Siheyuan: The happy life of a little chef

Li Jianjun bought some things first and then went to the street office to find Director Wang.

"Jianjun, how come you have time to come here today? Is there anything?" Director Wang stood up to greet him. Director Wang was extremely nice to Li Jianjun now. She had also heard about the matter of the steel mill's materials and had wanted to find Li Jianjun for a long time.

"Director Wang, I'm going to get my marriage certificate tomorrow, so I came to you to get the supporting documents." After saying that, Li Jianjun grabbed some candy and gave it to Director Wang.

Director Wang smiled and said, "Congratulations, Jianjun, you got married without any announcement. I was thinking of introducing you to someone, but it seems I am a step too late."

Li Jianjun laughed and said, "You must be joking. I can't possibly trouble you with such a small matter."

Director Wang said sternly, "Jianjun, do you think I'm an outsider? Don't call me Director Wang anymore. Call me Auntie Wang."

Li Jianjun followed up and shouted, "Auntie Wang, you have taken good care of me since I came here. I am afraid that if I call you Auntie Wang, others will think you are partial to me."

"How could that be? Don't pay attention to those gossips. Those people never do their work and gossip about other people all day long." Director Wang didn't care.

After a while, Li Jianjun got the materials and was about to leave when Director Wang stopped her and looked towards the door.

Li Jianjun was puzzled: "Auntie Wang, what's wrong?"

Director Wang whispered, "Jianjun, I heard about the steel mill incident. Did you really get those materials?"

Li Jianjun looked at Director Wang without saying anything. Director Wang knew that he had misunderstood: "Jianjun, don't get me wrong, I don't mean anything else. Our street office hasn't received any supplies for a long time. I was thinking if you could get some for us during the New Year so we can share some and also give some to the families of martyrs and the elderly and widows." After Director Wang finished speaking, he looked at Li Jianjun apprehensively.

Li Jianjun breathed a sigh of relief. He thought Director Wang was going to check on him. "Auntie Wang, there are still more than three months until the Chinese New Year. I can't say for sure. I can only say I'll try my best."

Director Wang knew that although Li Jianjun said he tried his best, she knew that the matter was settled without seeing the embarrassed expression on Wang Jianjun's face: "Okay, okay, Jianjun, just do your best. Aunt Wang won't embarrass you."

Li Jianjun added, "Auntie Wang, let's see if this can be done first, but you can't tell anyone else about this, and you can't tell other neighborhood officials if they ask. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I understand, I understand. Jianjun, don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Director Wang made repeated assurances. She also knew that Li Jianjun had concerns and could not take care of other things now. It would be better for him to take care of his own area first.

After leaving the neighborhood office, Li Jianjun went to Han's house again and told them that he had obtained the fifth-level certificate. He also agreed to come and pick up Han Chunyan to get the certificate the next morning, and then returned to the courtyard.

Today is the day for the assessment, and the aunties in the courtyard are all talking about the assessment. Since Jia Dongxu cannot take the assessment, Jia Zhang feels ashamed, so she did not go out today, but stayed at home to sew shoe soles.

When the third aunt saw Li Jianjun coming in, she asked, "Jianjun, how is it? Did you pass?"

Li Jianjun replied: "Third Aunt, I passed, level 5 chef."

"Oh my, this is amazing. Shazhu brags all day about how great he is, but he is only a level eight chef. Jianjun is already level five. His salary must have increased a lot, right?" The third aunt looked more excited than Li Jianjun himself.

"It's okay, aunties, you guys chat, I'm going to go back, it's time to cook." Li Jianjun really didn't want to chat with them, otherwise they would definitely find out everything about your ancestors.

As soon as I entered the middle courtyard, I saw Qin Huairu washing clothes, and Xiaodang was playing beside her: "Sister-in-law, is she washing clothes?"

When Xiaodang heard Li Jianjun's voice, he immediately ran over and hugged his legs: "Uncle, you are back. I missed you so much."

Li Jianjun picked up Xiaodang and put him on the back seat: "So were you good today?"

"I was very good today. I even helped my mother wash clothes." Xiaodang smiled proudly.

Qin Huairu also smiled and joked: "Are you helping your mother wash clothes? You just want to play with water."

Qin Huairu exposed Xiaodang's thoughts without hesitation. Well, she is definitely his biological mother.

At this time, Jia Zhang's voice rang out: "Why don't you wash up quickly? Dongxu will be back soon. Hurry up and wash up and cook. If you flirt with other men, I will tell Dongxu when I come back."

Qin Huairu smiled awkwardly and walked away with the basin. Jia Dongxu had been much nicer to her during this period. Qin Huairu felt as happy as when they first got married, so she didn't want to argue with Jia Zhang. She just listened to what she said and didn't refute it, so as not to make things difficult for Jia Dongxu when he came back.

When Li Jianjun saw Qin Huairu leaving, he pushed the cart and took Xiaodang back.

Soon, people who went to work came back one after another, some were happy, some were depressed.

Yi Zhonghai didn't look very good, thinking that he had failed. He had recently discovered that Jia Dongxu had changed. Although he was still obedient, he could think now, unlike before when he was blindly obedient. This was something Yi Zhonghai didn't want to see, so he had been thinking about how to turn Jia Dongxu back into the former Jia Dongxu. Today, he was distracted during the assessment and his performance was ruined, so he naturally failed. Although his skills were fine, it was a pity that he didn't have a chance to start over.

Liu Haizhong was happy today. He successfully reached the seventh level of blacksmithing and was finally on the same level as Yi Zhonghai. He felt relieved. As soon as he entered the door and saw the second aunt, he said, "Let's go back and fry two eggs to celebrate."

After saying that, he handed the bag in his hand to the second aunt, which contained a lot of eggs.

The second aunt asked, "Where did so many eggs come from?" Eggs are hard to buy nowadays, and you have to go to the black market to get them.

Liu Haizhong laughed and said loudly: "My apprentices gave them to me to celebrate my becoming a seventh-level worker. This is also a show of filial piety." It seemed as if he was saying it on purpose for someone to hear.

At this time, a voice came from the door: "Uncle, those who know that you have become a seventh-level worker, and those who don't know would think that you have become an official." Well, the only one who can be so mean is Shazhu.

Liu Haizhong said angrily: "Shazhu, how can you talk like that? What's wrong with me being happy about passing the exam to become a grade seven worker? Why are you being so sarcastic? Look at you, you don't even have the qualifications for the exam, huh." After saying that, he ignored Shazhu and went home.

Because Sha Zhu had a foul mouth and often got the cold shoulder from the canteen director in the canteen because of his skills, none of Sha Zhu's assessments were approved. If Sha Zhu asked about it, the canteen director would bring up some of the mistakes Sha Zhu had made, and Sha Zhu had no choice but to give up.

Sha Zhu returned to the central courtyard with a lot of anger, and looked towards the sink as usual. When he didn't see the figure he had been thinking about, he went home. He didn't know what was wrong. He wanted to get close to Qin Huairu before, but recently this feeling was extremely strong.

If Li Jianjun knew about this, he would definitely tell him, congratulations, Shazhu, you are in heat. But how would Shazhu know this? He has never even held a woman's hand, unless you count the time when he accidentally touched Qin Huairu's hand.

Jia Dongxu returned home and talked to his family about things happening at the factory. He did not seem angry at all. After all, he could not take the assessment.