The Life of a Son-in-Law in a Courtyard House

Aunt Qi asked him again, "Have you eaten yet? Why don't we save them all for you? You need to improve your health."

Yang Dalin knew that the powerful pills he was taking were much more effective than these other medicines, whose instructions stated that they had no effect on him.

Yang Dalin then tried to fool Aunt Qi: "Auntie, I've eaten it before. You can only eat one per person; eating more won't do any good."

Aunt Qi reluctantly put away the medicine and said, "Alright then, I'll go check on Meiyun again later. You go to work now."

Yang Dalin said goodbye to Qi Yulan, got on his bicycle, and went to the train station to go to work.

At one end of the courtyard, Qi Yulan ate a constitution pill given to her by Yang Dalin without hesitation.

It wasn't as bitter as I imagined; it even tasted a bit like hawthorn pills when chewed.

After eating, my stomach felt warm and comfortable, and I didn't feel anything else.

And I felt much better afterward.

Qi Yulan looked in the mirror and saw that she seemed to have improved her energy, so she knew that Yang Dalin's medicine was quite effective.

She woke up her two daughters in bed and told them to get up, wash, and make breakfast. Then Qi Yulan took one of the seeds and went to deliver it to Zhang Meiyun.

After having breakfast near the train station, Yang Dalin secretly went to the repair shop to work overtime and learn how to repair cars.

The two mechanics were used to him arriving early every day.

The two mechanics both liked this young man who loved learning and had even received an award from the Public Security Bureau yesterday.

Yang Dalin would occasionally offer him a cigarette, which made both of the instructors teach him very diligently.

These two masters weren't like some people who hoarded their knowledge; they would teach anyone who wanted to learn.

Perhaps another reason is that they felt Yang Dalin posed no threat to their work.

That's how it was originally intended; Yang Dalin would be an apprentice accompanying the truck, and would end up doing the work of a driver.

These two are car repairmen who specialize in repairing cars, so Yang Dalin certainly can't threaten their jobs.

After studying for another hour, Yang Dalin went to find Brother Tian when it was almost time for him to go to work.

In the morning, Brother Tian told him that we needed to deliver goods to a unit in the city today.

We're only responsible for loading and delivering the goods. Once we get to the factory, the truck arrives and we don't have to worry about anything else.

The factory came to unload the goods. Today, we drove onto the main road. Yang Dalin was driving, and Lao Tian was watching from the side.

There wasn't just one delivery vehicle, there were three in total.

Because Yang Dalin was driving Lao Tian's car, the lead car wasn't that one; it was another driver leading the way.

After leaving the freight station, Yang Dalin followed the others and drove quite steadily.

Especially when crossing intersections, Yang Dalin maintained the good habit he had in later generations: he would not walk very fast and would look left and right at the pedestrians.

The main problem is that there are not traffic police at every intersection now.

In those days, there was no navigation system, so Yang Dalin had to keep up with the car in front of him and also take care of pedestrians on both sides while driving.

The journey was fine, and there were no problems. Everyone checked the vehicles before setting off in the morning, and we arrived at the factory around 11 a.m.

Upon arriving at the factory, one of the factory's junior managers was extremely polite.

They offered cigarettes and invited me to stay for a meal.

He couldn't leave even if he wanted to, because the goods hadn't been unloaded yet. Despite Yang Dalin's young age, no one underestimated him.

They gave each of them a pack of cigarettes and arranged for someone to lead the group of drivers to a small canteen.

Tell the factory's cook to quickly prepare a meal for these drivers.

Seeing that Brother Tian and the others were used to it, Yang Dalin let it go.

The guest should follow the host's lead.

The chef was very quick; he first served a dish of minced meat and cabbage, then a dish of scallions and eggs, and two more dishes were still being cooked.

The factory's junior manager accompanied Tian Xueyi and the other three.

Actually, each car originally had a co-driver, but Yang Dalin later trained Tian Xueyi to be his co-driver.

However, this was in the city, so the other two cars didn't have their co-drivers with them.

Later, I heard from Brother Tian that he didn't bring any people because he was afraid people would think that bringing so many people was taking advantage of the situation, which wouldn't look good.

Because when drivers arrive at someone's territory, the locals usually provide them with a meal, and sometimes they might even give them some products from that factory. These are all established rules.

Otherwise, if the driver tries to slow you down, the factory will still suffer losses.

Therefore, everyone tries their best to take good care of the delivery drivers.

The junior manager at the factory who was having dinner with the driver even opened two bottles of wine. Yang Dalin saw that Tian Xueyi and the others didn't understand the concept of not drinking and driving, so he didn't say anything.

Since he didn't drink it, the excuse of not drinking it will suffice.

He strictly followed the traffic rules of later generations.

Soon the chef brought out two more meat dishes and a bowl of egg drop soup.

It was a standard four dishes and one soup, just a bit too much.

Don't say that there's absolutely no meat in the factory; they can still squeeze out that little bit of food from the factory.

Fortunately, Brother Tian and the others didn't drink much; each of them drank less than half a jin (250ml), and they seemed perfectly fine.

The factory's junior manager wanted to get more wine, but Brother Tian stopped him.

Then she said she had to work in the afternoon and couldn't drink too much.

When the junior leader saw that the man really wasn't going to drink anymore, he ordered a large bowl of steamed buns to be served as the main dish, which looked like dozens of buns.

Yang Dalin quickly followed suit and ate six large steamed buns. To be honest, Yang Dalin was only about 70% full.

However, the whole bowl of steamed buns was eaten.

Yang Dalin saw that Brother Tian had only eaten three buns, which was less than his usual appetite. The factory leaders asked for more steamed buns, but Brother Tian and the others said they were full and refused to have any more. Moreover, everyone else had stopped eating, so Yang Dalin felt embarrassed and continued to eat.

The junior manager offered to let them eat several more times, but when he saw that they really weren't going to eat anymore, he stopped trying to offer them more.

As Tian and his group prepared to leave, the factory leader got up to see them off.

Then, when Yang Dalin was leaving, he noticed that Brother Tian had secretly left two jin of grain coupons at the bottom of the bowl.

Seeing that Brother Tian had stayed, Yang Dalin reached into his pocket again, but Tian Xueyi shook his head slightly when he saw his movement.

It means you shouldn't take it anymore.

Once in the car, Yang Dalin noticed two bags of apples inside.

As they exited the factory, Tian Xueyi asked him, "Didn't you eat enough?"

Yang Dalin said, "Yes, I'm about 70% full. I felt bad eating more since you guys weren't eating anymore."

Tian Xueyi added, "It's not easy for anyone. Food is scarce these days, so eating until you're 70% full is fine."

Next time you don't drink alcohol, eat more food.

Those two jin of grain coupons were our subsidy to them. Although it only amounted to half a jin of grain coupons per person, which was far from enough to cover their contribution, it was all we could give.

If we give too much, they won't accept it, and we can't afford to give any more. In this day and age, we feel bad if we don't give them anything.

It's a common practice to give them half a pound, so that they don't lose too much.

If we give them all, our two jin of grain coupons won't be nearly enough.

Do you know why they only sent one leader to offer drinks?

Yang Dalin nodded and said, "We are short of food and ingredients. With so many people coming, there isn't enough to eat."

Tian Xueyi nodded with satisfaction: "That's right, they don't have much stuff. We should just take a little less and have peace of mind."

Listen, no matter where you go in the future, don't be greedy for every little advantage you get.

When you reach areas with abundant food, you'll have no problem having enough to eat, and it's fine if people give you some food and water. Just don't be greedy, understand?