The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 249: The Beast (VI)

Gong Liang and Guo Mingzhu went to the cafeteria to eat. With the advantage of face recognition, Gong Liang successfully got a portion of minced meat and eggplant with significantly more minced meat than others.

Of course, it can’t compare with the braised pork brought by Guo Mingzhu.

After the meal, the young couple wandered around the area for more than an hour. Even though they were just like high school students in love, they did nothing but walk around the playground for two hours.

It was not until it was completely dark that Gong Liang sent Guo Mingzhu home, and walked home slowly. When he got home, Gong's mother was massaging Gong's father's thighs, and Gong's father was not idle either, holding a yellowed book and trying to turn the pages to practice his hand strength.

"Xiaoliang is back. Zhengda just came to borrow winter melon candy, saying that Master Jing is going to make snacks tomorrow and doesn't have enough winter melon candy. I remember there is still a small bag at home, but I just looked for it and couldn't find it. You can look for it again to see if it is pressed by something. If you find it, send it to Master Jing." said Gong's mother.

"Okay." Gong Liang went back to his room, put away his notebook, and began to rummage through the drawers looking for winter melon candy.

Gong Liang's house has only two cabinets, but the things in the cabinets are quite mixed. Maybe because he is worried that rats will steal the food if it is left outside, basically all food, even sweet potatoes, must be locked in the cabinet.

Gong Liang searched carefully and found the winter melon candy wrapped in oil paper in a can of malted milk that had been empty for a long time.

"Mom, I found it. I'll go give the candy to Master Jing." After saying that, Gong Liang took the winter melon candy and went next door.

To the right of Gong Liang's house is Xia's house, and to the left is Jing Lixiang's house. The houses are adjacent but the areas are different. The areas of Xia's house and Jing Lixiang's house are larger than Gong Liang's house.

It's just that the Xia family has many children, two boys and one girl. Both boys have graduated from high school and have not found a formal job yet, and the girl is still in high school. When the children grow up, they can't sleep well when they are crowded together. In order to let each child have as much independent space as possible, the Xia family separated the small house into several rooms, so it seems very crowded.

Jing Lixiang's house is relatively spacious. Huang Shengli and Zheng Da both live here. The house has three rooms and a large living room. It can be seen that the welfare benefits of state-owned hotels are still good, and the houses allocated are large.

The door of Jing Lixiang's house was not closed. Gong Liang wanted to knock on the door, but it opened when he pushed it. Jing Lixiang, Huang Shengli and Zheng Da were all in the living room. The tables and chairs in the living room were all covered with oil paper, and inside the oil paper were winter melon candies, which seemed to be an astonishing amount at first glance.

"Master Jing, I'm here to deliver the winter melon candy." Gong Liang was shocked by the scene in front of him. When he was looking for where to put the bag of winter melon candy in his hand, he saw Zheng Da and was shocked again.

There was a big bump on Zheng Da’s forehead, a bruise on his face, and straw paper stuffed in his nose. He looked like he had been beaten up badly.

"Today...a fight broke out in a state-owned restaurant and the chef was involved?" Gong Liang was shocked.

How come he hasn't heard of such breaking news?

Zheng Da: ...

Huang Shengli laughed heartily and mercilessly mocked his junior: "See, everyone who sees you like this will think that you didn't win the fight in the restaurant today."

Gong Liang took another closer look at Zheng Da, and confirmed that he was not in this state from falling, but from being beaten. He asked with concern, "Who hit you?"

"My mother." Zheng Da said in a buzzing voice.

Gong Liang:?
"There wasn't enough winter melon candy, so he went home to pick the lock and search the cabinet. His mother thought there was a thief in the house and hit him with a stick. Zheng Da bumped into the cabinet and lost his balance, so his nose hit the wall and that was it."

"If you ask me, he deserves it. He just went home to take things and even picked the lock. Anyone who saw him would think he was a thief," said Huang Shengli.

Zheng Da refused to accept the criticism and argued, "It's 5 jin of winter melon candy. If I ask my mother for it, will she give it to me? I must pick the lock! Besides, isn't this a reward? At least I got the candy after being beaten. It was not in vain."

Jing Lixiang shook his head helplessly and said in a vicious tone: "You should be beaten again. It's too light."

Zheng Da tried hard to put on a smile, but unfortunately his face was covered in bruises and his nose was stuffed with tissue paper, so his smile looked as ugly as it could be.

"Master Jing, do we need so much winter melon candy to make snacks?" Gong Liang asked curiously.

Jing Lixiang smiled and said, "No ordinary snacks are necessary. Isn't tomorrow your birthday? You must eat something good on your birthday. Make something unusual."

Gong Liang then realized that all these winter melon candies were prepared as snacks for his birthday tomorrow. He was shocked and touched for a moment, and then he subconsciously refused: "It's too expensive."

