Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 585 Chapter 584 A family full of loyal heroes, with no flaws in personal morality

January 1rd, the 23th day of the twelfth lunar month, Saturday.

After breakfast, Tang Zhitong and Xiao Wang went to Chunshu Hutong as usual.

"Brother-in-law, where is the slingshot?" Jingmin came up to Tang Zhitong as soon as he saw him, his eyes full of eagerness and anticipation.

"Here." Tang Zhitong didn't even have time to take off his hat before he took out a slingshot from his bag, but didn't give it to Jingmin immediately.

"Don't hit other people's glass. If you do, your scarf will be confiscated and you will be beaten. Think carefully when you play." Classmate Xiao Wang came in with her and also did not take off her scarf because she was going out soon. She gave her brother a warning before leaving.

"I promise not to hit you!" After being beaten twice by his elder sister, Jingmin knew the situation this time and knew who the big and small Wang were. He immediately raised his fist and promised.

Xiao Wang nodded with satisfaction, and went out with his two sisters who smiled and responded quickly.

As soon as the three sisters left, Jingmin immediately collapsed and pouted to Tang Zhitong, "Brother-in-law, I definitely wouldn't hit someone's glass on purpose, but what if I accidentally hit it?"

"You can't be careless. It's so cold now and glass is hard to buy. If you break someone's glass, won't they be freezing?

You hit someone's glass, not only will your slingshot be confiscated, but I will also have to take you to apologize, and your sister will have to beat you and me as well."

Tang Zhitong would definitely not let it go. As for glass, the possibility of hitting it is actually very low unless you aim at it intentionally.

"I don't believe it. As long as you smile, my sister won't hit you hard. She will hit me hard." Jingmin rolled his eyes and thought about what to play with the slingshot.

"You naughty boy, if your sister hears this, she will beat you up again." Tang Zhitong was happy. He handed the slingshot to his brother-in-law and said, "You don't have to shoot birds. Put a brick up in the yard and shoot bricks. When you can hit the target every time, you can shoot a turtledove for your family to eat."

"Okay!" Jingmin thought his brother-in-law's idea was good. He took the slingshot, looked at it carefully for a while, and asked, "Brother-in-law, can I go out and play for a while now?"

"Put on your thick clothes first and change your shoes. Here, the 'ammunition' I prepared for you. Practice in a place with few people, but don't hit people." Tang Zhitong took out a bag of mud balls wrapped in newspaper from his bag.

It is basically harmless for a seven or eight-year-old child to play with a slingshot as long as he doesn't shoot it into the eyes. How much strength can a child have?

Jingmin went downstairs to play, and Fengzhi wanted to follow. Tang Zhitong did not stop them. He let them go up with the teacher and went into the kitchen to cook.

There was no meat dish today, so Tang Zhitong stewed a cabbage and pickled a radish to make it easier to eat with rice.

Logically speaking, it is best to pickle radishes in advance. If they are pickled in the morning and eaten at noon, they may not be very flavorful.

To make it more flavorful, Tang Zhitong added more salt, vinegar and sugar, and at noon he had salty shredded radish with a sweet and sour taste.

After finishing the work, Tang Zhitong waited for Xiao Gu to take the two children upstairs, said goodbye and rode away on his bike.

From Chunshu Hutong to the escort point, one has to pass through half of the inner city and the entire outer city.

Along the way, Tang Zhitong saw long queues in front of many stores.

While having dinner yesterday, Zhang Guifang said that the street office had taken the people's New Year celebrations into consideration and issued the bills for February early this morning.

It goes without saying that many people will complain: sending it in advance does not mean sending more. Isn't this just playing tricks on you?

No matter what, the people who got the tickets were afraid that they would not be able to buy them, so they went out and lined up.

It can be seen from the last time the receipts were issued that many more things can be purchased with the receipts this year than before.

Maybe it was because of the receipts, the atmosphere of the New Year was getting stronger and stronger on the streets. The children had no idea what to worry about, and even though they were a little hungry, it didn't stop them from playing on the streets.

Of course, there were also sensible children. Tang Zhitong observed carefully and found that many half-grown children who were on vacation were mixed in the long queue.

Usually when their line is almost up, these kids will run home quickly and call their parents to bring them tickets and money.

The neighbors in front and behind the queue will also express their understanding, and will often praise them: Your child is really sensible and can help adults with work, unlike my child.

Often at this time, the vanity of the children in line and their parents will be greatly satisfied.

But parents often say: Oh, no, he is just a naughty boy, so and so.

A few decades later, this behavior will be seen as ruining the fun and making children lack confidence.

But at the moment it is very normal, because most people are so modest.

