After a day's work, Zhang Zhifei said goodbye to his coworkers and rode his bicycle home as usual.
From a distance, I saw Yan Bugui holding a kettle and pretending to water the flowers.
Zhang Zhifei was pushing the bicycle, and there was about ten kilograms of stick noodles in the basket, which he used to show off.
After March 1961, there was a shortage of food and the society became more difficult. News of people dying of starvation were heard from time to time.
Zhang Zhifei doesn't dare to eat and drink blatantly. In the past month or two, he has occasionally bought some cornmeal and other whole grains from outside to hide from others and let others know that he also eats whole grains.
But after returning home, he fed the cornmeal to the cattle and sheep raised in the pasture space. The whole grains he ate were highly processed cornmeal and other miscellaneous grains, which tasted no worse than white flour.
Seeing the stick noodles in the basket of Zhang Zhifei's bicycle, Yan Bugui showed a trace of desire. What his family eats most recently are sweet potatoes and rotten vegetable leaves. In his eyes, stick noodles are good things.
For everyone in the compound, meeting Yan Bugui at the door has become a habit, and they don't know where he got so much time.
Ever since Zhang Zhifei became a deputy section-level leading cadre, everyone in the courtyard had complicated feelings towards him. As people often say, you are afraid that your friends will have a hard time, and you are even more afraid that your friends will drive luxury cars.
"Master, it's time to get off work." Yan Bugui stepped forward to say hello to Zhang Zhifei. He didn't really want to see Zhang Zhifei now. It was useless not to say anything, and he looked incompetent.
Zhang Zhifei's feeling about Yan Bugui is that this person is very annoying but not hateful. He is a Grandet-type character, Yan Laoxi from Yanjing, who calculated and calculated again and again, and finally lost all family ties.
Yan Bugui is not hateful, but he will not take the initiative to harm others. This is fundamentally different from Yi Zhonghai.
"Well, it's time to get off work! Teacher Yan, you can walk faster than I ride a bicycle. Have you skipped work again?" Zhang Zhifei said with a deliberate joke.
"Master, don't talk nonsense. I just left because I had no classes in the afternoon. I didn't skip my job." Yan Bugui said quickly.
Zhang Zhifei looked at the other party's cautious look, a little funny, and suddenly said: "Tell me, Teacher Yan, you have to water the flowers in this weather. Are you afraid that they will not die quickly enough, or something."
"You don't understand, this is my state of life." Yan Bugui showed off, then picked up the kettle and watered the flowers.
Zhang Zhifei pretended to regret and said: "I don't understand, and I don't have your level of life, Teacher Yan. If it were me, I would just plant some vegetables in a flower pot. I can still have enough to eat during the critical period."
When Yan Bugui heard Zhang Zhifei's remarks, he stayed on the spot and didn't even realize that the water from the kettle was on his shoes.
Seeing Yan Bugui like this, Zhang Zhifei smiled and shook his head.
This person is probably starting to plot again, and there is no one left. Isn’t he tired of living like this?
Entering March, it is still very cold in Yanjing, especially in the morning and at night.
After Zhang Zhifei pushed the door open and entered the house, he felt very deserted. He hurriedly lit the stove, put the kettle on the stove, and waited for the water to boil.
I simply had dinner with my brothers and sisters and sent them to study.
Zhang Zhifei himself made a cup of tea, took a book, and sat by the stove to kill time.
"Dong dong dong..." Not long after he sat down, there was a knock on the door.
Zhang Zhifei took a sip of tea, spit out the tea foam in his mouth, and said, "Who is it? What's the matter?"
"Deputy Section Chief Zhang, it's me, Director Liu Haizhong." Liu Haizhong's high-pitched voice came from outside the door, as if he was afraid that others wouldn't know.
"The door is unlocked, come in." Zhang Zhifei was completely convinced by Liu Haizhong. He used to be inseparable from the second uncle, but now he is inseparable from Director Liu.
Since Liu Haizhong was appointed as the director of the blacksmith training class, he has not allowed others to call him Second Uncle or other titles.
Even the second aunt and Brother Guangqi were asked to call him Director Liu, which shows how obsessed they are with officials.
"Deputy Section Chief Zhang, are you warming up by the fire?" Liu Haizhong asked.
"Yeah." Zhang Zhifei cherished words like gold and was speechless to Liu Haizhong. Just call him if you want. Why add a subtitle in the middle? It makes people very uncomfortable.
