Chapter 44: First Order Successful!
Zhang Aimin had three sons.
The household was split into four shares: one for each of the three sons, and one for Zhang Aimin and his wife.
Bao Yan grumbled that it wasn’t fair, since the first and second branches had more people in their families.
Zhang Aimin, thoroughly disheartened by his sons, snapped directly, “You look after your own children.”
“If anyone keeps whining, get the hell out. Don’t live in my apartment!”
“You’ve already caused my family to fall apart, what else do you want?”
Bao Yan felt incredibly wronged. Who was the one causing a scene? How did it all get blamed on her?
Zhang Hongqi barked at her, so she shut her mouth.
After the split, she wanted to ask about the money, but Zhang Hongqi stopped her again. Didn’t she see that the second brother and his wife hadn’t uttered a single word? Keep blabbing, and she’d behave once they got kicked out!
The rooms the first and second branches currently occupied would remain theirs. The living room belonged to Zhang Aimin and his wife, but it could be shared. Oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and coal briquettes would not be divided; once they ran out, each family would buy their own.
The grain was split into four shares.
The pots, pans, bowls, and ladles were not divided either. They all belonged to the elders, but everyone could use them. From now on, each family would cook their own meals.
“Actually, splitting the household is a good thing. We haven’t passed the grain shortage yet, so keeping the money in our own hands means we can save a bit more.”
Back in their room, Zhang Hongjun said to the disgruntled Zhong Hongmei.
“Now that the household is split, we need to show even more filial piety. Otherwise, burning incense after Dad gets old will be too late!”
Zhong Hongmei was deeply unwilling. “Once the household is split, it won’t be easy to take advantage of things anymore.”
Zhang Hongjun said, “Not splitting was actually a loss for us too. It’s just that keeping it together was like a chicken rib—no meat on it, but a pity to throw away.”
“Wanwan has a job now, and her partner is generous. It’s definitely right to stay on good terms with her.”
Zhong Hongmei nodded. She would definitely perform well. If anything came up, she would egg on Eldest Sister-in-law to stick her neck out.
Inside Zhang Aimin’s room.
Zhang Aimin rubbed his hands together and approached Huang Guixiang obsequiously. “Guixiang…”
Huang Guixiang shoved the lunchbox right in front of him, saying crossly, “Wanwan brought this for you. She said she wanted to nourish you.”
Zhang Aimin opened it to take a look; it contained braised pork and roast chicken. The feeling in his heart…
Huang Guixiang said, “Wanwan said it was her very first day on the job, so she wanted to treat you to a good meal.”
Hearing this, Zhang Aimin’s nose tingled and his eyes turned red. His biological sons and daughter had never bought him a single piece of meat! He had raised a pack of ungrateful wolves!
“I didn’t actually want to divorce you.”
“My main goal was simply to split the household.”
“Old Zhang, my heart aches for you!”
“You raised several children, scrambled to find jobs for them, and arranged their marriages…”
“Now that Wanwan is married, her man dotes on her and gives her money, so she wants to subsidize us.”
“But if we didn’t split the household, how many pieces of meat from this lunchbox would actually make it into your mouth?”
“I am just that kind of selfish person. I’m done pretending. Old Zhang, if you have an issue with me and don’t want to live together anymore, we can go get a divorce tomorrow!”
Zhang Aimin blurted out, “No divorce!”
He set the lunchbox on the table and wrapped his arms tightly around Huang Guixiang. “Guixiang, you’re the only one I want. I’ll spend the rest of my life with you…”
“I like your selfishness!”
Huang Guixiang curled her lips into a smile: Held in a death grip!
Lin Wan forced Zhang Hongqiang to practice writing a few pages of characters, using White Rabbit creamy candies to coax him. He dragged his feet but finished writing. Only after receiving the candy did he regain his energy.
Lin Wan took him to wash up. When they were finished, she returned to her room, shut the door, and called out the little system figure to retrieve her remittance slip.
During the day, she had taken some spare time at the post office to remit one yuan to PO Box 88. In the afternoon, the system had prompted her that she had new mail. But she had been too busy, and only had time to look now.
The little system figure said, “The host can withdraw cash directly!”
Lin Wan chose to withdraw cash. A one-yuan bill appeared in her hand, and the word “Cash Withdrawn” appeared as an official steel stamp on the remittance slip before it was reclaimed by the system.
Tsk tsk~ That was incredibly fast!
Having confirmed that she could receive the money, Lin Wan immediately wrote a letter to Zhang Jun.
