Year 1983: I was a carpenter in Northeast China

After returning home, Xu Bei asked his younger sister to take care of their mother, who was somewhat drunk from the cold wind outside.

He first stoked the stove until the room was warm, then put on his coat, hat, and gloves again, pulled the sled, and went out, pretending to go to the boss to pick up goods.

In fact, ever since he left the Civil Affairs Department, Xu Bei had seriously considered the matter of changing his household registration.

Finally, I plan to have both a positive attitude and a willingness to take risks.

Anyway, he has a lot of money, so let's see if he can find a suitable house to buy within a few days.

If not, people could live separately even without a house in this era.

In short, they couldn't be stumped by such a small problem and let Xu Dashan, who was waiting to watch the show, control them.

Xu Bei estimated that it was about time, and when he was pulling the wooden stool and folding table home, he found that Da Hei had come over again.

She was sitting in the east room, talking to her mother whose face was flushed, while her younger sister was fiddling with the radio and tuning.

As soon as Zhao Fengying saw Xu Bei enter the house wrapped in a chilly aura, she immediately said to him, "Son, Dahei brought us two wild rabbits, saying they were caught by relatives. This child is too kind; I couldn't refuse even if I said no."

Xu Bei looked at his childhood friend and smiled, "Really? You guys can keep it for yourselves."

Big Black chuckled and said, "My relatives set a trap in the ditch and didn't spend any money. I'm just offering this as a token of my appreciation. Let's not be formal with each other, it's nothing valuable."

"Alright, then I won't stand on ceremony." Xu Bei invited warmly, "How about tomorrow night? Come over after get off work, and we'll have a drink."

Dahei scratched the back of his head and laughed, "Sure, let's invite Guodong too. He seems to have been quite busy since we had drinks together that day, we haven't seen each other much."

Xu Bei has a lot to do tomorrow and might not have the time to go to the lumberyard, so he said directly, "Sure, your workplace is nearby, you can go and tell him."

"Even if you hadn't told me, I would have gone to find him anyway, it's on my way." Dahei stood up as he spoke, then looked at Zhao Fengying and smiled, "Auntie, you should wake up properly, Dabei and I will go sit in that room for a while."

Zhao Fengying waved her hand with a kind smile, "Go ahead."

Xu Bei led Da Hei one after the other to the west room across the street.

The latter casually and gently closed the door, then peeked through the small window in the door at the east room before lowering his voice to ask.

"Da Bei, your parents really are divorced!"

"Of course it's true." Xu Bei guessed that he already knew, otherwise he wouldn't have made such a secretive move. "The procedures were completed in the afternoon, so we ate out tonight."

Big Black sighed in a mature and sophisticated manner, but then lowered his voice to avoid being overheard by the people in the opposite house, "That's too fast! I never dreamed we could get divorced so quickly!"

Guodong and I had discussed this privately before, saying that we've been married for so many years and our children are all grown up, so there's still room for improvement...

Xu Bei understood that his childhood friends' thoughts were only natural.

After all, in this day and age, there are many couples who go through the motions of divorce but end up not getting divorced and continuing to live together.

"As I said before, my mom is completely heartbroken, so there's no way to ease things up. But I didn't expect it to happen so quickly; I thought it would have to wait until after the New Year."

"Right? I was almost shocked when I heard it just now." Dahei looked at Xu Bei with some sympathy. "So, are you feeling really upset?"

Xu Bei forced a smile and said frankly, "To be honest, I'm not too upset. On the contrary, I'm happy for my mother. She won't have to suffer anymore and can live as she pleases from now on."

Dahei stared at Xu Bei intently. "Really? I couldn't stand it if my parents got divorced. Even if I went to jail, I'd be afraid of all the gossip and pointing fingers. Aren't you afraid at all?"

Xu Bei smiled calmly, "I'm not afraid. People can say whatever they want. It's not like it'll hurt me. If I care, then I'm giving others the right to criticize me, which is foolish."

Dahei could tell that Xu Bei wasn't just putting on a brave face, and sincerely admired his mental fortitude. He gave him a thumbs up, "Da Bei, you're really amazing now. Your words are so philosophical; I'm truly impressed!"

Xu Bei smiled and pressed down on the other person's finger. "Alright, stop flattering me. How many have you ordered this time?"

"Fifteen stools and three folding tables. There aren't many stools, but fifteen tables make a good number," Big Black said with a laugh, pulling out the previous payment from his pocket. "Here, count them."

"That would be wonderful."

Xu Bei agreed, then reached out and took a handful of money, the largest denomination of which was two yuan, and counted it on the spot. He then paid Da Hei his commission.

After Dahei happily packed everything away, he didn't stay any longer and followed Xu Bei to the yard to set up the wooden stools and folding table before leaving.

After seeing the person into the courtyard, Xu Bei locked the gate from the inside and went to the east room before entering the house.

Two sets of quilts and pillows had already been laid out on the kang (a heated brick bed), and the radio had been moved to the end of the kang, playing popular songs of the moment.

Wearing a cotton-padded coat and leaning against the wall by the kang (a heated brick bed), Zhao Fengying put down the cup of honey water and couldn't help but ask, "Son, what did your boss say about transferring the household registration?"

Although Xu Juan didn't ask a question, the little girl lying in bed stared at Xu Bei with unblinking eyes as if she were asking him something.

Xu Bei walked to the end of the kang (a heated brick bed) and sat down on the edge where there was no quilt. Then he smiled seriously and said, "Our boss said that this is not a big deal and he can find a way to help."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Zhao Fengying's heart immediately relaxed a bit. "Son, we must repay them properly! How about we invite them over for dinner sometime? Going to a restaurant doesn't seem sincere enough; we should cook some nice dishes at home."

Xu Bei couldn't conjure up a living person to help cover up the lie, so he quickly said, "No need. They don't want to show their faces in public, afraid of being arrested one day. Haven't you heard that several hardware and secondhand screw kings in the south have been arrested?"

Although our forest area is not short of timber, if they really take the crackdown on speculation seriously, things could get complicated.

Actually, I think helping him sell more goods is a kind of repayment. Nothing is more worthwhile than making more money. And once things have calmed down, we can always treat him to a meal whenever we want...

Zhao Fengying was successfully persuaded. "You're right. Let's wait until later then."

After successfully passing through the checkpoint, Xu Bei did not stay in the east room, but quickly returned to his west room.

Today was a busy day with a lot of things happening. When I finally looked in the mirror, I realized that the marks on my face from the fight will probably be even more noticeable tomorrow.

However, having already prepared an explanation, I wasn't too worried.

That night, Xu Bei didn't know if his mother and the others would toss and turn, unable to sleep, but he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow...