Chapter 242: Jia Zhang's illness and New Year's benefits

Chapter 242: Jia Zhang's illness and New Year's benefits

Chapter 242: Jia Zhang's illness and New Year's benefits (please subscribe!)
"Hey, comrade, don't cut in line!"

A middle-aged woman was grumbling in dissatisfaction. She was holding a few tickets tightly in her hand and looking vigilantly at those who were trying to cut in line behind her.

"Hey, comrades at the back, don't push, queue up!"

The supply and marketing cooperative was bustling with people, and the crowd was surging like a tide.

When there are a lot of people, conflicts are inevitable.

People were pushing and shoving each other, as if it was a war without the smoke of gunpowder, everyone was vying to be the first to buy the things.

Especially since today is the last day of January, everyone is anxious to exchange their tickets.

Some tried to cut in line and even pushed others.

"God, get out of here and get in the back. Why are you cutting in line? Can't you see we're already in line?"

Suddenly, a commotion broke the already restless atmosphere.

"Cut in line! I told you to cut in line!"

I saw a burly man grabbing another man's hair and starting to beat him severely.

"Damn it, you dare to hit me, you don't want to live anymore!"

The beaten man roared and fought back without showing any weakness.

The two men immediately started fighting, and the scene was very chaotic for a while.

The people around took a few steps back, away from the fighting atmosphere.

These two people were like a fuse, completely exploding the accumulated conflicts.

"You bastard, you're stepping on me! Do you think I'm giving you face?"

"I'm sorry, comrade!"

"I'm sorry? I've told you several times, and you still keep guessing. I think you deserve a beating!"

"Snapped!"

Influenced by the fight between the two men, the woman slapped them directly.

"How dare you hit me!" The woman who was beaten was stunned for a moment, then suddenly became furious.

The two of them also wrestled with each other.

Soon, more and more people joined in the quarrel and fight, and the scene became very chaotic.

"What are you doing? Stop it!"

The commotion in the crowd immediately attracted the attention of the police, who rushed over to stop it.

But they were fighting so hard and there were so many people involved that the policemen were unable to handle it all at once.

The director of the supply and marketing cooperative also noticed the commotion and called out to the salespeople: "What are you still looking at? Go and help!"

Soon, the police and salespersons worked together to stop nearly 10 troublemakers and took them away.

The policeman looked at the crowd who were watching the fun and warned them seriously:
"Everyone line up properly and don't cut in line, otherwise you'll end up like them and be taken away!"

Everyone then quieted down and started to line up, but because of the fight, everyone's formation was messed up.

Only one person took advantage, and that was Li Kailang.

Li Kailang just stood there and didn't cut in line, but once they stepped back, they naturally gave their seat to Li Kailang.

When Li Kailang saw an empty seat in front of him, he naturally walked up and lined up.

Their eyes were more focused on watching the quarrel in front of them and they didn't pay any attention to Li Kailang.

When queuing, you must behave properly and not be distracted by other things.

Li Kailang was busy shopping at the supply and marketing cooperative until the evening, when he finally bought all the New Year's goods and returned home with a full load.

After returning to the courtyard, Li Kailang immediately noticed a resentful look coming from the central courtyard.

Li Kailang roared, "Old Yu! What are you looking at? If you keep looking at me, I will send you to jail again!"

Jia Zhang was so frightened by Li Kailang's roar that she suddenly shrank her head back.

When Li Kailang entered the house, Jia Zhang couldn't help but stick her head out again, her eyes full of resentment and unwillingness.

Li Kailang naturally knew all of this.

Since Jia Zhang came back from the police station, he lay down at home for two whole days without getting out of bed.

Because of a fever, Jia Zhang went home early to recuperate.

But the fever is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that Jia Zhang has developed a chronic illness.

During the four days in the detention room, there was no brazier for heating, and Jia Zhang was old, so he actually developed rheumatoid arthritis.

According to regulations, Jia Zhang should have been detained for five days.

However, on the fourth day, she suddenly developed a high fever and unbearable joint pain, so she was rushed to the hospital.

Although after treatment, Jia Zhang's fever subsided and her health was temporarily fine, rheumatoid arthritis became her hidden disease.

Apparently, this was a disease caused by being frozen in the detention room.

Fortunately, it is only in the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis and it will be fine as long as I rest well.

But during these few days, Jia Zhang was unable to go out and was trapped in the central courtyard. She stared at Li Kailang fiercely every day but was unable to cause trouble for him.

After entering the house, Li Kailang sorted the things he bought.

Candies, dried fruits, Spring Festival couplets, and other things, one portion for myself and one portion for Mr. Hua.

Afterwards, Li Kailang also took out some food, vegetables, meat, etc. from the planting space. How could the New Year be celebrated without these foods?

"Whoo~"

"It's finally done. I'll give it to Mr. Hua before I go to the steel mill tomorrow."

Li Kailang wiped the sweat from his forehead. It took a lot of his mind to handle all these.

For convenience, Li Kailang not only prepared New Year's goods and food, but also prepared things related to daily life.