Zhang Zhifei became furious when he saw how he hesitated to speak.
"Director Liu, we have something to talk about. What are you causing trouble?" Zhang Zhifei looked at his appearance and said a little speechlessly.
"Where do I start? I just want you to ask me if Deputy Director Li has any objections to me." As Liu Haizhong spoke, he became depressed, probably because he was afraid of his director. was exempted.
"What's going on?"
"I gave Deputy Director Li a gift today, but he not only confiscated it but also kicked me out. Do you think he has a problem with me?" Liu Haizhong asked with some anxiety.
"Tell me, how did you give the gift, what was it, and why did he chase you away?" Zhang Zhifei asked curiously.
As far as he knew, even though Li Huaide had various shortcomings, he would reuse anyone who was useful to him.
Although Liu Haizhong does not have high emotional intelligence and cannot speak well, he is indeed a master of blacksmith skills and is willing to teach everyone his skills.
With Li Huaide's character, he would not do anything to him unless special circumstances arise.
"Before I had time to give it away, I originally planned to give 500 yuan to Deputy Director Li, and I thought about taking the next step, but he kicked me out before I could say anything." Liu Haizhong said depressedly.
Zhang Zhifei glanced at him and said, "What you said is nonsense. I don't know what you said. If you have offended Factory Director Li, I will ask his secretary Bai Bin for you tomorrow."
"Thank you! Thank you!" Liu Haizhong said excitedly.
"Okay, let me give you a suggestion first. When you call someone about your position in the future, can you not use a subtitle?
We deputies know that we are deputies, but we don’t need you to keep reminding us. "Zhang Zhifei really couldn't stand Liu Haizhong's poor performance. He didn't know that this was a taboo in officialdom.
"I didn't pay attention to this. I will definitely change it in the future." Liu Haizhong hurriedly wrote it down.
"Okay, go and rest if you have nothing to do. I will help you ask tomorrow."
Zhang Zhifei sent Liu Haizhong out, smiled at his back, what a wonderful flower, then locked the door and went to rest.
A night of silence.
The next day, Zhang Zhifei took the time to ask Bai Bin.
He was still very curious about what exactly Liu Haizhong had done to make factory director Li Huaide kick him out of the office.
"Brother Zhifei, your neighbor is really interesting. He's so funny and a little cute." Bai Bin couldn't help but want to laugh when he thought of Liu Haizhong's performance yesterday.
"What's going on?" Zhang Zhifei asked enthusiastically.
"Your neighbor came to the agency yesterday to find Director Li. Maybe he was afraid of being discovered, so he turned back every step of the way.
Such a strange way of walking attracted a lot of people's attention, and also made the people in the agency laugh.
After entering the factory director's office, he didn't care whether there was anyone there or not. He bowed directly to the factory director and said thank you to Deputy Director Li for his promotion, saying that he was going to give the money to the factory director.
At that time, there were several leaders from the Metallurgical Department in the factory director's office. They were communicating with the factory director about the inspection of the training class by the top leaders of the Metallurgical Department. When Liu Haizhong came, the factory director could not kick him out.
That is to say, everyone saw his confused look and knew that it was not intentional, otherwise how could he end it so easily. "Bai Bin explained.
"Then, will it affect the factory director?" Zhang Zhifei was startled. Liu Haizhong was such a weirdo that he didn't care about choosing a time to give gifts. He didn't know if there were any strangers in the office.
"No, they are all our own, but you have to tell him not to give gifts to the factory director in the future. Working hard is the best reward for the factory director." Bai Bin shook his head and smiled.
Zhang Zhifei nodded clearly. Even if Liu Haizhong really gave Li Huaide a gift, he would not dare to accept it. There is no one in the world who gives gifts like this.
I guess Liu Haizhong was nervous. He was obsessed with becoming an official. It was his first time doing this and he was so nervous that he forgot if there was anyone in the office.
Zhang Zhifei chatted with Bai Bin for a while about other issues.
Through Bai Bin, he knew that Factory Director Li had reported the training matters to his superiors, and that the Minister of Metallurgy and some governments, enterprises, and media would visit the factory in the near future.
Knowing what Liu Haizhong did yesterday, Zhang Zhifei wanted to laugh a little, but also felt a little emotional.
The official-based mentality of China that has existed for thousands of years is still so serious.
