Era: Craftsmen in the Siheyuan

Chapter 283 Settlement
A group of people followed Zhou Shan out with their luggage. The news had spread, and some older people at home came out to look at them curiously.

After all, there aren't many outsiders coming here all year round, let alone cadres from the old city.

When all the members come back in the evening, this will definitely become the headline news in the team.

Zhou Shan carried Chen Xueru's luggage bag and stopped outside a house.

This is an old house that looks like it has been simply renovated. It is better than most houses in the village.

Zhou Shan said, "Manager Zhou, this is where an old couple lives. They are both in their early fifties. There is a separate room where their children used to live. Now that the children have started their own families, the room has been cleaned up. You can live here for the time being."

Chen Xueru looked at the environment and forced a smile, saying, "Okay, thank you, Captain Zhou."

"You're welcome."

Zhou Shan pushed the door open directly. The old couple had already come out of the house when they heard the noise.

Zhou Shan exchanged a few pleasantries with them, pointed at Chen Xueru and said, "Uncle Li and Aunt Li, this is Comrade Chen Xueru. She will be staying with you for a month."

Aunt Li has gray hair. Seeing Chen Xueru's appearance, she couldn't help but say, "Oh, this girl is so pretty!"

Uncle Li glared at her and said, "What are you talking about, old woman? He is a cadre and a leader. Please help him clean up the mess later."

Aunt Li mumbled something incoherent.

Zhou Shan put down Chen Xueru's luggage and said, "That's fine. Manager Chen, you pack up first. I'll take the other comrades away. Don't forget to come to my place for dinner tonight."

"Okay, thank you Captain Zhou for your help." Chen Xueru said. When they separated, she looked at Xu Deyong again. Seeing that he didn't even look at her, she couldn't help but pursed her lips.

Then he cursed Fan Jinyou in his heart, turned around and smiled at the old couple.

This woman is always saying one thing in public and another behind the scenes!
Next, not long after walking, Zhou Shan stopped in front of a house and said, "Manager Xu, you can live here." Then he pushed the door and walked in.

"Gu Gu Gu Gu..."

A burst of roosters crowed from the yard.

A middle-aged woman with silver hair wrapped neatly came out and looked at him with a smile: "Captain Zhou is here. This... must be the leader who came down."

Xu Deyong smiled and said, "Auntie, I'm not a leader. You can just call me Deyong from now on."

“That won’t do, that won’t do…” The aunt quickly waved her hands.

Zhou Shan glanced at the main room and asked, "Where's Grandpa Sun?"

Aunt Sun said, "He has his old leg problem again. He is lying on the kang. Don't worry about him."

After the two chatted for a while, Zhou Shan took Fan Jinyou and Yang Dian away.

Xu Deyong took out his luggage and followed Aunt Sun into the house and said, "Aunt, let me say hello to Grandpa first."

At this time, a hoarse voice came from the inner room, and the tone was hard: "I am an old man and I don't have much to say. You just do your thing."

Xu Deyong blinked his eyes and thought, maybe he had met a stubborn old man who was difficult to get along with?
He said, "Okay, Uncle Sun, I'll trouble you two in the future."

After saying that, he took his luggage and went to the side room which had been cleaned up.

There was a wooden bed in the side room, with a mattress made of sorghum stalks and a somewhat old mat on top.

There is a low table next to the bed and some sundries placed elsewhere, but they are all neatly arranged.

He looked up and saw that there was no circuit light bulb and the power was not turned on, but he had candles and flashlights.

This area should be the Sijiu City that was incorporated this year, and electricity has only been available in the past one or two years.

However, in the following thirty or forty years, power outages were commonplace even in places with electricity across the country!
Aunt Sun followed in and said, "Well, Leader Xu, let me help you clean up!"

Xu Deyong smiled and said, "Auntie, no need, I can clean it myself. Didn't I tell you to call me Deyong from now on? I am not a government employee anyway."

Aunt Sun was puzzled and asked, "If you are not a government official, how did you get here as a cadre?"

Xu Deyong had no choice but to take out the luggage while briefly explaining the "public-private partnership" to Aunt Sun.

Aunt Sun seemed to understand a little bit, and after knowing that Xu Deyong was not an "official", she became less reserved.

Xu Deyong made the bed and hung up the mosquito net.

