Era: Starting from divorce from female college student

Chapter 17, Invitation and Refusal
At noon in the cafeteria, Zhao Mancang had just ordered two steamed buns, a sweet potato, and cabbage stewed with pork from the food window. Not long after he sat down in an empty seat in the restaurant, Li Baoguo, along with Xiao Shutie, Han Xiaochuan, Fan Tong and other members of the security team, surrounded him.

"Mancang, your food is really good. You're finally treating yourself better. Not bad, not bad!"

"If I had a salary of fifty-four and a half yuan a month, I would definitely eat meat every day, and never twice!"

"Don't you need to get married, you glutton? You still eat meat every day, you're so beautiful!"

The people in the security department are all young people in their early twenties. Some of them have already married, while others are still single.

But it was really lively when they sat together and chatted, which was in stark contrast to Zhao Mancang who always liked quietness.

Li Baoguo laughed and scolded, asking Xiao Shutie and the others to speak more politely, then he looked at Zhao Mancang and said:
"Mancang, I heard you received another sick cow today? When did you change your career to become a veterinarian?"

There are no secrets in the steel mill, and gossip always spreads the fastest.

What's more, the news about Zhao Mancang is probably the biggest gossip these days.

Naturally, many people will pay attention to his news.

Zhao Mancang had just taken over the diarrhea ox in the morning and was busy taking care of and checking the ox all morning, but he didn't know that the news had spread throughout the factory.

In response, Zhao Mancang just shook his head and laughed.

"Captain Li, I just happen to know some folk remedies. I'm not a veterinarian, so I can't do this job."

Li Baoguo was just chatting casually, and this was not his purpose.

Then he mentioned something else, which he had heard from Mr. Bai and others in Yongheng Hutong: Huang Xiufen was forced by her father to work if she failed to get into university.

Huang Xiufen is the younger sister of Zhao Mancang’s ex-wife. She is already 20 years old this year and should have started working a long time ago.

Upon hearing this news, Zhao Mancang's expression remained unchanged:

"What happened with my ex-wife's family has nothing to do with me anymore. Captain Li, you don't have to tell me. I don't want to hear it either."

Seeing that Zhao Mancang had already expressed this, Li Baoguo had no choice but to smile and change the subject.

Soon he invited Zhao Mancang to go hunting with them this weekend.

In the 1950s, public holidays were based on the "National Holidays and Memorial Day Holidays Regulations" issued by the State Council on December 23, 1949. There were only four holidays each year.

That is, one day for New Year's Day, three days for Spring Festival, one day for May Day and two days for National Day, a total of seven days of holidays.

The practice of having one day off per week is based on the Sunday rest system during the Republic of China period and has not changed.

During the Republic of China era, the single-day-off system was common in official institutions and private enterprises. Similar to the chaotic situation in the late Qing Dynasty where "scholars only knew to worship Confucius on the first and fifteenth days of the month, and do essays on the third, sixth and ninth days, businessmen only knew to pray to the God of Wealth on the twenty-sixth day of the month, and the rest of the people had no regular holidays", the single-day-off system was more popular.

And two days later, it will be Sunday of this week, a holiday for most people.

"Hunting? Going to Yanshan?"

Zhao Mancang had a strange look on his face, but Xiao Shutie and the others nodded excitedly.

"No!" Zhao Mancang refused.
"Yanjiao is completely bare. There's nothing in the mountains. How can there be any prey?"

"If we go deep into the mountains, it's too far."

Before 1949, the country was in flames and the people were suffering from years of war.

Not to mention that Yanshan Mountain is left unattended, resulting in the entire mountain being bare. Even places like the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City are in a mess.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the country launched a major construction campaign, especially from 1953 to 1958, which marked a golden period of construction. As a result, the Yanshan Mountains finally escaped the bald man's predicament.

Even so, with a population of 6.6 million in the entire capital, when honeycomb coal had not yet become the mainstream fuel, firewood was still the material used by ordinary people to cook and keep warm.

Therefore, most of the Yanshan Mountains near the village are still bare.

According to Zhao Mancang's estimation, one would have to go at least six or seven kilometers into the mountains before seeing traces of prey.

But if you go deep into these places, the risk factor will be countless times greater.

Zhao Mancang earns fifty-four and a half yuan a month. Now is the time when one person's food can feed the whole family. He would have to be crazy to think of going hunting.

Li Baoguo didn't expect that he would refuse so quickly and decisively, and he didn't react for a long time.

Han Xiaochuan was the one who reacted quickly and continued with a smile:
"I said that Brother Mancang would definitely not go hunting. Look, I was right, wasn't I?"

After a boastful remark, he looked at Zhao Mancang and asked tentatively:
"Brother Mancang, how about we go fishing?"

From hunting to fishing, Zhao Mancang glanced at Li Baoguo and felt a slight movement in his heart.

It seems that the drunkard’s intention is not to drink!

The day before yesterday, Li Baoguo and Su Wanzhen had a big fight because Li Baoguo wanted to introduce him to a girl.

He was quiet all day yesterday, but I didn’t expect that Li Baoguo couldn’t hold it in anymore today.

It can be seen that whether it is hunting, fishing, or even other activities, they are most likely paving the way for introducing partners.

'Am I really that popular?'

Zhao Mancang laughed in his heart, but was speechless about the original owner.

It was obvious that the original owner had a good hand, but he was bewitched by Huang Xiuling, a woman, and fell into depravity, allowing the Huang family to take whatever they wanted. He really had a problem with his brain.

At the same time, Zhao Mancang also thought of his two wives in his previous life, and his mood became even more complicated for a moment.

This was just a fleeting thought in his mind. After coming to his senses, he shook his head and smiled at Han Xiaochuan:
"Fishing is pretty good, but you know I just moved and I have a lot of things to do this weekend. Let's talk about it next time."

Hearing him say this, Han Xiaochuan, Xiao Shutie and others were helpless. This excuse was simply impeccable.

Li Baoguo, who had reacted, laughed and pressed on:

"I'm good at moving. Do you still need to buy furniture? We can help you."

Zhao Mancang rolled his eyes: Is it impossible to get through?

"Thank you, Captain Li. I know you are good to me, but I can't accept it so comfortably." Zhao Mancang was determined and refused to budge.

Although he knew that it would be right to establish a good relationship with the other party.

But the other party now insists on introducing him to someone, so he'd better escape first.

So he quickly finished his lunch, told Li Baoguo and the others that he was full and to wash his lunch boxes first, and told them to eat slowly, and then he ran away.

It was not until Zhao Mancang had left for a while that Li Baoguo came to his senses.

Xiao Shutie and the others said helplessly to Li Baoguo:
"Captain Li, let me tell you, aren't we being too obvious? Zhao Mancang must have known our intentions, otherwise he wouldn't have run so fast."

(End of this chapter)