her aunt would not want to attend the parents' meeting, and then she would be embarrassed in school.

But her aunt agreed to attend the parent-teacher meeting very naturally, and Jiang Juan saw that her aunt even spent a long time dressing up for the meeting.

It was from that moment that Jiang Juan not only regarded her uncle as her closest relative, but also her aunt as her closest relative. Naturally, Jiang Juan also regarded her uncle and aunt's children as her own sisters.

Jiang Juan put the twenty yuan in the pocket of her underwear, which was sewn by her aunt. Her aunt told her that she used to hide money in this way, and although it was a little inconvenient to take out the money and she had to turn her back, it was safe to put the money this way.

After putting the money away, Jiang Juan also carried the bags, including her quilt, toiletries, clothes, shoes, winter vacation homework assigned by the school, and schoolbags and stationery.

If she goes back to her hometown, Jiang Juan will have to stay there for at least 20 days. She has to take all these things with her and bring them back after the Chinese New Year.

Jiang Cheng and his team didn't stay for a single day, they went there in the morning and came back in the afternoon. They didn't tell Jiang Changhe and his team about going to Nanjing, this time they just went back to tell him about it, and brought some meat, candies and cakes, etc., and gave him some money when they got there.

Over the years, Jiang Cheng has been unwilling to pay attention to his father's relatives, but he has tacitly agreed that his father will use the gifts and money he gave to his grandparents.

Also, it may be that men of this era are more tired or men simply cannot live longer than women. Jiang Cheng’s grandfather Jiang Santian passed away three years ago.

The dead are the greatest. That year, Jiang Cheng took Zhou Lingying to pay tribute to them, but they left after not staying for long.

It wasn't that Jiang Cheng's grandfather had passed away and he was impatient to pay respects. Rather, his appearance had caused many cousins ​​there to seek him out to make friends, and he left because he didn't want to deal with those so-called relatives.

(End of this chapter)