The days of being a buyer in Siheyuan

Jia Zhang looked at Liu Minghui's back as he walked out the door and gritted her teeth as she said, "My Dongxu is the most filial in this courtyard. No one else can compare to my Dongxu."

The third aunt said in a stern voice, "But your Dongxu is still a first-class fitter."

The third aunt's words made Jia Zhang's face turn black. As the saying goes, don't hit someone in the face. This statement clearly hit Jia Zhang's sore spot. Dong Xu, her husband, has been working for six or seven years and is still a first-class fitter. This makes her feel ashamed in the yard. But Jia Zhang is not someone who can be bullied easily. She turned around and started arguing with the third aunt.

Liu Minghui left the yard and had no idea that there was a quarrel in the yard because of his words, but even if he knew, he would not pay any attention to it.

Liujia Village is under the Red Star Commune, not far from Sijiu City. Nearby is Qinjia Village, Qin Huairu's parents' home. Liu Minghui rode his bicycle out of the city gate and headed towards the Red Star Commune. There were many pedestrians on the road, most of them carrying baskets or shouldering loads. These were people from villages close to Sijiu City, carrying some vegetables and poultry to the city to sell.

Liu Minghui rode along the bumpy dirt road for more than half an hour to Liujia Village. From a distance he saw several militiamen guarding the village entrance. When he got closer he saw that they were Liu Minghui's old friends in the village. Liu Minghui got off the bike next to them.

"It's Minghui. Aren't you going to work today?" This is Liu Guodong, the village militia captain and the eldest son of the village chief. "Yes, I'm not going to work today so I can come back to see my parents."

Liu Minghui took out a Daqianmen and gave a few people one. "Oh, your life is getting better and better now, you even smoke a Daqianmen."

People in the countryside usually smoked mass-produced cigarettes at 8 cents a pack, without tickets, or rolled their own tobacco leaves. This Daqianmen cigarette cost 35 cents a pack and required a ticket, which was considered a luxury for them.

"Hey, isn't it true that the purchasing staff can be reimbursed every month, otherwise I can't afford this." Liu Minghui waved his hand and said. The main reason is that I don't have the ticket. I forgot to exchange some tickets for cigarettes and alcohol with Lao Hu yesterday.

After chatting with a few friends, Liu Minghui walked towards his home. He met many villagers along the way and couldn't help but greet them. Most of the people in the hundreds of households in Liujia Village, big and small, were surnamed Liu, and everyone was more or less related. Everyone was very proud that Liujia Village had a buyer working in the city. After all, they didn't have to worry about being forced to lower the price when buying things from their own village.

Liu Minghui's home is at the foot of a mountain, close to the Yanshan Mountains. There are many animals on the mountain. Because people are organized to go up the mountain to hunt every winter, the villagers live more or less well.

Before I got home, I saw Liu Minghui's mother coming to greet me.

"San'er, you're back. Come in and sit for a while. We can eat when your father comes back."

Qin Xiujuan, from the neighboring Qinjia Village, married Liu Minghui's father Liu Wenzhong and gave birth to three children. The eldest, Liu Guodong, was an honest man. He also married a girl from a nearby village a few years ago. Her name was Yang Yulan, and she was also a frugal person. The second child, Liu Dazhuang, was named because he was too weak when he was born and they were afraid that he would not be able to survive. The second child was only two years older than Liu Minghui and had not yet married.

Liu Minghui pushed the car into the yard. The yard was not very big, with only four houses inside. All of them were adobe houses. The larger one was connected to the main room and kitchen. This was where Liu's father and mother lived. The other three were just right for each of the three brothers.

Liu Minghui parked the car in the yard, took the bag from the back seat and gave it to Liu's mother.

"Mother, this is 20 kilograms of flour and 2 kilograms of meat. Take it and make steamed buns for everyone to eat in the evening."

Liu's mother took over and said, "How can we make steamed buns with pure white flour? It's such a waste of food. I think it's better to make steamed buns with two-grain flour."

For Liu's mother, pure white flour steamed buns can only be eaten once a year. Even during the Chinese New Year, they only eat steamed buns made of two-grain flour.

Liu Minghui didn't want to care about this, so he followed his mother's words and said, "Okay, you have the final say on this matter, mother."

"I came back today mainly to bring you some good news. I got a permanent job yesterday."

When Liu's mother heard this, she was also very happy. "Okay, okay, today is such a good day. I'll ask Yulan to cook some meat for you and your grandfather."

After saying that, she carried the bag and walked towards the kitchen. At that time, her sister-in-law was cooking in the kitchen. When Liu's mother entered the kitchen, she saw Yang Yulan lighting a fire in front of the stove. When she saw Liu's mother coming in with the bag, she hurriedly got up and took the things.

"Mom, is my third brother back again?" Yang Yulan asked as she took some things. "Yes, hurry up and cook these two pounds of meat. We can all have a good meal at noon today."

Yang Yulan was surprised when she heard this: "Two kilograms have been made, isn't that too much?"

Liu's mother waved her hand and said, "Just do what I ask you to do. Don't worry about these trivial things."

Liu's mother was still very majestic at home. After hearing this, Yang Yulan stopped talking and turned around to clean up.

As soon as Liu Minghui entered the main room and sat down, his mother brought him a glass of water.

"San'er, come and have some water first. Your father and your brother haven't finished work yet."

Liu Minghui took the water handed to him by his mother and said, "No hurry, where is my little niece?"

My eldest brother and his wife have been married for several years and now have a daughter named Liu Yumei.

"At your uncle's house. Your uncle's children can go over there to play with each other." Liu Minghui nodded and said, "Okay, I also want to go over to my uncle's house now. I will bring my niece back later, so you don't have to go over there, mom."

After hearing this, Liu's mother said, "That's fine, go by yourself, I still need to help in the kitchen."

After saying that, Liu's mother went to the kitchen to help. Liu Minghui looked around and saw that there was nothing to do, so he went out and walked towards his uncle's house.

The uncle was the team leader of Liujia Village. He lived not far from the Liu family, only seven or eight households away. When they walked out of the house and onto the country road, they found that every household was busy in the fields at this time of the day. They met no one along the way. It didn’t take long for them to reach the uncle’s house. Before they entered the house, they saw several children of three or four years old playing in the yard. When Liu Minghui walked in, he saw his niece inside and called out, “Yumei, come here.”

The little niece heard the call and ran over: "Uncle, give me a hug." The little girl still recognized Liu Minghui, and she also knew that there would be delicious food every time this uncle came back, so she was very close to him.

Liu Minghui looked at his little niece who was running over, squatted down to catch her, then took out a handful of candy from his pocket and gave it to her. Then he looked at the remaining three children, waved to them to come over, and each of them also grabbed a handful of candy.