Living in a Siheyuan

Chapter 120 Night Talk

Time flies, and the second day of the Chinese New Year has passed in the blink of an eye. In the morning light of the third day of the Chinese New Year, people return to work.

The new year has begun, however, the difficulties of the past few years are like a haze, everyone is hungry, and the passion of the past has long been extinguished like a candle.

On the first day of work, the factory held a general meeting. Director Yang gave an impassioned speech, encouraging everyone to contribute to the country and work hard. However, the workers below the stage were listless, as if their souls had been sucked out of them by hunger. They only thought about how to fill their stomachs, and their former passion was gone.

This conference fell on deaf ears and did not achieve the expected results. This made the leaders very anxious, because the factory has tasks to complete every year. If this continues, this year's tasks may be like the setting sun in the sky, out of reach.

Li Pingan had no way to deal with this. He had food but couldn't take it out. He could only watch everyone suffer like this.

Return to your office and clean up.

Li Pingan came to the large office of Purchasing Department 3.

I only have a few people under me. In the past year or so, almost no one has achieved any major results. Food is so hard to come by now.

Seeing Li Pingan coming in, Ji Qingshan, Feng Gaoge, Yan Jiecheng, and Wei Mingjie also stopped talking and greeted Li Pingan one by one.

Li Pingan sat in the front and said, "Please sit down, everyone. You have worked hard this year. I came here today to ask if you have any difficulties or opinions."

After hearing Li Ping'an's words, everyone looked at each other and was silent for a moment.

Finally, it was Ji Qingshan who spoke up: "Chief Li, to be honest, our biggest difficulty right now is the lack of supplies. Without enough food, everyone's enthusiasm for work will not be raised."

Yan Jiecheng echoed, "Yes, Chief Li. We also want to work hard, but how can we have the energy to work with an empty stomach?"

Li Pingan frowned. He knew everyone's plight, but food was scarce in the market and there was nothing he could do.

"During this period, everyone should go to the countryside more often and collect whatever they can find. Some people may also collect more eggs and other things that they have saved. Didn't we raise the price? Don't think about making a profit from the price difference. Collecting more things is better than anything else."

Everyone felt a little embarrassed after hearing what Li Pingan said. After all, who dares to say that they didn't make money from it? But now things are hard to come by, and if you lower the price, you won't be able to get anything.

We chatted in the office for a while, but it didn't do much. It was just a formality. Everyone knows that supplies are tight now.

After returning to the office for a while, Zhou Changming called him over again.

Zhou Changming had just returned from a meeting at the factory.

He said to Li Pingan, "Pingan, this time the factory has ordered us to find a way to purchase supplies. What do you think we should do?"

Li Pingan thought for a while and said, "Old Zhou, it's not that we don't want to find a way, it's just that there are no extra supplies now. I think we should prepare to collect wild vegetables earlier this year."

Zhou Changming thought for a moment and said, "That's right. It looks like we can only find a way to collect wild vegetables to get by this year."

The two chatted for a while and went back at noon.

On the first day of the new year, everyone is worried about how to have enough food and clothing.

When I got home in the evening, Yu Li and Lou Xiao'e were both at home.

The four children were also playing happily at home.

The Lantern Festival passed slowly like this, but the food problem in the factory was still not solved.

After work that day, Yu Li was cooking in the kitchen. Lou Xiaoe whispered, "Ping An, let's go to my dad's place later. My dad said he wants to discuss something with you."

Li Pingan asked in confusion: "What's the matter? Do you know?"

Lou Xiao'e shook her head and said, "I don't know either. He just asked someone to bring the things to me. I'll go with you after dinner. I haven't been back for a long time."

Li Pingan thought for a moment and said, "Okay, let's go over after dinner. Will you take the kids with you?"

Lou Xiao'e thought for a moment and said, "Take it with you. I'll stay there for a few days and then come back."

At dinner, Li Pingan said to Yu Li, "I'm going to Uncle Lou's house later. He may want to see me for something. You should go to bed early."

Lou Xiao'e also said: "Yes, I also plan to bring my child over to live for a few days."

Yu Li said nonchalantly, "Okay, then wrap the child up. It's windy outside at night."

After dinner, Lou Xiao'e went home to pack some things, then took her two children and Li Ping'an back to the Lou family.

When Lou's mother saw her daughter coming back with her grandson, she happily went up to hug the child.

Lou Zhenghua also nodded, greeted them, and took Li Pingan to the study to talk.

When they came to the study, Lou Zhenghua said, "Ping An, I listened to you and donated all of our shares and some real estate to the country during this period."

"And I set a good example this time. The second-in-command met with me in person. He also gave me a piece of calligraphy to encourage me."

After that, Lou Zhenghua took out a piece of calligraphy from behind the desk. It had eight large characters on it: "For the country and the people, for national justice!" The signature was the private seal of the second-in-command.

