Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 559 558 Rat Meat

Wednesday, September 1th.

Tang Zhitong took a detour early in the morning, first sending his two younger sisters to school, and then went to the escort office. On the way there, he dropped the letter he had written last night into a mailbox on the roadside.

I haven't been to the company for several days, and I don't know whether the time for the commendation meeting has been set. It would be great if they could provide me with a meal at that time, so that I can save some food for my family.

Because of seeing someone off, Tang Zhitong was already late when he arrived at the escort department. However, Tang Zhitong's mentality had changed a lot. He didn't take it seriously. It was late, so what? Could he be fired?
Tang Zhitong did not go to the Finance Department, but went to the Escort Department to find Zhang Jinbo first.

"Brother Zhang, are you busy?" Tang Zhitong knocked on the door and pushed it open. After Zhang Jinbo was promoted to deputy section chief, he had to escort less frequently.

"Oh, you're busy. I haven't seen you for a while." Zhang Jinbo stood up and handed a cigarette to Tang Zhitong first.

"I go to school every day. I'm so busy with the final exams that I haven't had time to come over." Tang Zhitong took the initiative to light a cigarette for Zhang Jinbo.

"That's really hard work. Why did you think of coming to see me today?" Zhang Jinbo asked, taking a puff of cigarette.

"Hey, come over here and give Brother Zhang some performance. Buy some stamps and envelopes." People nowadays are ashamed to talk about money, but the post office has internal regulations. If a post office can complete a task of a certain amount within a certain time, the specifications will be raised.

Since the Escort Department is mainly a railway post office, it does not participate in this kind of assessment, but if its turnover increases, it can also strive for more excellent places.

"That's great. How many do you want?" The escort department always has stamps, envelopes, and postcards on hand, and they always bring a batch with them for use during each escort mission.

"200 envelopes, and stamps at 200 cents each, so at a time." Envelopes are definitely too many, but they don't expire, and can be used to pack other things. The stamps should be enough, and if they're not enough, you can buy more. It's just a few steps away.

"Wow, such a large quantity?" Zhang Jinbo was a little surprised, but still picked up two packages of envelopes, each package containing exactly 100 envelopes.

"Hey, I've been writing a lot of letters recently. If I can't use them all, I'll save them and use them slowly." Tang Zhitong took the envelope and started taking out money.

"Look, it was just delivered today, and it's still hot." Zhang Jinbo was tactful and didn't ask any more questions. He counted a few full sheets of stamps, pulled them out, then counted out the extra ones on the top sheet, tore it open, and handed it to Tang Zhitong along with several full sheets.

"Okay, thank you Brother Zhang." Tang Zhitong handed over ten yuan and glanced at the stamps. They were really hot. They were the commemorative stamps for the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Young Pioneers, which were just issued in November last year.

"Don't be polite. Do you want me to tear it open for you?" Zhang Jinbo counted the money, confirmed that it was correct, and threw the money into the drawer.

"No need. I'll tear it up slowly when I get back. Thank you, Brother Zhang. See you later." Tang Zhitong didn't bother Zhang Jinbo. He folded the stamps, stuffed them into his bag, and then went out with a cigarette.

Ma Wei has been on duty in the Finance Department recently. Apart from daily data statistics and reimbursements, there is no other work to do and everything is normal.

"Ma Wei, did Director Fang inform you when the commendation meeting will be held?" Tang Zhitong asked after packing up his personal belongings.

"No." Ma Wei said, paused for a moment, and then continued: "I heard it's next Wednesday."

"Oh, then it must be the Little New Year, right?" Tang Zhitong was a little surprised. It seems that Ma Wei has more information channels than Fang Yuan? For example, the home address should not be wrong, right?
"It's the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, and we'll celebrate the New Year after the festival." Ma Wei glanced at the calendar and replied.

"That's about right. The Municipal Bureau really cares about us. After the commendation, we will celebrate the Little New Year happily. It's just like when I was in school. Before the winter vacation officially started, we would go back to school to announce the final exam results. Those with good grades would take a certificate home, while those with poor grades would linger on the way and dare not go home."

"Then Section Chief Tang must have won a lot of awards at that time, right?"

"What should I get? I was not smart at that time. I never got it when I was in school. I was the only one who dawdled going home." Tang Zhitong thought of his childhood, his childhood in this life.

I was a very hard-working kid before coming here. I received awards every semester. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for me to be admitted to university and leave the mountains as a child from a farming family.

“Is this what they call a late bloomer?” Ma Wei was a little surprised, but her words were still quite pleasant.

"Hahaha, I'm just lucky to have been born in a good era. It has nothing to do with me personally." Tang Zhitong was a little modest and stretched out his hand, saying, "Give me the data that the Escort Department has given me recently. I'll do some analysis. Thank you for your hard work during this period."

