Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

"Banxia, ​​come and eat!"

A middle-aged woman came over with a dish, placed it on the table, took Lu Banxia's hand, wiped away her tears, and said:

"My poor Banxia, ​​why are you so unlucky? From now on, don't go anywhere, just stay by my side. Your Uncle Li and I don't have any children, so from now on you will be our own daughter."

"Aunt Li, sob sob sob."

Lu Banxia threw herself into Aunt Li's arms and cried her heart out, wanting to cry out all the grievances she had suffered during this time.

Aunt Li gently rubbed Lu Banxia's head, tears also streaming down her face.

Their family was closer to the Lu family than blood brothers. Since before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Lu family had always been helping their family. But they never expected that such a thing would happen after Old Li had only been gone for half a year.

They live in Beijing. If they were in Tianjin, she would have heard the news and gone to the military base to look for them long ago.

Lu Banxia cried in Aunt Li's arms for a full five minutes. Seeing that she was exhausted from crying, Aunt Li gently patted Lu Banxia's head and softly comforted her:

"Banxia, ​​don't be sad, let's eat first, or the food will get cold."

"Yes, yes, Banxia, ​​let's eat first," Li Jianguo said quickly.

Aunt Li pulled Lu Banxia to sit down and filled Lu Banxia's bowl with braised pork.

"Child, eat more. You've suffered a lot these past few days."

"Yes, thank you, Aunt Li. Thank you, Uncle Li."

Lu Banxia didn't stand on ceremony. She was her father's only daughter, and Uncle Li and Aunt Li had no children of their own. They had always treated her like their own daughter since she was little, so there was no need for them to be polite.

She picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in her mouth, eating it in big bites, tears streaming down her face as she ate.

Only she knows how much suffering she endured during this time. If it weren't for the kind-hearted Third Grandmother taking her in, leaving her the house after she left, and Wang Feng saving her twice, she would have died long ago.

Unfortunately, Third Grandmother passed away, and there were no other relatives left in the family. She didn't even have the chance to repay Third Grandmother.

Seeing Lu Banxia eating while shedding tears, Aunt Li felt very sorry for her, but she also knew that Banxia was in a lot of pain and that it was not something that could be comforted with just a few words.

When Aunt Li saw that Lu Banxia's bowl was almost empty, she filled it with another bowl.

"Banxia, ​​eat slowly, there's more."

"Um."

After dinner, Aunt Li poured Lu Banxia a cup of tea and said, "Banxia, ​​go take a shower and change your clothes later. Tomorrow, Aunt Li will take you to buy some clothes that fit."

"Yes, thank you, Aunt Li."

Li Jianguo lit a cigarette, sighed at Lu Banxia, ​​and said, "Banxia, ​​because your father is a big capitalist, there are many opposing voices from above. It's possible that you can't get all of your family's assets back. But don't worry, Uncle Li will try his best to fight for it for you."

Lu Banxia nodded: "Thank you, Uncle Li. I'm very satisfied to have gotten back a small portion, since it didn't cost me much money."

"Well, it's good that you've figured it out." Li Jianguo nodded in satisfaction.

"Banxia, ​​you should rest at home for a few months until you're fully recovered. Uncle Li will find you a job—a supply and marketing cooperative, a department store, you can choose whichever you like."

Aunt Li frowned: "Old Li, why don't we send Banxia to the power bureau? I can keep an eye on her there."

Li Jianguo waved his hand and said in a deep voice, "Banxia, ​​it's best not to work in a public institution. Many people at the top are disgusted with capitalists now. If you go to such an institution, you can only be a low-level employee forever, with no room for advancement."

"Too."

Aunt Li sighed and agreed with Li Jianguo's words. As the director of the power bureau, she knew that the higher-ups were not very friendly to capitalists.

"Uncle Li, I want to work at Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill. Can you arrange for me to go?" Lu Banxia asked.

"Um?"

Li Jianguo looked at Lu Banxia in surprise and asked in confusion, "Banxia, ​​why did you think of working in a factory? This factory is far inferior to the supply and marketing cooperative and the department store."

"I……."

......

The next day.

Courtyard 95.

After Qin Jingru went to the steel rolling mill, Wang Feng packed some cured meat and dried wild rabbits and other mountain products into a sack and also went to the steel rolling mill.

Upon arriving at the steel rolling mill, Wang Feng handed over the cured meat and mountain produce, and received 36 yuan.

This time he only brought about 20 jin of cured meat and some mountain products, but he didn't bring them all back. He collected more than 200 jin of cured meat, which would be too much if he handed it all over.

If he pays in installments, he can pay about 20 kilograms each time, so that others won't think he's not at the factory all day and just collects wages without doing any work.

Just as Wang Feng was about to cause trouble at No. 28 courtyard after leaving the finance department, he ran into Li Huaide.

"Brother, I was just about to come find you. Don't go yet, I have something to tell you."

"Brother Li, what's wrong?" Wang Feng asked, puzzled.

Li Huaide sighed and said, "Brother, I'm so sorry."

Wang Feng frowned and asked, "Brother Li, what's going on?"

Li Huaide offered Wang Feng a cigarette before slowly speaking: "Brother, it's like this. My father-in-law just arranged for a girl to work at our factory, but she specifically requested to live in courtyard number 95, which is your courtyard."

"Isn't No. 95 courtyard full now? I was thinking that since you and your sister-in-law have a place to live now, I gave the house that was previously allocated to your sister-in-law to this girl. But don't worry, brother, I will definitely not let you suffer any losses. I will talk to the housing management department later and ask them to allocate a better house for your sister-in-law in another courtyard."

Upon hearing this, Wang Feng breathed a long sigh of relief. He had thought something had happened to Jingru, but it turned out to be just a small matter.

"Brother Li, is it really such a small matter? I thought something serious had happened. No problem, I agree. Anyway, Jingru and I aren't planning to move into that house right now, so it's just sitting empty. You don't need to give the house to Jingru. We can't buy it anyway, it's not of any use to us."

Li Huaide patted Wang Feng on the shoulder heavily and laughed loudly, "Haha, alright, I was just afraid that you and your wife would misunderstand. After all, this was arranged by my father-in-law, and as his son-in-law, I couldn't very well refuse."

"By the way, brother, I heard this girl is the niece of a major general. If she moves into your compound, you'd better keep an eye on her for Brother Li. Don't let her be bullied by the people in your compound, or Brother Li will have a hard time explaining himself. Especially Jia Dongxu's mother, that old hag caused trouble at our factory last time and even scratched me. It hurt for days."

"Alright, if I run into her in the yard, I'll definitely make sure she's not bullied. If I'm not there, then there's nothing I can do." Wang Feng nodded in agreement.

"Hehe, okay, I still need to go check on the workshop, so I'll be going now."

Li Huaide smiled at Wang Feng and then walked towards the fitter's workshop.

"Brother Li, wait a minute."

Li Huaide turned around and asked, "Brother, is there anything else?"

"Brother Li, didn't I ask you to help me get a driver's license last time? Did you get it done for me?" Wang Feng asked.

Li Huaide slapped his forehead: "Brother, I almost forgot, you didn't mention it. The driver's license was processed a couple of days ago. How about this, I'll have my secretary deliver it to your wife later, and she can pick it up for you after get off work."

"Okay, thank you, Brother Li."