Rebirth in 1960, My Industrial Age

Chapter 106: Returning to the Parents' Home, Expenses Like Water (Subscription Request)
"Dad, Fengnian and I are back."

When Zhou Yan pushed a brand new 26-inch bicycle back to the compound, all the neighbors' faces showed envy.

Some neighbors who had a good relationship with Zhou Yan came forward to ask her about it, and Zhou Yan said without hiding the fact that it was a gift from her husband Zhou Fengnian.

After that, he distributed wedding candies to the neighbors, but there were fewer milk candies, with each household only having one, mixed with a lot of fruit hard candies.

The milk candies are almost gone in the next two days. Even if Zhou Fengnian has exchanged for a lot of tickets, they can't withstand such consumption.

Hard candy is fine, it’s cheap, and with Zhou Fengnian’s financial resources, it’s no problem for him to buy five or six kilograms.

After chatting with her neighbors for a while, Zhou Yan parked her bicycle and went home with the gifts she had bought.

The sharp-eyed neighbors in the compound could even notice that the wine Zhou Yan brought back was actually Maotai.

At more than ten yuan a bottle, it is considered one of the most expensive wines. They can't afford to drink it even during the Chinese New Year.

"The Zhou family is really powerful. Let them find a rich son-in-law!"

"Well, you know what, the two sons of the Zhou family are not that good, but this daughter is really lucky. She married an engineer."

“I heard that engineers have more than they can spend on their salaries. Is that true?”

The neighbors in the compound began to talk about the Zhou family, and both their words and faces were full of envy for the Zhou family.

Before, they had secretly laughed at Lv Honghui for selling her daughter, but now no one would laugh at Zhou Yan.

inside the house.

Zhou Xiangde had already seen his daughter by the window, and also noticed the 26-inch bicycle that Zhou Yan was pushing.

Who else except his son-in-law would buy such an expensive thing for his daughter? Yanyan herself couldn't afford it, and even if she could, she would not be willing to buy it.

As soon as Zhou Yan entered the door, Zhou Xiangde walked out of the house with a rosy face and said happily: "Fengnian, you are here. Let's have dinner here tonight. Yanyan's mother went to buy vegetables and will be back soon."

"Don't worry, Dad. We still have to go back and pack our things."

After Zhou Yan finished speaking, she took out her marriage certificate and said with a smile on her face: "Feng Nian and I are married."

"Got the certificate? Good, that's great!"

Zhou Xiangde took the marriage certificate and looked at it, feeling even happier. From now on, Zhou Fengnian would be his official son-in-law.

"Fengnian, let's have a drink tonight. Let's drink the wine you brought. Oops, is this Maotai?"

It was only then that Zhou Xiangde noticed that the wine his daughter had just brought in was Maotai, and he suddenly felt reluctant to drink it.

But the words had already been spoken, and not drinking it would seem too stingy, so Zhou Xiangde forced a smile and said, "Let's drink this tonight, Yanyan, Fengnian, you don't have to go back to cook."

"Father-in-law, this is really not possible. You know I just bought that courtyard house. I called the decoration team yesterday and I have to go back and pack up the furniture today."

Zhou Fengnian smiled and said, "This weekend, I will have a formal wedding banquet. I will invite relatives from both sides and set up two tables."

There is no problem with two tables. A few pounds of meat, chicken and fish will be enough. I have also discussed this with Zhou Xiangde in advance, so please don't invite too many relatives.

Although the last time was an early wedding banquet, it was more of a farewell banquet for Luo Cheng.

This is the formal family dinner.

After hearing this, Zhou Xiangde put aside the idea of ​​eating and asked, "How is the decoration going? Do you want my help?"

"No need, father-in-law. It's just a minor repair, hanging some wall and changing some tiles, etc. The main thing is to repair the toilet."

Zhou Fengnian shook his head and said there was nothing to help with, and he and his two brothers could do the rest of the moving of the furniture themselves.

Then Zhou Fengnian sat down and chatted for a while and asked about the situation of the steel rolling mill.

However, Zhou Xiangde's father-in-law was an honest man in the factory, and he was also a fourth-level fitter, and he had no idea about the wind direction in the factory.

I just know that others respect him more. Lao Liang, who used to have problems with him, doesn't say anything now. Now the workshop director is considering making him a team leader.

The workshop team leader is not considered an official, he just gets an extra two yuan in subsidies, but he can manage others.

Zhou Xiangde knew clearly that the changes in his life in the factory were all caused by the last time he greeted Zhou Fengnian in the cafeteria, and then several factory leaders followed suit.

Otherwise, there are many senior workers in the factory, so who would care about him, a fourth-level worker.

However, Zhou Fengnian did not gain nothing. From Zhou Xiangde, he learned what kind of person the director of the steel rolling mill was.

He was a bit ambitious, and often said things like "being in the forefront of the country" and "striving for progress" at factory meetings. Combined with what he knew from memory, he had a pretty good idea of ​​what kind of person this Factory Director Yang was.