Prepare everything like towels, soap, matches, cigarettes, salt, etc.

The next day, Li Kailang loaded the New Year's goods on his bicycle and went to find Mr. Hua.

Of course it won’t be all the New Year’s goods. There are too many things and even a bicycle can’t hold them all, and it also doesn’t want to arouse jealousy.

"Hey, Xiao Li, go out! Why do you carry so many things?" Yan Bugui saw the large and small bags of things on the bicycle.

"Uncle, I'm going to visit an old friend. He has difficulty walking, so he asked me to bring some New Year's goods. I'll bring them to him while I'm at it!"

"Is that so? No wonder it's so rich!" Yan Bugui replied.

Originally, he wanted to plot against Li Kailang's things, but it seems that he is no longer able to do so.

"Okay, Uncle Third, I'm leaving first!" Li Kailang pushed his bicycle and left the courtyard.

Yan Bugui looked at his back and muttered to himself, "I don't know who made Li Kailang his friend. He is so lucky. These bags are not cheap. He must have paid a lot of money."

"Oh, what a pity! Why don't I have such a friend!"

Yan Bugui felt very regretful and went to water the flowers with a sprinkler.

Yan Bugui didn't notice that Jia Zhang was looking at Li Kailang viciously.

"Damn it, this bastard has so many things, he must be doing something. If we call the police, they will definitely arrest him and put him in jail!"

"If I could get out, I would have followed you!"

Jia Zhang felt a dull pain in her back and could not travel far, so she could only watch Li Kailang leave.

"Qin Huairu, where have you died? Drag me back quickly!" Jia Zhang shouted towards the Jia family.

Qin Huairu immediately put down the unwashed clothes and carried Jia Zhang home like a eunuch.

The scene was just like in a palace drama, where the concubine holds one hand on the eunuch's hand and walks back slowly. All Jia Zhang needed was a handkerchief to become a real concubine.

Li Kailang arrived outside Hua's house, looked around, and seeing no one was there, he quickly took out the things in the ring.

"Mr. Hua! I'm here!"

As he spoke, Li Kailang knocked on the door.

"Hey, here they come!" Old Hua shouted with full energy.

After opening the door, Li Kailang came in dragging a cart full of large and small bags of New Year's goods.

Hu Lao was shocked: "Why are there so many? I told you, you don't need these. You must have spent a lot of money to get so many!"

Li Kailang comforted him: "Not much! This is not enough! Besides, it doesn't cost much. Don't you see what I do?"

"There are so many things, some of them were delivered with my help, and some were purchased in the countryside, they didn't cost much money." Old Hua looked at Li Kailang who was calm and composed, as if these New Year's goods were really cheap.

"Don't try to deceive me, an old man. I am old, but I am not senile. So many things must cost a lot of money."

Li Kailang shrugged and said indifferently: "Don't worry about it. I brought the things to you. If you don't want them, just throw them away. I won't take them back anyway."

"You don't know where my home is anyway!"

It’s strange that after spending so much time together, Mr. Hua never asked Li Kailang where his home is.

"Okay, I'll put the things away for you first, the couplets and so on, I'll come and help you post them in a few days, so don't bother yourself."

"At your age, don't hurt your back."

As he spoke, Li Kailang moved the New Year's goods into the house. Mr. Hua's house had its own entrance and courtyard, so it was naturally not small.

Li Kailang and A Jing classified their things and put them in different places.

"Okay, I've brought you all the things. I have something else to do at the steel mill, so I'll go there first."

After saying that, Li Kailang pushed the cart away without caring what Mr. Hua said.

"This stubborn kid!" Elder Hua shook his head helplessly. "I'm old now, my son is in prison, and my family is in decline."

"I never thought that in the end I would still have to rely on a transaction to get help. What a bad fate!" Old Hua couldn't help but sigh.

On the way to the steel mill, Li Kailang met many workers.

Everyone was extremely excited and enthusiastic, after all, today was the day to receive benefits.

“I don’t know what benefits I can get today?”

"Let's not talk about the other things for now, but there is definitely meat."

"Yeah, there used to be meat, I want to see if there's anything else good."

Everyone was discussing excitedly, and when it came to welfare, there were different levels.

The leaders’ benefits are naturally much better than those of the workers, but they do not receive them openly in the factory.

Each one has its own collection point, and you go there to collect it.

It is also to avoid some people becoming jealous due to the huge gap and causing unnecessary trouble.

Among the workers, there are also differences between formal workers and apprentices.

The benefits of apprentices are worse than those of formal workers, basically cut in half.

This is also the first time that Li Kailang has received benefits as a formal worker. "I don't know what the benefits will be like this year."

A large steel mill with thousands of employees will naturally not allow workers to gather together to receive benefits, otherwise they will not be able to receive all the benefits until the evening.

The transport team has already set up a platform, various welfare benefits have been laid out, and someone is distributing them and shouting.

"Everyone hurry up and claim your benefits. This year's benefits are very generous! First come, first served!"

