Douluo's Blue Silver Family

Chapter 261 Work Issues

The courtyard house where Yuan Changqing's family lived consisted of a front courtyard, a back courtyard, and a middle courtyard, housing a total of more than a dozen families.

It was like a large tenement. In this era, if any family had a problem, the neighbors would be happy to help.

Therefore, neighbors were more influential than relatives at this time. After all, visiting relatives now requires obtaining a certificate from the local street office, and in addition, no household had any extra food.

Therefore, they rarely visit relatives. If they need help, they usually ask their neighbors, which proves the saying that a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative.

Yuan Changqing's family lived on the left side of the front yard. There were two rooms with a total area of ​​60 square meters. One of the larger rooms was 35 square meters and was divided into a bedroom and a living room. Yuan Dongfang and Jiang Fen lived on this side.

Yuan Changqing's room was 25 square meters, plus a side room of about 15 square meters, which Yuan Dongfang converted into a storage room and kitchen.

Therefore, the house of Yuan Changqing's family of three is about 75 square meters, which is probably only comparable to that of Sha Zhu's family in this courtyard house.

After all, housing wasn't very affluent in those days, so it was quite rare for Yuan Changqing's family to have such a large living space.

In this front yard, across from Yuan Changqing's house was the house of Uncle Yan Fugui, whose family was similar to Yuan Changqing's, except that they had six people.

Moreover, Yan Fugui is one of the stewards of this three-courtyard house. He is a Chinese language teacher at Hongxing Elementary School. He is stingy and often says, "You won't get poor from eating or dressing, but you will get poor if you don't plan ahead."

The third uncle's family now consists of six people, and only one person has a job. It's understandable that he's so stingy. Perhaps it's because he's too calculating that he'll end up calculating against himself in the future.

However, that's a story for another time.

Of course, the front yard definitely had more than just the Yuan Changqing and Yan Fugui families.

The steward of the Intermediate Court is named Yi Zhonghai. He is an old man, an eighth-grade fitter. He is childless and has an apprentice named Jia Dongxu, who also lives in the Intermediate Court.

However, Jia Dongxu died not long ago due to a work injury, leaving behind two widows, two young children, and Qin Huairu, who was about six months pregnant.

Originally, Yi Zhonghai, an old man, took Jia Dongxu as his apprentice in order to support him in his old age, but things didn't go as planned.

Now Yi Zhonghai has shifted his focus and made Sha Zhu, his backup plan, his official plan.

The Intermediate Court also houses two siblings, He Yuzhu and his sister He Yushui, who live in the largest house in the court.

Moreover, Sha Zhu started bringing so-called leftovers from the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill to Qin Huairu's family every day, showing signs of becoming a sycophant.

After entering the moon gate, you'll find yourself in the backyard. Uncle Liu Haizhong, the second uncle, lives there. He's a level seven forger at the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill.

Uncle Liu Haizhong was obsessed with officialdom. Besides being incompetent yet wanting to become an official, his favorite thing to do was beat up his second and third sons.

In addition, Xu Damao, who also works at the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill, is a projectionist who specializes in showing movies.

And the most senior deaf old lady in the courtyard is also in the backyard. She likes to take advantage of her age, pretend to be deaf and stupid, and favor Sha Zhu.

This single courtyard house houses more than a dozen families, with a total population of about 100.

Those three elderly men were specifically chosen to help mediate conflicts and disputes between neighbors in the neighborhood.

...

That evening, as soon as Yuan Dongfang got home, he asked about Yuan Changqing's heatstroke. He hadn't come home before because he was still working in the cafeteria and knew that Yuan Changqing was alright.

"Changqing, are you alright now?" Yuan Dongfang asked.

Yuan Changqing nodded and said, "I'm fine now. I took a nap this afternoon and I feel much better, but I'm still a little weak."

Seeing that Yuan Changqing was alright, Yuan Dongfang was relieved and said, "It's good that you're alright. The weather is hot now, so don't go out during the day. Just rest at home."

"Okay, I understand. I'll be careful," Yuan Changqing replied.

Then, Yuan Dongfang thought that Yuan Changqing had already graduated from junior high school and had not been admitted to high school, so he couldn't just stay at home all the time.

Then Yuan Dongfang said, "Changqing, you've already graduated, and your current job isn't good. How about I get you a job as an apprentice in the canteen of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill? Once there are openings later, you can become a full-time employee. What do you think?"

Yuan Changqing nodded and said, "Dad, if you hadn't asked, I was just about to let you see if you could get me a job as an apprentice in the cafeteria!"

Yuan Dongfang was also very pleased to see that Yuan Changqing was willing to work in the canteen of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill.

After all, to find a good job these days, you either need a university degree or to graduate from a vocational high school, where the government will directly assign you a job.

However, Yuan Changqing was only a junior high school student, and his academic performance was just so-so; otherwise, he wouldn't have failed to get into high school.

Yan Jiecheng, from the third uncle's family in the front yard, had just graduated from junior high school, just like Yuan Changqing; the two were classmates.