Power struggles within the steel mill are inevitable. It would be strange if two young and middle-aged factory directors did not fight for power when they get together.

Fortunately, this kind of problem will not occur in their machinery factory. The two most powerful leaders in the factory are about to enter the "retirement group".

He also took the initiative to delegate power and would not interfere unless there was trouble. He also fully cooperated with the orders of the ministries and strongly supported the technical department and machine tool workshop.

If the steel rolling mill has entered a stable or even declining trend, then the machinery plant is steadily rising. It is no exaggeration to say that it will become the country's largest heavy industry plant within ten years.

After talking for a while, Zhou Fengnian suggested leaving. It was getting late and they had things to do after returning.

Zhou Xiangde tried to persuade them to stay, but failed, so he had to send his daughter and son-in-law to the gate of the slum, mainly the son-in-law.

Only after seeing the two men riding away on their bikes did Zhou Xiangde turn around and go back to the house with a smile.

When he saw his neighbors walking outside the house, he would take the initiative to say hello. The neighbors would also smile and praise Zhou Xiangde for having a good son-in-law.

But when Zhou Xiangde walked away, he changed his expression and spat, thinking secretly in his heart: Isn't it just a pretty daughter? Why show off!

Zhou Xiangde had just returned to the house when he saw Zhou Hao rummaging through the gifts his daughter had sent him. His face immediately changed and he stepped forward and slapped him in the face.

"It hurts! Dad, what are you doing? I'm just taking a look."

"Don't try that. Just now your sister came and you didn't come out. Now your sister and your brother-in-law are gone and you come out to look for gifts. Go away. If you move again, I will punish you."

Zhou Xiangde immediately dragged his youngest son away and scolded him, "Have you finished your homework? If not, tonight's meal will be reduced by half."

"I've finished writing. It's too much for me to be not my father. Now I'm only partial to my sister."

Zhou Hao said unconvincedly: "Besides, my brother-in-law doesn't like me. Didn't you see that last time my eldest brother went there, he was scolded by my brother-in-law and didn't dare to speak."

"How do you usually treat your sister? Reflect on yourself. Are you blaming her now?"

"My eldest brother is even more extreme than me. He tried to take action before but was taught a lesson. Otherwise, why would he avoid my brother-in-law?"

The last time he sent Luo Cheng away, he also announced the marriage of Zhou Fengnian and Zhou Yan. Zhou Fengnian didn't say it at the time, but he always regarded Luo Cheng as his elder in his heart.

So before he left, he let Luo Cheng have a wedding banquet.

Zhou Kai and Zhou Hao went there as well, of course, but these two were not at the mercy of Zhou Fengnian. There was once a time when Zhou Kai wanted to fight with Zhou Fengnian, but Zhou Fengnian twisted his arm so hard that it was almost broken.

After that, Zhou Kai was a little afraid of Zhou Fengnian. He claimed that he had been in countless places, but in front of Zhou Fengnian, he was like a chicken and had no power to resist.

However, no one else knew about this except Zhou Hao.

"Wait, you said a lesson before? What do you mean?" Zhou Xiangde suddenly reacted, his face darkened and he asked quickly: "What's going on?"

"Uh, nothing much..."

"Say!"

After Zhou Xiangde roared, everyone started looking for sticks in the house.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Hao quickly told what he had seen last time, completely selling out his elder brother, and even expressed his own guess that his elder brother might be angry about the lack of food and discipline and was looking for trouble with Zhou Fengnian.

"Okay, okay! This bastard!"

After hearing this, Zhou Xiangde's face turned red with anger. He had finally found a good son-in-law, but this bastard son took the initiative to offend him. He was as short-sighted as his mother.

If a normal person had a son-in-law like this, he would definitely treat him as a treasure. Just take the gifts Zhou Yan brought back today: Maotai, good cigarettes, and a pair of leather shoes.

They are all for him, the father. There are no gifts for other people.

Zhou Xiangde knew that there was still a thorn in his daughter's heart, so he tried every means to remove the thorn from his daughter's heart.

But he didn't expect that his eldest son was such a bastard and would take the initiative to come to his house and cause trouble.

"You bastard, why didn't you tell me then?"

Seeing that his eldest son had not returned at this time, Zhou Xiangde swung a stick and hit his younger son, scolding him as he hit him.

After chasing and beating for a few minutes, Zhou Xiangde sat down to catch his breath when Lv Honghui came back. However, he decided in his heart that he would beat his eldest son harder when he came back.

After a while, Lv Honghui came back from her son's room and shouted angrily: "Boss, you are too cruel!"

"You can't do anything without a beating. Do you know what they did? Your eldest son almost ruined your daughter's marriage!"

Zhou Xiangde felt a little scared when he mentioned this matter. Fortunately, Zhou Fengnian didn't care about it. If they had canceled the engagement because of this matter, they would have been unreasonable.

