Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 771 Extended Vacation

Xia Maosheng's mother and sister only stayed for a few days before returning home. They mainly came to check on the situation and express their attitude, as they are people who cannot stay away from home for too long.

Then everyone learned that Xia Maosheng's nickname was Xiaoxiao, just like Chen Xiao's, which explains why he never mentioned it.

Winter is relatively more relaxed for people in Northeast China. Even those working in factories or government jobs have less to do than in the summer. This is a custom formed over thousands of years. They hibernate.

Soon, January passed day by day, and Geng Hui began to feel anxious, while the New Year was drawing ever closer.

This year's Spring Festival was quite lively. This was Xiaowei's first Spring Festival truly spent in his own home, his own house, his own home, since he left his family home.

The eldest brother, Zhang Jun, returned with his pregnant sister-in-law.

The courtyard became lively as people arrived one after another: the old man's family, the fourth uncle's family, Chen Hui's family, Chen Xiao's family, Xiao Wei and his two families, and Li Wenhe's family. Master Li had already brought his whole family over.

The old man and Xiaowei's father also sent a letter to the third uncle's family, hoping that they could come and reunite, but there has been no reply yet.

On the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, all shops and factories, including restaurants, were closed for the holiday. Xiao Wei didn't want his employees to resent him for earning money for these few days. The importance Chinese people place on the Spring Festival is ingrained in their bones; they themselves are enjoying family reunions, so what right do they have to demand their subordinates work? How much money could they possibly earn in these few days?

All employees received year-end bonuses according to their respective levels, including those who had only been at the food factory for a few months. Although the bonuses weren't much, they made everyone very happy. A bus took the workers to the county town, and they will be picked up again on the eighth day of the first lunar month next year.

Liu Liuxinghai and his friends who came to Fengtian to develop their careers were also going home for the Spring Festival. They said goodbye to Xiaowei and the others in the courtyard, wished Xiaowei's parents and other elders a Happy New Year in advance, and happily boarded the bus back home. For the six of them, this was a year of earth-shattering change, and their lives were forever altered.

Only the shopping mall is still open, but this area is rented out and doesn't need anyone to manage it. The night watchmen just need to open and lock the doors on time every day. They don't get holidays. All the units have staff on duty, and their salaries will be higher this month.

Yu Qiu also went back, but not for the New Year. He planned to bring his parents to Fengtian after the New Year to settle down. The house was bought on credit with Xiao Wei and a few others, and they would pay it off slowly. Anyway, the internal price wasn't much, and he had the means. He's a capable man.

On the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, everyone who was supposed to leave had left, leaving only the family members gathered together in the courtyard. The older ones played chess and strolled around, while the younger ones built snowmen, played hide-and-seek, and went ice skating in the frozen pond.

Xiao Wei, Xia Maosheng, and Chen Huitian drove to Longcheng to take Xiao Wu home, give out red envelopes to the locals, and arrange for them to have a holiday.

Four cake shops have now opened in Longcheng, and Xiao Liwen deserves much of the credit for that. She handled everything perfectly. As soon as they met, she grabbed Xiao Wei's arm and asked for a reward: "Am I amazing? What will you reward me with?"

Xiao Wei ruffled her hair: "Awesome. What do you want?"

Xiao Liwen pouted, "It's like you can give me whatever I want. I want a car, will you give it to me?"

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, go get your driver's license, and I'll get you a car next year, a Xiali, okay?"

Xiao Liwen's eyes were practically bulging with laughter as she nodded and said, "Okay, you keep your word. Well then, I won't ask you for a New Year's red envelope."

Xiao Wei and Chen Hui both burst into laughter. Xia Maosheng pulled out a red envelope from his pocket and said, "Really don't want it? Then I prepared it for nothing? Oh well, fine, if you don't want it, that's fine too."

Xiao Liwen snatched the red envelope, peeking inside as she said, "You're the bosses, you know I'm just being polite, how could you not give me anything? Wow, I'm rich, I'm rich! Hahaha, I can finally hold my head high!"

The red envelope wasn't much, just two thousand yuan. After all, he was a city manager overseeing four stores. Managers in Fengtian, for example, would receive five thousand yuan in red envelopes. But in this day and age, two thousand yuan was a huge sum of money, and no one could handle it calmly.

Together with Xiao Liwen, they looked around several shops, gave the workers red envelopes and told them to go home for the New Year. The three of them parted ways with Liwen and came to this side of the courtyard.

The restaurant, school, and food factory were all peaceful and quiet, with nothing much happening. After the New Year, the school would be moved to Fengtian, and the area here would begin demolition and reconstruction in the spring. The food factory would only retain the cake production and would move to the back of the restaurant for production. This also needed to be arranged now.

Everyone waited at the school, since this was the only place with enough space; one classroom was enough to fit everything.

Starting from the restaurant, red envelopes were handed out one by one. Xiao Wei said some words of thanks to everyone for their work, and everyone thanked the boss for his generosity. Then they dispersed and went home. They returned to work on the tenth day of the Lunar New Year.

Finally, after checking the accounts with Li Gengsheng and giving him a large red envelope, the matter in Longcheng was settled. Li Gengsheng was going to work in Fengtian after the New Year, so there was nothing to say about goodbye.

The factory and shops were closed for the holidays, but the boiler operators couldn't take time off; they'd already taken enough vacation days during the summer. The boilers throughout the restaurant couldn't be shut off; they had to be running every day, otherwise the pipes would freeze and burst. After giving the boiler operators red envelopes and exchanging a few words, the three of them drove to the police station.

Liu Huasheng has finally settled into a period of leisure. It's the end of the year, and they're all going on holiday. Generally, no one in China causes trouble at this time of year. Everyone wants to celebrate the New Year, so everyone can have a few days of peace and quiet.

A few people sat in Liu Huasheng's office and talked for a while. Xiao Wei handed over this year's dividends to Liu Huasheng. After the expansion of the billiards hall, the profits increased several times. Liu Huasheng and Li Tie received a total of more than 200,000 yuan, and this was only for more than four months.

Liu Huasheng didn't take it seriously at first, and casually put the paper package aside: "What's this? It's quite heavy, what did you bring me?" He squeezed it.

Xia Maosheng chuckled and said, "It's the newspaper I brought for you."

Xiao Wei said, "Your and Tiezi's dividends this year. We invested it again in the first half of the year, so this is from the last four months. It's not much, but it should be more next year. Next year, I'll have someone open a savings account for you two and give you the passbook."

Liu Huasheng paused for a moment, then reached out and picked up the newspaper package, weighing it in his hand: "Damn, this must be worth over 100,000 yuan, right? You didn't just wrap it up for five or ten yuan to fool me, did you?" He had an expression on his face that said, "I see right through you."

Xia Maosheng asked, "Has Tiezi come back yet?"

Liu Huasheng said, "I'm back, I'm home. I came back yesterday. I'll be reporting to the Municipal Bureau next spring. I'll be a section chief. Just keep at it and I'll be a division chief. Unlike us, we'll be stuck at the section chief level for the rest of our lives."

(End of this chapter)