Yan Jiecheng is currently unable to find a job and can only go out and look for temporary work.

Temporary jobs are unstable these days, often lasting only intermittently, and are mostly manual labor.

Fortunately, Yuan Changqing's family was dual-income, with both parents working. Therefore, after graduating from junior high school, Yuan Changqing did not take on temporary jobs like Yan Jiecheng.

Now that Yuan Dongfang has proposed to work in the cafeteria, Yuan Changqing readily agrees.

After all, in this day and age, jobs are limited and it's first-come, first-served. As the urban population grows, finding a job will become even more difficult.

"Alright, you can wait at home for a few days. I'll talk to the cafeteria manager first, and you should be able to start working in the cafeteria in a few days," Yuan Dongfang said.

"it is good."

"Dinner's ready," Jiang Fen called out.

Yuan Dongfang usually does the cooking at Yuan Changqing's house. After all, he's a chef, and the food he makes is definitely much tastier than what non-chefs would make.

However, because Yuan Changqing suffered from heatstroke today, Jiang Fen took leave to come back and take care of him. Therefore, today's meals were prepared in advance, waiting for Yuan Dongfang to return.

Moreover, most people nowadays eat only two meals a day, and some people with poor living conditions eat only one meal a day.

Therefore, there are very few fat people nowadays; most people are very thin.

In the courtyard, only the eldest uncle, the second eldest uncle, Xu Damao, Shazhu, and of course, Yuan Changqing's family were able to eat three meals a day.

For example, there are only two people in the old man's family. He is also an eighth-level fitter with a monthly salary of 99 yuan. It is very easy for him to eat three meals a day.

Moreover, the old man, as an eighth-grade fitter, not only had a high salary and a high quota, but also no children. The old woman was also an urban resident and had a quota as well.

Therefore, the ration for the two of them was enough to make their standard of living much higher than that of most people.

Second Uncle, being an ambitious official who also liked to compare himself to others, naturally couldn't be outdone when he saw First Uncle eating three meals a day. Besides, he was a seventh-level blacksmith with a salary of eighty-seven, so eating three meals a day was quite easy for him.

At Second Uncle's house, Second Uncle was like a landlord in the old days. All the good things were given to Second Uncle first, and then to his eldest son, Liu Guangqi.

However, Liu Guangtian, the second son of the second uncle, and Liu Guangfu, the third son, did not receive the same treatment and only ate one meal a day.

Moreover, whenever the second uncle encountered something unpleasant, he would beat the two brothers to a pulp, as if they weren't his own sons.

That's why the deaf old lady who lived in the backyard said, "If parents are not kind, their children will be unfilial." In the end, it really came true, and even the most favored eldest son, Liu Guangqi, didn't care about his second uncle and his wife.

Next, there's no need to mention Sha Zhu. You can tell from the fact that in what era could a cook go hungry? Sha Zhu often says, "If the cook doesn't steal, the grain won't be plentiful."

Needless to say, Xu Damao was in high demand in an era with limited entertainment.

Besides the film screenings assigned by the factory, Xu Damao would often go to the communes near Beijing to show movies when he had free time. When he came back, he would bring home bags full of local specialties, which showed how lucrative the business was.

Finally, there's Yuan Changqing's family. Yuan Dongfang is the cook, and Jiang Fen also has a job. The three of them are all city dwellers, so naturally they wouldn't skimp on food.

After dinner, Yuan Changqing's family went to bed early. There are few entertainment options now, and they also eat less.

Therefore, in order to reduce energy expenditure, most people are unwilling to go out and go to bed early.

...

The next morning, Yuan Changqing got up very early, perhaps because he had slept too much the night before.

After he stepped out of his room, he saw the old man across the hall carrying fishing gear.

"Good morning, Uncle! You're up so early. Looks like you're getting ready to go fishing!" Yuan Changqing greeted him.

Upon hearing this, the third uncle looked over and said, "Oh, it's Changqing. I heard you had heatstroke yesterday. How are you? Are you feeling better?"

"Thank you for your concern, Uncle. I'm all better now. After a night's rest, I'm basically fine," Yuan Changqing replied.

The old man nodded and said, "That's good. I think it's better for you young people to stay out in the hot weather. If you get heatstroke like you and there's no one around, it could be dangerous."

Yuan Changqing laughed and said, "Third Uncle is right. I'll stay home for the next few days and don't plan to go out."

The old man added, "Don't always stay at home. You should go out for a walk and get some fresh air when you have time. When you have nothing to do, you can do what I do and go fishing. You can enjoy the breeze by the river and you definitely won't get heatstroke."

Yuan Changqing nodded and said, "Then I won't keep you from fishing any longer, Uncle. I wish you a bountiful catch today."

"Sigh, whatever, I knew you young people wouldn't listen. I'm going back to fishing," the old man said, shaking his head.

However, Yuan Changqing thought to himself, "If we consider my psychological age, I'm already your grandfather."

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(End of this chapter)