"Master Jing, I'm really sorry to bother you to prepare the ingredients and cook for me on my birthday. This... so much, this..."

The people in the room were all speechless because of the blackmail beast, and they became incoherent for a while.

"What's the big deal? Winter melon candy isn't a very precious thing. There are many candies that are better than winter melon candy. Children won't want to eat winter melon candy because they have milk candy and fruit candy. These just look large in quantity and are not expensive."

"Birthdays are big days. When I was a kid, I could eat whatever I wanted on my birthday as long as my dad could make it. Even if there was dragon liver and phoenix gall, I could eat dragon liver and phoenix gall."

"Remember to come at seven o'clock tomorrow. I have specially requested to reserve a private room for you. After your 20th birthday, you will be a real adult when you get married next year. In the future, if you want me to spend so much effort to make snacks for you on your birthday, I won't do it for you." Master Jing joked and waved his hand to signal Gong Liang to go back quickly.

Gong Liang could only nod embarrassedly and go back.

Gong Liang went back, but Qin Huai didn't. He stayed at Jing Lixiang's house and watched the three of them count the winter melon candies.

Jing Lixiang was right. The room full of winter melon candies looked like a lot, but in fact, the oil paper laid underneath increased the visual impact. When you really counted them, there were only 9 jin 4 liang, of which 5 jin 6 liang was earned by Zheng Da in exchange for a beating.

To make the fruit filling, 9 jin of winter melon candy is enough.

Jing Lixiang nodded, indicating that there was no problem with the winter melon candy, and he and Huang Shengli continued to count the next item on the list.

Zheng Da did not participate in the purchase of ingredients, and did not know how much was needed for what. He asked foolishly, "Master, is there enough winter melon candy? If not, I remember my uncle still has some. I can't take this beating in vain, so I'll go to my uncle's house tomorrow to get some more."

Zheng Da didn't wait for a reply, but instead waited for the laughter of Jing Lixiang and Huang Shengli.

After counting the ingredients, Jing Lixiang asked his two apprentices to stop chatting and go back to their rooms to sleep, especially Zheng Da.

Now that Zheng Da has been converted to a regular employee, he can take on the responsibility of making steamed buns and steamed buns in the state-owned restaurant in the morning. If he gets up late, not only will he delay everyone from buying breakfast, but he will also have his salary deducted.

Under the threat of having his salary deducted, Zheng Da hurried back to his room to sleep.

Qin Huai went through the wall and returned to Gong Liang's house, and found that Zheng Dadu had gone to bed and fallen asleep in seconds, while Gong Liang was still sorting out documents under the light of the kerosene lamp.

There are a lot of things written down on the notebook, some of which are circled, some are bolded with horizontal lines, and in addition to the information, some experiences are also written down.

At the top of the latest page, there is a line of words that were written with such force that the pen pierced the paper and the words seeped onto the next page.

'Gong Liang, you need to be confident. What are you afraid of? Why do you tremble, get scared, shrink, and want to back out every time you are in a big situation? Are you worthy of your colleagues, leaders, friends, and Master Jing for being so cowardly? ? ? 'When Gong Liang was sorting out the materials, he would look for the previous content from time to time. No matter how many pages he turned, this sentence was at the top of the page.

The next day, Gong Liang went to work as usual.

Section Chief Chen sorted out some new newspapers for Gong Liang and gave him an apple to wish him a happy birthday. Gong Liang was flattered and repeated the information he sorted out last night to Section Chief Chen. The two discussed together for the whole morning. Qin Huai was a little confused and listened to a few words and simply ignored it to watch another young man in the office slacking off.

Not to mention, this guy has the same hobby as Luo Jun, he likes to read novels, and they read martial arts novels.

The plot was a bit old-fashioned, but the writing was brilliant. The young man who was idling around was fascinated by the story, and Qin Huai was also watching with great interest. In the blink of an eye, the whole morning had passed.

After lunch, the young man took the time to continue reading the novel, and Qin Huai also took the time to read the novel. The day passed like this.

The slacker fished a lot all day, while the sales champion worked diligently all day.

When Gong Liang got off work, he had not yet eaten the apple that Section Chief Chen gave him. He washed it and brought it to the person who was waiting for him at the entrance of the silk factory.

Guo Mingzhu happily took the apple and asked, "Where did you get this apple from? It looks sweet."

"Chief Chen gave it to me." Gong Liang said, "Mingzhu, why don't you eat it?"

"We're about to have a big meal. Eating apples now will only take up too much space." Guo Mingzhu put the apples in her bag. "Take them home and save them for tomorrow morning. I haven't eaten apples in a long time. The last time our company distributed apples was last year."

"Then I'll keep an eye out for you next time I'm on a business trip, and if there are any apples I'll bring some back for you."

"Well, the apples you exchanged are definitely sweeter than the ones distributed by our unit." Guo Mingzhu took Gong Liang's arm, but did not hold his hand, and pulled out a scarf from the back of her clothes like a magic trick.

