Era: Starting from divorce from female college student

Chapter 12: Distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors

Zhao Mancang looked at his neighbor with a strange expression, then glanced at the trembling Jin Wenliang and said:
"Why should I put down the knife?"

At this time, the neighbors in the front and back yards also rushed over after hearing the news.

Everyone's gossip fire has been burning fiercely.

Mei Chunyan rushed to the front immediately. Although she was a little curious, she didn't say anything.

"Don't make any mistakes, you know? Put down the knife, everything will be fine."

Grandpa Jin said with all his strength that even though all the neighbors were out now, he should be more confident.

However, Mr. Jin is not sure about Zhao Mancang's character. What if Zhao Mancang becomes beastly and starts killing people with a kitchen knife? What should he do then?
Today, the east wing was occupied by the new neighbor Zhao Mancang. The father and son of the Jin family were of course very unhappy when they heard the news.

In Courtyard No. 18 of Huguo Temple, their Jin family is definitely the largest family.

Mr. Kim Won-sik, 52 years old this year, has three sons, namely Kim Wendong, Kim Wenliang and Kim Wenjian.

However, although they have many sons, they can only live in the west wing of the backyard.

Suffocated!
Mr. Jin and his family dreamed of owning the east wing of the central courtyard, but unfortunately, they were not qualified and their applications were rejected every time.

So, now that Zhao Mancang has moved in, Uncle Jin and his family can only resort to the same old tricks.

However, he didn't expect that Zhao Mancang was actually a young and inexperienced man. Not long after his second son went in, Zhao Mancang chased him out with a kitchen knife.

As a result, Mr. Jin, who was chatting in the north room of Wei Hongzhou's house, had to come out quickly to stop them to prevent tragedy from happening.

"I don't know you, and I have nothing to say to you."

Zhao Mancang shook his head and continued walking towards the laundry trough.

The laundry chute is located in the same direction as the corner corridor leading to the backyard.

It just so happened that Kim Won-sik, Kim Moon-ryung and the others were right next to the laundry sink.

As a result, when Zhao Mancang came over with a knife, Jin Yuanzhi and his son, Wei Hongzhou and the others all ran away.

But soon, they were surprised to find that Zhao Mancang came to the washing machine and started sharpening the kitchen knife.

The neighbors looked at each other in confusion, but Mei Chunyan and several other half-grown children burst into laughter.

Instead, they were scolded by their respective parents because they were laughing at Kim Won-sik and his son. After all, their embarrassing appearance just now was really funny.

This big mistake made Jin Wenliang so angry that his face turned blue. He was very unwilling to accept it.

But he was afraid of the kitchen knife in Zhao Mancang's hand, so he could only glare at Zhao Mancang fiercely and then left.

Jin Yuanzhi snorted coldly and said a few polite words to the neighbors, making sarcastic remarks: Children should not play with knives, or they may hurt themselves.

Zhao Mancang simply ignored him and was too lazy to pay attention to him.

Kim Won-sik was so angry that his face turned green. He turned around and left without making himself bored anymore.

Seeing that Jin Yuanzhi and his son were both defeated by Zhao Mancang one after another, neighbors such as Wei Hongzhou, Aunt Luo, Old Lady Liu, and Mei Chunyan all said it was very exciting.

However, the melon didn’t last long, so everyone quickly dispersed.

Mei Chunyan and her elder brother Mei Xuesong came over and handed eight cents to the latter.

"Comrade Zhao Mancang, my sister ate two of your steamed buns this morning. She's ignorant, so don't argue with her."

It was obvious that Mei Xuesong just didn't want to owe Zhao Mancang anything.

Although their family is poor, they will not owe money to others casually.

"Comrade Mei, your sister helped me clean the house this morning."

Zhao Mancang shook his head and said, "There's an old saying that a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. We'll be neighbors from now on, so I might have to trouble your sister. We should help each other. There's no need for this."

The best relationship is one where there is give and take.

This has always been the case, whether it's neighbors or other relationships.

Even if they are a couple, if only one party is giving, the relationship will not last long.

In his previous life, Zhao Mancang had never been a bootlicker, but he knew what it was like. After all, the original owner was a complete bootlicker.

After chatting with the Mei brothers and sisters for a while, Zhao Mancang learned about their family situation and the general situation of this courtyard house.

Speaking of which, the Aunt Liu Juan from the Street Office who brought him here this morning actually gave a brief introduction to the neighbors of this courtyard.

But at that time, Aunt Liu Juan was more focused on trying to match him up with someone and earning red envelopes from the matchmaker.

Because Zhao Mancang is a fifth-level breeder with a monthly salary of fifty-four yuan and ten cents, which is considered a diamond bachelor in this era.

Although Zhao Mancang does not have a car at the moment, as long as he has a formal job and looks good, he will definitely be in high demand.

Therefore, Zhao Mancang didn't remember much about the neighbors of Courtyard No. 18.

The most ferocious neighbor in Courtyard No. 18 is Mr. Jin's family. Zhao Mancang has experienced it before and there is nothing much to say.

As for other neighbors, we will have contact with them in the future, so we will talk about it later.

The next day, Zhao Mancang got up early and washed up slowly.

He politely declined Mei Chunyan's invitation to have sweet potato breakfast, and then went out to have breakfast.

There are quite a few breakfast shops in Beijing, all of which are state-owned, with no private ones.

There is nothing to say about this.

After spending 40 cents on a hearty breakfast, Zhao Mancang walked slowly out of the city to digest the food.

At this time in the morning, many workers have already put on their work clothes and are walking towards the factory.

The streets are full of workers.

Looking around in 1958, most work uniforms were blue, gray, black, etc. Of course, there were other colors such as white, but they were not mainstream.

There was no large army of cyclists at that time, and the walking army was the absolute mainstream.

Occasionally there are a few bicycles, which are definitely the brightest things on the street.

However, Zhao Mancang simply counted and found that there were a total of 48 people riding bicycles along the way he was walking.

I can only say that there are not many people who own bicycles in this era, but there are not too few either.

As for the cars, there were really sixteen of them: three sedans, five jeeps, four trucks and four buses.

At the gate of the steel plant, Li Baoguo was on the early shift today and arrived early in the morning.

Just as Zhao Mancang was about to go in, Li Baoguo asked him about the donkey.

"Captain Li, he gave me medicine and rice soup yesterday afternoon. Now that night has passed, he should be feeling a little better, right? I'll go check on him right away."

"Okay, then go ahead and get busy. Let me know when you're cured."

Li Baoguo originally wanted to chat with Zhao Mancang about the latter's divorce, but seeing that Zhao Mancang was so anxious, he didn't feel like chatting anymore.

As soon as Zhao Mancang left, Xiao Shutie next to Li Baoguo couldn't help but gossip:

"Captain Li, I'd say Zhao Mancang is a ruthless person. He just got divorced yesterday morning and returned to work this afternoon. He doesn't seem to be sad at all. All his efforts over the past eight years have gone to waste just like that?"

Eight years, just giving up like that, that’s really cruel!
(End of this chapter)