Siheyuan: Becoming a cadre after graduating from technical secondary school

Rich or poor, everyone goes home to celebrate the New Year. On the night of New Year's Eve, the Red Star Courtyard is already lit up with thousands of lights. No matter how busy they are on weekdays, everyone stops early today and gathers with their families around the dinner table.

In the backyard, the second uncle's family was having their New Year's Eve dinner. As the eldest son's wedding emptied the family's money this year, the Liu family's New Year's Eve dinner this year was mainly "simple", with a plate of stir-fried cabbage, a plate of scrambled eggs, and freshly made dumplings stuffed with pork and cabbage.

Even so, the second uncle took most of the dumplings and sat alone at a table, drinking a little wine and listening to the radio. While listening, he yelled to his family: "Keep your voices down, I can't hear what's being said on the radio."

Liu Guangtian, who had a crew cut, thought to himself that you couldn't hit me again during the Chinese New Year, so he couldn't help but tease his father: "Dad, it's a pity that you don't become an official or a leader. You are much more stylish than Section Chief Lin Zongxuan."

Liu Haizhong was drunk at this time, and he couldn't tell the difference between good and bad words. He proudly talked about his glorious history. The second aunt saw that he was talking incoherently, and added with a smile: "When your father was young, he really had the opportunity to be a leader. At that time, he and a colleague competed for the position of workshop leader. They had the same work level, but your father was a primary school student."

"Hey, hey, hey, it's Gao Xiao, Gao Xiao," the second uncle quickly corrected.

"Yes, it was a high school, but he only had a junior high school education, and then he went on to higher education."

The Liu brothers looked at each other and thought, no wonder their father became obsessed with being an official, no one could stand this.

If the second uncle's family was still harmonious and happy, the atmosphere at Xu Damao's home in the Central Courtyard could be described as cold.

Xu Damao and Lou Xiao'e were faced with a table full of food, but they had no idea what to do with their mouths. The couple looked at each other, their embarrassment evident in their expressions.

After a while, Xu Damao picked up his chopsticks first and said coldly, "Eat. You finally came back. When are you leaving?"

Lou Xiao'e said somewhat unnaturally: "The second day of the Chinese New Year."

"Then why did you come back?!" Xu Damao was about to throw his chopsticks in anger, but he stopped abruptly when he thought about the New Year's Eve. He still muttered, "Every day you are not like husband and wife, nor relatives. If you don't want to live like this, you'd better leave as soon as possible."

After hearing what he said, Lou Xiao'e sighed lightly. Although the couple had no feelings for each other, divorce was impossible for them. Her father, Lou Bancheng, said that if she divorced Xu Damao, the Lou family would lose another layer of amulet, and the day of their downfall would be even faster.

So, we can only make do with this, but how long can this seemingly peaceful life last?

Although the Xu family’s dishes are sumptuous, it is not as lively as the uncle’s house next door, because this year they have four families celebrating the New Year together.

At the dinner table, the adults were toasting each other, the children were jumping around and scrambling for the rare meat. Even Jia Dongxu was immersed in this festive and cheerful environment and couldn't help but drink two more glasses.

After three rounds of wine and five dishes, Jia Dongxu suddenly raised his glass and said to the uncle and Sha Zhu sincerely: "Master, Brother Zhu, after the New Year, my car repair stall will be set up again. I have been decadent for the past two years, but thanks to your help, our family has not broken up. I toast to you two."

"That's great." The old man asked in surprise: "Dongxu, do you have enough money? Do you need my support?"

"That's right. We are all good neighbors in the same courtyard. Don't be polite to us." Sha Zhu also added, "If you need help, just say so."

Jia Dongxu said timidly: "No need, just ask you to publicize it for me in the factory and let everyone know about it."

The adults were socializing, and Bang Geng watched intently. For some reason, a sentence suddenly popped up in his mind: a gathering of heroes, a fox meeting.

Of course, there was also a fox grandma - a deaf old lady watching quietly on the side.

In the front yard, there was a new person at the Third Uncle’s New Year’s Eve dinner this year, and that was Yan Jiecheng’s new wife, Yu Li.

At this moment, she was staring in amazement at the third uncle giving out red envelopes to his family members.

When other families give out red envelopes, they give out colorful money, or at worst some candies or oranges. But in the third uncle's family, they give out fried peanuts, and each person is limited to one small shovel, which is fair and just.

Yu Li was stunned and was about to eat a peanut to calm down, but Yan Jiefang, who was standing nearby, quickly stopped her and said, "Sister-in-law, don't eat it yet. Let's count together later to avoid our dad being unfair."

"Yes, yes, Dad, please be fair." Yan Jiecheng was also busy on the side, trying to sneak two more away.

The third uncle, Yan Bugui, glared at his two interrupting sons and said disdainfully, "My eyes are like a ruler. If I am unfair, there will be no fair people in this world."

The family motto of the Yan family since Yan Bugui's generation has been "fairness", which actually means measuring the relationship between people by interests and calculating gains and losses by being meticulous.

It's true that he had no choice. After all, before the children grew up, he was the only one in the family with a salary. He supported six people in the family and sent all the children to high school. This was truly a great act.

But what he could not have imagined was that this approach could only last for a while and not forever. No matter how close the relatives were, in this kind of calculation of you making a profit and me leaving you, they would drift further and further apart, and eventually become strangers who only cared about interests.

Of course, the Lin family didn't have this concern. There were four chicken legs, one for grandpa, one for Keke, and one for each of the parents. Lin Zongxuan loved to eat chicken wings, so all of them went into his bowl.

The Lin family’s New Year’s Eve dinner was not very sumptuous. After all, they had a chef and a leader in the purchasing system, and they never lacked meat.

This year, Father Lin specifically gave the right to distribute the wine to Lin Zongxuan, which may also mean that among the three generations present, the power of the family has officially passed from Father Lin, the middle generation, to Lin Zongxuan, the younger generation. (Some friends born in the 00s or with fewer family members may not understand this, but this is a custom here. We only do this on very solemn days, and it also means the transfer of some family resources.)

Of course, in Lin Zongxuan's view, this might also be an alternative way of forcing marriage, because at the banquet, Lin's mother also said to He Jinyuan: "Dad, don't go back after the New Year this year, just stay with us, and when Zongxuan's baby is born, you can still look after the baby with us."

As he spoke, he glanced at Lin Zongxuan, the meaning was self-evident.

The old man didn't hesitate and agreed with a smile. Anyway, most of his peers had died. Although he had enough food and clothing in the village (the Lin family delivered food on time), gradually, there was no one to talk to. It would be better to stay in this courtyard and watch plays every day.

Lin Keke listened to what the adults said and said worriedly, "If my brother has a child, will no one give me red envelopes? I will have to give red envelopes to my brother's child."

Lin Zongxuan smiled and teased her: "Yeah, Keke, do you want a nephew or a niece?"

"I want my little niece!"

"Why?"

Lin Keke rolled her eyes and said innocently and romantically, "Because boys eat more and girls eat less."

Everyone was stunned at first, then burst into laughter.

(The atmosphere of the next two volumes will be a bit 'heavy', not as light-hearted as this one, because it is time to enter a critical period, and many places will be glossed over. I suggest that friends who are not familiar with that period do not need to look up information seriously, as it is just a novel.)