"Uncle, please don't refuse. Today is a happy occasion for my elder cousin. Let's just make it lively."
Today, after selling forty-two hundred jin of fish, the settlement amounted to over two thousand three hundred yuan.
After handing the money to Shen Xue for settlement, Chen Yang, carrying cigarettes, wine, and pork bought from the food factory, went with Shen Guangfu and his father-in-law to the fertilizer plant's family compound.
"Second brother, how many times has Big Sister sent things that you haven't given to Yang小子 and Xue丫头 to eat? If you pay again, do I, your elder brother, still have any face?"
Shen Guangfu saw that Chen Yang had even prepared a gift for him and was about to pay, so Shen Futang naturally refused.
"Big Brother, Yang Zi, where should I put my old face?"
"I don't even have the face to call you Second Uncle after the shameful things your Second Aunt did."
Shen Guangfu's face showed a deep sense of shame. He was afraid of his wife, but that didn't mean he didn't care about his family's feelings.
Shen Futang was his elder brother, and Shen Xue was his niece. The words Cui Xiufang had said were too unpleasant to hear. This was not what a Second Aunt should say.
"Second Uncle, let's not bring up unhappy things."
"We each mind our own business. I know your character very well. As for Second Aunt, forget it. She also said that she won't ask me, Chen Yang, for a single grain of rice in the future."
He still called her Second Aunt now to save Shen Guangfu's face. If it were Cui Xiufang to her face, Chen Yang would have kicked her out.
"Yang Zi, it's difficult for you. I know you're not holding a grudge against us, or else you wouldn't have accepted Mei Yatou's fish."
Shen Guangfu sighed. He had no choice with such a wife, being caught in the middle and unable to please either side.
Every family has its own difficulties!
"Chen Yang, up ahead, the yard with firewood piled outside is it."
Fortunately, they entered the fertilizer plant's family compound, and it wasn't long before they arrived at Shen Xue's eldest aunt's house.
In those days, most family compounds of factories were self-built brick and tile houses, with small courtyards enclosed outside. In fact, they looked worse than those in the countryside, at least the courtyards were much smaller.
As for dormitory buildings, they were quite rare in those days, because building them required steel and cement, which were industrial products that most units couldn't get.
It wasn't until the 1990s, when cement production increased, that dormitory buildings gradually replaced these self-built small courtyards.
"You, are you the one who sells pheasant feather shuttlecocks?"
Just as Chen Yang was about to tie up the donkey cart, a little kid darted out from an alley, pointed at him, and immediately shouted.
"What's wrong?"
Chen Yang looked puzzled. He had indeed come to the fertilizer plant's family compound to sell shuttlecocks before, and he had lied then, saying he had a distant uncle who lived here.
Now, he hadn't expected to find a real uncle-in-law living in this courtyard, though no distant uncle.
Chen Yang was beginning to suspect that the kid he had fooled might have been beaten by his parents after coming home and finding out he had bought a feather shuttlecock for one jiao, and now he was here for trouble.
After all, coaxing children to buy things was not a glorious deed.
"Do you still have pheasant feather shuttlecocks for sale? I want one, I have money."
"I've been waiting for you for a long time, and you never came. I finally met you today. Jia Pangzi has been showing off his pheasant feather shuttlecock at school."
"Hmph, now I'll have one too. Let's see what he'll be arrogant about!"
To Chen Yang's surprise, the little kid took out a jiao from his pocket, actually wanting to buy a pheasant feather shuttlecock from him!
He had only sold a few shuttlecocks, and he hadn't expected that it would create a wave of comparison in this fertilizer plant's family compound.
"Little friend, I'm sorry, I'm not here to sell shuttlecocks this time. I didn't bring any."
Chen Yang still had some pheasant feather shuttlecocks, made from the pheasant feathers that Tie Niu had given him last time. But he had been too busy selling fish later.
He didn't care about a jiao or two, so he had left them at home untouched.
"How can you not have any!"
"No, I must have a pheasant feather shuttlecock. Go and get one for me now."
"I'll give you the money."
But this little kid was very persistent. He had clearly been bothered by Jia Pangzi having a pheasant feather shuttlecock for a long time. Now that he had met Chen Yang, the seller, he wasn't going to let him go.
"Big Brother, Second Brother, come in and sit. Why didn't you call out when you arrived?"
"This is Yang Zi, right? You look stronger than when you got married."
Chen Yang didn't know how to answer the persistent little kid. Just then, Shen Xue's eldest uncle, hearing the commotion outside the door, came out to check the situation.
"Donglai, congratulations. Wukang has entered the food factory. This is a great event for our family. Congratulations, congratulations."
Shen Futang didn't bother with a little kid. He didn't know when his eldest brother-in-law had ever been in the business of selling feather shuttlecocks.
Congratulating his brother-in-law was the main thing!
Shen Guangfu also quickly greeted him with congratulations. Chen Yang couldn't pay attention to the little kid anymore.
It was his first time visiting his eldest uncle-in-law's house. As a junior, when his elder uncle-in-law and other elders spoke, he had to greet them and respond.
"Eldest Uncle-in-law, I am Chen Yang. You look even more distinguished than last time. Elder Cousin has truly jumped the dragon gate by entering a good unit. The matchmakers will likely be flooding our doorstep from now on."
As soon as Chen Yang spoke, Zhao Donglai's face lit up. Indeed, everything Chen Yang said struck a chord with him.
His family's conditions were only average in the county. He had three sons, and his wife, having married in with a rural household registration, hadn't resolved a job yet and couldn't even get the planned rations.
Therefore, his eldest son's marriage had been stalled, which had worried him greatly. Now that he had entered the food factory and secured a job, and a rather sought-after one at that.
In those days, food was rationed. Working in a food factory was definitely a prestigious thing to say, and there would be no shortage of potential partners. How could he not be happy!
"Yang Zi, it's been a few years. Your mouth is more eloquent than before."
"Come, come inside. What are you doing talking at the doorstep?"
Zhao Donglai was also surprised. He hadn't thought Chen Yang was anything special before. But now, based on those few words, he felt that this nephew-in-law was no ordinary person!
"Zhao Donglai, stop right there."
"I won't let him go. He hasn't sold me a pheasant feather shuttlecock yet!"
But at this moment, the little kid, whom everyone had overlooked, shouted. If Chen Yang left, where would he get a pheasant feather shuttlecock?
"What pheasant feather shuttlecock?"
Zhao Donglai looked confused, but he couldn't scold the kid. He immediately recognized that the person he had called by his full name was Zhong Xiaoming, the son of Factory Director Zhong Dafa.
This kid was a notorious troublemaker in the entire fertilizer plant's family compound. He was mischievous, but his father was the factory director. Moreover, he was just an ignorant child, so no one dared to confront him.
Being targeted by this little demon gave Zhao Donglai a headache.
"You little brat, what are you throwing a tantrum here for?"
"If I see you calling adults by their names again, I'll break your legs, you little bastard."
Fortunately, at this moment, a middle-aged man in a green Liberation Army uniform arrived. He grabbed Zhong Xiaoming by the collar and lifted him up.
"Good day, Director Zhong!"
...