Although it is October, there are fewer mosquitoes, but there are still some, and they bite very badly.

Half an hour later, Xu Deyong came out to wash his hands. He scooped water from the large vat in the kitchen. At that time, there was no tap water or even a pressurized well in the village. Every household had to fetch water from the well in the village.

Seeing that there was not much water left in the water tank, he shook his hands and said, "Auntie Sun, there is not much water left in the tank. Let me go get some."

Aunt Sun said quickly, "That won't work. Just take a rest and I'll go."

Xu Deyong took the shoulder pole and the wooden bucket and said with a smile: "I am young, so let me be the one to carry the water from now on."

Aunt Sun couldn't stop him, so she had to tell him the location of the well and watched him go out with two wooden buckets on his shoulders.

She couldn't help but walk into the house and said, "Old man, look, this Xu... yes, Manager Xu, he's very kind and even went to fetch water for us!"

Grandpa Sun stood up with the help of his cane and said unhappily, "I am not deaf, I can hear it."

Aunt Sun asked, "Then what are you doing up?"

"You also care about going to the toilet, chattering like a monkey!"

Aunt Sun rolled her eyes and muttered to his back, "I won't care about you anymore. I'll let you pee on the kang..."

Xu Deyong staggered to the well in the village carrying a wooden barrel.

As the saying goes, "under the phoenix tree leaves lies a golden well, with a horizontal pulley pulling a white rope."

Xu Deyong cranked the windlass up and down, filled two buckets with water with a bucket, and then carried them back staggeringly.

In this era, "as long as you can endure hardship, there will be endless hardship."

It took several trips back and forth before the water tank was basically full.

Seeing Xu Deyong put down his shoulder pole and come out of the kitchen, Aunt Sun said with a smile: "Manager Xu, take a break. You must be tired. There is no tea at home. Sit down and have a bowl of water."

As he said this, he handed the black porcelain bowl filled with water to Xu Deyong.

Xu Deyong took it. The water must have been poured for a while and was not too hot anymore. He drank it all in one gulp, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, handed the bowl to Aunt Sun and thanked her.

At this moment, Grandpa Sun was sitting in the yard, his eyelids drooping, his mouth tightening as he smoked a pipe, the wrinkles on his face moving with the movement.

Xu Deyong took out a pack of Daqianmen, handed him a cigarette and said, "Uncle Sun, have one of mine."

Seeing this, Grandpa Sun paused and raised his eyelids and said, "I can't get used to cigarettes, they're too soft!"

"Have a smoke." Xu Deyong said without taking it back.

Grandpa Sun touched his nose and said hesitantly, "Then I'll... smoke one, and you can try my dry tobacco later."

As he said this, he stretched out his rough hand and took it.

Xu Deyong smiled. For smokers, there is no chatterbox that cannot be stopped by one cigarette. If there is, then use two!
"I can't smoke your pipe." Xu Deyong said with a smile.

Aunt Sun said, "It's a waste to give him good cigarettes."

Grandpa Sun said, "It's almost time, go and cook, and don't interrupt me while I'm talking."

Xu Deyong looked at the time and said, "It's almost five o'clock. I have to go to Captain Zhou's place. Starting tomorrow, we will eat from the same pot again."

"Just go and get busy." Aunt Sun said with a smile.

Xu Deyong nodded, went into the house, took out a bottle of wine from his bag and said, "You can't go empty-handed. I brought two bottles of wine when I came. Take one bottle today, and we can drink the other bottle later."

"No, no, just keep it for yourself." Seeing Xu Deyong being so polite, Grandpa Sun waved his hand a little embarrassedly.

"You're welcome, sir. I'll be leaving first." Xu Deyong left with the wine.

Aunt Sun couldn't help but say, "Look how polite he is. After all, he is from the capital. Look at how you acted at the beginning, taking advantage of your age."

"Go, go, go and cook, don't nag me here." Grandpa Sun said as he put the cigarette to his nose and smelled it, then carefully clamped it against his ear.

……

Xu Deyong had only walked a few steps out of the door when he heard Chen Xueru's voice behind him:
"Hey, Xu Deyong, wait for me!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Deyong paused, his anus tightened, and he inexplicably had the thought of "fellow Taoist, please stay."

Is this the time for me to face disaster?
……

(End of this chapter)