Seeing this, Li Pingan also stood up excitedly. He came from the future and admired the second leader from the bottom of his heart.

"Dad, you must keep this well. It's too precious."

Lou Zhenghua smiled and said, "Of course I know it's precious. I'll have it framed in the next few days and hang it in my study to look at it every day."

Li Pingan nodded quickly with envy.

Lou Zhenghua carefully collected the calligraphy and put it away carefully.

"Ping An, after I met with the second-in-command, I told him that I wanted to go to Hong Kong to continue to contribute to the country. Guess what the chief said?"

Li Pingan asked anxiously: "Dad, what did the second commander say?"

Lou Zhenghua laughed and said, "It turns out that the country has had these ideas for a long time. They are organizing people to go there as a bridgehead to purchase some urgently needed materials for the country. At the end of last year, a group of people were organized to go there and gain a foothold there. Now they are considering the personnel behind them."

"I just happened to be following the chief's idea when I mentioned this matter. He said that a group of people would be going there in a few days, and I could go with them to investigate. If possible, I can take you with me."

"When we get there, we will set up our own company and develop ourselves. But we will also try our best to purchase materials for the country."

Li Pingan thought for a moment and said, "Does this mean we can all get through this with integrity?"

"Yes, I'll go check out the situation first. I'll make arrangements there. When I come back, we'll go together. I've already told the higher-ups about this. It'll just be a job transfer for you. How do you think?"

If it would not implicate relatives and friends and he could take his wife and son with him, Li Pingan would definitely be willing.

In the next few years, Dragon Country will be in chaos. I can't do much here. If I go to Hong Kong, I can play a greater role and make more contributions to the country.

So Li Pingan nodded and said, "Okay, as long as Dad goes to take a look over there, our whole family will go over there. Once we get over there, we will have more room for development."

"Dad, you should bring more money this time. I heard things are very expensive there. You should make arrangements for the house and other things this time, right?"

Lou Zhenghua nodded and said, "Don't worry, I have now exchanged most of my money for gold. I will bring some with me this time. And this time I will go with people arranged by the state, so my safety is guaranteed."

Li Pingan also thought of Hong Kong at the moment, which was in the most chaotic period, with gangs everywhere and the underworld rampant.

So he said with some concern: "Dad, when you go there, look around. It's best to buy a house in a high-end community with better security facilities. I heard someone say that it's very chaotic over there, so you must pay attention to the safety issues."

Lou Zhenghua didn't expect Li Ping'an to know something about that place. He just listened to what the leader of the team said casually. He would have to go there to find out the details.

"Ping An, do you know what's going on over there? Tell me."

Lou Zhenghua poured tea for him and Li Ping'an, and the two of them sat at the desk and had a careful conversation.

"I heard someone say that the Eagle people don't really manage things there anymore, and they recruited Dragon people to manage things. They're not easy to talk to, and they're very greedy. The lower-class people are forming cliques and fighting for territory every day."

"Dad, if you're going over there, just take a look at where those Little Eagle people live. The security there is much better. I heard that there are troops guarding it, so gang members don't dare to cause trouble there."

After listening to this, Lou Zhenghua thought carefully for a while.

"Okay, I'll remember everything you said. It seems that it's not easy to develop in the past!"

The two of them talked about their plans for the future.

Li Pingan said, "Dad, if you don't have time for Xu Damao's matter, I'll go and take care of it. It's better to get it done one day earlier. Then we can go more smoothly."

Lou Zhenghua shook his head and said, "Don't worry about this. I have already arranged it. I will let them take action when I leave. You don't need to get involved in these things."

"I can still do it now, and I will arrange things like these. You have to protect yourself. If you can avoid certain things, don't get involved. Once you get involved, you can't wash it off for the rest of your life."

Li Pingan was very moved after hearing what Lou Zhenghua said. This is the benefit of having an elder who always cares about you.

The two talked until late at night and only ended when Lou Xiao'e came up.

Lou Xiao'e held two small bowls of midnight snack and said, "Dad, I saw that you and Ping An talked too late, so I made some midnight snacks for you two. Eat something and then talk."

Lou Zhenghua took the bowl and said with a smile: "I am really blessed by Ping An! I didn't have this kind of treatment before!"

Lou Xiao'e felt embarrassed by what her father said. She blushed and pouted, saying, "Dad, if you say that again, give the bowl back to me. I won't let you eat from it!"

While eating, Lou Zhenghua said, "That won't do. I finally got the chance to benefit from my son-in-law. How can I give it back?"

Li Pingan looked at the somewhat shy Lou Xiao'e and said with a smile: "Xiao'e, Dad was joking with you."

After they finished their midnight snack, they saw that it was getting late, so they ended the conversation.