"Look at these, they were sent by your daughter. You are partial to such filial children. Look at your two sons, how can they compare to Yanyan?"

Lv Honghui also noticed the things on the table. She walked closer and immediately shouted, "Oh my god, how much is this? Why are there leather shoes?"

"Humph, my daughter bought these for me, keep them. I won't give these shoes to anyone else!"

After Zhou Xiangde finished speaking, he put the stick at the door so that Zhou Kai could pick it up when he came back.

------

"Brother and sister-in-law, second brother, please take a look at these furniture and see if you need them. Putting them in the utility room takes up too much space."

After Zhou Fengnian returned to the courtyard, he packed away a batch of unused furniture.

The utility room would be a bit crowded if all the things were piled up, and the whole house would be filled up. Zhou Fengnian thought it was not worth it, so he simply called his eldest and second brothers to ask them if they wanted them.

These furnitures are quite ordinary. Zhou Fengnian still has some unused furniture coupons and plans to buy new furniture.

Getting married, renovating the house, and using new furniture are all considered a new beginning.

Zhou Jiaan asked, "Third brother, you don't want these furniture anymore?"

"Well, I don't need it anymore. I still have some furniture tickets that I haven't used yet. I plan to buy new ones when the time comes. Do you want to use them? I can't use them all by myself."

Zhou Fengnian asked, but after he asked, the eldest and second oldest brothers shook their heads.

Their wages are low, and a large piece of furniture may cost them half a month's salary, so they really can't afford it.

Zhou Jiaan said with some uneasiness in his heart: "Third brother, if you sell these furniture, you will get a lot of money."

"Okay, second brother, look at the eldest brother, he has already picked it up, you can learn from him."

Zhou Fengnian tilted his head to indicate that Zhou Weitian was already looking at furniture and even opened the cabinet to take a look.

After reading it, he said without turning his head: "Second brother, do you want this cabinet? If not, give it to me."

After seeing this, Zhou Fengnian smiled and said, "Do you think that my brothers and I really count every penny so lightly? Then, if I ask you to help me in the future, do I have to pay you for your work?"

His eldest sister-in-law often came to help him with housework. The fourth sister and the eldest sister-in-law worked together to take apart and wash the bedding, because Zhou Fengnian did not know how to do this kind of needlework before.

He could wear clean clothes almost every day because his fourth sister and eldest sister-in-law often helped him, otherwise Zhou Fengnian would have to wash the clothes by himself.

"Go pick it up, second brother. I'll help you send it back later."

After saying that, Zhou Fengnian went back to the house. The valuable things in the house had been put away. The decoration would be completed in a few days, and he would also buy some new furniture to fill the house.

I've been spending money like water these past two days, and have spent more than seven hundred yuan on decoration.

There was also the 600 yuan rent for Luo Cheng and the 600 yuan stuffed under the lunch box, so Zhou Fengnian actually only had a little over 200 yuan left in his savings.

When he was a technician, Zhou Fengnian only saved 1,600 yuan. Fortunately, he worked as an engineer for four months, otherwise his savings would have been wiped out.

However, all the necessary expenses have been spent, and there have been no fixed expenses in the following months.

With his salary as an engineer, he would spend less than 20 yuan a month even if he ate as much as he wanted, not to mention that the factory provided him with good meals all year round.

He doesn't need to buy meal tickets, as the factory will give him a whole month's worth of meal tickets every month.

By the end of the year, Zhou Fengnian had saved nearly a thousand dollars.

After a while, after helping Zhou Weitian and Zhou Jiaan move the furniture over, Zhou Fengnian also came back and planned to ask Zhou Yan what she wanted to eat in the evening.

But when he entered the room, he found Zhou Yan was calculating the bills again. When she saw Zhou Fengnian coming in, she said with a tearful face, "Fengnian, we have spent too much recently."

Almost two thousand yuan was spent in just half a month. Zhou Yan was shocked when she saw it and even suspected that she, as a wife, asked for too many things.

It is glorious to be frugal at this time. If outsiders knew that they spent so much, she, as the wife, would be scolded to death.

"It's fine if we spend it. The wedding banquet is just a one-time event. We can just save money for the future."

Zhou Fengnian took Zhou Yan into his arms and comforted her, "If we save one hundred yuan a month, that's nearly four thousand yuan in three years. We can afford to raise as many children as we want."

"Who wants to give birth to you so many times?"

Zhou Yan was comforted by these words and patted lightly; she also realized that Zhou Fengnian had a very high salary, and if they started to be frugal in the future, they would definitely be able to save money.

"I'll go cook."

"Let me do it. I'm good at it."

"No, even if you are a good cook, it is still me, your wife, who has to cook. At most, I will prepare the food and you can cook."

Zhou Yan originally wanted to take care of everything, but thinking that Zhou Fengnian was indeed a good cook, she took on all the work except cooking.

If she doesn't take up the housework, she will really become a 'lazy wife'.

(End of this chapter)