Siheyuan's Journey Through the Ages

Chapter 9 Fast and Efficient Cooperation
Because I had an appointment with Section Chief Zhao from the Labor and Personnel Department to go to the factory today to handle the formalities for transferring his workstation. The leader was very capable and specially chose a Saturday afternoon to go to the factory. Although it is now a six-day work week, Saturday afternoon is the time when the number of people working in the factory office is the least during the entire week. Those who understand will understand.

After lunch, Ma Qing went out of the house and walked towards the factory. In the courtyard, he greeted the neighbors again, showing proper courtesy. Everyone praised him as a polite boy.

During these days of traveling through time, Ma Qing found that he was really misled by those courtyard house novels. Perhaps it was because the dimension Ma Qing came from was different, or the main storyline had not yet begun. The legendary courtyard house at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang was unusually peaceful, and the neighbor relations here were not as close as those when Ma Qing (Feng Shiqing) was a child in his previous life. Perhaps it was because he grew up in a small place in his previous life, and here was at the foot of the emperor. The boundaries of life in big cities were clearer, and the neighbor relations in the courtyard houses were more like modern neighbor relations. If they met, they would just say hello politely, and there was actually no in-depth interaction, which made Ma Qing's psychological preparation in advance completely useless.

This is better. Ma Qing feels much more comfortable. Apart from the fucked-up main plot of going back to the 1950s, everything Ma Qing experiences seems to be good. Both his parents are dead, he doesn't have to play the role of a son or grandson, he has over ten thousand in savings, he has a work station, his intelligence has improved, and his neighbors in the courtyard behave normally. It's all good things.

Ma Qing arrived at the factory gate and saw a young man of about eighteen or nineteen years old, leaning against the wall beside the factory gate with a cigarette in his mouth, looking around as if waiting for someone. At this time, Section Chief Zhao happened to walk out of the small door beside the factory gate, and Ma Qing hurried forward.

"You're just in time. You two follow me." Section Chief Zhao called to Ma Qing and the young man next to him.

The three of them entered the factory gate and walked for about 10 minutes before reaching the factory building. Section Chief Zhao took the two into a small conference room, sat down in a triangle, and said competently, "You two don't need to talk, you must know everything. I was entrusted by the leader to handle this matter well. We handle small matters quickly. I'll go through the process. Li Feng, Ma Qing, you two get to know each other," Section Chief Zhao pointed at the two people and continued, "Li Feng, your family spent 1200 yuan to buy a workstation for Ma Qing. Is there any problem? Did you bring the money?"

"No problem, I've brought the money." Li Feng took out a bulging yellow kraft paper envelope.

"Ma Qing, are you sure you want to sell your workstation to Li Feng for 1200 yuan? Is that okay?"

"No problem, I won't go back on my word."

"Okay, let me tell you something," Zhao Ke continued. "Li Feng, Ma Qing, your fathers are good friends. Although your two families don't usually interact closely, you have a good relationship. Ma Qing, you call Li Feng's father Uncle Li, and Li Feng, you call Ma Qing's father Uncle Ma. Of course, you don't know the specific names of the previous generation, which is also normal. After Ma Qing's parents passed away, the Li family wanted to take care of Ma Qing's life. Ma Qing inherited an extra workstation. Due to the friendship between the two families, Ma Qing voluntarily transferred one of his workstations to Li Feng. Li Feng took out 10 yuan from his salary every month to subsidize Ma Qing's life for 10 years. Do you two understand?"

Li Feng immediately understood. Just as Ma Qing was about to speak, Section Chief Zhao handed the envelope Li Feng brought to Ma Qing and said to him, "Here is the money. Count it yourself."

120 big black tens, not one missing, Ma Qing counted them and nodded to Section Chief Zhao. Section Chief Zhao took out two more pieces of paper, handed them to the two people, and said: "This is the workstation transfer agreement written according to what I just said, you two look carefully, if there is no problem, you can sign it. In addition, Ma Qing, you have received the money, write a receipt for Li Feng." While the two people were reading the agreement, Section Chief Zhao continued: "When you are done here, come with me to the Labor and Personnel Office later, go through the necessary procedures, and sign a few words. Don't talk to anyone, just sign when I ask you to, and get things done quickly and simply, don't make things complicated."

What is professionalism? This is what professionalism is, Ma Qing thought to himself. After reading the agreement, Ma Qing signed the agreement and the receipt respectively, put the envelope in his arms, patted it, and received another 1200 yuan. Ma Qing was actually a little numb. Although in this era, this is definitely a lot of money, it is too difficult to exchange this money for happiness.

There was no dramatic conflict in what happened next. When Ma Qing and Li Feng followed Section Chief Zhao into the Labor and Personnel Office, the staff inside didn't even raise their heads. Under the guidance of Section Chief Zhao and one of the staff members, the two signed various documents one by one.

In just a few minutes, Ma Qing lost his workstation, and Li Feng became a formal fitter at the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill with a salary of 27.5 yuan. If he is smart enough and quickly passes the first-level fitter exam, he can get 1 yuan immediately. Tell me, is it worthwhile or not to buy a workstation with three years' salary?

Section Chief Zhao, Li Feng and Ma Qing did not mention having dinner afterwards. A deal is a deal. Section Chief Zhao was concerned about the impact, Ma Qing had a huge sum of money in his pocket, and Li Feng was eager to go home and share his joy, so everyone naturally said goodbye and went home.

Ma Qing returned home and felt that the money in his arms was also a troublesome thing. If he deposited such a large sum of money in the bank, it would most likely be inconvenient. Section Chief Zhao would definitely not accompany him to the bank for proof like he did last time when he went to deposit the pension. He could only keep it at home for a short period of time. It was funny to say that it was obviously a reasonable, legal and compliant matter, but just because the number exceeded the general standard, it became so unreasonable. It was just like the income of civil servants in the previous life, which was obviously paid according to national standards, but it was a mystery on the Internet. To put it bluntly, it was to take care of the emotions of most people. This is human nature.

In the end, Ma Qing did not put the money into the iron box in the compartment of the closet in his father Ma's house. Instead, he followed the example of the courtyard house novels he had read. He lifted up a brick under his bed, dug out the soil underneath, put the money into a small iron box, and buried it.

Ma Qing thought about it and found it very funny, Banggeng was less than 4 years old at that time. Maybe it had nothing to do with Banggeng, but it was just that modern people suddenly traveled back to this era, and the money and materials in their hands could give themselves a sense of security.

Time passed slowly and it was late April. The weather was getting warmer, but Ma Qing could smell the atmosphere of the three difficult years. The canteen had issued a notice that the big pot meals could only be eaten until the end of the month, and that people had to strictly follow the rations. Ma Qing also got the grain book issued by the Grain and Oil Management Office with his family's household registration book, which included 28 kilograms of grain, 4 taels of oil, and 4 taels of meat per month. I won't go into details about other tickets (mainly because the workload was too heavy and the author was really powerless).

The cloud of the unknown looms over the courtyard. Neighbors who usually greet each other are not as enthusiastic as before. There is probably only one person who is happy in the whole courtyard, and that is Comrade He Yuzhu, who has been exhausted like a grandson for more than half a year and is finally going to be relieved.

(End of this chapter)