"It's okay. I have to thank Section Chief Tang. I learned a lot from you." Ma Wei handed the form to Tang Zhitong and then said, "I heard that this round of assessment is about to end."

"That's great. I can finally take a break and have a peaceful New Year." Tang Zhitong was very happy to hear what Ma Wei said. He had been very busy recently. He still hadn't finished writing any letters and hadn't started on the work for the Cultural Reform Commission.

"Um... Chief, I may not be able to rest." Ma Wei was a little embarrassed and told Tang Zhitong what she knew: "Haven't we been looking for those rejected letters that said no such person was found recently? They will be processed in the next few days. The department intends to find someone to follow up and understand the real promotion situation."

Tang Zhitong was stunned after hearing this: "From what you said, you want me? Let me go and find out the situation?"

"I heard that's the case." Ma Wei was even more embarrassed now. She would inevitably talk about things at work when she got home. Maybe because she had heard Fu Caiyun talk too much about Tang Zhitong, she couldn't help but mention it a few times.

Now the mother was concerned and asked someone about it. She thought her daughter had fallen in love with her leader, but it turned out that he was married.

Ma Wei almost got angry with her mother because of this. They were clearly just normal colleagues, and if this matter got out, she would not be able to survive in the postal and telecommunications system. At least she suppressed her mother's evil thoughts.

"Hey, it's a hard life. Thanks for telling me in advance." Tang Zhitong laughed at himself and bowed to Ma Wei.

"Chief, aren't you curious about how I know this? Aren't you curious about why it was you?" Ma Wei couldn't help but ask when she saw that Tang Zhitong had no intention of asking.

"My grandmother lived to be 73, which can be considered a long life. Do you know why she lived to be 73?" Tang Zhitong asked mysteriously.

"why?"

"Because my grandma doesn't ask for nosy information." Tang Zhitong joked.

Ma Wei had never heard such a joke before. She covered her mouth and laughed.

"I am a brick of the revolution. I will move wherever I am needed. As long as the organization needs me, I will go through fire and water." Jokes aside, since Ma Wei knew this kind of information, it meant that she had connections with the top leaders. Tang Zhitong was not sure, so he still had to express his attitude.

"Chief, this is my fault. I apologize to you first." After Ma Wei finished laughing, she told Tang Zhitong the whole story: "My father is also in our system, working in the department, and he happens to be in charge of the promotion of postal codes.

There must be someone committing fraud behind the returned letter, and the department will deal with it seriously. My father is very concerned about this matter and always asks me about it when I go home.

I may have mentioned you too many times, and he learned about your situation and that you had participated in the postal code promotion training, so he thought..."

"Hahaha, it's not your fault. I should thank you for helping me get this opportunity. If you hadn't mentioned it, I really wouldn't have had the chance to go out." Tang Zhitong was secretly surprised. This girl is really not ordinary. Her father's rank is two levels higher than Hao Ren's, right? Fortunately, he took good care of her on weekdays.

As for the "serious handling" mentioned by Ma Wei, Tang Zhitong had actually expected it a long time ago. This matter was a fraudulent scandal in every way. Fortunately, this time it was leaked from the Municipal Bureau, which was considered an internal discovery and could be handled internally, minimizing the impact.

If this were to be leaked by people outside, haha, the higher-ups would probably be furious again. Not only would those people who committed fraud suffer a bad end, but even those in the post and telecommunications department would be in trouble.

"No, I should thank the section chief for taking care of me. As for this matter, anyway, my dad said it can't do any harm." Ma Wei felt a little ashamed of what Tang Zhitong said. She was the one who caused the trouble by talking too much, but in the end she only got a thank you. What a shame!
"Oh, then I have to go." Tang Zhitong didn't know whether Ma Wei knew what her father meant by this sentence, but Tang Zhitong vaguely felt that there were benefits. As for what benefits, Tang Zhitong couldn't guess.

Let's do it first, Ma Wei's father is so high-ranking, he can't just say anything, right? He must have a hidden agenda.

While Tang Zhitong was chatting with Ma Weibai, Guiying's parents were yawning all the time and they didn't sleep well the whole night.

Before going to bed last night, several big black rats suddenly ran out of our house. The whole family was busy for a while before we finally caught them. Three bowls alone were broken.

They opened the door, thinking of chasing the rat out, but the strange thing was that the rat didn't run out at all!

After they went to bed, they heard the rustling noise again. They turned on the light and saw that there were several big black rats eating happily.

He got up and started busying around for most of the night, killing five or six of them. The rest hid under the bed and refused to come out.

Early this morning, when Guiying's parents saw the food destroyed by rats, they became heartless and decided not to open the door this time!

