fictionpage Chapter 26 The Fastest Driver in the Four-Courtyard!
Chapter 26 The Fastest Driver in the Four-Courtyard!
"Dongxu, I may not be educated, but I've heard Uncle San say something like, 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; give a man a net and you feed him for a lifetime.' Uncle Yi doesn't want to give us a net, does he?" Qin Huairu said at the end.
Jia Dongxu's expression turned serious: "So you mean, Uncle doesn't want our family to have a good life?"
Qin Huairu tucked a stray hair behind her ear and said softly, "At least he wants our family to always need him, so that he can rely on us when he gets old. Now that Third Grandfather has come, he'll start as a cadre, and since our family is close to him, we won't need First Grandfather as often in the future."
"We need him, and he helps us. The more he helps, the more we become master and apprentice, the more our families are bound together. If we don't take care of him when he gets old, the gossip from others will drown our entire family!"
Jia Dongxu stared intently at her: "You should have already anticipated all the twists and turns involved, right?"
Qin Huairu sighed, "What good will it do to think about it? After your father-in-law passed away, you only earned eighteen yuan and fifty cents a month at the factory. Our family is struggling financially, and we can't afford to offend that old man."
She knew before, but no matter how painful it was, she couldn't say anything because her family still depended on her uncle for a living.
But now, with the arrival of my third grandfather, everything has changed.
Jia Dongxu suddenly had a thought: "Huai Ru, you said I've been working at the factory for over seven years, but last year I only got a first-level rating. Could there be something fishy going on?"
Qin Huairu thought for a moment: "The rating is organized uniformly by the Ministry of Labor, so it shouldn't be possible to fake it, right?"
"I'm not saying it's fake, I mean, is Master hiding something?" Jia Dongxu's voice was low.
There's an old saying in Beijing: "If you want to learn something, you have to memorize it." While the saying is crude, it holds some truth.
In the old society, if an apprentice wanted to learn real skills from his master, he had to do his master's laundry and cooking, be his slave, and if necessary, even become his master's wife.
In the new society, such bad habits naturally disappeared. However, many masters would secretly hold back a skill when teaching their apprentices, just to avoid teaching the apprentice and starving the master.
Such things are common in trades that rely on skills, but are rare in factories.
After all, a large state-owned factory like a steel rolling mill wouldn't allow its apprentices to learn the skills and then kick out their masters.
But what if, after learning the skill, one gets a raise and no longer needs the mentor's help or "care"?
Jia Dongxu had never had this idea before, but now that the thought had popped into his head, the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
He usually thought he worked harder and was more quick to learn than Guo Da Piezi at the factory, so why was Guo Da Piezi ranked one level higher than him when it came to grading?
After listening to her husband's analysis, Qin Huairu's eyes became more profound.
Although she had only been married into the courtyard house for eight years and was not very talkative in front of the people in the courtyard, she believed she knew her neighbors quite well.
Seeing Qin Huairu nod, Jia Dongxu was furious and immediately went to confront Yi Zhonghai.
Qin Huairu grabbed him, saying, "Why are you looking for evidence when there isn't any? This is all our own analysis. If you go looking for evidence, not only will the First Uncle not admit it, but people will also say that you've climbed up the social ladder by marrying the Third Grandfather, and they'll smear Master."
"What are we going to do? Are we just going to let him scheme against us like this?" Jia Dongxu was so angry that he was panting heavily.
"Pretend to act the same as before, and then look for an opportunity to change your master." Although changing masters is difficult, it is the only way to completely sever ties with Yi Zhonghai.
"Be careful, no matter what, you can't openly antagonize Grandpa Yi," Qin Huairu instructed.
These days, factories, especially those that rely on craftsmanship, value the master-apprentice relationship the most. If you don't have a good relationship with your master, no matter how good your skills are, you will still be criticized.
After calming down a bit, Jia Dongxu also felt that Qin Huairu's words made some sense: "Okay, let's do it your way."
After the couple finished discussing, the meat on the table had long since gone cold. Jia Dongxu picked up a piece of pig intestine with his chopsticks and told her that the workshop director had praised him today and that the matter of repairing the machine had been reported.
"This machine was imported from Russia. Although my third grandfather was the main engineer, I also assisted him. If there's any recognition, I'll get a share too."
Qin Huairu became happy: "This is a good thing! Whether there's a prize or not, having a certificate is an honor."
Jia Dongxu looked at her affectionately: "If you get a certificate, stick it on the wall next to the dining table, so anyone can see it. If you get a prize, secretly take it and buy a red scarf. I see a lot of the female workers in our factory wearing them, they look so pretty."
Qin Huairu was deeply moved: "Dongxu, you are so good to me."
"What are you saying? You're my wife and you've given me two children. If I'm not good to you, who else should I be good to?"
The couple were enjoying a tender moment when, in the front yard, the Zhang family had already finished several rounds of drinks and dishes. After drinking a bit too much, Xu Damao told everyone a slightly risqué joke.
Everyone burst into laughter, and Yan Jiecheng and Liu Guangqi, the two greenhorns, blushed with embarrassment, while Zhang Chengfei remained calm.
Seeing this, Xu Damao became displeased: "Hey Dafei, why aren't you smiling?"
Zhang Chengfei leisurely sipped his liquor: "Your joke is too childish, not funny at all."
Xu Damao started secretly reading "A Certain Plum in a Vase" when he was seven years old. When he was ten, he went out with his father to show movies and secretly watched his father show foreign films with explicit content through the crack in the door. He considered himself to have an exceptionally high sex appeal.
At this moment, Zhang Chengfei questioned his status as the fastest driver in the courtyard, and he immediately became furious: "Not funny? Then tell the brothers a funny one!"
"Tell me then!" Zhang Chengfei remained calm, putting down his wine cup. "It is said that someone bought manure from the temple, but the Taoist priest demanded double the price, which surprised the villagers. The Taoist priest said, 'This manure is different from other places; it is made by the monks themselves, and when soaked, one load yields two loads.'"
After he finished speaking, seeing that no one reacted, he poured himself another cup of wine.
Before even taking a sip of the wine, Liu Guangqi suddenly exclaimed "Holy crap!" and called Dafei "awesome!" This joke was much better than Xu Damao's.
Yan Jiecheng snapped out of his daze and also gave a thumbs up. Xu Damao, who had done well in junior high school, now admitted defeat.
Only Sha Zhu didn't understand, and kept asking the three of them what was going on and what the story meant.
The others burst into laughter. Zhang Chengfei was about to speak more bluntly when Xu Damao beat him to it.
Xu Damao translated the story into plain language and then scoffed at Sha Zhu, saying, "You can't even understand this? You're practically an out-of-school kid!"
Sha Zhu blushed and said, "How would I know about men and men..."
"What's so special about that? Do you know about the Rabbit God? Do you know how eunuchs used to play with actors in the old society?" Zhang Chengfei said again.
He Yuzhu knew nothing when asked and shook his head repeatedly.
"He's really naive. You'd think someone from Qinxing wouldn't be like this, right?" Zhang Chengfei wondered. "Could it be because his master is his own father? He hasn't experienced the dangers of becoming an apprentice, nor has he been haunted, so he's exceptionally naive?"