Whether this approach will make children lack confidence is a matter of opinion. Tang Zhitong thinks that if children will lack confidence in this way, then their psychological quality is indeed a little poor. Moreover, if you just praise them blindly, it is very easy for them to become arrogant.

The big guy who cannot be called by his real name said in 1956 that "humility makes people progress, and pride makes people fall behind."

Tang Zhitong agreed very much.

There was still nothing to do at the company today, so Ma Wei discussed with Tang Zhitong: "Chief, I'll make the payroll before the New Year, and I want to take a few days off after the New Year. Is that ok?"

"Sure, you've worked hard over the past six months and you need to take a good rest. Can you come back to work on the seventh day of the New Year?" Tang Zhitong readily approved the leave. The seventh day of the New Year is February 2, the day when the escort department pays salaries.

"It won't take so much. I can come over on the fifth day of the New Year." Seeing Tang Zhitong was happy, Ma Wei felt embarrassed.

"Don't worry and take a rest. I'm here. It's the seventh day of the New Year. If you're not here for salary payment, it will easily leave a bad impression on other colleagues." Ma Wei didn't necessarily have to be present for salary payment, but as a member of the Finance Department, if she wasn't there on such an important day, who knew what others would say behind her back?

"Thank you, Chief. The business trip has been postponed, so you can have a peaceful New Year." Ma Wei felt very relieved to see that Tang Zhitong not only gave her a long vacation but also considered her.

"That's great. I've been thinking about it all the time even if you didn't tell me." Although Tang Zhitong had already learned the whole story from Hao Ren, he still pretended that he heard it for the first time.

"I brought two cans of food from home, don't mind, Chief." After finishing her business, Ma Wei took out two iron boxes from the drawer and placed them on Tang Zhitong's desk. She bit her lip and her face turned slightly red. It might be the first time she did such a thing and she was a little embarrassed.

"Okay, then I won't be polite." Tang Zhitong looked at Ma Wei's expression and did not refuse. It would be even more embarrassing if he really refused her.

Although he received the gift, Tang Zhitong thought that he should bring some return gift to Ma Wei tomorrow while she was still at work.

He gave away two cans of meat at once, maybe he really wasn't short of meat.

This also reminded Tang Zhitong that Hao Ren seemed to have discovered last night that what he brought was not a wild rabbit, so the trick of hiding the truth would not work on him!

Aunt Li and the others must have a chef at home. If I use the excuse that it was a wild rabbit, they might know I was lying. Lying in front of people of this level, emm... Tang Zhitong didn't want to leave a bad impression on the two bosses.

How can this be remedied?
Tang Zhitong thought of the rooster he bought from Shangzhuang Market, and that was it!

After get off work today, although Tang Zhitong had nothing to do, he still lingered for a while and didn't leave until it was completely dark.

By the time we arrived at the flower market, there were not many people on the street.

In this way, even if the rooster is pulled out of the space, not many people will hear the noise it makes.

"Why are you so late again today?" Although Xiao Wang had just returned not long ago, it was rare for her husband to come home later than her.

"Brother Yuan stopped me and insisted on giving me a chicken. He didn't dare let me come back early because he was afraid that others would see us." Tang Zhitong pushed everything onto Fang Yuan.

"Chicken?" Student Wang looked at Tang Zhitong's empty hands in confusion. At this time, the rooster outside crowed twice at the right time, announcing its presence.

"Well, the big rooster is released outside the door and will be killed later." Tang Zhitong did not plan to let the rooster stay overnight. The hens would basically make no noise except for clucking twice when they were frightened or laying eggs. But the rooster was different. It would start crowing in the middle of the night, as if it was afraid that others didn't know of its existence.

"That's fine." Xiao Wang had raised chickens when he was a child and knew the habits of roosters, so he had no objection. Besides, raising roosters was a pure waste of food and was not cost-effective.

"I plan to give the rabbit to Brother Yuan as a return gift. I'll kill the rooster later, and we'll take it to Aunt Li's house. Then we can say we raised it ourselves." Tang Zhitong went through such a big detour just for this.

"Okay." Seeing that what her husband said made sense, Xiao Wang agreed readily.

"There are also two cans of meat given by Ma Wei. I plan to bring some dry goods to her when I go to work tomorrow." Tang Zhitong took off his gloves and took out the two cans of food from his bag.

"Your colleague at work really has something." Xiao Wang said this, but he pointed to Zhang Guifang, indicating that he had no say in the matter and had to ask his mother-in-law.

"Mom, please keep this can and take it out to eat when there is no meat after the New Year. I ordered a pig's head from someone. I will bring it back at the end of the year and we will cook it again. I will pack up some dry goods as a return gift later." Tang Zhitong smiled. Little Wang is really cute.

"Well, don't be impolite." Zhang Guifang put the food down and agreed.