"After receiving your benefits, please remember to check if there is anything missing and sign to confirm!"

When Li Kailang came, he met Lu Wenjiang and Zhang Fen.

"Xiao Li, let's go take a look together."

At this time, the line for receiving welfare was very long. At a glance, there were at least a hundred or eighty people.

"Oh, it's rare to see people from Team 2 today. There are quite a lot of them!" Zhang Fen noticed some strangers.

"Yes, the two teams usually do their own things and have little interaction. Let's get to know each other today so that we can work together in the future." Lu Wenjiang echoed.

After all, we see each other less often, so even if everyone is queuing, they will unconsciously keep a distance from each other.

Only stay close to people you know.

"Okay, stop talking and line up quickly." Li Kailang said.

After a while, it was finally the three's turn.

"Hello, comrade. This is this year's welfare."

"5 taels of pork, 5 catties of rice, 5 catties of flour, and eggs."

"There is also a bar of soap, a towel, and a can of fruit."

"Comrade, please order the items and sign for confirmation after confirming they are correct."

Li Kailang checked it and signed it after confirming that it was correct.

Then pick up the things and put them on the bicycle rack.

The three people's bicycles were parked together, and Zhang Fen looked at them excitedly.

"The steel mill is so generous this year, and has prepared so many New Year's goods!"

Lu Wenjiang also agreed: "Yeah, there's nothing much to say about the food. It's almost the same as before, but these soaps, towels and canned food, which were not there before!"

"It seems that our factory completed the task well today and made a lot of money!" Li Kailang guessed.

As drivers, they don't lack these, but the benefits issued by the factory are far less meaningful than what they buy themselves.

Zhang Fen reminded him, "Look, there's blood on the pork. It looks like it was slaughtered this afternoon. How many pigs would they need to get half a pound per person? I don't know how the factory got them."

"Who knows what the factory leaders are doing? Let's just take it." Lu Wenjiang responded.

There is still a week until the Chinese New Year, so people are not worried about the pork going bad since it is winter now.

You can freeze the pork outside and bring it home without marinating it.

"Have you received all your benefits?" Suddenly, a voice came from behind.

"Master!"

"I've got them all, they're all here!"

Zhang Jinwu nodded and said, "Go back after you've collected them, or you'll have trouble getting out when there are too many people."

Suddenly, Li Kailang thought:

"Master, there is something I want to discuss with you. Um... can you lend me your truck for a few days?"

Lu Wenjiang patted Li Kailang on the shoulder and shook his head: "Xiao Li, your idea is the same as mine at the beginning."

"It's just a pity that this truck can't be loaned out!"

Seeing this, Zhang Fen also felt regretful: "It's so hard for us to pass the driving test and get a holiday in advance, but we can't drive out to play. This is really unbearable!"

Lu Wenjiang shrugged and spread his hands:
"What else can we do? Some people didn't follow the rules and drove recklessly, which led to accidents. Now we can't lend our trucks out."

In the past, the steel rolling mill’s cars could be loaned out before the Spring Festival, but some people took advantage of their status as drivers and drove recklessly on the road, killing people, so they were banned.

Originally, people borrowed cars to drive back to the countryside or go somewhere for fun.

But once the incident happened, it was banned and no one was allowed to loan it out.

Before the accident, the leaders turned a blind eye and the consumed oil came from the transport team. But since then, it has been out of service.

"Cough cough~"

Before they finished their conversation, a sound suddenly came from the radio speakers.

"Good afternoon, comrades! Are you satisfied with the factory's welfare this year?"

Deputy Director Yang's voice came clearly from the radio.

"Satisfied! Satisfied!" The crowd burst into cheers that resounded through the sky.

"Okay, as long as everyone is satisfied, everyone has done a great job this year and completed the task ahead of schedule. I hope everyone will continue to work hard next year and we will do it again according to this standard next year."

"Deputy Director Yang's passionate voice continued to be heard, painting a beautiful future for everyone, making everyone eager to get back to work and not take a holiday.

Li Kailang looked at the abundant benefits in his hands. No wonder the benefits this year suddenly became so abundant. Deputy Director Yang contributed a lot to this.

Deputy Director Yang will take over the position of factory director next year. He obviously wants to enhance everyone's cohesion by distributing benefits, and also win everyone's favor in advance.

Deputy Director Yang didn't want to do it at first, but as he learned more about the steel mill, he found it increasingly difficult.

No wonder Director Lu gave him a series of documents from the factory in advance and also helped with the advisory. It was obvious that things were not simple.

In order to stabilize the workers, Deputy Director Yang took great pains to seek benefits for everyone, so as to leave a good impression on everyone.

"Deputy Director Yang has put a lot of effort into providing such welfare!" Zhang Jinwu murmured to himself.

After Deputy Director Yang finished speaking, Zhang Jinwu looked at the three people and said, "Okay, I've heard what Deputy Director Yang said. Keep working hard next year!"

"Take your things and go home quickly."

The three of them said no more, and rode their bicycles home with their welfare fully loaded.

(End of this chapter)