The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 1 New arrival
"Good morning, Huazi."

"Good morning, Aunt Zhou."

"Hua Zi, early shift."

"Yes, Uncle Liu is taking a walk!"

Liu Hua walked out of the door amid the greetings filled with the atmosphere of the market. This was the morning of ordinary people. After getting up, they greeted each other. Although it was all polite, it made people feel comfortable.

This is a most ordinary morning in Beijing, but it is not ordinary, because this ordinary greeting came on a certain day sixty years ago. This is a story in 1962.

Our protagonist Liu Hua walked along the corner of the alley to a breakfast shop, bought two vegetable buns and ate them while walking. There were no pesticides or chemical fertilizers, and even though they were vegetable buns, they were not oily or watery, they were still so sweet.

If this happened half a year ago, Liu Hua would never have dared to eat like this, because this year was 1962, and the three-year disaster had just passed. Food was a little more abundant this year. In addition, Liu Hua moved out of his home and set up his own household, so he had plenty of money and tickets. That's why he dared to occasionally not cook and go out for breakfast.

Speaking of this, I have to introduce Liu Hua's background.

It is said that parents who offer sacrifices to heaven have boundless magical powers, but Liu Hua’s parents definitely did not offer sacrifices to heaven. Not only did his parents not offer sacrifices to heaven, but even his grandparents did not.

My grandparents are old military workers. They started working when they were in Huangyadong. As high school graduates, they were considered senior intellectuals back then. They are still working in related units today and are senior engineers.

His parents were soldiers. After fighting Chiang Kai-shek, they went east to fight the Americans. Later they retired. His father was a powerful director in the Municipal Police Department, and his mother joined the District Women's Federation and was a deputy director.

This family has defeated more than 90% of the people in Beijing. Liu Hua did not get into secondary technical school, and after graduating from high school, he also failed the college entrance examination. His father had originally planned to arrange for him to work as a household registration police officer in the police station.

But the old man has spoken. Both he and his wife are engineering and technical talents. As a result, their children either join the army, go into politics, become teachers, or become doctors. There is no engineer as a successor.

Therefore, the old man made a dictate decision on Liu Hua's job and arranged for him to work as a technician in the Third Steel Rolling Mill. Since he did not graduate from a related major, he was an apprentice when he entered the factory.

But Liu Hua's father has his reputation. When he was sent to the factory, the leaders in the factory guaranteed that he would be converted to a regular employee after half a year. The leaders in the factory and the heads of the technical department are aware of this.

Liu Hua is a strong-willed person. After entering the factory, he vowed to fight for his place and get a permanent job based on his own abilities, so he studied very hard.

But after his father sent him to the factory, he bought him three houses in a courtyard house because it was close to the factory and convenient for him to commute to get off work.

Liu Hua's father is the youngest among his brothers, and Liu Hua is also the youngest in the family. He is treated like a treasure at home. But after he set up his own household, there was no one to take care of him, and his life suddenly became chaotic.

Because he studied hard and didn't know how to take care of himself, he fell ill five months after entering the factory with a cold and a high fever.

He lived a secluded life in the hospital and rarely interacted with other people, so no one else knew that he was sick at home, and he died of a fever.

The Liu Hua of the 211s is gone, but the Liu Hua after the s is here. The Liu Hua after the s is a serious college student, studying mechanical design. Although his grades are not outstanding, he is also a graduate of a serious university.

After graduation, due to the serious internal competition in the recruitment market, Liu Hua used his expertise and dexterity to become a handicraft maker on the Internet.

Unexpectedly, this job is just what Liu Hua wants. If you want him to strive for the best in the mechanical design industry, Liu Hua does not have this ability. Even if he works in this industry, he can only be an ordinary engineer.

But among all the handicraft masters on the Internet, Liu Hua is absolutely the best. He is good at mechanical design and operation, and is an expert at operating various small machine tools. In order to do this job well, he even dabbled in other aspects.

He taught himself chemical industry and basic materials at university. Similarly, he could not invent anything, but he had learned well and could flexibly apply the knowledge he already had.

During a live broadcast, there was a sudden power outage due to abnormal weather, which caused a series of accidents in his studio and he was sent away from 2024.

But Liu Hua in 2024 would never have imagined that his new starting point would be in 1962.

Coming into this era of extreme poverty, Liu Hua has nothing to rely on except a head full of knowledge, and he doesn't even have a standard system. How can he survive in this era? This is a problem.

After Liu Hua finished eating two vegetable buns, his stomach felt much better, at least it stopped growling. He had just arrived at the entrance of the steel rolling mill. Since he had been working there for half a year, the guards almost knew him and nodded at him with a smile.

Liu Hua took out a pack of Yingchun cigarettes from his pocket and handed one to the guard. The guard took it and sniffed it, but did not smoke it. He put it behind his ear.

"You're here so early, Technician Liu."

"There's nothing I can do. We're new here, so we have to work harder."

"That's right. Hard work is always the right thing to do." The guard said with a smile, "Who knows, the director of this department might make you a regular employee if he's happy. Then you can get a raise, more benefits, and you can get married. Then you'll have hope for the future."

After offering a few cigarettes to other people in the message room, Liu Hua walked straight to the office building not far away. It was just a three-story building made of blue bricks and with white lime walls, but in this era, it was already an office location that many people envied.

In a few minutes, he came to the office of the equipment group of the technical department, picked up the broom and started to work, sweeping the floor, wiping the table, and boiling water. These are the jobs that newcomers should do. If you wait for the old people in the technical department to do this kind of work, you will be in trouble.

When Liu Hua had almost finished cleaning the technical department, the old people also walked into the technical office one after another. Most of them looked at the bright and clean office and nodded with satisfaction.

Everyone sat down at their desks and did what they were supposed to do, but the first thing they all did was to pour hot water into their enamel pots. This was what made everyone most satisfied, as the six thermoses were already filled with boiling water.

The team leader nodded in satisfaction, sipped a mouthful of hot water, and said with a smile: "Xiao Liu, you've worked hard. From now on, we'll take turns doing this job. We can't always let you perform alone."

(End of this chapter)