Siheyuan's Journey Through the Ages

Chapter 35 A Happy Dinner

Ma Qing recognized his aunt at first sight. His aunt and his father looked very similar. His aunt was wearing the popular blue canvas overalls. The clothes were clean. It seemed that his aunt was not the kind of worker who did heavy work. Ma Qing encouraged himself in his heart and the performance began.

"Aunt!" Ma Qing shouted to his aunt with some excitement and sobs in his voice.

The aunt took a few steps forward and hugged Ma Qing tightly, "Oh, my good child, you are finally here." The aunt's eyes were moist, and she patted Ma Qing's back gently, as if she wanted to melt all her thoughts into this warm embrace.

"Aunt, long time no see!" Ma Qing raised his head, his eyes were red, but his smile was unusually bright.

"I haven't seen you for a long time. Look, you've grown so tall and become a grown man." Auntie looked at Ma Qing carefully, full of satisfaction and love. "You are really tough. You didn't tell me such a big thing happened. If I knew it at that time, I would have gone back no matter what."

"I'm sorry, aunt. When I heard the news that my parents had an accident, I was so shocked that I fainted. I stayed in the hospital for three days. After I woke up, my mind was a mess. The funeral was handled by the factory leaders. It took me more than ten days to recover. That's when I thought of contacting you. It's all my fault that I couldn't handle it." Ma Qing said ashamedly.

Ma Qing's aunt felt even more distressed and said anxiously: "How can you be blamed for this? You are still so young, and it is inevitable that you will be stimulated when encountering such things. This also proves that our Qing'er is a person who values ​​friendship and loyalty."

"Why don't we go home and talk about it later? It's a bit inconvenient here."

"Look at my brain, go home, go home." Ma Qing's aunt snatched Ma Qing's backpack.

"Qing'er, what are you carrying? It's so heavy. Are you here to return the gift to your aunt?"

"It contains my rations for this month."

"Why do you bring this thing? As an aunt, can't I provide food for my nephew?" said the aunt angrily.

"Aunt, don't be angry. I don't mean to look down on you. The main reason is that food is precious now. If I don't buy food for this month and bring it with me, the food on the food list will expire next month." The aunt and nephew walked home while chatting. At this warm moment, it seemed that only the deep family affection between the aunt and nephew was flowing quietly.

There are 4 people in my aunt's family, my uncle, my aunt, and two children, who are Ma Qing's cousins. My uncle's surname is Huang, Huang Dapeng, my cousin Huang Tian, ​​11 years old this year, is in the fourth grade of elementary school, and my cousin Huang Di, 7 years old, just started elementary school this year. In the evening, the family sat around the dining table, and they were very happy.

After my uncle came back from get off work, he was very enthusiastic, especially when he saw Ma Qing coming with his own rations, he was obviously relieved. It's no one's fault. In the current situation, food is a problem that Chinese people cannot avoid. Although my aunt and uncle are a dual-income family, the food ration is too tight. If Ma Qing didn't bring his own rations, he would have to beg for favors from everyone, or buy them on the black market, which would cost a lot. Not everyone is like Ma Qing, who can eat alone and keep the whole family well-off, and has a good financial situation.

During dinner, Ma Qing saw that the whole family had gathered. He opened his backpack and took out the gifts he had brought. He gave his aunt a silk scarf, his uncle a Chairman's badge bought in Beijing, and his two younger brothers and sisters each an iron pencil case, making his aunt's family so happy that they were at a loss as to what to bring.

The aunt warmly invited Ma Qing to eat and picked up a piece of meat for him, which made the two children stare at Ma Qing's bowl. Ma Qing sighed in his heart, but he didn't say anything. He directly picked up two large chopsticks from the meat and vegetable plate and put them in the two children's bowls, saying softly: "Eat, don't be polite." Ma Qing did not consider himself an outsider, and his demeanor as a host quickly brought everyone closer.

Huang Dapeng took a sip of wine, let out a "ah" sound, picked up a handful of peanuts and put them in his mouth, and started talking.

"Ma Qing, I saw you once before when you were a child. At that time, you were very shy, unlike today. You must have grown up."

"Girls change a lot when they grow up, right? So do boys. I've graduated from junior high school and I'm an adult now, so of course I'm a little different from when I was little." Ma Qing joked. "You wrote to me saying that you graduated from junior high school and got admitted to a technical secondary school. Tell me about it in detail."

"I went to an agricultural machinery school, majoring in machinery manufacturing and maintenance. There's not much to say. Anyway, I'll just learn the basics. After graduation, I should go back to the Red Star Factory to be a technician." Ma Qing replied.

"That's great. If you go to technical secondary school, you will be included in the government cadre system. Your schooling will count as your working years. You are only 15 and you can start working. This is a great advantage. You have a promising future." Huang Dapeng turned to his two children and said, "Learn more from your cousin and stop playing all day long."

Huang Dapeng turned around and said, "Ma Qing, if you need money now that you are in school, just tell your uncle. My husband and I don't have any special abilities, but our income is not bad, so it's no problem for us to support another child to go to school."

"Thank you, uncle, but I don't need it. Not to mention the death benefit the factory gave me, it also gives me a 20 yuan pension every month. I was admitted to a technical secondary school, and I also get an 18 yuan living allowance every month in school, which is more than enough for me to spend."

Huang Dapeng was envious after hearing this, and said to Aunt Ma Qing, "Your Ma family's child has made great progress. He can get a salary just for studying. I didn't know that going to a technical secondary school not only counts the length of service, but also pays a salary. Those technical secondary school technicians in the factory are really tight-lipped."

Aunt Ma Qing said angrily, "Why would a technician talk to you about school subsidies? Drink less, it's free." Then she said to the two children, "Starting tomorrow, you are not allowed to run around all day. Ask your cousin to give you extra lessons, and you have to go to a technical secondary school in the future."

Ma Qing was going crazy, "No way, aunt, I came here to play, and I'm making up for the class?"

"You can give Huang Tian and Huang Di extra lessons in the morning, and ask Huang Tian to take you out to play in the afternoon. Isn't this a good arrangement?" Aunt Ma Qing made her own arrangements.

"Okay, that's it." Ma Qing had no choice but to surrender.

The aunt asked again, "Qing'er, when does your school start? You have to stay with me for a while. We haven't seen each other for a long time. When we have a break, we will take you and the two children to go around the area."

"I will report to the school before September 9th. This is my plan. I will stay here until the end of the month, and then go from Jilin to Dalian. I will play in Dalian for two days, and then take a boat to Tianjin, and finally return to Beijing. It's not easy to come out, and I want to see the beautiful rivers and mountains of my motherland." Ma Qing put forward his plan.

"Child, you're running around at such a young age. It's still dangerous outside, and you have to take a boat. I'm a little worried about you."

Huang Dapeng chimed in, "Ma Qing is a government official now, and he came here alone this time, right? Don't worry, I think Ma Qing is a man of righteous ideas and cautious actions. It's okay, he'll be safe."

Ma Qing felt strange, why did this sentence sound so familiar?

So, in the following days, Ma Qing would give extra lessons to his cousins ​​in the morning, and in the afternoon, Huang Tian, ​​the local tyrant, would take him for a stroll with the Jiangbei Machinery Factory as the center. Of course, he would occasionally have to bring Huang Di, the follower, along, so that Ma Qing had no time to do his own things.

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(End of this chapter)