“Chicken, duck, fish, you understand. Remittance address: PO Box 88…”
The letter was sent out.
Lin Wan set her alarm, climbed into bed, put on her earphones to watch two episodes of a TV drama, and went to sleep.
The next morning, the moment she stepped out of her room, she saw Zhang Aimin’s enthusiastic, smiling face. “Wanwan is up! Go wash your face and brush your teeth quickly. Your Uncle Zhang specially bought fried dough sticks and soybean milk from the state-owned restaurant for you.”
He showed her the lunchbox and enamel mug in his hands.
Lin Wan thanked him with a beaming smile, “Thank you, Uncle Zhang! I just love dipping fried dough sticks in soybean milk!”
Zhang Weidong and his siblings stared longingly at Zhang Aimin. Zhong Hongmei nudged Zhang Weidong, “Dongzi, why aren’t you greeting your grandfather?”
“Grandfather!” the children hurriedly called out.
Zhang Weidong swallowed his spit as he looked at the fried dough sticks and soybean milk on the table. “Grandfather, I want to eat fried dough sticks and drink soybean milk too.”
Zhang Aimin said flatly, “The household is already split. If you want to eat, go look for your parents!” He went to fetch the bowls and chopsticks to set them out.
The sons and daughters-in-law felt incredibly uncomfortable in their hearts upon seeing this.
Zhang Hongjun quickly asked, “Dad, Hongmei boiled some sweet potato porridge. I’ll go scoop some for you right away.” Then he chided his own children, “Go wash your faces and eat breakfast. If you want to eat fried dough sticks, wait until Dad gets his wages to buy them for you.”
Zhong Hongmei hurriedly went to scoop porridge for Zhang Aimin.
Huang Guixiang was the first to bring over the noodles. “Your dad wants to eat noodles, he told me so last night!”
It was a large bowl of noodles, topped with a thick layer of braised pork. This was the meat Zhang Aimin had been reluctant to eat the previous evening, intentionally leaving it behind.
When the first and second branches saw the braised pork in the bowl, they felt even more uncomfortable.
Bao Yan, who was the worst at keeping her mouth shut, muttered, “Auntie Huang, there’s no place selling braised pork this early in the morning!”
While mixing his noodles with his chopsticks, Zhang Aimin said, “Someone treated Wanwan to dinner yesterday, and Wanwan kept me in mind, bringing back a portion of braised pork for me.”
“As for me, this is the very first time I’ve eaten braised pork bought by my own child.”
Zhang Hongqi and Zhang Hongjun were choked up, their toes clawing at the ground in absolute embarrassment.
Zhang Aimin took an empty bowl and transferred half the noodles and most of the braised pork to Huang Guixiang. He also transferred a bit to Zhang Hongqiang.
Only after Lin Wan returned from washing up did the family sit down to eat. On this side, they were eating fried dough sticks, soybean milk, and braised pork noodles; on the opposite side, they were eating coarse grain porridge and pickled mustard greens.
The children were completely driven wild by the aroma. The youngest, Zhang Hong, pouted her mouth and wailed loudly, “Waaah… I want to eat meat, I want to eat braised pork…”
Zhang Hongjun let out an awkward smile. Zhong Hongmei quickly scooped the child into her arms to coax her. Given Zhang Aimin’s prior words, neither of the two brothers could utter a single sentence asking their grandfather to share a piece of meat.
This meal was eaten with pure frustration by the first and second branches. But Lin Wan’s side ate with absolute satisfaction.
After finishing the meal, Huang Guixiang said to Zhang Aimin, “Don’t come back at noon, eat at the factory cafeteria. I have business with Wanwan and need to go to her unit with her.”
“Hongqiang, when you finish school at noon, go straight to the factory to find your dad and eat at the cafeteria with him!”
“Go, wash the bowls before you head to school!”
Zhang Hongqiang wiped his mouth. “Alright!”
Lin Wan rode away on her newly purchased bicycle.
The Tuanjie Office was quite far from home. Riding fast took about half an hour. However, it was much faster than taking the public bus. The bus stopped at every turn and involved waiting, which dragged things out so much that it took an hour to reach the destination.
At the exact same time.
Zhang Jun had just arrived at his unit. The female comrade at the front counter called out to stop him, “Little Zhang, there’s a letter for you.”
A letter? He had never received a letter once in his entire life. Who wrote it to him?
He took the letter suspiciously, tore it open to take a look, and it gave him a massive fright.