"Da da da da da, look, this is the birthday present I prepared for you!" Guo Mingzhu shook her scarf. "When my parents locked me up at home, I had nothing to do, so I used all the wool my mom bought to knit scarves. This is the best-looking one. My mom tore apart the other ugly ones."

"It looks good!"

"It looks good." Gong Liang nodded heavily.

"Why aren't you surprised at all? Do you know that I knitted a scarf for you?" Guo Mingzhu asked.

"Ah, what a surprise." Gong Liang pretended to have just seen the scarf, making Guo Mingzhu laugh before explaining, "You hid the scarf on your back, wrapped it in your shirt, and it was bulging so I saw it when I came out."

"Oh no." Guo Mingzhu was a little annoyed. "Who told you to have your birthday in May? If you had worn thick clothes for your birthday in winter, it wouldn't be noticeable."

"Yes, yes, it's all because my birthday is in May." Gong Liang said readily, "Let's go and have dinner. I'll tell you in secret that Master Jing must have made a very sweet dessert. I'm sure you like it. He used a lot of winter melon candy."

The two walked side by side, neither holding hands nor linking each other, but their shadows blended together.

Qin Huai followed behind and silently swallowed a mouthful of dog food.
.
At the entrance of the state-owned restaurant, the children who were eating with their bowls in hand had finished their meal and went home. The door was ajar. When Gong Liang and Guo Mingzhu pushed the door open, the waiter was collecting the bowls he had just finished eating.

"It's time to get off work. Come earlier next time." The waiter said subconsciously without even looking at who was coming. When he looked up and saw that it was Gong Liang and Guo Mingzhu, he forced a smile and said in a more enthusiastic voice, "Little Gong, Master Jing has reserved a private room for you. Go in and turn right."

"Oh, this is Xiao Gong's girlfriend, so white." The waiter praised. Guo Mingzhu lowered her head a little embarrassedly.

The waiter wanted to say something else, but the young man who Qin Huai had seen last time, most likely Xu Nuo, trotted out of the kitchen.

"Sister Zhang, Master Jing said he made a few extra dumplings, and asked if you would like to take some home."

Zhang's eyes suddenly lit up, and she smiled as brightly as if she had just found money: "Yes, yes, of course, my little bastards love to eat glutinous rice balls the most."

"Xiao Xu, you stay outside for a while, I'll go pick out the dumplings."

After saying that, Sister Zhang went into the kitchen carrying the dishes and chopsticks.

Xu Nuo smiled at Gong Liang: "Salesman Gong, right? I heard that your silk factory won a big order at the trade fair, and the province specially commended you. Congratulations."

"No, no, I just heard that the provincial leaders praised him a little, but it can't be considered a commendation."

"Don't be so modest. My father has already told us that the silk factory is lucky to have a salesperson like you. We will never have trouble selling silk in the future." Xu Nuo said with a smile, "The box is inside. Master Zheng is already in the box."

Gong Liang nodded and walked towards the box with Guo Mingzhu.

Guo Mingzhu asked in a low voice with some curiosity: "Is that Director Xu's youngest son? I heard that he likes to eat fermented glutinous rice steamed buns, but he doesn't have enough food coupons, so he took 20 kilograms of flour from home to Master Jing and asked him to make fermented glutinous rice steamed buns for him."

"Director Xu was so angry that he chased him all over the cotton mill and beat him up. Is this true?"

Sure enough, even the dancers in the art troupe have a heart that pursues gossip.

"It seems to be true." Gong Liang was not sure. "I don't know whether it was 20 kilograms or not, but he did ask Master Jing to make fermented glutinous rice steamed buns for a long time. He ate them for more than two months and got tired of them and stopped eating them."

Guo Mingzhu took a deep breath and thought to herself that he was indeed Director Xu's youngest son. He was so rich that he could never get tired of eating fermented glutinous rice steamed buns.

She would never get tired of eating fermented glutinous rice steamed buns for the rest of her life!
The two walked to the door of the box and pushed it open.

The decoration in the box is very simple, with just a small round table and a relatively quiet environment. There are no ornaments or excessive decorations. There is no tablecloth on the table, but the dishes and chopsticks have been placed in advance.

"You're here." Zheng Da waved for them to sit down. "If you don't come soon, I'll go find you. Dinner will be served soon."

As soon as Zheng Da finished speaking, Huang Shengli's voice came from the kitchen: "Zheng Da! Zheng Da, where are you? Come and serve the dumplings."

"Coming." Zheng Da ran out and came into the box a minute later carrying a big pot of dumplings.

It was definitely a big pot, even bigger than the one we used to make dumplings when we had dinner at Zheng Da’s house that day.

"The master said that the other dishes will have to wait for a while, so let's eat some four-happiness dumplings first."

(End of this chapter)