"Okay, don't worry." Tang Zhitong filled the kettle and squatted on the stove. He boiled water now and used it to perm the rooster's feathers after dinner.

After dinner, Tang Zhitong quickly performed a tracheotomy on the rooster and cut the artery in the process.

Pinch the base of the chicken wing with the little finger and palm of your right hand, pinch the comb with your thumb and index finger, and use your left hand to move the kitchen knife back and forth on the chicken's neck, aligning the cut with the empty bowl that has been placed there.

At this time, the chicken will definitely struggle, so you must keep your hands steady, otherwise the chicken blood will splatter all over the floor.

The collected chicken blood will not be wasted. It can be cleaned together with the rooster's internal organs and used to make a meat dish tomorrow.

After the rooster was bled, it was thrown into the yard, fluttered around for a while, and then stretched out its legs.

Tang Zhitong put the rooster into a large basin and used the "watering" method.

"Don't look at it, it's cold outside." Tang Zhitong was preparing to pluck the rooster's feathers. This thing had to be plucked while it was hot, but it was too hot to touch. His classmate Xiao Wang was watching him, so he couldn't cheat and could only send Xiao Wang away.

"Don't you need my help? Then hurry up, it's getting late." Student Xiao Wang picked up the kettle and looked at his watch in the light from the yard.

"Well, give me ten minutes. That's enough." Tang Zhitong immediately pretended to start. After Xiao Wang turned around, he cheated and put the chicken feathers neatly in the trash can.

None of these will be thrown away. Zhang Guifang will keep them and sell them for money.

It’s faster with a cheat. In just three minutes, Tang Zhitong treated the rooster as if it had "hairlessness". It had goose bumps all over its body and no hair at all.

The rooster chopped twice along the chicken's breast bone with a kitchen knife and pried its legs apart. It immediately understood the situation and opened its legs.

Tang Zhitong took out the internal organs and peeled off the chicken gizzard lining first.

The layer of chicken gizzard lining is very thin and can only be peeled off while it is hot. It will be troublesome if it gets a little cold.

"Okay, wash your hands, pack up and go out quickly. I'll wash the rest." Zhang Guifang just asked Xiao Wang where he was going tonight. When she heard that he was going to be with that big shot, she was surprised and happy, and extremely excited.

"Okay, right away." Tang Zhitong followed the advice, rinsed the blood from the rooster's stomach, went into the house to wash his hands, packed up with classmate Xiao Wang, and pushed the bicycle out the door.

Last night, when classmate Xiao Wang was riding her bike back, she was hit by a brick on the bike and was startled, so Tang Zhitong didn't let her ride the bike today.

Classmate Xiao Wang sat in the back and gave instructions, telling them which way to turn when they reached a certain road, while Tang Zhitong just followed instructions.

When they arrived at the place, Tang Zhitong could not hide his excitement. He was afraid of saying something wrong, so he didn't speak much and mostly just listened.

Tang Zhitong respects and admires Aunt Li and her husband from the bottom of his heart, because they deserve it!

As an ordinary citizen, Tang Zhitong feels that the evaluation of "a family of loyal heroes with impeccable personal ethics" is very appropriate!

Almost all of Aunt Li’s family members gave their lives for the revolution!

They only had one child. According to Aunt Li's original wish, she didn't want this child, but her mother strongly opposed it. This is how they had this only child. Because later, Aunt Li resolutely underwent sterilization surgery in order to uphold her revolutionary cause and great ideals!
The "saving" in "more, faster, better, saving" was proposed by Aunt Li's husband, and the "adjustment, consolidation, enrichment and improvement" that are about to be introduced were also proposed by him.

It can be said that he has devoted his heart, soul and life to the country.

The two met when they were young, stayed together all their lives, and supported each other. After their death, they did not leave a penny to their children. They are truly a role model!

How could Tang Zhitong not admire such a selfless boss?
After leaving Aunt Li's house, Tang Zhitong was still feeling overwhelmed and upset. If everyone could do what they did, social harmony would not be far away.

"Aunt Li approves of you very much. Why are you just smiling and not saying anything? Aunt Li is so kind." After leaving the house, Xiao Wang complained rarely.

"Hey, I've never seen such a scene, so I'm nervous. Aunt Li asked us to come often, so maybe it will be better next time." Tang Zhitong didn't expect that Aunt Li knew so much about him. After hearing a lot of words of recognition tonight, he felt very happy and encouraged.

"You idiot, get on the handlebars." Xiao Wang handed the can of food that Aunt Li had forced on him to Tang Zhitong. Aunt Li accepted the rooster, but did not let the couple go out empty-handed.

"Hold on tight, let's go home." Tang Zhitong crossed his legs first, hooked up the footrest, and after Xiao Wang sat down, he stepped hard and started home.

(End of this chapter)