Crossing 70: Fish in the Pond Have Good News

Chapter 264: Job Failed?

Wu Aiqing was standing by to finish off the attacker, while Zhao Chunjiang and two later educated youth formed a small group and bullied Chen Lei together.

The hillside was filled with laughter and joy.

It was at this time that Zhuang Mingde returned.

He carried his luggage and walked forward with difficulty in the snow.

His mind suddenly recalled last winter, when he was walking with difficulty in the snow with his wife on his back. Even after retiring from the army, he felt that the future was promising. He was actually relieved that he no longer had to endure heavy training tasks.

But in the blink of an eye, a year has passed, and things and people have changed. Everything has changed.

His life had changed drastically. He had thought that the future would be better and better, but what happened? He looked at the fence that had been damaged by the wolves and the blue brick house that was scratched and covered with marks, and felt extremely powerless.

The father who had hidden things from him but gave everything he had in the hope that everything would go well for him was dead.

The gentle and charming wife could no longer give birth and was betrayed by him, who then left without looking back.

He has no children and he doesn’t know if he will have any in the future, but now, how come he has suddenly become a loner?

The leadership team of the cannery was replaced, and he, the deputy section chief, was suddenly notified of a long vacation, and there was a high possibility that he would lose his job.

Zhuang Mingde closed the door and didn't even turn on the kang. He lay straight on the dusty kang mat, staring at the ceiling with lifeless eyes.

The cold air invaded from his back, but he seemed to not care at all and just lay there motionless.

It was not until Zhuang Shouren pushed the door open that he realized he was cold all over.

"What happened?" Why does he look so listless? Zhuang Shouren looked around the house in confusion. It was too cold. He walked out of the house and took a look in the kitchen. There was no fire.

What happened? He came back without heating the kang, and he looked absent-minded? Could it be that...

Zhuang Mingde sat up, rubbed his forehead with a headache, picked up the luggage thrown on the ground, put it at the end of the kang, and packed it up later.

After Zhuang Shouren lit the stove, he cleaned the pot, boiled water, and then went back to the main room to find Zhuang Mingde.

"Brother." Zhuang Mingde called him, not even bothering to hide the dejection on his face.

Zhuang Shouren took a look at the situation in the house. No one had been here since Sixth Uncle left. Although it was not dirty, it suddenly looked a lot more desolate.

"What's wrong with you?" Zhuang Shouren moved a stool and sat down. The cold touch made him shiver unconsciously.

"I'm on a long vacation." Zhuang Mingde lowered his head and smiled bitterly.

Zhuang Shouren nodded. "Isn't it normal to have a holiday during the Chinese New Year? How is it? What benefits did the factory give out?"

If we were to ask what rural people envy most about city dwellers, it would be the job and the various benefits that come with it.

Zhuang Mingde waved his hands and said, "This is not a normal holiday. I'm probably out of luck with this job."

"What?!" Zhuang Shouren looked at him in shock, all his ease and comfort gone.

"The job is over. The factory director and secretary have been replaced. They asked me to go home and have a good rest." Zhuang Mingde simply made things clear.

"Well... that may not be the case. Maybe they really want you to take a break, or maybe the factory needs some adjustments?" Zhuang Shouren's heart skipped a beat, but he couldn't say that. He could only try to comfort her first.

Zhuang Mingde shook his head, "Brother Shouren, I understand everything. You don't have to comfort me. I'm just..." He couldn't accept it and felt disheartened.

Zhuang Shouren smiled awkwardly, "Well, did you bring back the rations?" He had to change the subject, but he felt it was inappropriate as soon as he opened his mouth.

Zhuang Mingde originally had a job, and his food supply was in the factory, so the brigade only distributed food rations for Uncle Six. But if Zhuang Mingde came back without bringing food, it would not be a problem for him to eat what Uncle Six left behind.

Although we won’t starve to death, there won’t be enough for us to eat.

Zhuang Mingde was stunned for a second, then shook his head. When he was notified of the long vacation, he was completely stunned. He packed up his things and came back in a daze, without caring about anything else.

"Have you... completed the formalities? What about the food supply?" Zhuang Shouren took a deep breath and felt that his cousin was indeed not very smart. None of the things he had done after retiring from the army were good enough.

Zhuang Mingde shook his head again.

Nothing, nothing was done.

"They didn't ask you to go through the formalities? That doesn't mean they want to give you a long vacation. Maybe it's just a New Year break." Zhuang Shouren still didn't give up.

The old Zhuang family has been extremely unlucky this year. If they can't even keep Zhuang Mingde's job in the end, then all the efforts of the previous generation will have been wasted.

Zhuang Mingde nodded very reluctantly, "I hope so." But they did not ask him to go through the formalities, so he might have been overthinking it.

Seeing that he was distracted, Zhuang Shouren didn't say anything more to him. He just said, "If you have any problems, come to my house to find me."

"Okay." Zhuang Mingde nodded, stood up and saw him out.

The news that Zhuang Mingde returned to the team did not attract everyone's attention. Everyone thought that the factory was on holiday and did not think about anything else.

Anyway, there is always fun in the team, and every few days someone's family will start a quarrel.

It's the end of the year, and every household is preparing for the New Year, whether it's food or daily necessities.

Even for families where a relative has just died, it is the same. They are busy tidying up the clutter and keeping the house clean.

Those who can afford it will prepare new clothes for their children. If not, they will try to find something to buy for other people.

The family in the middle of the row of educated youth points was named Wang. The head of the family was Wang Gaoliang, who was killed by wolves some time ago. His three sons were in the homes of their brothers in the third team, and they also followed him on the journey.

Now there are only four women and five children left in the Wang family.

Lao Wang has a daughter who married a leader and lives in the commune. She occasionally gives her family some allowances. This time, she asked someone to bring back some cloth, about 3 meters long.

There was a quarrel in their family because of this cloth.

The reason was that the daughter of an older family wanted to use the cloth to make clothes, and because she was not young anymore, her family planned to find a date for her.

But the third sister's family was unwilling to do so, because the eldest sister's family had just made clothes last year, and her daughter had grown a lot taller this year. If the cloth was not distributed to the second sister's family in order, then her daughter would have to get some too, at least to make the sleeves and trouser legs wider, right?

The third son's family also complained that the mother-in-law was partial because the cloth given to the other two sons' families was more than that to her family. Otherwise, if her daughter's sleeves were too short, she wouldn't have to ask for new cloth to lengthen them.