The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 61: Guaranteed to Get Out Alive
"Master Jiang, the exchanged money and grain are all at Zhu Lan's house. I was afraid of making a mistake, so I didn't keep them with me." Zhang Yang said to Jiang Cheng. In fact, he also sold a few kilograms to relatives, and his relatives all envied him for having a good neighbor.

"Okay, I see. Brother Zhang, I have a favor to ask of you. You work in an enamel factory, so could you bring me a urinal?" Jiang Cheng replied.

Having a woman at home is such a hassle. When a man goes to the toilet at night, it's not a big one, so he just finds a corner to solve the problem. As for women, they can't do the same. If someone sees them, they will be ashamed.

Families that don't have an enamel urinal usually have a small wooden bucket, but it's not as convenient as an enamel urinal.

"You want an enamel urinal, right? No problem. I'll bring it to you after get off work this afternoon." Zhang Yang agreed readily. As an employee of the enamel factory, he gets some benefits every month that can be purchased internally without a ticket. He hasn't bought anything from the factory this month.

The urinal issue was resolved. Jiang Cheng continued to chat with Zhang Yang for a while, and then Zhu Lan came with a man who looked like an old man.

In this era, people generally looked older than in later generations. It was possible that a person in his fifties would look like a person in his sixties or seventies in later generations.

Seeing that Zhu Lan and his men were coming towards Jiang Cheng, Zhang Yang took the initiative to say goodbye and go home for dinner.

"Jiang Cheng, this is Master Li, he has very good craftsmanship." Zhu Lan introduced Jiang Cheng, and then introduced Master Li: "Master Li, this is the employer. In addition to the old tables and stools that he picked out yesterday, he also needs to buy wood to make a complete set of furniture. If you take this order, you will be busy."

"Hello, Master Li, would you like to smoke?" Upon hearing the introduction, Jiang Cheng hurriedly greeted him and took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to the other party.

"Boss, you're too polite." Master Li took the cigarette and said politely.

Carpentry is a traditional craft, and the way of addressing the employer when doing the work at the door is also traditional. They all call the employer "Dongjia", which is a form of temporary employment.

"Jiang Cheng, I'm going to go back first and come over later." Zhu Lan said. She had lunch at Jiang Cheng's place today and she also had to go back and tell her family about it. In addition, she had to bring Jiang Cheng some things, such as rice, rapeseed oil, and money.

"Sister Zhu, there are watermelons in the house. You can take some for your family to eat. Master Li, let's go in and talk." Jiang Cheng greeted.

Zhu Lan nodded. She was much better at handling interpersonal relationships than Zhang Yang. Understand that sometimes people should not be too polite when interacting with each other. If you are polite, the other party will also have to be polite in the future, especially when they are people who can be used by each other.

So Zhu Lan also followed him into Jiang Cheng's side room and took some watermelon back.

Zhou Lingying was busy all the time, and finally prepared the food. It stands to reason that except for the fish, which took a little time to prepare, the other dishes didn't take much time.

The main reason was that there was only one stove and one pot at home. Zhou Lingying cooked a pot of rice first, and then put it in a basin. While cooking, she was busy washing and cutting vegetables. After the vegetables were ready, Zhou Lingying cooked another pot of rice, fearing that it would not be enough for the guests.

In cities, many families use one pot to cook rice and stir-fry vegetables. Other families only stir-fry one or two vegetarian dishes and then cook rice, which doesn't take up much time.

More importantly, even if you have two pots, you need two coal stoves to cook rice and fry vegetables at the same time. To use them at the same time, you need to burn coal in two stoves at the same time. Coal is limited, so it will definitely not be enough.

Like many residents in urban areas, who do not have separate, larger kitchens at home and cannot use stoves or pots, they can only use coal stoves.

Zhou Lingying is quite good at cooking, mainly because she was not spoiled at home before going to the countryside. A teenage girl in the city also has to know how to cook.

Just now when Zhou Lingying was making scrambled eggs with tomatoes, the smell of scrambled eggs had already spread throughout the yard, causing many children to clamor for eggs. These days, frying eggs is not a rare thing to eat. People in the yard always improve their food situation once or twice a month.

But everyone was curious about whose family was improving their meals today, and then the people in the front yard followed the smell and found out that it was Jiang Cheng's family making eggs. It was normal for a car driver to make eggs, but this was incomparable. If the child kept asking for eggs, he would be beaten.

Fortunately, Jiang Cheng bought two bamboo beds in the side room, one for placing dishes and the other for sitting temporarily.

Zhu Lan also told the carpenter Master Li about Jiang Cheng's situation. There was no furniture in the main room except a bed.

You don't have to stand while eating today. Jiang Cheng will ask his neighbors to borrow a few stools later.

While Zhu Lan was still here, Jiang Cheng told Master Li what he wanted to make. One room would need a set of tables and stools, a bed, and a wardrobe and cabinet. Zhou Lingying wanted a dressing table, so Jiang Cheng thought about it and decided to just ask for a desk.

All these together, the materials required are not small. The main reason is that the dressing table may not look big, but just saving a little wood will cost as much as making a cabinet.

"Boss, if we need to do these jobs more delicately, it may take more than twenty days." Master Li wrote down the things that needed to be done, estimated the time and said.

More than 20 days, and someone has to look after him every day and entertain him. Jiang Cheng thought about it. He didn't have an elderly person to take care of him at home, and he felt that the time was a bit long. So he said, "Master Li, Sister Zhu said that you are an old master and you must know people in the same field. How about this? I said, you pay 50 yuan for the work, and you go find another master to work with you. Can you finish it quickly?"

Master Li listened to Jiang Cheng's words and thought about it. He actually had an apprentice, but he had already left the master's office. He had not taken in a new apprentice for many years, but his apprentice had taken in apprentices, that is, apprentices' grandchildren.

If the wages are 50 yuan, it is no problem to call two apprentices to come over to cut the materials. It is not easy to trouble the apprentices, because they all work in some units and have no free time. The apprentices also take private jobs and go to people's homes to work for a while after get off work every day.

The main reason is that there are few big orders like Jiang Cheng's these days. Many people buy furniture and get some wood, and they ask people to make a stool. When there is no work, they will make a stool.

"Okay, the boss is straightforward. I promise to do this batch of work for you quickly and well." Master Li said with guarantee.

This job is like a contract. After the contract is agreed, the price will be the same even if the work is slow. So Master Li also wants to finish the work as quickly as possible, but furniture making is a slow and fine work. He can't rush the work just because it is a contract. He can only get up early to work and finish the work at night when it is not clear, so as to spend more time to rush the work.

While they were discussing the matter, Zhu Lan also came over and did not disturb Jiang Cheng's conversation with Master Li.

Zhu Lan brought the rice and oil over. The oil was in a jar and the rice was in a bag. When she came over, she tried to get close to Zhou Lingying. The oil was ready and the rice was poured into the rice jar.

After the furniture issue was settled, it was time to eat. Knowing that Jiang Cheng was short of stools, Zhu Lan directly asked Zhou Lingying to go to her house and move a few over for use.

Then at the dinner table, Jiang Cheng opened a bottle of wine. Master Li was a wine lover, and especially when he saw so many delicious dishes, he really wanted to have a sip.

In this era, for people who like to drink, peanuts are hard to come by. Even a piece of fried tofu can make them drink for half a day.

(End of this chapter)