We must kill all the mice in this nest in the house!

In the whole morning, they even dug out the bed and killed several rats, but they still couldn't find the rat hole.

"Dad Guiying, it's so early in the morning, are you preparing to clean the house for the New Year?" Finally, a nosy neighbor couldn't help it and knocked on the door and looked inside. It was a custom in the old city to clean the house after the Little New Year. The neighbor looked at the messy house and asked.

"It's weird. There's a rat infestation in the house. I don't know where they came from. We can't drive them out. We've killed several of them." Guiying's mother pointed at a pile of dead rats on the ground and said angrily.

"It's cold outside now, and the mice probably think it's warm inside the house. There's no rat hole in the house? Did it come in from the chimney?" The neighbor looked in the direction Guiying's mother pointed, and was surprised. There were more than ten mice, each of them was not small, and estimated to be half a pound in size.

"Who knows? Let's seal the seam of the chimney today." Guiying's mother said as she took down the trash basket and used a pair of fire chopsticks to pick up the mouse and throw it in.

"Just throw it away like that? It's a piece of meat after all." The neighbor said with some regret after seeing what Guiying's mother did.

"Rats are so dirty, how can we eat them?" Guiying's mother shook her head. Even if she was short of meat, she didn't want to touch this thing.

"There are people eating in the countryside, so go and exchange with them. How come you can't exchange your seven or eight kilograms for a few kilograms of food?" A neighbor gave a bad idea.

"Is this okay? Is there anyone eating over there?" Guiying's mother was very tempted, but her hands paused.

"Of course they are eating. Why not? Last time I heard that they were digging out rat holes." The neighbor said confidently.

"The child's father..." Guiying's mother turned around and called her husband.

"I see. I'll go check it out later." Guiying's father was so busy catching mice today that he didn't go to work and was absent from work.

Tang Zhitong also skipped work. He left his office vacant at noon and gave it to Ma Wei and Fu Caiyun. He went to the cafeteria to have lunch by himself and went to the Post and Telecommunications College in the afternoon.

I went to the Post and Telecommunications College to borrow a hand-cranked mimeograph machine.

Although each letter does not contain many words, the number of letters that need to be replied to is huge!

In addition, Ma Wei said this morning that she might be on a business trip in the near future, so she had to be even more flexible, otherwise the little private time she had left in the next few days would be spent on replying to letters.

When walking back in the afternoon, Tang Zhitong brought two printed sheets of stationery in addition to envelopes and stamps.

In order not to disclose personal unit information, Tang Zhitong specifically bought the commonly used stationery on the market and did not purchase stationery with the "Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications" letterhead printed on it from the college.

Nowadays, any organization with a bit of background likes to print its organization name on its letterhead.

"Guiying's family is enjoying a good day today..." When Tang Zhitong passed the entrance of the alley on his way home, he vaguely heard a group of housewives who were fetching water talking.

After hearing what Tang Zhitong heard, he didn't feel comfortable coming down to inquire directly, so he went back home, put the things in the side room, and asked Zhang Guifang.

Zhang Guifang looked confused and did not go out today.

"Okay, I'll go and listen to what's going on." Tang Zhitong quickly took the bucket and shoulder pole and went out.

"Guiying's family caught more than ten big rats, all of them are fat and strong. I heard that a rat can weigh one kilogram." It may be close to the peak of water usage, the water pressure at the water station is not very high. People who draw water gather together, accompanied by the sound of rushing water, chatting about today's gossip.

Tang Zhitong thought that was an exaggeration. A kilogram was impossible. It was probably only half a kilogram at most. It might be because the mice had stored enough dry food in advance, so they were not thin.

"That would be less than 20 kilograms, right? We can cut out some meat, right? We'll have a treat now." Someone said with some envy.

"What blessing? That's a sin. I heard that all the dry food at home was wasted." People are different. Some people envy it, while others despise it.

"How much food can a rat waste? This little bit of meat makes up for it." The envious people disagreed.

"Stop talking about that, it's disgusting. Do you eat rat meat?" Although the supply of meat was tight in the old city, years of health publicity had planted the impression among people that rats were dirty, although they were indeed not clean.

"I don't eat it, and neither does Guiying's family. Guiying's father took the rats to the countryside and exchanged them for a lot of food." Even the envious have their bottom line. What they really envy is being able to exchange rats for food, and they don't care why people in the countryside eat rat meat.

"Oh my, this is incredible. It would take several days to eat. Why don't we have such a good thing here?"

"If you want to chase me away, you can chase me away. I don't want to be in trouble with rats."

……

What a sin! He didn't eat it himself, but gave it to the farmers to eat?! When Tang Zhitong carried the water home, he felt very angry.

(End of this chapter)